Hello there!

Made it to the sewing room over the weekend, which was both surprising & lovely.
There was bee work to be done! When a package leisurely makes it way through the postal system, it kind of makes you want to jump right in & get sewing when it finally shows up. So much so, that I didn't even worry about messing up someone else's pretty fabric. See what happens when I don't worry?!
 It's not awful. But it's far from my version of "perfect" (Definition: Not perfect, but close enough for me, depending on which project I am working on.) After finishing those chevron sections, I realized that I may have picked the worst fabric possible for my star points. (I know, 'what chevrons...?' right?!) This was the only fabric I was to contribute from my stash & if making the star OR the chevron stand out was the goal, I failed. This was completely overshadowed by the fact that these sections did not line up with the corner pieces (which I am in love with, btw). I am still not sure why...! My package was missing in action long enough that Marian sent me another. Dare I try again? (How much extra fabric do you have for this project Marian? Should I send the second package back unharmed? haha)



Immediately after finishing this block, I decided it was the perfect time to sew up this quick little quilt I've had cut & waiting since June. It gave me no trouble whatsoever. Which was nice of it!



That blue star fabric in the center is flannel, as is the backing. All fabrics are from Riley Blake's "All Star" collection. It was approximately 44" square before washing.
  I hope it keeps baby M. nice & cozy!  <3

For Brielle, with love

A long, long time ago, I spotted this bedding on Anthropologie.com. That photo with all the chalk board, yeah, LOVE IT. Cut to about nine months ago, one of my bestest friends had a baby girl. I picked out one of my favourite fabric lines & got to work. Then I stopped when my quilt top was almost finished....you know how it goes. The newborn is now closer to being a one year old! (Ouch, sorry to the baby mama, but it's true...) (Also, look away if you want to see it in person first)

Here she is.




And the back, with a little bit of hexie love there in the middle...

Quilt Stats
Fabric: Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry
    Kona Charcoal, Eggplant, Artichoke, Violet & Aloe
Size: 45 x 45"
Pattern & Quilting: Me, wingin' it.

 

Hexagons. I like them.

A warm welcome to the new followers I picked up during Giveaway Day (week). Thanks for being here! I try to post once a week, but as you can see, I have been slacking off lately, in quilting & in blogging.

The second month of our Don't Worry {bee} Happy bee has got me going again though...with Hexies!
These are for Chelsea. I'm still trying to decide which method of basting I prefer, so there's lots of variety in these.


I was worried that hand sewing would cause my carpal tunnel to act up but luckily, I've had very little problems with that so far. So I figured I should make some for myself too...! This will be part of a quilt backing that needs finishing up. The back, I know...not an ideal place for such adorableness...




I might be back next week with a quilty finish. You can't make me pinky swear though.

May Giveaway Day! *winner*

....And the random winner is....Michelle Hudak, who said, "Lilacs are my favorite flower and no brunch is complete without bacon..the crispier the better."
Michelle, I am with ya on that bacon thing.

Thanks for stopping in, I know there are a *lot* of great giveaway posts to check out this week, so I will make this quick!
I am offering up the Sunday Basket Brunch Quilt pattern from BasicGrey for Moda. International entries are welcome. A winner will be chosen randomly & announced on Friday.



To enter, tell me your favourite thing to eat for brunch. Or your favourite flower (Cosmos are mine!)
Following my blog is optional, but I would appreciate it  :)

 

Bloggers' Quilt Festival: Retro Flowers

I bought Christina's Retro Flowers pattern a little while ago, when Curves Class was first announced. The quiltalong came at a perfect time for me so I signed myself up! I knew I wanted to test out the pattern a little before jumping in with both feet & making a huge quilt. My leftover 'Pretty Bird' bits & pieces seemed like a good place to start. Not unlike the last time I used these fabrics, they grew on me the longer I worked with them. I had wanted to use up all my Kona Ocean...but when my little test project started to become more, I had to order more fabric! (Such a shame, eh?)


My little machine gave me some trouble during the piecing process...so glad I stuck it out though! I turned my blocks on point & a baby quilt was born. The plan was to use Kona Tangerine for the binding, with a mostly Ocean backing. Well, immediately after making the orange binding, I knew it wasn't going to work for me. It had to be Ocean. I was not about to wait on another order of Ocean, so the backing became a mish mash of all the leftover fabrics from the front.

Quilt StatsFabric: Pretty Bird by Pillow & Maxfield
 Kona Ocean & Robin's Egg
Size: 36 x 48"
Pattern: Retro Flowers
Quilting: All quilting is done by me, on my clunky old Kenmore

A little help, please?

I am looking for opinions. My 3 year old niece said, "That's so pretty, it's my favourite quilt, how did you make it so fast?" I didn't bother to ask the husbeast on this one.

Is this crazy busy?






I couldn't wait to cut into my Domestic Bliss layer cake, my first ever layer cake! I ordered some Kona solids to coordinate with it, but I ordered them on Saturday, the same day I started cutting...So, they weren't here on time! haha.
As I was cutting & sewing, I was loving it. Ironed, trimmed, stuck them up on the design wall and then....did not like them so much. I slept on it. I like it better now, but it still seems to be just a little too much.
I have eleven more blocks, I could add another row. I could sash them (even though it's not my favourite task!). I could group them in blocks of four & sash those....I just don't know. And I want to go sew them right this second! Still, without solids or any idea what to actually sew together. *sigh*

Thoughts?

Additional info: It is not destined to be a certain size, or live with anyone I know. I just needed the fabric...and will probably try to sell it when it's finished.

Fresh Sewing Day {April Finishes}

Well, I have never linked up to Fresh Sewing Day before; it's embarrassing how much I *don't* finish in the average month! April was a little different though. Here's what I've got!



The three quilts alone are a huge accomplishment for me. Throw in a bee block, a couple of pillows & a few small things for my upcoming sale, and I am starting to wonder what I was doing that was working so well for me in April.
Less tv, yes. More coffee, well, yes. The biggest motivator was probably my craft sale. I need deadlines. I need them, so I can slack off & then sew like a madwoman right down to the wire. It's just my style, I guess. Now I know - better plan for another show!?!

Scallops Quilt. Creative title, no?

Today I am revealing my Scallops quilt from Rachel's Curves Class.

First, I want to thank all of the people who commented on my Swoon quilt in the last post. It made me all warm & fuzzy to know that those who appreciate these things, think it is nice.
Second...a small list. Baby Swoon, Zig Zag Pips, Pair 'O Pillows, Scallops. These are all cozy things that did not sell over the weekend. Bummer. I will try again this weekend though! If that doesn't amount to much, perhaps it is time to reopen my little Etsy shop. We'll see.

Edited to say: Scallops did sell! Whoo hoo! I have sold quilts before; to friends, friends of friends...never to someone who doesn't know me even a little bit. It's amazing!

Now, Scallops... I love how soft you are. And how you can resemble clouds, or waves.

Stats  
  Fabric: Wallflowers by Sandi Henderson (so very soft!). Kona Cerise, Ice Frappe & Sage
Size: 38 x 46
Pattern: Offered as part of Curves Class from Stitched In Color


What did sell this weekend? Only these...
 


 
   

And I named her Baby.

So, way back...I forget when...I joined the swoonalong on flickr. I had already purchased the pattern & a quilt along was just what I needed. I finished one block. It is a large one, at 24"...but it was still only one. I loved her right away.
 With the pattern & fabrics both being so very awesome to start with, if there was something I didn't end up liking with this quilt, it was all on me. So...she sat around for a while, waiting to gain sister blocks to form one massive & glorious quilt. It never happened. She is an only child. She is my Baby Swoon.

Stats
Fabric: Heirloom by Joel Dewberry + Kona Med Grey & Bright Pink
Size: 39 x 48.5"
Pattern: Camille Roskelley's Swoon

I am linking up to Finish it up Friday & Sew & Tell.

  

Early next week, I will hopefully have some exciting news about all of my quilts being sold @ my Aunt's studio tour this weekend... if not, I still have one of those said quilts to show you, "Scallops" from Curves Class.

Pillow Pair

First, a convo with the hubs -
Him: Let me know when you're done with the laptop...
Me: Will be after nap time...3:00 ish
Him: 3:00? What are ya doing on there?
Me: Blog post
Him: (looks at screen) You're on youtube watching Pearl Jam videos...
Me: Yeah...but then I'm blogging...for reals
So here I am! Only a couple more videos later ;)

Some of my crafty things will be making an appearance at my Aunt's Open Studio & Gallery event. The things that are finished on time, that is.
So the weekend was filled with the hum *clunk clunk* hum of my sewing machine. Yes...it's loud. And clunky. With my walking foot, there is also a *squeak* to join in the chorus. I keep thinking that one of these days it will just collapse into a pile of dust. I mentioned it possibly having suicidal tendencies in a recent post, one of the commenter's made me laugh out loud when she encouraged me to help it along. It would be the humane thing to do....

I finished up these 18x18" pillows yesterday. They are a departure from my normal colour palette but I like how fresh & springy they are. Most of the fabrics came together as a bundle from Etsy & I started sewing with them the same day they arrived in my mailbox.




I used my Retro Flowers templates, because I love them.
Usually, I find myself planning my pattern & fabric choices in advance...with these I just sewed everything up & then moved them around like puzzle pieces to get them how I liked them. It was fun to see how they turned out!  *Must remember to do this more often!*

 

There is a zip hiding in the back. Lately, I have been using this method from Sew, Mama, Sew! (Though I omit the fusible tape & don't pin....I'm dangerous like that!). With everything going on, I wasn't sure what colour of thread to use to quilt them. Last month I won some Aurifil nylon monofilament thread (to non quilty friends: it's invisible) from Laura @ Quokka Quilts. It was the perfect thing for these babies!

Linking up once again to:
                                                                           

Photo Heavy

...and all of the same quilt. My Zig Zag Pips was finally [lightly] quilted & bound over the weekend. It went very quickly - waiting to take the photos took longer! You know, the sun only comes out when it wants to!









Quilt Stats
Fabric: Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey + Kona Med Grey & Ash
Size: 40 x 45"
Pattern was adapted from Jeni's Tutorial


Linking up to my usual Monday places & off to check out some more weekend finishes!

  

Little Retro Flowers

This is a quick one! Lots of projects still in the almost finished stage & while I don't count this as 'finished', I wanted to show it off anyway!

I decided on changing up the fabric placement a little. Arranged this way, my eye sees the inside pink swirly flower shape first, then I do little figure 8's around the blue & white petals. I have to look to see the original flower shapes & I like that.



I love this pattern. The cutting was not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be (this template helped a lot!). Sewing the curves (without pins) was fun! The trouble came for me when I was trying to piece everything together. My sewing machine had a hard time handling these thick seams. It got me thinking...if my machine somehow committed suicide via the window, would I magically find the money for a nice new one? Let's just hope nothing bad happens to it for now...
With some advice from awesome flickr group peeps, my walking foot got me through. Not easily, but well enough.
This little baby will either have more solids added as borders to beef it up, or I will bind it & call it a mini, not sure yet.

I have plans to make a much larger version with the traditional layout (fabric to be determined). I will not tackle it with my current machine though. Guess I better save my pennies nickels! (Did you hear, Canada is nixing the penny!)

Linking up to crazy mom quilts for finish it up Friday & to amylouwho for Sew & Tell.

A little of this & that + Liebster

Hello Friday, how did you get here so fast?
I am in a bit of a slump. Been getting little things done such as getting binding ready, ironing my latest fabric purchases & emptying the sewing room garbage. Yeah, I am *really* reaching with that last one.

Here's the last real thing I accomplished, 'Scallops' from curves class.




I also made up a pair of potholders, gifted to one of my sisters for her birthday.



Jenny from Jenny Makes Stuff awarded me the Liebster Award!
The Award goes to a deserving blog that has less than 200 followers.



There are actually quite a few small blogs that I follow & a lot of them have already been given this award recently. I hope I am picking blogs that haven't been recognised yet.

Kelsey Creates - I love the pillow she just posted for Pillow Talk Swap 7. Sweet kitties that look like mine always win me over too ;)

Breakfast for Dinner - I found Elena's blog back in October & was swooning over all the Nicey Jane I found there. She recently put together a rainbow swap (it's full now)

Married to a BMW - Jennifer's cute little cross-stitch desserts are adorable! I love the little shamrock for this month! She is also doing the Craftsy BOM ...her blocks remind me that I should get going on mine!

Two Hippos - I found this blog through the Flickr group for curves class. LOVE her ribbon star blocks from a few weeks back.

I am supposed to pick five blogs. The list in front of me has eight other blogs that I could have added as a fifth, if I had been quicker! One was just crossed off this morning...so I only have four.
The Liebster Award has been helping me find a lot of new blogs that I enjoy - I hope you check out the ones I mentioned here  :)