Stash Blaster: Week 6

Egads!  It's Tuesday night all ready??  Yikes!!

First things first, the winner of the January Stash Blaster giveaway is Mandy of Loverbunny Designs with her Camp Out Fingerless Mitts.  She won this fun little coin purse (pictured below) that I made which will be filled with some of my favorite notions.

Congratulations Mandy!  I'll be sending you an email shortly.

For last week's project I decided to make Baby Tuckey a bonnet from Vintage Knits for Modern Baby.  I used a skein of Belmoral Shetland wool that I received (along with other yarn & fiber) as trade for spinning some buffalo roving for the owner of Wyoming Wool Works in Dubois.

I chose this pattern to be my first from this book because I loved the modern take on an older style cap and thought it would look great on either a boy or a girl.  It still needs a button and I'm glad to have a lovely stash of vintage buttons to choose from.  The pattern was well written and I was able to complete the bonnet in a few hours.  The one complaint I have is I couldn't find a stitchionary in the book and since there can be different abbreviations for stitches I got a little confused on one of the decreases.  Luckily I was able to figure it out and continue on.

Modern Baby Bonnet for Baby Tuckey

I also started a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt using my Simply Color jelly roll.  If you haven't seen the Instagram mania for this quilt you must, just search #scrappytripalong and see what all the hubbub is about!

There's also a new yarn up in my Etsy shop today.  I'm not much for pink normally, but I added a couple splashes of purple and a tiny bit of teal and really love how the color turned out.  It's approximately 86 yards of sport to DK weight and would make a great child's hat or pair of mitten, or maybe even a pair of wristers for you!

'So In Love' handspun yarn

So that's what I've been up to, how about you?  It's your turn!  Grab a Stash Blaster button from the sidebar and link up your finished project(s) from the past week. Remember, that your link-up will also enter you into this month's giveaway drawing.


***A quick note on comments:  I love and appreciate each and every comment I receive so much! And I respond to every comment, with one exception.  If you are not a Blogger user than you are most likely a "no-reply blogger" which means that your comment comes through to my email with a return address of noreply-comment@blogger.com.  Sadly, that means I can't respond back.  So if you're not hearing from me after you leave a comment be sure to follow this brief tutorial so that I can reply!

Fave 5 Friday

Today my 5 favorite pictures are all about sewing. Enjoy!

My design wall. On the top, more progress on my Hometown Heart & Home quilt (sorry the giveaway on my LQS blog is closed). On the bottom, my Little Apples HSTs and blocks that have started arriving from the 3x6 & 4x5 bees.

Sherbet Pips demo quilt for my work is finished!

I learned how to use the longarm this week. So far, I've only learned to use programmed designs, but there's a lot to that too. You don't just set it up & let it go. Well, maybe a little. :) Hopefully soon I'll be able to learn more detailed & free motion quilting. That's what I'd like to do for my sister's wedding quilt.

The lovely Amy (needledfig) taught me how to crochet yesterday. We had a great lesson on all the basic stitches. She made them so easy to learn. In return I showed her how to do hand piecing, which is how I'm doing by Farmer's Wife Quilt. I think I got the better end of the deal. :)

I was so excited about my new skill that I found a tutorial for granny squares and made this fun little thing. There are definitely some problem areas, but I'll get it eventually. I also started a cowl for winter, but when I got to my 4th row (of 145 stitches!) I realized that I had, in fact, gotten it twisted. Blargh!

I designed a flannel charm pack scarf this week (so stay tuned for a tutorial soon). Sorry about the goofy self portrait. Jake was supposed to be my model, but it never happened.

Lindsay from Lindsay Sews posted this charm pack on Flickr to swap & I jumped at the chance! I am such a fan of Tula Pink. I love all her whimsical designs. I swapped her a Hometown charm pack & one of my fun little sketchbooks. This charm pack is going to become kitchen goodies. I am in desperate need of new oven mitts & have super ugly pot holders, so soon I will have beautiful bug-y decor in my kitchen instead! :)

Thanks for visiting! If you'd like to join the party just post your 5 (or so) favorite pictures from the past week. Be sure to mention that you're linking up here & there's a button on the sidebar if you'd like. Then come back here and link up. It's as easy as that!

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.

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!

{Sew} Modern Monday

I can't believe it's be TWO WEEKS since I last posted! Where does the time go? Really? I haven't a clue.

I've followed {Sew} Modern Monday over at Canoe Ridge Creations for several weeks now and I thought it would be fun to join in this week.

This week I finished two bee blocks...

House block for Rebecca- Fat Stash Bee

I had never made a house block before, but I skimmed over several house block tutorials and watched the group photo stream to see what my fellow hivers were posting. They came up with some amazing blocks so I knew I had some work to do. I started by finding a house that had nice simple shapes. Obviously, my house looks nothing like the one I chose, but it inspired some of my design. I love how you can see the reflections of the neighborhood trees in the windows. I thought the woman's silhouette would make the house a home.

While searching through my stash trying to find the right fabrics I decided that instead of a daytime block she needed a sunrise/sunset scene. I also found the leaf fabric and thought it would look fun to have the vines crawling up the outside of the house. And of course, a house isn't a home without flower beds a green lawn and a stone walkway to the front door. I originally didn't have the walkway, but something was missing so I some unstitching, cutting, and restitching and Voila! Much better. :)

Mod Mosaic block for Pam - MSQB

My first attempt at this block wasn't a complete failure, but I cut the pieces WAY too small and it took me as long to 6"x6" block as it did to make the full-size (12 1/2" square) above. Many of my fellow MSQBee'rs suggested planning the block out before sewing it up, but I decided to improv it. I wish the colors and the patterns were mixed a little differently, but I think it's a pretty good first (second?) try.

Back of mug rug for Jessica - Mug Rug Swap Adventure

This mug rug is headed to Australia! The rest of it is a surprise until Jessica receives it. One of her likes listed was fabrics from Sweetwater. Since I had just won 4 yards of the gorgeous Sunkissed I decided to use some for this swap. That's all I sharing on this for now. :)

And on a family note...

Here's my happy puppies after our walk to the mailbox today.

Look! There's a little bit of green grass!

WIP Wednesday

This is my first week of joining in on WIP Wednesday. Go on over to freshly pieced to check out all the other cool WIPs going on.

I've decided that I need to enjoy the process more. I like to work on projects, but I'm always looking towards the final product. What's the point in creating these things if I'm not having fun the whole time? I think posting my progress will help. Sometimes I feel like I haven't gotten anything done because I don't have that final product yet.

So, here's what I've been up to this week...

Squares, circles, and binding cut for Birdie Big Blocks quilt, previously mentioned in this post.

Cottage Apron (from "One-Yard Wonders") pieces cut.

Secret project

Pieces cut for Amy Butler Cosmo Bag for ABSS Sew Along.

Now to start putting things together. :)

Latest Projects

I'm LOVING my new sewing machine. She's a bit touchy about things sometimes, but that's to be expected since I'm not used to working on a computerized machine. The picture below is my first attempt at free motion quilting (FMQ). Boy was that fun! Obviously, I need work on controlling my stitch length, but I think I did a pretty good job for a first try. I've always been a doodler and quickly realized that FMQ is just doodling. :)

Pot Holder

Mini Quilt for an online swap.

This quilt is on its way to London. I hope it makes it there OK, I've never shipped international before.

Close-up of the tail.

Close-up of his scales.

You can't see it in the pictures, but in the blue floral fabric in the corners I stitched some waves for the fish to swim through.

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by!

A Quilter's Dream

Or at least, a newbie quilter's dream...

My Christmas present from Jake's aunt, who taught [is still teaching] me how to quilt.

All the right feet.

Even more feet.

A place for everything.

She also brought me a cute quilt pattern with some gorgeous fabric...

And this cool western purse...

With cute detailing...

And pockets around the entire inside...

...And this cool bag that looks like a quilt!

Thanks Leigh!!!!

Virtual Quilting Bees

When I began sewing last summer I started looking for inspiration online. This search opened up a whole new world that I had no idea even existed. I had heard/read about blogs and forums and such, but had no idea what they were really all about. After following link after link after link I discovered that people were meeting on various online forums and swapping things in the mail. I joined SwapBot which is a fun way to meet people from all over the world and learn new crafts. I've learned how to do redwork embroidery, how to make fabric yo-yos, learned what mug rugs are, and braved new to me quilting techniques. For those who don't know what mug rugs are, they are miniature quilts, approximately 6" X 8", large enough to hold your mug and a small snack.

I've also discovered that there is so much more to Flickr than just posting pictures. (I sort of knew that before, but I had a difficult time navigating the site until recently.) With this discovery I found even more swaps and was introduced to the world of Virtual Quilting Bees. The specifics of each bee vary, but basically there are a set number of members for each bee and they commit to making a quilt block for each of the other members throughout the bee's life. Each member hosts a different month and they decide what sort of block they would like the other members to make for them. Sometimes the host sends out fabric to the others and sometimes we use fabric from our own stash, it just depends on the bee.

I am in 2 bees right now. The first one I signed up for is called String Me Along. It is a 16 month bee with 1 host each month. The host sends out fabric to the rest of us with a pattern and instructions. We have close to a month to complete the block and send it back. I just received the fabric today, so I'll be working on it later this week.

The other bee is the Modern Stash Quilting Bee (MSQB). MSQB is a 6 month bee with 12 participants, so we have 2 hosts each month. In this one we use fabric from our own stash to create the blocks. The host posts their request with a picture of an example block and we make our blocks from this information.

So, enough talk...Here are pictures of the first two blocks for the MSQB.

Framed fussy cut improv block in yellow and gray.

Bento Box.

This will be cut into four pieces and sewn together with pieces from the other blocks to make a unique and colorful quilt.