So Sweet

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  Mine was great - but more on that later.  First a little eye-candy.  My sister has a new addition to their family.  This is Natasha, a kitten they adopted a few days ago.  She is so completely adorable I could hardly stand it.  If I weren't so worried about my own cat being displeased by smelling her on my clothes (he has "behavioral" problems) I probably would have spent the entire day playing with her and holding her.  I do so love little kitties!!!  BTW, this was one of the few pictures where she is standing still - she's a bundle of energy.

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Max turns 6!

My younger nephew, Max, turned 6 yesterday!  The family got together over the weekend and celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's where the boys had a ball!

My mom made him a Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) quilt with a fussy cut dog print that came out really great!  I love the way she planned the print and colors.  I wouldn't have immediately known this was a D9P pattern if she hadn't told me!

Here's my two nephews together - Jackson and Max.  Love those boys!!

Holiday Bingo Game 2010

The Quilt Shoppe is having another Bingo game on their blog for the holidays.  It was fun last time around even though I didn't win.  Go to their site for all of the information you need here.  The game starts on Friday, December 10 and you need to get your words registered with them the day before.  They have daily prizes as well as a grand prize.  Can't wait to start!!

Dear Jane Block J-6

Here's my latest Dear Jane block - created over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  I paper pieced this one even though I probably could have made it without the paper.  The pieces are SO tiny!  I don't have the block in front of my right now, but I'd say the squares in the center are 1/2" or smaller.  I have other projects to work on and finish before the beginning of the year, so I'll probably put my DJ on hold again for a little while.

Dear Jane Block K-12

I've had a couple of finished Dear Jane blocks to be posted waiting in the wings.  Just too darn busy over the Thansksgiving holiday.  The good thing about these blocks is that they are so small (4 1/2" finished) that they fit in my scanner and I don't need a camera to get them posted!  This one was a quickie - paper pieced on one foundation.  Another one will be coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!

Dear Jane Block I-8

I finished another Dear Jane block today!  I had the center portion finished a few weeks ago, but I wasn't able to put the last pieces on until today.  It felt great to get something done that wasn't for a deadline! Today I also finished the binding on a quilt that will be a Christmas gift, so that was quite a relief. Tomorrow I might just work on another DJ block. Things are going to be getting very busy with the holidays coming, so this weekend I plan to do fun things for me. We'll see how much actually gets done...

Tote Bag Roundup

Sorry about the generic line drawing picture today, but I'm sitll dealing with my camera issues.  I just wanted to link up to Skip to My Lou, which has a listing of tote bag tutorials.  I've been wanting to make some easy market bags, possibly for Christmas gifts.  There are a few on this list that look like winners.  Hop over to this post to find links to 10 tutorials.

Sweet Zips

I made a couple of these cute zippered pouches for gifts recently and I wanted to share them with you. Unfortunately, my camera is wheezing its last dying breaths at the moment, and I wasn't able to get any pictures of my own before I gave them away. The picture above is from Terry Atkinson (shown with permission), who generously posted the pattern on her blog for free during the Falloween blog hop last month. You can get the pattern on this blog post, which also explains who she is. If you don't know her by name, you certainly know her patterns. She's designed some famous ones, such as Yellow Brick Road. I can't remember how many times I've made that particular pattern. It is a favorite for baby/child quilts. However, I never seem to be able to find it when I need it, so I think I've bought it about three times! Someday when I get my act (and sewing room) together, I'll have a pile of the same pattern!

More Holiday Blog Hopping!

Another blog hop is going on this week. I sure love these - lots of great ideas and new-to-me blogs to read as well! Each blog you visit will have a project as well as a cookie recipe. You can find the master list here. Each designer will present one project on their day, but they will all have cookie recipes every day - that's a lot of recipes! Be sure to comment on each post to be entered for a grand prize drawing, as well as daily giveaways. Happy Hopping!

Veterans Day 2010

Heartfelt thanks to all who have served.

Handmade Holidays 2010

I almost missed the start of Handmade Holidays over at Sew, Mama, Sew! This is the fourth year that they've had Handmade Holidays and it is something that I've really started to look forward to each year. The Sew, Mama, Sew! blog will feature links to tutorials every day in November to help us get going on making holiday gifts. Each day has a theme, and they will have several links to theme-appropriate gift tutorials, as well as links for a recipe, a printable, and a shop. You can also enter to win prizes each day. I have found some great ideas in years past. Check it out soon (and often)!!

Yay Giants!

That Girl's Quilt Along

Jennifer from That Girl, That Quilt is having a quilt along with weekly posts on her blog. It looks like a good one! Fast to make and, even better, stash busting! You'll need a charm pack (or 40 5" squares), and some solid fabrics. She's already gotten started, but is still in the beginning stages. Right now she's on the fabric cutting step. I have so many things going on right now, but I might have to sneak this one in...

You can find the previous posts here: First post (not the quilt in the picture), Week 1 (supply list), and Week 2 (cutting).

Design Wall Monday - 10/04/10

This Dear Jane block (J4) as well as block L12 are on my design wall right now. I am in between projects and I decided to make a couple of these since I haven't made any in quite a while. I started with this one because it was simple and I wanted to ease back into it. L12 was more difficult. Very small (foundation) piecing, which is done. Now I just need to applique four teeny tiny triangles onto the corners. I'm not great at applique and I'm not looking forward to doing such small pieces. Just gotta do it, though!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 40

I haven't made a stash busting report in a while. I didn't do much sewing over the summer and then I started to lose track of what I had been using. I need to start using a spreadsheet to track as I go. I believe I've used about 5 yards since my last stash post. I made the entire pinwheel quilt and pillow from stash (yay!!). Now to figure out how much I've purchased. I'm pretty sure I've only bought 1/2 yard for a possible border that I didn't end up using. I've certainly looked at a lot of fabric online that I would love to buy!

Check out Judy L's blog to see how the others are doing!

Fabric added this week: 0.50 yards
Fabric used this week: 5.00 yards

Fabric added this year: 24.00 yards
Fabric used this year: 25.00 yards

I'm Still Here

I'm still here! I feel like I keep saying that lately. Lots going on and then there's that pesky work thing that takes up most of my day...

The fall session of the quilting class that I teach began last night and I have a pretty good size crowd this time around. The pillow that I was working on in my last post (last month) came together very quickly and is one of the projects that I am presenting in class. Everyone seems pretty excited about it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to make a matching one for Lance to keep the peace! I draw the line at making one for Bear, our cat. He claims everything as his own anyway, so he's got plenty.

Next I made a twisted pinwheel quilt that was really fun and surprisingly easy to put together. These have become really popular lately, but the concept has actually been around for years. My mom pulled out a pattern from the early 90's that used the same technique! It just goes to show that there's rarely (if ever) anything truely new in the quilt world! And best of all, the entire quilt top was made from stash fabric, as was the pillow!!

The third project is the same one that I taught at a local quilt shop in the Summer. This one is so fast it can be put together in a day. One student is on her second top and we only just had the first class! To be fair, I gave pre-cutting instructions at the end of the last session, and she figured out the rest on her own. No stash used on this one - I splurged and bought everything I needed. I don't have a lot of batiks in my stash and I felt that they would look really good in this design.

Now I need to calculate all of the stash I used so I can add it to my (non) weekly report. I've been lax on that so I need to put a little work in on that. Next up, two charity quilts, one Christmas gift and a lovely quilt show this weekend.

Design Wall Monday - 08/23/10

Here's my design "table" for this week. I thought I'd try out a technique I've had in my head for a while now. I appliqued (fused) a "K" onto fabric and will turn it into a pillow. I think this one will be fairly simple, but I have all sorts of ideas for piecing around the letter. I bought the print fabric a year or two ago and didn't have a plan for it - I just liked the unusual design. It's hard to tell from this picture, but there are lots of overlapping circles, and inside each circle is a design - mostly flowers and leaves, but some have clock faces and other things. I keep pulling it out of the stash to try to use it, but nothing worked before. This will be perfect for this pillow. I think it will turn out very elegant looking.

Hop over to Judy L's blog to see what is on other people's design walls!

Design Wall Monday 8/16/10

Well I didn't get much farther from last week. The top is all together and I decided not to put borders on it. I got delayed because I really wanted to use Minkee for the backing and I couldn't find it at my usual LQS at first. But I did find some this weekend, so I'm back on track and hopefully I'll have the whole thing done by Thursday when it supposed to be given to the new baby. The picture above was taken when I was cutting the Minkee to size. I always forget that Minkee is a little heavy, so I need to go out and get a thinner batting so it doesn't end up too heavy for the baby. I'll just tie this one instead of quilting.

While I was at the shop getting the backing, I finally broke down and got some Paper Pieces to make hexagons - or "hexies" as they are being called now. They are SO popular right now and there are all kinds of tutorials for making them so that you don't have to baste them to the paper foundations. I prepped two just to get it out of my system. They go pretty fast, so we'll see what happens with those. Maybe nothing or maybe a pillow or something. We'll see...

I'm So Excited!!

I am a huge fan of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. It is an on-line quilt show where members can view a new episode premiering every two weeks. But it's more than that. It is also an on-line quilting community with forums, patterns, projects, and a blog that is updated at least once daily. Last I heard, there were over 30,000 members (probably a lot more now) from all over the world. Each member gets a profile that they can update if they choose, and even post pictures of quilts that they have made. In an effort to create a database of quilts, when a member posts a quilt, they fill out all kinds of information about it, like when it was made, size, techniques used, etc.

Anyway, here's the exciting part -- a while back they started featuring a Quilt of the Day pulled from the database of member quilt photos. I recently got an e-mail from them saying they were going to feature one of MY quilts as a Quilt of the Day! How awesome! There are literally thousands of quilts on their site and they picked one of mine! I'm on cloud nine!

You don't need to be a member to look at their blog, so anyone can hop on over there on Tuesday, August 17th to see my Double Pinwheel quilt.

Design Wall Monday

In addidtion to hosting the stash reports on Sundays, Judy over at Patchwork Times has Design Wall Mondays, where everyone links to their post showing what is currently on their design wall. I don't really have a usable design wall right now, but I do have my dining room table! I've been working on this baby quilt and I'm just about done. Here I have the blocks sewn in to rows, but the rows are separate. there are actually five rows there, but I couldn't fit them all on the table. My preliminary design printout from EQ7 is there, too.



Below is a closer up view of the focus fabric. Monkeys, of course!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 32

I hadn't been doing much sewing this summer. I guess I really needed a little quilting break. So many deadlines started to take the fun out of it all. However, I did still manage to buy some fabric since I posted last. Gee, how ever did that happen!! Above is a fat quarter pack from the popular Hope Valley line. It 's not my usual colors, but I like looking at them and I can't wait to figure something out to use them in.

It also suddenly happened that I had a baby quilt to make, so I decided to do a quick pattern that I had already worked out for my class. Just an cute all-over print boxed with two different fabrics. I found a great monkey fabric that I really wanted to show more of, so I altered my original pattern slightly by making the focus print square bigger and the box borders narrower. The fabrics are below. I ended up not using the plain green with the tiny brown dots in this quilt, but I have enough fabric left over to make another baby quilt in possibly a different pattern.

So I have 2 yards of the Hope Valley fabric, and I ended up with 4 1/2 yards of the baby quilt fabric. I wanted to get some Minkee for the backing of the baby quilt, but my LQS isn't carrying it anymore. I'll either have to order it online or try for another shop farther away. Which means I'll have more to add next week.

Fabric added this week: 6.50 yards

Fabric used this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric added this year: 23.50 yards

Fabric used this year: 20.00 yards

Total stash busted this year: -3.50 yards

I'm a Henderson

I've been a huge fan of the Bizarro comics since I was in high school, and now that I read Dan Piraro's blog, I have found out that this was around the time he only just started in the comics business. I (of course) found the above comic especially funny, and I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing the image from his blog. He also has an iPhone app where you can see all of his daily comics as they are released, which Lance has already downloaded onto his iTouch. If I were ever inclined to get an iPhone, this would be the first app I would get!

Summer Drought

Sorry for the lack of postings lately! My quilt classes are finally finished until September and I've been savoring a little non-sewing time. And I've also been sick with a summer cold, which has not been fun. I'll be back to sewing soon, hopefully on a few Dear Jane blocks. It's been a while since I've made one of those and I can't wait to get back to it!

I did find a new blog that sounds really interesting, called Quilt Story. The gals behind the blog were inspired by different quilts they would see online that have interesting stories behind them, so they started a blog to highlight such quilts. The blog has only been around a few months, so it will be interesting to back to the beginning and read through all of the posts. Enjoy!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 25

Not much going on this week in the sewing department. I had made the green block above a little over a week ago for Anna Maria Horner's Rainbow Around the Block program. I didn't get around to posting it until now. I made the pink block this weekend. She is asking for monochromatic 12" blocks to put together for flood victims in Tennessee. If you are interested, the pattern for the green block can be found here, and the pattern for the pink block can be found here. Both great resources for free quilt patterns!

Nothing added this week. Between the two blocks I'll call it 1/4 yard out of the stash.

Fabric added this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric used this week: 0.25 yards

Fabric added this year: 17.00 yards
Fabric used this year: 20.00 yards

Total stash busted this year: 3.00 yards

Stashbusting 2010 - Week 24

I finished the quilt for the summer class, which I'll also be teaching in the Fall. I went with all batik fabrics on this one. I haven't used batiks for a while and I thought the mottled colors lent themselves well to this type of design. I'm really pleased with it, and it went together very quickly. So now I'll be teaching the Zig Zag quilt as well as this one at the three-day workshop later this month.

I did add to my stash since I posted last. I bought all of the fabric for this quilt plus 1/4 yard, which came to 4.5 yards. But then I get to count 4.25 yards back out for finishing the top!

Fabric added this week: 4.50 yards

Fabric used this week: 4.25 yards

Fabric added this year: 17.00 yards

Fabric used this year: 19.75 yards

Total fabric used this year: 2.75 yards

Jelly Roll Quilt Along Blocks 3 & 4

I got the next two blocks done for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. They've actually been done for a little while, but I haven't had a chance to post them until now. I'm still three blocks behind, but I have some other things to finish before I can make another one. I'm having a lot of fun with this project and it feels good to use all stash for something!

Quilt Blocks for Flood Victims

You may have heard about the recent devastating floods in the Nashville area of Tennessee. Anna Maria Horner is a fabric designer and quilting/sewing author who lives in the area, and has decided to help out her community. She has put together a program called Rainbow Around the Block, where you can make 12 1/2" blocks (see specifics) and send them to her. She has a crew that will assemble the blocks into quilts and distribute to local families. She will also accept completed quilts -- hop over to her site for all of the details and help out our community!

Memorial Day 2010

Heartfelt thanks to all who have served.

Quilt Bingo

This sounds like a fun thing to do! The Quilt Shoppe's blog is going to have a Quilt Bingo game running on their blog next week. All you need to do is choose some words from a list and as they call off words, cross them off your list. If yours are all crossed off first, you get BINGO! Check out this post for all the details. The prize is amazing!

Stashbusting 2010 - Week 20

Just a quick post to report my stashbusting efforts. Sorry no picture today, but I'll link to what I bought! The week before last, I purchased a pack of batik fat quarters from the Fat Quarter Shop for a project that I really want to make soon. It has 12 fat quarters, so 3 yards added. I did wrap a gift in a fat quarter, and I made two small gift bags for Mother's Day which together probably took a quarter yard, so 1/2 yard out.

No sewing for me this week. This weekend we saw Iron Man 2, which was awesome! Then Sunday, Lance and I did some major Spring Cleaning at the humble abode. It was sorely needed. We're not done yet, but we got quite a lot done. Then we were off to a member's event at Savvy Cellar in honor of their new Mountain View location, which opens this Thursday. It is a really nice location near the train station with a nice, comfy patio area. We'll definitely be going there again once it opens!

Fabric added this week: 3.00 yards
Fabric used this week: 0.50 yards

Fabric added this year: 12.50 yards
Fabric used this year: 15.50 yards

Total stash used this year: 3.00 yards

Sewing Day Mother's Day

Last Saturday we celebrated Mother's Day by having an all-day sewing day at my Mom's house. My sister and I brought our projects and sewing supplies and we talked and sewed and ate and had a great time. We started out with a little show and tell. I showed my recent class projects that they hadn't seen in person. My sister's project was in pieces - but during our day she got the whole top together and was working on the borders when we decided to call it quits. My mom had some recent finishes that I snapped some quick pictures of.

The first one was all made with fruit and vegetable prints, which she calls "Farmer's Market". It came out really great! I had seen it a while back when it was in pieces and I am amazed at how it wonderful it looks all together. I've seen these prints in the shops and I could never figure out how I would ever use them in a quilt. Well done, Mom!

The next one is all done in black prints and white on white prints. The entire quilt is made of squares of different fabrics that are pieced together. A lot of work went into this one and the end result is stunning!!

Meanwhile I'm still working on my last class project until fall. Then a much appreciated break over the summer. It will be really nice to be able to sew without deadlines. Maybe I'll be able to work on my Dear Jane quilt again! I'm still plugging away at the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along for fun. I have the third block done and the fourth is cut out. Those will (should) be done over the weekend. I have some fabric purchases to confess, so I'll be back for the stash report on Sunday. Enjoy your weekend!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 18

So I just couldn't resist! I had to join the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. I'm using scrap stash instead of a jelly roll. With all the scraps I have, the toughest part was choosing which colors to use. I decided on pink and brown. I tried to make a pink and brown quilt once before, but that quilt had its own ideas and the colors changed. I like how this is starting out - kind of a chocolate cherries type of thing. The first two blocks are shown above. I'm only 3 blocks behind now. The next one is pretty simple, so I might be able to get that one done later tonight. We'll see...

On a sad note, Quilter's Studio, one of my local quilt shops is going out of business. There are some great deals to be had there right now. I stopped in on Saturday in search of fat quarters and possibly a layer cake for a couple of class projects that I have in mind. The shelves are getting bare there now and there were very few pre-cuts to be had. I did manage :) to buy four fat quarters - one of which will be for my Dear Jane quilt. So I guess that gets added to my stash! There were some great deals on yardage -- 50% to 70% off some really nice fabrics, but I was strong and didn't buy any. Maybe I won't be as strong next time I go by there...

Fabric added this week: 1.00 yards

Fabric used this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric added this year: 9.50 yards

Fabric used this year: 15.00 yards

Total stash used this year: 5.50 yards

Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along

I've seen so many fellow bloggers who have joined the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along, I'm getting really tempted to jump in! I don't have any jelly rolls hanging around and I can't justify buying one right now, but I practically have a room full of fabric that I can cut into 2 1/2" strips. I've been enjoying the pictures on people's blogs - the blocks are fairly simple, but very contemporary and striking! It would definitely count as stash busting. Oh, what to do... If you want to see what it's all about, hop over here for the info!

Stash Busting 2010 - Week 16

I finally made a zig zag quilt!! I had a great fat quarter bundle from the Hopscotch line made by Red Rooster. I didn't know what I was going to do with them when I got them about a year ago, but they worked perfectly in this quilt. It turned out bigger than I expected and I could only get a good picture of it when I hung it for the class preview last week. A draft blew over the lower left-hand corner that I only noticed the next day. It really is square down there in real life! The picture is a little dark, but the white is nice and bright and crisp in person. I am teaching the "no triangle" technique for making this design in class this session. I'm very happy with it. I didn't get a really good count on the yardage used because I have a lot left over, but I'm going to count this as 5 yards that is finally GONE from my stash. I only had to buy the border fabrics, but I did add those to the stash count already.

Next is Friendship Star Twist. I was playing around with colors and I decided the stars looked a bit like flowers and if I colored those red with gold centers, and made the corners green, I would get that flower effect. For some reason, it just didn't occur to me that this would end up looking like a Christmas quilt. Oh well, I didn't have one of those, so now I do! Christmas in Spring! This is not a very large quilt, so I think it will end up mostly as decoration during the holidays. All but the outer border came from stash, which was already added into the count, so I'm figuring a good three yards here.

The third project is a table runner that is actually finished (the other two are tops only), but there is just a small run of binding that is still not sewn down, so I'll take a picture of that one later. That one came completely from the stash. Not sure on yardage here, either -- I'll say 1 1/2 yards out (including the backing and binding).

It's so nice to have some "finishes" to report. I also gave away some fabric as a birthday gift, which amounted to about 1 1/4 yards.

Class officially starts tonight. We'll be zigging and zagging and having a good time, too! If I'm lucky, I'll be able to squeeze in a Dear Jane block tonight. We'll see...

Fabric added this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric used this week: 9.25 yards

Fabric added this year: 8.50 yards

Fabric used this year: 15.00 yards

Total stash busted this year: 6.50 yards

Check out this giveaway

ETA: This giveaway is closed now

Isn't this little quilt adorable? If you go over to Jaybird Quilts you can leave a comment for an entry to win this kit from the Fat Quarter Shop. There are other ways to get entered, too. Check it out!

Stash Manicure

I thought I'd share a blog I just found called "Stash Manicure". It just started up this month, and the posts are made by a variety of different people -- all lending ideas for reducing our fabric stash. Can't go wrong with that! I'll be checking back often to see what new ideas they have for me!

Happy Easter 2010

Easter Greetings to all. We're off to my sister's house for dinner with the family. Stash Report to follow (possibly tomorrow).

April Quilting Month II

Sew, Mama, Sew! is having their second (annual?) quilting month all during April. They will have information, ideas and tutorials every day this month. And, of course, Prizes! Here's a schedule of events. They are starting off with the basics, which I always find informative even though I've been quilting for more years than I can remember. I am always interested to see if other people have different ways of doing things than me. Hop over there often to see what's going on. There will be lots of inspiring quilts to see!