Think Pink

I'm still still here...
It's crazy around here.

1. My mom's coming for a long visit and the house is a mess. Did I mention she gets here on Thursday? I have a LOT to do before then.
2. I'm trying to get the Rainbow Jane BOM kits for June ready before she gets here so we'll have more time to spend together.
3. The garden needs constant tending.
4. Store orders (yay!) have to still go out very, very quickly.
5. Three by Three swap packages are arriving daily and I have to restrain myself not to spend hours going through all those lovely, lovely nine patches.
6, 7, 8, 9..... Fill in this space yourself....

I wanted to share some pink. I received the lovely pink cherry fabric from one of the three by three swappers and now I want to make something pink. Now! But of course I can't...

Speaking of cherries...
I still have a couple of Berry Delicious Fat Quarter bundles in the store and they're now marked down to $46.95. These retail for up to $80. You get 7+ yards of fabric! That works out to less than $7 a yard. I'm ordering some lovely new fabric for the store tomorrow and I need to clear some space, so they're going for a rock bottom price.

It's summer!

I'm still here but it's summmer and the sunshine keeps calling.
And yummy summer food!

Bee-n trying to catch up

Jo is still at the Dr's and Bernie is old and decrepid, but I figured I should start catching up on the SewConnected 3 blocks.
One down, three to go.

Here it is

A couple of people got really, really close on this one.

Yes, I drank the Kool Aid.
I've fallen for the Bunny Hills Designs A Tisket A Tasket BOM.
I thought I'd switch things up a bit and use a dark background, which is probably what confused a lot people.

Today is the last day

...to get 25% off Woodland Bloom fabric.

Back to the garden I go.
Have a great Sunday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

This is what we have to look forward to.
People who don't live in the Pacific Northwest have NO idea how excited we get about sunshine.

The final clue

On Monday, I'll show you the final product.

Hint #2

Some of you should know now.

(I'm really, really busy right now, so please excuse the silly posts.)

The beginnings of something

Can you guess?

Happy Mother's Day

It's been a wonderful, wonderful weekend and I got to spend quite a bit of time in the garden. I love gardening. I think it's the (almost) instant gratification.

I couldn't wish for anything better for Mother's Day.

They're starting to arrive

The three by three blocks, that is. I'm still very excited about all of this. I can't wait to see the quilts that come from this swap.

I just sent my baby off on his first solo outing in the car. I'm scared.

Strippy Runner Tutorial

I have had many, many requests and questions about the pattern I use to make my strippy runners.

I don't have a pattern and kind of just "wing it", but I wrote a tutorial over the weekend.
You can find it here.
Please email me if you have any questions. It was kind of hard to write.

If you want to make this particular runner, I've assembled a little kit, which includes all the fabric except the backing and batting. It's in the store for $6.75.

Quick Strip Pieced Nine Patch Tutorial

We're getting ready to start the three by three nine patch swap, so I thought it appropriate to quickly post a little tutorial for strip pieced nine patches.

There "seams" to be a nine patch revival in blogland right now.

These instructions are for 6" finished nine patches, but to calculate the strip width for any size, just divide the finished size of your nine patch by three and add 1/2" to the result. For example, for the 6" nine patches, it would be 6 divided by 3, which is 2, plus 0.5. Strip width 2.5".

For the purposes of this tutorial (and the swap), each nine patch will be constructed from only two fabrics.

Cut the fabric into 2.5" strips. The length and number of strips will depend on how many nine patches you wish to make. If you're using scraps, remember that for each block you will need 5 strips of one color and 4 strips of the other, each at least 2.5" long.

Sew the strips together along the long sides as below. If you're making all your blocks identical, you will need twice the length of one strip combination as the other. If you alternate fabrics, you can use even lengths of strips.

Press the seams of one strip set toward the outside and the seams of the other toward the inside. This will reduce bulk when you sew them together.

Cut each three-fabric strip into 2.5" sections.

Lay out the blocks...

...and sew the strip sections together.

Geese in the Forest Month 4

Yes, we're two-thirds of the way there.

Block 4: In Formation

We're making 13 of these, but don't get too spoiled. There's a doozie coming up.

Find the pattern here. (It's a PDF file, so you'll need Adobe Reader to open it.)
The .PDF file for Block 3's pattern is now available in the store for $1.

As a little teaser for what you can expect once you have all the block patterns, I put together a little nine block section of my quilt. Kinda cool, I think.


You can find all the details regarding this Block of the Month over here and photos of the wonderful versions everyone is making in the Flickr group.