Over the Rainbow

I've been working on my rainbow string quilt bit by bit... I thought it would be fun to lay all the blocks out together to see how they look...

Stunning!

I have 32 blocks so far, so I'm less than halfway to the 80 I need for a twin size quilt. Unfortunately, some of my color-sorted bags of strings are still bursting and some are dwindling. I have a serious purple string shortage! I guess I need to do some more sewing to restock those strings!

In other scrap sewing news, I made this mini quilt for the 12"x 12" Something From Nothing Challenge Swap over on the 15 Minutes Play site. I love all these bright bits!
And now- back to more quilting!

Friends & Swaps

I had the most fun sewing day today at a mini-retreat at Trisha's house! We met originally because I sent her my quilt in Doll Quilt Swap 6, and it turned out that she lives about 45 minutes away from me. We met in person recently at Jacquie's trunk show, and worked out a sew-in for today- she's the sweetest, and her kids are too. In another twist of fate, her kids have the same names as me and my husband, so the conversation kept us "in stitches" (snicker) all morning! I got some work done on a old WIP, too, in between laughing, looking at quilts, talking about fabric and eating the yummy lunch she made.

Also, I just finished my June block for the Stash Busting Bee International. It is for Adrienne, who sent me her quilt in the Doll Quilt Swap 5. The blues and greens she requested challenged me since my stash leans warm, but I think the result lovely, like seaglass. I took this picture on my lawn chair, last week when it was sunny. Now, it's rainy and grey, but that should mean that I have more time indoors for sewing and swapping and more fun!

Scraps, Stars, and Blooms

It's been a busy month, including a ton of yard work and the dreaded guests in the sewing room situation- loved the guest, it was the loss of sewing time that was dreadful! I've slowly gotten up to speed again, including this fabulous Stash Busting Bee International block for Barb. The bright colors reminded me of the sweet bulbs and pansies blooming in my garden.

Barb sent some multicolored and white scraps, including a lot of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, and I provided the rest- more Denyse Schmidt, some Kaffe and some little retro looking prints and more. She was inspired by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts, whose instructions we followed.

I adore this block. It takes a lot of piecing, but it's a great way to use up scraps. I'm thinking of making more, but out of 2.5" and 2" squares from my scrap bin (this block used 3" and 2.5" squares.) Wouldn't these make an adorable baby quilt?

Now I'll get back to sewing- I have a top to finish by the time this pesky rain storm blows through and the garden beckons me again!

List Progress

Progress is slow, but it is being made. In the last few weeks since my last post I've shaved a little bit off my list... and of course, my list has grown at a constant rate, so I don't feel like I am getting ahead yet!

I did:

• Baste 2 of my quilts and quilt one (pics to come when they are done, that's supposed to motivate me...)
• Finish blocks for 2 of my 3 bees/ groups (Sis Boom POW and Stash Busting Bee International- shown up above; I still need to finish those dang pinwheel blocks whose points are giving me troubles again.)
• Made Halloween costumes (on time and no one got sick on Halloween so they actually got worn- yay!)
• Figured out my e-mail issue, so I can actually respond to comments if I can ever get caught up...
• Start the baby quilt.

Another accomplishment that was not on my "list"... spending more great quality time with my family :-) Nothing like that, and some creative time, to make a gal feel like a million dollars!

Warming up to Autumn

These blocks will soon be heading to Brenda for the Stash Busting Bee International. She requested fall colored nine-patches using the light batik charm squares she sent. This month was a bit of a stretch for me, since I don't consider myself a "fall" person, and doubted I had many appropriate fabrics in my stash. I was pleasantly surprised to find an abundance of autumnal fabrics, many of which I found new appreciation for in these color combinations. It just goes to show that there are no "uglies," just colors you haven't learned to love yet. I loved these so much, I spirited them out to the garden when the rain stopped yesterday. They make me smile. So much so, that I am planning a nine-patch quilt in these colors. And I even saved some of these scraps for it.

New Additions

I said I was excited to finally start working on some new projects... this one is a new housing development! It's a bit of a grab bag/ mash up: Black and white! Wonky houses! I Spy! California themed fabrics! Should be really fun... or really crazy!

I've been collecting fabric for this for a while, and many of the novelty prints are scraps sent by a gang of Flickr quilters, so this neighborhood already has a strong community spirit! Here's the first 3 the houses:


The Stash Busting Bee International is what got me on the roll of building my I Spy houses. Here's the haunted Halloween houses I made for Terrie (Chocolate_is_the_best_medicine) this month!

DQS7 is here!

Look what arrived today!


I've been watching my mailbox for my DQS7 quilt to arrive, and today it paid off! Whoohoo! I got a fantastic package from Kelli, who made a mini version of a quilt we both have in our Flickr favorites. Check out what a great job she did!

The back is just as cute- and a great riff on all the polka dots!


The extras she added are awesome, too. She made a super cute card from the quilt's scraps, included a great Heather Ross fat quarter, and somehow read my mind about needing a tissue holder! I only realized that I needed one yesterday when I cleaned out my purse. Hers is way nicer than what I would have made, completed interfaced and with a red set-in snap. Nice! The cherry on top is the honey lip balm- I'm really particular about lip balm, and this is by far one of the nicest I have ever used! Plus, my lips smell like heaven. Kelli, if you ever go into business making lip balm, I will buy a lifetime supply!


I feel so lucky- BIG thanks to Kelli, you made DQS7 another fantastic round for me!

Notes from the Post Office

I was back at the post office today, mailing the little mini star quilt, a pinwheel block for the Quilt Blocks for Show and Tell... and a wallet I found in the driveway of a shopping center, belonging to a girl with an unlisted phone number. I'm hoping it gets back to her fast in the mail, but I do need to check MY wallet and make sure there's a way to contact me in there if found!

Here's the block I sent- it's the polka dot one and it's for Hanies. The snowflake one is going to Chocolate_is_the_best_medicine once I get some wonky haunted houses made for her, for the Stash Busting Bee International!

Sent!

I completed my quilt for DQS7 and sent it last week. It was hard to see it go off on it's (long) journey... I'm looking forwards to hearing of it's safe arrival!

Here's a close up of the star...


And the embroidery and beading on it...


My daughters really wanted to keep this one!

I also finished up this little mini quilt at 10" x 10" for a Facebook craft swap. I need to get a mailing address for it and it will soon be flying too!

A Little More

I am loving how my DQS7 project is coming along. I think I'll add a little more embroidery to the star, then echo quilt it with invisible thread...

DQS7 Progress

My quilt for DQS7 is coming along, but the deadline is coming up really soon! I have the top almost finished- I have added the turquoise border shown in this picture and I am going to add another string border today. I have big plans to embellish this with beading and embroidery if time allows. Since I foundation pieced the string blocks, it is pretty heavy already, so I was thinking of using a piece of flannel for the batting to keep it thinner and lighter, but I am not sure how that will work. Any experience with batting foundation pieced quilts would be wonderful!

Stringing Along

I sewed half of the string blocks for my Doll Quilt Quilt Swap 7 last night. I'm thrilled with the lush colors and rhythm of these blocks. I had been planning on using a solid fabric star in this, but as these blocks came together, I realized that a stringy, strippy, pieced star will look so much better. So will some embellishment. I already love this so much, I will have to make another one for myself!

Swappy Goodness

I made some fun wonky stars for the Stash Busting Bee International over the weekend:

I decided to make an extra star and set it in a twinkling little wall hanging. It measures 10" square. I used up some extra strip for the border, and a piece of recycled shirt (in the background) for the backing, plus a batting scrap. A nice little stashbuster!

I also got 3 (!) pinwheel blocks from the Quilt Blocks for Show & Tell group. These came from Sylvie in France, Shanna in Kuwait (not the UAE- oops! Thanks for the correction, Shanna- I guess we need to spend some time with the atlas!) and Hanies in Germany. It's extra fun to see swaps come in from around the world! I love how these pinwheels are going to look together!

Fabric Fertilization

I know, I know, I am supposed to be finishing my WIPs. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming of fabulous and fun new fabric combos...

For DQS7:

(I can't tell you who this is for!)

For the Stash Busting Bee International:
(Wonky stars for 2ndAveStudio, she sent the top 4 fabrics that are laid out horizontally)

And a pile of fabric going into the washing machine, that is telling me to turn it into a strip quilt like this one:
(Perhaps for the "bunny bed" at my mom's house that my kids like to sleep in)

Swap Blocks and Scrap Busting

I finished a block for the Stash Busting Bee International for Lish today! I had a zillion ideas for the fabric she sent out (the red print below) but ended up making the same pinwheel block as my other swap group is using. I have a few strips of her fabric left, so I am thinking about making one more block just to exercise my creativity.

While I was sewing my swap block, my 7 year old finished the faux Ugly Doll she started sewing at school. I was really excited because we stuffed it with the scrap stuffing- all the bits that are to small to even be crumbs or strings, along with thread clippings and little pieces of batting scraps- that I compulsively save because I just can't throw fabric away. It turned out great! Now to make a few more stuffed toys to use up the other bags of stuffing size scraps I have stashed in the closet!

Perfect vs. Done

I was getting really stressed over getting my pinwheel swap blocks perfect... and then, after ripping and resewing, ripping and resewing them too many times, I remembered that perfection in quilting is a Platonic ideal, at least for me. Some of my favorite quilts are old utility quilts that were just pieced and scrapped together until they were the right size, no matter if the design was "regular" or if the corners matched up. The beauty of imperfection is such a vital and vibrant part of our quilting heritage! I could go on, but the point is that my swap blocks are done and in the mail to 5 ladies now. The sixth block (upper right) is hanging out here, spinning the other way and waiting for something wonderful to result from it's uniqueness.


I also finished my first Stash Busting Bee block, for Shannon. She asked for a Hunting Lodge theme for a young family friend, so I hope she likes it! I had a lot of fun making it!

Grinding...

I'm having a frustrating craft week, mostly because I'm working on some blocks for a swap that are just not coming out the way they should. If I was keeping them, it wouldn't bother me, but I don't want to send something out that is less than perfect. To borrow a term from the video game world, I feel like I'm just grinding to get through the level since I'm sewing the same thing over and over to try to get it right.

So, wanting to update but not make a post without pictures, I was relieved to realized that I never posted about the table topper that I started before we went on vacation though! I know, I could have just pretended that I just started this and my sewing was going really well, but I do love honesty. I really do.

This is the quilt my daughter is working on, with the lilacs that were blooming in my yard a few weeks ago. They were lovely... and I loved the quilt on the table with them so much, I decided to make a little quilt that would not need to be returned to its 7 year old owner. It's funny, because I never really "got" table toppers before this day. Now I am all about the table as another place to display a quilt. Here's what I am working on:

It will be 4 string blocks set with rails and stars, with a Kaffe floral border and leopard print binding. It will be fabulous- and now I just to finish those dang swap blocks so I can get back to working on this!

Stash Busting...

BEE! I'm very excited to be joining the Stash Busting Bee on Flickr. I have been fascinated by the idea of Virtual Quilting Bees for some time, and this one seems like a perfect one for me and my little problem with stash overgrowth. And next year, I'll have a new quilt created by new friends and my work will be part of 11 other quilts in several different countries!

One down!

The Dime Quilt is done! This was a great stash- and scrapbuster for bonus triangles. It ended up approximately 23" x 32", hopefully the perfect size for a tabletopper, wall hanging or doll quilt in its future home! The back was repurposed from a pillowcase that caught my eye at the thrift store. That makes one WIP down, and 4 more to go. I need to:

1. Finish piecing the Bright Snowball quilt
2. Bind the Strip Twist- Looking at it again, the quilting is not so bad, so I think I'll leave that alone.
3. Sandwhich and quilt the Tiles
4. Finish the Leafy Doll Quilt- I'll do that in tha fall, it's impossible to work on it in spring!
   

I'm enjoying the new, improved view from my ironing board while working on all these projects! I love my Doll Quilt Swap 6 quilt!

OMG OMG OMG Yay!!!!

We were on our way out the door to a birthday party yesterday, when I spied a red box on my doorstep. With an orange label with my name on it. I thought it was way too soon for my most recent Etsy fabric order to have arrived (not that I am buying more fabric, just a few I spy squares to use with existing fabrics in my stash for a baby quilt!), and realized it must be my DOLL QUILT SWAP 6 QUILT!!!!!

I ripped into the box and got a glimpse of heaven- the binding of my *favorite* quilt from this round! There are a number of really amazing quilts that I love this round, but this one looked like it was made for me. And it turns out that it was!!!! I was dancing my happy dance all around the yard!

This beauty was made by Adrienne- she's great! I just adore the stars, the scrappy fabrics, the rainbow colors, and the meandering star quilting- an inspired touch! I was ready to copy this quilt when I saw it come up in the Flickr group... but now I get to enjoy the original! Thank you Adrienne! You even packaged it in my favorite colors!