Underestimated the Quilting

So do you ever start with your free motion quilting and about 10 minutes into it you realize that the design you have chosen is going to take way longer then you planned on???

That was yesterday.  Not that I am complaining . . . I love a good day spent free motion quilting.  I just hadn't planned on it being such a big chunk of the day.  And I am still not done yet.

This is what is taking so long :)  I am doing echo quilting with straight lines :)  But  . . . I am not using my walking foot.  With an 85" square quilt there was no way I was turning that bad boy at every point.  So I am doing straight lines with my free motion foot.  I saw that Amanda from  Crazy Mom Quilts tried this a little while back and I figured this would be the perfect quilt to give it a try on :)

It took a little bit of practice to get the lines straight.  But the great thing is, even when they are not perfectly straight, it still looks good.  It gives it a nice wavy feel.  Amanda referred to it as an organic feel.  And it is like I am doing it on purpose :)  So even though it is taking a long time, I don't mind, because I am totally loving the way it is turning out.  Which of course, makes it all worth it!!

So I am wondering  . . . Would you like to see a video tutorial on how I do this or is it pretty straight forward.  Where I am not done, I could record it and add it to the tutorial of the quilt :)   Yup, another quilt tutorial next week and I am so super excited about this one!!!!

TNT with some new Swapping!!

This week I am trying a new swap.  The Fab Little Quilt Swap that is!!  I am so excited.  I got my partner this week and have lots of idea percolating.  As the name insinuates, this is a Mini swap.  I haven't made many Mini quilts but the few I have made I totally enjoyed :)  I love that you can really stretch your boundaries because you don't have to do it on a large scale.  Now I just have to decide what idea to go with :)  Oh . . . and here is my mosaic for my partner.  A little random, but I guess I can be pretty random as well.

1. FLiQS received, 2. FLiQ Swap Completed!!, 3. glamour shot, 4. DQS12 Received, 5. P1050373, 6. Pillow Swap Round 4 Pillow Finished, 7. Birdie in a tree, 8. pillows for my partner, 9. daisy pillow, 10. pillows - d, 11. DQS10 rcvd, 12. PTS6 finished front

So that's what I have been TNT-ing this week :)  How about you . . . Link on up :)

Measure Twice . . . Cut Once

Remember this little saying.  I am sure you all have heard it before.  Whenever I am teaching someone new to quilting I am sure to repeat it at least 10 times.  We'll this is why.

Notice how the pictures don't quite line up at the arrows.  Ya someone got in a little bit of a hurry this morning and cut before measuring twice.  And since I need a 18" square for the quilt this belongs to I had to piece my original mistake back together in order to have enough fabric.  And if that isn't bad enough, I was working in 5's so I had to repair 5 fat quarters :(

So now you will all know to look for this little blooper in my next quilt :) Ah well . . . I am telling myself it gives it character :)   So what's your horror cutting story??  I know you all have one :)

Tetris Quilt-A-Long - Week 4

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Tetris Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)

Need detailed instructions on "how to play"??  See this post :)

It's Week 4 of the Tetris Quilt-A-Long!!!!  I am so excited that there are so many of you just anticipating this post all week long!!!

But before we get to the pieces for week 4, Let's first announce a winner of the Week 3 giveaway who gets the Dear Mr. Claus Jelly Roll. And Mr Random Generator says the winner is . . .#26 - Terri - Congrats!

So now  . . .  on to Week 4!!!

First, Print off your grid!!

Now, color in your Tetris Pieces

 

 

  Here's my grid for this week.

Now lay your fabric out to match your grid. I really liked how the red and pink squares turned out this week.

And now just sew your squares into rows and then your rows into your Week 4 Block!!! (For detailed instructions on sewing a grid/patch block together see this post :)  

Yippee Skippee!!!  Your Week 4 block is complete!!!  And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Tetris Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is a Cameo Design Roll by Amy Butler for Westminster Fabrics

So what do you have to do for a chance to win this beautiful Design Roll??  Simple . . . Just link up your Week 4 block at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday evening as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

If you don't get your block done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :)    The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And Don't forget to add your Week 4 Block to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!    I am having so much fun with this Quilt-A-Long and hope you are too!!!

Get your Tetris Tuesday on!!!

Home Sweet Home

We got home last night after being away for almost 2 weeks.  We had such a wonderful trip spending time with family.   And  it ended with this :) I have been looking forward to it since March when we got the tickets and it didn't disappoint.  It was incredible!!!  The fact that we got to go with our good friends from IN (Who now live in Salt Lake) was the icing on the cake!!

I was so excited to run down to my sewing room this morning and see all the pretty fabric I have laid out for my  "on deck" projects.  I can't wait to get in here (some time today) and get to some sewing.  I have missed this little space like crazy!!

And I even brought something home to add to the sewing room.  My mom and sister love to garage sale so we joined them on Saturday morning.  And when I found 6 baby size batting pieces for $1.00 (not a $1.00 each, a $1.00 total) I was pretty excited!!!  And my sister laughing at me because I got so excited over batting made it all the more fun!

So in order to get down to my sewing room first I have to unpack, luckily we already did the laundry at my Mom's so this should go pretty quick.  Then there are some finances, and a bit of tidying around the house.  And I should do some school supply shopping as I got the lists in the mail while we were gone and some groceries as we have no milk, bread, or eggs.

Lastly, the garden needs to be weeded.  Hoolay Smokes!!!!  Can you believe this.  The power went out while we were gone and reset the sprinkler system so this garden has been watered plenty and it sure grew plenty.    Sadly, a good portion of that green is weeds and not plants.  But we do have vegetation growing in there so we need to pull out.  I think this one might be a family project :)

So I am off to get going on my list of things to do so that I can get to my little sewing space during nap time :)  See ya tomorrow for Week 4 of the Tetris Quilt-A-Long or Tetris Tuesday, as so many of you have started calling it.  I love it!!!