Long arm

I've rented the long arm for the day. I can't share any of my projects because they're gifts. But I'll give you a sneak peak.

Traveling Stash

I am not sure if you have heard of the traveling stash, but it's awesome! You can find more out about it here. I won the stash from Wendy at Stitchduchess Crazy & Sane quilting world



Here are the rules and guidelines:

RULES:

1. Be an active blogger. Post about receiving and the giveaway on your blog in a timely manner.
2. There is a note in the box that logs where the box has been. Please add your info and place the note back in the box.
3. There is a list of Rules and Guidelines in the box. Please read and follow these and return the list to the box.
4. You may take anything you like from the box. Just replace every item with comparable quilt shop quality items equal to the amount taken. See guidelines below.
5. Ship the box to the next person in a reasonable amount of time.
6. Due to the amount of postage shipping is only within the USA.

GUIDELINES:
The definition of a stash is a secret store of valuables. For quilters it's a collection of usable quality products. The stash should contain mostly fabric with a few patterns and/or books and other items.

• FABRIC:     Should be quilt shop quality in new condition. Scraps should only be included if they are cut for adding to a collection and packaged accordingly (i.e. I-Spy squares, postage stamp squares, etc.). There should not be anything under a Fat Quarter unless packaged like this.
• PATTERNS/BOOKS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. They should be kept to a minimum (books are bulky and add weight).
• OTHER ITEMS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. Tools, notions, etc. These items should be packaged if necessary.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• If you receive a box with anything that is of "poor" condition you should not feel guilty in tossing it out.
• Only put items in the box that you would be proud to own. The box is NOT a dumping place for all your outdated unwanted items.
• Items should be free of smoke and pet hairs.
• You must replace items you take with the same quantity of like-kind items. Replacing more than you take is always welcome.  :)

Here are the pictures from the stash I received today!

 Look at all that fun fabric and patterns!

Right now this is what I took (I might change my mind before I ship it out ;) )

And right now I've added one charm pack.  (You'll have to wait until you get the box to see what else you are getting!)  If you would like to be entered to win this, please leave me a comment telling me where you live!

This will be open until Thursday April 11th.

Cross & crown

I love this block, its name, how it looks.  I couldn't decide if I wanted red on white or white on red, so I went to my husband. He said white on red, he liked there being the red as a background.

I found some very good directions for this block, (here)

And this is what my block looked like!

What I would like to finish in April

I have my goals for the year, but I would like to make goals for April, my husband will be traveling quite a bit, so I will have plenty of time to sew.

*I would like to have a good chunk of my lorax quilts started (cut out, maybe start sewing).

*I would like to put the binding on the two long arm projects I have from last year.

*I would also like to start working on some Christmas stockings.

*And this is a goal I know I'll hit, I would like to finish two quilts.

I'm linking to

Design wall Monday

Woohoo! Sewing during break! My favorite! I feel so productive. Especially if I don't look at the rest of the house!

I don't actually have a design wall. But I have a twin size bed. So that is where I usually design.

What I have up today is my string blocks. Which are 9". I have 20 blocks and no more of that blue I used. It's definitely not very big, so I will need to add more. Another 20 probably ;) what color do you suggest I add?

What's on your wall today? Check out all the other projects at The patchwork times! (http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/04/01/design-wall-monday-12/)

April goals check in

Wow it's the first of April. I'm checking in on my goals.

1. 37 posts. I think right now this goal will be met. But the year isn't over yet.

2. I really want to finish something soon. I have so many on-going projects, it would be nice to say, hey, I got this one done! Hopefully during break this week I can finish 1.

3. I still have two new quilts to start. (One is the string quilt) and then I also have the lorax tumbler quilt (which will also use my fat cat ruler). My sister bought me a quilt book, which I'd love to try a pattern from.

I feel like I've picked good goals for the year. They're totally doable to me, and I've been able to make progress on them.

fun blocks

Ohh buddy! This block was a toughie!! Not difficult per say, but it took a lot of time.  I actually started this Sunday night.  I got about half of the paper piecing pieces done (say that three times fast!).  Then Monday night I finished the pieces and sewed them into a block.  So it was time to remove the paper! I feel like that has taken more time than the sewing! (of course I would rather sew than remove paper, so. . .)

I was disappointed some of the seams didn't match up, and that is what I struggle the most with in paper piecing.  I think if I would have removed the paper before sewing them, I could have matched them up better.

I really really like this block, but there is NO way I would make a full quilt out of this block by paper piecing!  I found the paper pieced pattern here at generations quilt patterns.  It was very helpful, but I don't like the paper piecing.

Lorax tumbler

Well I have decided what I am going to do with all my lorax fabric.  I searched and searched and found a lot of lovely lorax quilts.  One of the ones that I kept coming back to was the tumblers quilt.  The only problem, is that the tumbler quilt doesn't use the panels!!

So I have decided I am going to make two quilts.  One as a tumbler and one with the panels.  I am going to work on the panels quilt first, because I will use the left overs from it for my tumbler quilt.

Here is some of the inspiration I have drawn from.

Sparrow in flight tumbler tutorial. Except I will be using my fat cat ruler for the tumblers.I have also not yet decided if I will add any solids to the quilt.

And this is the picture that kept popping up when I searched for a lorax quilt.  at Safieh's blog. I just LOVE it!! And I cannot wait to make my own!

And my quilt with panels, I have finally decided what I will do with it, but I am not going to try to write it out here.  But I will tell you that when I woke up Saturday morning, or I should say right before I woke up, I saw this quilt in my dreams, as in a finished Lorax quilt! So I went to my ipad (using the app Bamboo paper (which I blogged about here) ) I drew up a design.

I have one quilt I am working on, that I would like to have done by the first of next week (my spring break) and then the others (both my log cabins) are Christmas presents, so they can wait.  Because all I can think about is my Lorax quilt(s).  The tumbler I think is going to come together easily, and I will probably use it as leaders and enders.  The panels will take some math, drawing, and figuring out!  But it will be SO worth it in the end!

I think this is my most text centric post I have written! But I just had to get this out! I am SO excited about having an idea for my Lorax quilt!  I have said it before but I am bound by my imagination, if I don't have a vision for a project it won't get done.  That is why some people I love have gotten quilts, and others haven't.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday, because to me this is the first step in quilt making.

Friday night Sew in

I am HOME and able to sew on a Friday night!!  So I can participate in :



I am so excited! Tonight I am working on:

My black & white log cabin (these are getting big!) I added one more round, which means they finish at 14" now!! They're so much bigger!!

And my wonky log cabin.  I have 2 purples, 2 greens, 2 blues, 1 black (but I have a lot of strings from my black & white log cabin, so I have about three more of those started!)

And my string quilt.  That works well with the wonky log cabin, because they both use my strings.  Now if only Minnie would let me get to my strings!

 
While I am sewing I have been watching X-files.  This has been my first foray into this show! I enjoy it!

And I JUST found out this, but there is something call Feline Friday, and since Minnie LOVES to help me sew, I am linking up to it! The first feline Friday I found is at Sarah Did it and the other is at Jody's Book review

The Lorax

I know I haven't written about it a lot in here, but I am quite green, I recycle everything and try to buy packaging that is either recyclable or that is minimal.  One of my favorite books since I was a kid was the Lorax book.  I don't know how I didn't find out about this sooner, but in January I found Lorax fabric on fatquartershop.com, so I knew I had to buy some! I don't buy there as often as I like because I love touching and feeling fabric that I buy.  Of course everything I have gotten from them has been lovely!

So I bought this fat quarter bundle, that includes a panel and 9 fat quarters.

I also bought some fabric just to have, since I don't know what design I am going to do.

On fatquartershop.com they have some patterns, I didn't buy them, but they definitely all showcase the fabric, even if it is differently.

As I continued looking I find Beaquilter, who has a tutorial on her blog about making a quilt with the fabrics.

this will definitely be something I keep thinking about.  I have thought about buying a solid (I think a dark purple would be lovely [I bought the earth tones pack]) and using that to go with it.  But I want to make sure you can see the fabrics and what is in it!

Fun blocks

This block I have seen called many things. But the only name I can remember is crown of thorns.

I'm starting to get enough blocks I'm thinking about sashing and borders. I had an idea for the border, but I'm not sure I will have the fabric for it!

I am linking up to Kathy's Slow stitching sundays

Kathy

Kathy asked for a churn dash block with cream background and then my choice for the color.  I found this pink and I thought it would go nicely!  I kind of want to make a whole quilt of churn dashes now!

this is the block she sent me, I just love this little kitty

All it's patchwork gooness, then it's little ball of yarn!

Fun blocks

This was paper pieced.It is called palm leaves.  I did it slightly different than the pattern, the pattern called for two of the leaves to be facing inside.

I've found one if the reasons I don't like paper piecing is the fabric it wastes.But the results are awesome!

I almost had to rip some seams when I didn't make sure I had enough of some of the greens I was using! Because each paper pieced part is half of the palm leaf.

Debra

This is my block for Debra.  She was my partner in May or June last year, and had made me a kitty, but it got lost in the mail.  Well it was lost in the mail.  So she sent me another one.  Well here comes our February Swap and Debra's partner says she can't do the swap, so I step in and say that I can make her a block since she found the kitty block that was lost in the mail.

She asked for a starflower.  I LOVED this block! I am not sure I have done it as a star flower block, I have done it as a pinwheel type block.

Left overs

When I made my grandfathers Jacobs ladder quilt I cut a lot of extra pieces for it, because I wanted A LOT of variety. Which I got, but with a lot of left overs.

I think I finally found what I'll do with them!!

I love that because of how it's set up it looks like there are two patterns! the first is the pinwheels! the second is the squares/diamonds the pinwheels form!

fun blocks - two

While I was working on other things I used these as leaders and enders and was able to finish them up easily.

Greek cross.  Although it kind of looks like the red cross cross now ;) I should have made the outside triangles blue, but oh well, I kind of like the two colors.

I wanted something easy to do, so a Jacobs ladder block.  I really like how this one looks in two colors!

Log cabin

My log cabins sure are coming along!  They are getting bigger.  I am trying to decide how big to make them.  How big I make them will decide on how big the quilt ends up being!  I think I am going to add one more round of white and black.  I also thought I had counted off enough to make the right number of squares, but I guess not!  So I have about three more to make!

I was worried about the shades of white I chose, but I think the only ones that don't work as well are the ones that had green on them.  oh well.  I didn't use it for much!

Goals check in

I know I'm a few days late, but I was sewing all weekend and didn't have a chance to post.   Here is my original goals post in January (where did the time go!)

1. I have posted in my blog about 25 times this year.  I didn't post as much in February as I would have liked, but I also wasn't able to be in my sewing room much.

2. I am on track to finish 1 by the end of this month, and three more anytime.  So that's four and it's not even half way through the year :)

3. I am making a string quilt (which I have done string quilts but not this way). I would really like to try a rail fence block.  I tried it a few years ago and it went HORRIBLY wrong.

Block for Ida

This is the block I made for Ida.  This is going to be one scrappy quilt!! I tried to make it with no duplicates.  But I have two that are the same. 

fun blocks - carpenters wheel

I have wanted to do this block, but it's SO intricate.  And has so many pieces! many of the times when I have seen it, I see it used as a medallion and so it's slightly larger than the other blocks, but for uniformity I wanted to make it 12".  I also am not a huge fan of triangles, especially when I can use HSTs so I googled.  And look what I found!

Isn't this AWESOME! I found it on quiltingboard.com.  It will help me out SO much!

Here is the block ALL done! I must say I quite like it! I might make one larger and make a full quilt out of it.  I will not do one this size again! those pieces were SMALL!