A new bag for me!

I noticed a few weeks ago that the bag I use to cart all my stuff to church has a few seams that were coming apart. It was the bag I made over 4 years ago to use as a diaper bag when my son was born. It has had a. lot. of use, so I figured it was as good an excuse as any to make a new bag!! I actually spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted this bag to look like, and I decided that I wanted a simple, sort of neutral color, but add something fun to show off my true sewing love - quilting. :)

So, I made a few awesome quilt blocks to attach to the outside! I LOVE how they came out!!! Here it is:

One one side, I did the "Star" paper piecing block from the Summer Series, only I shrank it down to about half size. With the border, it finished at just under 7 inches. I love it!


On the other side I just made some half square triangles and created this cute pinwheel/star thing. It finished at just over 8 inches.


The inside is a deep blue with green pockets. The fabric is all Modern Meadow, that I was able to get at 50% off! Woot woot!


I am so happy with this bag! I know we'll have many happy Sundays together! :)

It's here!!!

=D <----- This is ME!!! I just got this delivered to my door!! YAY!!!


Thank you, again, Elizabeth, and AccuQuilt, for hosting this AWESOME giveaway! I feel so blessed/lucky/happy/ecstatic/shocked/grateful...

Funny story - the UPS guy rang the bell. I thought he was going to have me sign for it, but no. He said, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but my wife is really into quilting, and I'm wondering what this is?" I explained and he, smiling, said that he was going to check them out for his wife. I think we'll have one more very happy quilter soon! :)

GREAT day!!

Summer Series: Lucky Pieces

I stressed about this one more than the others, as far as color placement went. The orange was an after though, but now I think this might just be my favorite! Tutorial for this block is here!

WiP Wednesday!

GREAT week!! Best week ever, really...

First - I WON an AccuQuilt Go! Baby!!!!!!!! Squeeee!!!! It's set to arrive on Friday!!! I am SO excited!!!!!! (Thanks AGAIN Elizabeth!!!) :)

Second - I FINISHED the Kaleidoscope quilt!!! Check it out HERE!

Next - I painted, reorganized, and cleaned out our home office. Turned out to be a HUGE undertaking, but I am happy with the result. Check out the awesome vinyl quote I put up...


Because it's just not home without a Harry Potter quote on the wall. ;)

Okay - sewing WiPs!! Princess finished her 4th and final pink block and started laying out her first yellow block. I am so proud of her!


I made a few more squares for the Summer series! Here's a picture if my seven completed blocks:


Love. Them. The new ones are the Star (Top middle), Arkansas Traveler (top right), and the 6 point star (middle). I love them ALL! I did another 6 point star, string style, but decided it was too busy and went for a simpler, non-string version and LOVE it!! This series has been so great!

Skill Builders: Arizona Block


I actually had to do this entire block twice. Why? Because... I used some white fabric from my stash that was - apparently - pretty crappy. It SHRANK as I ironed it. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen! So, I had to redo the million HST's (augh!) and ended up with this beauty. I really, really like the finished product!!

Other things (no pictures):

Queen Frolic - basted, ready to quilt!!
Halloween Quilt - Oops again. :)
A new bag for myself!!! - cut out! AND I mad a square to sew on the outside. I can't wait to finish this up and post pictures!! Stay tuned!!

Well, happy WiP Wednesday!! Be sure to check out all of the awesome WiPs at Freshly Pieced!!

Kaleidoscope Complete!!

It's done!! I was able to finish up my darling Kaleidoscope quilt last night during a Harry Potter marathon with my daughter. Yes, it was fun. We watch the first 3 films...

Anyway, here it is! My completed Kaleidoscope quilt!

I really love how this top looks! I love pink and green together, and now I am a fan of pink and grey!

The back can only be called Scraptastic! I used all of the leftover pieces from my fat quarters and put together this... well, scrappy back. I really like it! :)

For quilting, I did loops, in pink. I LOVE how it looks!!

A big Thank you to Elizabeth, from Don't Call me Betsy for hosting this quilt a long! It has been very fun, and I can't wait to try another one!!! :)

Yay me!!! I won!!!

Oh my heck!!! I woke up this morning to the BEST NEWS!!!!! I WON an AccuQuilt GO! Baby!!!!!! YIPEE!!!


Elizabeth at Don't Call me Betsy hosted this giveaway and I am so so so happy and SHOCKED to have won!! Yea! Now I don't have to beg my husband for my birthday! lol!!

Also, I finished my Kaleidoscope quilt! S0, I will be posting pictures later today!!

YAY!! What a wonderful day! Thanks Elizabeth!!

Follow-up

haha... just in case you were wondering...

A skirt on a whim

So, today after this happened,

(Yep. He decided to give himself a haircut... **sigh**)

I decided I need to create something to make me feel better. So, I grabbed some fabric I had picked up to make myself a bag, and instead made a pencil skirt. I just sort of winged it, but it turned out good! Even the darts worked out! :)



Yea for skirts!

Paper Piecing!!

Success!!! Today, for the Summer Series Quilt-a-long, I spent about 2.5 hours figuring out paper piecing. This is my first EVER attempt. I have been scared to try. After this - I am in love! What a neat/fun/totally bizarre way to quilt! This, folks, is why we should never let fear stop us from trying things! So, with a feeling of pride, I present my first paper pieced block - Star!!


Yea!! I am so happy that I had some time this morning to get this done! It's pretty neat!!

WiP Wedensday

Wednesday arrives again! Here a look into the in-progress drawer! I've got a lot!!!

Princess has finished her 3rd block...


She is doing great! And, isn't she the cutest thing ever? :)

As for me, I am in Quilt-a-long Heaven!! :)

Skill Builders Sampler:

This week we did pinwheels!


I love pinwheels! And these are so cute! I finally found a decent pink/red to add to the color scheme to get the colors moving! I look forward to the next block! Here are my four completed!


Love em!

Summer Sampler Quilt a long:

Since last week, we've done Greek Cross, Mosaic Block, and Flower Garden Path. Here are my four completed ones:


Love. Love. Love. With my SBS blocks in a much more subdued color scheme, I wanted this to be bright and colorful. Done. And I couldn't be happier with the blocks so far! Although, the last one had about a zillion half square triangles. And that was following a zillion HSTs in the pinwheel block. Ugh. While I am happy to get better at them... please!!! NO MORE!! lol! Okay, I know there will be more, but yikes. ;)

Kaleidoscope:

The top is done! I added a border and really really love how this top has come out!!!


Queen Frolic:

Question: Am I the only one who gets to the point where the only thing left on the top is the borders, and then spend all my time avoiding the borders like the plague? So a job that should only take about 30 minutes ends up taking 5 days? Do you do that too? I hope so... anyway, I finally got the borders on (today). I went with plain white borders and I think I like it. It almost feels like you're looking out of a big window.


I have a sheet for backing and should finish it up this weekend! Yea!

Halloween quilt: oops. I'll start that this week...

Well, that's all! Be sure to check out all of the wonderful WiP's at Freshly Pieced!

Ninja Star - a tutorial!

I was asked to do a tutorial on the Ninja Star, so here we go!

I admit - I like this version of the Ninja Star a lot better than my original! ;)

Okay - first off, block will measure 12.5 inches unfinished, all seams are 1/4 inch, and I pressed most of my seams open to reduce bulk.

Fabric

You will need:


4 - 3 7/8 inch square blocks of print for star points

4 - 3 7/8 inch square blocks of background fabric

4 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch of background fabric

Start with Half Square Triangles! Match one background square to print square, right sides together. Trace a line down the diagonal on each set.


Sew 1/4 inch on each side of the marked line:


Cut down marked line:



Now you have eight sets!! Press open and trim the corners!


Arrange squares in this manner:


Start by sewing the half square triangles together this way:


Sew a background rectangle to each set of HST to form 4 sub-squares:


(On these, I pressed the seams toward the background rectangles.)

Now, sew two sub-squares together:


Then, finish off that square by sewing the two halves together!


TaDa!! Your very own Ninja Star!! Happy sewing everyone!

Kaleidoscope Top Done!!

I. Love. It.


Not all of my points match up perfectly, but I can overlook that because it's just so darn cute!! Thank you Elizabeth, for hosting this GREAT quilt-a-long! I can't wait to quilt it up!!

Stay tuned: tonight I am going to put up a Ninja Star tutorial! It's fun!! :)

WiP Wednesday!!

Howdy! What a lovely week it's been...

The princess didn't make any more progress this week. Something about swimming lessons, dance class, play dates... you know! :)

But me... Oh, it's been a fun week!

SBS Quilt a long:

It was challenge week: design your own block and get the measurements right. I did a block I've decided to call Ninja Star.

It reminds me of those throwing stars. Picture the star part in silver and the background in anything else... do you see it? I really like it! :)

Summer Series Sampler Quilt a long!

Block one: the Virginia Star!


I went with bright orange and yellow. This quilt is bound to be bright! I love it!

The Queen Size for the Princess's teacher: Here after called "Queen Frolic" (Original, I know...)


I am LOVING how this is coming together!! I am pleased with the applique too! So fun! I still need to add the border, but this top is just about done! Yipee!!

Check out all the great WiPs at Freshly Pieced!!

Bonus Block!

So for the Skill Builder Sampler QAL, this week was a challenge week - design your own block and get the measurements correct. This is hard for me, but with Leila's instructions, it turned out to be pretty fun! Here's the block I came up with...


I am going to call it Ninja Star. Because anything with Ninja in the name has to be cool. ;)


Here are my four completed! We'll see if Ninja makes it into the finished quilt...

Kaleidoscope progress!

Yea!! I had a wonderfully empty day today, so I was able to finish the next step on the Kaleidoscope QAL! 12 blocks - done!



This is my temporary layout. I can already tell that I am going to move some, but so far, I am liking what I am seeing! :) It's not too late to join in if you are looking for a great quilt a long!!

WiP Wednesday!

Ready... Set... GO!

First up - Princess WiP


She isn't quite finished with her second block, but she has laid out the scraps. She told me yesterday that she is going to change a few, and sew it today. So, she'll probably have two finished to show next week! She is having a great time!

As for me...

SBS Quilt a long

The Churn-dash

Very cute block! I am really enjoying this quilt a long! I feel like I have learned a ton already!! Here are my three so far!


Cute!!

Kaleidoscope QAL
My corners are sewn, and I am ready for the next step! Here is my favorite layout: random deliciousness...


NEW PROJECT!

The Princess's former Kindergarten teacher emailed me and asked if I could put together a quilt for her little girls queen sized bed. After some thought, I showed her an older panel that I still had sitting in my drawer, and she really liked it. Then, as I was talking to my neighbor, I learned that she had a whole bunch of the Frolic line in her stash, which she let me buy from her! I have enough for the whole top and part of the back AND binding!! YEEHAW!! I have some great ideas, but here is a taste of the layout beginnings...


More to come! Stay tuned!

Finally... It's July now. Is it time? I think it's time...


I just love Halloween!! And I have been sitting on this pattern since last November. I can't wait to start working on this!! :)

That's all for this week! Linking up to Freshly Pieced! Be sure to check out all of the awesome WiPs!!