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.

Three by Three Swap Sign-ups Closed

Wow, that was quite impressive! We have 50 swappers plus 10 on the waiting list in case someone drops out, so sign-ups are now closed.

I will let everyone know whether they made it or not. Swap details will be sent out before Monday.

Don't forget: tomorrow is Geese in the Forest Day!

Three by Three

I had a little posting boo-boo, but here's the real one!

OK people. I think I have most of the swap details sorted out.
What I don't mention here will be sent to swappers once sign-ups are complete.

Since a nine-patch is three squares by three squares, I thought we'd call this the "three by three" swap.



To keep me from going crazy I'm limiting this swap to 50 swappers. I will host another swap in the future if you don't get to sign up for this one.
International swappers are welcome.

"Truly Scrappy" won by quite a large margin.

PLEASE READ the following bit carefully before signing up!

We're making 6" finished blocks.
To make a decent sized quilt, we will each need at least 32 blocks, which I thought would be a little much for one month, so this is going to be a two month swap.
If you sign up you commit to sending 16 blocks in Month 1 and 16 blocks in Month 2.
If there is interest, I'll add a third month, giving you 48 blocks.

Block rules:
1. Use only two fabrics per block.
2. Fabrics should be "mediums" or "darks". No "lights" please.
3. The blocks you send can either be all the same or all different or a combination. (All the same would be the quickest because you can strip piece, but if you have scraps you want to get rid of, you can make different blocks as long as you only have two different fabrics in each block.)
4. Use only first quality quilter's cottons, i.e. fabric you bought at a quilt store. (Wal-Mart and Joann's fabric is not good.)
5. Choose your fabrics with care. Your blocks should be blocks you would like to receive.

Swap Rules - Month 1:
1. Send me 16 blocks postmarked no later than May 31st, 2009.
2. Include a self addressed envelope for me to send your swap blocks back to you.
3. You will be required to pay the return postage. I will send details once you're signed up.

Swap Rules - Month 2:
1. Send me 16 blocks postmarked no later than June 31st, 2009. It will be summer time here in the U.S., so it may be good to be pro-active on this.
2. Include a self addressed envelope for me to send your swap blocks back to you.
3. You will be required to pay the return postage.

To sign up:
Send me an email at twiddletails{at}gmail{dot}com.
You're welcome to comment over here, but that won't count as your sign-up.
Sign-ups are first come, first served.

Bella Bella!

The ever growing collection of Moda Bella Solids in the store.
I LOVE Bella Solids!
I would love to make a quilt completely (or mostly) out of solids.


From top to bottom:
Earth
Chocolate
Black
Christmas Red
Christmas Green
Kelly
Dill
Lime
Yellow
Tea Rose
Orange
Robin's Egg
Bright Sky

(The 16-year old is going for his driving test today. Wish me luck...)

Yes, I'm a pain

I'm still on the nine-patch swap thing. I want us to love our blocks.

The majority vote on the previous poll was:
two fabrics, all blocks the same, and mostly white.

But now I'm thinking maybe we should go truly scrappy (kind of). We'll still do only two fabrics per block.

Nine patch quilt by thethreadunwound on Flickr.

There's a new poll in the sidebar.

I will post swap details on Thursday, I promise!

If you didn't win...

...a prize in Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival giveaway, you can go grab yourself some Woodland Bloom fabric in the store.
It's 25% off right now.



In other news, I'm still working hard on figuring out the details of the nine patch swap.
I spent the whole glorious weekend in the garden, which means that a lot of house cleaning has to happen this morning before anything else.

Nine Patch Testing

There was a lot of interest in a nine patch swap, so I'm trying to figure out the logistics and details.
I made three little blocks this morning, just grabbing fabrics from the scrap bin too see what I might get in a swap and how it would turn out.
The light is awful this morning so excuse the dullness.
This would involve using "mostly whites" and darks.

It doesn't look like much with only three blocks, but I think it would be very pretty.
Step back a little from your screen and you'll get a better idea of the bigger picture.
Note that the center block is different from the other two.

Another option would be to go totally scrappy, but then you won't be able to do strip piecing and we're going to need quite a few blocks to be able to make a quilt.
I played with some layouts in EQ5.


To make this an interactive project I put a poll in the sidebar. You should check up to 3 options.
Questions are:
1. Totally scrappy OR only two fabrics per block?
2. All blocks the same (as in the examples above) OR alternating positions of the lights and darks as in my sample blocks?
3. Mostly white OR solid white (which would involve everyone having to use exactly the same fabric for the white)?
If you have any other ideas or opinions, please leave a comment.
Thanks!