December 29, 2014

End of the Year!

Hello!

We are nearing the end of the year and you know what that means? Planning for the next one!

Here are a couple of projects I finished in December, but swing back by next week, when it is my turn on the Around the World Blog Hop and I'll show you some more!

This was a gift for my secret santa at work. She said that she likes deer as her favorite Christmas theme.  It felt wonderful when she opened it up as she was so happy, and then when she found out it was handmade, she gave it an extra squeeze.  That's when you know you did good!


Another pillow that went to a partner I had in the Holiday Round of the Great Pillow Fight Swap.
Here were her comments: I am not sure how I got lucky enough to have you as a partner in two swaps this year, but I am just amazed! I absolutely LOVE the wreath pillow. 

The spirit of giving is alive and well and it brings me great joy to make things for people!

August 21, 2014

Retreat!

Last week I was up in Amish County on my annual sewing retreat. It's so good for the soul to be around like minded folks. I'll check in soon with details and a great list for fabric shopping, if you happen to be heading there.



In the meantime, have a great day!!

July 6, 2014

Do you love Aurifil too?

Greetings!


I'll make this short and sweet. When I first began quilting, I kept hearing about Aurifil thread and really thought it was all marketing lingo. I mean really, it's just thread - can it be that much different?

LONG PAUSE FOR EMPHASIS

Then I tried it.

This stuff is wonderful. You have less lint, it has never broken on me (strong and thin), there are over 200 colors and I like getting 1,422 yards on one spool!

So, what do you do when you love something - you share it with everyone!

It's not realistic to actually share (for free) this with you but I have a great deal. This is for folks who have never tried it and also for those who are VIP loyal ~ will not buy any other ~ "this is the greatest thread ever" folks too.

I am going to start selling it because I believe in it and I want everyone to experience this superior product!

Here are the details:

6 spools for $60 (plus shipping and tax)

Shipping will be $5.05 per order (US only) up to 12 spools in one Priority Mail (comes with tracking) envelope. Contact me for shipping charges for larger quantities. Tax only charged on orders delivered to TX residents.

You pick the colors you want, varigated too!

Only quantities of 6 are allowed, no singles.

This only applies to 50wt thread.

This offer will expire on July 13th at noon - Central Time.

The Catch: I don't have a website or etsy store yet so you will have to go search for Aurifil thread, 50 wt, to find out what colors are available.

If you want in:

1) Email me at [my blog name] dot gmail dot com or click the pink envelope under let's connect, with your color selections, your name and your US mailing address. I will email a confirmation back to you and send a paypal invoice to pay from.

2) If you haven't paid by midnight on July 13th, your order will not be placed.

Because of the "you pick the colors" option, I will be placing an order to accomodate individual color requests (as I don't have every color in stock) and it may be a week or two until you actually get it, but I consider this a small price to pay to select your own colors. I promise to turn around the orders around within 24 hours of receipt from my supplier.

If you have any questions - please do ask!


May 13, 2014

Modern She Made...and a couple firsts

Hi! Have you heard of the Modern She Made Swap? We are in round 4 and this season the shape we are required to utilize was a hexagon.  Honestly, hexagons are not my favorite, but that was what the majority wanted so I dove in. First of all, let me tell you a little story. I have sewn a few hexagons before and it really wasn't that bad for me, so truthfully, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into.  In this swap, we post mosaics to assist our partners in communicating our tastes, styles and some inspiration of something we would like.  My partner posted a bag, very similar to this one. Low and behold, there was a tutorial all written up for it too. Bingo - easy choice (or so I thought).

Lori wrote up this tutorial and she and I originally started the Modern She Made swap so it was with true respect that I used her tutorial to make this bag.

Funny thing though, the pattern started with "Start by piecing your hexagons....." Little did I know that this would take me almost a month.  I had to cut them out, baste them, sew them in rows and then sew the rows to each other.  Mr. Maxtin said to me, when I was close to done "I wondered when you were going to realize that you had to sew every one of them to each other" and then we laughed.  It wasn't that I didn't know, but that wasn't part of my thought process....yeah, it's funny now though.

Anyway....so 76 hexagons, and who knows how many hours later, I hope my partner (who doesn't even know who she is yet) really loves this bag because I spent hours and hours on it.  I did my first internal zip pocket and installed my first magnetic snap.

There aren't nearly as many swaps on flickr anymore, which is where I was most active and I miss it. The swaps I have been in make me do things I would never do, and have the courage to try new things....like magnetic snaps! Partner, enjoy this bag!







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March 1, 2014

Churn Dash | Modern Style

Well folks! Finally!

I have been teasing you with pictures of this beauty for a while and now I can show you the final quilt.
For those that are newer followers here, I really lean towards modern, sparse, and clean. For some reason I have taken a liking to the churn dash (a traditional block) so I decided to cut into my most favorite fabrics and make one.

The quilting is all straight lines using Aurifil 50 weight thread and it was quilted on my home machine.
My favorite part of making this quilt was the binding because I enjoy the hand sewing.




I love this picture because it shows Austin doing what she does best, her own thing!

February 21, 2014

Get your Hex On! Sign-ups Closed.


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Get Your Hex on! Less than 14 hours left!  Sign ups are now closed.

Modern She Made Round 4 Sign-ups are almost over! This round we are making personalized projects for our super secret partners that must include a hexagon (or two or three) somewhere on it.

It can be in the quilting, the design, the fabric, the shape – you choose!

Head on over to our Flickr group to check it out. Your hostesses for this round are Marika, Christen and myself.

If you are interested, you will need to make a mosaic, post it in the group and then complete the sign up form.

For quick links

1)      Post your mosaic in our flickr thread here

2)      Fill out the form here

3)      Comment on the Sign-up thread here

That’s it! Sit back and wait for some really awesome project to be made especially for you! The best thing – partners will go out next week and they aren't due until May, so you have lots of time to make something really special, and of course get something special in return. 

Join us!!

Disclaimer: You must have a flickr photostream, with modern projects and a modern leaning aesthetic. Be a good swapper, with good swapping history.

February 11, 2014

Hugs and Kisses to YOU!




It's Heart Month! That means love and hugs and kisses too.

A wonderful welcome to anyone new to my blog today, so glad you stopped by!

The wonderful Madame Samm is hosting another fabulous blog hop, this one called Hugs and Kisses. Of course they are all special, but this one is paper piecing - so it's super special. The real reason it is special because the money raised by the purchase of the pattern (get yours here) will be donated to both an animal charity and a foundation to provide sewing machines!! Love it!

For quite some time I was afraid of paper piecing. One thing, it is not like riding a bike, once you forget it, you have to go back and watch videos and read tutorials. It comes back fast though and making the project is a reminder why I love it. It is exact, it looks exactly like you want it to and is a nice change from regular piecing. Do you like to paper piece? Tell me a story about your paper piecing experiences!

This Madame Samm....let me tell you about her.  She runs a tight ship and has high expectations, not of us as bloggers and quilters, but as people. She believes the best in folks, is generous and does so many things for the sewing and quilting communities.  If you haven't head of her, go check her out here. Perhaps you will want to join an upcoming blog hop and share your love of all things stitching. She is a wonderful encourager and also has a team of cheerleaders too! Yeah, she really is that awesome! Add her to your blog roll for some great posts. A sincere thanks for this, and all your blog hops - wink!

And speaking of creative people, many thanks to Soma who created the pattern for us. Woo Hoo!

And by us, let me tell you, I am only one of many this Wednesday. Go check out the other lovely ladies on the hop today too. You could do anything you wanted as long as you used the pattern.....wonder what they did? Go see!

Lady Carol @ Just let me Quilt
Lady Sandy @ Upstairshobbyroom
Lady Cynthia @ dreamquiltcreate
Lady Pat @scrapatches
Lady Susan @ desertskyquilts






February 9, 2014

Hugs and Kisses - Coming Soon!

Madame Samm always has such wonderful blog hops over at sewwequilt.com and this month, there is a darling one coming your way! It starts on Wednesday and I'm participating - with some wonderful, amazing talent!

Hugs and Kisses Paper Piecing



See ya Wednesday with my super secret, never seen before Paper Piecing Project!

January 22, 2014

WIP Wednesday

My friends, this finish has been a long time coming...but it has not yet crossed the finish line. Gah!

You see, in 2013 one of my goals was to give away most, if not all, of what I made.  But...I did make this quilt for myself, because,well - I just wanted to.



Normally sewing on the binding is one of the most important steps, because the project is almost complete....and I LOVE sewing on binding. It is something that is super fast for me and also enjoyable.

But...at the December meeting of my quilt guild, it was my (lap project) while listening to the meeting. This quilt was shown for show and share, along with my desire to give everything away.

Wouldn't you know it-someone mentioned not to finish it until 2014 so I could make good on my goal. Yep, that's exactly what happened. It was almost as if I didn't want to touch it. What the heck? Am I that susceptible to the power of suggestion? In this case yes.

So...I am taking this quilt with me this week as some down time is coming up, and it will.be.finished. Promise!

Check back soon and you can see her in all her glory!

Linking up over at Freshly Pieced!





January 16, 2014

Time for Needle and Thread Thursday!

What am I up to this Thursday? Cutting fabric for a surprise quilt. She likes gray and yellow and this is my meager start. The yellows don't appear to go together, but when I get more fabric, they will...

Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday! Pop on over to Kelly's blog and check out what other folks are doing - you just might get some inspiration (I'm pretty sure you will).



My Quilt Infatuation


January 13, 2014

Was it too small?

In December, at my Modern Quilt Guild meeting, we had an exchange and the instructions were to make a bag.  This is new territory to me, as my usual "non-quilt" projects consist only of fabric baskets and zip pouches.

A quick look at Pinterest and this cute little "just uses two fat quarters" intro sold me on this Lindie Bag.
Here is the tutorial I used and it really was pretty easy. I will use it again, but perhaps shorten the straps.



It was shocking to see what some of the other guild members made though.  Messenger bags, zip bags, large pouches and a couple of ornate works of art. I wish I had taken some pictures to show you, but trust me, I felt small, kind of like my bag.  The sweet lady who got this at the end of the night happened to be sitting right next to me and I lightly asked her if it was too small to do anything with and she replied "not at all, I'm going to use it in my sewing room".  That made me feel a lot better about it but some of the guild members really went all out.


In exchange, this lovely bag is what went home with me and it's perfect for travelling, because it is long enough to fit my toothbrush - woo hoo! Thanks Jenn!

Note: sorry about the phone picture on my bag, I forgot to capture a good image before I wrapped it all up.


January 11, 2014

Modern Stash Bee - November

Yes, well better late than never. These are the blocks for the Modern Stash Bee for November. Can't say I was excited to do them, because I surely wasn't, but...I really like them.  Will I make some for myself some day? Doubt it as HST's aren't my favorite. This block is different and not one I have seen a lot of though, but the visual impact is strong, at least for me.






January 8, 2014

Starting the Year off with...

...some bee blocks!

Let's talk about these quilting bees. I was so excited to be done with all my quilting bee obligations after January of this year.  Jump up and down excited, but then....I was in one that I forgot about. The Jane Austen Bee.  Not only do we make blocks, but we read books and discuss too.  Talented quilters we are.

But back to the story. I am grateful to be in this bee because it makes me get in my craft room and get to sewing! I did 5 paper pieced blocks this weekend, along with these two blocks and then a couple other projects too -Woo Hoo - I miss my sewing machine and am glad to be back. When I didn't have any deadlines, I also didn't have any motivation to sew.

These blocks are for a friend of mine, who is making a quilt for her mom.  Awwwh, I love that!!!! You can't get a more personal and heartfelt gift than a quilt....made just for you. It really is an honor to make these for her.

There are really two blocks here, but I put them together to see how neat they will be.

Until the next project - remember, life is what you make it!