Road to Spring - done!

This is the front of my Road to Spring Quilt Along!

This is the back! The quilt measures about 40 x50. It is made from Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope. This washed up so nice and soft, I am tempted to make a larger one for myself!

I used the binding techniques discussed in a prior post and used another of my new labels. Did I say how yummy this is and how pleased I am with the quilt?

Thanks to Randi for hosting the QAL. It was lots of fun.

And another quilt along - Pinwheels week 2!

Baby Blocks

(the avacado table cloth in the background is not doing these colors any favors)
I am calling this quilt Baby Blocks. It is aprox 42 x50 all washed up. The backing is MM Dainty Damask. I love this fabric! I got to use one of my new labels on this quilt, the first one!

I started this in November and got the top done but then stalled out with distraction from Christmas projects. I then got panicked because my last binding was icky and didn't want to move forward till I figures out how to improve that. I surfed around and read/watched all the binding tutorials I could find and picked up a couple different techniques. I ended up doing it almost exactly as demonstrated by Red Pepper Quilts tutorial and am very happy with it.

I am sharing this for Friday Sew & Tell. Be sure to head over there and check out all the other great projects people did this week.

Happy Mail

Today was a BIG mail day... Happy Mail! First I got my package from Cathrine of the goodies I won in her giveaway. Look at all those goodies! The buttons are the cutest citrus colors and are beautiful! I have to say I have a favorite and that is Apple Pin Cushion. I adore these things but they are something that I just won't/can't make so having one is making me ecstatic! I am going to get out my fancy heart and crystal pins to put in it and have it on my sewing table to make me smile!

After opening that, I opened the second package in my mail today and found my order from Fat Quarter Shop. I got the Bella solids for the pinwheel QAL and the rest were ones that I have been wanting that were on sale. (had to get the order to $35 for free shipping didn't I?)

And yes, there is more, I then checked my front door step and found a small box with my OZ layer cake and charm pack that I bought this weekend at Burgundy Buttons sale.

I also got a little something last week that I am pretty happy with. I got these labels from the Sweetwater Etsy store. Love them! They were so nice, they even sent a proof sheet for me to look at before they made/shipped them. I decided after seeing them that a couple that I ordered were not looking like what I had thought so they changed it up for me and still got them out the next day.

Last... whats in this bag?

Well, its my vacation stash! We are going to the family cabin for spring break. The hubby and kids ski/snowboard and I sit at the cabin (heaven!) .. but it is a week, so hubby volunteered to carry my older sewing machine as carry-on if I wanted to take it so I jumped on that idea! I took the machine to the sewing machine doctor for a full check up, got it a clean bill of health and plan to leave it at the cabin for future use. This bag contains my projects for the trip. A Make Life jelly roll with the Jelly Filled pattern, Verna charm packs and white for whirly gigs, and blocks from the Green/Pink no sew swap ready to assemble. That should keep me busy!


Now off to complete my project for Fridays Sew and Tell. I see lots of weekly things out there... WIP Wendsday, Stash Sunday, ect... do you participate in any? I find that knowing I can share to a larger audience on Friday motivates me to get projects done and ready to post... how about you? I'ld love to hear from you on this.

Pinwheels

Wow, I didn't mean to take such a long break! My husband was gone last week and that throws everything out of wack! He's back and I resumed sewing... yea!

Have you seen the Pinwheel quilt along? It ran into some delays but block one is now up and here are my first two blocks.

I am working with a layer cake of Hello Betty Retro Layer Cake by Chloe's Closet. I am adding some additional solids as well since the prints are all pretty busy and I want come contrast in the blocks. The Layer Cake came with red (orange), teal and brown bella solids. I am replacing the brown with grey because I like it better ordered more of the red and teal.

This is week one of 8 for blocks, two of each for a total of 16. first weeks tutorial was great so I think this is going to be a fun project! You can click below to check it out!

Baby Snowballs

The baby snowball quilt is done. This was made with two charm packs of Tanya Whelan French Hatbox. (these only had 21 squares per pack) Border, backing and binding are also from this line. The quilt measures 36" square when washed/dried. (it is square, I just took the picture from a wonky angle)

The white are the baby triangles trimmed from the signature bock swap. I sewed them on top of the blocks along the long edge then assembled the blocks. I quilted with the walking foot down the block seam lines as well as between them, and stitched the border several rows 1/4 inch apart. The triangle edges did fray and come up a bit as I hoped. All washed/dried this is just a whole bunch of shabby chic crinkly goodness

I asked my friend that is expecting is she is sure-sure-sure that she is having a boy :)

Giveaway Winner

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful day and even got in some sewing. We had two consecutive snow days here and hubby worked at home those days to avoid the roads, so we had a little more going on than normal for a Thursday and Friday.

On to the giveaway and the winner. After going through the comments and numbering those that qualified I used the Random Number Generator (easier than using the kid who asks too many questions... why do you need a number, whats it for, whats the prize, who wins, can I have it, what number should I pick ... you get the idea)

Number 13 is...... Catherine! I will get Catherine's address and get the gifty out to her on Tuesday! Congrats and thanks to all for your kind comments and birthday wishes!

Flannel Beauty

This is the Truckee Mystery Quilt, and it is done!

I found this quilt in the boxes of sewing stuff when I unpacked about 6 months ago. Here I explained why this had been in a box for about 6 years. When I found it all but the last step in the bocks were done and ready for assembly. This is not a pattern that I would have picked out myself which is the beauty of the mystery... I ended up with something that I never would have started had I known what I was starting.

All washed up it is 49 x 66. The top is all flannel and the backing is a Moda print from my stash. I had in my mind that I wanted to back it in flannel as well and one day it occurred to me how perfect this fabric would be. It looks like it was made to go together. The binding is also something I found in my stash. The binding is the only part I am not thrilled with. I sewed it on by machine and my technique still needs some work.

I loved it before washing, but after it is all puffy and all the little imperfections in my quilting went away like magic!

We are suposed to get a 'wintery mix' in the morning (in CA we called it slushing) and I already plan to cuddle with this quilt and a cup of coffee in the morning for the morning news!

Progress

I had a little set back yesterday and did not get as far along as I wanted due to a vicious headache, but happy to report that I was able to make up the lost ground today, completing the quilting of the flannel quilt (will share tomorrow when binding is done) and getting the piecing done for the Road to Spring baby quilt. This is expected to come in at about 40 x 45 so maybe more a toddler size. I am loving these colors! I have the brown bandanna print for the back and I think I will run a strip of the dots through it to add interest. The brown stripe shown is planned for binding.

This will now be put aside till next weeks installment of the quilt along. I am going to now go prepare the binding for the flannel so I can pin that tonight while watching TV with the family. Its NCIS night!

Plans for the week (and maybe the next!)

This is what I am working on today. I am taking a break to go run errands and hope to come back and complete the quilting while watching General Hospital this afternoon. The plan is to then get the binding pinned tonight to be done tomorrow morning.

After that, I want to iron these and finish sewing the top for the Road to Spring Quilt Along. I learned a lesson this morning when I found that the notes on block layout that I did when I calculated the size were not to be found and I had to re-do. I need to start keeping those little notes with the quilt till its done!

This is a baby quilt that I started on Thanksgiving vacation and it got put aside while I worked on Christmas projects. The baby is now due anytime so I better get going on it. I think it is going to be a matter of which one gets done first, this or the Katie Jump above.

Next on the list is the Baby Snowballs. I got the borders on and backing cut, just need to finalize how I want to quilt it and do it!

Another in progress.... Authentic squares, sewn and ready, but I decided I didn't like the size so I have ordered two more fabric to add a couple more squares. Sashing is cut and ready, borders determined and backing is ready to go. (oooh, where did I put those notes...)

Last on the list is this pile of Meadow Sweet and Farmers Market that were to be my large Road to Spring. I have not started cutting yet, so this may be whirlygigs instead, or, it may be shelved for now because you may have noticed, none of the plans for the week include any of the Eye Candy from yesterday's post and a couple of them are calling my name... loudly!


Looking at this list I am not sure how much will get done, but, at least I prioritized them :)

Reminder: The February Giveaway is still going on! You get an entry for each comment made on most current post till 2/12.

Eye candy

Since I have not done any sewing the past couple days I thought I would show some of my recent purchases. I have gotten an itch for pre-cuts lately, and Missouri Star Quilt Co. has cooperated by having some of my faves as Deal-of-the-day!

There is a Layer Cake of Hello Betty that I got for the Pinwheel quilt along with Rachel @ ps I Quilt. I got the two charm packs of Verna for the Whirlygig quilt along by Cathy the Turtle Hill Quilter. When I ordered it I gave into the temptation to get the Simple Abundance charm pack since I have been unable to find this fabric in any LQS. Good thing I did because this was the last on in stock! The Make Life jelly roll was on sale earlier in the week and I plan on making a Jelly Filled quilt with it. I saw today that a LQS is getting in the line so I can get fabric there for the border and binding. Last in in pile of eye candy is the Hope Valley charms and roll. I wanted some Hope Valley so bad, but didn't want to order without seeing in person, and again the 11 LQS I have visited in the last month didn't have it, so when I found these pre-cuts at Fresh Squeeze Fabrics I almost cried! (looks like Randi might be out of them now)

And yes, that's 11 LQS in the last month. I decided to get out and explore the areas shops so I have taken two mini-tours plotting the route via google maps. One I hit at the perfect time because they were one week from moving and had a great clearance sale! I got a couple different fabrics from Katie Jump Rope line by Denyse Schmidt for $2.50 Yrd! They ended up in the Road to Spring that is in progress. I also found these 4 Lizzy Dish prints on sale there. I have no idea what I will do with them. Any ideas?

Noodle Swaps

In the beginning of January I entered 2 noodle swaps on swap-bot. I entered both the regular swap as well as the modern swap. A noodle is a 5" by length-of-material strip. In the swap you are assigned 5 people that you send to and 5 people that send to you. Depending on how many are in the game, they may or may not be the same. These are the noodles that I received, and sticking off the top are some little extras that where in a couple of the packages.

I am going to use my swap noodles for a values quilt. I got started last week and have about 20 squares done from scraps and noodles. The brown and pink fabric is one of the fabrics that I sent out.

Sign ups are open till February 12 for the next round, so if this sounds like fun here are the links:

Round #7 US Version
http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/53750

Round #7 INTERNATIONAL VERSION
http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/53749

MODERN US & Canada #2
http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/53748


Reminder, till 2/12 each of your comments are an entry in the February Giveaway!

RWB Irish Chain

I showed this project a couple of months ago as one of the UFO's that were found when I unpacked my stuff from moving here 6 years ago. I had found a backing I liked and it had joined the stack of WIP awaiting the walking foot. I was thinking it would be a nice table topper for July since the colors were so patriotic, however.... my husband recently moved into a new office at work that had terrible art work and he asked if I would make something for him to hang to replace the corporate art.

I decided this would be perfect! The company logo has these colors, and this has enough contrast it will pop as a wall hanging. I completed the binding yesterday and today it is off to work.

I made it from what is now an old Eleanor Burns pattern, Irish Chain single and double from the Quilt in a Day series. Do you buy quilt pattern books? Single patterns? Do you buy them online or in a store? Or do you scope out tutorials or other references that are free on line? This is definitely a pattern that if I made it today I would be finding it online rather than pay for, but, at the time (almost 10 years ago) that was not an option, so I consider it $7.95 well spent.

I am adding this as my Sew & Tell Friday contirbution.

Be sure to check out the other great projects. Last week over 40 projects were listed!

February Giveaway is already closed for this day, but be sure to visit and comment on my most recent post and any new posts untill 2/12 for a chance to win!

Road to Spring quilt along

Randi at i have to say is hosting a fun quilt along that she is calling "On the Road to Spring". We just started cutting this week so it is not too late to join. Look at all the fun fabrics people have posted on the flicker group!

I decided to make two quilts. The first of going to be with a combo of Sandy Henderson Meadow Sweet and Farmers Market. The quilt along will be aprox 50 x 60 but I decided to make mine larger, aprox 60 x 80.

The second one I am going to make a smaller child sized, 40 x 45. Its going to be from the stash I have collected from the Katie Jump Rope line by Denyse Schmidt. I got those pieces all cut yesterday.

Anyone else in this quilt-along? I made an excel spread sheet to calculate how many blocks should be cut for this quilt if you want to make different sizes. If you are in the quilt along and want to use it please ask in a comment and I will email it.

Remember to leave a comment for an entry in the February Giveaway!

February Giveaway!

Happy February! My birthday is later this month, so to celebrate I am having a giveaway! The loot will include the above which is a Alex Anderson redwork panel with 12 patterns, needles and floss. Also included is 1/2 yard of each of the fabrics pictured, and a 4th mystery 1/2 yard. I am also including Quiltmakers 100 blocks magazine issue.


Here's the logistics. You get one entry for every post you comment on until my birthday, 2/12. The catch is that you have to comment on a post before the next posting is made. (ie: comments to enter the giveawy must be on the most recent post) I will not close comments, but I will put a marker comment in each post indicating comments are closed for the giveaway. I will try to post every day. While you will not get extra entries for being a follower, that will obviously help you in identifying when a new post is up.


I need to go work on some projects now so I will have something to post about! Happy February!