What Quilting Rut??

Remember how I had that little quilting rut where I couldn't decide how to quilt my "book" quilt??  Well that  evening I was having a little discussion about it with Barbara (my sweet MIL) and after some back and forth, I had my quilting vision.  I just love how being able to discuss my ideas and concerns with a fellow quilter always seems to get the creative juices flowing and the brain blocks broken down.  It's the greatest!!  I am fortunate to have my MIL so close so we often help each other out in creative ruts.  Do you have someone that helps you out when your feeling the creative blank??

So after I had my quilting vision, I headed back home and got to quilting.  And two days later, I am done!!!    The quilted is bound, washed, and ready to be loved!!  And oh my goodness, this quilt was so much fun to quilt up!!  I am so excited with how it turned out, and I promise to show a full reveal next week,(hopefully Monday) along with that tutorial I keep promising :)

But for today, here is some of the fun I had with the quilting.

Some square tile action.

Good ol pebbling.  

My first attempt at wood grain, not great, but not bad.

Some vines and leafs, so much fun!!

And one of my personal favorites, scroll work!

So, from all of these little peeks, can you guess what kind of quilting concept we came up with??  Can't wait to show you the whole thing :)

Linking up this quilting finish to Amanda's :)

Modern Madness, You Gotta Love It, Baby!!

Most of us know about March Madness . . . Well  have you heard about Modern Madness????

John, aka Quilt Dad, annually sets up a Modern Madness tournament over at Fat Quarterly.  He takes 64 of your favorite fabric lines from the last year and matches them up in head to head battles until one emerges victorious!!  Readers vote throughout the process and it is an all around great time!!  So pop on over to print off your brackets and follow along with the Modern Madness fun!!

These are my picks!!  Some of these picks were really hard because my favorite fabric lines were matched up early and so one of them had to fall.

My Champion . . . Notting Hill by Joel Dewberry!!  Bring on the Modern Madness Mayhem!!!

Rolling With It

Yesterday, my plan was to start quilting my "book" quilt, but when it got to nap time and I started to load my bobbins, I realized I had a problem.  I could not decide how to quilt it.  I pondered, I drew sketches, and after about 20 minutes I was still struggling to come up with an idea I liked.

So . . . not wanting to waste precious nap time, I decided to roll with it and move on . . .  to Jelly Rolls :)  (I know, lame joke, but it still made me smile :)  So out came 2 Natural Bella Solid jelly rolls and 2 beautiful Mimi jelly rolls.  Mimi is by Chez Moi for Moda and will be arriving in stores in July.  But my wonderful friends at Moda sent these to me to use for another secret project :)

So off to the cutting races I went.   I really love cutting out pieces for quilts.  I love all the math of trying to figure out how much I can get out of each strip and how I can have the least amount of scrap.  I was so glad to have the Solid Jelly Rolls for all of this cutting because it saved me a ton of time!! (seriously, some of those stacks are 96 pieces high)

After the solids it was time to cut into the beautiful rainbow of Mimi!  Oh my goodness, this is such a pretty line.  I just loved cutting it up and have already played with mixing and matching the prints.  I can't wait to start sewing.  This line is perfect for my design and I really think it is going to come out just stunning!!

Sadly, because of the secret nature of the project, this is the last I will be able to show of it until the end of summer.  Sorry to tease but hopefully, if what I have envisioned turns out,  it will be worth the wait :)

How Did you Spend National Quilting Day???

Saturday was National Quilting Day and lucky for me, the sun was shinning which means the kids joined daddy for some major yard work/play.  Which also meant the littlest kid and I enjoyed some major sewing room time!!

I managed to finish sewing up my book blocks that I started here.

Then I cut, placed, and secure-stitched some applique.

And I even managed to sew it all into a quilt top that actually got basted the same day!!

All in all, a pretty fabulous way to spend National Quilting Day!!

I am hoping to get this quilted up today (as soon as I decide on a design) with that tutorial soon to follow :)

So how did you spend National Quilting Day????

The Lucky Winner

It's time to see who has the luck of the Irish with them!!  Thank you to ChristaQuilts for sponsoring the fabulous Kona Solids giveaway !!  I am sure you all enjoyed getting to know her shop a little better :)

And the lucky winner is . . . 

Congrats to Chiska!!  Have fun choosing your favorite Kona Solids :)