Tuesday, August 13, 2013

In other news

I've been taking a break from making City Sampler blocks to prep more Lollypop Trees blocks to take to an upcoming quilt retreat.
 
Here are the two I had done previously.
 
 
 
And here are the four that I've worked on since last Friday.
 


Two years ago I bought this pattern and signed up for Island Quilter's Kaffe Club.  Now that my collection has grown, I'm finding it easier and more enjoyable selecting fabrics.  It still takes me almost a day to select and prep the pieces for hand appliqueing.  But I am still really enjoying it.

Finding the right backgrounds was a challenge though.  I had originally wanted to do all my blocks in the background used in the first two blocks but I didn't have enough.  I did a lot of searching online and found only one place that still had it.  When the fabric arrived it was white and not cream...ugh.  So after more searching I came up with two more background that I think work pretty good. 

I'm still on the hunt for one more and hopefully...fingers crossed...the background I ordered a few days ago will be the right one.

That's all I've been doing.  What about y'all?

P.S.  I need more green in my blocks...don't you think?

Did you guess correctly?

 
 
 
No one got even close to the correct number. 
I wish I had that few to finish. 
 
But the person who got closest and
is the winner of the giveaway is
 
Dianne
(no blog)
 
who guessed 65.
 
Please contact me with your mailing address
so that I can mail your prize to you.
 

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Another 17 done...

 
 
Only 37 left to go!

Monday, August 5, 2013

46 down...

 
 
...and only 54 more to go.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Soooooo...what's new with you?

Me?  Been keepin' busy...just not busy bloggin'. 

In the month since my last post I've...

 
...finished my traditional Cathedral Windows table runner. 
In the end I decided to do the finishing by machine.
 
 
We also got the longarm up and running finally. 
And here's my practice piece after getting it set up. 
 
Longarm quilted Quilt #12

 
It's amazing how rusty I was after having now quilted for a few months...ack. 
There were more than a few OOPSIES...trust me.


Next up was this small Scrappy Trip quilt using a couple jelly rolls.  Because I didn't want to set mine like everyone else's, I chose to do a chevron pattern.  And I'm very happy with the results.  This makes the 13th quilt I've longarmed if you include my practice pieces...which I do.

 
Here's a shot of the back.
 
 
 
Next up was this...
 
 
This is a pattern I came up with to use a bundle of five 1 yard cuts that I had purchased. 
In the end I had a 1/2 yard left which is just enough for the binding.
 
 
Right now I'm working on a few things simultaneously...
one is a postage stamp quilt that I'm not quite ready to reveal. 
 
 
The past week or so I've been prepping EPP shapes to take on a quilt retreat in a
couple of weeks.  One is Pies & Tarts (not shown) and the other is this one.
 
 
Both patterns are from Patchwork With Busy Fingers. 
This hexagon block is destined to become a couch pillow when it's finished. 
Or would a wallhanging would be better?
 
 
I've also started a small embroidery piece to try out working on black fabric. 
To transfer the pattern I used a white Gelly Roll pen I found at Michael's.
 
 
So far so good.
 
 
And lastly, I officially started sewing blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler book. 
 
 
Some local friends and I are each making a quilt using the book and right now we're all
just making blocks.  I think only one of us has her layout figured out.
 
I managed to make 22 blocks yesterday which only leaves 78 to go.
 
Here's my brights stash all sorted by color.  Having them sorted makes
picking fabrics for each block soooooo much easier.

 
 
Well that's all for now. 
 
Well except for this!
 
Till next time...

GIVEAWAY Time!!!

I know I'm UBER belated on this but here it goes.
 
To celebrate
 
500 Followers
and my
4 Year Blogiversary
 
I'm having a GIVEAWAY!  And here's what's up for grabs...
 
 
101 Fabulous Small Quilts
Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter
Seam-Fix Seam Ripper
 
 
For a chance to win all you have to do is post a comment
guessing how many quilt tops do I have waiting to be quilted. 
 
Here is a photo of them all...my secret shame...LOL.
When I ran out of room to hang them, they had to go into the
laundry basket below.   And now the basket is OVERFLOWING.
 
 
 
There are table runners, little quilts, wall quilts, lap quilts and bed quilts. 
The sizes range from 18"x24" up to king size quilts. 
 
 
So you have what it takes to guess the right number?
 
You have until Wednesday, August 7th, to make you guess.
 
Good luck!