A Two Month WIP Gone

I finally managed to finish the baby quilt top.  I was first just going to have all the border pieces matching, but it was too hard trying to get those stripes to line up on both sides.  So I though I'd miter the corners. After cutting off  the vertical pieces for my first attempt, the fabric was now not wide enough to have a long enough piece to miter. I learned that you have to double the width measurement and add an additional 5" to the piece cut to have enough for a miter.  In my case it would be 31.5"+3+3+5 or 42.5 inches and I only had 35".  So I did cornerstones to solve my  border dilemma.

I now find myself with 4 baby quilt tops  that need to be sandwiched and quilted.  How did that happen?  I must confess I'd rather put a top together than do any of the other steps in making a quilt. Good thing I have St. Anne's to help me get some of these done.

Speaking of St. Anne's,  we're raffling a quilt under the auspices of our parish (they're 501(c)(3) hoping to raise some monies for our associate pastor from Uganda.  The village where his mother lives is desperate for a nearby source of potable water.  They want to build some wells.  Here's the quilt we're raffling:

It's a vintage top a neighbor gave me.  We had it quilted.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  The fabrics are all from the 30s-50s.  Here's a close-up:

The Dresden Plates are hand pieced and hand stitched using the buttonhole stitch to the squares. The sashing is sateen ( I think).  It's a queen size quilt.  As you can see from this close-up photo the quilt squares are white not the yellow in the nighttime photo. Drawing winner March 8th.

I hope you liked this eye candy.  I'm linking to Finish it Up Friday, Finished or Not Friday and Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?  Go visit and see all their quilting goodness.

Want to share your goodies (doesn't have to be finish)?  Link below and I'll come by and see what you're up to. Blessings!

WIPs Be Gone

Almost done with some blocks for Humble Quilts Sweet Land of Liberty sew along.  I like this one because we are winging it for the pattern and all are making their own interpretation of the blocks unless fortunate to have bought the pattern by Cheri.

I also worked on a baby quilt.  It is now
quilted:

 bound

and on its way to the local NICU.

This is my 6th Nearly Insane block and my last.  I've decided to make a different set of blocks into baby quilts this year. More on that later.  

Who wants hexie papers?  Link your eye candy - of any kind, old or new for a chance to win 105 of them - enough to make 15 flowers. Blue button below. Party ends Thursday, midnight.

I'll be linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday,  Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Myra's Finished Or Not Fridays , and Jennifer's Wednesday Wait Loss . Do go by and see all the doings posted.

Another Winner/Update

The winner of last week's hexagon paper pieces giveaway was Chantel of At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts.  I've sent her a message.

An update:  I want to thank everyone so much for their kind wishes and prayers for my eye surgery.  It went great!  I know have 20/15 vision again. No more closing my right eye to sew at the machine - lol.

Here's what I'm working on now - Sunday's SS block:

Off to see what the block is for today.

WIPs Be Gone Week 42

I'm machine quilting the last block for my Jubilee Wall Hanging (WIP #5).

I've left it on the machine so whenever I have a minute or two, I sit right down and do a bit more.

Also completed hand stitching the leaves to my flowers in my Hexie Garden (WIP#3)

Now with those done, I can move on to machine appliqueing them to their backgrounds - all 36 of them. Again this was a project I left on the dining table to attack whenever I had a few minutes.  It will be a busy weekend, so I don't know how much else I'll get done.

 I've picked a winner and Random.org says it is:  Cloud 9
     "Nice job on your block, love the colors. Would love to win a Piece O'Cake Designs book as I've been wanting to do one of their projects. "

  Thank you so much to those who participated and left comments.  I wish I had time to respond to all of you but alas life is too hectic right now.  I so enjoyed all the eye candy.  You all have such fabulous projects.

Were you able to spend some time doing a bit of quilty this past week?  Would love to see it or anything else that is keeping you busy.  Linky below.  This week I'll giveaway one hundred 3/4" hexagon papers for any of you who would like to try this soothing hand sewing or add to a project you are working on.  Some have asked that the deadline be extended.  So as of now - they'll end on Wednesday, midnight.  Good luck!

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking to the various parties on my sidebar. Do check them out.

Slow Sunday Stitching & Giveaway

Spent the day, Saturday, with my cousins.  Since the wineries were super full for Father's Day weekend (we tried two and they were way over capacity), we stayed at Moms and did a mini Hexagon project by hand.

They were naturals at making hexies.  I like them all.  We're going to make mug rugs out of them. It was fun introducing them to hexagons. They fly out today for Houson.  I'm sure going to miss them!

Now as for the giveaway -
To thank you for all the eye candy you've been posting this year, I have a book giveaway.  

I was looking for a quilt book on my shelves and found I have two copies of this.  I haven't gotten to it, but I want to make a quilt out of it.  Don't let the blocks on the cover intimidate you - mostly fussy cutting really and very easy.  They have great paper templates inside.  

To win this copy, all you need to do is link a post with some eye candy to have a chance for it to be yours.  It doesn't have to be a WIP - all sorts of eye candy is eligible and very welcome - even projects you finished a while ago, haven't started, or are even dreaming about - it'll all be new to me. You can (1) link a blog post (an old one will do) or a photostream address. Or you can go to Michele's blog, and (2)leave a comment on what you think of her Visual Overload. Then (3) let me know.  New to her blog? Become a follower of hers and (4)let me know and you'll have four chances.   You'll find the linky party at my previous post - the one before this one. So just scroll down and you'll see it.  I'll pick a winner Tuesday morning after the linky party closes today, the 22nd, midnight.  Open to all.

WIPs Be Gone & Giveaway

Week 25!  Back from San Francisco. Had a great time - more on that later. Came back late Wednesday, so didn't get much WIP progress as I felt so tired today.  Here's the bit I did get done

on a flower for WIP #3.  Almost ready to do some slow stitching on Sunday.

To thank you for all the eye candy you've been posting this year, I have a book giveaway.  

I was looking for a quilt book on my shelves and found I have two copies of this.  I haven't gotten to it, but I want to make a quilt out of it.  Don't let the blocks on the cover intimidate you - mostly fussy cutting really and very easy.  They have great paper templates inside.  

To win this copy, all you need to do is link a post with some eye candy to have a chance for it to be yours.  It doesn't have to be a WIP - all sorts of eye candy is eligible and very welcome - even projects you finished a while ago, haven't started, or are even dreaming about - it'll all be new to me. You can (1) link a blog post (an old one will do) or a photostream address. Or you can go to Michele's blog, and (2)leave a comment on what you think of her Visual Overload. Then (3) let me know.  New to her blog? Become a follower of hers and (4)let me know and you'll have four chances.  I'll pick a winner Tuesday morning after the linky party closes Monday, midnight.  Link button below.

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking to Sarah's HeLP for Hexie-aholics and Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?. Lots of eye candy there.

WIPS Be Gone, Finish and Giveaway

The Giveaway is still on and so is the Grow Your Blog.  I'm finding some really nice blogs at Vicki's event.  Here's the book I'm giving away:

Just go to the previous post and you'll see the various ways you can enter to win it.  Ends Feb 14th. And don't forget to go to Grow Your Blog - you will have lots of fun there.

Now for my WIPs Be Gone!  I'm happy to say, I do have some progress.  Here's the first section of a border I'm  adding to my WIP #1:

 The prairie points aren't that hard. You can see a tutorial for these peiced points in my previous post.
It's just finding the time to do them.  I've been creating another B³quilt for my guild and in the process made 4 more (some for St. Anne's).  LOL - I couldn't stop!

How did you do with your WIP progress? I'd so like to see what you did - even if it was only a little bit.  Linky below.  It ends Monday, midnight.  So looking forward to seeing your steps forward.

An InLinkz Link-up

Here's my finish for the week.  One of those 4 I mentioned.  Now how can a quilt top be a finish?  That's my part of the process for St. Anne's .  I make quilt tops; others sandwich, tie and bind.  Sometimes I will quilt a top, but most are tied.

I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday, Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Julie's Pet Project Show.  See you there!

This N That Week 4

First, the linky party to WIPs Be Gone where we share our progress is still open. Ends Monday, midnight. Would love to see how you're doing so we can root you on. It's the previous post to this one.

Second, it's time for the Grow Your Blog event! While I didn't get to join this year, I want to encourage you to go find new blogs over at Vicki's and meet a lot of wonderful bloggers there.

Many of the participants have giveaways!  And it's so much fun making new friends out there in the quilting world.  In honor of this annual event, I'm giving away a book about (what else) applique.

Beth shows you in detail how to machine applique.  It includes 9 lovely projects plus templates. There are several ways to win this book.  Leave a comment telling me of a new blog I should visit from the hundreds at the Grow Your Blog event for a chance.   Or visit Linda here and leave a comment for her on her Ghost Quilting for another chance. Then tell me you visited and what the pin cushion is used for and have a third chance!  Good luck!  The giveaway will end same time as the Grow your Blog - I will ship anywhere.

On the home front - I used another two yards in making another B³ quilt. That makes a total of 9.88 yards used for 2015.  These 30"quilts are so much fun! More on that Friday. I'm still working on my hexies. Here they are in a group shot - well most of them:

Six not shown and 10 to go!

And lastly there's something new on my design wall:

Two more pieces to finish the border on this charity quilt.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times, Lyn's BOMs Away, and Esther's WOW.  See you there!

Hexie Weekend

Okay - My hand stitched hexies are on hold as I quilt that Hexie flower garden I've shown you before. Actually started on it. I'm being daring and quilting the flowers with pink 50 wt thread on top and silver on the bottom as I practiced on a piece and got the tension just right.  I read and reread Karen H's posts on how she quilts her hexagons and am using her experience to guide me.

And I'm happy with the response so far for my ongoing Giveaway.  Did you read the previous post.  I'm giving away a quilt. So if you didn't read it, go back and enter to see if you win this lap quilt.  There are six ways to enter!

On Wednesday I was at the California Science Center in LA for their Pompeii Exhibit.  It was great - a little noisy with all that volcanic action, but it was very interesting to see all they had from Italy from Pompeii that has not been seen in US before.  They have a great simulation of the eruption, a thorough explanation of the city and how people lived there.  Loved the atriums.

And - I do have a finish!  Here's my completed hexagon charity quilt I made with my new Hex N More ruler.

Here's #2 holding it.  It's almost as big as he is!  I made a comment to myself about how Grandpa wasn't available to hold it so I could take a picture. He immediately said, "I can hold it for you, Grandma." He's such a helper.

I decided to quilt a strip of loops around the edge for the border.  This measures 34 by 36.
I spent quite a bit of time making all those skating rabbits going one way where I could.  It was only when I had quilted half the motifs did I notice I had quilted them upside down to the bunnies. From now on, it's check twice, quilt once -LOL.  I hope baby won't mind.

Here you can see some of the motifs in the squares. I found a cat, dog, bear, cherries, apple, tree, whale, sandman, seashell and airplane to quilt - all Mary Covey motifs.  I used freezer paper to mark them in the full hexagons.

It was very hard to see the quilting on the backing - thus the contrasty photo.  I used silver 50 wt Aurifil thread and silver Superior Bottom line for the back with a 90/14 titanium needle.

So what have you been up to?  Would love to see your eye candy! Linky below; ends Monday, midnight.  Because I love eye candy, I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday and Richard's Link a Finish Friday .

Do enter the giveaway!  I'd love to send you my quilt to celebrate my 1001 posts.

An InLinkz Link-up

Hexie Weekend and 2 Giveaways

Hi, there!  It's another weekend already, and I have some hexie progress for you, or should I say hexie problem.  I also have two giveaways.  Going through a shelf in my computer room (how'd all that quilting stuff get in there?), I found a duplicate of this:

It even has a hexagon block!  This is volume 5.

And the library staff has been saving the blow in cards from all the magazines they get, so I have another 100 3/4" hexagon paper pieces easily punched with my Fiskar hexagon punch.   I used 7 to make another flower block:

 I'm not sure about this hexie flower. I may change the center to something that reads more white. Then again, maybe not. What do you think?

And I forgot that the first one had a flower oriented differently. And on closer look at the fabric, it looks more like a Liberty of London print than 30s. Ay de mí!  I just spent an hour on a dud. Well live and learn. I may just make a mug rug or something out of this second one.

For the two giveaways, tell me which you'd like as the caption to your thumbnail when you link.  You can use a flickr link or any photo site you use besides a blog. Ends Tuesday, Midnight - and please be sure there is a way for me to contact you.  The last winner of 100 pieces had no way for me to contact her, and the same for the second name I picked. Sigh.  Good luck!
Linky below:

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking to Richard's Link a Finish Friday,  TGIFF , Can I get a Whoop, Whoop and One Flower Wednesday (I actually had it ready Wed) since I did finish a block - lol. Go see all the goodies there.

Hexie Weekend plus Template Giveaway

Finally (and actually I wanted to make some progress to show you - see why Hexie Weekend is so vital to me), I was brave enough today to tackle mitering the corners of Soupçon's Part 5 border. Thanks to Karen's directions and Judy in her video of self binding a receiving blanket, they turned out okay! In fact, I found a trick to making sure I was sewing the seam in the right direction - the seam and the folded center make a flying goose:

 See the goose?  The folded center is under the border piece on left and the seam is on the right.

Once I had all four mitered corners done, I placed my  four hexie flowers on the border - more to come.  I'm liking what I've done so far.

Show us your progress - hexie or otherwise.  We like to see any eye candy - old, new or a pattern you just bought. Linky below. Ends Monday, midnight.  Oh and for linking you have a chance to win 100 paper hexie templates (3/4" sides) so you can try EPP. Thank you Mary Huey for telling me about this! I saw it on her blog.  I was able to buy the Fiskar hexagon punch - I got the large one - (found in the scrapbooking section at Jo-Ann's) for 65% off. Woohoo! It's so easy to make them with my new tool and the blow in cards from magazines.  Remember any post or photo link will work.

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking to Richard's Link a Finish Friday (since I did finish those flowers) and TGIFF. Off to bed, goodnight!

Stash Report and an Announcement

For that quilt retreat I went to, I used 4 yards of fabric from my stash.  Yeah!  You'll find my numbers on the side bar. I did buy 2 yards from the The Thrifty Corner at my guild's meeting, but since it was for stash enhancement, I'm not counting it as frivolous expenditures - can I reason myself out of adding to my numbers or what? - LOL.

And now for my Annoucement.  Friday the 28th, I'll have been blogging for 5 years. I can't believe it!

Of Blogging!

I've learned a lot about blogging, made mistakes, and encountered a lot of wonderful people in Blogland. So I think the occasion deserves a party and a giveaway - maybe 5 giveaways to mark the years.  Come back the last day of the month to help me celebrate.  See you then!

In the meantime, I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times for other reports on Stash Status.

And the winner is...

Hello, I've been at our guild retreat all weekend, and am now just able to get Random.org to pick a winner for my Grow Your Blog giveaway. This was such a fun blog hop.  I got to meet so many bloggers from around the world. It has been a pleasure to get to know them and see what they are up to.  Welcome to my blog, again. I look foward to learning more about you in the year ahead.  I am so in awe of all the talent out there.

So why am I late picking a winner - well it was this retreat I went to. My first and was it fabulous!  They had so many treats for us. It started at 3 PM Friday, but some of us had been there since 10 AM working on UFOs and WIPS ahead of time. To get us better acquainted with the other 23 quilters, we had a progressive dinner Friday night, then we went to the big room and started our first clue of our mystery quilt. Around 10 PM we had our first make and take - a darling bag that we could make in a mere 20 minutes. So useful and cute.  The weekend was just great. Here's a photo of one of the many varieties of the mystery quilt (a Debbie Caffrey patter)  - made various by our choices of fabric.

Mary(she's behind the quilt - lol) was making the larger version - all this lacks is the outer border! She was assembling the top using Elinor Burnes method of sewing rows and then adding the next row without separating the rows from their chain piecing - so saves time and misplacing blocks.

And now the winner - Random picked Beth P of Mossberry Cottage in NH.  Beth said:

"Oh dear, I think we are most certainly kindred spirits Angie! I love many crafts as you know from visiting my blog but applique is one of my favorite quilting techniques... and The Fat Quarter Shop, well, one need not say more! :D I am certainly not going to lose you now that I have found you through Vicki's party! :D I'm your newest follower!  Hugs, Beth P"  I've sent an email.  Congrats Beth!

Thank you to all who came by and commented during the blog hop, or became followers.  I haven't been able to reply, but I'm saving the comments and will come visit you soon.  And thank you, Vicki,  for a wonderful blogging event.  I did grow my blog!

A Fun Way to Applique-- And a Giveaway!

 I heard from Eric at Fons and Porter the other day about a new way - well, new way to me anyway - to learn about our quilting craft - Daily Craft TV.  Like Craftsy, The Quilt Show, and QNN, they offer class videos about quilting and crafting.  Many of these are taught by experts from leading craft magazines.  Now I can learn from books and photos, but I do a lot better with something new if I can watch someone and work along with them.  Watching a teaching video helps as it's the next best thing to being in an actual workshop or class. So when Eric offered to give me a free class to review - I jumped at the chance - especially as there were 37 quilting classes to choose from - and that was only for quilting - lots more for sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking and  papercraft.  And they were quite inexpensive compare to the other competition.

I wanted to learn a new applique technique, so I picked "Make an Applique Portrait of your Pet from a Photograph".  Here's the brief video summary of the class. PS: Takes a moment to come up.

How to make an appliqué from a portrait of your pet. - Daily Craft TV

I enjoyed the class and as Jodie said - it is easy and fun to make a fusible pet portrait.  What I found most interesting is Jodie made the process easy and without having to buy any special tools to make this portrait.  Also, she encourages one to use what is in our stash to make these quick quilts - I liked how she used prints to give the pets character and still be true to the photos.  I would have liked Jodie to have shown some photos that would not have worked for this project so we don't get in over our heads with pieces and also a little more on thread painting (To me, this part was sketchy, needed more on thread, etc), but overall this would be a class I would recommend to people who would like to try this method.  Her examples were fabulous!

I decided to review a class with you in mind, readers, For in doing so I get to give away one of  Daily Craft TV's offering - your choice.  To win this free class, please go to http://www.dailycrafttv.com/ and look around the website - then click on the tab of your favorite craft  and review their offerings.  Come back to my blog and tell me which class you'd like to take in a comment.  I'll pick a winner next Monday about this time.

And the Winners are...

of the 750th Blog Post Giveaway(I hadn't forgotten - just waiting to hear from the quilters) [I used Random.org to pick the winners]:

The 7 quilt items go to Terri J.  Here's what she'll be getting:

a Kim Schaefer's Calendar Quilts pattern pack -lots of yummy applique there!; a Pine Meadows pattern of Cardinals; a spool of water soluble basting thread - great for applique too; a spool of Wonderfil Mirage variegated thread; one 1/4 yard WOF and 1/2 yard of Free Spirit fabric and one Fat Quarter of brown and white dots.  Congrats, Terri!

Winning the 5 items was Michelle T of Canada.  She's getting:

the book Little Lone Star Quilts; a charm pack from Laundry Basket Quilts, a Southwind Designs pattern called Turtle Trails, a package of Texture Magic and an Aunt Becky's Finger Protector. Congrats, Michelle!

And thank you to all of you who left comments and shared your wonderful eye candy.  You made my 750th blogging post milestone very special.

Applique Thursday 2/7/13 & a Giveaway

This is why I started Applique Thursday.  I love applique, but with Life and other commitments, I never seem to get around to it.  AT makes me stop and do some - even if it's only a little progress. And that's what we have today:

The last pieces of block 5 of Anna's Garden are now prepped.  I just have to turn under the seam allowance and start stitching.  I use Linda Cantrell's method of tracing the right side of the piece.  I then iron the freezer paper to the right side and cut it out with my micro-serrated scissors.  Then I baste around the tips.  Once the basting is in, I place the piece with the dull side touching the back of the fabric - or shiny side showing on the back.  I then press over the seam allowance onto the shiny side and use a toothpick to get some nice points (as Becky Goldsmith taught me on her blog).  Then I'll be ready to watch Person of Interest tonight on TV.

                           Now for the giveaway.  Remember this?  I picked a winner, but she was no reply.  I hoped she still read my blog or was signed up for email notice of new post to my blog, however I never heard from her.  So then my so busy two months happened and recently I picked another winner.  I emailed her but after two weeks have not heard from her either.  So..., it's up for grabs again.  Please, please be sure there is a way for me to contact you if you are no-reply on blogger.  And so your email won't be harvested do use this format:  areader at gmail dot com   Okay?

 To win this copy, all you need to do is comment or link to have a chance for it to be yours. Or do both and have two chances. And for extra chances, tell your friends about this giveaway. If they comment or link and mention you in their comment, you'll automatically get another entry in this giveaway. Submissions end Wednesday night. Use the blue link below. And remember, it doesn't have to be applique (that you share that is) -  all sorts of eye candy is eligible.

Applique Thursday & Giveaway 9/20/12

At last! A little bit of applique done.  Have 5 more leafs to prep and then I'll be able to sit and stitch them down. I'm trying a variation of the raw edge - not sure I should mix the two methods in one block, but we'll see. What are you working on?  I'd love to see what you're up to. 

And the winner of last week's book is Paula!  I'll send her an email tomorrow.  I have another book to giveaway.  This one is an oldie, but goodie.  Are there any miniature quilt lovers out there?  It's also great for learning precision piecing.  I'm guessing our Billie must have apprenticed with Nancy as her piecing is fabulous already. 

Here it is:

To win this copy, all you need to do is comment or link to have a chance for it to be yours. Or do both and have two chances. Submissions end Wednesday night. Use the blue link below. And remember, it doesn't have to be applique - I love all sorts of eye candy.





I'm linking to Melissa Try New Things linky - go on over and see what others are trying.

And the Winner is

Lyn in Colorado Springs! Congratulations, Lyn - it will give you something to browse in between starting school and unpacking. Thanks to all who participated. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to all your comments - still so busy. And I hope you'll consider the new giveaway. Just go to the post previous to this one to see that book. I just noticed that the books have the same title to a point - both are Quilting the Seasons - LOL. But they're different books by different authors.

Look forward to seeing your eye candy!

Applique Thursday Giveaway 9/6/12

Just a little more done on that block.  I did also start my forget me not block from Esther. I so miss myquilting time.  This week I will have been 5 days with major commitments that take most of my days.  At least I know this too will pass...

Congrats to Karen M - she won last week's book giveaway and it's already on its way to her.  Here's this week's offering:
I love Pat's body of work - I'm just now not into folk art at this time.  I have others I will keep.  So, who wants it? To win this copy, all you need to do is comment or link any kind of eye candy to have a chance for it to be yours. Or do both and have two chances. Submissions end Wednesday night. Use the blue link below the photo.

Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for entering my giveaway! You had some interesting guesses. I'd see a guess and look at the photo and, by golly, I could see where you were coming from for the most part - amazing! Oh, the power of suggestion.

The answer: a maze! I was so happy to see quite a few of you pick that as your answer as I was hoping I got it right when I was designing it. I've decided my Craftsy quilt is going to have a demonstration garden theme and a garden maze is part of that.

And the lucky winner of those who sent in Maze as their answer is
Robin! She said...
Congrats .............. I would like you to know I am a follower. Your block for April makes me think of a garden maze.

Please get back to me Robin with your snail mail address, and I'll send your package out to you.  I'll post a photo soon once I've rounded up all that will go in the box.

Again, thanks again for playing and welcome to all the new followers.