quilting content 12-3-16

I last posted about how obsessed I was with the monthly BOM by pileofabric.com called technicolor galaxy-and my obsession continued. I sewed ahead of the BOM and kept sewing until I had the blocks done
The arcs are sewn, then quilted, ala quilt as you go, which I’d not tried in quilt size before. It is so rewarding to quilt detailed patterns without wrestling a large quilt! I want to make more quilts this way! At this point (above) I did internet research on QAYG block assembly and found some great tips, and blogs to get lost in too :). Alyssa at pileofabric responded to my plea for early assembly how-to by pointing me back to her blog – duh. So, I then cut the blocks down, got my bias binding ready and went for it
I really loved putting the binding on the blocks and seeing the quilting flow together! When it came
to putting the center circle in, I admittedly got a little worried..some additional thought on how to make it work (I hoped) ahead of the time helped
Alyssa shows the use of washable elmers glue throughout the sewing process and I, being relatively old-school couldn’t wrap my head around using it…and I didn’t use it much but, it definitely came in handy! Glue was especially helpful with the back bias strips. Have you used glue in quilting?
I then pinned and pinned and crossed my fingers
For the back of each arc I used colorful solids -that I still think multiply in my stash by themselves:). I placed them in a step-down way to make the back fun :). I don’t think I used up much of my solids stash on this, oddly enough!
And, before I knew it, it was done!! The BOM and pattern have side and corner low volume blocks to make the quilt square but I wanted this to be circular as I want to hang it on a wall. I really loved every bit of making this one! Now I sort of don’t know what to do with myself! :).
I’ll be testing a couple of quilt patterns for designers soon and I can’t wait to dig in on those! I am ready for a new project! I’ll post some teaser pics for these new patterns on Instagram soon hopefully!
Speaking of which I have failed at my blog posting commitment because Instagram is so immediate! I continue to see so much (too much??) inspiration there that it continues to eat up my computer time. If you haven’t joined, please try it! There is an amazing group of talented quilters on IG. I’m going to continue to be active there, and this blog will likely, eventually end. Gone due to instant social media. I will still peek at your blogs though! Have a great weekend xx K
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I have been quite busy lately wrapping up a few things. The only exception being any more Farmer’s Wife blocks but I will catch up! I really will! First off, I am finished with my project for my Swap Partner in this fun group:
The project is now washed and ready to ship in early September. Here is a peek at the back and some of the quilting – oh I hope she likes it!
Check out this bag I’m adding to my swap package:I think I will be making many more of these. I plan on filling this up with some quilty goodies for my swap partner. I happened across the tutorial to make the bag at It’s a Pretty Modern Life. The outside is made of a remnant I picked up some time ago, but I jazzed it up with a solid pink zipper and matching lining. I also finished the August block as part of the Sew, Mama, Sew! Block of the Month. I am really enjoying this BOM, it is hard to wait for next month already!

I am typically a follow the rules kinda gal, so this was a little bit of a stretch for me. The improvisational method of piecing this block is something I have not done much of. I admit this was really fun ‘throwing caution to the wind’ and improvising – it could be addictive!
The next couple weeks I am traveling off and on so I will have limited time to sew. I have been putting off planning on dropping off my sewing machine for a tune-up/clean up while I’m gone. I haven’t even dropped it off and I am already having separation anxiety!
I got hooked on the Janome brand from the beginning starting out on a borrowed 4800QC by Janome. I have had my 6500 for over 2 years and it’s barely had a vacation since I plugged it in. (If you go to the Janome site, check out the Horizon – very cool..I shouldn’t look at this site anymore!) My machine has taken quite a bit of action extremely well! Can’t wait to finish some quilts when my machine and I are back in action. Have a great weekend!
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Well hey – how are you doing? While I was considering and going back and forth about adding my submission to the Bloggers Quilt Festival, it reminded me of when I was feeling the same way about starting a blog about a year ago. Could I really do that? I was nervous!

I was spending hours perusing all of the creativity of my favorite blogs and was so inspired by all of the talent! I had even sent in a couple of comments on some favorite projects, all the while feeling oh so nervous about if what I’d say could portray nearly enough of how inpired I was by this talented community.
Then I decided I would try a blog too, maybe. I got my blogger identity and then didn’t do anything with it for a while. It was then I figured I needed to start a quilt to kick off my blog.
After all, I need a header for my blog and why not use one I made? I got to assembling my string blocks for this quilt using scraps from a bunch of projects, I cut up new fat quarters and used some ‘hand me down’ fabrics my Mom gave me. I had 1.5 yards of that red print in my stash that fit perfectly too. I really didn’t know how it would turn out!
As I put these blocks together I kept thinking about all the inspiration I had from others blogs, how I got emails back from the comments I made and then I got so happy with how this quilt was looking too!

Here is my favorite quilt this year which initiated me into this wonderful community and has improved my quilting, my eye for color, kicked off my involvement in virtual bees, quilt-alongs, block swaps and secret swaps. I have truly enjoyed these past 10 months and look forward to more sewing, swapping and inspiration!
Take a peek at the other projects for the Bloggers Quilt Festival ~ the stories are as great as the quilts!
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I should really be figuring out my plan for making more gifts for the holidays. I should…but then, I am easily distracted. I got to looking through my stash and found some fantastic fabric from this quilt —->.
By the way I totally loooove star blocks. Anyway, I had cut all those sawtooth star points and kept them separate in my way un- organized stash master bucket. The star points were still in place together – like triangles just wanting to be sewn together. I played with this little number ~
let’s call it a HST/disappearing 9 patch. This may or may not have been sent to my mug rug swap partner.
THEN…during my cool Stitching Sisters sewing night last week, I brought along the rest of that fabric and made 2.5″ HSTs for this:
Anyone in love with Swoon? I so totally am, and once I saw this carpenters wheel block (similar to Swoon but not absolutely) I had to try. Ya, think I’ll invest in a Swoon pattern pretty darn quick.
THEN – during the Thanksgiving holiday I got an early present from my folks….
A total PILE of batiks from Connecting Threads! SUPER fun to think about and decide projects on. Oh, I may or may not have gotten 20 spools of thread too…yippee!!!THEN, when I got back from holiday travel I had this beautiful stack of fabrics waiting which I received from a Sew Mama Sew giveaway! YAY! I had not won a fabric giveaway previously and was SO lucky to get these 12 FQs. And Ahuh, that is indeed Happy Mochi Yum Yum!! Now, just what to do with it.
While I edge closer and closer to holiday deadline (my own self-inflicted deadline) and try to avoid distraction without any success- I needed another project, so started this one:
This is from Quiltmaker magazine, and I just couldn’t stop myself. OK, I will get back on track somehow, or it’ll be gift cards all around.If you are still with me, check out this post – I think it’s worth it! See ya soon!
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Hey, over here I’m doing some sewing…yup. I have recently been asked to join a sewing group in my area, an area where there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of sewing group-age going on. I’m over-the-freakin-top pretty happy about this.
So, of course this calls for a snappy little bag to tote my goodies in so I can look all professional and cool with my new group Sewing Sisters. Jealous? 🙂
I have had this book Fresh Fabric Treats for a while – ever heard of it? Yeah, thought so. In preparation for my new group – SS I’ll call us – I was perusing this book….looking for just the cool deal. And..
Foundit! I have been wanting to make this bag since I got the book, and now it will be mine….alllll mine.
Best thing to do is to dig through the stash and try to find that one-of-kind fabric and….Foundit! The book example is Sweetwater Make Life, and my pick is Sweetwater Authentic…fancy that.
So far I am loving how this is turning out and it’s going together super quick. So, a happy day/SS/sewing tote for me.
In other news, my SewHappyGeek Tablerunner/Wallhanging swap partner received her tablerunner from me and I have received the nicest emails from her. It is so much fun to connect with swap partners and she’s in Australia!
I await response from the Modern Christmas Tablerunner swap partner, and shipped off another swap package for my Scrappy Mug Rug swap partner. Oh the painanticipation love of waiting. And now, I leave you with this little lovely too. I am having some fun with zippy bags using a bunch of scraps, but this one, not done in scraps, is my favorite with a zipped pocket inside the zippy.
Keeping it. Back soon with the finish (hopefully) to my new SS bag! Have a great weekend!
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I really wanted to try the spider web block and found this tutorial which was incredibly helpful. The whole runner was done with fabric from my stash and other projects plus 1 FQ for the border. I completely winged it on the border size while in progress and used the entire FQ, with no, none, zip-o left over – freaky. I sent a couple other goodies to my partner and she should be getting it any day!
You know, I keep thinking I don’t have much of a stash…I’ll keep telling my husband that (and myself too!) anyway.
For the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap I started out doing some paper-piecing. The individual patterns were super fun to do but I really had no idea where I was going.

I was planning on quilting this past weekend away on a retreat, but that fell through . So, instead I had my own ‘retreat’ and ‘went to town’ on my tablerunner project. This tablerunner really evolved. I started with the tree as my centerpiece and it took off. I found that I had that snowflake batik that went perfectly as ends and added my other paper pieced blocks bordered in red to tie it all together. I almost didn’t send it, thought it would stay with me!

AND for more post-office-ness, I mailed bee blocks for November for the bee Quilting Under the Rainbow. I had not tried the friendship block previously but I think I need a quilt of these blocks on my project list, maybe with prints on the border and in the block alternating…hmmm. Seems like every new block I try I need a project from them!

Next up, I am focusing on another project for a Mug Rug Swap..and, hmmm guess I should put together the list of things I have yet to do for holiday gifts!
See ya!

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I got another squishy package from a swap 🙂 I spied this runner in the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Flickr group and loved it instantly.

(I’m stealing the photo from Sarah because of the crappy overcast weather that has been abundantly available lately) * I want her table too, wonder if she can ship this from Ireland?
I am a fan of many quilters and Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs is one of the top on my list. When I read the card before opening her beautifully wrapped gift I knew exactly which runner I received! (admittedly I got a little weepy)
Here is a great picture of the goodies + I got a chocolate bar that was enjoyed almost immediately by me. Besides this fabulous runner, isn’t that hoop and ornament so.dang.cute?!?

I absolutely adore this runner! She also won a prize for this design, which is so well-deserved and I am so thrilled for her (and me!)! Thank you Sarah!
Besides my near inability to tear my eyes off my new runner, I spent much of Saturday on a winter wonderland tour – and finished this:

So cute and SO much fun to do! While this looks complicated with foundation piecing, it went together so amazingly well. I used the patterns designed by Sonja Callaghan/Artisania and published in Quiltmaker over the past 2 issues.
And, to continue, I have been on a run with paper piecing constantly lately. Here is another project I did for a mugrug swap (sorry no close up photo) <Edit, found a pic>:
I saw this one and thought I’d try to do ‘my own’ version by drawing it and paper-piecing…ya, didn’t go as well as I wanted, but it worked eventually.
Think I may leave the designing aspect of paper-piecing to the designers or I need a WHOLE lot more experience.
Since I struggled with ‘my version’ of the snowman I threw in ‘my’ (not!) snowflake in her favorite fabric, batik to my partner. I think she digs it 🙂
Now I wonder if I will wait until say Dec. 22 before I start my holiday sewing list….always better under pressure right? Have a great day!
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It’s a giveaway! Welcome to you first time visitors and welcome back to my followers. I hope you are having fun with the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!
I don’t know about you all but I think my holiday gift making list is getting smaller by the second. Less that 2 weeks?! How does it sneak up like that? Oh, I have plenty of stuff going on but not anything that would be considered a non-me gift at this point. If you want to stop back and visit again some time you can see how I am progressing on this little beauty:
I am participating in a ‘row a month’ club locally and we are all making this lovely house quilt from Friendship Strips & Scraps by Edyta Sitar. I just started and love this already, we’ll see about the hand sewn applique’….eep.Anyway, enough with it! What is the giveaway?? Well, you could win this great book Make and Takes for Kids by Marie LeBaron.
This book is so dang cute!! There are some fantastic ideas for kids to make 50 crafts and many of these would be fun for the whole gang at kids birthday parties:

So, leave me a comment between now and 5:00PM PST December 16 ~ AND let me know a memorable kids birthday party you either had or went to or put on and why….can’t remember any? Then tell me a great idea you have for one!

I will pick the winner December 17 (via random number generator), email the big winner by December 18 and ship as soon as possible – I will even brave the postal crowds and ship before December 24 if I get your address quick enough!! YES, I will ship internationally!!!
I will also include the pictured chenille pipe cleaners so you can get started on your cute kids projects right away! Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out everyone else’s giveaway – there is some great stuff out there!
Happy Holidays!
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Next up, I am focusing on another project for a Mug Rug Swap..and, hmmm guess I should put together the list of things I have yet to do for holiday gifts!
See ya!

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I got another squishy package from a swap 🙂 I spied this runner in the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Flickr group and loved it instantly.

So cute and SO much fun to do! While this looks complicated with foundation piecing, it went together so amazingly well. I used the patterns designed by Sonja Callaghan/Artisania and published in Quiltmaker over the past 2 issues.
And, to continue, I have been on a run with paper piecing constantly lately. Here is another project I did for a mugrug swap (sorry no close up photo) <Edit, found a pic>:
I saw this one and thought I’d try to do ‘my own’ version by drawing it and paper-piecing…ya, didn’t go as well as I wanted, but it worked eventually.
Think I may leave the designing aspect of paper-piecing to the designers or I need a WHOLE lot more experience.
Since I struggled with ‘my version’ of the snowman I threw in ‘my’ (not!) snowflake in her favorite fabric, batik to my partner. I think she digs it 🙂
Now I wonder if I will wait until say Dec. 22 before I start my holiday sewing list….always better under pressure right? Have a great day!
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Remember this one, the Farmhouse Quilt? I think I may have mentioned an upcoming learning option for me and hand-applique’ too….
Ya, didn’t happen. For the record I tried – sincerely – to do the applique’ with turned edge, hand sewn and ah….big n.o. for me on that. Just could see it languishing undone via that method.
It’s like my husband would say ‘you have a powertool sewing maching, use it’
I am making my way pretty quick through these applique’ blocks, using my machine powertool and am having a blast! It really is fun!
For this project, I am using a spool of Aurifil thread, first time for me and think I am in *love* – wow. Love the other thread I use (and always have) but there really is a difference! I only have a couple Aurifil spools but the red I have is perfect for my apples and cherries for this quilt.Also, ever do a courthouse block? I hadn’t tried before- but this last week had me using up some scraps, which is better than joining in another swap or quilt-a-long – though, I am sortof in a quilt-a-long with this now that I think of it..hmm. Super quick finish for potholders that I have had on my list to do forever. Randi (love her shop!) has a series of monthly quilt-a-longs going on, and the first was the perfect way to use up scraps and to get my potholders done.

I didn’t add as many strips to 2 of the 3 minis with the project as described so I could make potholders. I just used Insul-Bright for my batting and done! Super easy. Plus, I could toss our old potholders out which makes me happy. I have another project brewing but won’t disclose it just yet. I could categorize it as maybe joining in the masses and making my own version for another ‘on the list’ project….just waiting for delivery(ies). Enjoy! =========================

Me …Grumpy?! Nope…well maybe at times, but who isn’t? This cutie coffee/tea mug was a gift I received over the holidays and I totally *love* it. My all time favorite Disney character – best.ever. I may or may not also have a tattoo of the crab …hehe.
I have been busy lately, but not as busy as I want to be with sewing. I had some time off with my husband between Christmas and New Years and he got in the way..gasp. Now that I am back at work the marathon work hours are taking my husbands place…soon I will be able to return to normalcy, I better …maybe that’s why I’m somewhat Grumpy.
I have been checking out blogs and am wow’d by all the resolutions and neat and tidy sewing spaces that the New Year has brought. I do not make resolutions because I am competitive and if I can’t succeed I see no reason – right? 🙂
I have been thinking of being less Grumpy, perhaps by Letting GO. So, we’ll put that on the list – not a resolution, more of a focus.
I did get some time in to finish some blocks for a BOM that started in February last year. As an intro, here is a quilt my Mom made me several years ago:

She made 3 (3!) of these quilts, so understandably she was happy to relinquish her excess patriotic prints to me. I decided to use them for the star BOM at Piecenquilt – perfect right? Here are some progress pics:

I decided to resew the block in the middle left of this photo, the red was too bright

I started with what I thought was a big pile of 2.5 x 2.5 squares. I actually thought I had enough for 2 quilts but I almost ran out!

I kept adding other pieces and scraps to my squares plus I swapped out some squares with others in the group to make the quilt blocks, 35 in all

As I was trying to find time to continue sewing the blocks I found a couple other quilts and swaps I wanted in on like Modernista, Modern She Made 2, Mod Pop, Spinning Stars, Mouthy Stitches 2~ can you say over-committing, pathological joiner much? But I cannot resist!

I reaaallly wanted to finish this top before digging into anything else.

This was such a fun quilt to do because I used up all of my scraps (I even mailed out all my leftovers!) and you really don’t have to pay attention to any fabrics matching or clashing. Actually if your fabrics clash and are hideous together it makes for a better quilt!

I kept going at this and ended up with this ~

I love how this turned out – such a mix of truly awesome scraps (mostly from swapping) and oldies, uglies. This quilt will be going to Sarah in New York for quilting once I get the Valorie Wells fabric I found for a bargain as the back. I already can’t wait to get it back 🙂

I am off to enjoy some beautiful midwestern fall weather. You have a great weekend! Karen
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Hi. I’ve been ignoring my blog lately – mostly because 10-12 hour work days have eaten into my time, and particularly my sewing time. But, I am free-er lately and have been doing some stuff.

In my last post I broke down and admitted that I’d joined a bunch of swaps. I am happily planning the projects for my partners and with deadlines towards end of October I know it’ll work out. I just need to get on it!

Despite the joining of swaps I cannot resist, this beauty came back home from it’s trip around the U.S. and the U.K.~

This is the wrap up of the Around the Bend and Across the Pond robin I was in. Isn’t it great? I sent out the center block in January which seems like so long ago, you know?

This block is the State of Wisconsin block and it was perfect for me to start with in the Free Form Robin for many reasons, but mostly because I am not a Wisconsin native but a relatively recent resident. I just moved to Wisconsin in the last couple years full time. I had only really been a Minnesota resident previously. Guess it’s about time to admit it for me in some ways that I am in Wisconsin. There, said it – that border battle between MN and WI is still strong you know?!

I’m not a Green Bay Packer fan however, just to set the record straight.

Anywho – this block went to Virginia, Las Vegas, New Jersey, the UK, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana and came back a quilt! The Bee Free Bee I was in allowed a bunch of flexibility in what each quilter added…you could add a row, a block, some embroidery, add to a block – whatever you thought the piece needed. This was very creative and fun!

Once I received this quilt it went to the top of the pile – had to finish it – so I did 🙂

I did some meandering on most and waves for the water and squiggles for the grass, added straight lines to the linen frame…
The label that traveled along with the quilt and signed by my bee mates is on the back too- that is one of my favorite parts! I picked up more lure fabric for the back of this quilt in May, not knowing how big it would end up. It just made it in width from selvage to selvage and I have about a 1/4 yard left over. 😀

I honestly love this quilt and I am so happy to have it in our family room!
This is a well-traveled and wonderful quilt! Now, on to the swap stuff…maybe 🙂

Take care, K
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I decided to resew the block in the middle left of this photo, the red was too bright

And walla! Here is the pile of blocks on my front porch (no snow!). I am deciding what to use for sashing…maybe a deep blue. Give me input if you have some!
The purple I have here in the upper left is also too bright for the blocks. I am ohso excited to be able to have these blocks finished…cuz, well, now be quiet about it but —yup, they are going back to the original fabric owner …shhh. Maybe she won’t remember how she didn’t want to look at the fabrics after making all those quilts!
As a nod to my new resolution focus – here are some very cute boys with a song (my new focus song) ‘Let Go’ by SafetySuit.
Back soon, promise.
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When I made this block for my partner in the For the Love of Solids 2 swap I didn’t know what I would do with it. Mini quilt, pillow cover…then I thought tote bag! My partner had mentioned a tote. Aha! This could make an interesting bag. Who doesn’t love a bag, I mean you need at least a dozen at any given time right?
Then I remembered that I’d already echo quilted the star and didn’t want to hurt it too badly. Oh, and it’s sort of an odd size at 21″ square. Maybe that wouldn’t work but I wanted to try to figure something out.
I got the idea in my head and it wouldn’t budge.
I then remembered a bag I’d made for my Mom a couple years ago that she loves. It’s the Cinch it Tote found in Quilts and More, the Fall 2010 issue. You add casing and use grommets to make it ‘cinch’. The result is a roomy bag that doesn’t feel too bulky, and you could really pile a serious volume of stuff in here!

The grommet placement worked out at the star points so I didn’t ‘hurt’ the echo quilting I did and I added a solid stripe to the back side (although I was very tempted to do another star!)

This time around I paid attention to the pattern suggestion and used 7/8″ ribbon for the ‘binding’ at the top. I know I was too nervous to try that with the bag I made my Mom before as I thought it would slip too much to sew in place. Last time I used double fold binding which is nice, but ribbon is a very clean way to finish off a bag. The handles use that same ribbon and fabric for a sturdy feel. I will do this again with bags for sure!
I added an inside pocket using some of my extra half square triangles.
Now I hope my partner likes it!…eeek! Cross your fingers for me and have a great day!
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I got myself sucked into a pile -and I mean a PILE – of swaps (plus a sewalong for good measure) and while it was fun, I got a little flustered. Most of the swaps display on my sidebar – For the Love of Solids II, The Name Game Swap, Mouthy Stitches, The Tova sewalong and the Doll Quilt Swap 12. EEEK. Who am I kidding? I LOVED it – but it was a challenge to come up with ideas and to try to create items my partners would love too.
Throw in a scrappy mug rug and a journal swap and all done in a pretty quick time period – mostly March. Anyway – here is the last swap item I just shipped for the Doll Quilt Swap 12. There has been 12 rounds of this swap and there are so many amazing mini’s out there because of it!
This quilt is 20 log cabin blocks and the logs are 1″ wide, the blocks finished at about 4.5″ I think. I used Kona Coal and scraps and I tell ya, I love that Coal color! I thought I was a Kona Snow gal forever but the darker colors made the scraps pop.
It seemed like I took on a little too much when I cut down the fabrics, but it went together super fast. I finished the blocks on Monday (thanks to an afternoon off work) and quilted it Tuesday evening with my sewing group. I quickly had it complete with the binding by the time I left too!

I was a little sad to see this one go in the mail really as it turned out better than I hoped. Hope my partner likes it!
Whew – that is it for swaps for me for a bit as I take a swap hiatus. Well, at least until I find another I can’t resist! 🙂
I leave you with a picture of my blooming tulips – I adore these short stature tulips soooo much!

I should be able to post an update on a (hopefully) nearly completed Swoon quilt/duvet and another UFO almost completed wrap up over the weekend. And you know what!? those are my last open projects so I’m thinking my swap hiatus could be short-lived. Off to look at Flickr! hehe
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Hi! Thanks for checking my quilt out. Don’t you just love stalking blogs and Amy’s Bloggers Quilt Festival? It is blog stalker heaven. I love seeing all the quilts and fabrics and checking out blogs that I have and haven’t seen before. It truly is bliss for me.
The quilt I have for this round of the Bloggers Quilt Festival was just – and I mean just – finished. (Just = binding sewn on before 7:00am and then handstitched by 10:30am this morning) This quilt is a long-awaited and home-improvement prone project that I am so happy to share today!
As an admitted blog stalker and Flickr freak, I love to Quilt-a-long and when I saw the Swooning on a hop along group in Flickr, I actually resisted. Yup, resisted! You see, I wanted to take my time with this quilt because I had long coveted the pattern, plus when I saw the pattern I just knew the quilt would be on our bed.
Then, it was the ‘simple’ matter of finding the right fabric and then begging negotiating with my husband. I won, well “we” did right? 😀

I adore the Echo fabric line! The designs are clean and the colors are calming to me. After some deliberation, I then decided on Kona snow for the solid. With this quilt, I made sure to check my typical impatience and competitive nature to take my time piecing the blocks. For those of you who have worked on this pattern, you know there is a pile of half square triangles and seams. I also used a scant 1/4″ seam and a just-for-this-quilt spool of Aurifil thread which is relatively new for me to use.
I think the combination helped as I rarely pulled my seam ripper out. It was so fun to piece this quilt together!
The finished top led to a change-up of home improvement order to new paint for our walls and we also considered changing to a king size bed. Ten hours of painting, selecting and replacing lighting then eliminating extra furniture later and we had a ‘new’ room ~
I was then ready to quilt the top but alas, my Janome 6500 decided she needed a vacation. The smaller Janome 4800 I have on loan would have worked but maybe not quite as well. I switched it up and went to a longarm to finish because there was no stopping now. I wanted this done so much!
I found Sarah as I was stalking through the Swooning on a hop a long group for ideas on finishing the top. Sarah is in New York! (if you have quilt tops to finish – get.a.hold.of.her.now!)
I sent the quilt and had it back within 2 weeks – within 2 weeks from Wisconsin to New York and back. This totally worked for me; competitive/impatient nature now restored 🙂
Check out the swirls – just *love* it!
Here is a picture of the finished product ~

A couple extra HSTs surround my label

And finally ~

Whew! SO happy to have this finished!
Quilt Stats:
Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley
Echo fabric line by Lotta Jansdotter with Kona snow
I bumped up sashing and border to 5.5″ for a duvet larger queen sized quilt (husband is cover hog)
Finished size approximately 94″ x 94″ which gives a great drop off the bed sides/end
Have fun stalking the other bloggers! Thanks for stopping in.
Karen
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Check out this picture from the other night ~

We have had freakishly weird weather this year, I suppose like about everyone huh? This picture was taken just after it rained and before it rained again the other night.
It has been super dry here, and I have been hoping for rain but I could truly do without the cyclone-like winds that have accompanied it. I pictured myself under a house with my ruby slippers on a couple times this week. As a matter of fact I think it’s about to rain again!
Anywho, do you like mug rugs? Know what they are? If you do you probably made one for or received one from a swap am I right?
I joined a super accelerated make and ship timeline mug rug swap. We only had 2 weeks to make and ship our projects, so I started my day hoping to get this started and finished. My big plan resulted in an initial false start/epic fail, but I digress. I switched gears and made this mug rug for my swap partner today~

I can’t show the whole thing because my partner and I know we have each other for this round. Wouldn’t want to spoil it!
Another super quick and fun project I finished was for the Rapid & Tiny Zakka swap. The RATZ swap June edition called for magnets. I myself love magnets, while my husband could live without them. Of course this did not stop me from joining…I mean come on 😉
These were quick and fun to do even though I totally struggled with my master-quilt-block-magnet idea. It was hard to turn the edges on these tiny quilt blocks and a binding would have thrown me right over the edge I think…I mean, what fabric width would work for binding on these…although, they may have turned out a little better ~

The round magnets are button covers with super strong (and I mean strong) magnets hot-glued on the back.
In other news, I was recently reunited with my Janome 6500 after her extended visit to the machine spa. Since her return to her rightful place, I have been putting some serious miles on her and finished quilting this quilt from the Sliced Apples QAL:
The colorful fabrics are vintage sheets and the lavender is quilters cotton. I have ALWAYS wanted to work vintage sheets into a quilt so this was ideal, quick and fun. My one word of advice, make sure your iron isn’t too hot for the non-cotton/blend sheets! The poly does not enjoy it. My sliced apples quilt is going to be donated to a charity.
Speaking of which, if you are feeling like joining in on a quilt charity group I highly recommend this one:
Katie at swim, bike, quilt is hosting her annual quilt drive, you can read more about it here. This is a wonderful way to give. I donated last year, what about you??
Have a fabulous rest of your weekend! Hugs -K
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Or, to more accurately state it in my world – putting the Swoon before the bedroom update 🙂
OK, I took Kirsten’s post about finishing her Swoon as a kick in the patootie and really put it into gear to wrap up my Swoon…..

so – I have mostly finished it! In my version I will be making the top into a duvet for a yet to be bought comforter for a yet to be bought king sized bed. And have it in a yet to be wallpaper border removed and repainted bedroom…hence, cart Swoon before horse redo on bedroom.
These are a couple of my most favorite blocks.

I had only 3 blocks left to do and I just got into that sewing groove and finished them all up last night -then started thinking about expanding the quilt top.
The Swoon pattern finishes at 80 x 80 inches – and the comforter size we are looking at is 110″ x 98″ (over-sized). To get a head start on expando-size I made the sashing 5.5″ versus the stated 2.5″. I will then add some additional fabric for the top/bottom and sides for drop. That will wait until I have the comforter in hand I think.
Yippee! I am glad to have these done and loooove how this looks. The Echo fabric line is simply gorgeous and I am so glad I used it for this pattern! I also sewed up the waste from the geese and will be trying to devise an HST pattern to make a pillow or two.

The pillows might wait a bit until I get that have to sewing bug again.
In other news, I did get my wicked witch ala Wizard of Oz basket for my bike and am in love with it too 🙂

I want to look for a basket liner tutorial/bag idea – let me know if you have seen any good ones!
Have a fabulous day! -K
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I haven’t blogged too much about the Around the Bend and Across the Pond swap that I was lucky enough to be part of. We started in January and our group of 8 had a month to add our own additions to these lovely quilts. The style of swap was a Free Form, meaning we could add to the quilt as we wanted whether it was a row, applique’, entire border, whatever we wanted. This was very interesting but was a little nerve wracking and over-the-top exciting for me to receive these quilts each month.
Here is a pic of the last quilt I worked on. I added the thin white border and checkerboard ~
Here is another one I got to add to ~

On the quilt above I added the burgundy/thin border and the Kona taragon green with 2 applique’d dresdens on the corners.
As it’s August and 8 months in, we are now done (or near done) with the rotation. I am excited to see the starter block I sent out and how it will finish after all of its travels but sorry that this group has come to an end too!
There are new bee groups starting for this group – so go and sign up! I found that I truly enjoyed this group and it was fun for inspiration to take over for my additions to each quilt. The Be Free Bee gals I sewed with were great!
There are 3 types of additions with this bee. The free form like I joined and then there is the row robin (add a row) and round robin (add a border). The quilts that are posted in this group on Flickr are amazing; inspiration each one.
Here is what I sent out in the beginning of the year:

The block is the State of Wisconsin quilt block which I found here. I will post the finish once I get it. I have seen the progression with this starter in pictures on Flickr and it is amazing what this block has morphed into!
I picked up the fish fabric when we vacationed last year in Door County, WI. If you can ever get to the Midwest you should try to get to Lake Michigan and Door County. It is absolutely fantastic. We were there at Memorial Day weekend this year and I grabbed some more lure fabric for the quilt back. Lucky us, we are returning to Door County soon and more salmon fishing!
As for other items, I have started the Scrap Vomit quilt along quilt that Katy is to blame for :). I am having so much fun with this because there are no real piecing rules to follow so it is just full-on sewing with little thought – love that!

As part of the group, I sent out 4 sets of 50 squares to other ‘vomiters’ from my scraptastic pile of 2.5 X 2.5″ squares and received some back. It is nice to have a mix of new to me vomit fabric to add to my blocks.
I had just enough of this blue Kona for the inner ring and picked up Kona berry for the outer ring:

It is easy to spend time putting these together and I already have about 7 blocks done. I will spare you the pics as it is overcast and not picture weather. More on this as I add to it for sure!
As for any other projects, I am making some progress and hope to spend time while we vacation doing more embroidery. Now, just where did Summer go?!
Have a great week! ~ K
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Are you good with scrap management? I’ve seen that phrase tied to the itty bitty and not so itty pieces we quilters tend to keep. Is there such a thing? If so, can you delegate scrap management?
Do you, yourself keep scraps? I have read where some …actually…don’t. Which I found myself wishing for when I looked at this~

See this pile o scraps? EEEK – I found I just kept adding to it…pushing the fabric down in the bucket and adding in more. I think some of the pieces were suffocating and all were horribly wrinkled piles of mess.
I rarely – and I mean rarely – dig through this pile for good project additions, and yet feel compelled to keep them. I don’t know why as I’d classify myself as a compulsive donate-er but seem to struggle with letting go of fabric.

As I was digging through this pile recently and reliving projects I found that the majority of these pieces were pretty old. I really I didn’t want to think about how old in some cases. Why oh why hang on to this!?!
I found colors I don’t really appreciate as much as I once did – the occasional fabric that I used so often that I could hardly look at it – and some pretty gnarly fabric content that made the pieces not so soft = bleck
As a stalker, well actually I am now a full-on follower of imagingermonkey, I actually gasped out loud when I saw her Flickr group for a scrap vomit quilt along. If you don’t know scrap vomit then I implore you to check out this photo ~ technicolor yawn/scrap vomit
That quilt is all 2.5″ x 2.5″ scraps! The plan includes a bunch of those squares, actually 1375 total go into this quilt. What is awesome about this is it uses up scraps plus, no rules on color, fabric style, value, contrast – ahuh – PERFECT
So – I cut all that mess up – and now I have this:

I did toss all other scraps that were less than 2″ – I just couldn’t hang on to these anymore. You know what? The toss out was actually pretty well contained too plus I found plenty of 2.5 x 2.5″ squares in the mix. This is a good go-to patchwork size for me evidently.
Now that messy pile is all tidied up, I have a larger plastic container for my solids – and I don’t feel so bad picking up this stack of loveliness 🙂 (sort of a two-fer – or three-fer maybe)
I’m also actually getting some quilting done on top of this scrap cutting too. I quilted my low volume quilt for a finish!

I straight line quilted in boxes that criss-cross the pinwheels. The bubble fabric for the back follows the low volume theme and is so incredibly soft. I totally love this quilt! I think know there are more low volume in my future.
You have a great week! K
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I don’t care how many times I type it or say it – Scrap Vomit makes me giggle. As does vomitous and vomitorium, you get my drift…at least it is funny with the quiltalong that Katy has going on ~ Scrap Vomit Appreciation Society.

I started with what I thought was a big pile of 2.5 x 2.5 squares. I actually thought I had enough for 2 quilts but I almost ran out!

I kept adding other pieces and scraps to my squares plus I swapped out some squares with others in the group to make the quilt blocks, 35 in all

I reaaallly wanted to finish this top before digging into anything else.

I kept going at this and ended up with this ~

I am off to enjoy some beautiful midwestern fall weather. You have a great weekend! Karen
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Hi. I’ve been ignoring my blog lately – mostly because 10-12 hour work days have eaten into my time, and particularly my sewing time. But, I am free-er lately and have been doing some stuff.

Despite the joining of swaps I cannot resist, this beauty came back home from it’s trip around the U.S. and the U.K.~

This is the wrap up of the Around the Bend and Across the Pond robin I was in. Isn’t it great? I sent out the center block in January which seems like so long ago, you know?

I’m not a Green Bay Packer fan however, just to set the record straight.

Once I received this quilt it went to the top of the pile – had to finish it – so I did 🙂

I honestly love this quilt and I am so happy to have it in our family room!
This is a well-traveled and wonderful quilt! Now, on to the swap stuff…maybe 🙂

Take care, K
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It seems that I cannot be away from my sewing machine too long lately, perhaps because I was really missing it with working too many hours.

I have been working away at a bunch of stuff and sorting through my stash too – why keep a half square at 1″ ? Here I thought I’d gathered all my scraps for my scrap vomit quilt. Oh well.

Anyway – I received another swap item, it continues to surprise me that I get items too with the swaps I’m in!

I received this tote as part of the Mouthy Stitches group. Whitney made it and she blogs here, the peacock tree. I absolutely love it! It is the perfect mix of cool colors and hand stitching. You should check out her blog, it is funny to read the movie phrases! Some of the phrases she quotes are all so very memorable from many of my favorite movies, makes me want to re-watch ’em. Hysterical! Right now Whitney is rounding up people to participate in a bee and Tom is looking gorgeous as ever.

Along with this beautiful tote came a super cute fob, which is currently riding around in my car on my keys, so no pic. I think this tote will become my full time purse as it is a good size to toss over my shoulder and pile stuff in.

Do you curve? I mean curve piece 🙂 I have long wanted to do curve piecing, even joined in on the Mod Pop QAL so I would try it, make myself try it. I also joined in with the Vintage Block QAL and sure enough, the first block has curves! Here is my first attempt for the vintage block QAL, just to break myself in on this:

I used some low volume prints I had and some purples, I think I’m hooked! I was a little leary of this block but the pattern and my curve master foot made a big difference! I want to make more of this block! I think I’ll focus more on lighter blues with my LV prints going forward.

Unfortunately, since I had a bunch of other projects I wanted to wrap up I put the Mod Pop aside for a bit. I have however used Julie’s templates for drunkards path – and they are great! I did invest in a 28mm rotary and find I use it alllll of the time. Here is what I put together for a potential swap mini:

I had that floral from Ruby/Bonnie & Camille in my stash and I think it works pretty well with the solids. I must say I did not struggle too much with the piecing here, besides matching up my blocks. Beginners luck? If my partner doesn’t want this I just might have to keep it and make a pillow. 😀

Speaking of pillow, I made a pillow for the X-factor pillow swap and it is on it’s merry way to the recipient.

The design is a paper piecing pattern from a quilt magazine (Fons & Porter dated 2005?) called Rosette. (thanks Mom for the back issues to hoard!) I have been wanting to try this pattern for a while. I added a covered zipper closure to the back. My husband (Mr. Laughter) didn’t want this one to head out the door!

This swap is so very different and fun as you submit your pillow, no one in the group knows who created it – then, you vote on your favorite! The quilter’s pillow that gets the most points then has first selection of pillows and so on. This is such a great group to participate in! All of the pillows are gorgeous and it is fun to see all the styles. Wonder which one I get? 🙂

I have one more item to share but don’t have a pic – I made a Shearwater Kaftan! I did! It was very fun to put together even if I used a super soft but slightly stretchy flannel I got at Joann’s but I love it. I also introduced myself to additional machine feet on my machine, who needs a serger? This is going to be be my go-to for about every day. I need to find more fabrics I love to make more – toss me any suggestions too! I’ll share a pic next time.

Have a great week!
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You might recall this mini I made for the BA{m}S (Be a Modern Swapper) wrap up swap that I jumped in on? I made this mini for my partner ~

I adore Bonnie & Camille’s Ruby fabric so much after putting this together, the florals with grey are gorgeous! I wrote about putting this mini together a little while back. OH – and do check out Janine over here, she made an incredible take off drunkards path mini – I mean, I want it! Janine – if you are reading this, I WANT it!

Anywho, remember how I committed to showing the back of this project? My partner, the hysterical Rebecca received her mini so I can reveal it – here goes 😀

Yep, Wonder Womans panties and logo! 🙂 Hehe!! You see, Rebecca has a thing with Wonder Woman obviously so I took off with it. Go check out her blog, she even has posted a pic of herself on her blog with power quilting cuffs on!
I used Merlin’s y-front paper pieced pattern here and swapped the boy look for the starry print. I even reversed the fabric for the inside of the panty legs. This was SO much fun!

Did you ever see Wonder Woman? I can remember watching Wonder Woman the series with the beautiful Lynda Carter. I thought she was the bomb – I mean she with her invisible airplane, lasso and powerful and stylish bracelets (that stop bullets) plus that magic belt put her right over the top for me! I WANTED that airplane!

I know Rebecca likes it and I am glad 🙂

If you want to check out the Sew Mama Sew giveaway that I have check it out here! I am still making my way through all the giveaway goodies listed on the Sew Mama Sew site – there is a pile of stuff to check out and great inspiration!

Have a great day! xo K
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We just got a couple inches of snow so had to bring it outside for a photo shoot. I was fortunate to have a holiday day this week and since we were blessed with below zero temps I took advantage of a sewing day. I was all cozy in my sewing room having a blast putting these 9 patch blocks together! I then spent a couple evenings assembling the top. I couldn’t wait to get it done! At the same time I really didn’t want to finish it though, you know?! Didn’t want the fun to end.
I will soon use more of my stash to put together a patchwork back for it and quilt! Yay! I think that although this quilt is a large one, it would be a good quilt for a soon to be Mommy and her soon to be born daughter.
Along with this finish, I reallly wanted to try sewing another top so I grabbed some inexpensive voile fabric and made the Schoolhouse Tunic.
I really enjoy putting together clothes/tops for myself but envision them turning out way better than they actually do, unfortunately.
I do like how this top turned out in a sense

The voile is lovely although very sheer and has this pretty detail along the edge, which I used for the hem and sleeves – so much easier than putting in a true hem 🙂
This top was super easy top to cut out and sew really but I think if I make it again, I’ll make this in a quilting cotton and down a size ..maybe. I just may have to sew up another even if it is a little mumu-ish without a zipper/fitted skirt. It would be really cute in a floral pattern with a cami and tights…hmmmm
Anywho – onto the next stash quilt so now I am cutting up strips to have another go at the scrappy trip quilt. I made 4 blocks a couple weeks back and did not appreciate their scrappiness and donated them…I just didn’t see continuing. I decided to attempt it again but with a semi-plan for the colors with mostly purples and yellow. I will show progress next time!
What are you working on? Do tell! 🙂 Have a fabulous week. K
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A nearly there finish
Does your sewing machine have a permanent home, well by permanent I mean does it sink into your table? I have never had a table like that so instead had my extension table butted up against my machine which was on top of an old plywood desk. Until now…look what I invested in

Here’s a potentially better pic

The minute I received the boxes I wanted to assemble. I waited though – until after work at least! I have a 6500 Janome and there is a table from Janome that fits this machine and can accommodate other Janome machines. I wasn’t thrilled with that option so searched around and found one from Missouri Sewing Co. Maybe a little pricey? Ya…but less than the Janome table! Plus it’s a little bit bigger. The construction on this table is great and my machine has a ‘home’. Yay! The table is adjustable too which helps considerably with my usual sewing backache.

Of course, the minute it was completely assembled I had to baste a WIP and get to FMQ right away.

I had this granny square top done and even posted a picture to Flickr in August last year. It has blocks from my awesome fellow bee mates of quilting under the rainbow. I can’t wait to show the back with everyone’s signature block.

I just didn’t get around to finishing it until now, guess all I needed was the new table 🙂 The only other WIP I have is my Farmers Wife which ….well, let’s not go there today!

For the back and binding on my granny square quilt I emptied 4 of my cool comic book fabric cardboards
which is awesome as it frees up space for more fabric right? Heheh. Oh – take a look out my window – unreal
Not too easy to see but that is indeed snow – on April 19…and ice too. Bah! Anyway, I’m going to be finishing my granny square quilt and will post more info and a finished pic next time.

I’m also thinking of my next quilt and I am having a hard time finding something I want to dig into. So, I was thinking of this –
what do you think? I love applique’ and have plenty of fabric and scraps….let me know if you have any suggestions for something similar ok? Have a great weekend xo K
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We just got a couple inches of snow so had to bring it outside for a photo shoot. I was fortunate to have a holiday day this week and since we were blessed with below zero temps I took advantage of a sewing day. I was all cozy in my sewing room having a blast putting these 9 patch blocks together! I then spent a couple evenings assembling the top. I couldn’t wait to get it done! At the same time I really didn’t want to finish it though, you know?! Didn’t want the fun to end.
I will soon use more of my stash to put together a patchwork back for it and quilt! Yay! I think that although this quilt is a large one, it would be a good quilt for a soon to be Mommy and her soon to be born daughter.
Along with this finish, I reallly wanted to try sewing another top so I grabbed some inexpensive voile fabric and made the Schoolhouse Tunic.
I really enjoy putting together clothes/tops for myself but envision them turning out way better than they actually do, unfortunately.
I do like how this top turned out in a sense

The voile is lovely although very sheer and has this pretty detail along the edge, which I used for the hem and sleeves – so much easier than putting in a true hem 🙂
This top was super easy top to cut out and sew really but I think if I make it again, I’ll make this in a quilting cotton and down a size ..maybe. I just may have to sew up another even if it is a little mumu-ish without a zipper/fitted skirt. It would be really cute in a floral pattern with a cami and tights…hmmmm
Anywho – onto the next stash quilt so now I am cutting up strips to have another go at the scrappy trip quilt. I made 4 blocks a couple weeks back and did not appreciate their scrappiness and donated them…I just didn’t see continuing. I decided to attempt it again but with a semi-plan for the colors with mostly purples and yellow. I will show progress next time!
What are you working on? Do tell! 🙂 Have a fabulous week. K
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I went on vacation for a week and now I am back. Good or bad I guess, still deciding. We took a trip to Florida where the weather was nearly 50 degrees warmer every day than it is where we live. I can tell you it is pretty easy to acclimate to that 🙂

I brought this quilty goodness along for the ride and used it:

Almost closer to ab-used it really, my Weekender bag. I stuffed this baby full of electronic devices, power cords, zip pouches, extra flip flops, car keys, passports and it handled it all marvelously. I did feel a little bad for it after our trip, it looked a little mashed but once empty, it restored itself to normal. This is really going to be my go-to for trips. I don’t know what I’d have done without it!

While I was away I was checking on all the quilty goodness that you have been doing and had a little bit of envy that you were sewing…but I quickly got over it.

I also found out who I should ship my X-Factor Pillow Swap pillow to – it had to be a super secret until the voting was done. Here is my round 4 submission:

This round we were encouraged to submit pillows with 1-2″ finished squares and I dug right in! I am really amazed at the volume of both solids and low volume scraps I had to incorporate in this pillow. There are 144 total 1.5″ finished squares for this pillow and every fabric is different.

Totally fun to make! I tried to position the fabrics in a gradiant affect and did simple quilting plus a zipper back.

I hope my partner likes it 😉

I will be back soon to show a couple pics from the trip if they turned out OK and to show some progress on my Scrappy trip. Cannot wait to put it together!

Have a great day!Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Get cards in the mail to those you love? Exchange chocolate? I will be celebrating Valentine’s maybe with dinner tonight although I did forget about a card for Mr. Laughter…yup – pretty much neglected to recognize that it was Feb. 14 until he mentioned it. Oops.

In my defense, I’ve been a bit crazy, busy with work and more than a little preoccupied with my obsession…

Betty Lou 🙂 I think she looks stunning now, especially since I got a snapshot outside in bright snowy daylight. I had a couple good suggestions for names for my machine but I decided on Betty Lou because it makes me laugh a little and it’s cute!

I did a bunch of clean up on this machine including the gorgeous faceplate which was a little tarnished. I got the tension mechanism reassembled correctly too. A coat of car wax brought her shine back 🙂

I love how this machine stitches! Prior to this machine I had only sewn on Janome (plus a super super old home machine that my Mom had years ago) – there is a difference with the lockstitch from what I see.

I am now curious about Babylock and other lock stitch machines, if the stitching is similar or if I’m hanging onto ‘lockstitch’ too much. I will take some photos and show you her gorgeous stitch soon.

Also, are you tripping? I got sucked into making the Scrappy Trip Along blocks and just finished up 30 blocks – and I mean these babies are addicting! Such a fun and easy way to assemble the blocks.

I admit, I had previously tried these blocks and made 4 but didn’t like them in the least. I couldn’t keep going. They were a little ‘meh’ to me. I tossed them in my donation pile.

I kept seeing so many gorgeous trippy blocks and quilts I just had to try again. This time I included purple and yellow solids along with purple and yellow prints plus I added pink, a gorgeous pomegranate kona – and what a BIG difference! I now love these blocks, and I am sure I will love them more when they are assembled.

I made sure I had that pomegranate in each block and they will end up scattered around the quilt. Cannot wait to see how it looks! I will show you what I hope will be a completed top soon! In the meantime, I hope you have a great rest of the week. xo K Hi. I am obsessed. Completely. I admit it here this in no way means that this admission is in order to resolve this obsession in the least 🙂

I have been busy with this little beauty:

Isn’t it so adorable? You might know about this machine already but in case you don’t – she’s a Featherweight 221. I am in love. 100%

She was born in 1946…June 4, 1946 from what I see with machine dating. She weighed 11 lbs then and still does. Isn’t she cute?

So – though I have already spent considerable time investigating these machines, I continue to soak up as much information on this machine as possible from books, the internet and even an online group! L.O.V.E. her.

I also decided to work on her myself as she needed (and still needs) some cleaning and I’m going to give her a bunch of new items including a belt, oil, and even a wax. I figure I can manage it because it is not in least bit electronic, is easily adjusted and can be cleaned by about anyone plus I am learning alot – ALOT!

I’ve started to dismantle stuff, clean and re-assemble.

I will put up some more pictures soon – including a close up of the gorgeous face plate. I have to go spend more time with her now.

One question you may have is – does she sew? Ya – she does now 😉

I am not usually one to assign names to things or to be anthropomorphic but I think she has feelings …and I need to name her too. Suggestions welcome.

Wish me luck! xo -K
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================If you are beating the winter blues blog-hopping, check out this post for the giveaway!

You know what? My powerful vision must have worked because I have my Scrappy Swoon all done!

I actually wrapped up the quilting on Saturday and then added the binding while watching a movie Saturday night. I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish it Sunday and just couldn’t wait! Here is the back
I used leftover backing fabric from other quilts for the back – yay! The binding was a tough call, as I thought I’d continue with scrappiness and do a scrappy one, but I saw this Valori Wells print in my stash that I’d used in the quilt and had just enough for binding this quilt so decision made

I think there is like 18″ left! It is a match made in heaven 🙂 I struggled with my machine while doing the FMQ/stipple on this quilt. The tension is just not having it in some places on the back. I continued with some simple echo quilting on the orange and blue star sections

I used monofilament thread and stitched in the ditch through larger sections so that the quilt would hold together. So happy to have this finished!

Next, I spent some time on the first block from the Forest QAL too – here it is in sections.

I think there are like 18 pieces here! I saw this QAL and just had to join in. I am anxiously awaiting the block that has a hawk in it, so amazing. I will show my woodpecker put together next time. You should check this QAL out!

Plus – here is 1 group of fabrics I just had to have when I fell off my fabric diet ~

Do you like Tula? These Salt Water fabrics are gorgeous prints that I’ve been eyeing up for quite a while and just couldn’t take it anymore 🙂 I ordered from here and I think these were practically in my mailbox overnight!

I’m waiting for a couple more shipments and will share when they get here…perhaps the extra 10″ of snow is slowing them down. Yep – ANOTHER 10″ of snow from the weekend. So done with it already!
Have a great day! xo Karen
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Last weekend, you might recall, I went out of town and we fished. Remember? I had to try out my new fish hat 🙂

A couple posts back I mentioned the Umbrella Prints contest that is NOW OPEN!! YAY! Go here to the Pinterest board and check out the most amazing variety of creations! I cannot believe how many things there are to see. A great Pinterest board for inspiration I think! While you are there, if you feel like you want to pin my item then go for it 🙂

Oh, and as I promised here is a pic of me sporting my new hat with my ‘huge’ fish:

I am trying not to laugh at my husband while he is taking this pic since he was making fun of my huge fish. Too cute to keep.

I can say that my hat ‘worked’ though 🙂 Talk to you again soon.

Can you ever have enough tote bags? I swear, about every time I see a tote bag on Flickr or Pinterest or in a magazine I immediately feel compelled to make it. Case in point:
I saw this reversible tote bag pattern in the newest issue of Modern Patchwork magazine and ordered the leather for the handles…pronto! I bought my bison leather from this Etsy seller and my strap got to me pretty quick, I think in like 3 days!

Speaking of quick, this bag is super quick to put together. I think between quilting the panels and assembly I logged maybe 4 hours between 2 evenings.

I used fabric from Cosmo Cricket for the outside and a yellow/gray Moda organic for the inside (which I wish I knew the name of), it is so incredibly soft!

There is a long inside pocket in this tote which is helpful for keys and wallet, and good to keep separate from the pile of other stuff I usually load in a bag!

There are a couple of things on this tote that I have always wanted to try, one was to put a gusset pocket on the outside of a bag like this and two, I wanted to try an alternate material for the handles, like leather. I just love that new leather smell 🙂 The leather came flat but as part of the instructions for this bag, you fold it and sew 1/8″ from the edge.
My Janome worked it well enough although I admit, it was a little scary to sew on leather for me! If you try this, I highly recommend using a true leather needle because I used a denim needle and think a leather needle would have been better.

I do think the leather adds a nice touch to this bag

I am now anxiously awaiting the end of today so I can be work free and off traveling with my new bag for a long holiday weekend here in the U.S.! I hope you have a great weekend! Enjoy xo KI am really looking forward to the upcoming long Memorial Day weekend this weekend! Three days off work, and we are headed to a nearby lake for some fishing. Do you like to fish? I do, but I may be doing more reading and basking in the sun versus fishing- fingers crossed for the weather!

Remember this fun challenge I mentioned?

Umbrella Prints runs an annual competition with their trimmings packages. You order a Trimmings package, create something and then you send them a link to a photo of your creation. There is a Pinterest board for the challenge too – go ahead, pin it/follow so you can revisit it when the competition is open between June 1 and June 5. I may remind you in a followup post soon.

A while back I picked up this light weight reddish jean remnant from an ‘antique’ store. My husband was looking at all the stuff in the shop and all I was interested in was their fabric bins! There was over a yard in the package for $2.00 which was a bargain I couldn’t pass up.

For this challenge, I was stumped for a while with what to make but finally settled on a bucket style/sun hat. When I was a teenager I used to wear an old fishing hat that I swiped from the fish house that belonged to my Grandpa. I wore it until it practically fell apart. I thought I was so cool wearing it…I’m sure I wasn’t. This one will be cooler!

Anyway, I created the pattern from a mix of ideas I found online but primarily used this post to draft the pieces. There are maybe 1 billion sites to visit to get ideas on how to make these! I used freezer paper as my final template – love that stuff!

As this was going to be a fishing hat, what better to decorate the sides of my hat using the cute Umbrella Prints – fish!? I drafted an applique’ fish and used Heat n Bond to cut out a school of fish for my hat 🙂

HeatnBond was a great choice for this project to fuse the fish. I also lined the exterior pieces of the hat with lightweight interfacing to add a little sturdiness. I really could have stopped without stitching the fish down as that HeatnBond is pretty sticky stuff but, I wanted to make sure I could wash the hat when needed so stitched the fish in place too.

Here is my finished hat! Done and fun!
I even added one of my cool new labels inside
Maybe next time I will actually include a picture of me wearing this… on the lake, catching a big fish! I know this hat is going to be a favorite this summer and I really had so much fun making it!

I’ll be back soon! xo KA little over a week ago there was a foot of snow around our house, a foot! I wasn’t here because I was at camp…I didn’t miss it. Since then the snow has melted, we have actually used our grill and it has rained, sleeted and flurried. I did also get a little sun to rejuvenate my long gone winter tan…it has been a cyclone of weather types!

Today is a predicted high of near 90 degrees. I am looking forward to it but I miss Spring – didn’t we used to have one?

Anyway – on to my recent addiction
The youtube video I found (and somehow cannot find again), walked step by step through applique’ using your machine, little pieces and interfacing. This method was a tremendous success (more below). This berry bowl block is done but the fussy cut berries sorta give me the creeps a little since I ‘fussy’ cut around flowers from a print. Up close this looks a little alien-like so I may remake it.

Daylily block – oh how fun was this! Y-seams and I are dear friends now and I’ve had fun sewing with them. I did pick apart a couple of seams on the above but it was worth it for the result.

This week I am going to work on the orange peel blocks and again use the interfacing trick

Quick steps – Trace the shape onto the interfacing, sew to right side of fabric along the line you traced (small stitch length like, 1.5), cut 1/8″ around piece then slice the interfacing and turn, iron, done! Well, the smaller the piece the fiddly-er it is to turn but it definitely works Here is one petal of my first orange peel. There are 7 orange peel blocks in this quilt so I can mix and match plenty of prints and perfect my interfacing applique perhaps.

Here is a pic of what I have done so far, I hope to get a better daytime shot next time

On other quilty fronts I received this pillow cover from Kim/KMJ Creations in the Modern She Made 3 swap –
I so love this design and in purple – my favorite! I can never have enough pillows!! They just seem to scream relax to me 🙂

Oh – almost forgot! I also have a stack of gorgeous kona for an upcoming QAL –
if I can redirect my brain away from Sweet Tea and Green Beans of course. I grabbed these lovelies while my Mom and I dropped into Fields Fabric in Kalamazoo, MI when we were traveling. I want a store by me! This is a JoAnn’s on steroids – I could have spent a couple days in there.

Have a great day! KI think I’m still recovering from camp

I am also super tempted to book the next camp in August – check out the instructors. I’m weighing the timing, travel and my schedule with work – but this is a seriously fun time! I enjoyed the other ‘campers’ and the time away so much that I got peer-pressured into joining Instagram. Me?! We’ll see how social media additions and me work.

Onto the quilting front, I am currently completely immersed and 100% captivated by Sweet Tea & Green Beans. I cannot stop thinking about it nor do I want to and believe my husband is tired of hearing about it (though her pretends otherwise)I do love a sampler quilt but this one? I am having a blast!! There are some challenges that are keeping this very interesting for me. Case in point, the garden path blocks were a tad challenging to machine piece
I almost started that left butterfly one over but as I was deciding what to do I happened to spy my spray starch, and voila’! Looks good enough to keep. Do you use starch? I don’t usually but have a can for ironing shirts if I need to, I think the can I have is like a decade old really!

I know what you may be thinking here…’geez, Karen is going a little wild on this quilt with all the colors’ – I am! It is me going way outside my box in so many ways and loving it! Lest you think I’m creating a quilt without places for your eye to rest, I made these double pinwheels in more mellow colors, so mellow they don’t look double-pinwheel-y at all

Now I am on to you-tubing my way to figure out the smaller applique’ for the blocks and will be trying an interfacing method this weekend to complete this block

The leaves and berry pieces are pretty small to simply cut out, turn under and machine on. I hope the trick I found works because check out this block of clam shells…eeek!

And yes, since you asked, that fabric is super brand new! It’s from Rashida Coleman-Hale’s upcoming line Koi. I was SUPER lucky to get this from her while I was at camp. Think it works for a couple clams worth in the block right? Perfect!!

I will let you know how it goes next time, that is if I can tear myself away from this. Have a great weekend!! xo KOh my gosh…I am back from Camp Stitchalot ~ what a whirlwind! I had a totally amazing time!

First off – a day of travel with my Mom to Michigan – which is a time zone away from Wisconsin which turns out to be over 500 miles each way.

My Mom 🙂 Love you Mom!
Then in about a blink I’m back. How does that happen?

The place we stayed was so great, 70+ degree weather and sun + I missed over a foot of snow at home. Perfect timing because it melted by the time I got back

Here are the awesome projects/teachers we had ~

Then these two gorgeous gals
and

Taught us to make a circle skirt….which I do not have a picture of but it turned out great – even if I don’t wear skirts! I feel like I should now though really.

There were 26’ish in total at the retreat camp and it was a very broad mix of ages, styles, sewists with so much to share! It was great to soak up so much information and to hang out and sew! I loved it!

All in all it was a perfect opportunity to get away, get some hang-time with my Mom and to sew without the thought of work, chores or weather. I want to go back now!

How are you doing? xo Karen

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I am so looking forward to a long sewing weekend away! Have you ever done this? I have only really participated in evening stitching sessions with my local group, or a whole day with a quilt shop but not anything like several days in a row – to sew!

When I saw Camp Stitchalot on the pinkcastlefabrics site I just had to find a way to go. It is about 500 miles away from me but that just means a great reason to unplug. And…I invited my Mom to go along! She loves sewing and quilting plus we don’t get to spend so much time together anymore. I think about 1000+ miles driving and days sewing is some heavy bonding right? Maybe a little too much but we’ll have fun 🙂

I get to hang out with a group of sewists/quilters, by a lake, with sewing machines, and fabric, thread, cutters, rulers, notions, bags…yikes – sort of like packing up my entire sewing room right? 🙂

My grocery bags are coming in handy for sewing traveling. The tutorial I use regularly is here and I highly recommend it! I plan on working away on a bunch of projects that are part of our weekend plus a couple projects of my own like this one

I couldn’t wait to start this and dove right in on the hexy block

Machine piecing hexies was a breeze, slow going but worked! I created a freezer paper template, cut the pieces all out and followed this tutorial for piecing. A couple of the fabrics are not working for me and it may be re-done but we’ll see how it works with the other blocks as I add to this one.

The quilt pattern includes templates…not a fan at all of templates am I! So, I drafted some paper templates for some of the more traditional (non-applique’) blocks and I’ve stored up great advice from several tutorials on machine/turn-needle applique. We’ll see how far I get!

I hope you all have a great end to your week!! xo KI so love hand stitching my binding down! It is so relaxing and a nice finishing touch – do you agree? Sometimes I don’t want to finish a quilt because I loved working on it so much I want to extend out the finishing process. Case in point:
See in the background? Of course we still have snow – but, predictions of 60+ degree weather this weekend has my husband envisioning grilling season kick-off. I am all for that, he can cook 🙂

Back to my quilt – the fabrics I used here are organic from Birch fabrics and they are so wonderful to sew with, very soft! It occurred to me that this is a perfect baby quilt size as it finishes at 39 x 59 -but I think I’ll keep it for me.

The gals in my bee Quilting Under the Rainbow helped so much with the assembly of these blocks. The tutorial for the granny square block is here.

When I sent the fabrics out I included an extra strip of Kona snow for them to send back with names/locations and blogs (the reason I really want to keep this!). I put the set of signatures together and attached them to the backing – all quilters included!

The minute the binding was finished this went in the wash as I so absolutely love a crinkly quilt! It is a perfect quilt to hang in my sewing room, now I just need to find space 😀

I also participated in the monthly fabric swap group on Flickr for April and was paired with Cynthia (check out her Flickr stuff – truly amazing!) For this swap we send 4 fat quarters, a sewing notion and perhaps a sweet treat or two. Cynthia is in British Columbia Canada and we’ve been emailing back and forth about the swap plus – here is what she sent me
I have a fabulous mix of 3 fat quarters plus a pile of great scraps (we opted for scraps in place of 1 FQ)! I love it – plus, she sent me a clover hera marker. I have never seen one in quilt shops around me for some reason so Cynthia sent me one! The chocolate she sent was gone in about a instant too. Thanks Cynthia! 🙂

p.s. – Thank you to those of you who supported my decision, I ordered the Sweet Tea and Green Beans pattern book and I’m already picking out coveted fabrics for this project. Can’t wait! xo KDoes your sewing machine have a permanent home, well by permanent I mean does it sink into your table? I have never had a table like that so instead had my extension table butted up against my machine which was on top of an old plywood desk. Until now…look what I invested in

Here’s a potentially better pic

Of course, the minute it was completely assembled I had to baste a WIP and get to FMQ right away.

I just didn’t get around to finishing it until now, guess all I needed was the new table 🙂 The only other WIP I have is my Farmers Wife which ….well, let’s not go there today!

OH! I finished my Holiday in London Duffle bag!

I risked freezing a bit so I could get some natural light pictures, overcast and cloudy as it is. I must say that I am seriously loving this bag!

For the zipper I used a double zipper so I could open it from either side and I am so glad I did! I really wish I had used one for my Weekender bag too.

The pockets on the outside translate to the same pockets on the inside

which will be great for tucking in keys, cell or fabric I just need to buy while traveling, right? 🙂 I really love the long strap on this bag too which is detachable.

This bag was fairly easy to put together and fun to watch take shape. There are multiple layers with interfacing but I only broke 1 needle!

The lining and exterior are put together in a truly funky/new way to me which actually turned out pretty cool. I’ll try to explain it. The bottom panel exterior is sewn along one long side without sewing in with the lining (right sides together) then you turn the bag right side out to then tuck in the other 3 sides to the bottom panel for a whip stitch. I was able to use my sewing machine for 3 of the 4 bottom sides with some contortionist-like finagling resulting in a need to whip stitch only one short side. Better for me as I truly am not so great at hand stitching!

This bag will hold quite a bit and I know I will so love having it with me when I got to Ann Arbor in a couple weeks! Perhaps both this bag and my weekender will travel with me along with sewing must-haves for sewing weekend.

Up next I picked up a Trimmings package from Umbrella Prints and was thinking that I’d submit an entry into their annual contest…then thought I wouldn’t…but now think I just might! I have a plan in my head so now just seeing if it can come to life. I’m pretty excited to start!

This is what I start with! Such great prints! I will be sure to have fun 🙂

Have a great day xo KYes, it is still snowing here in the upper Midwest. Yes, it is April 11th. Maybe some day we will see green grass..maybe.

I will stop complaining about the weather too some day…maybe 🙂

I should think more positively and remember that poor weather helps in getting some sewing done! With the rain/snow/drizzle last weekend, I finally put a plan together for my partner in the Modern She Made ~3 swap and went for it. This round we are including stars in our projects, which I LOVE. So, easy peasy right? Well, not really. I had previously decided to use some templates and create a periwinkle star pillow cover but quickly dismissed that when I lost patience for templates.

Then I saw this medallion lone star and I knew I wanted to make it for a pillow cover for my partner.

I used some Tula fabrics and Kona snow for the background

I used a covered zipper closure. I hope she loves it because I love the way it turned out! I should make myself one 🙂

Next up, I’m working on a duffle bag which I have had on my list for a while.

Since I booked a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan for Camp Stitchalot (first weekend May) I decided it might be a good time to make a duffle to travel along. Perfect excuse! I am using some Valori Wells fabrics for the bag that are helping me think of Spring and Summer
Although I just started this bag I know it shouldn’t take too long so I should have a finish to show soon. Help me by focusing your own thoughts of Spring and I’ll be back soon. xo K Have you ever watched cowboy shows or movies? I mean like those old vintage shows like Bonanza or The Lone Ranger. These are classics that are sometimes played on cable TV. Certainly before or about my time but fun to watch with all the shoot-outs. I think TV has come a long way since then! And – time really goes so fast – too fast!

Speaking of time, I haven’t posted anything lately but I have been busy sewing and have a finish to show!

My nephew is graduating from high school in the next couple months and has plans to attend college away from home. I can remember when he was little and I could carry him around but now he’s college-bound and outweighs me 😀 With the dorm room beds being long twins (usually 39″ x 80″), I set about finding a easy and masculine looking quilt I could send off with him.

He texted me that his favorite colors are blue and green. I picked up all that Ocean Kona (the pattern calls for 13 yards but I made 12 work) and used some flannel pieces I had in my stash for the boxes. The quilt is pictured here on our queen bed and is a great size as it finishes at 71 x 96! Certainly big enough to cover my nephew 🙂

While I was piecing this quilt I scrolled through my online movie/TV stream and became completely hooked on Justified – the TV show from FX network. Ever seen it?

I’d seen previews for the show and never watched it before but now I can’t stop! I’m almost through season 2. By the way I highly recommend Amazon Prime on-demand.

Anyway, the show has just the right amount of cowboy goodness. I mean Timothy Olyphant in cowboy boots and a 10 gallon hat? Hello!? Then you throw in some bad guys and gals, shooting and a Kentucky drawl and that was it – I love it!

I think this quilt has just the right amount of masculine goodness plus it has a very cool texture if I do say so myself. I have been hooked on this serpentine quilting forever since I saw that Fiesta wall quilt in Quilting Modern and finally, FINALLY got it to work on my machine. Well, I say finally but it was more like I finally took the time to find a serpentine-ish decorative stitch that is already on my machine. It is VERY time-consuming to quilt like this but I think it was oh so worth it! It allowed for more TV watching. I also used green thread! See? Had to abide by his colors.

I spent Easter Sunday hand stitching the binding while dinner was in the oven and couldn’t wait to load it in the washing machine.

I made a matching pillow case and it is now all ready to deliver as a graduation gift. So happy to have this ready way ahead of time. Now I’m off to watch more Justified – oh, and I’ll be back with more soon. K
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If you have been stopping in regularly to see what I’m doing then you know that I love joining in on quiltalongs and swaps. The modern swaps that I have joined have been great for inspiring me to do different things and when the latest round for Modernista popped up I couldn’t resist and signed on! This latest round was for items to ‘spice up the bedroom’ so items like pillow cases, pillow covers or slippers were tossed about in the discussion thread.

My partner Sabrina has a fondness for animals with 2 dogs and she raises chickens! Check out her blog, they are very colorful chickens that have colorful eggs! So cool! Sabrina had listed on her swap list a fondness for woodland critters. I knew right away I wanted to make a pillow cover and do something with a fox so – I did

I took one look at this pattern and loved it! This paper pieced pattern can be found here. I used a mix of solids in orange and a brown for the tail. Isn’t he sweet? What a cozy cute fox

The Madrona Road print for the background was a perfect choice I think, with it’s cute sayings and reference to dreaming, a forest and a princess.
Since Sabrina likes purple, and who doesn’t really? – I also decided on Lizzy House Outfoxed (get it?) jewels in purple for the box around the fox and border. My FMQ went so smoothly that I wanted to continue on with more 🙂 This was tough to send off!
As an add on I sent along this cutie ~
I filled the pin cushion with crushed walnuts, which makes it heavier but it is also supposed to help keep your pins sharp. I hope Sabrina loves it!

Oh, and last night I took a look around my clean sewing room, spied a jelly roll of Tapestry by Fig Tree and did a few 16 patch blocks…

I know these blocks will soon grow into a quilt – the blocks are super addicting! Have a great day! xo K
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Throughout the year as I make quilts I usually set aside at least a couple of quilts for the annual donation event 100 Quilts for Kids. Katie over at Swim, Bike, Quilt organizes the giveaway each year and I really look forward to it!

This year I have 4 quilts that I am donating to Project Linus. I am fortunate that my local sewing machine dealer is a donation site, not only because it’s convenient but because I can have good reason to scope out the new machines!

I love a stack of quilts! First up is the scrappy trip I made earlier this year

All from stash this was a very fun quilt to put together! I used a zig zag stitch to quilt this one and put it aside just for donation.

Second donation quilt is my finish earlier this year on my granny square from a 2012 Bee, Quilting Under the Rainbow.
I love this one and really had fun getting blocks from all over to complete this top! I asked for the granny squares thinking of a donation quilt, but this is a difficult one to give up! It turned out super cute I think.

Third is my jelly roll 16 patch
I assembled this one on a whim and when it was done I knew it had to be added for donation. It is the perfect size to drag around behind a toddler 🙂

And fourth quilt is this Halloween themed charm square quilt
I made this one a couple of years ago and had it stowed away where I didn’t see it regularly. I meant to donate this one last year but I couldn’t locate it so when I found it earlier this year, I made sure it got moved to my donation quilt pile. The Halloween prints are super cute.

All four quilts are now washed and bagged up to deliver
I will be making my way to my donation site later today and sure, I can kid myself and keep thinking I’ll avert my eyes from all the new machines there but why even try? 🙂
You have a great weekend! xo K
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Since I finished my first scrap vomit quilt I have been wanting another one. The typical morning at our house has me all rolled up in my first scrap vomit quilt with my dog at my feet trying to get as much of her 60 lb. body on any remaining corner. Mr. Laughter is then left out of the scenario 🙂

The size of this quilt is perfect at 70 x 98 for previously mentioned rolling up into and a spare corner for my dog.

I had this one quilted as I did my other by the lovely Sarah in New York. She is super awesome to work with and speedy! I just love the quilting she does. The pattern on this one is hard to see but it is lots of bubbles.

I knew exactly the fabric I wanted for the binding on this quilt so couldn’t wait to get it back from Sarah to finish.

I had just enough of that Lizzy House jewels print so that these two quilts could be a bit ‘matchy-matchy’ in at least one way. Once I was done binding it I thought the quilt seemed so much bigger than my earlier version, and sure enough it was

There was about 2″ on each side when I overlapped my first SV. I decided to wash it and now it’s almost exactly the same size. Love these quilts and so enjoy assembling all 1700+ 2.5 x 2.5″ scraps. Now I’m thinking about a low volume one 🙂

I also got the most wonderful surprise in the mail from Jeanine – all the way from across the pond!

I follow Jeanine and so enjoy seeing what she makes – so told her I loved her wallet creations…and she sent me one with some fabric and a card. This is in use already 🙂 Thanks Jeanine!!
Next up for me might be this one ~

Have a great day xo KI have been feeling like I was missing something every so often lately and then it would hit me, where is my Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt again? Not only do I truly miss working on it but it was out of state! Getting quilted 🙂

Kathy quilted this one for me. While it feels luxurious to be able to send quilts out for quilting to me, this one needed special attention. I found Kathy through Instagram posts and thought it was pretty cool that this quilt was started in Michigan, and then was quilted in Michigan. Full circle in a way.

The all over quilt design was perfect to quilt this pattern in my opinion. The quilted flowers mimic the applique flowers
When this quilt arrived back, I attached the binding the same day…I was pretty excited!

Kathy also offers an embroidered quilt label – and I took her up on it
I bought the Cosmo Cricket (2WENTY THR3E) backing for this quilt and the border print from Pink Castle Fabrics. There is a lot of Michigan in this quilt! I am going to display this quilt in my sewing room right behind my sewing machine. I will try to remember to snap a better picture of it in good light.

Speaking of Michigan, I’m trying to arrange a return to Campstitchalot in Spring or Summer next year because it is so.much.fun! I’ve kept in contact via Instagram, Flickr and emails with many of the girls from my visit last May and it has been good for my soul and quilting 🙂

You have a great day! xo K

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Wow – two posts so close together, what is up with me? 🙂 You know this about me, but I say time and again how much I enjoy Flickr swaps and these last 2 swaps were as fun to create for as ever.
In my last post I showed the pillow top I had finished but not yet quilted and in the midst of picking up everything on my sewing room floor for carpet cleaners expected soon – I just went for it with FMQ in the aqua (nothing like self inflicted pressure and inappropriate timing 🙂

I like how the prints sort of look like ornaments and I am thankful that I snapped a couple photos of the finish when it was nice and sunny out versus what we have experienced with wintery cold weather lately…and snow is in the forecast soon, but I digress.

I used my all time favorite tutorial for a covered zipper and it worked perfectly as per usualThe cover fits a 14″ pillow form and I had to package it up right away for the swap so I couldn’t find ways to justify keeping it! Included in the package are some cute goodies that I think will work perfectly for my partner plus I used the very remnants of my 2 charm packs to make this darling needle book ~
The squares were 1.5″ x 1.5 and I had to scavenge to get enough! Love the needle book tutorial I found as it is quick, fun and a great extra to make!Ok, second swap project? You might recall that I joined in on the holiday apron swap and had to hold off sharing it because it would have been a clear giveaway that this was meant for her. She was very particular about the fabric she wanted, and while I initially hesitated, I couldn’t resist ~Isn’t the fabric awesome? It’s called Hurry Down the Chimney by Alexander Henry. Hehe 🙂 The guys in this fabric are fun and I really enjoyed making the ‘spice it up’ apron (check out the free pattern) complete with a ruffled bottom which was far easier than I thought.I just had to highlight one of the sexy santas in a potholder too
As some girls in the swap said, I don’t think he’s really saying No 🙂
OK, now I’m off to do more planning as we are hosting Thanksgiving this year…13 people…eeek! Hope you are having a great day! xo K
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I finished up my Marcelle Medallion over the weekend. I also had to work by day job off and on through much of my ‘days off’ but was able to also do some quilting. I am glad I could take quilting breaks, it made it a little easier to take! In between office calls and emails, it seemed I could focus on one round of my medallion quilt and decide on a quilting pattern to try. I used Angela Walter’s book to give me some ideas~
While her patterns and steps to achieve the patterns are very straight forward, my own vision of being able to achieve FMQ perfection right away, well, that was a little off. It was fun to try some different stuff out and I think with more practice I might not be as hard on myself~
I also think a medallion quilt is perfect for testing some FMQ designs, because you can mix it up based on each border or section pretty easily. Again, I am so very happy I joined in on the Marcelle Medallion QAL. I have this quilt back on my list to try again too~
but in saturated and brighter colors 🙂 I took some pictures of this quilt and immediately put it in the washer and dryer for squishy quilt goodness and it will soon be wrapped up for a Christmas gift I think. Seriously…that is pretty awesome for me 🙂
I really wanted to finish up my medallion so I could focus on some fun quilts for a friend expecting twin girls. I have been wanting a reason to buy Posy by Aneela Hoey, and twin girls seemed just the reason!This is such a cute line of fabrics, so girly and pink! Using another book in my quilt library, I found a focal fabric 9 patch quilt that is working out well with my layer cake of this darling fabric. Modern Log Cabin Quilting has some great quilts and patchwork patterns with tips on assembling the blocks. I am loosely following the pattern to make the 9 (18 for 2 quilts) log cabin blocks with these fabrics ~
9 blocks went together really fast so I think I’ll have these ready for some all-over swirls and double swirls for FMQ practice soon! Another plus? One layer cake is all it takes for 18 log cabin blocks! Pretty cool I think 🙂
Have a great week! xo K
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After spending much of my time on my electronic devices over the past few years following quilter blogs, Flickr and most recently Instagram, I have come to understand the grief over WIPs. Some even hold major blog events (with prizes!) to address these WIPs and it is so lovely to see all the WIPs turn into FWA (Finished Works of Art) – maybe a new bloggy acronym? Haha

I am of the unusual set in quilt blog world in that I typically don’t have WIPs hanging around. This is not because I’m not interested in starting new projects one bit. I think I’m just too anal and I also have a tendency to attribute feelings to unfinished projects…like thinking they are scoffing at me as though I’ll never finish them. Today there does remain one WIP in my closet and that is the Farmers Wife Quilt I started in what seems a century ago. But more on that later, much later.

This past summer on vacation I found quilt shops to go to in which I picked up a pattern, fabrics and even a specialized ruler to make Hexie Garden by Atkinson Designs. In this quilt I used retro-ish fabrics which is typically not my first choice but I think I may have fallen for these!

The picture of the unfinished top above is from pictures dated September – where it was nice and sunny…this is (or was) my only WIP besides aforementioned Farmers Wife – but I needed to find a deal on backing fabric to finish it ~

Making good use of my recent quilt back purchases I set out to finish this quilt and though I had high hopes of some far more intricate quilting, when I sat down to quilt it a rather lazy large meander came out. In hindsight I am glad for this as it doesn’t take over from the hexies and after a wash this quilt is so soft!

One thing I am thankful for when I get to finishing tops is when I proceed with putting together the binding as I did with this one – so, a lovely evening last weekend hand stitching binding had this one done quickly. 🙂

Before I finished this quilt though I made a secret pillow cover for the XFactor pillow swap as well – this is what I submitted for round 8 ~

The theme this round was log cabin with text and I had a blast making this arranging blocks here and there to finally arrive at the above pattern!! I am sending this off to my secret partner as this swap is based on your entry and voting – which results in the selection of recipient. A very fun swap! I can’t wait to see which one I get!

On a final note but far from least interesting I received a goodie package from Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas. I sent her some flour sack dishtowels and she sent me so many goodies that I think she got the short end of the deal!
First off I adore this bag with the drawstring top – it has been planted on my sewing table since I got it along with an array of fabulousness such as ~
My husband was immediately excited about the Vegemite
These colorful linen fabrics are so amazing! I need to find a travel bag or something to make with these detailed prints – just love them, especially the pelicans. Thank you dear Shay – I’m eating chocolate with my coffee this morning thanks to you too 🙂

I hope you are all having a great week! xo K
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Instagram has a way of making me think that I am capturing progress, getting excellent feedback and documenting a history of what I do. The quick pics and short descriptions do help me considerably and seeing so much inspiration in the palm of my hand is amazing to say the least.
The short descriptions and quips are not enough and I need to remember that I enjoy reading blogs as well as my blog and writing things out a little and chatting with my fellow bloggers and followers! There has been a lot of stuff going on over here besides Stella ~ although she does take up some time
We do love the dog park and we totally require daily cuddling
I need to get my good camera out, but these pics from my phone give you the idea. 🙂 She is a good dog and relatively easy but a bit of a handful too. I am so thankful for her!
In sewing news, I joined in on the Flickr Mug Rug Revival swap because I love making small projects and honestly, my husband likes them and was getting tired of the ones I got in swaps before! They are handy to have around but we do need to rotate I guess 🙂 But before I could come up with a design for the mug rug I made for my partner I had to dig into this cute pattern by Noodlehead and Carolyn Friedlander called the social tote ~
I learned a couple of tricks and really enjoyed assembling this project! It was a little mind bending but the divided sections are perfect for hand-sewing or storing/corralling a bunch of stuff
The fabrics were from a kit for the tote that I got at a quilt shop and I think they work perfectly. SO, now that I had my hand sewing tote I could do some hand sewing right?

The theme for the mug rug swap is green or spring and so I raided my 2.5 x 2.5 scrap bucket for some green and before I knew it I had plenty put together for a green mug rug!

I didn’t mean to make it oval but my cutting was off for a rectangle so I went with it! I hope my partner likes it! Along with that piece, all of my blocks came in from my moderninstabee group and I couldn’t wait to assemble the top
I scored on the last yardage last year from pinkcastlefabrics.com the Annie’s Seed Catalog white on white print…sigh…my all time favorite print/texty fabric!! The blocks were just calling out that they needed that for sashing and a border

The blocks came from Missouri, Maine, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, California plus mine added up to a pretty great quilt top I think! I am really enjoying this bee and not only because I was the first queen! I already sent off the block for March’s queen ~
It is really fun to try new block styles! Just love the book for inspiration too. Now, next big thing over here is a pending change for my cutting table that I hope works well for my space. I’ll share progress next time (hopefully!) and an influx of fabrics that have been showing up here lately too! Wish me luck!

Have a great week! xx K
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I cannot believe how fast time is flying! By the way, I will stop making commitments to be on my blog more often as that is obviously turning out to be an epic fail. There is plenty going on here lately but more importantly, I do believe that Spring will finally hit the Midwest. Which is long overdue! It’s been a bad winter for many..warm weather may make me forget about our horrible winter though 🙂
OK, so where I left off last time was a promise that I would have something different to show in my sewing room and I do! I am still thrilled with this change-up
I have been saving my pennies for a change in my cutting table for a while now and finally couldn’t stop myself from getting this. I saw a picture of this table in action on a blog more than a year ago, and couldn’t get it out of my head. The height is correct, the finish works for our home and the storage, dude!!? LOVE at first sight 🙂
I found the table here and although it took a few sessions for my husband and I to assemble this, and without any arguments or injuries I might add, it took me no time to launch onto organization! I was a maniac for a few days going through my stash, cutting up scraps for future quilts and organizing. I adore this table!! Just after this addition to my sewing room, I got hooked on another quiltalong. I kept seeing great pictures on Instagram of the #layercakesamplerqal, also here and found no resistance to joining in on the fun! The assembly of the half square triangles according to our QAL leader, Amanda is a different way than I’ve tried before and I love it! These blocks are quite large, at 16″ finished and with 20 blocks the finished quilt will surely be wrap-upable and cuddle worthy. I am using up a bunch of different solids that I’ve had languishing in my stash and wanted to use up, matching them with some new low volume fat quarters I’ve been getting from westwood acres low volume club. I am having a blast with these blocks, they all look so different!
I have 12 of the 14 blocks done with 13-16 on schedule for this weekend to get all caught up! Pretty excited to see how this one turns out!
Oh, and of course part of my time has been taken with my Stella as well
She is now 8 months old and with the nicer weather we have been walking quite a bit and enjoying the dog park. She has been pretty amazing so far and I am completely attached to her, more so daily if that is possible! She still needs to learn how to quilt (relaxing in my sewing room) yet but she has taken over much of the house.
I hope you are having a little Spring or warm weather where you are! I’ll be back with more QAL progress soon – and I know for sure I will as I cannot wait to put this one together.
xx Karen
=====================
Do you have a list of projects you have been meaning to get to? I’ve seen a bunch of you with a pile of WIPs that need attention 🙂 I actually wrote out a list of things that I wanted to get to which is unusual for me but the good news is I checked a couple of things off my list over the weekend!

First off, I have had this Sweetwater sewing guide fabric for some time now and wanted to make a valance for my sewing room window.

I wish I’d spent the 20 minutes to make this a while ago! It dresses up my window perfectly. Check 1 🙂

Then, I had to spend time on my layercakesampler quilt – assembling the center
The sashing really added the extra punch and separation for the blocks and I am loving this! Now I need to figure out what to do with the border. I’m considering a skinny border with the colorful solids then a little chunkier outer black border. Whew! That was a lot of sewing but oh so much fun!! Stay tuned for more on this. Check 2 🙂

THEN – my neighbor emerged from winter hibernation with a baby due at about any minute. I just love making baby quilts so jumped right into a design I’d seen in the Spring 2014 issue of Quiltmakers 100 blocks.

The pattern in the magazine shows it in a large size with solids but offered the option for a 4 block quilt with scraps which is perfect baby size. The most time-consuming piece is cutting up the strips but assembly was very quick and super fun. I think I want to make a large size just like in the magazine.

So love the backing fabric – it is so soft and colorful

I calculated the binding and ended up with only this bit left over – maybe just a bit too close 🙂

And another check off the list 🙂 Now to find some time to tackle the rest of my want to do check list!
Have a great week! xx Karen
====================
Gypsy Wife Quilt – It begins
If you’ve been hanging around my blog for a while you might remember I made the Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt by Jen Kingwell last year. I still miss working on that quilt! I was so completely drawn into it that I lost track of time. Here is the link to how it ended. I am entering that quilt into our local fair for display – so wish me luck…maybe I’ll get a ribbon 🙂

So, with all but a couple of deadlines on my sewing schedule I jumped in on the Gypsy Wife (also by Jen). After the first block I was hooked! This one is Colour Wheel ~If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen these – but I threw a couple different pictures on the blog since I’m sneaky like that. I am lucky enough to have subscribed to the Westwood Acres inside voices club before it filled up so I have many low volume fabrics that I can draw on for this quilt; not to mention a growing color-filled stash that could benefit from some air 🙂

The next few blocks went pretty fast. I love this block called Pershing, but it did come out about .5″ short all around. Think I’ll improvise when I put it in the quilt 🙂

This one I may re-do – but I’ll see how it goes when I put the sections together
Not too gung-ho about this From the Heart block as well, so it may be re-done
Really love this block called Hope from Hartford!! I used a fussy cut Pam Kitty print for the center 🙂 This block is a less crazy Crazy Anne block – I used up my very last Annie’s seed catalog in this one – Anne and Annie – get it? 🙂
I cannot wait to get on with more of these blocks! I’ll keep posting pics, and hopefully more soon. On a closing note, my dog Stella (now 10 months old!) is a total cling-on so getting sewing time can be a little tricky. She loves having her paw on my foot 🙂

xo Karen
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Test patterns
I just looked and it has been over three years that I’ve been blogging and stalking blogs!! Time goes so fast doesn’t it? Since that time and after participating in a bunch of swaps and checking out blogs, I regularly add ‘need to make’ and ‘want to make”s to my project list. I hope I get to many of them, well, maybe half of them!

One of the people I follow is Janine at Rainbow Hare since I sent her a swap project some time ago. Janine has some super creative projects going on with sewing and knitting and a few farm animals thrown in ~ you should check it out! On one of her blog posts, I saw this sewing machine cover

and instantly fell in love! First of all it is too dang cute right? Secondly, my old sewing machine cover was made for my machine when it wasn’t flush with my sewing table, and lastly it was made long ago and I needed something cute to dress up my sewing machine and sewing room!

So, when Janine released the pattern and posted on her blog how to make it I went for it! I had been hoarding some linen and a darling Kokka sewing print for a while and decided they would be perfect for my version

I didn’t add the side wheels that are outlined in the pattern as I really liked this cover without. I just love how it turned out!

This project was very fun to make, and there are some cute details. I think this is the first time I’ve made bunting for anything too! You could easily take off on this with added items on this cover. I told Janine that a little roll up shade, a license plate, people peeking out the window, lawn furniture, – you know, sky is the limit!

Another blogger I follow is Aylin over here and always enjoy her use of color and her purse and bags she’s made! She has participated in so many swaps that I was also involved in that I have often crossed my fingers to be a lucky recipient of one of her projects! Unfortunately, that has not happened but seeing the opportunity on her blog, I jumped at the chance to test her Everyday Bag pattern!
I picked up a jean remnant a while back and this project seemed perfect to use it in. I am particularly hard on purses and bags, so I thought this fabric would hold up quite well.

The pattern has a magnetic snap for the flap (above) and a back zip and under the flap is a pocket

perfect for keys! Then the inside is the best part ~
There is a center zippered section and a slip pocket along the back! I just love this fabric I picked up as a contrast to the denim, it is a print by Juliana Horner and available at Joann’s!

I know there are others that are making this bag to test for Aylin and I can’t wait to see other fabric combinations. I already have another of these planned since it is definitely a perfect sized, Everyday Bag!

Hope you have a great week! xo Karen
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Gypsy Wife Quilt – It begins
If you’ve been hanging around my blog for a while you might remember I made the Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt by Jen Kingwell last year. I still miss working on that quilt! I was so completely drawn into it that I lost track of time. Here is the link to how it ended. I am entering that quilt into our local fair for display – so wish me luck…maybe I’ll get a ribbon 🙂

The next few blocks went pretty fast. I love this block called Pershing, but it did come out about .5″ short all around. Think I’ll improvise when I put it in the quilt 🙂

xo Karen
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===========================
Much Ado about (not) nothing. I have been a busy one over here and mostly it’s because I just got an idea in my head for a design for a swap (here Schnitzelandboo and #makeaquiltmakeafriend #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap on Instagram). Check it out if you get some time because there are so very many absolutely gorgeous minis – oh, check here too!When I saw this Dahlia pattern a while back, set for release first week in June I knew I wanted to make it!
Now, keep in mind that I had to order this pattern, get it in hand and make a mini quilt to ship by first week July! I dawdled. I planned. I had to wait a bit for the pattern. I became obsessed with my plans and mailman. When I did get the pattern, I gave it a few more days. Then last Monday I could take some time off work in the afternoon. Yep, a full 9 days before I had to ship I started – STARTED.
I had a bunch of True Colors fat eighths from here and dove in. Then I discovered I needed more than a fat eighth for the outer rings….OK, plan B, add in solids (I have plenty and they seem to multiply on their own!)
I was on a roll! I figured I would have no problem, in fact I thought it was looking pretty good. Then I sewed
hmm – not too flat right? seam rip then…..

Still not too right…followed by a third attempt…. and here is where I started to panic (remember if you will, I’m competitive, I was going to win!). By this time, I had posted progress on Instagram and Flickr and I couldn’t didn’t want to scrap it and start something different (I was going to win right!?). I just couldn’t figure it out. Panic and a looming deadline plus self-inflicted pressure? I became a spazz (whiner really) – me?! So, thankfully the pattern designer gave me some pointers. Perhaps if I’d been in my right mind I would have figured out..eventually. And yes, it was likely my haste plus the pressure that made it not fit too well the first 3 tries!
My fabric was getting a little tired too; in particular, that cornbread solid close to the center? It’s an organic and it was ‘growing’ after being manipulated and ironed so much. In the end I learned so.very.much! Much about the pattern, the fabrics (I am now a true Anna Maria Horner fabric nut), and myself = and thankful for a pattern designer (she has fabric out too!) who could calm me down!
I used 7 prints, 7 solids (8 including linen background) and 8 different colors of thread – for a mini that I now don’t want to send out 🙂 I have this hanging in my sewing room and every time I look at it I sigh just a little. Would I change anything? Oh ya! I would change quite a bit in placing it perfectly, not over-sewing, not over-ironing and it with so much daily (well, hourly really) scrutiny! I would also love to rewind and take some extra time! BUT I know I want many many many more of these dahlias! Truly hope my partner likes it!
Whew – OK – back to relative normality and a couple pics of what a wonderfully rainy and sunny summer is doing to my hydrangea! It is taking over!

Have a great week! xx K
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I’ve neglected you dear blog but never fear – lots has been going on, really. I have been sewing, traveling and swapping…and enjoying some great weather for October which is surprising.

Let’s see, first off I started another quilt and I am enjoying working on it very much. I got snagged into the Moda Modern Building blocks pattern ~ here is a webshot

The pattern is sold separately or along with a kit of all Bella solids. There are a bunch of quilters posting progress pictures on Instagram and here are a couple of mine, I really like this sunshine-y one:

There are 48 sampler blocks in this quilt and they range in size from 36 inches to 6 inches finished!
I was super tempted to buy the solids but decided to use mostly stash fabrics on this! I’m pretty excited to have a place to use up some ‘squared elements’ and polka dots along with some solids!
This block has 48 pieces in it and finishes at 6″ – what in the world? Loved putting it together though 🙂

Last week I traveled to California for work and decided just 2 days prior to leaving that I needed a cosmetic/travel bag. I don’t know why I need to make something for trips but I usually do. I signed up for the Travel Essentials class on craftsy by Annie and went for it with the cosmetic bag ~
I mostly had everything ready for final assembly after a few hours of sewing then finished the bag up the next day!

The pattern designer recommends using her soft and stable by Annie product which gives bags good body to stand on their own and I loved using it! I really recommend trying it out. I want to stock up on it now! 🙂 Before I made this bag, I hadn’t tried sewing with mesh or vinyl but Annie led me through the steps and in the end I really love how this turned out! The bag happily accompanied me on my California trip where I saw just a little bit more than conference rooms – at least for a bit.

Marina DelRey is absolutely beautiful 🙂

Have a great rest of your week. xx K
=========================
After spending much of my time on my electronic devices over the past few years following quilter blogs, Flickr and most recently Instagram, I have come to understand the grief over WIPs. Some even hold major blog events (with prizes!) to address these WIPs and it is so lovely to see all the WIPs turn into FWA (Finished Works of Art) – maybe a new bloggy acronym? Haha

Before I finished this quilt though I made a secret pillow cover for the XFactor pillow swap as well – this is what I submitted for round 8 ~

I hope you are all having a great week! xo K
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Will winter ever end ya think? The sub-zero, piles of snow and dreary skies just.won’t.stop here in the Midwest. I think we are due for an early Spring…but a predicted 6-8 inches of new snow today isn’t making me feel Spring like.

In better news I joined in on the ModernInstabee2014 via Instagram. There are 13 hives of 12 – ya, that’s right – 156 of us! Crazy good. For this bee (I’m in hive 6) as queen bee for our month we pick a block from the book Modern Bee – 13 quilts to make with Friends and by the end of the year we have 12 quilts or one for each in the hive! I really love about every single quilt in the book. Each design is from fellow-bloggers who participated in a bee. The bee turned into a book!

As the hives were forming I was getting ready for a trip to Florida and during our time away I found out that I am queen bee for February! YIKES – I had to figure out which block I wanted and in what colors so that we could begin our bee by 2/10. This was just after our week away but I did it! I picked my block and colors – here is the test block I made ~
This is the stacked windmills block from the book. I asked the girls to use orange, green and turquoise with yellow sides. The pictures on Instagram from my fellow hive 6’ers are so fun to see! I cannot wait to get the blocks and put the top together. More importantly I can’t wait for March and the next block! I recommend this book as it is full of great stash-busting blocks with great design.

The weekend after our return from Florida and all the bee hive activity had us driving 300 miles each way to pick up my valentine gift. You see, sometimes that is what you do when you fall in love with a face like this

I have been a little worn out so excuse the phone picture but this is our newest family member Stella! (said like in the movie Streetcar Named Desire of course). She is just over 6 months old and after less that 48 hours in her new home she is learning quite a lot!

Like how to be a quilter
She seems to love ’em 🙂 Now – hopefully I can get a full nights sleep with this little one soon.

You have a great week!
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======================
I cannot believe how fast time is flying! By the way, I will stop making commitments to be on my blog more often as that is obviously turning out to be an epic fail. There is plenty going on here lately but more importantly, I do believe that Spring will finally hit the Midwest. Which is long overdue! It’s been a bad winter for many..warm weather may make me forget about our horrible winter though 🙂
OK, so where I left off last time was a promise that I would have something different to show in my sewing room and I do! I am still thrilled with this change-up
I have been saving my pennies for a change in my cutting table for a while now and finally couldn’t stop myself from getting this. I saw a picture of this table in action on a blog more than a year ago, and couldn’t get it out of my head. The height is correct, the finish works for our home and the storage, dude!!? LOVE at first sight 🙂
I found the table here and although it took a few sessions for my husband and I to assemble this, and without any arguments or injuries I might add, it took me no time to launch onto organization! I was a maniac for a few days going through my stash, cutting up scraps for future quilts and organizing. I adore this table!! Just after this addition to my sewing room, I got hooked on another quiltalong. I kept seeing great pictures on Instagram of the #layercakesamplerqal, also here and found no resistance to joining in on the fun! The assembly of the half square triangles according to our QAL leader, Amanda is a different way than I’ve tried before and I love it! These blocks are quite large, at 16″ finished and with 20 blocks the finished quilt will surely be wrap-upable and cuddle worthy. I am using up a bunch of different solids that I’ve had languishing in my stash and wanted to use up, matching them with some new low volume fat quarters I’ve been getting from westwood acres low volume club. I am having a blast with these blocks, they all look so different!
I have 12 of the 14 blocks done with 13-16 on schedule for this weekend to get all caught up! Pretty excited to see how this one turns out!
Oh, and of course part of my time has been taken with my Stella as well
She is now 8 months old and with the nicer weather we have been walking quite a bit and enjoying the dog park. She has been pretty amazing so far and I am completely attached to her, more so daily if that is possible! She still needs to learn how to quilt (relaxing in my sewing room) yet but she has taken over much of the house.
I hope you are having a little Spring or warm weather where you are! I’ll be back with more QAL progress soon – and I know for sure I will as I cannot wait to put this one together.
xx Karen
=======================
Do you have a list of projects you have been meaning to get to? I’ve seen a bunch of you with a pile of WIPs that need attention 🙂 I actually wrote out a list of things that I wanted to get to which is unusual for me but the good news is I checked a couple of things off my list over the weekend!

First off, I have had this Sweetwater sewing guide fabric for some time now and wanted to make a valance for my sewing room window.

I wish I’d spent the 20 minutes to make this a while ago! It dresses up my window perfectly. Check 1 🙂

So love the backing fabric – it is so soft and colorful

I calculated the binding and ended up with only this bit left over – maybe just a bit too close 🙂

And another check off the list 🙂 Now to find some time to tackle the rest of my want to do check list!
Have a great week! xx Karen
===========================
Instagram has a way of making me think that I am capturing progress, getting excellent feedback and documenting a history of what I do. The quick pics and short descriptions do help me considerably and seeing so much inspiration in the palm of my hand is amazing to say the least.
The short descriptions and quips are not enough and I need to remember that I enjoy reading blogs as well as my blog and writing things out a little and chatting with my fellow bloggers and followers! There has been a lot of stuff going on over here besides Stella ~ although she does take up some time
We do love the dog park and we totally require daily cuddling
I need to get my good camera out, but these pics from my phone give you the idea. 🙂 She is a good dog and relatively easy but a bit of a handful too. I am so thankful for her!
In sewing news, I joined in on the Flickr Mug Rug Revival swap because I love making small projects and honestly, my husband likes them and was getting tired of the ones I got in swaps before! They are handy to have around but we do need to rotate I guess 🙂 But before I could come up with a design for the mug rug I made for my partner I had to dig into this cute pattern by Noodlehead and Carolyn Friedlander called the social tote ~
I learned a couple of tricks and really enjoyed assembling this project! It was a little mind bending but the divided sections are perfect for hand-sewing or storing/corralling a bunch of stuff
The fabrics were from a kit for the tote that I got at a quilt shop and I think they work perfectly. SO, now that I had my hand sewing tote I could do some hand sewing right?

The theme for the mug rug swap is green or spring and so I raided my 2.5 x 2.5 scrap bucket for some green and before I knew it I had plenty put together for a green mug rug!

Have a great week! xx K
=======================
I did it! I actually completed the Gypsy Wife quilt top …and I’m sort of sad since I had so much fun putting it together, I didn’t want it to end! I think being sad when I finish is a consistent feeling with Jen Kingwell’s patterns and me.

As with the Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt, I got completely immersed in this one…it was like coming out of a super-darkened movie theater after a lengthy movie – going from extreme air-conditioning to blasting middle of the day sunshine once I was done. Know what I mean on that?

I think I used about every fabric in my stash for this, and added a couple 1/4 yard cuts that I scored on Instagram. There are a few strips that are fairly long so width of fabric was helpful in those instances!

I didn’t use many fabrics more than once in this either! If I did use any more than once it was because I simply had to because I loved it so much…well, actually I love all the fabrics in this quilt 🙂

Since there are so many seams with all the strips and blocks, I took the opportunity to grab a couple pictures of the back

Do you press your seams open? I tried it a few years ago and now I find that when I press seams open my blocks lie much flatter and my block sizes usually measure just right

As I was sewing this up I kept thinking about how best to quilt it and ran through a bunch of scenarios/patterns in my head. In the end I have decided to hand quilt this one. I have not ever hand quilted any quilt but I just kept thinking that would be the best finish…well, given my stitching turns out OK that is. And if my patience lasts…

I am using DMC perle 8 with a hoop and finding that I absolutely love hand quilting! I hope that my stitches even out a bit and that I get a little speedier. There are so many great tutorials and so much advie online in the quilt blogging community but there was a lot of consistent advice too.

It is quite hot to hand quilt during the summer but I don’t care…I think it’s worth it!

It could take a while to finish it, but it’s a good size (59 x 68) to hand quilt and maybe i’ll get fast 🙂 Have a great rest of your week!
========================
Much Ado about (not) nothing. I have been a busy one over here and mostly it’s because I just got an idea in my head for a design for a swap (here Schnitzelandboo and #makeaquiltmakeafriend #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap on Instagram). Check it out if you get some time because there are so very many absolutely gorgeous minis – oh, check here too!When I saw this Dahlia pattern a while back, set for release first week in June I knew I wanted to make it!
Now, keep in mind that I had to order this pattern, get it in hand and make a mini quilt to ship by first week July! I dawdled. I planned. I had to wait a bit for the pattern. I became obsessed with my plans and mailman. When I did get the pattern, I gave it a few more days. Then last Monday I could take some time off work in the afternoon. Yep, a full 9 days before I had to ship I started – STARTED.
I had a bunch of True Colors fat eighths from here and dove in. Then I discovered I needed more than a fat eighth for the outer rings….OK, plan B, add in solids (I have plenty and they seem to multiply on their own!)
I was on a roll! I figured I would have no problem, in fact I thought it was looking pretty good. Then I sewed
hmm – not too flat right? seam rip then…..

Have a great week! xx K
===========
There’s always a time for stitching right? Or, a dream to be able to do more of it at least for me. I have been very busy stitching away whenever I can, hand quilting my Gypsy Wife. I’m maybe 70% done, well that could be a stretch..maybe. Here are a couple of photos

It is taking some time and while I am usually not too patient, it is also very relaxing to lose myself in hand stitching. The slower pace also slows my heartbeat and I usually feel like I just woke up when I break from it 🙂 My stitches are not super even nor are they consistent across the blocks, but hey that’s OK!

I used my ever favorite 505 spray baste to baste the layers of the quilt together but wanted some extra security for dragging this around with me often; so added some basting pins too

I’ve got a few blocks left to quilt then I’ll decide how many of the strips to run stitches down. I don’t want to over-quilt it since this will be on my wall in my basement (maybe) and not laid on (maybe). Once I’m done stitching and adding the binding I do want to wash it for that crinkly quilt goodness 🙂

Here is a before and after of my DMC spool so far

I think I’ll put a pretty good dent in the new one before I’m done, but have a 3rd spool just in case!

In sewing machine news, I made my first 241 tote by noodlehead for a swap and shipped it off this week. I don’t want to give away too much since my partner knows I’m making this for her but I made the strap super long messenger-style and didn’t plan this too much or too closely but look at my join ~
See it? 🙂 Have a great rest of your week! xx K

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====================
Get it? Last time I was stitching time and now I’m swappy time. Don’t worry, I won’t take off on this theme as I’ll likely forget! Hehe. I mentioned in my last post that I had actually sewn a Noodlehead 241 tote for a swap and now I can show you some more pics.

I ordered a bunch of Cotton+Steel prints since I simply could not resist them. They are gorgeous really! Here is a pic of my stack
While I’m typically drawn to brighter prints, I love the soft colors in these fabrics and the prints are amazing! If you haven’t seen these and are on the fence, look, order and buy – like now! 🙂 Some have border prints too which I’m thinking will be great additions to quilt block borders, towels, you name it!
Anywho, my partner was quite detailed in what she liked and these were not a fave. So, I pulled in the dark arrow print along with my favorite backup ~ solids!
Peppered cotton solids that is. These are really beautiful! But, again I didn’t see this as a fit for my partner since they weren’t bright enough. So, checking my solids stash I pulled out and used red and orange and I think it works!
How’s that for true daylight photos? On top of my game for a moment I guess. I love the arrow print, and about any color could be used with it for some pop I think.
The pattern calls for adding in a magnetic snap and Anna (Noodlehead) has a tip to add in a layer of interfacing to make the snap stable plus iron in another piece on top of the snap backing. This makes a big difference I think, no sharp metal flap feeling in the bag.
I will make this pattern again, perhaps in a canvas or a quilt as you go. It is versatile and a good size bag without being too big. Very fun to make!
I also spent some time getting some jalapenos picked off of our stoop garden and wanted them to get used and not tossed out. We do enjoy the jalapenos with cream cheese and bacon but there is a limit right? Food network came to the rescue with an easy pickled jalapeno recipe ~
All 4 jars popped I cannot wait to try ’em! xx K
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I’ve neglected you dear blog but never fear – lots has been going on, really. I have been sewing, traveling and swapping…and enjoying some great weather for October which is surprising.

Let’s see, first off I started another quilt and I am enjoying working on it very much. I got snagged into the Moda Modern Building blocks pattern ~ here is a webshot

Marina DelRey is absolutely beautiful 🙂

Have a great rest of your week. xx K
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Wishing you a Happy New Year and hoping it has been a good one so far! Lots has been going on in house of laughter, busy life stuff and holiday stuff and stuff of the quilty kind! I finished not one but two queen-sized quilts for Christmas gifts this year and I am so happy I did! First up, I finished my Moda Modern building blocks

This is a great pattern to sew! I really enjoyed the different blocks and using color combinations I normally wouldn’t have thought of for some blocks. I sent this quilt off to the quilter and adore how it finished! I backed it in white flannel and then bound it in flannel. I love using flannel and I need a flannel backed quilt in my house now 🙂

Swirls 🙂
The other quilt is a postage stamp using 2.5 x 2.5″ squares

I will never tire of a postage stamp quilt! I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this together; no worries of pattern, color, print! 1900 squares of fabric!! My 2.5 x 2.5″ scrap bin doesn’t look any emptier…how does that happen? This quilt was also quilted by long arm and backed in flannel! Bound in flannel too :).
Ok, then add in a bunch of swaps and you’re caught up :). Here’s one swap project to share. I love this bag that I made using soft and stable and quilt as you go for Sew Sew modern 6.

Pattern is classmate by Atkinson designs
I didn’t want to send that one off! Then I started thinking of 2015 plans. Do you have quilty plans? I decided I’m done loading myself up on swaps even though I have thrived on them and enjoyed them so much. I want to focus on big quilts! I love making them, using up fabrics and giving or using them. This last year I didn’t donate quilts which is the first time in 5 or 6 years!? I need to do that! So, with a couple exceptions I’m big-quilting it this year.
And soon co-running an Instagram QAL for a storm at sea quilt, mini, whatever! This is a bucket list design for me and I can’t wait to start! I’ll post more soon but here is an inspiration pic from quilters cache:
We are looking at a mid-February start date and it will be mostly an Instagram QAL but I will post some updates, pattern links and other stuff on the blog! Join if you can 🙂 xx K

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As I promised, here is some info I found available for the Storm at Sea Quilt-a-long that I’m co-hosting starting in February! Yay!! Ever been curious about how this quilt is put together? Ever wanted to make one but really weren’t sure it was something that you could do? Join us!
Stephanie (@yespositively on Instagram) and Kathy (@librkat on Instagram) and I plan on making our own versions of Storm at Sea. Follow along and sewalong with us!!! There will be more info coming on Instagram (and on this blog) as we get started the week of February 9 and we have the potential for some prizes (YAY!) plus more!! Check #stormatseaqal

Here is what I have started for my SAS –

Along with my ‘usual’ text fabrics I have had these black prints in my stash forever, forever…well, I did invest in a bundle from here to round out my pile too 🙂 I use black fabrics so sparingly and have always kept them aside for ‘someday’. Well that day is fast approaching! I also adore the color purple and pulled some fat quarters I have of shot cottons for the heart within my quilt…and maybe that lighter purply/burgundy. I may just change up this design again though since there is SO much inspiration on the Internet! Keep on reading:
If you have EQ7 then you could ‘easily’ create your own storm at sea layout and templates. If you are like me ‘sans-EQ7’ then check out the links I have laid out here.

I grabbed the coloring template I used in my picture from here and if there is any site I’ve spent time on it’s this one! There are so many storm at sea variations including single sashing, double sashing, quilts with highlighted hearts (like my drawing) and snail’s trail which is another quilt I’d love to make! There are paper templates you can print for the blocks at those sites too. Paper coloring templates for your design are also at this site on the second page.
I’m really loving this one, I may have to switch it up!

Both of the above sites have a pile of information and can get your ideas brewing!

The ever-popular Quilters Cache also has storm at sea 12″ paper patterns to print but if you aren’t comfortable with paper piecing, then there are instructions for piecing the blocks without.
If you are feeling ill thinking about selecting fabrics or if you want to dive in and sew then check out this quilt at Robert Kaufman! Here’s a pic, Jennifer Sampou’s fabrics look gorgeous in this version!

Love this! I found kits here, and here (just giving you the links, I get no kick-backs). The Kaufman site has the pattern for free too!
OK, so there’s the gist of it. Follow us on Instagram, we’ll have prizes, did I mention that? Also some pretty generous offers. Join us won’t you??

Start by thinking of fabrics, print your quilt layout to color and have fun!!! xx K
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ok…so maybe I didn’t have a tidal wave (or storm) of quilt along people for my Instagram stormatseaqal but I kept at it! I present a finished top
I had originally planned for the heart to be in the center, but it didn’t look right. Luckily I could easily rearrange it. It is approximately 40 x 40″ and a good size for me to be happy I got a bucket list pattern done!!! This is a very fun paper-pieced quilt to make and it is trippy to look at since it looks curvy but isn’t :). An Instagram friend is going to quilt it for me and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with!
Ok, so that done and I found a next project. I couldn’t help but sign up and dive in on the technicolor Galaxy BOM, especially after seeing some of the blocks completed for month one posted on Instagram. Check pileofabric.com for more on the BOM, or check the hashtag on IG #technicolorgalaxy or #skillbuilderbom. Here is my version of block one, first without bias tape-
Isn’t it cool!?! I am using stash fabrics as much as possible for this quilt (for anything quilty as much as I can this year) and am loving it!!! I also have a distinct lack of yellow in my stash and a bunch of pink…pink is growing on me :). Check out the block with bias –
So amazing right?! I am learning a lot with this BOM with block one; fabric selection, elmers glue
basting (?), plus how fun is the bias tape on this? I’m in love! I’m already starting the next round of
blocks for this so hope to post more progress soon. You have a great rest of the week :). xx K
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I last posted about how obsessed I was with the monthly BOM by pileofabric.com called technicolor galaxy-and my obsession continued. I sewed ahead of the BOM and kept sewing until I had the blocks done
The arcs are sewn, then quilted, ala quilt as you go, which I’d not tried in quilt size before. It is so rewarding to quilt detailed patterns without wrestling a large quilt! I want to make more quilts this way! At this point (above) I did internet research on QAYG block assembly and found some great tips, and blogs to get lost in too :). Alyssa at pileofabric responded to my plea for early assembly how-to by pointing me back to her blog – duh. So, I then cut the blocks down, got my bias binding ready and went for it
I really loved putting the binding on the blocks and seeing the quilting flow together! When it came
to putting the center circle in, I admittedly got a little worried..some additional thought on how to make it work (I hoped) ahead of the time helped
Alyssa shows the use of washable elmers glue throughout the sewing process and I, being relatively old-school couldn’t wrap my head around using it…and I didn’t use it much but, it definitely came in handy! Glue was especially helpful with the back bias strips. Have you used glue in quilting?
I then pinned and pinned and crossed my fingers
For the back of each arc I used colorful solids -that I still think multiply in my stash by themselves:). I placed them in a step-down way to make the back fun :). I don’t think I used up much of my solids stash on this, oddly enough!
And, before I knew it, it was done!! The BOM and pattern have side and corner low volume blocks to make the quilt square but I wanted this to be circular as I want to hang it on a wall. I really loved every bit of making this one! Now I sort of don’t know what to do with myself! :).
I’ll be testing a couple of quilt patterns for designers soon and I can’t wait to dig in on those! I am ready for a new project! I’ll post some teaser pics for these new patterns on Instagram soon hopefully!
Speaking of which I have failed at my blog posting commitment because Instagram is so immediate! I continue to see so much (too much??) inspiration there that it continues to eat up my computer time. If you haven’t joined, please try it! There is an amazing group of talented quilters on IG. I’m going to continue to be active there, and this blog will likely, eventually end. Gone due to instant social media. I will still peek at your blogs though! Have a great weekend xx K
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Wishing you a Happy New Year and hoping it has been a good one so far! Lots has been going on in house of laughter, busy life stuff and holiday stuff and stuff of the quilty kind! I finished not one but two queen-sized quilts for Christmas gifts this year and I am so happy I did! First up, I finished my Moda Modern building blocks

Swirls 🙂
The other quilt is a postage stamp using 2.5 x 2.5″ squares

quilting content 12-3-16

Written by Conrad Belluomo

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