We have a Winner!

Alrighty, the powers that be (as in random.org!) have spoken, and we have a winner! Unfortunately I am not a computer whiz and I have no idea how to capture the image showing the winning number...but, it was #4, which is........

Beth!

Congrats Beth, shoot an email to us and we will arrange delivery of your fat quarters.

On another note, absolutely no sewing has happened in my house this week, as we have been invaded by a stomach bug. Ugh. But mom has been working on a fantabulous quilt that I can't wait for her to show you! It pretty much blows my mind :) So keep an eye out for that!



ps- What with the name drawing and all, "May the odds be ever in your favor!"

I have blocks!

Naptime was good to me today, I got all of my Charm Pack Quilt Along blocks put together!! Now I get to play with layouts this weekend. Oh the possibilites! Have a wonderful weekend!

Trimming up a storm

I have progress to show on my Charm Pack Quilt Along blocks! Naptime yesterday started with this:

After naptime, it looked like this, thanks to Zoey:

And this morning I finished trimming!

Today's naptime, 4 square blocks!

Oh, and I'm only using 2 charm packs instead of 3. I decided I don't need a 72"x72" finished size :)

Blogiversary, 100 posts, and a giveaway!!!

Guess what today is folks? It's our blogiversary! We have been part of this crazy blogging world for a whole entire year! When I think of how much I have been able to create this year, I am blown away, and I am so glad that I got sucked into all of these amazing quilting blogs that continually inspire me!

Oh, and on top of it being our blogiversary, this is our 100th post!!

So, to commemorate this occasion, mom and I have put together a giveaway! We have 7 fat quarters of Nest by Tula Pink to share with one lucky winner! (Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, apparently there were little girl fingerprints on the lens...)

Awesome, right?

So, we are going to go with 3 ways to win our very first giveaway:

1. Leave us a comment on this post

2. Become a follower and comment on this post

3. Blog about our giveaway and come back and comment. Be sure to leave your blog address, 'cause I will go check!

Super sorry to any internationals out there, we are limiting this to continental US only. Shipping is a beast! Maybe next time :)

Be sure to either have your blogger profile connected to your email, or include your email in your comment so I have a way to contact you! If I don't have a way to contact whoever is drawn, I will have to try again, and you will miss out.

I will close the comments and draw a winner on Wednesday, September 1, whenever I get to it that morning :)

(oops!  now the date is correct!  Thanks Jen N!)

Good luck, and thank you for a wonderful year!

&

Charm Pack Quilt Along

I have been eyeing KarrieLyne's Charm Pack quilt along since she started it, but I was a bit busy and hadn't decided if I wanted to join in or not. Well, I bit the bullet! Yesterday I got all of my solid squares cut out and marked for Half Square Triangles. So, I'm weeks behind, but better late than never, right? If you haven't seen anything for this quilt along yet, definitely go check it out!!!

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share, I haven't had a chance to get photographic evidence yet :)

I will get some pictures up once I have more to show!

Square in square tutorial

Alrighty, Melanie requested a tutorial for the style of block I used in this quilt:

So, I have put one together for whoever is interested!

I start by cutting strips of white in various sizes. Sashing scraps are great! 

Gather the fabrics you want to use. This is a good project for string scraps!

I don't really have any plan when I make these blocks, I just choose a fabric from the pile to start with, and then add on other fabrics that go well.  Start with a square of fabric. I start with a block cut anywhere from 3" to 4 1/2", and fussy cut fabrics are great!

I like to separate each print or color with a white border. The few blocks I made for the red, pink, and aqua quilt that had prints next to prints were my least favorite, so I didn't make any this time.

I don't precut my strips down to size, either, I just trim the strips down as I sew them on. Oh, and it doesn't really matter what size your second strip is, it can be whatever you want!

So, now choose the next fabric. I went with a solid orange this time. It was from a fat quarter, so I ended up having to cut 2 strips off the fat quarter to go all the way around the block. Once again, it doesn't really matter what the width of the strip is; we will start worrying about that on the next one!

Now we have to start doing some math. Yuck, right? Don't worry, it's not too bad. 

I want my blocks to finish at 9" (mostly because I have a 9 1/2" square. Choose whatever size you want, the principles are the same!) I did the math down on the picture, hopefully you can follow it...

This is also when you have to think ahead a little bit. For example, I want the outside of this block to be a color, not white, so I have two more rows to go. I also only need 1 1/4" on each side, and I have to split that between two fabrics.  

For this one, I went with a 1/2" FINISHED size strip of white (1" CUT size!)

Now there is only 3/4" left on each side to get me to that 9" finished size. As you can see from my math below, that means I need a strip cut at 1 1/4", so that's what I cut out!

Aaaand, ta da! A cute block that will finish at 9"! (It's 9 1/2" right now though).

This was my first block that then became this:

I decided against sashing for this one, but I still wanted some separation, so I made sure every other block finished with white on the outside. Oh and ps, it's all pinned up and sitting next to the machine now! And I just finished quilting another quilt, so I can start this one during naptime tomorrow!

I never know if things that make sense to me make sense to other people, so if there are any questions on any of my instructions above, just ask! I'm not always know for my clear instructions...

Joseph's Coat - part 5

This is my needle keeper book. I wanted to thread up a bunch of needles so I wouldn’t have to thread those tiny eyes while I was riding in the car, so I made up this little matchbook style needle keeper. I just used some scraps of card stock weight scrapbook paper and felt. The whole thing took me about 5 minutes to make. Then I prethreaded my needles and wrapped the thread around each “page” in the book.

It was so nice to just pull out a new threaded needle when I ran out of thread that I have just kept rethreading all the needles at once and putting them back in the keeper even though I'm not stitching while riding in a car anymore!

Here is my first completed block!!!  I'm going to have to wait for a sunny day and take them outside for a photo shoot because the bad lighting in my sewing room really doesn't do the colors justice!

And here is how much I have done so far!

That's just 3 blocks. 46 more to go!  They are not sewn together yet, just placed up on my design wall.  Maybe I'll have it done in time to be a wedding gift for Zoey.  That gives me about 20 years to get it done :)