Swap mail

I joined a scrap swap over on swap-bot. We had two partners and needed to send them each a 6" X 9" envelope with at least 10 scraps from our stash. The pieces needed to be at 2" square. This is one of the packages that I have received so far, I don't normally buy flower fabric so these will be a nice addition.




I want to try to make at least 3 string blocks each week. Probably won't happen but it's nice to have goals :) They are good to make when I want to sew but my mind is too fuzzy to work on a block that needs to be "perfect". There's no math in a string block. If you do anything that isn't quite right...who cares. As long as my foundation fabric is covered, I'm a happy camper.

Pretty in Pastel

A coworker came to me at work Monday night and asked about making a baby blanket similar to ones I've made for other coworkers before. No problem. I love making baby quilts. Oh, by the way...the shower is this Saturday. I love a deadline :) These quilts are so easy, I didn't mind. I bought the fabric on Tuesday. Cut the pieces and sewed the top and backing together. Then on Wednesday, I quilted it and sewed on the binding. One baby quilt done and ready for the shower on Saturday!






Front


The binding is long strips of each color. I quilted it with a pretty pastel green thread. I just wandered around here and there, nothing fancy.







I love the colors in this quilt. I might just need to make another one but with a different pattern.

Flowers and Flutterbies baby quilt

This is another one of those quilts made from a baby crib bumper. This beauty will be going to Hubby's niece Candy over in Missouri. She is expecting a new daughter next month.

This is the first quilt I used the cotton batting in and I LOVE it!! I'm so glad I listened to everyone and bought it. I haven't washed it yet, but I'm very interested to see what it looks like afterwards.

September Block Lotto

These are my three blocks for the September Lotto over at Quilting Around The World. This is one of the lottos that I would love to win. Even if I don't, I plan on making a quilt with this block pattern.

cupcake scarf

This scarf was a custom order for a 2 year old girl. I made it a bit long so that she can use it for a couple more years.

In the mail this past week

I have heard so many good things about the warm companies warm and natural batting that I thought I should give it a shot. A "normal" person might have bought a small package of batting to see if they like it first. Not me....no, I go ahead and order 40 yards of the stuff lol. I've heard too many good reviews and nothing bad so I felt safe making a big order. When hubby says get it, I don't hesitate...I get it!


I have several quilt tops that are waiting to be finished so this may go fast.



Hubby wants a Giants quilt so I ordered him some more Giants fabric. He wants the back to be Giants fleece but I haven't been able to locate any yet. When we weren't looking for it, we practically fell over the bolts. Now--nothing!
I also orderd some Halloween fabric while I was at it. I'm lovin' the black with green bats.

DQS7

I finished my quilt for DQS7. Yippee! I need to do the label still and then it can be shipped off. With all these swaps I have been at the post office almost every night this week.

Monkey love

This little monkey is off to find a new home :) Craft Hope's latest project is sock monkeys! Project #4 is little heroes preschool burn camp.

stringing along

I've been wanting to start a string quilt for awhile now. After getting the new cutter, I decided to get started. I can now see why it takes most quilters a long time to actually make a strings quilt. It is boring and tedious. It takes a long time to get one block done. OK, it doesn't take but a couple minutes but it feels like a long time! Anyways, I love it and will keep working on it when I have a few minutes here and there until I have enough to make a quilt. How big will it be...who knows. I'll probably just keep making blocks until it feels like the right size. I have plenty of scraps and many more to come.

All quilting came to a big halt today. I managed to break my rotary cutter. Yes, apparently you can break a rotary cutter lol. The ladies at JoAnn's were surprised that you can break a rotary cutter. At my house, nothing is unbreakable. For a couple weeks now I have been fighting with my cutter. The blade was only coming out half way (I have a fiskers) so I couldn't cut more than 1 or 2 pieces of fabric at a time. In the middle of cutting fabric for some blocks the darn thing decided not to stay out at all. Every time I put a little pressure on the blade it would run and hide inside the cutter. Chicken. I guess the blade just had enough and didn't want to play any more. Chicken.

I didn't want to slow down the quilting mojo so I ran out to JoAnn's and picked up a new cutter. They had a package deal for 2 cutters and mat for around the same price as one cutter. I want to buy one of those circle plastic ruler/templates and knew I would need a smaller cutter so this worked out good for me.

It was like slicing through butter as the saying goes. After struggling for so long it felt real nice to be able to easily slice through a stack of fabric.

Signature blocks done

I finished my blocks for the signature block swap over at Melissas. Now to just get them in the mail.

This just in...

A ran across this fun quilt a-long over at A quilting life and Pink Pincushion. Sounds like it is going to be fun! Go ahead and check it out...you know you want to. I'll be right here when you're done :)

Pillow top

I found a pillow kit at A.C.Moore on clearance recently and have been stitching on it bit by bit. A couple stitches here and a few stitches there at night while watching TV. The top is finished and just waiting to be stuffed. I think it would make a cute addition to a little boys (or girls) room.

slow sewing day

Another slow sewing day. All I managed to do was clean my sewing area and hem 4 skirts for my niece.

slow day

Nothing exciting going on here today. Robbie is getting a new bed delivered so we needed to clean his room. He is losing his bunk beds and getting a captain's bed with a trundle bed. He has sleep overs almost every week so he needs to have two beds but not the bulk of a bunk bed.

This is the new fabric that came into the house recently. It is a small fat quarter bundle from JoAnn's that was on clearance. I liked it so it came home with me :)

What came in the mail today

I received a nice piece of fabric from TiggleGiggles this week. Isn't her little one just too darn adorable? I don't have too many flower prints and am glad to add this one to my stash. Eventually, I would like to make a flower-y quilt with all different squares of flower fabric.







Here is the little book that I started keeping track of all the goodies I have won or have been gifted. I list the gift, the website, and the giftees name and address. The reason I keep track like this is because sometime during the year, I like to send a little surprise thank you type gift to the person who brightened my day. I think it is a great way to spread a little love around. Plus, I just love the bubbles on this notebook :)

Summer Fun

Hubby decided that he and the kids "needed" a new toy. Hubby and the boys headed out for a guy day out and ended up at the hobby shop. That's where they picked up their new toys. One for Daddy and one for the kids to share. I think Suzi loved the new cars as much as the kids did.
(we keep her leash on her in the backyard when she is running free so we have something to grab just in case because the front of the house is near a major road)


Suzi chased the car....

and chased the car some more...

until she looked like this:


A good time was had by everyone! Now whenever the kids bring out the cars, Suzi whines until they take her outside to play :) A much better workout for Suzi than a walk around the block. When we take her for a walk she is still hyper when we get home. This way she gets out all her energy and frustrations on something other than the kids.

Ghoul's Guild

I'm a member of the Goul's Guild over on ArtFire. There are some very talented artists in this guild. I love all things Halloween so this guild was great for me!

One of the talented members is located right here in sunny Florida. Surpreyes has some awesome trinket boxes listed in her ArtFire shop. I LOVE this mummy box! Very Halloween-y. Plus, it's not too scary to have sitting on a table...even year round.

Friendship bags

There are just so many fun swaps out there right now! I just had to join another :) QuiltingGallery is having a friendship bag swap. I made these 3 using a pattern from p.s. i quilt. I made 4 but messed up the handle placement on one. That one is mine :)

Bits and Pieces

This is the binder where I keep track of the swaps I am part of. I have it divided into monthly sections. I write an info sheet for each swap and put it in the month that it is due. If I finish the swap item before the due date, I place the block(s) in a clear sheet until it is time to send out. This helps keep me very organized! I would feel so bad if I missed a due date and someone else had to suffer because of it.



My Halloween jelly roll came in the mail recently. I just LOVE this line of fabric! I'm hoping to squeeze a baby quilt and some tote bags out of it. I'll probably also add in some of the fabric from Justin's quilt to help stretch it and give the quilt some contrast.

swap blocks

I joined the Signature Block Swap over at Melissa's blog. I have 35 out of 70 completed (and now signed). I ran out of the Civil War repro fabric and had to order more.


When I was making the blocks, I put a second seam line on the corners so I would have these little beauties. Each time I make a block that allows me to do this I go for it. I'm hoping to have a nice little pile when I'm done to make a fun "leftover" quilt/wall hanging.


I also joined the Christmas swap over at Quiltblockswappers. We needed to make 4 12.5" blocks using Christmas fabric. I had some bits of the red/white stripped fabric and thought CANDY CANES! I just went with a simple raw edge applique. These will fray when washed.


I also joined the fall block swap. Here we were again making 4 12.5" blocks but using fall fabrics. I had some bits of these two fabrics and thought I would applique leaves this time. I used a fancy stitch from my machine to sew down the raw edges. I'm not a big fan of using a zig zag in appliques. I don't care most of the time for the bump it leaves. Plus, I can't seem to get it right.



This is the back. I like this side too.

New baby quilt top

I decided to border the launch swap blocks and turn 9 of them into a baby quilt. Just waiting on batting and it will be another finished quilt for 2009 :)

Just an idea

I had this idea in my head for a bit. I just had to get it out and into fabric so it would leave me alone. I thought it would be fun to take a 9 patch and cut it into a circle. Because I already had the fabric cut, these are 9 inch 9 patches.


I grabbed a plate and cut around the block and ended up with this. I want to applique them to different colored background fabrics. I'm thinking original crayola colors like blue, red, purple...I've put them up for now until I can go and get some more fabric in the colors I'm picturing. I've been running through my stash and finding it harder to put things together now. Sounds like a good time to go shopping!!

Progress on Justin's quilt

This is the start of the quilt my oldest (Justin) requested. The blocks are 20" finished and are for his king size bed. I bought 3 yards of each color and had just enough for the black rounds. I will need to go and pick up a few more yards of the green before I can finish the top. I'm not very good at planning ahead I guess.

Launch swap blocks

I took part in a launch swap over at the Quiltblockswappers yahoo group. These are the blocks that came back to me. Great job everyone!!