Last week of the Hop

I want to thank everyone that stopped by my blog hop last week and left such kind comments and also thank Beth @ plum and june for putting this great hop together. I tried to get to everyone that commented and reply back but if I missed anyone I do apologize. Now it's time for the last round of great bloggers so check them out. 

Vicki @ http://aquiltersmission.blogspot.com
RobinSue @ robinsuequilts.blogspot.com
Elise Lea @ http://loveleadesigns.blogspot.com
Elizabeth @ http://www.intheboondocks.blogspot.com
Jenny @ http://notetofollowsew.blogspot.co.uk
Lorna @ http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com
Sonia @ fabricandflowersuk.blogspot.com
Emily @ www.drkornea.blogspot.com
EM @ SEWING BY MOONLIGHT

This weekend I will be doing a sew in with my guild on Sunday and that should be a lot of fun, once I decide what I am actually going to take and work on. Perhaps that paper piece that has been waiting in the wings to finish FMQ or making quilt sandwiches for the various projects in my bin. I like taking these to the sew ins because of the elevated tables -- better for the back. 

Current projects include 

1. Jim's Quilt (like to finish by 8/16) 
2. Guild Mug Rug Swap (August 27)
3. Sister Thing Swap item (Mail by August 30)
4. Designer showcase (sandwich and quilt)
5. City Scape (finish quilting)
6. Star Wars Shirts (quilting) 
7. Baby Clothes Sampler (binding)
8. Little fish (sandwich and quilt)
9. Charity Quilt (sandwich and quilt)
10. Block of the Week Block (1 block)

My sewing room is starting to come together and with the addition of the new machine I am very much looking forward to my time in there, bonus is it's supposed to rain this weekend so that means more time to quilt. 

Winner, Winner, Steak Dinner

This just kinda sums it up for me -- I may be making this in the near future for the craft room. 

Last week I was notified by Bonnie Hunter that I had won her giveaway for this great Christmas fabric bundle that will be available soon for purchase and it is so vibrant and lovely. I can't wait to be able to use it and eventually get some more because it is more universal than usual Christmas fabrics. Taking it to the guild meeting tonight for show and tell -- I might better put a tracker on this fabric knowing how some of you guys are about squishy goodness. This line was designed by ellen medlock so be sure to check her out, lots of good stuff going on over there. 

I also sold something on Etsy finally and got a custom order from the Yadkin Arts event on Friday. Then, Sewingly Yours was having a big anniversary sale this weekend and I went to get fabrics for the custom order. Here's my haul designed around his chosen focus fabric -- the dotted one on the top and I will be using the monolith pattern by my pal the amazing Kelly Wood. 

With every $25 spent you got a raffle ticket. Well one of my tickets won and as a prize I got a new travel machine -- Viking H Class 100 Q. Very exciting indeed because this is a great little machine and if I had not already had a little baby I would have been over the moon about it. The drawback for me was the weight this is a heavy baby and I frequently bring my machine different places so I knew it would be a hassle. 

 

I have been looking for some time at other machines and thinking about where i want to take my quilting to help set me apart from others and be able to make a different variety of things to incorporate into my craft booths. Combining my resources more easily would get me to the point that I wanted to be so I decided it was time to take the leap and trade in both machines toward a new one. 

Introducing my new Viking Designer Ruby -- she's an embroidery and sewing machine and wonderful and now she needs a name. So I am turning to you my friends to help me out with suggestions. 

 My hubby tells me that this is my 5 year anniversary gift for our upcoming anniversary on 8/8 -- not a bad trade off if I do say so myself. The mean part was when he told me that I couldn't use it till then (liar). we also picked out some threads to get me started and I love how they look in the box -- like beautiful candy. 

Int the house not 5 minutes and a kitty has already claimed the box for his own -- silly Kahn O'Maley. 

My other early gift was a new iron that I got over a week ago and it is also awesome but I will have to write a review of it in a later posting. 

I also crossed another thing off my to do list for this year -- I was finally able to take a class with my friend Lee Monroe and she taught me about making pouches. Though we mostly laughed and caused trouble for sweet Gail that took the class with us. the finished project is something that I am glad I was able to complete but the definition of pouch may have been stretched quite a bit. (that photo is taken with the pouch leaning against the machine as a size comparison). 

She showed me how to add an inner pocket but with it being this large it may need a strap to be used as a large purse instead but it would be great for taking supplies back and forth to classes because at least a 9 inch square will fit inside and a 10 inch will but it's trickier with the zipper. 

Not much other sewing happening this weekend but I did go see the new movie RED 2 -- and loved it and went out with my father for his birthday to one of our favorite restaurants 13 Bones (currently in Mt Airy but coming to Winston at the end of July in Arcadia). -- Yeah it's pretty amazing stuff. 

Not much sewing but still a great weekend indeed. So much to accomplish in the next few weeks as I'm gearing up for the Fall and Winter craft shows -- time to start making more goals for myself. 

Happy Quilting Everyone 

Blog Hop -- it's finally my turn.

I'm so excited to be a part of this blog hop and want to thank Beth of Plum and June for organizing it!

I’m fairly new to blogging (just since the beginning of the year) and know there is a plethora more that I have to learn to make my blog more interesting to others. I use this blog mainly to chronicle projects that I am working on and projects that I have ongoing. I have been a quilter for several years ago and before that I was very much into scrapbooking – similar end goal but different medium. I like both crafts because they are very personal and touch our hearts in ways that other activities just don’t – but that could be just me.

City Scape (paper pieced flowers)

Candy Crush

Kelly's Calypso Carnival

Designer's Showcase

So a little about me ---

I work at a state agency and that’s nice because it doesn’t burn up my creativity for when I am crafting. My husband and I are very much homebodies, we love watching movies, playing video games and being creative – nothing that involves going in the sun for extended periods of time. I am an avid collector of many things but my largest collection is of Alice in Wonderland items and my sewing space is reflective of that whimsical spirit. We have 4 fur babies – all kitties and they are frequently mentioned in blogging and especially on my instagram.  

Hurley (L) and Kahn (R)

Nugget

Hurley, Nugget and Monkey

About my Quilting –

Like I mentioned before I am a collector of things and have been quilting for a while – so one of my collections is my fabric stash (not as impressive as some but I love it), not all things in there are modern or even pretty but they all have a place in my home. I quilt on a Viking Tribute mainly but have a traveling Hello Kitty Janome that provides me with an outlet for quilting wherever I am in those wasted moments – like waiting for a car repair. My sewing studio is the master bedroom in our home and is in a state of constant rearrangement because the furniture just doesn't seem to fit in there like it does in the magazines. I am getting closer to the perfect space I think but time will tell.

A Little bit more –

• I am a list maker and love to set goals for myself.
• I love my guild and have recently been nominated for an officer position – even though I just joined in Jan.
• I am continually learning new things and hope to expand my quilting into bags and pouches in the future.
• I have recently started setting up at craft shows and events – but haven’t had a great experience with this yet, I’m hoping that the fall brings better results.
• I also love doing swaps – I’m currently only signed up for the Sister thing Swap so I’m looking for others to take part in.
• I have a hard time deciding if I like my stash better or my recently organized scraps – but I know I love how both are now organized. I love going to a few of my LQS because they do scrap bags where you fill your own bag, but it’s very addicting.
• I was asked a few months ago to become the tracker of the traveling stash boxes and have a great deal of fun meeting new people this way.
• I have 2 ongoing block of the … projects. One is a block of the month designing flower blocks and the other is a block of the week project where I am challenging myself to use all neutrals and mostly scraps.

So thanks for stopping by everyone and let me know you were here, I love feedback and talking to other quilters – so for now that’s the dish. Happy Quilting everyone.

Check out these other great bloggers participating this week

www.littlebirdiequilting.com

http://kwiltypleasures.blogspot.com

http://karmawillowdesigns.blogspot.com/ 

http://makinghappyness1.blogspot.co.uk

www.sowingstitches.blogspot.com

http://ellaandnesta.blogspot.it/

http://chezzetcookmodernquilts.blogspot.ca/

Www.modernhandcraft.com

What's happenin in my world

So this weekend I added another UFO to the list only because I didn't think about the final size of what I intended for the upcoming It's a Sister Thing Swap. My swap partner likes bright colors modern designs and is currently working on the Tula Pink Blocks. I pulled form this and thought about one of my sister's patterns and decided to go with the designer star pattern. I had some great fabrics picked out and finally decided how I wanted to incorporate them into the design buy My trouble started with the main Tula Parisville I wanted to use --- I just love it and couldn't bring myself to cut it down. I think all of us have had this feeling at one time -- usually this results in coveted fabric that sits on the shelf waiting for a perfect project, so to end my problem I altered Lee's pattern a bit and am calling it the Designer Showcase Star.

However the finished pattern ended up being more of a throw size and I'm smitten with it so I may be adding a boarder and keeping it for myself. It looks like I'm back to the drawing board for my partner's item (perhaps this pattern again on a smaller scale with different fabrics). At least I have this helper to keep me straight -- Mr. Nugget is making sure I know where I left the pattern.

Oh and he also likes to assist with the color design process.

A big success for this weekend was that my table is finally clear of scraps and they are all trimmed own and ready for quick quilts.Cut blocks in 2 storage containers, large pieces in the other, a bag of strings, a bag of crumbs and a bag of 2.5 strips 

A container of 5 inch squares, row of 4 inchers and half a container of 2.5 squares (one stack is 3 inch squares). I'm out of containers at this time but I will be putting those 2.5 inch strips in a container when I go to the store. 

Not much other sewing but I was working on catching up again on the block of the week blocks -- I'm nearly 40 blocks in and ready to start putting them together but I need your help. I'm having difficulty with deciding on what to do about block settings and sashing for this quilt and need some input (The blocks are all neutrals and in the end there will be 73 of them).

These are the most recent 4 and here is a group shot minus the last 6 blocks completed. 

Now that I'm caught up with those it's time to finish up the block of the month block I worked on while watching quilt cam last night (I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my won fabrics from Bonnie Hunter), so that's at the top of my pile for this week and should go quickly.

Other things I would like to knock out this week are -- room rearrangement  quilting the city scape and redoing my sister swap item. It' gonna be a hectic weekend for sure because I'll be spending part of it with my Dad who is turning 72 on Thursday and I'd love to stop by Sewingly Yours for the anniversary sale this weekend and celebration on Saturday.

Happy quilting everyone and I appreciate any input you offer on that sashing issue, as well as the other love you provide.

Fabrainbow

IN my last post I told you all I finally got all the fabric stash folded and sorted by color and told you I would put up a picture soon. SO, As promised the great reveal of the uniformly folded and color sorted fabric stash --- I present you all with my beautiful Fabrainbow. 

Hey look there's even room to expand, not much room mind you. Not everything is designer or modern and some of it is has been around for a while but I just looking at it makes me giddy happy. I'm thinking about doing a little more de-stashing both to donate to the guild and some to sell or put in the traveling stash but for now I love all the pieces and parts of my darling Fabrainbow. 

Happy Quilting (or fabric petting) everyone. 

I may have lost my mind -- or more of it

Now anyone that knows me understands that my mind has never been fully in tact so they may all be giving me the DUH face about this statement. The latest way that I may be pushing the limits of my sanity is in the latest undertaking in my sewing room. One of my goals earlier this year was to get a better organization on my scraps and to use more of the scraps in my quilting -- thus mt-scrapula was developed and I was feeling pretty good about this but it didn't take me long to realize that this may not be the most effective way to use up the scraps or even find pieces I am looking for at any given time. I am a follower of Bonnie Hunter and marvel at the things that she creates on quilt cam using scraps and she mentioned sorting out her scraps into usable sizes and so I decided I would give it a try -- thus the crazy. My guild did this to help make using the charity stash more usable so this makes sense to me so now I am in the process of processing my scraps into usable sizes.

This is about half the scraps so far and am feeling pretty good about he process. I may have more sizes than I need but so far I have 5,4,3 (not sure I will keep this category but I found several pre cut in the scraps so for now it's a group) and 2.5 inch squares. I made a group of 2.5 inch strips (might finally get around to that scrappy trip along out of these) as well as a bag of strings (anything less than 2.5 inches and longer than 4 inches. Anything smaller than 2.5 by 4 or an odd shape made it's way into the crumbs baggie (that's the big one in the back -- because i needed a bigger bag). I've still got 5 color groups to go but am feeling good about the progress I have made, even if part of me is doubting my sanity for taking on this project.

In other OCD exciting news -- all the large fabric is officially folded and now color sorted and back in the dresser. I't so beautiful and makes me giddy knowing there is a huge fabric rainbow in my room -- even if it's hiding in the dresser. (I will be updating a picture of this later)

My large love seat is being sold so that will be leaving my quilting room and that means more room to spread out and use the space better. I will now have a raised cutting and ironing table -- with the use of the bed risers that were previously on the legs of the love seat.

And here is my new sewing surface that I picked up from Goodwill this weekend that needs repainting and some cleaning. The original machine is no longer in the desk and my machine won't fit into the table but I like the idea of knowing some other person used this as a sewing table (because of the loose threads in the drawer and little nicks on the tape measure guide under the lid) and now I will love it as they did -- thus the cycle goes on. I haven't picked a color yet but it may be black to match the other furniture in the room -- unless I get brave and go for a bold color.

I also have three finished projects that I was finally able to get photos of because the rain stopped. The top two are for charity and the bottom one is a sampler quilt for craft shows using baby clothes. 

I got together the fabrics for the It's a Sister Thing Swap and hope to make my buddy Lee proud because I am going to be using her pattern designer star to make something amazing for my new sewing sister with the following fabrics -- navy is the background fabric. There is some Denise Schmidt (blue dots) hiding in the corner that will be a border as well. I'm planning out the layout of my colors now and determining what I'll be making -- either a pillow, wall hanging, tote bag or maybe a throw. 

So I'll be adding that to my UFO pile soon along with the others and hope to be able to get some quilting in tonight while I watch Quilt Cam. This may be a better time to work on the 3 block of the week blocks we got this week or the block of the month that is waiting for me to compete -- instead of trying to FMQ on the larger projects that are waiting ever so patiently. 

Hope everyone had a great 4th and got some serious quilting done. Happy Quilting everyone -- that's the dish for now.

Lots going on over here

I'm participating in several things currently here in blog land 

One of those fun things is the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop being hosted by plum and june   The lovely ladies that are participating this week are below -- be sure to check them out there are quite a few great ones that I've been following for a while and a few new ones that I was glad to add to my bloglovin list. My posting will be going up in 2 weeks. 

Friday, July 5

Christa @ Christa Quilts!

Alyce @ Wonderland By Alyce

Anna @ The Crooked Banana

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After 

Stephanie @ Quarter Incher

Shayla @ Sassafras Lane Designs

Caroline @ Carolines Craftiness

Lisa @ Hilltop House Creative Works

I am also participating in the It's a Sister Thing Swap from Michelle over at quilts from my crayon box. I got a great partner and can't wait to get started on her items soon. 

I've been able to get some progress on the UFO pile in my quilt room yesterday and here's some updates. Little fish is completed and needs me to find a backing in prep for sandwiching and quilting. These are all leftover blocks from a class that I took a few years ago that I had stashed away. 

 

Block of the week has been completed -- block of the month is waiting

Baby clothes Sampler is ready for quilting -- I did add a boarder but forgot to take a picture (man I gotta work on that one more). 

Limeaid is ready for quilting -- forgot to take a picture after I pinned it last night 

So glad it's the weekend -- hopefully I will have a finished project (or 2) by Monday. 

Happy Quilting everyone 

Be sure to enter the traveling stash giveaway posted here deadline to enter is 7/9.

It's Raining M. E. N.

You know you sang that. Here in NC it has been doing very little more than raining in the last few days and that means time has been spent in the sewing room, when I’m not exhausted.

So who are the M. E. N. --- Many Existing Notions I have created for myself?

         Paper piece quilt – still needs quilting

         Star wars t-shirt quilt – still needs quilting

         Small fish – needs border

        Limeaide – needs sandwiching and quilting

        Baby tees – needs borders

        BOM – new one comes tonight
        BOW – 2 blocks

I’m off on the 4^th and no big plans for the weekend after so I am hoping for the chance to work out some of these M. E. N that are taking over my space, and if the rain continues it looks like I will get my chance.