Bloggers' Quilt Festival Spring 2012

Hello to those of you who have popped over from Amy's Creative Side to see my entry for the Quilt Festival!

I've decided to enter a little mini quilt I made for a swap I was in.  It was called The Name Game swap...the purpose being to create a mini inspired by our secret partners blog.  We got to stalk their likes, etc, via our Flickr group.   I blogged about it earlier.   I had so much fun creating this little beauty.

This was my first time making Cathedral Windows and I enjoyed the process.....though it was time consuming.  I can't imagine making a full size quilt this way!   I used Kona Snow for the background and raided my scrap bag and button jar for the rest.....oh, and used this tutorial from Moda Bakeshop.

  I'm working my way through the list to see everyone's entries!    Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back to visit again!

Edited to add:   My entry is #296 if you are nominating and/or voting.  Thanks!

April Bitty Blocks

These are all the black and white with a pop of color bitty blocks from April.  I love them all but I think the tea cup is my favorite.  I like how she did the "pop of color" as the tea bag tag....so clever.   My block is the two cats facing each other and the blue ball is yarn I fused on.

Go pop in and check out the current bitty blocks being made at the Bitty Block Committee group on Flickr.  

Mothers Day Firsts

Jenny and her family came over for Mothers Day and we went to the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.  A first time visit for me despite living nearby for 20 years!    Bloedel is a beautiful public garden with 150 acres of natural forests and landscaped gardens.  I loved it and can't wait to go back again.

This was the easiest way to get pics of my grand children -- when they weren't looking!   :)

Nana is enjoying the view from the estate home while Heidi is looking for something to climb on.

Another first that happened on Mothers Day was teaching Liam to sew.  He has wanted to make a quilt for a while and Sunday was the day to start.

I worked the foot pedal for a couple of rows but then he did it standing up.  It actually helped him slow down to work the pedal himself rather than telling me to go faster!  We will work on it again the next time they come over.

So much easier to teach my grandson than my own kids.  Why is that?   :)

Great day.

A Month? Really?

I can't believe I haven't posted any thing in a month!   And now I discover Blogger has changed......and oh how I hate tech changes!!!   My head hurts already.  :)

I have been sewing this past month....and vacationing.   I have a few things to share but I'm gonna put them in multiple posts and help myself get comfortable with these new Blogger changes.

Last months Bitty Block Committee theme was Black & White with a pop of color.  My color was aqua.  This is the block I made for everyone:

I saw a poster online with these silhouettes of cats facing out and thought it'd be fun to turn them in and put a ball of yarn between them.   Pretty cute, if I say so myself.   I still have one more block to receive and when I do I'll post them all....so much creativity to see!

March Bitty Blocks

All my blocks from last months Bitty Block swap are here so it's time for a picture:

Row one:  Sandy's, Susan's & Kim's

Row two: Ruth's, Kandra's & Mine

Row three: Melinda's, Pattiann's & Rick's.

So cute, huh?   These are each 3.5 inches and the workmanship is amazing.  Love this swap.

Mug Rug received

I received my Spring Mug Rug yesterday and nearly fell over!  We don't know who has us in these swaps so when you peek at pictures in the Flickr pool you drool over your favorites hoping....HOPING.....you get one you love!   And I did!   There were lots I liked but only a few I loved.  I am so dang happy.

   Many thanks to Edy who made this adorable mini quilt.  My picture doesn't do it justice. I didn't take any close up shots either but her raw edge stitching on the applique is perfect and her embroidery is perfect too.  Some day I'll be this good.   :)

Bee Blocks

I joined my first Bee via Flickr earlier this year.  It's called the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee.   I like that the time frame is short.....no year long Bee's for me.  Each quarter (if you participate) you make blocks for 6 other Bee members and yourself.  And, of course, then get back 6 different blocks.  After making the Urban Nine Patch for myself, I decided to make it for my Bee members.  Here they are all finished and ready to package and mail.

For Jana who wanted rainbow colors and a white background:

For Loretta who wanted red, white and blue:

For Mary who wanted yellow, orange and lime with white:

For Erika who wanted rainbow colors with black:

For Wendi who wanted aqua, red and a touch of yellow with white background:

For Sara who wanted rainbow colors with black:

I wasn't able to get a complete rainbow in each of the rainbow blocks and keep the design.  I'm hoping those ladies will be ok with a color or two missing from the rainbow.   :)

As soon as I get all my blocks I will post a picture of what I received.

It's been fun and I intend to do the next round. 

Sewing on a Small Scale

I am in a swapping group over on Flickr called The Bitty Block Committee.  This group makes and swaps 3.5 inch blocks according to the monthly themes.  I've been following the group for several months but they didn't have any openings until recently.  I was soooooooo excited to be able to join..........and also a bit intimidated by the level of work they do.   There are always two themes per month and members can do one or both.  I am starting with just one!   This month I was in a Pirate group.

Here are the blocks I made - Captain Peg Leg:

I have received some wonderful blocks in return -- a ship, a treasure map, pirate girl, parrot & more -- but words just can't describe how amazing these little works of art are!  You have to go peek at the Flickr group pool.

Next month it's black & white with one other color (mine is aqua) with the design of our choice.  I already have an idea for mine and can't wait to see what the others come up with.

Scallop Quilt

I have not had blogging on my mind for a while!  This is the Scallop Quilt top I made in the Curves class I took.   Its a nice crib size or small lap quilt.   Rachel made hers in all solids but I wanted to use only fabrics from my stash and didn't have yardage enough in any solids.  But I like this version too.  :)

This was a quick quilt to make.  Definitely one to remember.

Name Game Swap - What I Made

My partners quilt finally arrived in Australia so now I can show pics of it.  

I knew from the info given me that Sally liked bright colors.  I read her blog and peeked at her Pinterest boards to get an idea of quilts that she might like.  I decided on Cathedral Windows......even though I knew putting her blog name on it was going to be a challenge.   My co-worker, Carrie, gave me the idea of a tag to hang from a button.  Perfect!

Sally's blog is called Fat 1/4's and Bobbins.   I traced her logo and embroidered it.  Cute, if I say so myself!  :)

I used this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop to make my Windows.  Well written and easy to follow.

Name Game Swap

I joined a few swaps this year....something I haven't done in years....and have been having a ball challenging myself.  The first one I joined was back in January and is called the Name Game Swap.   Anorina of Samelia's Mum organized it.  We were given a partner (its a blind swap so you don't know who has you!) and had to make a mini quilt with their blog name or real name on it.  I chose to have my blog name done.  After "stalking" your partner for a bit you made them their mini ("stalking" via reading their blog and peeking at their Flickr pools....I also stalked my partner on her Pinterest boards!)    I will show you the one I made for my partner as soon as she gets it.  But I can show you the one I received cuz I just got it today!!!!  Woo hoo!

Cheryll of Gone Stitchin' made me the cutest mini!  I totally love it.   She captured my blog header so nicely and added applique bits of things I love......coffee, books and fabric!

Cheryll was a sweetie and also included a few goodies - some daisy fabric (yes!), pins and fun embellishments.  She lives in Australia and I love the stamps on her package -- Santa coming up from the ocean...so cute. 

  Thank you, Cheryll!!!

Urban Nine Patch

One night while surfing blogs I ran across Sew Kind Of Wonderful  by Jenny Pedigo.    I was immediately drawn to her curvy quilt patterns that you can see on the right hand side.  LOVE them.  I told my boss about them (these quilts are so Pink Chalk!)...and funny thing was Kathy had just found them too!  Long story short...Kathy ordered the rulers and now carries the patterns.  I bought a ruler but can't decide which quilt pattern to get so haven't yet.

Jenny recently created a new block called "Urban Nine Patch" that uses the ruler.  She posted a free tutorial on her blog for making it and I figured that was the perfect way to learn the ruler and get more practice sewing curves.  So today I made one.  

Here it is:

So gorgeous!  I totally love this.   And it turned out perfect.  

Totally perfect points see:

And it's perfectly 12.5 inches.  I followed the tutorial to the "t" and everything was great.  Jenny sews her curves differently than I learned years ago (and different from Rachel's teaching in the Curves class)...by sewing with the convex piece on top instead of the other way around.  I did it Jenny's way and it worked fine for this block.  

I think I will be making this block for my [3x6] Mini Bee members.   :)

Improv Curves

This week in my Curves class with Rachel we worked with improv curves.  I  ended up having a busier week than expected so didn't get to accomplish much...we had 3 projects to choose from and I only finished one mini top, still have to quilt it.

It's called O Christmas Tree Mini.  Isn't it cute?

Free-form...unplanned work is hard for me....curved or otherwise!   I struggled a bit with this.  Kept thinking I wished someone would just give me a pattern to follow.  Curves aren't scary but no planned pattern is.  :)

Here's a close up of the tree.  I think it turned out nicely.

Not sure if I'll try the improv table runner that was also this week or wait till I have more time to concentrate. 

Can't wait for next weeks projects.   :)

Clamshell Pillow

I'm taking an online class on curved sewing from Rachel of Stitched in Color.  Last week was our first week (out of  five) of class and I loved it.  I'm not new to curved sewing or curved piecing but I am new to improv curved sewing (which we are doing this week!) which is why I took the class.  Plus I love classes and always seem to learn something new.  Rachel is doing a fabulous job!

This is the clamshell pillow project from last week that I finished yesterday:

Matches my red chair so nicely, don't ya think?  :)   The printed fabric is Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket and the solid is Essex Linen.

I thought I had done pretty good sewing in the invisible zipper but it actually has a little bump on it.  Not sure what I did that caused that.  Will have to surf some other tutes and see if something jumps out at me so I can do better next time.  

Baby blanket

Finished this crocheted baby blanket on Friday.  Isn't it lovely?   I love making these soft and cuddly blankets.  This one is for one of best friends first grand child.....due in less than two weeks!   It'll be in the mail tomorrow.  :)      

Come Rain or Shine

Isn't that the cutest little wall hanging?  I just LOVE it.   During one of my blog reading days I came across Mia's darling wool felted items.  I pinned one on Pinterest and then thought....I want one I can hang on an actual wall and not a cyber one.  So I splurged and bought one.  This design was one of my favorites.  Birds and rain....so appropriate for here, don't ya think?   

This is the back.  

Check out more of Mia's items at her Etsy shop and maybe splurge for yourself!   

Design Wall Monday - Curlicue Crush

I am currently cutting out fabric for the Curlicue Crush quilt by Bec of Chasing Cottons.  I've wanted to make this for quite some time.  But first I wanted just the right fabric. Of course!  These are all by Patricia Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics.  Love her work.
The pattern calls for you to make your own templates for the curved block.  Oooo...that was a stumbling block for me.  I really didn't want to cut that many curves with a plastic template.  TabSlot to the rescue.  Have you heard of this Etsy shop?   I was so excited to find it.  Jill will custom make templates for you.  All I had to do was ask and voila! I had acrylic templates.    I would be done cutting by now but I've been sick and doing nothing but napping these past several day.

I wanted to try sewing this curve so played with some scraps.  Since this is a corner to corner curve I knew I wouldn't have much room to mess up or I'd have no seam allowance.   No problems though.  The little blocks sewed up nicely.

This is as "off" as I got:

That would be a sixteenth of an inch and is close enough for me!  I feel pretty confident to start the sewing.  Sew sew excited!!!

Linking up with other Design Wall Monday folks over at Patchwork Times.

Beach Projects

I've written many times about my best friends. My Yaya's.  Every year we head to the Washington coast for a winter get-away of fun.   Our vacation always starts with a stop at Starbucks:

This year 3 of us turned 50 (M turned 50 two years ago) and were presented with our Tiara's.  We wore them all day on our way to the coast.  :)

This New Wave quilt was my main project.  We had such beautiful weather this year that I was able to get a picture outside.   I used Valori Wells fabric...most from her Nest collection.  I LOVE these fabrics. 

I also made my first journal cover. There are tons of free tutorials online and I read a bunch to see how they were made.   I chose to make a pretty plain one so I could see how it went.  I'm always a bit nervous about non-quilt sewing.   I love these Echino prints.   

I added a pocket for my pen.  I think I made it too skinny cuz it pulls.  Next time I'll allow more.

Remember this Mini Stacked Strips wall hanging I made.  Well I took the itty bitty scraps and made a Mini Mini one!   The strips are 1/2 inch and the whole thing is only 9 inches by 18 inches.  Some colors are missing because I didn't have enough.  But its still so cute.  That makes 3 of these Stacked Strips quilts from one Kona solids jelly roll.   :)

We had some amazing sunrises and sunsets.  

Nighty night!   :)

Free Motion Practice Again

First off let me say I really chose the wrong fabric to use for my free motion practice when I needed to be able to film it for the link ups!   Next time I'll be better.  :)    

Besides doing the weekly challenges of Leah's, I am also doing the monthly Free Motion Challenge over at SewCalGal.   Frances Moore is our teacher for January and she gave us this leaf design to work on.  Here is my first attempt at the leaves....if you can see it!

                                         They are fun to do but I struggle with consistency.  Oi!  


For my second try I did the leaves as a border to see if I could do that.  I had trouble flipping them so they wouldn't always look like a straight line.   Then in the middle I did week two of Leah's challenge -- which was to try to do stippling in rows.   Oh did that not work to well for me.  I learned to stipple years and years ago and was taught to randomly work so my brain just doesn't want to work in rows.  I may need to let it go with stippling and work on that idea with future designs.

Here's a close-up:

You're probably gonna be sick of my posts on free motion practice.  I'm linking up each week/month in order to get input from others and also for prizes with SewCalGal.    I'm even considering adding in the free motion quilt along over at Quokka Quilts to get even more practice.   We shall see.   Being house bound due to snow  for several days has sure helped with getting work done.   :)

Free Motion Quilting

2012 is the year for me to get free motion quilting (fmq) from just being head knowledge to being actual experience.  I've taken several classes and done a few quilts...some on my home machine and some on a long arm I rented.  But I've never practiced consistently...which means I'm constantly a beginner having to re-learn everything!

Leah Day from The Free Motion Quilting Project blog is hosting Quilt Along every Wednesday where she is guiding readers in learning fmq'ing.  She is starting us out with basic stippling.  I've stippled a little before so I just dove in an did it all over style.   I was trying to keep it big but found myself getting tighter...then I'd try to go big again.  Being consistent is definitely my issue!  No wonder Leah (and every fmq teacher I've ever had) tells you the key is PRACTICE!   :)
I'm quilting on a Juki TL-2010Q and using Aurifil 50wt. thread (cuz that's all I own).

Here's my first little practice piece:

And here's a close-up of some of my trouble spots:

Big stitches and pointy spots.  

I am easily distracted and it really affects my quilting.  A few minutes of the same old same old and I drift off mentally to something else.  Not quite sure what to do about that!  Maybe an actual quilt would help.   I also had trouble when I'd stop to relax (my shoulders get hunched up to my ears in no time flat) and would start again....my starts would be pointy or end up with those long stitches.   

Time for lunch and then back to PRACTICING.    

Pouches

I'm finally getting around to showing the other gifts I made this year -- Pouches!   I had so much fun with these.  I actually made another one but didn't get a picture of it. I actually didn't get any pictures!  I'm using these images that were taken at work for a blog post they did (we all made pouches).    We used Elizabeth Hartman's' "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern.  Her patterns are excellent.  I liked her method for putting in the zipper.  I created my own patchwork and added personal touches inspired by each of my friends.   

This is the back of  the air stream one.  So cute. 

I got those zipper pulls and the zippers from Zipit Etsy shop.  

And this is the back of the one with the glasses.  Those are one inch squares.

Such a fun project with so many uses.

Push for the New Year

No regular type of New Years resolutions for me this year.  Like so many of you, I never keep 'em.   

This time I decided to choose a word to focus on for the year.  I've been pondering which word........a task that normally would take weeks and weeks......until I realized that what I had to do to pick a word was my word! Push....push through the over-thinking and choose.   Nike's "Just Do It" is my self-nag but its already chosen and I wouldn't want to get into copyright infringement!   Hee, hee.  

So PUSH it is.  Push myself to: love more, get in shape (sigh), learn the auto harp, write a few letters, connect with people more, grow creatively, let go...and so much more.