What's Up Wednesday: Fabric, Books and Hearts

Last Wednesday was our guild's February monthly meeting.  The Sewing Studio provides us meeting space and 15% off purchases.  I try and be good but I also think it's nice to support our LQS.

I wanted to buy at least a yard of every Blueberry Park print they carried (which is all of them!), but I "settled" for these seven and several yards of this gorgeous Alexander Henry black and white.

Our guild has a new library thanks to Lucky Spool Media.  I checked out Bedroom Style by April Rosenthal and plan to spend some time browsing while I am on vacation this week.  I enjoy listening to her on The QuiltCast podcast so I am really glad to have the opportunity to read her book.

I love mysteries and have discovered the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny.  I am on the third book at the moment and can't seem to put these books down.  The fictional town of Three Pines sounds lovely and I can imagine myself having coffee or wine at the bistro with a group of friends.  If you love murder mysteries, I highly recommend these.

My friend Caroline made this lovely heart mini for me!  Isn't it wonderful?!  I just love the varied sizes of the hearts overlapping, and her quilting is fantastic!

On the off chance that I get to do some sewing while in Montana, I brought along these fabrics to make a bee block for Cindy.  She is making a quilt for her sweet granddaughter and is requesting #booksforbabyquilt  blocks from Patchwork, Please!.  Several blocks have already been made, and it's easy to see this will be a special quilt!

Thanks for stopping by,

52 Quilters Block

If you give me a deadline, I tend to wait until right before that date to finish.  That's my explanation/excuse for waiting so long to finish my 52 Quilters patchwork block.  We have until the end of this month, so you could say I am actually ahead of schedule...that is until I point out I was the featured quilter in Week 7.... of 2015! 

I debated quite a while on what block to make to represent my week.  In the end I went with a sewing machine....appropriate as my week was during QuiltCon.  The block pattern is part of the Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots series benefitting St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and the sewing machine can be found here 

Our block is to finish at 8" so I needed to do a ton some quilty math to scale this block down from 12.5" x 16".  There are 32 pieces in the sewing machine, each requiring adjustment.  I basically reduced each block piece in half to make the block approximately 6"x8" and added borders to square it to 8.5" unfinished.

I recently read in this post by Elizabeth there are a number of creative benefits to procrastinating!  She sites this NY Times article which is quite interesting.  If you want to explain to others why you procrastinate so much, take a read! 

Thanks for stopping by,

January Bee Blocks

Despite an unexpected hospital stay (I'm OK), I managed to finish my January blocks in the month of January!  I will use the hospital stay as my excuse though to not get them in the mail early enough for the recipients to receive them in January ;-)

For Peace Circle of do. Good Stitches, Steph requested rainbow/low volume diamond HSTs keeping them in two halves so she can mix them up for better variety.

Elizabeth is working on a new pattern so our Mid Century Modern bee blocks are top secret!

Sew Sisters doesn't start back up until February, so technically I am all caught up....sort of!

Thanks for stopping by,

Friday Finish: Toddler Layover

With the fat quarters of Luke Haynes' new fabric line I received from a friend, I made a toddler version of my Layover quilt.

The brushed cotton side is so soft, especially when paired with the peppered cottons.

The indoor photographs do not do justice to the gorgeous colors and texture.  Hoping to get better quilt photos once this top has been quilted.

The weather here these past few days has been rainy and windy so outside pictures are not doable at the moment.  

Quilt top measures 32"x48"

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  

Keep safe and warm my friends.  There's crazy weather everywhere this weekend.

2016 Finish Along Q1 List

I did not get a chance to link up with the first quarter Finish Along, but for my own accountability purposes I am making a list to finishes to complete.

I would like to make two more Layover quilts this quarter.  I have all the blocks made for a toddler size, and most of the fabric cut for another twin size.

Also on my list is a purple version of the Have a Heart quilt for my daughter.  Again, most of the fabric has been cut; it's just a matter of making a zillion HSTs, trimming and then assembling into a quilt.

This new toy was just delivered, so I guess learning how to use it while quilting the above mentioned quilts is also on my first quarter list!

How's your 2016 going so far in regards to sewing projects?

Friday Finish: Quilter's Planner Cover

I love planners and tend to have more than one going at a time.  Yes, I know they say that's not the best way to stay organized, but it "works" for me. 

I ordered the Quilter's Planner which came with a nice tutorial for a cover by Stephanie and Amanda. If you search the hashtag #zippynotebookcover on Instagram, you will see a variety of amazing covers!

The best feature of the cover is the zipper pocket on top for holding pens, small rulers and other tools.  The only zipper I had on hand long enough was a plain white one, but the beautiful Carkai and Architextures fabric by Carolyn Friedlander more than makes up for that!  

I even had a blingy teal elastic strip in my sewing supplies.  The elastic can be wrapped around the planner to hold it closed when not in use.  The picture above is a better picture of how pretty the elastic looks even though this is not how it is used.

 There are pockets on the inside flaps as well as a business card holder.  I love the "measuring tape" ribbon that serves as a bookmark.

This counts as my first finish of 2016 and I am happily linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts!

Hope your 2016 is off to a wonderful start!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sew Sisters

The last of 2015 bee blocks were made literally the last days of 2015.  What can I say?  "I won't be late in 2016!" ?

Shelly asked for a scrappy version of 13 Spools improv herringbone block. 

Stephanie wanted flying geese blocks to add to her Gorgeous Gertie MCM Bee blocks.

These two blocks were made while on Christmas break in Montana.  Note to self: next time bring more fabrics and take a picture of finished blocks.  I thought I had planned my block making supplies sufficiently, but I only had enough of the appropriate fabrics to make Stephanie eight flying geese, and there were more duplications in Shelly's block that I wanted, but hey they are finished!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your 2016 is off to a great start!