Brown Bag Needs a Name

Well I won the battle and finished the quilt.  I think the problem was being caused by a poorly wound bobbin.  As soon as I changed it out things started going much smoother.  So now I am finished with my Brown Bag Quilt, which subsequently needs a name . . . Any ideas, I am drawing a blank.

Just as a review, the Brown Bag Quilt challenge was created at Stash Manicure.  Each participant was paired up with a partner and sent them 2 yards of fabric that they no longer felt they would use.  I received 4 1/2 yard cuts (the green print on the back, the medallion print, the burgundy corner print, and the white with polka-dot print.)  The challenge was then to design a quilt using at least 90% of the material received and adding to it material that you already had in your stash.  You were not allowed to buy anything for this project.  It was a super fun challenge, especially designing with such specific requirements.

So here is my result for the Brown Bag Quilt Challenge.

I tried some new quilting.  On the sashing and first block border I did swirls.   I saw this swirl pattern over at Natalia's blog on her I'm Blushing quilt and have loved it ever since.  I kept wanting to try it but it takes a little getting used to and I was worried about having to sew over a line already sewn.  In the end, I figured this was a Brown Bag Contest aka Ugly Quilt Contest so if I messed it up it would be alright :)  And I have to say, by the end of the quilt, I had it pretty much down. (Which I hope I can say after at least 200 of them :)

I also did a little curly vine-ish motif in the center block and in the second border.  I thought it went well with the swirls but added some variety.  It was super fun, I think I will be doing it again soon :)  Don't you just love that medallion fabric!!

And here is another shot of the back in all of its super snuggly "I have just been washed and dried" glory.  I am so happy with how this turned out.  I can't wait for another challenge like this to come up again :)

I am linking up to

Brown Bag Back

Okay, So I was hoping to show the finish product this morning but I am having some tension issues.  Ah, curses to you tension issues!! So anyhow, I am taking a break from my free motion quilting so I can calm down enough to fix the problem :)  In the meantime, I figured I could show you the back of the good old Brown Bag Quilt.  I have to say, I am loving how this make off the fly piecing turned out.  In fact, I love it so much I wouldn't be surprised if a variation of it turned up again in the future :)

Alright, I feel better.  I am off to show my machine who is boss!

Oh, and on a complete side note - We reached 300 followers which means giveaway time, but I am going to ask you to hold tight for a bit, I am hoping to get something special on our trip for the giveaway :)

My First Bee Block

I am so excited to be participating in a Bee this year.  It is something I have wanted to do for some time now.  The block this month was based loosely on Elizabeth Hartman's Kitchen Window design from her new book.

I decided to add something to look at in the windows so I fussy cut the centers and then framed the window in another window.  I had so much fun designing this block and can't wait for next months :)

Ah, Routine :)

School started  yesterday.  Can I just say how much I love Routine!!  Yesterday I woke up an hour earlier than I have in 2 weeks.  I got the kids off to school and then went straight to making beds, vacuuming, laundry, etc.  I was on such a roll I figured I might as well put the Christmas stuff down (Ya, I have been procrastinating that major :)  Now my house has been cleaned top to bottom (which has been lacking over the holidays) and put back to it's pre-Christmas order.  Yippee Skippee!!!

And what did all of this mean for today . . . That when I woke up this morning I got the kids off to school and then looked around and realized, I am pretty much done  :)  And then meant I could head to my sewing room, guilt free :)  I went straight to work on my brown bag top and Wha La!!  Here it is.  I am off to design the back during nap time :)

With a New Year comes a New Challenge :)

During my usual morning blog hop last week I  came across a post ( this one if you want to go over and read it)  at Heather's House of A La Mode blog that talked about how she loves, loves, loves to get comments but isn't always so good about leaving them.  It could not have rung more true with me!!  I have always tried to respond to comments but have come up shallow on leaving them.  I wouldn't classify myself as a lurker but I could so do better!!!

So I decided to make a goal of it.  So from that day until New Years I decided I was going to leave comments!!  Now, that isn't to say I left a comment on every post I read (I really do read a lot) but I made a point, that whenever I was reading something and thought a "comment" to write it down.  So each time I read and thought "oh, that is so cute" write it down.  Or "Oh, what a great idea" write it down.

And I have to say, I am loving it!!!  It really doesn't take much more time and all, and it really helps to connect you to other quilting bloggers out there!!  So with that, I am extending the Challenge to myself for the year of 2011.  You should be hearing from me on your blogs and if you don't get on my case :)

And I saved a little surprise for last :)  This quilt was selected to be in the January header at Sew We Quilt / Stash Manicure.  I am so excited!!  Pop on over and see the beautiful new header when you get a sec :)