Happenings

Did everyone have a nice weekend?!  I actually finished a quilt this weekend!  It's in the washer now and is going to the dryer for some crinkling when I get home from work today.

I also learned this weekend that I'm not very accurate with my distance "guesstimates".  The hubs and I needed to run 13 miles on Sunday for our marathon training.  I told him I knew exactly how we should go, it would be so scenic through the National Park, loop back to the car, have some hills, blah, blah, blah.  Then we got lost, we ran out of water, and by the time we made it back on track and finished our 13 mile run we had to walk two and a half more miles to get to the car.  Longest walk EVER! 

I have a tutorial up over at Sew Festive Handmade today as part of the Christmas in July series!  Be sure to stop over and see how to make the Stacking Gifts Wall Hanging.  Bianca from Sweet Diesel Designs has a very cute pillow tutorial up today as well.


Stacked Gifts Wall Hanging

The Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop is still in full swing!  Here's who will be sharing this week:

July 17

    Katie from Kati's Quilting

    Claire from Sewing over Pins
    Caroline from Quilting in the Cold

July 19

    Jamie from Sweet Baby Jamie

    Janine from Rainbow Hare Quilts


Also, one of the blogs I read regularly, The Moden Balabusta, has hit 100+ posts!  Be sure to stop by and check it out.  Lisa makes some awesome quilts and we were both in the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL together.  I was even the lucky winner of the 100th post giveaway :)

Lastly, if you don't have enough projects already, there's a new quilt-a-long, Sew Intertwined, that you should consider joining!  Jenna & Melissa just announced it today and I can't wait!!  The quilt is such a great design - be sure to check it out!!

Have a great week everyone!!



Finish - A - Long Quarter 3

I've been meaning to join the quarterly finish-a-long that Rhonda sponsors over at Quilter in the Gap since the beginning of the year but I always miss the link up.  This quarter I remembered!  Plus I have lots of unfinished projects that need to be done before I start more so this is the perfect motivation.

Here are the three projects I'm trying to finish this quarter:

1) My quilt from the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL - I love this quilt!  I finally bought the backing so now I just need to decide how to quilt it and then get to work.

2) The Sherbet Quilt - I don't think I've ever even shown pictures of this on the blog - that's how long it's been lingering!  It's the second quilt top I made and the first out of quilt shop fabrics but I fell less in love with the longer I worked on it so it got put in a pile.  I have the backing and binding cut I just need to quilt it and be done!

Our poor grass :(

3) Swoon Wall Hanging - I made this block as a test before I decided to make a whole swoon quilt.  It's going to be a wall hanging.  I have it all basted and did a bit of hand quilting on it, didn't like that, so I need to rip that out, machine quilt it and call it a day!

Linking up at the Quarter 3 Finish-a-long post.  Now I'm off to go baste the Sherbet Quilt!! 

Bookshelf Modern Mini

I have a cousin who works for a big publishing company, and like me, loves to read.  So when I saw the tutorial for this mini over at Don't Call Me Betsy, I just knew that I had to make her one!  She's one of the few people in my personal life/family that would truly appreciate a mini quilt of books.  I'm mailing it out to her this week as a little surprise gift :) 

I followed Elizabeth's tutorial and raided my scrap basket for the book fabrics and for the selvage pieces for the titles on the spines.  I did some straight line quilting around each of the books and titles and then bound it in the same green solid as the shelf.  It finished at a nice mini 15" x 18".

This was the first time I've used selvages in a project and I really liked it!  I used to just throw them away but now I save them in a jar to use for other projects.

I'm going to enter this in the Ellison Lane Modern Mini Challenge.  Be sure to go check out everyone's entries!

Also linking up over at Sew.Happy.Geek. Manic Monday!

There are still spots available for the Charming Green Fabrics Swap! Sign up if you're interested.

February in Review + Small Blog Meet Up

February just flew by - even with the extra day!

Another productive month!

Let's see what we have:

• 3 Sew.Happy.Quilt. QAL Blocks
• 1 Swoon Block
• A mini mixer (and my 1st FMQ project!)
• A valentines wall hanging (didn't blog about this)
• Finished my "On a Whim" top, and the backing and sent it out to be quilted
• Asterisk Block for Quilting for Kids
• I-Spy Quilt Progress- Got all the pinwheels together last night, hoping to put the top together tonight
• Made in Cherry QAL (no pic) The top is almost done, I just need to add some borders to up the size
• I did two charm swaps too!

The only bummer of February - my beloved Macbook died this week :( I've had it since I graduated high school and it's been on it's last leg for a while but it really bummed me out!  So now I'm on the hunt for a new laptop.

Hoping March is just as productive!! I'm starting a new quilt this weekend that's for a charity auction at the the end of April, and I have a few tops to quilt now that I have a free motion foot.

I'm linking up over at Lily's Quilts March Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet.  Be sure to stop over and check out all the links!

Kelsey

WIP Wednesday 2-29-12

Happy Leap Day!  An extra day of sewing right?! :) 

New Projects:

• I-Spy Pinwheel Quilt - My husband's cousin's daughter (so his second cousin I believe) was over this weekend (she's almost 4) and we were looking through all my fabrics together.  She loved them and then sweetly asked that I sew the pretty ones into a blanket and give it to her for her birthday (End of March).  I just couldn't say no, so the new project was born.  I'm using charm squares from an I-Spy swap  and making a pinwheel quilt.  I'm planning on doing a mini-tutorial once I'm done in case anyone else wants to make one.  So far I cut all the white, made all the HSTs and spent last night trimming them up.  Now time to sew them together :)

All 96 HSTs!

• Quilting for Kids Block - I saw that the Quilting for Kids group on Flickr was making a new quilt and was looking for asterisk blocks.  I made mine this week and sent it out! 

In Progress:

• On a Whim - Finished sewing the backing together and mailed out to be quilted!  Can't wait to get it back and finish it up.  I need to sit down this weekend and embroider a little patch for the back with their names/wedding date.
• Sew.Happy.Quilt. QAL - I made last week's block, which I need to get a picture of, and I need to make this week's block. 

Finished:

• Mini Mixer - I took my little mixer block from last week, added some border, quilted it (first time FMQ on my machine!!), bound it and hung it up in the kitchen.  I LOVE it :)  I used this tutorial to make the block.

I've got some more projects coming up, and I've been majorly slacking on my Swoon so I need to work on that this week too.  I also (finally!) got a free motion foot for my machine so I have a few quilt tops that need quilting too!  What's on your to-do list for the next week?

Also, I'm organizing a green fabric charm swap!  I almost have everything together for it so if you're interested in joining stop back here later this week to sign up.

I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced.  Hope you have a great week!

Kelsey 

WIP Wednesday 2-22-12

How's your week going?  I had a weekend packed with sewing and fabric shopping - so the best kind of weekend!

New Projects:

• Mixer Wall Hanging - My first try at paper piecing!!  I used this tutorial and made this cute little mixer block.  I'm going to add a border, quilt it, bind it and hang it in the kitchen.

Paper Pieced Mixer

In Progress:

• Swoon - I didn't get any more blocks done but I got a picture of the 3rd one I made.  The gray is the Ruby Sundae print and the aqua has gray polka dots.



Swoon #3

• Sew.Happy.Quilt.QAL - I finished the Churn Dash Redux block from last week and it's my favorite one yet!!  I'm going to be really bummed when the QAL ends - I'm having so much fun :)

Churn Dash Redux

• On a Whim in Ruby - I finished the top this week!!  It looks awesome and I love it!  It's one I will definitely need to make again so I can have one for myself.  I'm sending it off to be quilted this weekend so hopefully I'll have the whole thing wrapped up soon.

I've got a few more new projects planned but I'll share once I start them.  I'm also working on a mini for the Ellison Lane Modern Mini Challenge.  I was actually making it as a gift, but I'm so close to being done I'll just have to enter it.

I was also flattered and shocked that Taryn from "from Pixels to Patchwork" passed the Liebster Blog Award on to me!

This award is given to favorite blogs with under 200 followers. The Liebster Rules are:

1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

I love all quilting blogs, but I have a special love for other small blogs :)  Below are the five small blogs I'm passing the award on to. They are a joy to read and provide inspiration often!  Be sure to go check them out and share the love.

• Ella @ Throw A Wrench in the Works
• Kate @ A Sometimes Quilter
• Katie @ Unconventional Katie
• Manda @ Manda Made Quilts
• Krista @ Krista Stitched

I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced.  Hope you have a great week!

Kelsey 

Coming Home for Christmas!

Ah the joy of finishing your second quilt.  I learned so much from this one...like that you should use pins when you piece things together  :) 

I got the pattern, Coming Home, from Camille's book, Simplify.  It is listed as a table topper in the book, but at 36" x 36", I've deemed it a perfect wall hanging for our dining room.  I decided to use a mix of Christmas fabrics (all from Joann's) for the main part and I used a dark green with gold snowflakes for the border and the backing.  I pieced it opposite of the book so mine looks like Os instead of Xs. 



Coming Home for Christmas

The pattern was great, very easy to follow, and quick to put together.  I straight-line quilted it diagonally in both directions and did machine binding (solid green).  It washed up so nice and I can't wait to get it hung up for the holidays.  **Side note- does anyone have a favorite way to hang wall-hanging quilts?**

Coming Home for Christmas Stats:

Fabric- Christmas mix from Joann's 

Pattern- Coming Home from Simplify by Camille Roskelly

Finished Size- 36" x 36"


Did you finish any projects this week?

Kelsey