Two Little WIPs

What I don't love:  My new sewing machine is not working again.

What I do love:  I'm able to return it!  And I am sewing machine shopping this weekend!

Fortunately, I still have my old machine (that my daughters currently use) so I've been able to do a little sewing this week.  But if anyone has a recommendation for a great hand stitching project, let me know!

This patchwork heart pillow was super fun to make (inspiration from here, here (via pinterest), and here.  I used 2 inch squares and HSTs so I was able to use my cutting mat grid to lay everything out.  I quilted it with a bright pink Aurifil thread and now just need to add the binding.   

And I made this soon to be pillow or mini wall hanging.  Even though I have been wanting to try paper piecing and this is a perfect paper piecing project, I did not paper piece - I just um, is there a name for regular piecing?    

When it came to the quilting, I couldn't decide - bright pink?  dark gray?  bright pink?  dark gray?  So, I thought "Hey, why not a combo?!?"  And I think I am going to add a little hand stitching to the letters.

That is it for my projects.  If you are looking for information on the blog hop, advice for new bloggers series, or this week's giveaway, click here and here.

And speaking of pillows, my blogging friend and fellow blog hopper Danny from MommyforReals asked if I would spread the word that she is asking for help to make pillow covers for hurting girls attending the Teen Reach Adventure Camp.  She needs 40 pillows by July 6th.  If you can help out with this good cause or want more information, click over to Danny's blog.

Also, there will be a Thursday edition of the Advice for New Bloggers series with Rachel from Stitched in Color.  It will be on her blog tomorrow - I'll post a link when it is up.

And back on my blog next Monday will be a guest post from Lynne of Lily's Quilts and a fantastic fabric giveaway from The Intrepid Thread!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Week 3: Blog Hop News and Advice for New Bloggers Guest Post

Today's guest post is by Jennie from the awesome blog, Clover & Violet.   I have been a follower of her blogs for a while.  Jennie and her mom post fantastic tutorials and make such beautiful projects!  Plus, their website is super cute and filled with creative inspiration!  I highly recommend adding them to your blogroll.

Here is what she had to say:

Hi there!  I'm Jennie and I blog over at Clover & Violet, a sewing, quilting, and embroidery blog I share with my mom.  We have a shop of the same name where we sell our quilted bag patterns too!  When Beth asked me if I'd be interested in sharing with everyone a little bit about blogging, I was thrilled!  {And, take this warning now, I really love exclamation points!  So you may see too many in this post!}.  Now, onto my blogging advice for new bloggers, since Deborah had such a great post last week, and I've posted blogging advice before {you can read it here}, I thought I'd take a slightly different route today and write a few ways to get your blog found and help it grow!  I'm betting there are some fabulous small blogs out there {maybe even more fabulous than some of the blogs everyone seems to be reading}, but they just haven't been found yet, so here are five tips:


1. Have a giveaway!

Want to grow your blog?  I guarantee you'll gain a few readers if you host a giveaway.  Yep, you read it right, I'm suggesting you bribe people into reading your blog.  You don't have to giveaway anything big or fabulous either, but rather a token of appreciation to your readers.  One of my favorite giveaway items is a charm pack.  They're small, affordable, and light to mail, and everyone loves a bit of free fabric.  Another favorite is a pouch or mug rug, something handmade that will be enjoyed by another crafter.  You can almost bet it will go a long way.  {Note: You can read some giveaway suggestions and tips here.}

2.  Be a blogging friend!

When reading about how to be a good blogger, you'll always see advice about leaving comments.  However, I'm going to take it a step further and suggest you look for some blogging friends.  Find a few blogs, similar in size to yours and visit them regularly.  Leave meaningful comments.  If they visit your blog, reply to their comments.  If they e-mail in reply to your comment, turn it into a discussion by replying back.  This may not get you to 10,000 readers, but you'll probably find it more rewarding to have a few blogging friends than just lots of random commenter.  {Note: do not become a blog stalker!  Start slow and see if a friendship develops!}

3.  Join a quilting bee!

I had a fear of quilting bees...I finally joined my first one this year, but let me tell you, it's a great way to make friends!  My quilting bee is called Stash Bee, and we make blocks for everyone from our own stash plus up to two specific solids.  Different bees are run a variety of ways, so there is sure to be a perfect bee for you!  {Note: I am not an expert on qilting bees, but if you browse quilting blogland you're sure to find more info!}

4.  Participate in a Quilt Along!

Quilt alongs are everywhere, they come in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of inspiration, requirements, and ideas.  Find one you like and actively participate in discussion, making the quilt on time, and blogging about it.  Chances are, you'll make friends with some other bloggers/quilters also doing the same quilt along.  Many of my blogging friends are the people who have participated in my quilt alongs.  {Note:  There is a Beginner's Quilt Along going on here, even if you're not a beginning quilter, it might be a good place to star!}

5.  Link up at a Linky Party!

Okay, first off...I am terrible at Linky Parties...but they are a great way to meet people!  Just follow the rules, link up something fun, and you might find yourself some new friends!  {Note:  There's a great small blog meetup at Lily's Quilts each month, here's Junes!  For a list of Linky Parties, check here!}

I hope this has helped you with some ideas to grow your blog!  I know a lot of people say it isn't about the numbers, which is mostly true, but, if you didn't want someone to read your blog, you probably wouldn't be reading this either!  So, don't focus on numbers, but it's okay to work on growing your blog!

Just one more thing, blog design!  Today I'm giving away this premade blog design:

It is simple, clean, and hopefully visually appealing, I'm willing to do some tweaking of colors and fonts, and will include social media buttons and a signature {I just didn't see the point of customizing before I knew the color scheme!}.  Having an easy to read blog can really help increase your traffic.

In addition to blogging at Clover & Violet, I have a second blog: click. snap. swoosh. laugh.  I'm not exactly a blog designer, but I'm increasing my design skills, and I have some tutorials and links for sprucing up your blog!

Thanks Jennie for taking the time to provide us with such valuable advice for growing our blogs!  These are such great ideas to help us find our place in the quilting/sewing blogosphere.

To enter Jennie's giveaway and win her beautiful premade blog design, just leave a comment on this post.  Leave any comment you want to enter the giveaway but if you have a minute, how about letting us know your ideas and/or experiences for growing your blog and readership.  The giveaway will stay open until this Friday, June 8th at 8pm EDT and a winner will be chosen at random.  (If you already have a blog design for your site and therefore, not entering the giveaway but still want to comment, just let me know.)

Okay, and a word about no-reply bloggers - many bloggers/readers that are no-reply bloggers don't even know it (I didn't!)  Jennie has a great tutorial on her blog for fixing this.  If you do not receive a reply to your comment within a few days, then you are most likely a no-reply blogger.  If you don't know for sure that you can receive replies to your comments, then please put your email in your comment - how else are you going to know if you win?!?

Blog Hop News Weekly Update and Link Up

Calendar:

June 5   
    Cinzia from Deux Petites Souris

    Kristy from Quiet Play

June 7
    Taryn from From Pixels to Patchwork

    Em from Sewing by Moonlight

Click here to find links to the awesome tutorials from the last two weeks and more information on joining the Blog Hop.

Other ways to keep up and participate in the Blog Hop:

   1.  Follow me on Twitter. 

   2.  Join and post on the Let's Get Acquainted! Flickr Group

   3.  Follow and post on my Let's Get Acquainted! Pinterest Boards here and here.

Weekly Link Up:

This is a weekly link up for Blog Hop Participants and anyone who is following along.  If you have made any projects inspired from the tutorials on Hop, link them here.  If not, just link up your recent post so that we can all get to know you better.  Be sure to visit some of the other bloggers who link here as well.  Please link to this post somewhere in your post or on your blog so others can find it as well.  *Also, if you have any events on your quilting/sewing blog (QALs, SALs, etc.), you are welcome to link them here as well just put the word EVENT and the name of the event when the link up widget asks for your name.

Small Projects and a May Mosaic

It was another great week of the blog hop.  I am so very happy to be part of this wonderful and supportive quilting/blogging online world.  When I first thought of the hop, I figured I would be lucky if I got 5 bloggers who wanted to be part - I never imagined what it would grow into.  So, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is participating - all the blog hop stops, those following along, and the guest bloggers - it has been such a fun and exciting few weeks and I very much look forward to the next several months!

And onto quilty/sewing matters.

I checked off a small project on my list for the Small Project Sew Along at Crazy Mom Quilts (my list).  I made two kidlets.  What are kidlets you ask?  Well, I found this great free pattern/tutorial a while back at J. Casa Handmade that I bookmarked.   They are basically like little tote bags but only have a handle on the back which you use for hanging on a doorknob or hook - I thought it would be great to have a place for each of my older daughter's "stuff" that they leave hanging around the house like books and random little things they bring home from school.  It is a great pattern - I, of course, still don't have any type of interfacing so I just used some batting and stitched straight(ish) quilting lines on my exterior fabrics and I think it worked out okay.  (Actually, on the second I used home decor weight for the back exterior without batting - it worked fine but if I make more, I'll quilt the back and front.)  I also think mine are a bit bigger then the pattern calls for.

I used Essex Linen for both of the bags.  For the front pocket on the one I made for my older daughter, I used a Tina Given's print paired with the cat from The Ghastlies Gallery.  My daughter thinks The Ghastlies fabric is about the "funniest and coolest fabric ever."  Plus, she loves The Warrior's book series which is about cats so . . .

For my middle daughter, I used a bit of my precious Heather Ross Mendocino and a tiny square of Echino (a recent splurge when I found it on sale.)

Also on my small project list were skirts and dresses for the girls.  I posted about some skirts and dresses earlier this week but then I saw this tutorial from Prudent Baby about using an old T-shirt to make a dress.  I've never sewn with knits before and I've never gathered fabric before but they had links to their tutorials on both right in the post so I decided to try something new.  I don't have any pictures of my first try - it was too short and too wide for either girl - most likely because I made it when they were at school thinking I knew their size - um, wrong!  The second dress I made with my older daughter in the room with me and if you don't look too closely, it is passable - or at least wearable.  And the binding is also upcycled!

And since it is the beginning of a new month AND I just uploaded a bunch of photos onto Flickr and it is Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts, here is a mosaic of May in review.  Wow- when I look at everything together like that, I realize I sure do use a lot of pink!!!

Happy June everyone!

If you've read this far, I have a question - I wrote this post last night, woke up this morning and cut half of it out to save for another post.  What do you think about post lengths - do you like reading/writing long posts with lots of topics or do you prefer one topic per post?  I'm not really sure which I prefer, I just know my tendency is to throw it all in there at once.  

Please visit my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.

Scrappy Stars and Little Skirts

If you are here for the Advice for New Bloggers series post and giveaway from yesterday, click here.

If you are here to learn more about the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop for New Bloggers, click here.

If you are here because you want to read about my stars and skirts . . .

It has been almost a whole week since I uploaded the photos from my camera to the computer - it was so fun seeing my week in review like that.  I didn't realize how much sewing I had done - so much so that I actually have two posts worth of photos.  For today, I'll write about little skirts and scrappy stars.

I've been attempting to expand my quilting skills by trying new things each week.  This week it was Scrappy Stars.  I started small:

 
Worked my way to this:

That is actually the back of the first one or the other way around (that is a great thing about machine stitched binding - it's reversible!)

And I finally got to this (which was inspired by this little lovely from One Shabby Chick that I have pinned in my Quilty Inspiration Board):

Anyone else make any stars recently?  Anyone have any great patterns, tutorials, or tips for making stars?  Let me know.

And on to skirts:

When I first started sewing, I found this great free pattern from Oliver and S and made lots of little skirts for my girls.  They have been wearing the skirts we made last summer again recently so I was inspired to  make a few more.  The skirt I made following the pattern is the green and blue one with the Erin McMorris Urban Gardens fabric.  If you haven't sewed clothes before (or even if you have), this is a great pattern to start with.  One tip from me - when using this pattern, I find that if I press the casing before sewing up the selvedges, I have an easier time re-pressing and stitching the casing closed.

I also tried this tutorial from Purl Bee to make the cute little triangle dress in Little Folks voile by Anna Maria Horner.  I used the same ribbon method from the Oliver and S pattern to finish the bottom.   I need to find more information about sewing with voile - if you have any tips, let me know.

For the linen-look skirt with the scrappy binding, I kind of made it up as I went along using tips from both of the above tutorials.   I just took a rectangle of a quilting weight solid and used a bright pink thread to machine stitch straight lines in a somewhat random pattern from top to bottom throughout the skirt.  Since the selvedges were cut off, I used the seam finishing method from the triangle dress tutorial.  For the binding, I used my scraps to make a single fold binding and attached it to the skirt similarly to how I attach binding to a quilt (except I always use double fold binding for the quilts.)

I still have a lot to learn about sewing clothes but I am definitely much improved from the skirts I made a few years ago - I might still have trouble sewing a straight line but at least I can now sew a continuous one!  I plan on making more little girl clothes this week and maybe next time I'll post on a "model."  So, another question - anyone have any tips, tutorials, or free patterns for little girl or baby clothes that you recommend I try?

And one more question.  My new thing for this week is Triangles!  Here is my WIP.  If you have any tips or tutorials or feel like trying triangles with me this week, let me know in the comments.

Be sure to visit the great tutorials and posts by this week's blog hoppers.  

Please visit my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.  I'm linking this post to Sew and Tell at AmyLouWho and Quilt Story -both of whom also shared skirts this week as well as Confessions of a Fabric Addict and TGIFF for finishes and Try Something New Thursday for trying stars this week.  Wondering if I should have divided this post into two so that I didn't link one post to so many link ups?!?

Blog Hop News, Advice for New Bloggers Guest Post, and a Giveaway

As part of The Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop, I thought it might be fun and helpful to ask some experienced bloggers to share their thoughts on blogging with us.  I was so excited when Deborah from Whipstitch agreed to be our first guest.  I have been a fan of her wonderful blog for a while - I love her blog's design, her writing style, her great projects - well, basically everything about her site.  Here is what she had to say:


Thanks so much to Beth for inviting me to be part of this! I really and truly love
blogging and all the connections and friends I have made through the course of it,
so it's super fun for me to have the chance to talk about the process of writing and
maintaining a blog with other crafters and folks who quilt and sew. When I first
started my first blog in 2004, I really had no idea what I was doing or what was the
best way to approach the process; I really saw blogging as a simple way to write
about the things that I cared about, and didn't even dream that anyone else would
ever care! Blogging was still new then, and the idea of using what was essentially
a group email to keep our friends and family updated on our lives to connect to
strangers from all across the world was beyond my comprehension. These days,
a lot of folks start their blogs for the express purpose of connecting with others
who love what they love, and it's so exciting to see how that grows and works and
evolves.

Beth asked me to share any advice I've gotten or would give to new quilting
bloggers, so I really sat and thought about what has worked for me over the years,
and where I have learned the most that has made my blog something I can be proud
and excited to share with others. I hope it's helpful for you, and that you'll all fall in
love with blogging!

                                                                      image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

My nuggets of blogging advice, in no particular order, and somewhat stream-of-
consciousness, with a dose of cheerful encouragement:

• Work to be YOU in your blog. It's so easy to read another blog and emulate what you see there, specially when that blog is successful or bringing in revenue or widely read. But the reasons that blog is all those things is because it is unique to that writer; your blog can only ever be a reflection of you, because if it's anything else, readers will sense that and you won't find the connection you crave. Some of my most popular or widely-read posts were ones where I felt I was saying something obvious and that wouldn't interest anyone, or putting together a tutorial that no one would care to read but that served a purpose for me, or was maybe over-sharing a bit and getting too touchy-feely. What I learned is that the times when I am most myself are when I get the biggest response from my readers--so be real.

                                                                         image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

• Read other blogs, and leave comments. You don't
  want to work to become another blogger, but it's unwise to pretend they're not out
  there. Read other blogs, particularly the ones that inspire you to push your own
  creative envelope. You never know what will spark your next great idea! When you
  visit someone else's site, take the time to leave a comment, even if it's just a little
  note--we all know how nice it is to have a comment on a post, and it doesn't take
  much time. Some of my closest friends in the online world have come from just
  leaving comments and replying to the ones left for me! Those friendships are the
  ones that inspire me to come up with new ideas or to invite someone to visit (in
  person or online) and are the folks who push me to be more ME in my own blog.
• Use great photos. Most of us realize this now because we've become fairly blog-sophisticated, but when I was new to blogging, I didn't realize that the thing I loved most about the blogs I loved most was their images. You don't have to have a fancy camera, but you really can't get away with importing photos and using them raw. Edit your photos using iPhoto or any other simple (and often free) photo editing software--make it lighter and brighter, adjust the exposure,and crop out the "noise" that doesn't tell the story of your photo. Take the time to take pictures in good locations--outside, in natural light, and in front of a backdrop that enhances your quilt whenever possible. Vary the focal point of your images, giving readers both a full shot of an entire quilt as well as close-ups of the seams, the fabrics, the quilting stitches, your binding, and any element that sets your quilt apart--see this recent quilt post for an idea of what I mean here. Photos that show the quilt in motion or some kind of dynamic pose--on a person, being used, wrapped around a tree, being tossed in the air. Quilts are dynamic, and readers love seeing them in various "poses," just like a person.

                                                                        image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

• Write great content that will last. Your blog is like a
  good friend--you want to nurture and care for it. You're not doing your blog any
  favors by adding posts that don't add content. It's easy to think of the blog like an
  email, with each post waiting for a response, but it's wiser to think of it like a
  magazine, with each post lasting perpetually. Rather than feeling pressured to write
  a new post about a partial project because you haven't finished anything worth
  writing about, make that project part of a series of posts and link them to one
  another--that way, readers can find the beginning of the project and work through
  from beginning to end even if they locate your blog years later (Pins & Needles does a great job of this with her wearable art garment posts). Rather than writing the dreaded "Sorry I've been neglecting the blog" post when you've failed to add new content in a while, simply pick up where you left off--hardly anyone reads the dates on posts anyway, and unless you had a major car accident/death in the family/cataclysmic event, chances are your absence is probably not worth calling attention to. Rather than making your posts "time-specific" by referring to the day of the week/date, work to make them timeless so that in the future when readers find your blog for the first time, they will feel they've uncovered a treasure trove of information instead of a time capsule (the obvious exception to this is if you're posting about a particular holiday or doing a time-sensitive giveaway or event).
• Respond to every comment you possibly can. This one took me a long time to learn, and it really has called me to grow as a human being. For years, literally, I would love and crave comments, but wouldn't respond to them. Partly that was because I didn't really think anyone would care if I did, but partly it was because GETTING the comment was what mattered most to me. Those two things reflected my own insecurity and self-absorption, respectively, and learning to see that in myself wasn't totally fun. BUT! Once I realized that I was actually being disrespectful and unkind to readers who had taken the time to interact with me, I began to really get the meat out of blogging where before I had been subsisting on the fluff. By responding to comments, you build interaction with your readers, which grows their loyalty and your readership, and makes a community on your blog as the same folks come back time and again--but it also grows YOU, which makes your real life better, which makes your blog richer, and that benefits your readers. See how it all comes around? At some point, God willing, your blog might be so huge you cannot possibly reply to every person who leaves a comment--we should all have such problems. When that happens, pick and choose which comments you answer, but still take the time to interact with your readers. Anna Maria Horner once replied to a comment I left on her blog four years ago--I still have the email, tucked away and saved.

                                      image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

• Social media isn't just about promoting yourself (but it can be). Personally, I despise Facebook and adore Twitter; you might be the other way around. It
  doesn't make a difference--what matters is that not everyone can keep up with their
  Google Reader all the time, and your recent brilliant blog post might go under their
  radar if they don't have another way of interacting with you. I love, love, love
  Twitter because the interface makes it so easy for me to catch up on bits and pieces
  of what my friends and fave bloggers are doing, and for them to do the same with
  me. I can tweet a post that I've just published to guide readers for faster feedback,
  and I can highlight events I'm planning or ask for advice or find a comrade with
  whom to make some mischief. Facebook acts very much the same way, and can help
  your posts get passed on to someone who might not find your blog any other way.
  The key is always to be genuine, and avoid using either as a means to self-promote
  all the time. Nothing makes me unfollow a blog faster than when they are constantly
  working to build their readership by giving things away, soliciting sponsors, or
  tweeting advertisements. Use social media to share your blog, yes, but also to share
  ideas and the joy of quilting with others from a real place.
• You are under zero obligation to write a tutorial.
  When your blog is new, it seems as if you are expected to do a tutorial at some point. This is a MYTH. For one thing, not everyone is gifted as a teacher or technical writer. For another, not every tutorial needs to be written. Going to all the effort of putting together a tutorial and getting little or no feedback is discouraging, to say the least. If your readers see a project you've done and ask for a tutorial, then go for it--two of my most popular tutorials ever (one with over 36,000 Stumbles and  nearly 200,000 views) were the result of specific requests from regular readers of my blog that I was happy to fulfill. I had absolutely NO expectation that they'd get the kind of readership or reaction that they did; I made them for folks who already read and liked my blog, and that made it fun to do. Most tutorials get nothing like that reaction, and that can be a real bummer if you thought it would be the Next Big Thing. If you don't want to write a tutorial but would rather show off finished projects, then by all means, do what you're best at and avoid what you don't enjoy! Your blog should be your happy place, not a land of drudgery.

                                                                    image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

• There should be no music on your blog. If I land on a blog with music in the background, I click away and never, ever, ever go back. Having music on your blog is way 1998, and is the death of any increased readership. For reals.
• Make it easy to find content on your blog, now and in the
  future. This one is the real back-end work of blogging, and I am always
  tweaking mine--in fact, I'm in the middle of a redesign right now, working to get
  more content archived in ways that make it simple to find and utilize. Blogger and
  WordPress and TypePad all make great widgets for your sidebars; you don't have to
  use them all. Instead, find ways to organize your blog to make it simpler for a new
  reader to get involved. Think of it as if you're part of a TV series, and any new
  reader is coming in part way through the season; if they can't catch up on the story
  and characters, they won't stick around. Make sure you have an "about" section that
  introduces you, a "back posts" section where they can find older posts in a
  particular category or on a certain subject, and don't be too proud to highlight older
  projects or posts in your sidebar. If your blog is about YOU, make it possible for a
  new reader to learn what it is that makes your blog different and enjoyable so that
  they'll be encouraged to come back over and over again.

I hope these suggestions are useful! Most of this is pretty foundational, but these
are things I didn't think about or know when I started blogging that would have
been so helpful in thinking through WHY I had a blog and WHAT I wanted my
blog to be about. Your blog will be different from anyone else's, and the more it's a
reflection of you, the more you'll enjoy the process, whether you have readers or
not. And the enjoyment you get from blogging comes through in your posts, which
is what draws in readers. It's a paradox, I know, but there it is.

Happy blogging!

Thanks Deborah for all your valuable insights and advice!  This is such helpful information for new bloggers (such as myself) and on behalf of the new bloggers who will be reading this, I want to say how much we all appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts. 


Giveaway:

                                            image from Whipstitchfabrics.com

***Deborah is teaching a four-week e-course starting June 4th called Essential Quilting.  I've read through the description and it sounds amazing!  The course is aimed at beginning and intermediate-level quilters and will teach you the steps to make 10 different quilt blocks that can be combined into an awesome sampler quilt as well as four mini projects!   There will be daily lessons consisting of videos, audio, images, and downloads plus guest interviews with some of our favorite modern quilters.  There will also be two live chats so you can receive direct feedback on your quilting and you'll receive a PDF e-book of the course to download at the end of the class.  Be sure to check it out!


And Deborah is offering a spot in the class to one lucky reader!  To enter, just leave a comment (1 per person) on this post.  The giveaway will remain open until Thursday, May 31 at 8pm EDT and a winner will be chosen at random that evening.  You can leave any comment you want to enter the giveaway but if you want a topic, please write about your favorite quilting tip.  If you are a no-reply blogger, be sure to leave an email address.


***Edited to add:  I am getting lots of comments from no-reply bloggers on this post so I can't reply to you - if you are unsure whether you are a no-reply blogger, please put your email in your message and I'll let you know - this includes bloggers/readers using their Google id - you might still be a no-reply blogger.  


Giveaway now closed.  And the winner is:

Brooke CrookMay 28, 2012 11:42 AM

That was great advice for a newbie blogger like myself! Thanks for sharing. As far a quilting tips go, one thing I have learned is to measure several times before cutting or piecing blocks together. I struggle in the math department and have been forced to do lots of tweaking when my calculations are off base:).

Congratulations Brooke!  Enjoy the great e-course.  






And for those of you are visiting my blog for the first time today - Welcome! - if you would like more information on the Blog Hop, click here.

Blog Hop News - May 28, 2012

Weekly Calendar

May 29
    Heidi from Fabric Mutt

    Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

    
May 31
    Jodi from Tickle and Hide
    Libby from Miss Beau Jangles

  

If you missed last week, you missed four awesome tutorials - find them here:

 May 22
    Kelsey from Kelsey Sews

    Erin from Billy Button Designs

May 24

    Nik from Bold Goods

    Alyssa from Pile O Fabric

Events and Highlights:  I'll write another post with these later this week (email me if you have something you would included.)

Other ways to keep up and participate in the Blog Hop:

   1.  Follow me on Twitter. 

   2.  Join and post on the Let's Get Acquainted! Flickr Group

   3.  Follow and post on my Let's Get Acquainted! Pinterest Boards here and here.

Weekly Link Up:

This is a weekly link up for Blog Hop Participants and anyone who is following along.  If you have made any projects inspired from the tutorials on Hop, link them here.  If not, just link up your recent post so that we can all get to know you better.  Be sure to visit some of the other bloggers who link here as well.  Please link to this post somewhere in your post or on your blog so others can find it as well.

WIP and Doll Quilts

It looks like we are off to a great start for the Blog Hop.  Kelsey and Erin wrote awesome posts today along with equally awesome tutorials!  Check out their posts if you haven't been for a visit yet and don't forget to mark your calendars to visit Nik and Alyssa (my new twitter buddy) on Thursday.

This week was also exciting for me because my HST doll quilt was the quilt story on Quilt Story on Monday.  I am a regular reader of their blog and have always loved seeing the quilts they choose to highlight so I was so flattered when they asked to feature mine!  (My 7 year old wanted to know if this quilt is famous because it was also in the top 10 of the Viewer's Choice at the Festival Of Half Square Triangles at Canoe Ridge Creations last month.)

I got in a bit of sewing over the weekend - I made these two little doll quilts.  The quilt in the above photo is one I made a while ago but it is a favorite in our house and so well-loved that seeing it in play everyday reminds me how much little girls love nice things for their dolls.  The girls used the quilt to turn an old, inexpensive nightstand from Ikea (I think it is the Rast) into a bunk bed for their dolls - they also used some of my husband's old shirts (that had way too many holes in them) to make a mattress.

For the heart quilt, I just randomly pieced together a bunch of yellow and pink scraps and then cut the heart freehand and zig zag stitched it to the background fabric.  I FMQ'd a meandering stitch with pink thread inside the heart and then also using my FMQ foot, I outlined the heart 3 times.  Then I switched to the walking foot to add some random lines.  

I really liked the circle quilt (it was inspired by this lovely quilt from Cluck Cluck Sew) so today I started a lap size version.  

My oldest daughter was in sewing with me while I was making the doll quilt and helped me cut out the fabric behind the circles (after you sew the circle to the square and cut in fourths.)  She then started playing around with those scraps while I was finishing the quilt and here is what she ended up making (if you can't tell, they are butterflies and she told me she plans on adding a binding.)  Not surprisingly, she was more than happy to cut out the same little pieces from the lap size quilt tonight.  And, the background fabric and the backing are also made from old ripped shirts - thumbs up for upcycling!

Since this is a WIP post, I'll also mention my ongoing WIP which is the basket of yarn I have been pondering on my way to the sewing machine.  I've again been taking pics of my past crochet projects to find inspiration to start a new one before the yarn gets too dusty.

These are washcloths made with organic cotton yarn that I love using everyday for my little one.

This is a scarf I made with a basketweave stitch - I love love love the yarn I used - so soft and a beautiful color - only problem is I have no idea what it is so I can't buy it again.

WIPs:

Circle Quilt

Patchwork Prism 

Patchwork Square Quilt with the squares leftover from this

Small stuff for the little one including bibs and some easy skirts to wear over onesies for the summer (which means the older girls will want some easy skirts as well)

Crochet . . .

Please visit my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.

The First Blog Hop News and a Simple Patchwork Quilt

Wow - it is finally here - the first week of the summer long Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop.  Over 60 new bloggers have signed up for the hop!  All the information for the hop can be found here including the buttons.  Skip to the bottom of this post for the Blog Hop News and the Link Up.

As I am writing this post, I realize I should have made a project from novelty fabrics in honor of the hop  - um, well, too late now but here is the quilt I finished this weekend.  I love the look of simple patchwork squares so I decided to cut 5" squares from most of the fabrics in my current stash including my precious fabric again.

I tried to spread out the colors and the mix of dark and light - does it have that vintage-y quality to it despite some of the modern fabrics included?  I quilted it with double diagonal lines going both directions and used Kona coal for the binding  I used a neutral grayish blue for the quilting lines but I used a pink thread to zig zag lines when I machine stitched the binding.

For the backing, I just cut large pieces from some of the pinks and reds used on the quilt top.  And the finished quilt is about 40x40 inches.

As soon as my daughters saw the quilt, they asked if they could use it as picnic blanket.  I said they could but that I would be out shortly to take pics of it for my blog post.  Well, I guess I should have taken the photos first - lesson learned - letting your kids eat chocolate on your quilt before taking pictures is not the best idea.  But a quick trip through the wash and it came out good as new (well, actually better since I like the crinkly look!)

My 7 year old was out helping me take the pics of the newly washed quilt (probably staking her claim again) and we tried to recreate the "flying in the air" look like some of the quilts in the festival - um, here was our best try (we'll have to work on it):

Blog Hop News
So as for the Blog Hop News:  every Monday, I'll be posting the week's calendar, any blog hop updates, and highlights and events from the participating bloggers.  So, be sure to check back here every Monday.  My Monday posts will also include an opportunity for all the participating bloggers as well as our readers to link up their projects made from or inspired by the presented tutorials.  See below for the special link up for this week.

And I'm very excited to let you all know that my Monday posts will also sometimes include interviews with or guest posts by some of my favorite quilting bloggers and some Monday posts will also include fun giveaways.

Here are the great bloggers we'll all be visiting this week.  And I want to say a special thank you to these bloggers for being the first!  Please be sure to visit their blogs on their hop day and please remember how much we all LOVE and appreciate comments.

Weekly Calendar

Tuesday, May 22
    Kelsey from Kelsey Sews

    Erin from Billy Button Designs

Thursday, May 24

    Nik from Bold Goods

    Alyssa from Pile O Fabric

Highlights
I'll start picking some blog posts from the participating bloggers to highlight next week (sorry, I've spent the weekend looking at all of your posts for the Blogger's Quilt Festival and I couldn't narrow it down from all the amazing quilts.)

Events
1.  Catherine from Knotted Cotton has come up with a cool idea for trading fabric - a great blog-based way to find the hard-to-find fabric you've been looking for as well as a way to destash.  Find more details on her blog post here.

2.  Em from Sewing by Moonlight is starting a Summer Road Trip Quilt Along on May 31st.  She has sketches of the blocks and they look fantastic.   The details are here.

*If you have an event on your blog that you want me to add to a Monday post, send me an email or leave a note in the comments.

Twitter
Also, because of the Blog Hop, I am going to make a point of becoming active on twitter (this week!) so follow me there if you are interested (and let me know if you have a twitter account and I'll follow you back.)  I have had the twitter link active since I started blogging but I haven't actually tweeted anything yet so . . .

Flickr
Anyone following along or participating in the hop can join in here.

Link Up
As for the link up, since this is the first week and we haven't seen any tutorials yet, I wanted to think of a way for us to start getting to know each other (um, in other words, "let's get acquainted") so for this week just add your favorite post from your blog using the link tool below.  I'm just using a text link up (for now) so where it asks for your name, put the name of your post (or a shortened version.)  And even if you are not participating in the hop as one of our stops, we still consider you to be participating just by following along and want to get to know you as well - which is just my way of saying that the link up is open for anyone with a quilting blog.






See you all at Erin's, Kelsey's, Nik's and Alyssa's this week!

Please visit my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.