Swaps for July

I'm all caught up on my swaps!

These blocks are for the Chaletgirl Blockswap:

Love Lara's fabric. Very easy to match, and so happy to use my Kaffe to match hers!

Blocks for Loulou. I'm not so good with pink, mostly because my stash doesn't have too much of it. But I think these worked out ok.

These blocks are for bee inspired. I can't believe we've already completed 5 months!

Blocks for Barb. I LOVE the fabrics she chose. She's planning on doing a wonky bento box quilt.

Blocks for John. Made from this pattern. It's going to be GORGEOUS!

Lastly, my blocks for the Three by Three swap:

Not sure how much I like these. I tried to keep with my theme of aqua and another color (seen here for May and June), but these were a bit off. At least they're the correct size! I measured each and every one.

And here are the blocks I received for June. I am getting excited to put this quilt together. It's going to be all sorts of random and crazy!

Three by Three!

So remember these blocks?

They were for the Three by Three Swap organized by Anina of Twiddletails. It's been fun, but even more fun since I got my first batch of blocks back!

Pretty! I'm going to put these together with white sashing. I think it's going to be fabulous. I love nine patches! I think the variety of fabrics in this is awesome.

Hmm... it looks like a certain Lucy-face has claimed them as her own!

MINE!

BTRS Swap Bag Received!

Hurray! I finally received my bag! I love it, it's black with yellow, and I lurve yellow. There was no note, and no name, so I am not sure if it was a swap angel or my original swap partner, but I love it either way, so thank you!

Catch up... (how many of these posts do I have now?)

Ok, I have a good excuse. These two have been keeping me busy!

My sister went on a vacation, so Freddy has been staying over and two puppies are a lot of work! Sadly this is the best photo of the two of them because they do not stop playing unless you wave a dog treat in front of their faces! But here are a few things from the past few weeks:

Birthday present from Cousin! Love the interior fabric! It's from her Taiwan trip. She also made two lengths of handles, but they keep falling off! I may have to decide on a length I like and sew them on permanently...


Bend the Rules Sewing Swap bag. Made for Liz, and SO glad to hear she likes it! I free-motioned the detail on the front. All in all, a fun project, but I think I like sturdier bags. I used the birdie fabric for the interior... I finally looked it up and it is "Paint by Number" by Erin Michael for Moda Fabrics. Here is an old PDF of the line.

Block for Common Threads, for Rebekah. Really had trouble with this one. I think I understand why I usually do more traditional patterns. Wonky is hard! It's really difficult for me to randomly make a block and convince myself that it looks good. I made this one, put it aside and looked at it again the next day. Overall I am pretty happy with it. Not sure if I'm supposed to post this before Rebekah gets it, but I figure it's close enough and it's being mailed out today... Sorry if I've ruined your surprise Rebekah! Please let me know what to do for future reveals!

Cheater Post

Ok, I know I've been MIA lately, but I've moved! Well I'm slowly moving. The good news is that I will be able to have a room for all my crafty endeavors. The bad news is that it's covered with 30 year old wallpaper, has ugly carpet and all in all needs a good makeover after I finish painting/moving into the rest of the house. In the meantime, I was so excited because the other day in the mail I got my prize for winning the January/February FaDSA. It's the Amy Butler Feather Your Nest pattern.

Thanks Finny and Donk! Finny did a great job of picking a pattern that I wouldn't normally buy but ABSOLUTELY LOVE. And perfect timing too. Once I figure out what color I want to paint my room... I can make a matching bedset!

In other news, I need a kick in the pants to start making patterns out of this book. So I am joining the Bend the Rules Sewing Swap. Sign ups are until March 31st, so you can join too!

Ok, next post I promise real photos! (with a lucy update for you, sara!)

I've got mail!!

How awesome is this? I love mail! Here are some recent acquisitions from the mailbox... :)

From a swap with cousin. Haven't finished my part yet... Love it, thanks so much!!

A bag for my knitting...

...which is already inside... :p

Other SUPER fun stuff too!!

And I won a contest on Joanna's blog, and she sent me this! It's gorgeous, right? Thanks Jo!

Mmmmm mustard yellow...

And reversible too! Who doesn't love reversible things?

Some gorgeous laminated cotton...

And here is the little bit of sewing I've done recently...

Duck pillow that I picked up as a kit from PIQF. Please excuse the wrinkles, it is already being used!

Sara is the nicest person ever!!

Here's a bit of advice, if Sara asks if you want to do a swap, you say "YES PLEASE!!!!". Look at all this fun stuff she sent me! And on time too (bad lynn!).

So this photo has so many things! Super cool paper, some cram cream stuff, a MN magnet, embroidery pattern, fabric pushpins, some super cute fabric, an even cuter no-coin wallet, and best of all, a large tote!! How did she know I have been planning on making the Lotta Jansdotter tote since I got the book, but never got around to it? I brought it to work today, and it is FABULOUS.

I love the fabrics too, especially the orange and purple one second from the right. Hurray! Anyway, Sara thank you so much! I am so amazed by everything you sent. I feel like I should send you a supplemental package to what I've already sent! Hopefully you will get your package soon...

Embroidery School Lesson 3

So surprise, I'm actually keeping up with the Embroidery School. Here is my finished photo for lesson 3:

Anyway, I've decided that I love french knots, and satin stitch is hard. Practice really does make it better, and I could see that from one end of the cupcake to the other. Can't wait for next week!

Here is a sneak peak of a swap I'm doing with Sara. Hope she likes it! I'll be mailing off the package tomorrow...

Goodies from Mr. Postman!!

Oh I've been so bad with posting, but I received two super exciting packages! The first is from Sara of Flanthrower. She posted some playlists and offered to make people a copy, and I took her up on her offer. Bet she wasn't expecting that! But she was so nice and sent it along with this beautiful card... Thanks Sara!

Today in the mail I received my quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 2! It's from Julie, and I love it. I really really love the pink floral fabric she used. And polka dots!

Here is the back, also super cute.

And she was nice enough to include a keychain! I'll definitely be using this...

My partner also received her quilt, so I guess I'm free to post photos of it... I fell in love with one of the quilts from the current issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, and this is a baby one. I had never done bargello before, so this was an interesting experience.




And since I'm already posting so many photos, might as well post some more, right? I finished my blocks for the SCVQA Habitat for Humanity Quilt with the Space Blanketeers... hurray!!

I am invoking the 10 foot rule, thank you very much!
I've got to say, this was a lot of work. I need to start posting more often. But I'm leaving for a trip to Japan on Saturday, so I will try to squeeze one last post in before I leave!

The last week in photos

So I went on trip to Yosemite for July 4th, and I've been having trouble getting back into the groove of blogging. Plus, I had to rush and finish my doll quilt (I'm in the early group), so I was focusing on that. Here are some photos that I have been up to...

Half Dome at sunset

At Vernal Falls

Sneak Peek at quilt for Doll Quilt Swap II, sent out today (one day late!)

Blocks laid out for SCVQA Back to Our Roots Challenge (more later)

And the countdown for June starts.... NOW!

I can't believe it's the end of June already. Here are the things I need to get done before the end of June: Super Secret Project #1, Amy Butler Placemats and Napkins and hopefully Doll Quilt Swap #2 quilt. It's very do-able. Well, except that I do not have all the fabric for the napkins yet, but oh well. Or thread for topstitching. But who's counting?

I finally figured out what I am going to do for my doll quilt, and I'm super super excited. It will be pretty plain, but I hope that it turns out as well as I'm imagining it and I hope that my partner likes it! Here are the fabrics I chose (all from my stash):

Wow! Long time no post!

I've been reminded by a few people that I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, so here goes. I don't have any finished objects, and really, do you want to see my WIPs? Too bad, cause here they are! A couple things have happened in the last couple of weeks. I think the most exciting is the Tea Towel Swap! Here is what I made:

Here is what I received:

Better photos can be found here and here. Laura was so nice and sent me two (!) tea towels. The one with the rick rack, and she made the one on the right into a super cute banana bread recipe apron. LOVE them.

And here are a couple WIPs (they're really stacking up!):


Hopefully I will be able to finish something this weekend!!

Through the pod vine?

This is the doll quilt I made for Liz for the Doll Quilt Swap. Don't worry she already received it so I'm not ruining any surprises. I based it off of Denyse Schmidt's Vine quilt, after stalking Liz on her blog and flickr site for a couple days. I used invisible machine applique to attach the circles to the background. Sorry for the rainy photos, you can go to Liz's post to see better ones. Not really sure what those circular flowers are called. I always call them pods, but that seems so... sci-fi.


This is the fabric I ended up using as background. It's from Amy Butler's Lotus line. Funny thing, this is the fabric I fell in love with and wanted to use, but once I finished to top, it seemed like too much. However it did dictate the color scheme for the quilt.


I also made a label for this quilt. This was my first time making a label on a quilt, and I really need to start doing it on all of my quilts. I really want to try the bubble jet set print your own custom labels thing. Sounds like fun to me!! Now I've finished the hard part and I get to wait to see who is making one for me! I'm so excited!!