Little Organizer giveaway

To end my "500th post week", another giveaway.
I have one of these and love it!
It's the perfect size: about 9" x 5" and 8" high.


When you close the lid the little compartments seal so nothing can fall out.
Great for little on-the-go projects.


No challenges this time.
More than one chance to win:
1. Leave a comment and you're in.
2. Mention this giveaway on your blog and leave another comment letting me know, and you have a second entry.

That's it.

I'll do the drawing next Friday, the 4th. Have your entry in before 0:00am PDT.

SewConnected 3 - August

My loss of creativity is definitely helping me get other things done - things with very specific directions.
This is John's block for the SewConnected 3 quilting bee.

Geese in the Forest Correction

It has been brought to my attention that there's a teenie mistake in the instructions for Block 6.

It should read:
“Make 6 blocks using the pattern as is and 10 blocks mirroring the pattern, using different fabric combinations.”

For inspiration (for you and me), look at what some people have been doing!

Dr. Quiltmom:

Whosies:


I'm working on mine right now because I'm totally inspired!

500!

This is my 500th post!
I won't get soppy but blogging has truly changed my life and let my creative side loose. (It's a little lost right now but I'm sure it'll come back).
Of course, to celebrate, there has to be a giveaway or two.

For today, I'm going to challenge you a little.
This is a little stack of 15 scraps, mostly from the store.
As far as scraps go, most of them are pretty big, at least 5" or so wide.

READ CAREFULLY!
1. The person who can identify the most fabrics in the pile (by collection or name) wins the scraps. You will need to include the fabric manufacturer in your answer.
2. If there's a tie, I'll draw names.
3. Do NOT leave your answers as comments on this post (although you can congratulate me on my 500th post if you'd like). This will give later entries an advantage. I will delete comments with fabric names in them.
4. To enter, send me your guesses/answers via email. My email address is to the left here:
<<<<<==========================<<
5. Please put "Name that Fabric" as the subject for your email.
6. I will pick the winner on Monday August 31st.

Good luck!

Itsy bitsy little friendship bag

Since my creative mojo seems to have disappeared into outer space, I figured I could probably sew a little something use someone else's instructions.
This is my practice round for the Friendship Bag Swap using Rachel's tutorial.
It was quick and easy to make. (And so cute!)

The fabrics are Pop Parade 2 from P&B Textiles.

This may be...

...why my sewing mojo has left me.

Or maybe too much of this:

New stuff

We spent a wonderful weekend at a cabin in the country. I may be a little too relaxed now because I'm a little slow getting back in the swing of things.

While I work on that, a couple of new items arrived in the store.

Panache by Sanae!

Also a couple of little Odyssea charm packs. I love this line and am hoping to get some actual yardage.

Flickr has issues

Does anyone host their photos somewhere other than Flickr? Are you happy over there?
Flickr has really been unreliable recently which affects this blog because all my photos come from there.

In happier news, the Little Gems quilt was just featured on Craft Gossip.

(Thank Flickr for the photo-less post.)

Completion (and a free pattern)

Wow! Remember the sad start to this project? My plan was to make a zig zag table runner without using any white fabric. That was NOT successful, but I now had many, many little half square triangles that I couldn't waste. (I wonder why I made HST's instead of flying geese...)
So...attempt number two.

I call her "Little Gems" because I used Heather Bailey's Bijoux fabric and, loosely translated, bijoux means "small jewels".

Even though this is a really simple little quilt, I decided to write you some instructions for making one, if you're so inclined.
You can download the free pattern over here. I did not have time to test this pattern (although I did read through it carefully many times), so if you download it and find some errors, please let me know.

(Edited on 1/11/13: Sadly, most of the fabrics are not available any more, but it shouldn't be hard to find substitutes.)
If you like the fabrics I used, these are the ones:
From Bijoux by Heather Bailey:
Mod Beads: Lime
Swirly Buds: Cinnamon
Swirly Buds: Lime
Tiled Primrose: Celery
Tiled Primrose: Rose
The striped border and binding are Oh My Dog Stripe in Lime, my latest favorite for binding.

For the backing I used Tiled Primrose: Gold and instead of white, like I always do, Bella Solids in Robin's Egg Blue to make it a little more practical since I'll be donating it to Ronald McDonald House in Seattle.

I hope you like it.

Almost

I've been trying to finish this little Bijoux quilt for weeks now. I think today may be the day.

The plan is to give you a free pattern to make this one, so stay tuned.

Ooh, and Geese in the Forest is featured on WhipUp today! We're famous!

Mary has finished all 100 of her blocks! She's had a little hiccup but she's on a roll. I expect hers to be the first completed GITF quilt in the original colors.

Late summer light

The last installment

Today is the last day of Geese in the Forest quilt instructions.
This file has the block layout diagram for the quilt. You can now download it here.

Block 6 will be available in the store until the end of the month, after which I will assemble all the instructions into a single pattern.
I'm hoping to finish this quilt in the fall since it's just too hot and summery (I'm not complaining mind you) for a whole lot of quilting right now.

(If you have no idea what this is all about, you can find all the information about this quilt over here.)

A little Shop Talk

The heat is letting off! Woohoo!

So many exciting things have been happening in the store that I just had to share, so please bear with me.

I just received a beautiful brand new fabric line - Pop Parade 2 - from P&B Textiles. When I saw this I fell in love with the free pattern for a wonderful, modern, fall-colored quilt.
I have all the fabric to make this quilt in stock (the pattern can be downloaded for free over here on the P&B Textiles web site).
I'm also assembling kits which will include all the fabric for the quilt and binding, as well as a free pattern sheet.

I'm very excited to announce that I will be carrying American Patchwork & Quilting magazine as well as Quilts & More from now on.
I know that it can be hard, especially for international quilters, to get their hands on these magazines, so I figured it would be a good idea to have some on hand.
The latest AP&Q mag is available right now - October 2009!
This one comes with a free pattern sheet for a scrap quilt designed by Alex Anderson.


I think I may be able to finish the sneakity peek project this weekend. Yay!

Ironing al fresco

What lengths will a sew-a-holic go to when there's a record breaking heat wave?

M-e-l-t-i-n-g

I have towels and sheets in front of all windows that don't have blinds.
I sewed a little but now I don't want to turn the iron on because it'll heat up the house.
It's 86 degrees in the coolest part of my house - and it's not even 8:30 yet.
Saturday, oh Saturday, where art though?

Better?

It's been in the high 90's here the last couple of days and scheduled to be so for the rest of the week.
We may hit 100 today. In Seattle!
My little upstairs studio gets hotter than you know what really quickly so I haven't been getting much of anything done lately.
I am trying to reinvent my disaster from the other day and I think this may work.
It's a pity I can only sew for about 30 minutes each day before I get fried up here.

What do you think?

(BTW: Christmas in July ends this week)

Suggestions needed

Thank you all so much for your consoling words yesterday.
After much pondering and a glass (or two) of wine as suggested by some, I still didn't like it.
Suffice it to say that my seam ripper and I are now the bestest of buddies.

Now onto the subject of this post.

These came in the mail yesterday.

I bought them from Jackie. They are perfect little 3.5" die cut 30's reproduction circles. 40 of them. I bought them in her Etsy store. I love them.
I want to use them for something that will really showcase their prettiness and I know there are many creative brains here in blogland.

Giveaway alert!
If you have a suggestion for the use of these little ones, please leave a comment.
If you don't have a suggestion, leave a comment too. I love comments.
If I choose your suggestion I will send you some goodies.
Sound good?

Have a great weekend!

Not so much

Gee! I've been suffering from a creative drought the last couple of weeks.
This morning I decided to force myself to make something. Something to challenge the norm. Something with NO white fabric anywhere.

After six hours I have something. Do I like it? Not so much. It feels like an awful waste of beautiful fabric.
Back to the drawing board...
On a happier note, the little tisket/tasket block is done.

Slow and steady...

...wins the race, right?

I started the "A Tisket A Tasket" BOM five months late and now I'm six months behind.
Oh well.

Remember Sweet Hearts?

As I was getting all my quilts ready to go back into the guest room closet now that my mom's gone home, I found the Sweet Hearts Quilt again. I really love this little quilt.

I've decided to make it available as a kit with the fabrics used in the pattern quilt.

Something free for you:
If you order the kit between now and the 31st, you get the pattern for free. Just mention that you saw this on the blog and I will refund you $8 straight back through Paypal after you've placed your order.

Stringy

I'm working on finishing all my WIP's and UFO's.
I don't know how far I'll get before the urge to make something new strikes, but so far so good.
This is my SewConnected 3 block for Darci.

My First Quilt

I'm a little late to the party, but I'm jumping into the parade of quilts.
This is something Carrie and Camille have going but I think it ends tomorrow.
My first quilt, circa 1999.
Machine pieced and hand quilted.

It's very "country", but I'm still quite proud of it. It also taught me that hand quilting is not my cup of tea.
My latest quilt - the one I made for the Spring Fling pattern.
Way back in April.
I need to step it up.

The grass is always greener...

The pictures on the Moda site always crack me up.
Wanna make some grass?

Johnny Jump Ups

I took these photos in the garden this morning. The Johnny Jump Ups are so cute with their little faces pointing to the sun.

Shabby Chic

I finished my Virtual Quilting Bee quilt yesterday. I L-O-V-E it!

Who knew that 12 blocks made by 12 different people could go together in a quilt so well. It's so very "Shabby Chic" and girly.
I used a 2" sashing and a whole bunch of little identically fussy cut setting squares. That, I tell you, was quite a job.

I'm so proud of myself. I added a label!
I love how the binding turned out. It's Stripey from Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market.

More photos.




I also photographed each block individually. You can see them in the VQB pool on Flickr.

Happy Independence Day

I hope you have a wonderful day!

(This photo makes me want to make a log cabin quilt.)

Birthday Blooms

Today is my mom's birthday and I snuck out early this morning to buy her some flowers while she slept.

Aren't these gorgeous?

They almost look like they're not real.

I also managed to finish the slippery runner for my mom.
It was a pain to make but I'm happy with how it turned out and she really likes it.

AND I've been working very hard on my Virtual Quilting Bee quilt. I just have to finish sewing on the binding, add a label, and wash it for the shrinky effect. Woohoo! One more thing will soon be checked off the list.

Geese in the Forest Month 6

We're done!
This is the final block.

Block 6: Loosey Goosey

It's not too bad. We'll make 16: 11 in one direction and 5 in the other.

Find the pattern here. (It's a PDF file, so you'll need Adobe Reader to open it.)
The .PDF file for Block 5's pattern is now available in the store for $1.

Next month I'll publish the layout.

All the details regarding this Block of the Month and all the other block patterns) are over here and a tutorial for freezer paper foundation piecing is over here.

I have to admit I'm a little behind on this project (like I am with most of my projects) but I really hope to complete this quilt (or at least the top) before the end of summer.