Bowls with Borders Blog Hop

It's my day on the Bowls with Borders blog hop....my first hop and I'm so excited to share.   

I knew from the very start that I wanted to make snack mats for my grand kids.  Something small and fast so I'd finish!  LOL.   These little guys are 9x11 inches. This is a paper piecing pattern from Regina and was lots of fun to make.

  

Front of snack mats:

I made them with black backgrounds because....well...because they are kids!   :)   I added some patchwork to the sides and embroidered their names with Perle cotton.  

The back side:

I found a product at Joann's called "Therm O Web, Iron on Vinyl" and made the backs wipe-able.  It worked really well.  It doesn't turn out as soft as professional laminated cotton but this lets you coat any fabric you have in your stash.  

Strawberries, anyone?   

Thanks to Regina for the pattern. I had a ball using it.   

Thanks to Madame Sam of Sew We Quilt and Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for being our organizer/cheerleaders extraordinaire.

Now go check out today's other hoppers and their bowl creations:

August 15th

Binks

Robin S.

Trish

Quilting Along Life's Way

Sew Me Something Good

Quilt Doodle Doodles

Happier Than A Bird Quilts

Dizzy Daze

Bee Tree Designs

Daisy Days

A Quilting Sheep

Knitting Bag

I made this super cute bag with some of my favorite Valori Wells fabrics that I've been hoarding for a while now. :)  The pattern is called "Amanda Knitting Bag" and was pretty easy to follow.  I had never done the boxed bottom the way she had me do it but I just followed her directions and it turned out nice.  

There are lots of pockets on the outside.....none on the inside so I did add one there.

I couldn't resist this amazing elephant print of Valori's for the lining.  I love it so much!

For next time I would change two things.  The zippered pocket is really tiny so I'd make it bigger.  And I'd make the handles bigger because I like being able to put bags over my shoulder.

August's Modern Blocks

I forgot to take pictures of my blocks with my camera so had to do so with my phone during class.  Forgetting things seems to be the theme of my life ever since I entered my 50's!!!      They're a little blurry but that's ok...you'll get the gist.   :)

 This is Selvage Strings.  I matched up my center strings rather than letting them be random sizes.  And while the outside strings are random sizes I did put the same background in all four corners.  

This is Fussy Cut.  The only thing I did different for this block was not put a fussy cut square in the two corners.  This was a fun block to make.  :)

This is Fussy Cut in my alternate fabrics that I make for class demo's.  

I took a few pictures of our students blocks that they made last month.  I thought I'd show you the creativity that is blossoming!

Pinwheel block made with background as a four patch.

Pinwheel block made with strips pieced into the blades.

Fussy Cut block as a mini...she scaled it down to 6 inches!

That's it for August!   Next month we tackle wonky and curves....can't wait.

Design Wall Monday - Hugs and Kisses

I have a super cute quilt on my design wall right now. It's a pattern by Jaybird Quilts called "Hugs and Kisses".     I have bought Hawaiian fabrics the last two times I traveled to Hawaii and my best friend also picked some up for me on one of her trips there.  I used them for this quilt.   Blocks are all done but not put together yet. 

                                                                          Here it is:

And here is a close-up of 4 blocks so you can see the fabrics better:

I love Judy's new motto that she said on her blog this morning - “Why Finish Something When I Can Start Something New?”    That is so true for me....but I'm determined to finish this one as it holds fun vacation memories for me!

You can peek at other projects on design walls this morning at Patchwork Times.

June Bitty Blocks

Can you tell what June's theme was?  :)   Such a fun collection for Happy Hour.  I love them all but I think my favorite of this bunch is the coconut cup with bendy straw.  Mine is the second one on the bottom row.  Pear Vodka Rickey's are a favorite cocktail of mine from this year.  I sent the recipe along with the bitty.  Here it is so you can make one too:

1.5 oz. Pear Vodka (Absolut makes a good one)

1 oz. fresh lime juice

1 oz. simple syrup

Put in shaker with ice...shake and strain into martini glass.  Garnish with a pear slice.  

It's 5:00 somewhere....go enjoy.  :)

July's Modern Blocks

Here are the two blocks we taught in July's block of the month class at Quilted Strait.

This one is "Pinball Machine".  Instead of just two colors like in the book, I decided to use five.  Turned out nice I thought.

"Pinwheel"   This block was too plain for me so I had to mix it up.  Since Pinball Machine is a log cabin variation, I decided to make the pinwheel triangles in a log cabin fashion.  I also made the center circle smaller.  I really like how it turned out.

 This is "Pinball Machine" made in my alternate fabrics that I use to demo in class.  The outer border fabric was just a 10 inch square from a layer cake so I had to piece in some fussy cuts to make them long enough.  

I'm having so much fun making these blocks....and in seeing our students gain confidence to try new things and breaking out of the box.   :)

Bee Blocks Done

 I finished all my blocks for the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee.  I made the Diamond Stack block and think they turned out pretty good.  They aren't all perfect but close enough for me.  :)   Most of the gals wanted yellows and I discovered I have a huge gap in my modern fabric stash -- hardly any yellows!   I really have to remedy that.....more shopping, yeah!

Here are the individual blocks.  For some reason all the pics have a blue tint to them....and I took the pic outside on a sunny day.  Anyhoo...the backgrounds are all white...really.  

For Fran who wanted red, pink and aqua.

For Laurie who wanted aqua, yellow and light grey.

For Heather who wanted grass green, orange, yellow and light blue.

For Jane who wanted yellow and white.

For Loretta who wanted pink, yellow and orange.

For Michonne who wanted yellows and brown.

There ya go! That's it for this round. Can't wait for next quarter so I can try out another fun block pattern.

Test Block

I made my test block for the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee today.   It's called "Diamond Stack" by Anna of Six White Horses blog.  Her tutorial was pretty straight forward and easy to follow. But the cutting and sewing were a bit time consuming and I can't decide if I want to make 6 of them.   Will think on it tonight.

It's fun that the diamond can be up and down like this:

Or on it's side like this:

Which do you think looks better? 

May Bitty Blocks

These are the Bitty Blocks I received for May's theme of "houses".   Aren't they wonderful?  Mine is the  Hawaiian hut with palm tree.  I picked up some Hawaiian fabric while vacationing at the beginning of May just for this idea.  I still can't decide on a favorite this month!

Check out the other bitty blocks being made by this great group of people here.

Modern Blocks Revisited

Each month that Rhonda and I teach the Modern Block of the Month class we make samples to hang in the shop the month before.  That way folks can know what we'll be doing and whether its a month they want to participate in.   I showed those blocks yesterday. 

On class day we each teach one of the blocks construction.  And for that block we make a second sample but don't sew it all together.  That way we can show how to do the various units.
I'm using a different set of fabrics for these.  I have collected lots of Aneela Hoey fabrics and am pairing them with solids and grays for backgrounds.

This is "Follow the Leader".  I fussy cut some triangles out of one fabric for the center to form a distinctive pinwheel.  I also rotated the flying geese to face away from the center in a single column rather than in pairs.  I love the way this change in construction looks.

This is "Best Friends".  I fussy cut a center...so cute.  I also pieced those inner rectangles rather than have them be one fabric.  I also love this change.

It's been fun to see what I can come up with to change the block a bit to show students how to make something their own.

Modern Blocks

Rhonda and I are teaching a year long block of the month class at Quilted Strait.  We are excited to journey alongside our students as we explore the Modern Quilt movement via the contributors in the book "Modern Blocks".

 The book covers all kinds of techniques and our students will have had a taste of all of them by the end of the year.   We choose two blocks each month to make in class....often teaching different methods of making units.  For example, using the "no waste" method of making 4 flying geese at once.

I'm using "Reunion" by Sweetwater for my fabric - with some "Circa 1934" by Cosmo Cricket and solids thrown in too.

Here are the blocks I've made so far:

"Best Friend" block.  1990 date in center is the year Rhonda and I met.

"Follow the Leader" block

"Boxed In" block.

"Meagan's Star" block.


So cute, right?    :)

Tablet Sleeve Finished

I finally finished  the sleeve I cut out for my hubby's tablet.  I used Faith from Fresh Lemon's tutorial.  Its a really well written tutorial and the sleeve went together easily.  My only problem was *my* problem of not being good at sewing openings closed in a pretty fashion.  Sigh.  

I used Etsuko Furuya's Mini Car fabric for the front....I LOVE that fabric!  And then I used some Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for the pocket interior.  Cute.  

Happy tablet in his new cushy home.

I was Nominated!

Remember my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival?

Are you sick of seeing it yet?  :)

It was nominated  for the Doll/Mini category and I'm so excited.   I didn't seek any nominations (thank you, though, to who ever did) but I am gonna ask for votes!   Soooo...would you take a minute and go vote for my quilt here.   Scroll down....I think its the second to last category.  ANYONE can vote....you didn't have to participate in the Festival or be a quilter.  :)    Thanks a bunch.

It's a Wonder...

...I didn't buy these sooner!

See those red clips?   They are called Wonder Clips by Clover.   I had seen them before but only really read that they were good for holding on binding while you sewed. I figured I'd been sewing binding on for about 18 years without them and didn't need 'em.   When all my co-workers were buying them and raving about their uses I decided to join in....sewing peer pressure gets me every time! 

  I gotta say....they really are great.  I won't be using them for binding, but they were perfect for the zipper in the tablet sleeve I'm making for hubby (picture above).  The bottoms lie flat so they slide easily on the sewing machine.  And no pins means no distortion.  

Ok.  Enough said.  Time to get back to sewing.   :)

ps. I bought mine at Pink Chalk here, of course.

Pincushion Received

This is the wonderful package I got from my swap partner, Lynda, in the Fabulous Little Pincushion Swap.

Lynda is from England...one of my favorite countries!  Do you see that cord around the Union Jack pincushion?  It's so you can put the pincushion around your sewing machine....clever, huh?  And she made a slice of cake pin topper in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this year.  Some day I'm gonna have to learn how to make those cute pin toppers and save money buying them.  :)

This was a fun swap and definitely one I'd do again.

Pincushion

This is the first pincushion I've ever made and I love it.  

It is for a swap I'm in over on Flickr called Fab Little Pincushion Swap.  I'm pretty sure my partner will like it...if I've figured out her likes correctly!  :)

I used a block from the Midget Block collection over on Sentimental Stitches to make the top.  Have you seen these little beauty's?  So cute.  They are 4.5 inch blocks and the patterns are free.  I used print scraps and blue Essex linen (from Pink Chalk Fabrics).   And those cute bird pins I got from The Chip Chop Shop.

I had fun making this and plan to try my hand at more pincushions.  

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!