Jessi's New WIP

My daughter, Jessica, finished her last patchwork quilt that she was working on over here, and is jsut waiting to get it on the long arm.  So, of course, it was time for her to start a new project!!  (Like Mother, Like Daughter :)   She is planning to make the Easy Stack, Cut, and Sew Blocks using this tutorial by Cluck, Cluck Sew.  And I let her choose a layer cake and of course, she choose my long saved (hoarded) Paradisio Layer Cake by Kate Spain.   Ya, we totally have the same tastes in fabric :)  Good thing this girl is loving quilting, cause it makes it easier to share my favorite fabrics with her, tee hee hee.   

I am loving this design, because it is really teaching Jessi how to use her rulers for measuring!!!  She has pretty much made basic patchwork quilts, which I have helped her cut in the past.  But this tutorial and it's fun improv nature, really lets Jessi play with measurements and change them up.  Rather than just having her place the ruler down and cut, I ask her how much she wants to cut off (1 1/2", 2", 2 3/4" ect. ) and then have her find the measurement and line up the ruler accordingly.  So fantastic!!!!  I helped her with the first 2 sets of blocks, and I was so excited to go downstairs this morning and see her working on her next set all on her own!!!

And she has 3 sets done and is feeling pretty confident that she can independently sew on these!!  And she keeps telling me how much fun these blocks are which of course, makes me just smile from ear to ear!!!   I am headed to Bryce Canyon for a Trunk Show today and she told me she is going to sew while I am gone because in her words "I've got this mom!!!!"   I can't wait to see what kind of progress she makes while I am gone!!! 

School is out next week and this girl let me know this morning that she has some serious plans for sewing together all summer.  I can't wait!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)

But first, we need to announce the winner from last weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway!!  

The winner of the $30.00 Gift Certificate from  Olie and Evie  is . . .   Number #282 . . .   Congrats Pamela !!!   I have emailed you :)      

  

     

And on to today's

Today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway is being sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.   Fat Quarter Shop is amazing and they never cease to amaze me with everything they have going on at their shop!!!     And did you know they have a 24 Hour Flash Sale every day with 2 Flash Sales on Tuesdays!!  You will find some amazing deals there ;)

And for today's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Fat Quarter Shop is giving away a wonderful Vintage Holiday Layer Cake by Bonnie and Camille for Moda to one lucky winner!!!  I just love this line!!!  In fact, you might remember this Christmas Cheer quilt that I made for Market last year using this Vintage Holiday Fabric.  It is just such an amazing collection of pretty prints!!!  

You have two entry chances, the second being optional, and please leave a separate comment for each.  All Entries are welcome, including International Entries.  Please just be sure to leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger ;)  

ENTRY 1 - Simply leave a comment that tells me what your most hoping to see from the Spring Market social media posts??  

 ENTRY 2 - Show your Fat Quarter Shop love.   You can follow them on   Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, You Tube or at their Blog.  You can Sign up for their Newsletter which will ensure you catch all of their amazing sales, or you can visit The Shop and then share a favorite item ;)   Just be sure to leave a comment of how you showed your Fat Quarter Shop Love!!!

And that's it ;)  The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday, March 22nd, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

** This post contains affiliate links. 

I'm Trying Hand Stitching!!!!

Alright, so you all know I am not great at hand stitching ;)   I machine attach my bindings and if they have to be done by hand, Barbara attaches them for me.   I do all my applique by machine, and the little bit of embroidery embellishments in blocks I have done in the past I have figured out how to do on the machine as well.    But Softball season has started, and this year I have 2 girls participating, which makes it feel like I am pretty much living at the softball fiends in the evenings.    So . . . I decided it was probably time I tried a hand project!!!

And what better way to try something new than with the help of Tula!!!!  I love Tula Pink's designs and prints, so when I saw that she had converted some of her amazing sketches into embroidery designs in her new Tula Pink Coloring with Thread book I was all over it!!!   The book comes with a disk that has all of the PDF designs so it was super easy to just print the design on a  Pellon Stick-N-Washaway sheet sheet :)  Way easier than trying to trace it!!!

I let my daughter pick out what design I should try, because they are all so amazing there was no way I could pick a favorite.   Jessi choose the Sea Horse because it reminded her of Spring Break!!    And I realized that I still had my Bonnie and Camille Handmade Embroidery Floss Collection that I got in one of my Sew Sampler boxes, perfect for getting going on this project :)  And the book has an awesome color guide to follow so no hard choices there!! 

There is a fantastic stitch guide in the front of  Coloring with Thread that makes it easy, even for a beginner like me, to see how to make each of the different stitches in the design.  I am starting with the basic outlining because you have to crawl before you can run right ;)   I haven't gotten very far, it is slow going to be sure.   I am hoping as I get better at making my stitch length consistent that it will speed up.   But so far,  I am enjoying it.   It might be several softball seasons before I get it done, but it is nice to have something to keep my hands busy while I sit at the ball park :)  

So what about you???  Have you tried hand embroidery???  Any suggestions to help a beginner???

And crazy thought, this is making me think I might be able to try English Paper Piecing!!!   Any suggestions of where to start there??

Yup, this is me jumping into the deep end of Hand Stitching, well see if I sink or swim ;) 

** This post contains affiliate links. 

Petite Point Finish!!!

I am so super excited to share my newest finish this week!!!  You might recall my dilemma of how to finish this quilt off back here, well, I went with the no borders and finally got it quilted and bound and I just love, love, love it!!!!

This quilt is made of over 600 strings in scrappy reds and pinks!!!   And I can say that my blood, sweat, and tears went into this quilt, because I was actually cutting these strings when I lopped a bit of my finger off ;)  But it's all good, because I was so super excited to make a small dent in my pink and red scrap bins :)  (I think I can say it was totally worth it)     I started this quilt at the Winter Quilt Retreat  and Barbara and I had such a great time taking a class together.  Since then I have been working on this in little bits sewing time between other projects.  (and Barbara just finished her quilt top too, so fun!!!)

This was such a fun pattern to make!!  The pattern is Petite Point by French General and you use a Creative Grids Hexagon Trim Tool  to trim to the fun hexagon shapes.  It's like making a pineapple quilt gone hexagon, so fantastic!!!  And as you can see from the pattern, I took this quilt in a totally different direction, giving it a super scrappy feel, and I just love how it turned out.   Scrappy quilts are just so much fun!!!

When it came time to quilt it, I decided to just so simple loop de loops.   There is so much piecing in this, I didn't want the quilting to distract from all of those tiny little pieces.   And I just love doing little loop de loops, they are just so fun and relaxing and I don't quilt them as often as I would like to :)

I bound it in the nice dark red I found in my stash and love how perfectly it finishes off the quilt!!!  And I was so excited to have this gorgeous Tula Pink Bumble print in my stash to back it in.  It is the perfect shade of pinks and reds and works so fantastic for this baby quilt!!!   I added a little bit of polka dot's for a fun little bit of interest and to make the backing wide enough.   Love it!!! 

 And that is my Petite Points quilt!!!  I made my quilt smaller than the pattern and it finishes at  45" x 47".   It is going to be the perfect size to snuggle a precious little angel in ;)   I am just so glad that I got to take this fun class, especially with Barbara.  It isn't often that we get to take a class instead of teaching it and it was a super fun treat!!!

Thanks so much for popping in today and sharing this finish with me!!!  I can't say how much I appreciate having this little space to share my love of quilting with all of you ;)  

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Linking this finish to Amanda's, Sarah's, and Myra's :)  

Wednesday . . New WIP :)

I am happy to say that the WIP I started last Wednesday went in the mail Saturday in time for Market ;)  And now I find myself at Wednesday again and sharing another new WIP , which I really shouldn't be starting as I have 7 quilts that are waiting to be quilted right now . . . but, sometimes you just can't resist.    And I am super excited about this new project, because it is going to be my newest Pattern when it is all done!!   And it starts with the gorgeous prints of Sherri and Chelsi's new Clover Hollow line that will be available this August.   My goal is to have the pattern all finished to coincide with the release of the fabric.  I am sure I will have the quilt done well before that, but sometimes I procrastinate the actual writting of the pattern part, it's just not anywhere near as fun as stitching away ;)   

And you all know, I just love stitching away!!!  I did a big ol pile of chain stitching yesterday and it was oh so much fun!!  I am hoping to get some more stitching done on this today as well ;)  Who knows, the quilt top might even be done before summer starts . . . which is good because hey,  it has a line up of 7 quilts to be quilted, tee hee hee :) 

So how about you???  What works in progress are you stitching away on today???