Table Topper Blog Hop: Mini-Quilt

 There is the sound of faint music and creaking from the livingroom as I write this post from the bedroom.  Baby Girl is happily sleeping in her swing (thus the subtle creak) after a volley of cute smiles and hysterics intermittently as she still is recovering from her 2-month check-up (and shots).  Thankfully she is quite an easy-going and delightful child who normally coos, smiles, and sleeps through the night (a good 7 to 11 hours a stretch)!  I cannot believe how much there is to do daily to care for her and how much all other things seem to fade away in light of that.

Unfortunately last week I had a horrifying thing happen:  I realized that I had not checked email for quite a few days.  Once something that I checked about a dozen times a day now seems to never come to mind.  My eyes bulged out of my head as the numbers climbed ever higher as the messages were downloaded to my computer (378 messages)  including a few comments wondering where my mini-quilt post was!  Oh No!  I am very sorry to be late to the party but thankfully Mdm. Samm has allowed me admittance to blog hop. Now that I have a few plump black birds to eat, I shall get on with sharing my mini-quilt!

I really enjoyed making this mini-quilt as it gave me something to do while I had been waiting to have Baby Girl!  From the moment Madame Samm, at Sew We Quilt, started talking about this last year I felt like this was something I really wanted to do (plus I had been looking for a reason to buy a table-topper stand).  The colours chosen were in mind of the originally plan of posting in the month of February with the colors of Red, white, and Pink.  To be honest I did not have any Valentine's Day decorations so I plan to bring this out next year, and hopefully be inspired to make some other items to go along side of it.

I went with the Biblical "Fruits of the Spirit" using the terms I have on a set silver bracelets I wear.  I took some "crums" of left over bits and sewed them together to make a "fabric" of sorts, traced the "love" backwards on the back of the fusible paper for the word Love in the middle (I used the left over "fabric" to make the red coasters for the Colour My World Challenge).

I am rather new in the department of FMQ stitches, but I wanted so much to capture Leah Day's Heart Stitch around the letters.  Have you tried any particular FMQ stitches that you like to use?  I normally just use the generic "meander" stitch myself.

Here is a shot of the back of the mini-Quilt.  I added a bit of fabric on the back to make a place to slip onto the Stand, but I also like the idea that I have seen through this Blog Hop of adding it with clothing pins.

Thank you all for stopping by my Blog as part of the Table Topper Blog Hop.  For those who who stopped by random or by following me, please meander over to Sew We Quilt to check out all of the projects that are a part of the Blog Hop!

Click on over to the others on today's spot on the blog hop:

Mary 

Marianna

Thearica

Kelly

Pauline

Mdm Samm

Finishes-2012-W2: "Stay..Just a Little Bit Longer..."

"Stay..inside a little bit longer..."  I keep saying to [my favorite WIP] my little Ziona.  She is all about kicking & moving, especially when she hears her Daddy's voice; I can tell she is eager to meet the world as well!  I was expecting to have some new pictures to show you of her, but she is turned away and right where she is supposed to be!  She is also already 6 lbs they told me, and they were worried.  I guess 6 lbs with 7 weeks to go means that she just might be a big baby; oh what a scary thought!  I had to do the sugar test, which is pretty nasty and I think Ziona didn't like it either (She was extra energetic kicking and bouncing etc for about 18 hours).  I then spent a very stress-filled Wednesday pacing instead of posting, but thankfully they called me first thing Thursday morning to tell me that everything is normal and they are just going to watch her closely (I now have 3 doctors watching her closely meaning 2 doctor visits per week, ugghh).  This will be my first delivery and the furtherest we've gotten in any of our pregnancies (3rd pregnancy, 5th child) so I am pretty eager to hold Ziona in my arms and see that she is safe and whole.


I cut out the pattern for her baptism gown last night and I am now debating over fabric choices (lacy fabric over an underskirt or a patterned white cotton with a little bit of lace..hmmm???) and wrestled over sizes too!  Which way do you think I should go?  I would post a picture so you's have a better idea of what I am talking about, but I am almost out of time before I can link up to TGIFF (15 minutes to go!).

I am doing a little bit of the happy dance over here as well because I finally got the Modern Twist Quilt completed!  I forgot to buy "color-catchers" so I don't dare wash it yet.  I am hoping to get it to the winners by the end of this next week though.  I really like how it turned out, especially since it was larger than I had first anticipated.  When I started it I put together the fabric strips for the binding I was planning to use (when it was baby-quilt sized) and thankfully I must have miscounted because I literally had only 3" or 4" of binding left over when I connected the final pieces!  It finishes at 60"X 60" which is the largest quilt that I have completed so far (previously it was a 45"X 60") and it gives me hope of being able to make a quilt for our own bed some day (after I replace my machine with a bigger throat space and less quarks that is).  Okay!  I think I am going to make it to both of the parties after all with a few minutes to spare!

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by M-R @Quilt Matters,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts
& This Week hosted by Sunni @Love Affair With My Brother!
Don't forget to check out Laura's QAYGFMQQAL@Quokka Quilts!!

Finishes-2012-W1: Ringing in the New Year...

Flickr, Picnik, & Techno-vations in blog-o-sphere
The last week of the old year I opened up a Flickr account, something I have been meaning to do for quite a while.  If you have a Flickr account look me up [Sparrow In Flight] and send me your contact information, I love looking at other people's photo-streams!  Now that I have formed an attachment to Picnik my pictures are looking so much better these days!  I am hoping to keep up with adding my project pictures while they are still in process, even if I do not end up being able to put together a post after my baby girl Ziona is born.  Have you noticed that you can now make uncluttered print-outs & PDF's using Print-Friendly from my own posts[you can add a gadget to your own blog to make each posting or tutorial "print-friendly"]?  I found out about this from Madame Samm and its another techno-vation that I am in-love with now!

Wonky House Block Swap
My First week of the new year and I am so excited about the projects that I have been working on!  As if I haven't put enough on my plate I was accepted in the Wonky House block Swap in a last minute group addition, my very first block swap!  I am super excited, especially since we will be using brights and I have so many random ones in my stash that I could use.  You should check out their Flickr group, such cute ideas!  I will be posting my house blocks there as well as here so you can see my first attempts at a "wonky" house, lol.


Finishes for this week:

Two Flannel placemats in lime green, sky blue, & dark Blue

Valentine's Day Table runner in various shades of pink, red cream, & white

2 Valentine's day Mug Rugs using "crumbs", cream background, red backing & binding.

I also finished my secret Valentine's Day project that I will show you next month (but I am taking it off my WIP list)!

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by Laura @Quokka Quilts,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts

This Week hosted by Sunni@Love Affair With My Brother

This is the last week to check out Laura's Fabric Giveaway!!

SR/WIP-2012-W1: The Amazing Race and Fabric Glee!

Hello New Year!
Santa was very good to me this year...I received a box with 48 beautiful fat quarter cuts of basics (12 yards of fabric) from Connecting Threads for Christmas.  I wish it did not sound so dorky to say that I have spent a lot of time this week petting a box of fabric, but I have.  How will I ever be able to cut into it?!  This may take some time, just like it took me 4 months to cut into my Grand Finale Fat quarter pack, and even now I hesitate to use the fabric.  I am hoping to change that this year and do some serious cut backs on my fabric stash by making whatever I can make in around caring for Ziona.

The amazing race to finish projects is well under way!  I am expecting Ziona to come some time in the next 0-60 days and boy is there a lot to do!  Yes, I am taking breaks and being bossy from the couch on more than one occasion, but I am putting in a little time in the sewing room as well.  I do have some larger projects I would love to get finished, but my eyes are mostly on the small ones I can do and get off my list.  My last WIP list was pushed into the "WIP Pit of Despair" (also known as my UFO list) on my 2011 End Year report.  Has it stopped me form starting new projects? Of course not!

My Goals for this week:
1)  Iron & organize fabrics that have no home yet and get them folded into my Stash
2)  Finish hand-stitching the binding on the Modern Pinwheel Twist Quilt
3)  Finish hand-stitching the bindings on my Valentine's Day projects (4 total)
4)  Continue to grow Ziona (ie. "rest" while doing #1- #3, possibly #5).
5)  If I have time, I am hoping to tackle these 4 placemats...

I've decided these will be placemats; thinking about adding vinyl to the multi-colored set

Projects:
On WIP List this week:    00
On UFO List this week:   00
Started in last 2 weeks:   02
Fabric:
Busted this Week:          0.0
Busted this year:            0.0
Stashed this Week:       12.0
Stashed this year:         12.0

Net Busted for 2012:    -12.00

Linking up this week to:

I'm In A Bind...

Once you have basted the three layers together it is time to choose your quilting process, please consider checking out The Free Motion Quilting Project , which has literally hundreds of different stitches that she has shared with others.  A great idea is to make a solid square quilt with different stitches chosen from her collection!  It's on my some day list to do as well.
[Edited 01/03/2012:  Leah added a Quilt-a-long, can be found HERE]

How to make binding:

1.  Carolina Fair Designs How to make 4 yards of bias tape from 1 fat quarter
2.  Crazy Quilt Mom How to use a jelly roll to make binding
3.  Cotton Creek Sewing Bias tape binding I would like to try.
4.  Jaybird Quilts One of my favorite quilt bloggers has several tutorials on bindings, her tutorials also include instructions for attaching the binding to your quilt or even curved pieces, brilliant!

WIP: The Sore Fingers Edition...

Welcome Blogland!  Are your fingers as tired as mine are?  I have had to take a few extra naps to recover from "giveaway day" so far!  How are you faring?  Anything you think I must take a look at?  If so, add a link to it in the comments section and I will check it out!  I have truly enjoyed reading and responding to comments, but my heart is sadden that I had so many "NO Reply Bloggers" out there with truly fantastic ideas that can't win my give-a-ways!

And now on to our regularly scheduled last-minute-edition of WIP's!  Last Thursday, Friday And Saturday I participated in the "Occupy Sewing Room" Challenge ( I had to do the spread out version on account of baby girl cooking).  So consequently I have quite a few more items both cleared off and added to my Progress list!

Cleared:

11 burp cloths, 2 Christmas potholders

Melting Rainbows

A Christmas Pot-holder 

I also finished one of the projects I am writing a tutorial about.  I hope to post a set of tutorials over January thru April on Tuesdays.  It's a way I can still participate in my lovely blogging community while having a baby, recovering from said baby, adjusting to life with said baby, and moving with said baby (when she is 9-12 weeks)!

Added over the past week:

Two Quilt tops in Yellow, Grey, White & Black

Modern Pinwheel Twist quilt top won by our "Baby naming contest" winner who correctly guessed the name of our little girl!  Check out "Giveaway Day" blog post to win the materials to make your own quilt top!

Right in the middle of working on my secret project, my husband begs me to make him a gift for his secret Santa!  Then he said , "Oh it's too nice to give away, I'll find something else!"  I love that man!

 Among my two additions for this week is a Valentine's table runner (circles in the picture on the lower right) and a secret project involving the fabrics from the picture on the left!  Some projects have been taken off my WIP list permanently because I gave them over to someone else to finish!

I have pretty much stuck to bed rest since Monday, we will probably not have much turned out for TGIFF, hosted over at Lucy's Charm About You this week.  I am hoping to be able to participate in my first "Friday Night Sew-In" this coming Friday, but we will see!

So my WIP's this week are:

New projects -6

In process - 19

Finishes - 16

Linking up to:

Well, no where really, everyone is on break! lol.

GIVEAWAY DAY!!

"Modern Pinwheel Twist" quilt top measures about 60"X 60"

Welcome to Giveaway day!  Last year I was down with Meningitis so I spent the 3 days trying to comment on as many links as I could and yet still did not make it though the entire list!  I decided that this year I wanted to give something away as well!  I found so many new blogs to follow and was connected to so many people around the world.  Be sure to check out the master linky party at our super hostess Sew Mama Sew!  I have two winners to chose today!

So What am I giving away?
First person chosen will receive :
Enough fabric to complete the "Modern Pinwheel Twist" quilt top above!
1- "Oh My!" Moda Charm pack
1- Bella Black Moda Charm pack
0.75 yard of yellow fabric
1.5 yards of black fabric
1- 24"X 24" Red Square to cut out your square to fit
("Lil' Twister" tool not included)

Second person chosen will receive:
1 "Just Wing It" Moda Charm pack
1 "Crazy for Dots & Stripes" RJR Charm Pack

What you must do to be in the drawing?
I have plans to move in the spring, therefore I will have to set up my crafting area anew!  This time though I will have to take a small child into mind (Our baby girl is due in January/February!)  Make a comment below giving me a craft room organization tip or things to keep in mind when planning the organization of my crafting area.  What has helped you the most?  What has hindered you from completing projects?  You are welcome to become a follower however it is not required to be considered, nor will it increase your chance of winning.  I did not like the hoops some blogs required last year, so I certainly will not do that to you!

I am so sorry that I am not able to ship internationally this year (meaning I cannot drive currently because of my pregnancy, but I can walk to the US post office 1/2 a block a way.) so, this time the giveaway is only open to US residents who have a way for me to contact them (meaning you are not a no-reply blogger).

When will the winner be chosen?
The comment section will close on Friday, December 16, 2011 at 5p.m. PST.  I will chose the first winner from the best comment/advice I receive! The second winner will be chosen by random.org (you may only win one prize).  I will contact the winners no later than Sunday, December 18, 2011.  I will announce the winners when I have received a response from the email indicating the person has won.  If there is no way to contact a winner, another winner will be chosen.  Thank you for entering my give-away!

TGIFF6: At the End of the Rainbow...

It's Friday again!  And I finally am finished with my "Melting Rainbows" wall hanging!  I was asked by several people how I was able to add the pieces to the wall hanging.

 1.  Cut parchment paper the same size of the fabric pieces (which have already been ironed to fusible web, with the paper back still on, check out picture on this POST)
2.  Place paper cut-out roughly where you want to put the piece.
3.  Sketch roughly around the other pieces
4.  You then cut along those lines, sketch again & cut paper until it fits the area you woud like to fill.
5.  Place paper on the fabric piece, cutting along the one side first (which ever side has more items to fit the piece around).
6.  Place in the area you are wanting to fill, adjust piece just in case it does not fit correctly
7.  If the other side is open (not filled with other pieces) you can cut however you would like, be creative.
8.  When piece is as you would like, pull the backing off and iron in place.  Move onto the next piece you would like to add.

The black background is two pieces of Kona solid black fabric spray-basted with a layer of Warm & Natural cotton batting between.  I cannot tell you how to go through this process sanely with pin-basting since every can shift around and cause possible bubbles so I spray-baste.  It was finished off with zig-zagging around each piece and then a little FMQ on the outside edges, then bound with a black print with grey pebbles.

I postponed my "Occupy Sewing Room" challenge to do all day tomorrow (I wasn't feeling well so crafting did not go long today).  You should click on the button on the right side to find out all about it.  I will post what I accomplish on Sunday.  Also we have announced the winner & the name of our little girl:  "Ziona Katriel"  You can find out more about what that means reading my Husband's POST!

Don't forget to also check out the link for Giveaway Day.  I may be busy checking other links, but I am also giving some things away!

My Friend Katie also has some great Christmas giveaways on her blog, Shades of Grey, go check it out!

I am linking up this week to:
TGIFF being hosted by M-R at Quilt Matters
& Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

A jar, a haircut, a Challenge and a Last minute potholder...

So with everything I have put on my plate, I threw together a last minute item!  One of my friends, sent me a thank you card thanking me for the "potholder."  I was suddenly terrified that she meant the mug rug I gave her for Christmas, I texted her the next day.  Turned out she did not have any official pot-holders, so I thought I could make one up in a couple hours.

Now, I tried to think back if I have ever actually made one; certainly those yarn weaving ones when I was a child, but not a quilted one.  I used 1 layer backing, 1 layer of cotton batting, 1 layer of pant material, 1 more layer of cotton batting, and then the top.  It was randomly quilted across in straight lines angling just like I did with the Mug rugs.  Made a wonky block for one and two others in an hourglass block (I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go).  It was finished off with some green binding I already had left over from another project. [I procured a new jar for my ever increasing pile of left-over bindings yesterday!]

The one below was completed before I ran off to get my haircut, so I slipped it into my purse for a quick delivery afterward.  Then I had a fun treat; a friend came by and spent the rest of the day with me.  We talked and talked forever; in fact I may be losing my voice today!  Another friend is coming for a visit today, bringing her mother who is visiting her from back home (Alaska).  So I am off to do a little vanity cleaning, we shall see if I get anything else completed for TGIFF tomorrow hosted at M-R's Quilt Matters.  Stop by her place/blog, even if you don't hear a peep out of me until Saturday!

I plan to participate in the "occupy your sewing room" challenge.  You spend one full day in your craft room finishing up projects (click on the button here or the button on my sidebar for more information).  We are moving a comfy chair in there later tonight to ready the room for me to do crafty all day tomorrow!

WIP: Countdown...

Today I am feeling a little behind.  I sort of dreaded Wednesday coming this week because I haven't completed much lately.  Yeah, I know I am technically supposed to be resting, but since I lost 11 lbs of extra water I was carrying around last week, I am feeling pretty good in comparison!  For those concerned, I am laying down for most of the day...well, most of it.

In less than 2 weeks I have my first baby shower for Nugette (hopefully someone will have guessed her name by then)!  In 3 weeks my husband's parents (and maybe Grandma!!!) will be coming for a visit for a couple of days so we can celebrate Christmas together.  And so the countdown begins...7-13 weeks from now I will have a precious baby girl to put somewhere...sigh.  It's not beginning to look like Christmas here in our household or outside.  We might get another freak snow storm in January/February just in time for baby girl, we might even have to turn the heat on this year (just for her, mind you).

So, with so much to do, (as my husband incredulously noted) I started another project...or 2 or 3, errrr rather 4...Yes I did.  I am working on the "Melting Rainbows" which has about half of the zig-zagging down, but I needed something I could work on sitting on a mountain of pillows or standing for a few minutes.  It also wasn't really going well with the swollen hands.

I have a series of tutorials that I have been working on for a couple of months to put up when baby girl comes home.  In part so I don't feel disconnected, in part so I feel like I am accomplishing something.  Yes I know, feeding and caring for my little girl will be quite the job!  I have plans to fill up my Quilt top basket (I replaced it with a bigger basket with a handle).

My goals for this week/month:
1.  Finish and save my hopelessly unaligned "Advent Calendar"
2.  Finish another tutorial project and write up the post on it.
3.  Finish "Melting Rainbows" by next Friday
4.  Purge through my WIP's by the end of the month.  (Am I really ever going to finish that project?)
5.  Get practice squares ready for the FMQ challenge, Laura's FMQ-QAL & practicing other stitches from Leah Day's FMQ Project (seeing a trend for 2012?)

Project Stats for this week:
New Projects:     4      

In Process:       31
UFO's:               0 (WIP's left at year's end)
Finishes:           4

I am linking up to Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday!

Lee from Freshly Pieced is taking a break from WIP Wednesday until the beginning of the year.

SR-W49: A Very Small Showing

This year I will be entering Giveaway day hosted by Sew Mama Sew!  And I will be giving some items away in the "sewing Supplies" category!  Last year I won some beautiful fabric from one of the stores that posted items for giveaway and so I thought that this year I might give something away myself.  Please stay tuned for December 12th when the giveaways start!

This week I was a very, very good girl in comparison to last week that is!  I did not buy any fabric, but I was able to get a few little lingering projects done off my WIP list!  The next week I am hoping to have the "Melting Rainbows" wall hanging completed, continue working on the Cowboy table runner and the advent calendar, sadly enough, still hasn't been touched since I had my meltdown moment with it.  We will be packing up some items from my craft room and reorganizing it in the next couple of weeks.  We plan to use part of it for storage to make more room elsewhere for the baby and to start staging our boxes for moving in April/May/June!  And I will continue to rest some more...lol.  Have a wonderful week and happy crafting!


so here's the happier verdict this week:

Busted this Week:                  00.50 yards

Busted from 08/01/2011:       206.75 yards
Stashed this Week:                00.00 yards
Stashed from 08/01/2011:       95.5 yards

Net Busted for 2011(from 08/01/2011):  111.25

WIP: Double-rainbow Edition...

Have you seen the youtube video where the man is exclaiming over a rainbow he is filming?  Well, it's what comes to mind this week as I labor over  one of my last three remaining "must do before baby girl is born" list of WIP's.  I will show you the picture a little bit later, but first, I started cutting and pinning burp cloths from the flannel that I purchase over the shameful weekend (see Monday's post).  I will be making making bibs to go with them and I have plans to make a flannel baby blanket for the either the Youth group fundraiser or the Parish school fundraiser for next year.

 And now for a little "double-rainbow" action!  This is sort of like "bottled rainbows" meets organic sunshine (meaning rainbows got a little melted, maybe?).  This is to be a wall-hanging that someone sort of asked me to make.  I believe the words, "colorful" and "modern" might have come up in the conversation and I might have taken it a little far.  It's kind of a fun project though.  I just have to work in the rest of the blues & purples.  Then we have a whole lot of zig-zagging to get done and the usual binding fun; I think I have a fun black print I am going to use for that.  I am praying that this one gets done before Friday so I can mail off my last two packages!

And finally my favorite WIP that is still on-going for another 8-15 weeks (depending if she comes early, on-time or late).  I love those little lips; as soon as I saw this ultrasound picture my first thought was she looks just like my MIL!  I am so happy about that because my husband looks just like his mother too (I have the best MIL in the world)!  I ended up out a little too long on black Friday and we started having some contractions, so though not on official bed rest, my project numbers will be greatly reduced in the coming weeks.  I am so happy that next week I will post more about the lap quilt I am working on to give away for the Baby name contest (over on my husband's blog).

So my WIP's this week are:

New projects -11

In process - 33
In planning- 9

Finishes - 5

I am linking up with: