Quilt Show & Tula Pink Quilt-Along

Had a busy weekend!! Quilt show on Sat in Morehead City. It was fantastic!! I just love looking at all the different designs and color combo’s that people come up with. Its very inspiring.

One in particular really caught my eye because it was all paper piecing and the colors were spectacular together. After The Harry Potter quilt I am definitely not afraid, and instead, am in awe of this part of the quilting world. People do some amazing things with paper piecing.

Check out this beauty:


Each one of those fans that you see is a block. Each block probably had, oh like 50 pieces or more in it it seemed like. It was incredible. Someone had some amazing patience to work on this as long as they did. Add in the great borders and the really cool quilting and you have one amazing king sized quilt.

On another note, I only worked on 2 things yesterday. A small gift for a special person. I wish I could show it but I don’t know if they read this and I don’t want to take a chance on spoiling it.

I also worked on another Tula Pink block. I only have 3 left for this month, which I am going to try to finish up this week/weekend. This was block #61 and it was a simple one.

New Books!!!!

I got home last night and had an Amazon box sitting on my doorstep. Now, we are Prime members and the bulk of what we own has come from Amazon so an Amazon box is not surprising. What is, is that I didn’t order anything!

Giddy me ran inside and tore open the box and look at what was inside:
It was like Christmas morning! My bestest friend Julie decided to hook me up. And did she ever!!!

There are 3 books:
The Bag Making Bible (Amazon)
Sew and Stow (Amazon)
Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop (Amazon)

I dove into the Fat Quarterly book last night and oh my. I really need to quit my job so I can have more time to sew. But I guess that would give me less money to spend on sewing supplies so working full time turns out to be the lesser of two evils. Hahahahaha!!!

I plan on devouring the other 2 this week. I already see some quick projects from the Sew and Stow book that I would like to make.

So much to sew and sew little time.

Tula Pink Quilt-Along

I was able to work on a few more Tula Pink blocks out of her new book over the weekend. I ended up making 6 blocks from 3 of the books designs. Remember, I am doubling up on blocks since I have the extra fabric every month.

I started out with Block #31. Loved the little 9 patch on these. And, when I say little, I mean little. These suckers were cut at 1″ I believe, which makes them 1/2″ after seam allowances. All of these blocks finish at 6.5″ I believe.

Block #31

For some reason the second one came out blurry. Sorry. Guess I moved at the last second or something.

Block #31…Take two

I made 2 of the blocks below, #51. They were both identical in fabric and construction so I see no point in posting 2 pictures. These were probably the ones I was most worried about because of all the points. I think they came out pretty good. I may have only lost a couple of tips out of both blocks so not too shabby.

Block #51

#71 was another one that I made 2 of the exact same ones of. I think out of all of them, these are one of my favorite ones. The combination of the bright blue with the contrasting deep plum purple makes for a really striking block in person.

Block #71

So, that’s 6 locks from the book (12 total) that I have made. I still have 2.5 maybe 3 weeks before the next fabrics show up so that still gives me plenty of time to finish up the other 4 blocks that are scheduled for May.

While these are a blast to make I am really glad that this is a 10 month Quilt-Along. Without the structure of something like that, I could easily see myself setting these to the side and forgetting about them or pushing other things ahead of them. I do really well with goals and schedules. I have to say that I am really enjoying my 1st Quilt-Along. Maybe there are more to come!

My goals this week are to get another section of the surprise quilt sorted and pieced and to get all the wedding fabrics in order and make sure that I have designs nailed down so that I can start cutting into the gorgeous Joel Dewberry fabrics.

Quilt show this weekend in Morehead City so I may try to fit in a Tula Pink block or two this week to make up for the time spent there. Can’t wait to see all the gorgeous quilts!!

 

 

 

 

Marshall Doorstop

Funny story. When we first moved into our house we took out all of the interior doors. (Except the bathroom of course). 2 bedrooms, 2 closets, linen closet, pantry, and laundry room. Gone. Our house is so small that looking down the hallway at the old, cheap doors was just horrendous. So, one by one, I put in new doors. Even the bathroom one eventually. And now it looks phenomenal. But, one thing continues to bug the ever loving daylights out of me. For some reason, my bedroom door refuses to stay open. Sure it will open, but it stays at about the halfway to 3/4ths point. I am assuming that either the doorframe is a bit crooked or I messed up a little when installing the door. We’ll go with the door frame being crooked. Yep, that’s the problem.

I decided yesterday that I have had enough. So, after hubby picked out the fabric, I whipped up this super cute zippered doorstop pouch. Now I just need to get some filling for it.

I used a tutorial from one of the first blogs that I ever read, Oh Fransson

I love it! I doubled up on the med weight interfacing. She only calls for med weight but I wanted it to stand up a bit more and without any heavy weight interfacing around, I figured that was my best bet.

I also got a few other things done yesterday but I will save those for a separate post.

Happy Mothers Day!!

Finished & Listed

WOWZERS!!! The response to the Tula Pink book giveaway has been crazy!! Thank you everyone for stopping by. I wish I could give all of you a book. Because of everyones book suggestions my Amazon wish list has exponentially grown over the past 2 days. What a fun question to ask!

On Sun, I listed a couple more things in the Etsy store and figured I should show them here also.

First up: a Jewelry Travel Case/Roll-Up.

Jewelry Travel Roll-Up

In the past my jewelry has always just gone in a baggie. So, when I made one of these for myself, it was so simple that I knew more were to come. This pink paisley is the same fabric I made mine out of and I still have some left. (This pictures do not do it justice…bad picture takers – raise your hands….*me *me *me) It has 2 zippered pockets that are great for necklaces, bracelets. There is also a ribbon ring placket. You just untie the ribbon, slide your rings on and re-tie it. I also use those ribbons as post earring holders. They make little holes in the ribbon but you can’t tell.

View of Zippers up close

All rolled up!

Secondly, I made some Halloween Pillow Covers. I love all of my fall/winter holidays and the decorations that go with them. It’s a bit early, but I figured why not. I had this fabric in the stash and figured they would be perfect for 2 16″ pillow covers. I used 1 print on the front that has this great black and orange repeating pattern, and a dotted black and white on the back. I love that you can showcase these in a few different ways depending on your mood for the day! The pillow inserts are just simple 16″ pillows that I found at Wal-Mart. Because of shipping costs, they are not included in the listing. These covers have 10″ or 12″ zippers on the bottom for pillow insertion and removal. (can’t remember the exact length)

Pillow Fronts

1 Front & 1 Back

Pillow Backs

I have been working on a 4th of July table runner this week. (I told you that I like holidays!! hahaha) Hope to have that listed over the weekend and then it’s on to more Tula Pink blocks. Sewing has been a lot of fun lately and I think its because I am really loving all these small things. Its nice to see things getting finished. Especially when the fabrics are coming out of your stash!!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!

****Edited to add our winner.

 

WOW!! 196 comments. What a response!!

After double checking the comments below with the emails that I received to make sure I counted correctly and that there were no duplicates, Random.Org chose #66!! Sarah @ nohatsinthehouse.com.  Congrats Sarah!! Just as this was my first giveaway, Sarah also hosted her first one for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway week. Her paper pieced birthstone patterns are calling my name!!

Thank you to everyone who entered. I hate that all of you couldn’t be a winner of this book. I will say though that I  have been given enough reading material to last a lifetime so thank you! (my bank account may not, but I will….hehehe)

And so there are no questions I made sure to screenshot the random.org box

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I LOVE Giveaway Day!  A TON of awesome giveaways that you can look at and enter  all together in one spot.  Thank you Sew Mama Sew for hosting this super fun event again. I entered a TON of giveaways last year and actually won something! This year, I thought I would pay it forward and offer up something great to giveaway…A brand spankin’ new copy of Tula Pink’s City Sampler – 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.

Tula Pink’s City Sampler – 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

I am completely in love with my copy and would love to share that love with one of you!! These blocks are small and you can get started making them with fat quarters or fat eights. Even those cuts will make a couple of blocks. This would also be a teriffic scrap buster quilt. Easy peasy!

Tula Pink’s City Sampler – 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

I am a complete bookaholic (not sure that is a word but it is an accurate description) so….

To enter – Just tell me your favorite Sewing/Quilting book! Or, if you don’t like or have sewing/quilting books, than any book in general. I am not discriminatory when it comes to books.

Unfortunately, due to rising postal costs this giveaway is not open to international. Sorry!

The giveaway will remain open until May 10 at 5pm PST.  I will let Random.org pick a winner and than they will be notified by email immediately after. If you are a no reply blogger please leave your email in your comment ( please do not make a separate comment for your email) so I will be able to contact you.  If I am unable to contact the winner after a week I will redraw a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

Tula Pink Quilt-Along

Got a great new book a couple weeks ago: Tula Pink’s City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

This book really interested me because, as much appreciation as I have for sampler quilts and the time invested in them, I really don’t love appliqué and curves, and all the other more time consuming techniques. They make a beautiful end product, but aren’t for me. This book on the other hand, is all about squares and rectangles and triangles. Now, those I can handle!!

I knew I wanted to make these blocks but I also knew that with so much going on and a full time job that I would make a few and than they would probably get stuck in the never ending to-do pile. So, instead, I joined an online block of the month (BOM). Every month I get sent fabrics to make the 10 blocks that are on the group’s to-do list and I have a self-imposed deadline of a month to do them. This is going to be RIGHT up my alley!!

I got my first set of fabrics for May blocks in on Friday and WOW! I wasn’t really sure what to expect and I was thoroughly surprised. There was a mixture of some very newly released fabrics and some coordinating prints and solids. After admiring and petting them for a while (don’t judge! They are so silky!!) I figured better now than never and got to cutting.

Here they all are before cutting into them:

I ended up signing up for the fat quarter BOM subscription. Since these squares are only 6″ (I will have lots of fabric left over) I decided to make 2 sets of squares. The second set of squares is going to be equal opposites of the first set. The dark solid in all the pictures is actually a dark very saturated purple. Like an eggplant purple. With the blues, greens, and pinks it actually looks really cool together.

First 3 sets of blocks:


Ok. This one below was supposed to be an opposite but apparently I can’t watch tv and chain piece at the same time. The blue print is supposed to be in the outside corners, but oh well. I am just going to pretend that it gives it more character.

I am hoping that since these are such small blocks that I will be able to get a few sets done every week. Just enough to keep me interested and not overdo it until the next months fabrics come in for the next set of blocks.

Oh, and I also finished up a jewelry travel roll-up today along with some Halloween pillow covers. My goal is to have it all listed in the store sometime tomorrow.