Giveaway Day !

Have you heard about this? Over at Sew Mama Sew, they are having the twice yearly giveaway day! This is a day were you can have a giveaway on your blog and link up to their page and their tons of readers and gain exposure to your blog! Plus you get to read new blogs and enter their giveaways! It's a Win-Win! There are several categories in which to enter and just a few guidelines - nothing ridiculous. Read all about it here. If you have never checked out this site, it is great for sewing in general not just quilts, it includes garmet contstruction, pesky 'ole zippers, and many other sewing related tutorials.

Hmmmm....now I just need to sit down and whip up a few pretties to enter!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's day! My kids and grandson were up and we grilled out! Yum!  (No this is not a pic of our actual grill -- way to perfect looking ;) but we did have burgers and hot dogs. It was a good day. We took some family pics - goofy faced ones and all, and ended with a nice boat ride.



I am on vacation this week! I have a few day trips planned but do have at least one sewing day planned to work on blocks -- which of course at some point become quilts! Seems I have fallen behind a bit and it is stressing me out! I have so many ideas -- I just need to find the time to sit down and sew (besides late into the night haha! ) How about you have you found time lately? What are you working on?  I will see you later this week with some updates and hopefully PROGRESS!

Transformation....from UFO/Flimsie to Quilt!

That is exciting! It's finished! And I love it! It is my "girly" quilt.

                                                I love the aqua and pink, oh heck, I love all the colors!

                                                                 Backing and binding

The quilting was done by a long arm quilter. It is a flower resembling a pansy and it looks like the flowers in the fabric on the front. I chose it to blend in without overwhelming the pieced pattern.

The thread is pink, the binding is machine stitched on (or otherwise it would still be waiting ;)

Pattern: Magical Mystery Tour by Abbey Lane Quilts
Fabric: Chez Moi Hunky Dory
Finished size: 58 X 72 inches

Here are a few of my favorite blocks:

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to:
                                                                              and

Catch of the Day

Good Monday Morning!

I have been working on the house this week and have had little time to sew, but I will leave you with a some eye candy of a bit of fabric that arrived recently--so FUN!  Living in a small lake community I thought this would make wonderful hot pads or grill mitts as gifts for my neighbors who are so great at helping me out when needed (like charging my dead car battery or mowing my grass!)

                                                  Catch of The Day by Hoodie

Hopefully this week I will "catch" a bit more time for sewing, and I will see you soon! Hoping your week goes great! Happy Sewing!

P.S. Regarding the Vintage Modern giveaway, I did hear back from Michelle at If Toys Could Talk and that yummy little pack of sweetness is on its way to a new home! Thanks to all who entered and signed on, hopefully there will be another giveaway soon :)

Watch out--Curves ahead!

It is Wednesday already!  This week has had some curves and minimal sewing time! I am sure you can relate! Flexibility is key :)

On to the sewing curves:

I continue to work on my Retro Flower Quilt. Here is a pic of the latest block on the design board.
Each petal is composed of 3 quarter circles and one square.

I am using the CurveMaster foot to piece the petals vs the pinning method. It makes piecing much easier and gives you a scant 1/4 in seam without having to work the fabric in around the pins and curve and many times ending up with little tucks. It is a great accessory for a pattern such as this because the fabric stretches very easily and this foot helps it feed smoothly and easily. It does take a bit of practice on holding the fabric - especially the top piece - so that it feeds easily into the seam. There are video's on YouTube that I found helpful, but mostly it just took practice!

The box that comes with the foot contains many different adaptors if your machine does not accept it as a snap on foot.

And here is a shot of the seam it produces:

It makes a huge difference in the piecing time!

On another note I have yet to hear back from my giveaway winner If Toys Could Talk, please contact me for that lovely Vintage Modern charm pack! If I do not hear back by Friday (5 days) I will draw again for another winner.

Thank you to everyone for entering,  for your kind comments and linking up to my blog! I tried to answer many of your comments and if I didn't get to yours, I apologize. I am continuing to respond to all the posts and I will be stopping by to say Hi!  to you and see what you are working on !!

Linking up to  W.I.P over at Freshly Pieced! Happy piecing and hoping you navigate the curves safely!!

Weekend Wrap Up

Well how was your week end? Fun? Productive?

Mine was both, I worked on my projects yesterday and then spent time with my family on Sunday. So nice! We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. What a great place!  If you are ever in Indianapolis it is well worth the stop.

Here is what I have to show for Saturday's work:

This is the Craftsy BOM for April: English Paper Piecing. This is block 1- it my Hexie Stipe. I hand pieced the stripes together, starched, and ironed both sides and pulled the paper pieces. Then I used a white thread to topstitch them down to the Kona white background. I love the colors, they are bright and happy and make me smile :)

Next is Aprils Craftsy BOM block 2. This was a challenge block by Amy of StitcheryDickeryDock
We were to use one 2 inch Hexie and at least 14 three quarter inch hexies to design what ever we could. I chose this design and asked my blog readers what they thought it was as the desing could be several things. The overwhelming majority thought it was a snowflake, so be it: My Spring Snowflake. Some of the pieces were fussy cut to show the design, like the middle pink hexie on the right - two lovebirds.

Next was my Retro Flowers QAL.

Chain piecing-- it really does help

 5 sets of curved petals completed (12 curved pieces/block). 16 total blocks. Only 10 more blocks to go!!    

and one final word on this pattern:

Starch is your friend!  (with the curves it really does help to keep them from stretching!)

Other Projects I worked on: Jacks Jungle Quilt - started the hand embroidered smiles

Generals' Wives April Block: Cut our and ready to piece  (I think I referred to this previously as the Generals Daughter's BOM --my mistake)

And finally, the giveaway for the Vintage Modern Charm pack is closed and the winner is:

If Toys Could Talk

who posted the comment below. Congratulations and Thank you to all who entered and signed up to follow!

If Toys Could Talk said...

Congratulations! I'd love to win this charm pack. It looks perfect for a purse or baby quilt. Thanks for the chance to win!

April 25, 2012 6:55 PM

Have a Great Monday!!

Linking with Katie     since all my hexies were from stash!! Yea!!

Happy Friday! A Big Shout Out to Leona!

Happy Friday! This will be short and sweet for the moment as I am needing to get to work (the one that pays my bills anyway!)

A BIG Thank you and Shout Out to Leona over at Leona's Quilting Adventures! She has a wonderful blog that I found by looking for a listing of blogland giveaways. I emailed her hoping to be added to that list for my little 'ole giveaway that I blogged about on Wednesday. Well she actually did a post on the giveaway! Wow, that is like the nicest things a blogger can do -  the response has been incredible! Please stop by her blog and say Hi! Check out her Pay It Forward page -- many worthy groups to sew for! You can check out her sewing room and the many great projects she has!

I am in the midst of answering all of your comments for the Vintage Modern giveaway, and I have made some progress on my second Hexie Block for the Craftsy BOM. I still have to take the basting threads and papers out and sew them down permanently but at least they are together and in an arrangement I like -- sometimes that decision takes the most time! It has to sit and marinate a bit for me :)  How about you? Do you find that to be true?

It is supposed to be cool (40's) and rainy here this weekend--- Perfect sewing weather!  Projects on board for the weekend: More Retro Flowers, complete my Hexie blocks, and finish April's BOM for the Generals Daughters quilt! Plus more hand sewing on binding and the smiles on Jacks Jungle Quilt -- a full plate!    Here is a quick shot of that second Hexie block!  Ok- not so short :0  Have a great day!

Let's Celebrate! Can you say Giveaway!

This is my first giveaway and it is in honor of the great people who took and chance and signed up to follow me on this adventure in quilting and social networking called a blog! I made it past 10 and you are all 10's in my book!

Ok, ok, now to get to the real reason you are here - the Giveaway!  What do you think it is? I hope you like it .... I do!  Here it is!

                    It is a charm pack of Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille!

Now to enter the giveaway you need to:

1.  leave me a comment on this blog and tell me what you would make with this charm pac,
                             
                                     and

2. for a second chance sign up to follow me on this blog.

Giveaway is open until Sunday evening at 9pm EST. Winner will be selected and notified Monday 4/30/12.  Make sure your email is connected to your blogger account -- don't be a no reply blogger! or leave me your email on you comment or otherwise I will not be able to contact you if you win.

I have my fingers crossed for luck for you!  Have a great Wednesday!


4.29/12 0915pm EST  This giveaway is now closed.
Thanks to everyone for entering, your kind comments and linking up to my blog!  I tried to answer many of your comments and if I didn't get to yours, I apologize. I will be stopping by to say Hi to you and see what you are working on !!