A late block and a beanie.

Wow almost a month since my last post and not too much to show for it. I crocheted this beanie for myself (modeled by my lovely cousin and my son) I used this pattern and Ultra Alpaca yarn. Raveled.

I final finished my last quilt block for last month's exchange and wisely chose not to participate this month. I would like to make myself a lunch bag for bringing to school and a catnip toy for the kitty but we will see if that happens. I have two tests next week and a paper due so I have other priorities this weekend.

Swaps

A few days ago this beautiful little quilt arrived in the mail for me. For now I think it will live on top of the stereo cabinet, making it look pretty. I have finished 2 of the 3 blocks I need to make for this month. I made the heart shaped block using this tutorial. Now I should finish getting my house ready for visitors and for my little man to be home again.

Stacked Rainbow Doll Quilt

Last night I finished this little quilt for the TBW Doll Quilt Swap I have found myself heading up. I had told myself no more little quilt swaps, I was running out of places to put them. But I couldn't resist this one and I am glad I didn't because this little quilt was a lot of fun to make and it turned out so nicely that it will be hard to let it go. It ended up 17" x 24.5". It was inspired by this block and this baby quilt.

Here is shot of the label on the back, which I will hopefully remember to fill out before I get it in the mail.

Button for Quilt Block Exchange

HTML:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1043123@N25/" title="Quilt Block Exchange"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3462/3789485743_b243c9a127_m.jpg" width="200" alt="QBE Button" /></a>

Lost of blocks and a doll quilt peek

Today has been a busy day of quilting. First I quilted the doll quilt I pieced last night that I am making for this exchange. I am having a lot of fun with this little quilt and I will post a full picture when I get it bound, labeled and ready to send. Then I worked on my blocks for August's quilt block exchange. 1. 12.5" - "red, white and blue" 2. 6.5" - "aqua, red and white" 3. 12.5" - this was originally made for the aqua red and white block but then I realized it was 6" too big so now it is going to my mom for her "anything goes" 4. 9.5" - "black and white" and 5. 12.5" - red, white and black. I still have a couple of pink, orange and white blocks to make but I am waiting on some fabric I ordered for those.

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3. 4.

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Swap mini quilt received.

This little beauty arrived in the mail today. It was part of the Spring Fling Round Robin 3. I made an 8" center block and then 3 other quilters added 2 borders and quilted it before it came back to me. I am very pleased with how it turned out. It was fun being part of the round robin but I don't think I will be doing any more similar swaps any time soon. I will be starting college again this fall so I will be short on time and I don't know what I would do with any more mini quilts.

I picked up this fabric today for my little bits quilt. I got a good bit of feedback suggesting an orange back but my husband was not terribly enthusiastic about so much orange in our living room. There weren't tons of great options locally but this at least is 108" wide even if it is perfect otherwise.

Four of six blocks for July.

Here are the first 4 of 6 blocks for the July quilt block exchange. A scrappy log cabin 12.5", "green" 12.5", black and white 9.5" and "boys" 12.5". It has been fun challenging myself with the diverse requests for this swap. For this month I still have an "anything goes" block and a black and white with one color star block.

Excuses, slippers, and quilt blocks.

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. First we went on a long road trip through Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. It was a lot of driving, some great scenery and some dinosaur museums. We visited with my Dad's siblings, went to my cousins wedding and didn't get much sleep. I did get some knitting done while we were driving and almost have my brother's slippers ready to felt. But with all the work to be done on our backyard fence I haven't gotten around to finishing them.

The last few days we have all been laid up with a lovely snuffed up nose issue. Today I am still not feeling 100% but I did get this block finished for a block swap. The request was for 12.5" girly/princess.

Here are two more 12.5" blocks I finished before we left on vacation for the same swap. The first person requested "scrappy log cabin" and the second "greens".

A little late

Here is the 12.5" block for my mom for the Quilt Block Exchange. Only a couple days late. Now I have 3 new ones to make by the end of June.

Quilt Block Exchange

Today I received this lovely block from Isaacsmama. My plan is to collect an assortment 12.5" blocks to use for Project Linus. Also todayI made these 12.5" blocks to send out as part of the same quilt block exchange.

Mini quilts from Finland

These were waiting for me when I got home from visiting, they came all the way from Finland! They are part of a mini quilt triptych swap (I sent her these).  I love them, so different than anything I would think to make. They also came with some chocolate (lasted about 10 min), some tea and some cute little bird napkins which I may have trouble bringing myself to use. I also had a center block for the Spring Fling Round Robin waiting for me, which I need to add borders to to bring it up to 12.5" and I have no idea what to do but I do have the fabric I am going to do it with. 

While I was home at my parents a couple weeks ago I picked up this pink polka dot fabric to border my Ciopinno quilt. I have one side sewn on and if Clara takes a nap sometime soon maybe I will get the other three sewn on as well.

Quilt Show and a Magic Yarn Ball.

Last week was busy as I headed over to visit my parents' house to help my mom set up, take down and photograph a quilt show (link) she organized at her church. I also brought over many of my quilts to be displayed. In the days leading up to the show I worked feverishly (for me) to get a few quilts together to be available for sale.  With my mom's help I got the binding on the three little yellow coins baby quilts and got a raw edge applique charm quilt put together and finished the binding on it late the night before the show. Here are the finished products, one of the three baby quilts was purchased but the other two did not find homes so I will have to decide what to do.

On the raw edge applique quilt (tutorial) I used spray on adhesive to attach the squares as well as to "baste" the layers and that seemed to work well. Then I used the multi-stitch zig-zag to sew 1/4" in from each of the squares' edges and quilt the border. Marking before hand was very important. I marked one corner for each square to line them up and marked the edge so I would know where to start quilting. All in all it was pretty quick to whip up and the result was quite nice, I will have to try some more.

On the way home from my parents' (after losing my keys when I packed them in to the trunk resulting in a feverish search) I me up with a fellow Raveler to exchange magic yarn balls as part of a swap. I also got to meet her kids and hubby. It was very hard to resist unwinding that ball of yarn right there in my car before I drove home. So even though I got home a bit late after wandering around Pike’s Place Market with my sister I unwrapped the yarn not long after I got home and here are the results. First the yarn, 2 skeins of a pretty grey wool/soybean blend that is very soft and I think may end up as a shrug/shawl of some sort. I wore one my sister made and I think I have fallen in love with shawls. Anyway, back to the yarn. In the center was this beautiful handspun yarn, with beads, beads! I am so excited. I love the colors and this may also end up as a scarf/shawl of some sort… There was also some lovely fuzzy soft blue yarn, also hand spun I believe.

Patti also knitted up these adorable dolls for my kids. My son is loving the dragon and had a lot of fun with it in the car, though it was bad and had to “sit on the wall”. My daughter also had fun with her doll in the car, chewing on the dreads, perfect!

For me there was a pattern (I also sew), a dish towel, little purse, sewing kit (very handy!), some cool flower stitch markers (Layden pronounced them "pretty"), a bead and a piece of fabric to make a pincushion, art smock and small tote bag. And to share with my husband a bottle of wine, which I am waiting until tonight to open, can’t wait to taste it! Oh yes, there was also a cool flannel stuffed carrot which was promptly appropriated by Layden and is MIA.

While at my parents' I also stopped by Goodwill and picked up some clothes to refashion for myself and 4 dress shirts for Oli, two of which fit (I consider that a win).

Fairies are landing

Well my fairyee has received her package and quickly figured out that I was her fairy so now I can blog about it too! First I want to say that she is an awesome photographer and has great pictures up on her site of the stuff I sent her so check it out. Here is the picture I took just before I sealed up the box.

I sent her a largish wall hanging quilt with all different fabrics so she could hang it up in her sewing space as inspiration because she said she wanted to learn how to quilt. I sent a drawstring backpack with emergency vehicles on it for her little boy and made a similar one for Layden. For her little girl (just about the same age as Clara) I knitted a little doll. And because it seems like the husbands are always left out I sent along a coffee sleeve for him.

My fairy has also arrived all the way from Israel! She sent hand embroidered sweatshirts for the kids, some homemade tea and delicious halvah cookies. And last but not least two pieces of art based on some pics of Oli with Clara and me with Layden. The tea and cookies were briefly MIA last night because Layden stashed them under the couch. It was a rough couple hours when I couldn't find them but I eventually got Layden to show me where they were hidden. The sweatshirts are a bit big but apparently they are handmade by a group of grandmas who will only let you buy them a size or two too big. That is for the best though, they will fit a bit longer this way. She include a recipe for the Halvah cookies also: 100 grams butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 1 cup tahini, 1 egg, vanilla. I have tried two of the tea blends so far and both were delicious.

 

 

Last two FQ's

The last two fat quarters have arrived. They came from Andrea and Carmell. I love the bright colors in the top one and while I usually am not a big fan of pink the bottom one has a nice creaminess to it that I like. I think the roses will go nicely with the other rose fabric I received and I have plans for a brights quilt the top one will fit into nicely. Today Oli is going to wrap me up on duct tape, I will post later and let you know how it goes.

Two more FQ's

These two pretty florals arrived today and yesterday. From Catt I got this pretty almost watercolory rose print and from Carlotta the cheerful daffodil print.

Simply Charming mini quilt, FQ's and slippers

The little ones are a bit under the weather but I still managed to get this little quilt done for the mini quilt in a bag swap. I used 24 of the 40 charms I received on the front and used the other 16 as the backing. Hopefully she will like it, I am rather fond of it. I considered some quilting on the background but I decided against it. I could still add some?

I received two more fat quarters from the swap and it is interesting to see the variety in tastes. The blue and teal of the one is may favorite color combo right now (one of them anyway) and the other has some definite possibilities in quilting. The circles one comes from Debbie in Texas and the other comes from I-lost the-envelope. Thanks Debbie and I-lost-the-envelope! I should be able to figure out who my currently anonymous benefactor is once the rest have arrived by the process of elimination. I have one of Layden's slippers finished and a start on the other. They will be felted before I call them done so don't be too concerned that my child has ginormous feet. I only have 2 skeins of the brown so when one ran out on the first slipper I used some leftovers from my sister's purse. I am using this pattern from Drops because it is knit in the flat, making them super easy and quick, especially because this way I don't have to learn how to turn a heel yet. I have plans to make adult sizes of these for Oli and I but Layden is going to be our guinea pig.