30 Lists Blog Hop

September is almost here and that means the start of the 30 Lists challenge I joined.  

There is a blog hop going on today to introduce the challenge via showing lists.  We were asked to pick a prompt from the March 2011 challenge. (Those prompts are available here).

I chose "recipes to try" and here is my list:

 

Dora Wat (Spicy Ethiopian Stew)

Italian Drunken Noodles

Buffalo Chicken Chowder

Chopped Orzo Corn Salad

You can see other posts with sample lists at their Facebook page.

Fabric Pull

I signed up for Rachel Hauser's latest class over at Stitched In Color.  Its called "Angled" and features 5 - yes, I said 5!!! - quilts.  You can see all the class quilts and read about it here.  

The top one I'm super excited to make is called "Indian Blanket".  All equilateral triangles in different sizes. 

Here is my initial fabric pull for that quilt:

Several Bonnie Christine collections and solids from Art Gallery.   Love.

There are more than I need so I have to edit.  Next step is to put them in pairs (rows have two) and put on my design wall to see what I think.  

I can't wait for class to start so I can begin cutting!

Creative Challenges

I have decided to expand my creativity with two new challenges.  Neither have anything to do with fabric!!!

I signed up for 30 Days of Lists hosted by Campfire Chic and Lemon & Raspberry.

I have always dreamed of being an awesome scrapbooker.  That's as far as it gets....dreaming.  I see albums gals make and I'm impressed.  But never could make myself do it.  Heck, if I have time I want to sew!   I also admire those who keep journals.  Another dream that stays dreamy.  :)

Combine the two and you have this list challenge.   I joined because it looks doable.  Its only 30 days.    There is a prompt and all I have to do is list a few things...not write long involved entries!  I'm using a small pad of index cards.  I only need to experiment with creativity on a small scale.  Kinda like my mini quilts.  

This is the other thing I signed up for.  A creative pen pal swap. (which is still open)

I already got my partner. She's in Australia.  I'm looking forward to pushing creativity with this too.

Do you see the trend?   Paper.   What's up with that?   :)     Has me giggling since sewing on paper is something I dislike.  

But then I keep on doing it.  Working on my Prism blocks.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Binding by Machine

I have always put on binding by sewing it to the front by machine then hand sewing it down on the back.  It turns out beautiful.  But it is time consuming (not that I mind!).  I tried to attach binding on both sides by machine with my 99 Modern Block quilt.  I used a straight stitch but didn't like how it looked on the back at all.  Partly because I'm not good at it but also because it just didn't catch everything. That resulted in re-doing sections.  Can you say pain in the backside?  

With my Penny Sampler quilt I decided to try Pat Sloan's method of machine sewing binding on a quilt. Only thing I did different was that I use a double fold binding.  I like how it looks so much better!  

This is the front:

And this is the back:

You can see it isn't perfectly aligned but because it was sewn down first on this back side it isn't wavy or wonky.....just has stitching slightly off.  I can live with this.

Especially since it was so FAST compared to hand sewing.

I have another quilt ready to have the binding sewn on. I'm gonna try this method again but with a wide zig zag stitch and see which stitch I like best.   Doing them by machine will mean I can actually finish more and reduce my ufo pile!   :)

Mini Swap Quilts

I am home from vacation.  In the mail was the mini I received from my partner so now I can finally show you the mini I made for her in the Mini QT Swap.  The theme this round was "Anything Goes" which is why I joined in.  I liked the openness of it!

Remember all those paper pieced segments?  Well.....tada:

I love how it turned out and thankfully so does my partner, Mona.  The pattern is called "Right Round" by Janice of Better Off Thread.   I wanted to make it smaller to fit the rules of the swap so I reduced it to 60% which made it a 13 inch square.  It was a lot of work but the results are great.  I would make it again...but next time I'm keeping it!!!

I was not disappointed at all in the mini I received.

Gorgeous!  Mona used solids for the itty bitty wonky stars and linen for the background.  And then she hand stitched around each star.....in matching thread colors.   I love everything about it!

Mini's make my heart sing. 

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.