Fave 5 Friday

As most of you know I was in California for a long weekend to visit family & go to my sister's master's graduation. What I forgot to mention is that we were also celebrating her engagement! So this week's Fave 5 Friday is dedicated to my family and my future brother-in-law.

Wendy with my future brother-in-law, Mike.

The first of 3 planes it took me to get to Long Beach, CA. There were only 19 passenger seats! (Don't mind the cute lady with the crazy eyes. I was trying to snap the photo before she stood up. Didn't quite make it in time.)

Sister right before getting hooded and becoming "Master Wendy." :)

My brother (and Wendy's twin), Brian, with his lovely lady, Maria. She also graduated this week, but several days after Wendy & I just didn't want to be in the city for that long. Congratulations Maria!

And what's a (mostly) sewing blog without at least one sewing picture. These blocks were made for our Quilts for Smithville tornado victims effort. If you like to help visit our Flickr group or visit this post to see what we're doing.

WIP Wednesday

Yesterday on Talkin' Tuesday we were chatting about our UFO's (unfinished projects) and I realized that I had several projects that I had started before our move in February and haven't even unpacked yet. So since it's finally spring here I figured it was time to finish those unfinished WIPs so that I can have a fresh start with lots of new projects. :)

Here's what was packed away:

A fun wall hanging for my husband's Aunt Leigh. It was intended to be a Christmas present, but I ran out of the yellow to make the binding. I finally got more binding fabric and then it was time to move. It should only take me another hour or so to finish. So sad that it's been in my WIP pile for so long.

This is going to be a Firefly FMQ mini quilt for a swap.

This is all cut up and ready to become an apron.

Just need to cut out the applique paper for all these pieces then I can start putting this fun quilt together.

I was very overwhelmed by all this stuff when it was packed up, but now that I've re-sorted it and shared I feel like I can get all this conquered in the next couple weeks.

On the completed projects front, I finished my sewing room and some bee blocks this week. My father-in-law came for a short visit and helped put new (non-saggy) shelves in my kitchen cupboards. He also tilled up a spot for the garden and helped Jake build a second bookcase for the house. The bookcase is still a WIP because the wood was warped so it's being straightened and then it needs a finish put on it.

My last WIP is my Quilts for Smithville call for donations for victims of last weeks tornadoes, and giveaway. If you don't think you have time to make an entire quilt to donate there is a group over on Flickr where each of us are making blocks and sending them off to the fabulous Selina to piece together and quilt.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Be sure to visit to see what everyone else is working on this week.

Bee Blocks and Other Swaps

Here's what I've been working on this week...

MSQB April block

Lindseykron asked for a wonky star in rust, teal, and white. Although this block was quick & fun to make I never would have tried it on mine own. After making it, I'm looking forward to making many more of these block. :)

Fat Stash Bee April block

Jodi (jkae1989) asked for a modified bento box for a quilt for her teenage son. She sent that awesome grey & black vine-y fabric and asked for her block to be black, grey, white, and red.

String Me Along Bee April block

Franswimmer also asked for modified bento box using some lovely batiks.

I can also finally share a couple swaps that I sent off a couple weeks ago. Remember those gorgeous mermaid/octopus hoops I showed the other day? Well, the hoops below are my end of that swap.

This was for the Diptych Hoopla Swap on Craftster. Sadly, my end of the swap was sent out pretty late because my first plan failed and everything I tried to do to fix it just made it worse. I finally decided to take a new approach and stitch over some fun fantasy fabrics.

The large piece took a lot longer than expected, but I finally got it done.

The complimentary piece was a lot of fun because I got to get creative with the big white open space of the swan. I had a different pattern on its tail at first, but when I started to feather the neck I realized the feathering the whole body was the way to go. The 3 flowers were a lot of fun to make too. I learned a lot of new techniques making these pieces and I hope that my partner enjoys them.

I also recently participated in a mug rug swap. This is what showed up in my mailbox from Jessica, all the way from Australia. Aren't the cowboy silhouette and dresden plate sunrise amazing?

This is what Jessica received in return. She said her favorite fabric designers is Sweetwater so I decided to use the lovely Sunkissed fabrics.

I'm linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday. Please head over there to see what everyone else is working on. Also please check out my Quilts for Smithville call for donations for tornado victims and see what we're giving away!