Mushyhed's Sweatshop

Boxed in is quilted!

2009-07-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yippee! I really like the quilting on this. I just used my walking foot and quilted 1/4" to the side of each seam. What's exciting is that my straight quilting skills have improved. It's almost all straight this time :0)!!

The middle piece for the back was a test piece I initially used when I was trying to figure out the sizes for the blocks and it was a tad too big. I used to as a starting off point and added more Kona white and AB goodness until I got this:

I originally planned to quilt along in the other direction too but had second thoughts when I realized it would look too much like graph paper in the back .

Ya'll wanna see my view when I'm attaching the binding to the back? The other one's under the quilt. You can see a little bit of his ear if you look hard enough. They love to snuggle in the quilt and snooze while I sew on the binding. Speaking of bindings, love, love, love polka dots for bindings!

This little beauty finished at 56"x58".

Dancy's doll quilt

2009-07-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

My generous bloggy friend Stephanie sends me random "just because" packages because she's all kinds of awesome. When she heard I was making a Heather Ross sampler quilt, she sent me HR FQs that she found at Joannes to add to my collection. I've not met Stephanie in real life, yet her daughter, Dancy, knows my name. She has claimed the purse I made Stephanie as her own and carries her" babies" in it. I'm a sucker for cute little ones so I decided to make a doll quilt for Dancy and her babies. This was a kit that was in one of my recent packages. It was really easy to put together and fast too. It calls for monofilament thread for the quilting which I did not use. I matched thread color with the fabric instead and it worked great for the top of the quilt but was a hot mess on the back. It's a good thing toddlers don't have high standards for quilting. The doll quilt measures 17.25"x19.25".

Speaking of generous bloggy friends, Sarah agreed to send me some scraps of her Heather Ross collection from her quilt from AQB1. Apparently, Sarah and I have different definitions of "scraps".

Most of the pieces were FQ sized and up. She also sent me HR FQs that she found at Joannes too. I'm a lucky, lucky girl! Thank you so much Sarah!

Fatty's birthday quilt

2009-07-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

I have always referred to my friend Brett as the brother I never wanted. From the minute we became friends, he has taken on the role of my big brother. It didn't matter that I neither wanted or needed a big brother. I never even thought we'd be friends. He wasn't someone I wanted to spend a lot of time with. He can be a controlling, over-bearing, self indulgent cad at times. On the other hand, he can also be very caring and generous with his time and money. I met Brett years ago when I was a waitress and he was my manager. My uniform was a HORRIBLE two piece outfit that I despised. The top was basically a bathing suit top with gold lame straps and the bottom was a cheerleading type skirt. We could wear a jacket over the top until 9:00p.m. Needless to say, I tried to keep my jacket on for as long as possible. That is until Brett would find me and scream, "skin to wind, girl, skin to wind". Obnoxious! My friendship with Brett has definitely had its ups and downs but I know without a doubt that I can always count on him.

Brett has a birthday coming up. I have wanted to make him a quilt and when I saw this fabric, I knew I had to include it. Brett is an avid surfer. He has traveled to many countries searching for the perfect waves. Last summer he went to Nicaragua and caught something other than great waves. He caught a virus that almost killed him. This virus was so strong and deadly, it turned a 45 year old strong and healthy man to a weak man that could barely walk without a walker in a matter of days. He spent two weeks at Johns Hopkins Hospital clinging on to his life. He has since recovered and is almost back to normal and I thank God every day for that. He drives me crazy because he knows exactly which one of my buttons to push and takes great delight in pushing EVERY one of them. However, I can't imagine my life without his obnoxious self.

The only other things Brett loves more than surfing is his four beautiful kids. While I'm proud of Brett's many successes in life, the one thing I'm most proud of is what an amazing papa he has become to his kids. He is a hands on dad and very loving, caring and encouraging around his kids. It's a side of him that I had never witness until he had kids.

I kept the design of the quilt very basic. The colors were loud and vibrant in the surfing fabric. I just pulled from that and added basic blocks. While Brett's staring at his babies on this side of the quilt...

others will see this....

My math skills have been lacking lately but if you're born in 1963, that means you turn 50 this year right? Golly gee, I hope so. I'd hate to be wrong. If he wants to take on the role as obnoxious big brother, I can most certainly play the part of a bratty, little sister. Heh! The cake fabric is from another old uniform . It's made of 100% rayon and impossible to work with. I just added interfacing to stabilize it and voila, a three tiered cake was made. Fatty is what he used to call all the waitresses and later, much to his chagrin, it became his nickname.

For the quilt label, I used a picture from when we first met. I don't know why the label looks so crooked in this picture.

I know the repercussions for this will be high. He owns 3 businesses with marquees and I may find people wishing me a happy 50th in September.

She's HUUUUUUUGE!!!

2009-07-15T11:28:00.001-07:00

Conversation with my niece a few days ago:

Niece: I think I'm getting a rash on my thighs
Me: Oh really, from what?
Niece: From them rubbing together when I walk. Can't you see? I'm HUGE!

Here's a picture of my "huge" niece:
I think what set off this "huge" talk is she recently went shopping for new shorts and she had to buy a size 1 instead of the usual size 00. Oh noes! She wears a 1! Being this huge didn't stop her from eating a huge chicken sandwich from Wendy's, a cup of chili and two fudgsicles last night after work. At 1:30 a.m.! In this picture, she's holding up a panel from the newest quilt I just finished last night. I'll post that as soon as I get pictures taken. In the meantime, I've got to hit the grocery store. We're out of fudgsicles...

She quilts! Finally!

2009-07-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

My Munki Munki Kitties quilt is DONE!! An improv pieced back.

Click on the picture for a closer look at the quilt. I tried a new to me quilting, little curly loops.

Finished quilt is 42"x64". I had to trim the quilt top a little because I made the backing a teeny bit smaller than the top. Oops! One down, mumbly mumbly 14 to go.

My mailman hates me...

2009-07-13T14:01:00.001-07:00

or at least that's what my niece tells me. She said he had some difficulty getting all my packages in the mailbox today and he was looking none too pleased. He may hate me but I love him! He brought me some amazing stuff today.

Victoria and I arranged a mini quilt swap between ourselves and this is what she sent me. So beautiful and so Victoria! The detailed work on her quilting is AMAZING!!!

Here's a close up of the quilting details. You need to click on the picture to get a closer look. It'll be worth your time. Thank you Victoria. I LOVE it!

Sam mentioned in her blog a while back that she loved owls. I sent her some of my PBKids owl fabric and a FQ of owls that I found at my LQS. I asked her to make me a block with a piece of the PBKids owls whenever she got the chance. Here's that beautiful block:

She also sent me a new quilt book, a Valorie Wells FQ and holy moley, an amazing
cute little pillow. So generous!

Here's a close up of the mini pillow. The embroidery on this is so awesome. Her french knots are so good. The last time I tried french knots, I wanted to stab myself in the eyeballs with my needle. It was so frustrating for me. I can't even imagine the time it must have taken to make this. Thank you so much Sam!

And speaking of detailed hand work, look what Anne from my Snip, Sew, Send quilting bee sent me. She used a technique called shadow embroidery for the middle block. She explains it in detail here. Again, Ah frickin mazing!

Here's a close up of the middle block. I wish I could get a good picture showing the colors peeping through.

Here's what the back of the block looks like.

She also made me a very cute card and sent me a re-usable tote from U.S. Space and Rocket Center that's going to be used tonight when I go to the grocery store. Thank you Anne. I love it all!

Tina ( also from Snip, Sew, Send) not only added her own stash to my very cute block, she also sent her stash of Chocolate Lollipop. Thank you Tina!

Lisa, who cracks me up because she refers to me as "Miss Mushyhed" sent this cute block. There are some teeny, tiny strips in there!! I love it! Thank you, Lisa!

I wish every mail day was like today!

I had a very busy weekend and actually got some quilting done. Yes, you read that right. I finished a project. Said quilt is in the dryer as we speak so I'll post pictures tomorrow. And to top that, I started yet another quilt yesterday. Yes, Dawn, you read that correctly. Another quilt. Not only did I get the quilt top done, I made the backing and it's all pinned and ready to be quilted. I'm so deliriously happy ( and I do mean delirious because I think I slept all of 6 hours the WHOLE weekend!).

Awww...

2009-07-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

She calls them Fatheads and tells me they're annoying, but look what I found yesterday...

Out of control...

2009-07-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

This stack of quilt tops is waiting for backing, quilting and binding. And yet I keep starting new projects. I'm pretty sure there are others around here but not only am I too lazy to quilt, I'm also too lazy to look for missing quilt tops. I've got a new quilt I'm planning with all the great Heather Ross fabrics that I've received through my swaps. I'm trying to be good and not start working on it but then I have this one taunting me with comments like, "...it's a shame to let Heather sit on a shelf...". And this one sending me HR scraps and this one sending me HR FQs. Enablers, ya'll, I'm surrounded by them:0). I did start a new quilt top last night. It's a mini one so that doesn't count or does it?

Today was another good mail day. I received my block from Kris :

This block is much prettier in person. The picture doesn't do it justice. The hand sewing on this is flawless! She's got a great tutorial on how to do the circles here.

And thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who commented about my circle quilt . I woke up to an in box filled with encouragement and it totally made my day. I guess we are all our own worst critics. I get disappointed when what's in my head doesn't translate exactly the way I want it to on fabric. I took another look at the quilt top today and I think I'm going to leave it alone. I'm kinda digging it now...

Circle quilt done...again

2009-07-07T16:52:00.001-07:00

At least I think it's done. Remember this? Here it is re-done. I'm still not crazy about it. I may change the outer border to the Bahama blue.

A close up...

This quilt top finished at 58"x72".

A really great day in the end

2009-07-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was having a really blah day until the mailman came today. I received my placemat from Autumn and I LOVE it! She totally gets me. This beach girl loves her some mermaids and sea life and Autumn delivered. Here's the front of the placemat: Here's the back... At least I think it's the back. Both sides are beautiful works of art. I know the front lawn is probably a weird place to photograph a placemat but I couldn't get a good picture inside. Besides, I have zero intentions of using it as a placemat. It's too pretty. I'm going to hang it up in my office. I also have have a side swap with Victoria **for a mini quilt that I'll be adding to my collection. Hopefully, one day I'll have a whole wall full.

Autumn also sent me some cute Hawaiian fabrics and seashells from California and Hawaii. Only a beach girl would send another beach girl seashells to add to her collection :0).

I also received my swap from Lisa. She has a to die for collection of Heather Ross and Munki Munki fabrics. She sent me a yard of the HR Volkswagon buses in blue and a bunch of charm squares of HR, Munki Munki and Japanese prints. I LOVE the pink gnomes. Eeeek! She also sent Sublime Stitching some embroidery patterns filled with gnomes and fairies.

Zonnah's block arrived and omigosh, it's even prettier in person!!

Some of Michelle's good luck rubbed off on me and I won a charm square pack of May Pole by April Cornell from Dawn. So pretty!

Edith's fabric arrived for her month in PTQB. She wants circles and I love making circles so this block will be fun! I love her selection of fabrics.

Dana and I also swapped and her package arrived last Friday. Look at all that cuteness from the Minny Muu collection by Lecien. LOVE!

This was a great ending to an otherwise very blah day. I have been dragging all day. I may need to detox from this past weeks' festivities. I ate too much and drank too much. Lest you all think that I'm a raging partier, I am what some people call a "lightweight" and others may call a "cheap date". It depends on who's doing the name calling. I average about 2 drinks a month and just this past week I've had quite a few months worth. To top it off, while I enjoyed crabcakes and tuna steaks at a cookout last night, the mosquitoes had an all you can eat Asian buffet. I am covered in mosquito bites. So I'm off to go bathe in Calamine lotion and go stare at my loot. I hope you all had a great weekend.

**** Victoria is looking for people to make blocks for a charity quilt. If you would like to help, go here.

Placemat swap

2009-07-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

I joined the placemat swap on Flickr and my partner is Autumn. She has just received her package in the mail so I can post her placemat. Autumn said she loves bright, primary colors and wanted something with circles or curved piecing. When she said bright colors, I automatically thought of Kaffe Fassett. I love his fabric lines and own quite a few of his books. His quilts are so inspirational! Anyways, here's Autumn's placemat: I had a hard time working on such a small scale. I had other ideas to add to it but the it made it larger than a placemat so I kept it simple. I also made her a little potholder...

For a look at more of her loot, go here. Go here to see all the other great placemats.

There will be no sewing for me this weekend. I have a weekend filled with outdoor concerts, goodbyes, beaches, cookouts, fireworks and probably too many margaritas :0).

Have a great weekend my wonderful bloggy friends!

1+1+1+1= 1 Giddy Girl!

2009-07-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

Two days into July and I already have 4 AMAZING blocks from my pals in the Snip.Sew.Send quilting bee.

From Nichole: From Heather:

From Zonnah:

From Anne:

This girl is celebrating Christmas in July!

Pure awesomeness

2009-07-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

This character came up to me and nonchalantly said, " I need you to make me a red cape with a S on it". There were no...
"Can you please make...?" or
"Do you think maybe you could...?"

While his horrified mother reprimanded him, I giggled because, when it's not your kid, it's funny. Besides, who could keep a straight face looking at his ensemble for that day. Yes, he's wearing his underwear OVER his pj's and did you see the belt and sunglasses? The boy loves to accessorize. I made that cape he's wearing months ago and he wears it everywhere. He recently wore it on a flight to Seattle and the pilots were so amused by him, they let him peek into the cockpit. You know, it's not everyday a superhero is on your flight.

Well the little booger is moving to Seattle and I had to make sure he didn't leave without a new cape. I brought it over to him last night and the look on his face when he saw it was pure awesomeness! It took me less than two hours to make this cape. I have given quilts that have taken me weeks to make and while the recipients are always happy to receive my gift, they don't have the look this kid had. His face radiated pure joy! He looked at me like I had just hung the moon and who doesn't love that kind of adoration? Let's just say we were both on Cloud 9.

Here's a picture of him pointing at the S. He told me he needed a red cape with a red S on an upside down yellow triangle. I aim to please.

Here he is modeling his cape.

I made it reversible in case he felt like being his alter ego Batman. Do you want to know what he said? Can you make me a BLUE Batman cape? Little booger!

Tutorial for the cape is here.

Scrappy 9 quilt top

2009-06-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

My scrappy nine patch is done and I love it!! A close up of the quilt top...

Some of my favorite blocks...

MUST STOP MAKING QUILT TOPS AND START COMPLETING PROJECTS!!!!

Block making sweatshop

2009-06-28T13:33:00.001-07:00

I have been a block making fool this weekend. First up is a block I made for Barbara in my AQB1 group. She has 9 patches from her LQG swap and wanted different blocks to finish up her quilt. This block started out to be one thing but ended up to be something totally different when I was done. I had intended to make a Japanese knot block called Kurume but didn't have enough of the orange fabric for the strips I needed. Six months ago, I would have totally panicked and had a small meltdown. My confidence in quilting has grown and now when things like that happen, I'm okay just winging it. This block is 12.5". The block is suppose to be facing the other way but blogger loaded it up like this and I think I like it better. The next two blocks are 6.5" but this collage makes the pinwheel block look huge. The two blocks are the exact same size. The string x block is the smallest string block I've made to date.

Stephanie is working on finishing her PTQB blocks. She's doing an ABC themed quilt for her daughter. Since 26 blocks is such an odd number for a quilt layout without leaving one or two blocks out, we decided to add 2 more blocks so that she could lay 4 across and 7 down. Somehow, I got suckered into making the two extra blocks. I kid, I kid, I volunteered. She sent me two panels and some scraps and here's the result of first block:

And the second...

See that strip of pears on the left? That almost didn't make it into the block. It was "accidentally "going to fall into MY scrap pile. I love those little pears!

I also made some more nine patches and I think I'm all caught up. I made more scrappy nine patches too but no picture. I've already got it in quilt top form and I'm almost done. I know, another quilt top... I need to stop making them and start finishing some of them.

My niece and I have come to a compromise on her camouflage quilt. Here it is:

It was the only way I could make it work since she also wanted leopard and Nascar fabric included. Yes, my friends, my sister has raised a redneck. Apparently, I do "do ugly". The things you do for those you love. Never in a million years did I think I would EVER utter these words: "Yes, can I have a half yard of the mossy oak camouflage please?". Yikes!

More leftovers

2009-06-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of leftovers when it comes to food. I think sometimes it just tastes better the next day. It looks like I'm a big fan of leftovers when it comes to quilting too. My newest quilt top is another happy accident. I was cleaning off my cutting table to work on nine patches when I found some scraps. For my Circles Quilt, I worked with 1/4 yard cuts of Flights of Fancy. I needed 7.5" squares for the circle quilt so it left me with a bunch of random pieces that were too small to use for nine patches. I was going to throw it in my scrap bin but friends, my scrap bin overfloweth. So I just started randomly piecing blocks. When I was done I had 16 blocks of all different sizes so I made them all uniform by adding white borders and finished each block at 12". I assembled my 12" blocks together but I felt like it needed something more. It was just too white. I added 1.5" strips of Kona in Bahama Blue and 5" borders in black and voila, I had another quilt top. This one measures 59" square and I love it! It also gave me an idea of what to do for my Circle quilt too so now I am one happy chica!

So now I'm off to get a shower and get ready for a night of great food and a few drinks with some friends. I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

Boxed in

2009-06-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the feedback on the Circle quilt. I think I'll be spending some quality time with my seam ripper this weekend. In the mean time, lets move on to some happier crafty projects. Stephanie asked me the other day if I had any ideas for a quilt to make with her HB Pop Garden jelly roll. I remembered seeing a quilt I really liked a while back so I tweaked it a little. I cut 2.5" strips out of my Amy Butler stash and some Kona white and made two blocks . I took pictures with measurements and sent it off to her and I really was going to stop there because I really don't need another quilt top.

I couldn't stop at two so I made a few more. 28 more to be exact. Oops.
This one's a teensy bit closer to be made into a quilt top. No, I don't have backing for it but I do have the binding made....

Edited- For those who you who wanted block measurement details:

*for the block with the floral border-

floral: (1) 2.5"x4"

(2) 2.5"x8"

(2) 2.5"x10.5"

white: (2) 2.5"x4"

(2) 2.5"x6.5"

*for the block with the white border-

floral: (2) 2.5"x4"

(2) 2.5"x6.5"

white: (1) 2.5"x4"

(2) 2.5"x8"

(2) 2.5"x10.5"

Your finished block will be 10.5"x12". I made 30 blocks for a finished size of approximately 58"x60.5". This is a very easy, beginner friendly project. The blocks are fast and easy to piece together. I made mine in the span of two nights with some blog reading in between :0). If you make a quilt with these measurements, I'd love to see it. Enjoy!

Circle quilt top done?

2009-06-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

I've finished assembling my circle quilt top and I'm not sure I like it. I love each individual block but I'm not crazy about them together. It's just so busy! I have seen other circle quilts with multiple pattern fabrics and loved it. Maybe Flights of Fancy is just too much for something like this. I could always sash in black and this way each block would stand out ( and ya'll know I love me some sashing!). My niece loves this quilt but she also wants me to make her a quilt with different types of camouflage fabric * so I'm not too sure I can trust her opinion. We have different tastes in just about everything. Hmmm, what do ya'll think? Leave it alone or add sashing?

Did ya'll know there's different TYPES of camouflage? Seriously. I keep telling her I don't do ugly but she's not listening.

Mendocino Madness

2009-06-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've decided to name this quilt Mendocino Madness or maybe Mad for Mendocino. Either way, I'm CRAZY about this quilt!! Sixteen beautiful blocks by eleven talented ladies from AQB1 ! I'd like to say that I planned the little pinwheels in the corner but I miscalculated the measurements for the border and came up short. Four pinwheels later and all was well in Mushyhed's world. This quilt top measures 74"x74".

Here are the credits for this beautiful creation:
1st row: Barbara, Barbara, Sara, Barbara
2nd row: Kelsey, Tasha, Sarah Ch, Vanessa
3rd row: Barbara, Kvinta (Ann) , Tasha, Jessica
4th row: Dallas, Karen, Sarah Ch, Sarah C

Many, many thanks to the eleven wonderful and talented ladies who help me make this beautiful quilt!!

Great mail day

2009-06-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Did ya'll hear that loud squeal at about 5:30p.m. today? That would be me. Look what I got in the mail today... I got it via my newest addiction, the Flickr swap group. It's a good thing fabric can be washed because I'm certain I drooled on it ( oh please, you know you would have too!). I also received my block from Dallas from AQB1:

She even sent me a piece of Belgium chocolate but it didn't make it to the photo op...My quilt top for AQB1 is about 90% done so I'll finish it tonight and post it. That is if I can tear myself away from Flickr...

I also received my blocks from Anina's 9 patch swap. Yippee!

I wish all mail days were like today's.

Another bee block and a new project

2009-06-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

For Stephanie's block in PTQB, she wanted a spiderweb block. It's been a while since I made one, I had to look at the tutorial to refresh my memory. I love this block. It's so easy to put together and uses all sizes of scraps. Stephanie sent the linen for the kite and a bunch of pre-cut strips so it really took no time to put together. It's a good thing my friend Mali has most of my scraps right now , otherwise I'm sure I'd be starting a new project. Speaking of new projects, this is what I'm working on now:

Let's just say that I'm not scared of curved piecing anymore :0)

Rachael's AQB block

2009-06-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

June is Rachael's month for AQB2. She sent us all cute strips of fabric from Paula Prass' Flights of Fancy line. I've been mulling over her block for quite awhile. She also sent really cute ric rac and I really wanted to use it. When I was browsing through Flickr the other day, I saw this. It was made by my AQB1 buddy, Tascha. I love Tascha's butterfly block and wanted to re-create for Rachael. Here's Rachael's block: I probably should have used a solid for the background so that the butterfly would pop more but I really wanted to use the pink cobble stone. I wasn't able to use her ric rac as it was too thick but I used some of mine. I really like the way this block turned out and I hope Rachael does too. Only one more quilting bee block to go and I will have all my June blocks completed.

Munki Munki Kitties

2009-06-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

When I won the cute buttercup bag from Michelle's giveaway, she also included a piece of Munki Munki kitty fabric. The scrap piece was hot pink and had the cutest kitties on it ( and I'm not even a cat lover!). I knew I wanted to frame each cat but the piece of fabric I had only had six cats and I knew six blocks wouldn't make a very big quilt. When I saw AmandaJean's Happy Go Lucky quilt, I had what Oprah calls my Aha moment. That AmandaJean is such an inspiration! I hope she doesn't mind my blatant copying of her quilt. Here's a close up of the six blocks ( you should click to enlarge the pics, those cats are so darn cute)-- And here's the quilt:

The piece of white muslin I had determined the size of this quilt which is 48"x68". I had intended to use Kona white but didn't have a big enough piece. The muslin is really light weight and I think this will be the perfect summer quilt. Sigh...

Ginger Blossoms and leftovers

2009-06-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Very little got done around the house yesterday. No phone calls or emails were returned, no blog reading, no Facebooking, no Flickr stalking. Instead, I spent most of the day finishing up my quilt top for Dana's Old Red Barn Co. quilt along and it's finally done. I love this quilt top. I originally intended to use the Urban Chiks line by Swell but I had mostly fat quarters and there would be more waste than I wanted. So I raided my stash and came up with this: It's mostly Ginger Blossom and Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson. I threw in a little Amy Butler and some cute dots from a line called Iota by Robert Kaufman. I can't believe I had all that in my stash and never played with it. This quilt top measures 72"x84".

I had left overs from each strip and made a modified coin quilt. I added a little Kona white around each of the coin strips and then sashed with Bahama Blue also by Kona. I think the blue really make the strips pop. I like this "leftovers" quilt just as much as the other one. This coin quilt top measures 43"x55".
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some catching up to do...

Sunset at the beach

2009-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

To the delight of fellow beach goers at sunset today, my dog Max exhibited his most excellent boogie boarding skills. Max came to our rescue group very overweight. His owners were elderly and surrendered him due to illness. His previous life was pretty sedentary, no walks and lots of food. He must have thought he arrived in hell when he came to my house. I put him on a diet and we took daily walks. Max does not enjoy these walks. When it got warmer, I started taking him to the beach and letting him swim in. He does not enjoy swimming. Max does not enjoy any form of exercise. When I first put him on the boogie board, he didn't really like it until he realized he could ride the waves in and not have to swim in. He now loves the boogie board. To say that Max was the most photographed dog/person at the beach today would be an understatement. There were so many people taking his picture today, you would have thought it was Paris Hilton out there boogie boarding and not a fat, overweight dachshund.

I took a few videos today but most were grainy. This is the best one. For your viewing pleasure:

Rainy Saturday

2009-06-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

What's a beach girl to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon? Go to T.J. Maxx and look for Munki Munki pjs. I didn't find the coveted camper or gnomes but I did find these: The material is 100% cotton but very sheer, almost like a voile. It should make for a very soft quilt. $14.99 each and the best part.... I still have $13.00 left on the gift card!

Michelle has got me hooked on this Flickr swap group. I've got pink HR VW vans coming my way. Yippee!!

9 Patch Update and another swap

2009-06-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm finally caught up on my 9 patches. Here's a few: and a few more here...

And then I had a hare brain idea to make even more scrappy ones...

I was thinking... In July, I will have 32 nine patches from Anina's swap. I think that's also the same time AmandaJean's nine patch quilt along will end and I'll have a bazillion 9 patches from that. I can't exactly make a quilt with 11 scrappy 9 patches so I'll have to make more. Hmmm... just how many nine patches does one girl need. I guess we will find out soon.

Speaking of swaps, I've joined another. Are ya'll sensing I may have a little problem with self control? Actually, this is a small swap. It's a place mat swap and I only have to make one. My partner is Autumn and I already love her. She seems like so much fun. Go visit her blog. She may be MIA for a while because she's getting ready to go to Kauai. Lucky duck. Sigh... I wonder if I'll fit in her suitcase. I won't eat much and I'd be happy to just sleep on the beach.

Speaking of blogs, my friend Jen just enter the blogging world. She recently caught the quilting bug and has been quilting whenever she gets a chance. So go to a peek and welcome her to this madness!

Catching up on Bee Blocks

2009-06-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

For Jessica in AQB1 For Michelle in PTQB

For Adrienne in Snip Sew Send. She wanted a 6.5"x12" mini Hop, Skip and Jump block (ala Denise Schmidt).

I still owe Rachael a block for AQB2. The fabric she sent is Flights of Fancy by Paula Prass which I love. She also sent very cute ric rac which I want to include in my block so I'm still thinking about her block. Any suggestions?

Another Sneak Peek

2009-06-08T22:29:00.001-07:00

This one's my quilt top for my AQB1 bee. How can one girl get this lucky to have two amazing group of ladies make the most awesome blocks for me? I've said it before, I'm a lucky, lucky girl. Sigh....I could stare at this quilt top all day. Just waiting on a couple of blocks and this baby will be done. And THIS is the reason I love living near the beach. Nothing makes me happier than a pretty sunset.

Look what I got in the mail today!

2009-06-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

My bloggy friend Michelle sent me a present just because she loves me. Okay, I may have won a giveaway. Look at how cute the bag is! I love it! Thank you so much Michelle. Now ya'll go to Michelle's blog and tell her how cute this bag is! Go on! I know! I know! My shorts need ironing. It's been a long day and quit looking at my ugly knees.

Edited to add: I just opened up the purse to put my things in and she even stuck a piece of pink Munki Munki fabric in it. Eeeek!! I love my imaginary friend!

Cuteness

2009-06-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Alyson is a busy girl. She's got three active little girls( 7 and under) to tend to, a ginormous Great Dane and a ginormous house to take care of. On top of all that, she freelances as a graphic designer. I get tired just thinking about her days. When I found out she got a kitten to add to all that, I thought she had lost her mind. Then she sent me pictures... Bruno could eat that little kitten but he seems very taken with her. He even sits by her when she eats and waits for her to be done so he can lick the plate. So flippin cute!!! He's found himself a new buddy.

The kitten's name is Yoko. They think it's a she. They haven't taken her to the vet yet to confirm. I say if it turns out to be a he, Alyson should just name him Ono.

Embarrassed

2009-06-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off my May block for PTQB because I haven't ever made a Drunkards Path block before and it scared me. I HATE being late. I usually get my blocks out before the middle of the month but I kept dragging my feet with this block. Stephanie emailed me today to see if I had done it. She completed hers today and wanted to let me know it wasn't hard. She told me she was thinking of making a whole quilt with those blocks. My first thought was "That girl's crazy!". I decided to go for it tonight and it was so easy! I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to even try to attempt it. The block took less than a half an hour. It probably would have taken less time but lets just say I was going really slow on this block.

Here it is... Allison sent out fabrics from the Hello Betty line which I really like.
I think I may join my crazy friend Stephanie and make a whole quilt with this block.

By the way, remember my beautiful sampler quilt top from Jane's Rainbow block swap? She's organized another swap and this time it's Halloween themed. She's had great response for it and has opened up a fourth section so go take a look. You know you wanna join...

And the winner is.....

2009-05-31T22:54:00.000-07:00

Holy crap ya'll...427 entries! Blogger logged 417 comments and I got 10 emails from people who had trouble with blogger. I can't believe 427 people wanted my quilt. Ya'll sure do know how to make a girl feel wanted. I loved reading all your comments. They have really made my week. I'm slowly trying to visit everyone's blogs. For those of you that left comments about how generous I am...seriously, I'm really not. I don't like to share my chocolate or my Cheeze-its!

Anyways, the winner... I used the Random Integer Generator. I tried multiple ways to get a screenshot of it on my blog but I failed miserably. I ended up just taking a picture of my computer screen with my camera and uploading it . Yes, I'm Asian but when God was handing out the extra smart gene with computer & math skills, I must have been taking a nap because I so got the short end of the stick on that. So here's what RIG chose:

I blinked twice when I figured out who #55 was. I counted again to make sure. #55 is amandajean of Crazymomquilts! I love her blog. I've learned so much from her blog so I'm tinkled pink that she won. I hope she loves it as much as I do. I'll be sending Amandajean an email to get her snail mail address.

Thank you all for playing along. I hope some of you stop by again. I see more giveaways in the future. That was FUN!

It's done!!!!

2009-05-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for the May giveaway post, go here.

My beautiful quilt top from Another Quilting Bee 2 is done! I am beyond excited!!! Look at this beauty...

It's much prettier in person. I tried but I just couldn't get a good picture. The colors are just much more vibrant in person. I had to clip the quilt top to my gutters in order to get a picture of it. It measures 80"x96" and is by far the largest quilt I've made. I added Kona white around each block I received so it would pop. I really wanted each block to stand out. They were all so beautiful. The sashing and borders is Kona cotton in Tarragon ( which I think is my new favorite green). My niece, who has been very "meh" about all my quilts, loves this one. I don't think I can explain the utter feelings of joy when I look at this quilt. You want to know the cool thing about this quilt top? Because everyone put their own spin on each block, I can tell you who made what block just by looking at it. I did not make a single block. They were all done by my fellow quilting bee participants. My real life friends call my blog friends my "imaginary friends". All I can say is I have the best "imaginary friends" a girl could ever ask for. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has contributed a block (or two , or three...)! Ya'll have made me quite a happy girl!

Like all great productions, here are the credits: (From left to right)
1st row: Sam, Stephanie, Julie, Stephanie
2nd row: Julie, Sarah G., Sarah C, Kat
3rd row: Rachael, Aimee, Mary, Sam
4th row: Sarah C, Kat, Sarah C, Sarah G
5th row: Stephanie, Michelle, Mary, Anna

P.S. Any suggestions on how to quilt this beauty?

It's May Giveaway Day

2009-05-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

I am, I'm sure , one of hundreds participating in Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day. I found so many great blogs last time and it's so fun to see what everyone's giving away. I'm starting to accumulate quite a large collection of quilts and since I have a small addiction to joining swaps, quilting bees and quilt a longs, I'm pretty sure it's only going to get larger. So I'm giving away one of my favorite quilts. It's my String X quilt made with some of my favorite scraps. I took the quilt down to the beach today with my niece to get pictures but the wind was not cooperating. Since I dragged the poor girl down there to hold the quilt, I couldn't NOT use the pictures. Here's a close-up of the quilt.

The back of the quilt.

The finished quilt measures 46"x62". I promise it'll be sand free and freshly laundered before I send it off. Just promise me you'll love it!

I'll keep this giveaway open until May 31st at 9:00p.m.

Rainbow swap quilt top

2009-05-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I joined JanesFabrics' rainbow swap. It was a centralized quilt block swap. You choose your color and the block you wanted to do and you made 9 blocks. In the end, you would get a small sampler quilt. I wanted a larger quilt so I ended up joining 2 sections. I made 9 yellow blocks called paper pinwheels and 9 maroon blocks called friendship star variation.

Jane is a wonderful swap hostess! She is so organized and very encouraging to all the swappers. She even sent me these beautiful coasters for joining the swap! I should be the one sending HER a gift for organizing the swap. What a sweetie!

I received my blocks on Saturday. I love getting random mail from all the bees. It was so weird to get all my blocks at the same time but also exciting at the same time. I had plans for Saturday night but I started putting my blocks together when I got home. Around 1:30 a.m. I realized I needed 2 more blocks so I made 2 blocks in pink because all quilts need a little pink :) I stayed up until 4:30a.m. working on my quilt top. Sunday was an overcast/ rainy day so I was able to finish it. I didn't get a picture until today. Here it is...my pretty Rainbow quilt top....

The finished quilt top measures 66"x80". Soooo pretty!

Jane will be hosting a Halloween swap mid June so make sure you visit her blog and keep an eye out for the post. I know I'm going to.

A sneak peek and a winner!

2009-05-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

My quilt top for AQB2 is almost done. I'm waiting on one last block and then I can add the borders. I can't wait! It's so pretty!

I used the Random Number Generator to pick a winner for my giveaway. It picked #3. I tried to copy the image but it didn't work. The winner is Bumble Beans. Congrats. I'll send her an email but thank you everyone for playing along and for your sweet comments!

I'm off to go soak my feet. We went to the oceanfront last night to listen to some bands and I walked 60++ blocks in flip flops. I now have little blisters on the bottom of my feet. I've never had to put band aids on the BOTTOM of my feet before!!

Shells, coral and linen?

2009-05-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I had a basket liner laying around the house that was missing its mate. The basket had an unfortunate mishap with my dog Rocky's teeth. The liner was really cute and I didn't want to throw it out. I decided to cut it up into 5 inch squares. Since the liner is small, I only ended up with 14 squares so I paired it with some 5 inch linen squares. This was also the first time I've worked with linen and I really love it. I think I'm going to start cutting 5" squares out of my favorites so that I can make a large patchwork quilt. I'd forgotten how much I like simple patchwork quilts.

Here's a close up of the quilting details. I love my walking foot. This actually represents the true colors of the quilt. I've been playing with a photo editing software and I couldn't get the top picture right but this one I got in one try. I need to practice some more.

This finished quilt measures 34"x34" and is going to my friend Mali's mom. Her house is very beachy and she loves that seafoam green/blue color.

Thank you and a giveaway!

2009-05-19T20:03:00.001-07:00

Aww, you guys are the best! Thanks for all the sweet comments about my quilting disaster. I'm surprisingly not that upset. It's still a beautiful quilt. I just don't know what to do with it. A lot of you suggested that I still give the quilt to my friend. The friend that I'm making the quilt for had her third baby a few months ago. Her oldest is six and is the sweetest boy. Three years ago, my friend gave birth to what appeared to be a healthy 9 pound baby girl. Shortly after her birth, she developed breathing problems and died after a few hours. It turned out she had inhaled meconium during the birthing process. My friend was devastated. When she made the decision to have a third, she made it very clear that this baby was not a replacement. This baby is very much wanted and my friend has enough love for all three of her children. This new baby is a perfect baby boy and very, very loved! I've been trying to make the perfect quilt for him. I've started a few but haven't been happy with any of them. I'm sure I'll find one soon. At least I hope so. I'd like to give him his quilt before he turns 15 :)!

Anyways......to thank ya'll for all your sweet comments, I'm having a little giveaway. I made a bunch of pillows for presents recently and I have two left. I'm keeping one but the other I'm giving away. The winner gets to choose the one she/he wants.

You have a choice between this one made with Heather Ross' Mendocino (it measures 18")
or this one, also made Heather Ross' Mendocino. This one measures 16". Can you tell I kinda like this line? :)

I'm sure there will be other goodies thrown in too. Just leave a comment and let me know which one you prefer. And if you blog about it, you get an extra entry. I'll leave this open until Sunday, May 24 at 9:00 p.m. I'll pick a winner and it'll be in the mail by Tuesday.

To end this post, I'll leave you with a funny picture. They say dog owners start to look like their dogs after a while. I think my Rocky is starting to look like me. Look, he's got my squinty eyes! Heh!

To pre-wash or not to pre-wash...

2009-05-18T19:19:00.001-07:00

Remember my Look and Learn quilt? I made it to give to a friend who recently had a baby. After hand sewing the binding, I threw it in the wash and THE RED FABRICS RAN!!! I don't know what happened. I've used this charm pack before and never had a problem. I think I've made approximately 80 quilts and this is only the second time that it's happened to me. The last time it happened was when I made this quilt and while it did bleed a little, it was very faint. I'm not a big pre-washer but I may have to rethink this... at least the red fabrics. I hadn't thrown it in the dryer so I washed it again. It just made it worse... more of the red bled on the cream. I found this at the grocery store and thought I'd give it a try. The directions called for you to dissolve 3 packs in hot water. There's only one pack in the box so that's all I used. I was really nervous because I rarely wash in hot water and I didn't know if I was just going to create a bigger mess. By the way, holy heck, this stuff reeks!!

This is the result.... I now have a quilt in different shades of yellow and a little bit of brown. There are no reds, oranges, greens or blue. However, I really like the way it looks ( you might want to click on the picture to get a closer look).

The problem is this is what the back looked like before.

Now it looks like this.... I'm not sure what color to call this. Lets just say my quilt is now VERY vintage looking. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now. So sad :( All those prairie points.... My poor burned fingers ...

Speaking of burned fingers.... I hate cleaning my iron! I've tried multiple methods...this,
and this...and this...I even bought this... it was all a big pain.

I found a way to clean my iron in two minutes. Oh Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, how I love thee!!!! Seriously, two minutes!!!! And the iron doesn't need to be on so no burned fingers!!! I don't know why I never thought of it before. That Magic eraser works for EVERYTHING!!

See... nice, shiny, clean iron. Ahhh, at least SOMETHING in my life is working right...

May quilting bee blocks

2009-05-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off making Mary's block for AQB2. She made me 2 awesome blocks and I wanted to make amazing blocks for her too. I looked through a ton of books and saw a bunch of great blocks and then reality set in and I realized I didn't have her mad sewing skillz . I've been making a lot of pinwheels lately so that was the center of my inspiration for this block... This block is the Grecian Square block. The fabric line that Mary sent us was Deb Strain's Bistro and she's calling her quilt "Time for a Coffee Break".

This block is for Colleen in PTQB.

I still need to make Allison's block for PTQB but it involves curved piecing and I get nauseous thinking about it. I've got the fabric cut so at least I'm one step closer. I may see if my friend Maribeth will walk me through it.

I also made a new purse for my sister's niece. I wanted to try a new pattern but I knew I wouldn't carry it . This is for a tween so I went with a hot pink canvas like fabric ...

and a pretty green for the lining.

The pattern is called The 2 hour Tulip purse. Very easy and yes, it only takes about 2 hours.

May Giveaway Day

2009-05-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sew Mama Sew is hosting May Giveaway Day and I've decided to participate. It sounds like a fun event and I can't wait to see what everyone's giving away. I'm not sure what I'll be giving away. I have until May 27 to come up with something good. Hmmm....

AQB1 May blocks

2009-05-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

I've received 6 blocks already from my fellow AQB1 participants. Barbara sent me FOUR blocks. FOUR!!! She even added some of her own Mendocino fabrics to complete them. Thank you Barbara. I LOVE them. Sara sent me this cute block. Love the circle applique in the corner. So flippin cute!!

And Kelsey sent me this lovely. I love the wonkiness of the strip on the right.

I have been really lucky with my quilting bee blocks. Everyone in both AQB1 ans AQB2 have gone above and beyond my expectations. Ya'll sure know how to make this chica feel good. I'm going to have 2 really pretty quilts soon. I can't wait!!

**** While I was adding links, I found one more block. Karen did this one. Go take a look. So cute!!!

1 charm pack= 2 purses

2009-05-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

My friend, Maribeth showed me how to make a purse with 17 ~ 5 inch squares. Amy Butler's Midwest Modern charm packs come with 34 squares. So I made one with the blue colorway... and one with the pink colorway...

the other side of the blue...

the other side of the pink...

I chose to use a print for the lining and added a magnetic snap. It took about 2.5 hours to make each purse. It's a good size bag. The bottom of the bag is about 18". I've been carrying the pink one around for months now so it's slightly mis-shapen ( I'm hard on my bags). I made the blue one to replace the pink one but I think I'm giving it to a good friend instead. I'm thinking of making one with some of my Mendocino fabric. My friend Maribeth has made one with 6.5" blocks and it's a good beach size bag.

I also received 2 more blocks today from my AQB2 quilting bee. These are from Julie. See the little bit of ric rac in the middle of the block?

and the ric rac on the left side of this block... I love ric rac!

I'm waiting on a few more blocks and I can start putting this pretty quilt together. I can't wait!

Whirlygiggles Wednesday

2009-05-06T20:40:00.001-07:00

My whirlygiggles quilt is done* and I . LOVE. IT!!!! A pieced back made with HB Pop Garden and Kona solids ( I need to start writing down the names of the Kona cottons. I buy the colors I like on sale but when I need more, I can never figure out which ones I have).

I had intended to use this for the binding but it blended in with the border too much. I ended up finding a piece of tiny pink polka dots from my stash that worked out much better. And who doesn't love pink polka dots??

LOVE. SO. MUCH!!!

* I still need to hand sew the binding but I'll do that in front of the T.V. tomorrow.

Spicy's 1st birthday quilt

2009-05-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Sugar and spice and everything nice... this little girl is definitely sweet but waaaay more SPICY!!!!! She's barely one and can already defend herself against her four year old brother. She's a biter this one and a slapper too. I think it's funny but then again, I haven't been bitten or slapped. I think it's great that she's already got the "I'm not taking any crap from you " attitude. She's a feisty little one and I love it! However, I feel for her mama when she hits her teens... I wanted to make her a quilt for her birthday and her mama says her favorite color is pink. Hmmmm, what a coincidence. Me thinks her mama's favorite color is pink... I made a girly version of this quilt. I probably shouldn't have used so much white for a baby quilt but my friend LOVES to do laundry . Heh!

A pieced pink and green backing. If you click on the picture for a close-up, you'll see the green fabric has little bitty hearts. The pink fabric has little ballet slippers on it. Her mama wants her to be a girly girl. We shall see.....

Bloggy friends are the best!

2009-05-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

I got a surprise package in the mail from Stephanie. Just because. I love her not because she sends me cute things but because she's funny, sweet and has a heart of gold. Thanks again ,Stephanie. You're the best! (She also sent me cute socks but they were in the hamper so no pics)
And more nine patch goodness...

Addicted...

2009-05-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

To quilting bees, I've joined another...

To swaps, I've joined another..

Making pillows, ummm, I've made a few...

Last addiction: Peanut M&M's, lime flavored Tostitos and Diet Coke w/ lime. It's all I've eaten the last two days.

My name is Mushyhed and I have no self control!

Psst... wanna new purse? Michelle's doing a giveaway for 2 cute bags. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

9 Patch Madness

2009-04-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've decided to join Rachael, AmandaJean and Anina in the nine-patch madness.

I made these while watching American Idol...

and these during Dancing with the Stars...

and these during Law and Order-SVU...

and these during Letterman.

I strip pieced these. I didn't have it in me to cut a bunch of 2.5" squares. I'll go through my scraps and do that another day. I'm counting on Anina to do a 9 patch swap. If that doesn't happen, I may do a little swap of my own so that I can have more of a variety. And yes, I watch entirely way too much tv. In my defense, I rarely just "watch" tv. I'm usually sewing, or surfing the net or folding laundry along with my tv watching.

Look and Learn baby quilt

2009-04-28T14:19:00.001-07:00

This would be my third Spring to Finish project. When I first saw this baby quilt on Moda Bake Shop, I knew I wanted to make it. I loved this project when I first started it. I used a charm pack of "Look and Learn" from the American Jane line from Moda and some Kona ivory and went to town. I love triangle blocks and I love pinwheels. What I didn't love was ironing 96 2.5" squares into prairie points. I can't tell you how many times I burned myself. I pulled it out to finish because I needed a baby gift and I wanted to have finish 3 WIP projects before the month April was over. If ironing all those little squares wasn't going to do me in, pinning them was certain to do it. I hate pinning! It's a necessary evil in quilting but I still hate it. It was all worth it though because I've decided I really like prairie points in a quilt. I'm actually contemplating making a pink and green whirlygiggles quilt and adding prairie points to the border. I either have a screw loose or I'm a glutton for punishment. I used a piece of a repro vintage feedsack for the back of the quilt. This little quilt measures 36"x44". I should make smaller quilts more often. It's waaaay easier to quilt.

I just realized that there was another time I got frustrated with 2.5" blocks. My tombstone will probably read "Those damn 2.5" squares finally did her in!".

Giddiness times 12

2009-04-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

I received blocks from Aimee and Stephanie today so I thought I'd place my blocks on a piece of batting to see how it would all look together.

Take a looksie... I'm going to have the prettiest quilt thanks to all the hard work of my bloggy friends! If I knew how to do cartwheels, I'd so be doing them right now. Alas, I don't know how and I'm sure all those Reeses' peanut butter eggs I ate this Easter may prevent my butt from getting off the ground.

Dandelion Girl Quilt

2009-04-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

I finished my second project for Spring to Finish. This is another very simple quilt. I told Stephanie that I would make her MIL a quilt for a swap that we are doing. Stephanie told me that her MIL liked neutral colors and I immediately thought of this. I finished this quilt top back in February and abandoned it for other projects. Craft ADD at it's finest. I have the attention span of a flea. I used 35 charm squares from the Dandelion Girl line by Moda. I added a gold-ish border and a cream sashing and it was done. Simple to put together and I love the end result. I really love charm squares.

The finished quilt measures 50"x64" and will be on its way to Lakeland, FL and hopefully keep Stephanie's MIL warm. Because the average temperature there this week is mid to high 80s. Brrrr!

It's all Stephanie's fault...

2009-04-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

I have been so good about finishing up my forgotten projects ever since I committed to Jacquie's Spring to Finish. I haven't started new projects even though I have about 10 in my head that I would like to do. I've been sooo good.

Then on Monday I got a surprise package in the mail from my bloggy friend Stephanie. The very generous Stephanie sent me 2 ABC panels that I had wanted but also included other yummy fat quarters and 40 charm squares of Heather Bailey's Bijoux and Pop garden line. These guys taunted me. They wanted to be made into something. I paid daily visitation to them and drooled and petted them but resisted the urge to start a new project even though it was KILLING ME!

I made 2 quilt backs for some forgotten quilt tops. I started quilting a quilt that I'm making for Stephanie's MIL . I was so happy when I was done because it meant one more project completed. Then I turned the quilt around and saw a big, huge pucker. Arrrgh! I had to step away from the quilt for awhile.

I've been meaning to make a whirly giggle quilt for a while. There's a lot of great tutorials out there for it. I used this one because it's really a detailed tutorial with pictures and she also used charm squares. I had intended to make one or two blocks and then go back to fixing the puckers on my quilt. The thing is, these whirly giggle blocks are really easy to put together and before I knew it, all 20 blocks were made. I added white sashing because I really wanted to whirly giggle blocks to pop but it just seemed really white. It was also a little on the small size at 42"x52.5".

I raided my own stash of Pop Garden. I had the Pineapple Brocade line in both yellow and green so I cut 5" squares and made a border. I love the result!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend some quality time with my seam ripper.

Edited to add: Okay so it may not be ALL Stephanie's fault. I'm sure my lack of willpower may have something to do with it.

Online quilt festival

2009-04-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Amy at Park City Girl has organized an online quilting festival for bloggers to showcase their favorite quilts. My favorite quilt changes after each new project but I didn't have to think twice about what quilt I wanted to showcase.

I made this quilt over a year ago. I was new to sewing, new to quilting and new to blogs. I'm not sure how or when I first stumbled on her blog but I found Amanda Jean of crazymomquilts and she was hosting her first quilt along. The idea of making a sampler quilt seemed daunting so at first , I just lurked and followed along visually. Then I realized her instructions were clear and detailed and holy crap, she even included step by step pictures! I decided to try a block or two and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I would eagerly wait for a new week to start so I could try a new block. The time came to assemble the quilt top and add borders. I was so excited! I had been staring and petting my blocks for weeks and now I was going to finally have a quilt top. Then I read she wanted us to cut 430- 2.5" squares for the border. Huh? 430? It's gotta be a typo! Nope, no typo. She almost lost me there but I sucked it up and cut 430- 2.5" squares. You know what sucks more than cutting 430- 2.5" squares? Piecing 430- 2.5" squares! Aaah but the end result was so worth it!

Not only was this pink and green quilt my favorite color combo, I was able to use pieces of sheets from my childhood (my parents save EVERYTHING!).

And it was also my first pieced backing.

This quilt isn't perfect. I'm sure if you look close enough, you'll find plenty of mistakes but I love this quilt. I made this quilt over a year ago but I didn't have to look up how many 2.5" squares I had to cut because it's still imprinted in my brain. I initially named this quilt the pink and green sampler quilt. I was showing this quilt to a friend recently and still griping the fact that I had to cut ALL. THOSE. SQUARES! He said that I should called this quilt 430- 2.5" squares . Heh! I think I just may.

Terri's quilt

2009-04-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Jen has a sister that has been battling ovarian cancer for over three years. She has been in and out of remission and just recently found out that the cancer is back. When Jen told me this news, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Jen is one of my closest friends and recently moved back to Minnesota to be closer to her family. I miss her and think of her often. This new setback has obviously upset her and her family and my heart aches for them.

I wanted to make Terri a quilt that she could take to chemo with her. I love pictures and often find comfort in looking at pictures when I'm down. I wanted to add pictures to this quilt but I didn't want to showcase the pictures by framing them. I wanted to somehow incorporate pictures within the quilt. I wanted the quilt to be colorful, bright and happy.

The fabrics I chose were batiks with a bit of gold imprinted on it. I didn't have a pattern but had seen a quilt that I'd like that incorporated pictures in it and I tried to emulate that. I made 9 patches and triangle squares and played around with the placement. I scattered the pictures randomly throughout the quilt in no particular order. I wanted to remind Terri that she always had the love and support of her family...

and that her siblings admired her for her strength and courage...

I wanted her to laugh at the antics of her brother in law (he's wearing his daughter's Little Mermaid wig)...

and see how much her nieces and nephew look up to her...

and if she's having a particularly hard day, I hope she'll look at this sweet face and smile.

I hope Terri likes her quilt. It was truly a labor of love and I enjoyed every minute of making it.

The back of her quilt was just pretty batiks that I pieced together. The finished quilt measures 54"x54".

Easter hedgehog?

2009-04-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

I made my friend Maribeth an Easter pillow. I found this cute print here. It's an embroidery pattern but I'm entirely way too lazy to embroider it. Instead, I printed it on fabric and made a cute, little pillow. Here's a picture of my boys looking for the Easter Doxie.

Happy Easter peeps! I hope the Easter Doxie brings you all something sweet!

It's her birthday, she can cry if she wants to...

2009-04-10T14:36:00.001-07:00

actually it won't be her birthday for a couple more weeks. Is it wrong to love crying baby pictures? My friend Mali and I had a little photo op with her daughter Isabella today. We were trying to get a good picture for her birthday invites. I did eventually get a smile.

I don't think she knew what to make of the cake...

Goofy big brother Mason wanted to show off his cape I made him. Don't you love his boots?

(Mali says he like to wear his cape to the park. When people ask him what his name is, he says Superman. Duh!)

Oh lookee here, I done found myself a little bunny.

On the crafting front, the string x quilt is quilted and bound. The finished quilt measures 46"x62".

The backing is just two bright floral pieces from my stash. This may be my all time favorite quilt.

Pink and orange improv quilt...DONE!

2009-04-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

I don't think there's anything better than a nice, hot crinkly quilt right out of the dryer! Jacquie sent out a challenge last week to turn "works in progress " to finished products during the month of April. I needed that kick in the butt to finish up all my quilt tops. I have at least 5 quilt tops that need to be finished. I know. Ridiculous!

I started with my Project Improv quilt top. I love how colorful this puppy is.

For the backing, I made 4 more improvised blocks and added it to the middle of a very bright pink and orange fabric I found in my stash. You can't really see the pink in the picture but it's there.

The finished quilt measures 44"x56". In the spirit of Project Improv, this quilt will be donated.

Carrot table runner

2009-04-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

I went to visit my friend Maribeth today and she was making carrot table runners for her daughters and her sister. I consider myself Maribeth's adopted daughter so I hinted around for her to make me one. Uhm, she pointed to the cutting table and told me to make my own. Sheesh, I think the days of Maribeth making me anything are over. She taught me to sew so she knows my capabilities. Actually, it came together pretty easily. The whole project took about 2.5 hours but Maribeth already had all the strips cut for me . It's a quilt as you go project so when you're done with the top, you're also done with the quilting. I found the tutorial online for Maribeth but had zero interest in making one until I saw Maribeth's. It's so cute! She changed the carrot top a little and I like hers better than the way the tutorial has you doing it. I still have to hand sew the binding but that shouldn't take long. The tutorial for the runner is here.

*** See the basket of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs in the right hand corner? I have filled that basket no less than 3 times and that's just this week! And I'm the only one eating them.

Blocks, blocks and more blocks

2009-04-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

This is Stephanie's block for PTQB. She wanted a scrappy log cabin. I loved her choices of fabrics. Erin wanted blocks in squares and rectangles and she sent a lot of fabric so I was able to do three blocks (and she's getting more fabric back!). The first one is 9.75" square.

This one is 8" square.

Since the theme was squares and rectangles, I thought she should have a rectangular block.This one is 8.5"x10.5".

These are my blocks for Jane's Rainbow block swap. This block is called friendship star variation.

This block is called paper pinwheels.

I had to do 9 each of those blocks and I'm glad I'm done. All my April quilting bee blocks are done! Yay!

Speaking of blocks, have ya'll seen my blocks for AQB2 that Kat did for me. Fantabulous!

Obsessed...

2009-04-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

It all started Saturday afternoon when I was cleaning off my cutting table so I could start a new project. I had some scraps laying around and decided to make a string x block.
I couldn't visualize it so I had to make four of them.

The next thing I know, it's 3:15 a.m. and I had 33 blocks. I would have made more but I ran out of paper.

A quick trip to Target on Sunday and I was back in business. I made another 15 blocks for a total of 48 blocks. However, removing the paper off 48 blocks sucked! It took FOREVER!!! The result was worth it.

The finished quilt top measures 48"x64". The best part about this quilt top is that it is made COMPLETELY from scraps! Which is great since I signed up for this. I don't think I can make the backing completely from scraps. Actually, I probably could but I'd like to keep my sanity.

I'm thinking of making a queen sized string x quilt from the Amy Butler Midwest Modern collection. I've been hoarding a bunch of it and I haven't touched it because I haven't found a pattern that I love. I'd make a bigger block though, probably 12.5" and add a border. I can't imagine how many 8" blocks is needed to make a queen size one.

The tutorial for the string x blocks can be found here. Obviously, I used paper instead of a muslin foundation base because I didn't want to cut 48- 8.5" muslin blocks. It is waaaaay easier to cut paper.

I'm not one for hanging quilts...

2009-04-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

but I made an exception for this... and because it looks good next to my favorite print.

* The mini doll quilt was made with appliques from on this tutorial. Go check out her blog. She's got a great giveaway for her new patterns.

Don's 50th bday quilt

2009-03-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

My friend MaryCarol asked me to make a photo quilt for her husband's 50th birthday. I love photo quilts. I love that when you're piecing a block, there's usually someone smiling back at you in the form of a picture. She brought me a bag full of pictures and we were able to narrow it down to 16. Her husband, Don, is half Japanese so she wanted to use Asian fabrics in it but didn't want it to be too feminine. She also had a hankerchief that was given to her by Don's family in Japan that she wanted me to incorporate it in. We found a really great Koi fish print that matched the rust color in the hankerchief. We also found a really cool black fabric that had gold medallions on it. I was only able to frame 8 of her pictures with the hankerchief and for the rest, I used a Kona beige-ish color (I forgot what it was called). 4 of the pictures were black and white so I group them in the middle

Here's a close up of a block with the hankerchief and black medallion border.

The finished quilt measured 69" square. I wasn't able to go to Don's bday party but MaryCarol said that Don loved the quilt. Yay!

* Don has "Made in Japan" tatooed on his butt. I've always wanted "Made in Taiwan" tatooed on my butt with bar codes but I hate needles so I don't see it happening :)

So Giddy...

2009-03-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

The fabric for my month for AQB2 was sent out on Tuesday and 1 block has already been made. Rachael Adele made the prettiest block. I keep going back to her blog to stare at it. Go here and take a look. What are you waiting for? GO!

Oooooh, Michelle has finish her block too. SOOOOOOOO PRETTY! I can't tell you how excited I am! I hope she doesn't mind but I'm going to call it the "Ch'Irish Chain Block" :)

#6 Ah-Yi's quilt

2009-03-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

My parents both came from large families. My dad has 6 siblings and my mom has 11. I have 2 aunts that I call by name because they also have immigrated to the United States or Canada. I see them on a fairly regular basis and we have a close relationship. My other relatives, I may see once in a blue moon. I usually refer to each aunt or uncle by their title and their birth order. For example, I call the oldest male sibling, #1 Uncle. This drives my cousin Tommy crazy! He grew up with all of them and have closer relationships with them and calls them by their given name. When he speaks of an uncle or aunt by name, I always say, what number is he/her?

My parents just left to visit relatives in Taiwan and China. My mom wanted me to make a quilt for my #6 Aunt who is battling bone cancer. She didn't want a lot of black or white in the quilt. Red and gold is often used in a lot of Asian decor because it represents wealth ,long life and happiness. I found a panda print that wasn't childish and was really pretty and framed each square.
The red border fabric I used had flecks of gold also.

Here's a close up of the panda. The seal behind the panda means long life.

I hope my Ah-yi enjoys this quilt more than my dad did. When he saw it, he said "You made that? I think I saw a blanket like that at WalMart". Umm, he really has no clue.

*Ah-yi is chinese for aunt.

Quilting Bee Blocks

2009-03-24T21:13:00.001-07:00

This one's for Stephanie in the AQB2 for the month of March. She wanted a Spiderweb block. I made her 2 extra triangles also but I was too lazy to take pictures. Her Kona white didn't match my Kona white so I couldn't make her a second block. These are for Sarah in AQB1 for the month of April. Sarah wanted wonky houses in different sizes. I had some issues with them so I just kept making them until I ran out of fabric. The last one on the bottom is my favorite one.

Here's the neighborhood.

*Tutorial for the wonky houses is from here.

Happy, scrappy houses

2009-03-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

I made a bunch of scrappy house blocks last year when I first learned how to quilt. They were easy to make and gave me the needed practice in assembling blocks. I've been trying to finish up a bunch of abandoned projects and decided to turn my houses into a neighborhood. I framed each house block with Kona ivory and then sashed and bordered in a very bright yellow. At first, I thought it was too loud but now I'm loving the brightness of the quilt . I had 8 houses left after I made the front of the quilt so I continued my neighborhood to the back of the quilt. I love the crinkleness of a stippled quilt. The final measurements for this quilt is 54"x65". I haven't decided who this is going to yet. I kinda want to keep it but I have way too many quilts!

*The tutorial for the blocks came from here.

Delicate flowers...

2009-03-18T15:36:00.001-07:00

hedgehogs and ladybugs and clovers, oh my...

2009-03-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Maribeth is the one that taught me how to sew and quilt. She has always been my biggest cheerleader, always full of encouraging advice and always very complimentary of anything I do. Maribeth teaches sewing classes at a local shop and if I happen to drop in during one of her classes, she will always sing praises about me to her students. This woman just knows how to make me feel like a rock star!

She has a birthday at the end of the month and I had intended to make her a coin quilt with different shades of blue fabric since blue is her favorite color. I was browsing around Etsy one day and found THIS Japanese fabric. Maribeth LOVES hedgehogs! She also loves ladybugs and 4 leaf clovers and HELLO, this was all set on BLUE, her favorite color! I had to buy it. It was kismet!

The seller only had half a yard and the material was 100% cotton canvas so it wasn't very soft. I wanted the focus to be on the hedgehog fabric so I framed each 5" square with 1.5 " of white and then 3.5" of a colorful print. I really like the end result!

Here's a close-up of a block.

For the back, I thought I'd make the coin quilt that I'd originally planned on making. A lot of my sewing happens late night when I can't sleep and let's just say my math skills aren't that sharp at night so I made the back too small. Besides, it was too pretty to be a back so I'm going to save it for another occasion. I decided to make 3 more blocks from the scraps of the hedgehog fabric and this is the result. In hindsight, I wish I had made some of these blocks for the front to give it more of a variety but oh, well. I really, really love this backing! The finished quilt measures 50"x64". I just need to make the quilt label and then it'll be on it's way to Maribeth.

I'm going to give her the quilt early as she recently had surgery on her knee and has been feeling a little blue. I'm hoping this will cheer her up!

Another Quilting Bee 1 March blocks

2009-03-08T20:14:00.001-07:00

The first person in Another Quilting Bee 1 is Sarah who is also the one who organized the AQB 1 &2. Sarah wanted wonky log cabins at an angle and she sent great fabrics from a discontinued Heather Ross line. I don't know how she got a hold of this great line (lucky girl :)!). I loved everything she sent. This is the first block I made. I had to fiddle around a little to make it 10.5" block but I love the result. It's funny, these aren't my favorite colors but it turned out to be my favorite block. Here's her second block. I loved doing this block because it had all my favorite colors in it. I really love that bike fabric. Sooo Cute!

I'm waiting for Stephanie's fabric to arrive for AQB2 and my quilting bee commitments for March will be done.

March Blocks for PTQB

2009-03-06T14:05:00.001-08:00

This is Stephanie's block for March. She sent each of us a letter block and said we could embroider if we wanted. Since I don't embroider, I was going to leave it alone. After I completed the block, that middle block just screamed for more. I researched embroidery techniques, watch a couple of you tube videos on it and gave it a go. I did a simple back stitch. I used 6 strands of floss because I wanted to cover the pink ink but if I were to do it again, I would only use three. It kind of gave it a bulky look. I only used three strands for the detail on the inside of the lime and it turned out much better. I realized that I kinda like embroidering.

This is Sara's block. She wanted a spiderweb block made with repro fabric. I really liked her choice of fabrics.

Since I'm addicted to making these blocks, I made her a second one with her leftover fabric and some of mine.

I just got Sarah's fabric for Another Quilting Bee 1. I hope she doesn't mind a little drool on her fabric.

Mid Atlantic Quilt Show

2009-03-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday I went to the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival and I thought I'd share some of my pictures. While there were about a bizillion of quilts that I liked, these were my favorites:

This one was amazing in person. The picture doesn't do it justice.
A close up of my favorite block.

I totally meant to go buy this pattern. It still makes me laugh seeing it.

I really like this string quilt and how she appliqued pigs on it. I'm thinking of making something similar to this for my niece Jade as she was born on the Year of the Pig.

I heart this one.

This one reminds me of my friend Rich.

This one was soooo pretty!

As was this one...

This was probably my favorite. Can you figure out the cryptic message?

Lola's Quilt

2009-03-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Ruth's little boy calls his grandma "Lola". Nathan adores his Lola and she worships the ground he walks on! For Nathan's birthday, I made him a quilt.
She loved this quilt and I made a mental note to make her one for her birthday in September as we share the same birthday. I recently went to lunch with Ruth and she mentioned that she had something for me from her mom. At Nathan's birthday party, Lola had a small rice maker and I mentioned that I would like one as the one I have makes enough rice to feed a small army. Apparently Lola took my words to heart and bought me one! I had to reciprocate her kindness and make her quilt ASAP!

I kept the design of the quilt pretty basic. I made 4x4 pictures and put it on fabric paper. I framed each picture with a pretty Asian-like fabric. I used the same fabric for all the blocks so that it wouldn't look too busy. For the sashes and border, I used an ivory fabric that had flecks of gold in it as the main print has bits of gold. The backing is just a piece of blue quilter's cotton and the binding is the fabric from the frames.
I also kept the quilting pretty basic by doing "stitch in the ditch" around each picture and straight line quilting around the frame.

This was an easy project. I started at 4:00 p.m. and was finished by 2:00 a.m. This includes picking out the pictures and printing them, cutting the fabric, dinner breaks for me and the dogs and many snack breaks of Cheez its, peanut M&Ms and diet cokes (the best combo EVER!). I still have to hand sew the binding which I intend to do in front of the tv tomorrow.

I'm never certain of how well received my quilts will be as some people just aren't into handmade things. I have a feeling THIS recipient is going to LOVE her quilt!

I should be.....

2009-03-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

finishing hand sewing the binding for this quilt.... or quilting and binding these quilts...

or perhaps making the backings for these quilt tops.

Instead, I'm making these blocks...

and these scrappy blocks...

and I started these blocks today.

Hmmm, I wonder if there's such a thing called craft ADD?

Dogs, dogs everywhere!

2009-02-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to finish up projects from last year and this is one of them. I loved this fabric but didn't want to cut it up in little pieces so I just squared it up to 36". Then I added the borders and the squares. If you click to get a close up, you'll see all the fabrics were dog related. The quilt top was easy to put together but I couldn't decide on the quilting so I put it away and forgot about it. I finally decided to quilt on the diagonal with a neutral color thread. I really like the result. Here's a close-up of the middle panel. Some of the scraps from this went to make this quilt.

I just finished this quilt top for an organization called LDDR.
It's an organization that I've been involved in that rescues dachshunds and places them in good homes. I fostered two dachshunds for them and ended up adopting both of them (because I am a SUCKER!). We have a new dachshund that came in that needs major surgery so this quilt will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to LDDR. I still need to make the backing for this.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks.

Here's a picture of my boys. Max is loving on Rocky. ( I tried to fix Rocky's red eye and ended up with a creepy eye!).

My newest addiction

2009-02-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

I've joined a few virtual sewing bees and some of my fellow participants had requested the spiderweb block. I had seen this block all around blogosphere but haven't tried it because I HATE PAPER PIECING! I realized that I had better practice before I started working with other people's fabrics. Let just say that I was pleasantly surprised. These blocks are amazingly easy and addicting! This really is a great scrap project because it really uses the smallest pieces. This also may not be a good thing because my scrap piles are already out of hand. I can totally see myself keeping tiny pieces for this project. I used this tutorial.

I'm no fortune teller but I see alot of spiderweb blocks in my future...

Project Improv blocks

2009-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

Here are my blocks for Project Improv. Nothing fancy but I'm really enjoying the whole improvised piecing thing. I'm also excited that I learned how to make mosaics on Flickr. I can't believe how easy it was. Me thinks there are more photo mosaics in my future.

CSI- VA Beach

2009-02-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

The culprit: The evidence up close:

Rocky is such a little shit! He has gotten into more trouble this past week. He chewed through my pillow sham and I was going to toss it but I decided to repurpose it into a sleeping bag for him and Max. Dachshunds naturally like to burrow under things and these two love to be under blankets.

Here's a pic of the two of them in their new sleeping bag.

A close up:

The two of them in the sleeping bag. Here you can see Max's fat tush.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I appliqued a heart on the torn spot. The whole project took 20 minutes. It's lined with sherpa and only cost me $4.50. Not bad considering they sell it online for $40.00 and up. This is the third one that I've made for them. Rocky has already torn up another one. I wonder how long this one will last?

Yippee!!!

2009-02-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

This is the first large quilt that I've stippled and DID NOT HAVE PUCKERS! I'm so excited! I think I might have FINALLY gotten the hang of it. This quilt isn't large. It's approximately 48"x58". Here's a close up of some of the blocks. I bought a Valentine's strip quilt kit last year and never did anything with it. It came with 7 one quarter yards. I added 3 more quarter yards from my stash and I'm really happy with the result.

For the backing, I used a Valentine's panel and framed it with red dots.

Here's a close up of the Valentine panel. February themed quilt done and now I need to start thinking about what I'll do for March.

Put your sunglasses on....

2009-02-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

because this quilt top is BRIGHT!

$1.05...

2009-02-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

is all I paid to make these blocks. They are made from mostly scrap fabrics. I did buy 1/8 yard of 2 orange & pink fabrics but the rest is scraps. I guess technically I paid for all the fabric at one point but some of the scraps I had intended to throw away but never got around to it. I'm glad I didn't. This is going to be a VERY BRIGHT quilt. I'm really enjoying improv piecing!

Valentine Doll Quilt

2009-02-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

This quilt WILL be going to Ava. I made it with scraps from my February themed quilt. Because the quilt was so small, the stippling on this quilt was so easy. Here's the back. More scraps pieced together. Easy peasy! The finished quilt measures 21"x25".

Now I just need to get motivated to go to the post office!

Pieced Together Quilting Bee

2009-02-08T21:14:00.000-08:00

I've joined a virtual quilting bee. Each month, the selected person sends fabric out to each of us and we create a block for her. Each person decides on what kind of block and size of the block. There are 20 women in this quilting bee so some months, we'll do two blocks. I think this will give me an opportunity to try new techniques and styles. I think someone in the group wants a paper pieced block. I'm not crazy about paper piecing and normally, I wouldn't try it so this forces me to practice and step out of my comfort zone. My month won't be until January of 2010. It seems like so far away but 2008 flew by for me.
The first block is for Katie. She wanted an improvised block. Let me tell you, I was sweating it cutting someone's else's fabric. I stressed a little when I started to put the block together but I stopped thinking about it and just started to piece scraps of fabric together. All the fabric in this block is hers except for the solid brown piece. The finished block is 12". I'm beginning to really like improvised scrap blocks.

Melissa's Ice Pop Quilt

2009-02-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have been busy, busy, busy. I've got a bad case of insomnia right now so I'm not sleeping well at all. When I can't sleep, I sew. It's completely calms and soothes me. Right now I have 2 quilts that need binding and three that need to be quilted. I've also been making blocks for three other quilts I'm working on.
I just finished a quilt for my friend Melissa. Melissa is the coolest chick. She has the best personality, a great sense of self and an open heart. This past summer, she used her vacation time to go Africa on a mission trip. She spends most of her Sundays after church at a nursing home visiting "her ladies". She doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk! She, like me, also loves to travel and has been to some great places like Antarctica, Spain, Greece and Italy. I wanted to make her a modern quilt with colorful colors but her living room is neutral so I went with neutral colors.
I wanted to try Denise Schmidt's Ice Pop Quilt for a while. The only problem was it required templates and I hate templates! I've done alot of improv blocks lately and it has given me the courage to just wing it. I cut 2.5 inch strip for the middle and just added strips until I had a 15x20 inch block. I then added 6 inch borders and the result was a 56"x71" quilt. I quilted it on the diagonal again and I think I finally got it right!

For the back, I recreated one of the blocks from the front only larger. I wish I had made the middle brown strips longer but part of sleep deprivation is mush brain. I love the end results for both the front and the back. I've been calling this quilt the "2fer" quilt. It's almost like having two quilts. She can display the front or the back. Also, Melissa's birthday is on the 16th and she just moved into a new house. I hope she likes the "2fer" quilt as much as I do!

Doll quilt vs the dryer....

2009-02-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

And the doll quilt loses! I'm not sure what happened but the quilt must have gotten caught in the dryer somehow. When I pulled it out, it had a small hole and a huge burn mark. I brought it over to show Mali and Mason said "Oh, you brought me a new blanket!". He took it and laid it on the ground and had a picnic with his M&Ms. The blanket is now Mason's. I guess it was really too big to be a doll blanket. Here's Mason sleeping with the burned quilt. At least he's enjoying it!

Doll quilt

2009-02-05T16:59:00.001-08:00

This little quilt was made using scraps from 2 baby boy quilts that I helped my friend Maribeth with. I was going to give it to my sister for my newest nephew who is due in the spring, but it's really small. It measures 27x31 . I decided to give it to my little friend, Ava , who is three and loves to play with dolls. I don't know if her dolls have adjusted to the cold Minnesota weather but a quilt might keep them warm, regardless of the color. I quilted on the diagonal again and I'm getting better. The lines on this quilt were much straighter.
The back is just a piece of a really pretty blue swirly fabric.

Here's a close up.

I really like making small doll quilts. It's nice to be able to start and finish a quilt in just a few hours. I have a feeling Ava's dolls will be getting more quilts.

Who let the dogs out??!!

2009-02-04T13:10:00.001-08:00

I know I say this about all my quilts but I really love this one. The individual blocks are all made from scraps. I had some really cute scraps of dogs that I didn't know what to do with but they were just too cute to throw out. I used them for the center of each block and I just kept adding fabrics. I didn't worry about making everything even until the end and I trimmed each block down to a 10" square. This was my first improvised quilt and I really am going to do more of these. It was really freeing to just add fabric without pre-cutting the exact measurements. I really like the off set ones. I couldn't get a good picture of the quilting. I quilted concentric squares around each block and I really like the result (Click on the picture to get a close up).

Here's a close up of some of the blocks.

This one is my favorite one. For the back, I used a piece of flannel that had really bright flowers on it. This back is sooooo soft!

Here's a close -up of the fabric.

The quilt measures 46x56. I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away.

Neat & Tidy

2009-02-02T16:03:00.001-08:00

The pattern for this quilt is called "Neat & Tidy". It's made with 8 fat quarters , 3/8 of a yard for the inner border and 1 yard for the outer border. I bought this quilt kit at the Quilt show last year because I liked all the fabrics in this kit and that was the only way to get it. I put the quilt top together sometime last year and promptly forgot about it. I do that sometimes. I remember there were alot of little 2.5" squares and I just wanted to be done!

Here's a close up of some of the fabric. Sooo pretty!
The back is just a large piece of a frosted pink. I stippled the quilt and had some issues with puckering. After I washed and dried it, you could barely see the puckers so I was happy.

The binding is a brown polka dot fabric. I love polka dots for bindings.

Even though there were alot of small squares, I don't think it took me long to put together. If I remember correctly, I think maybe less than a day. I'm faster at it now. I have more confidence so I may try this pattern again and see how long it takes me now. The quilt measures 50"x59".

Dragonfly Festival

2009-01-31T21:07:00.001-08:00

I made this quilt top last year but just got around to quilting it recently. The pattern is from the book "Turning Twenty Again". All the fabrics in this quilt is very Asian looking and has dragonflys throughout. I don't think this picture does it justice . It's really a very pretty quilt!

Here's a closeup of some of the fabric.

Originally, I had wanted to quilt dragonflys throughout but it was too hard and I kept dragging my feet in finishing it. I picked all the old designs out and decided to just make whimsical loops. Here's a close up of one little block.
The back is just lotus plants on pink fabric--sooooo cute!

Here's a close up of the back. This may be going to my mom for her birthday. We'll see. I really like this one too.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

2009-01-30T09:32:00.001-08:00

My little friend Nathan turns 2 today! Nathan is my friend Ruth's little boy and he is just too cute for words. He's very animated and loves to talk. Unfortunately, I don't usually know what he's saying. However, he's gotten the word "Auntie" down to a science and makes my heart melt when he shouts it. Yes, he doesn't just say "Auntie", he SHOUTS it. You know, just in case I can't hear him. I love that when he wants to give you a fist bump, he puts his little fist in front of you and yells "knuck"!
For his birthday, I made him a sailboat quilt. The pattern came from the book "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts". It was really easy to put together. I think the entire quilt (not including the binding) took me about 7 hours. For the quilting, I free motioned clouds in the sky and waves for the sea (click on the picture for a close up). I added some pictures from this past year and stippled around them.

The flag was a tribute to my friend Rich who loves all things pirate.

Happy Birthday little Nay Nay! Smooches from your Auntie Chen!

OCD Anyone?

2009-01-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

I am a creature of habit. I have a favorite dish at every restaurant I go to regularly and rarely do I try a different item. When I walk my dogs, I take the same path every day. I wear the same outfits over and over again. I pretty much follow the same routine daily. Apparently, when I like a quilt pattern, I make the same quilt over and over again. I can't help it. This pattern is so friggin easy and I can usually get a quilt top done in a few hours. Instant satisfaction! I'm going to call this one "Fruit Loops". It just reminds me of a bowl of Fruit Loops.

Here's a close up of a block. I used the Brooke sheets from the Pottery Barn Kids collection for the middle. So. Stinkin. Cute. Although I hate stippling, I love the wrinkly effects it produces.

For the back, I just pieced fabrics from the same colorway until I got the size I needed. I think the back looks like a pack of Fruit Stripe gum. Maybe I'll just call this quilt "Yummy"!

I heart pink and green

2009-01-28T12:36:00.001-08:00

I love this quilt. The pattern is the Flea Market Fancy quilt from crazymomquilts. The quilt top is sooo easy to put together. I think it took me around 5 hours and that included the cutting. I quilted on the diagonal again and although I'm getting better, some of my lines are still crooked.For the back, I just pieced leftover green and pink fabrics. There's something about a pieced back that I just love.

This one's a keeper. I REALLY DON'T need another quilt but I really heart this one!

Smores Snowman quilt

2009-01-26T21:40:00.001-08:00

This is actually the first quilt of 2009. I wanted to make a theme quilt for every month and for January, I wanted a snowman one. I hated every snowman fabric I found and I thought I'd have to change the theme for January until I stumbled on this line. Snowman fabric with PINK, LIME GREEN, and LAVENDER backgrounds. SOOO friggin cute! This quilt was really easy to put together. The middle square is 6" and the frames 3.5". I quilted on the diagonal and let's just say, I need to practice.
For the back, I just pieced strips of the snowman fabric with a mottled turqouise.

For the binding, I used a neutral fabric with zig zags. I had to bias cut the binding and to say I didn't enjoy this would be an understatement (Actually my friend Maribeth did most of the work ! I just did the swearing!). Matching the zig zag was a HUGE pain! Regardless, I love this quilt. It's such a happy, colorful quilt!

Mali's birthday quilt

2009-01-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

I'm not good at naming quilts. I like to keep it nice and simple so this one's called "Mali's birthday quilt" . Heh. Mali is one of a small group of my friends that just gets me. She and I have the same sense of humor (very similiar to that of a 13 year old boy) and she's always 100% behind me in every crazy scheme that I've got planned. One of the things I love most about Mali is that she gives 100% to everything she does, whether it be work, being a great mom , crafting or being my sidekick to my newest adventure. It was a given that I'd make her a quilt for her birthday. When I asked what color she wanted her birthday quilt to be, she said pink and I knew we'd be friends forever. This quilt was really easy to put together. I based it on Crazymomquilts Flea Market Fancy quilt. The middle square is 5" and the frames around it 3.5". The border is 2 inches. I had intended to add another 5 inch border around it but I didn't like the fabric I chose. I tried a different one and didn't like that either. After seam ripping the border TWICE because I didn't like the fabric choices, I decided to leave it alone.
For the back, I just framed a really pretty piece of pink and brown print with a brown border and cute dots that I'd originally planned for the front. Umm, I did the math wrong and that's way the bottom strip is so thin. I quilted lines on the diagonal and as you can see, it's a little uneven. It's was my second time doing this technique and let's just say, I need more practice. The great thing about Mali is that she doesn't care. She never sees my mistakes ( at least she doesn't tell me). She's just happy that I made her a quilt. And i'm just happy that she likes it!