Friday, May 31, 2013

They're Finished!! I'm Celebrating with a Giveaway!!

I have been procrastinating making my class samples for a while now.  The specific class ones weren't to bad, but the basic ones,  I just had a hard time getting excited about making them.  But, now that they are done, I am so excited!!  I got the idea at Market to display them on foam board, don't they just look so awesome!!  These will be my go to samples for the standard quilt "building blocks".  There are flying geese, half square triangles, goose in the corner, and lattice blocks.  Yippee Skippee!!!


So . . .  I feel like we need a little finish celebration!!!  And my good friend Aubrey at Southern Fabric is helping me out with that :)

You can find all the latest and greatest at Southern Fabric.  Check out these great new lines that just came in.   

Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille.   You'll find it in both yardage and precuts! 

Flats by Angela Yosten, they even have the adorable Doll and Clothing panels!!


And if you hurry, You can get an additional 10%  by using the coupon code:memorial10  (This code expires at the end of today)

And you can always find great sale fabrics, including the memorial day sale fabrics that are marked 20% and 30% off yardage and precuts!   It's a great time to get some fav's before their no longer available to get.  Maybe some of this . . .



 So . . . how about a chance to win some some free fabric from Southern Fabric??  Aubrey is sponsoring a $25.00 Gift Certificate to one lucky reader!!


So what do you have to do for your chance to win???


Leave a comment here of what you might like to spend your gift certificate on at Southern Fabric.

For a bonus entry, you can subscribe to Southern Fabric's newsletter (on the left hand column) and leave a comment here that you did so :)


That's it.  Up to 2 entries per person. Giveaway will close on  It will close on Tuesday, June 4th and a winner will be selected randomly and announced shortly after.

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating my happy finish with me :)

Linking my sample finishes up to Sarah's and Amanda's
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Thursday, May 30, 2013

More Beejeeber's Blocks!!!

I can't tell you how fun it is to check the mail and have squishy packages.  I get all smiley before I even open them up :)  And then I open them and just get per-ma grin!!!  It's my month for the Beejeeber's Bee and my fabulous bee gal's are making me blocks from my Star Value tutorial :)  Here are the newest blocks that came in this last week :)  I really have some of the best bee mates!!!





Sorry, somehow I missed ironing this one :)


And, of course, I couldn't help but lay them out to see it all coming together.  To say I a excited about this quilt would be a massive understatement.  Only 3 blocks to arrive and then I get to start stitching it up.  Yippee Skippee!!! 

And in other Bee news . . . I was invited to join another bee group, The Bees Knees.  Like my current bee, these are some amazingly talented quilters.  I already know some of the ladies and am looking forward to getting to know the others :)  So exciting, I just can't wait to get started :)

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Quilt-A-Long

So remember the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long idea???   I know, it has been a little while since I brought it up, but I promise, I haven't forgot it.  I have been working on it trying to get all that behind the scenes stuff done.  I plan on having fabric bundles available like we did with the Starburst Quilt-A-Long as many of you seemed to like that, and I think this time there will be bundles in both prints and solids :)  Now, I am just looking at the calendar, trying to find a time that work well where I can post each week without being out of town.  And that is looking like End of July . . . Beginning of August.   So here is a reminder, that it is on the way. I am so excited, I just love Quilt-A-Longs and I so love this pattern.

This won't be the fabric I am using, but i was just giving you an idea of how a multiple layout could look.

If you are looking for a Quilt-A-Long in the meantime . . Christa from Christa Quilts, one of my good friends and sponsors is staring a Quilt-A-Long featuring Pear Bracelets by Lizzy House.  (Which I just adore!!)  The Quilt-A-Long is called String of Pearls and will launch Wednesday, June 5th, That's next week!!!  You can find out all the details at Christa's Quilt-A-Long Page.    And, if you find you need some Pearl Bracelets, Christa has kits available that are even 10% off with the coupon code CQA2013 at checkout. So pop on over to Christa Quilts and check it out, it sounds like a lot of fun!!!


And I am off to take child #1 to the orthodontist ;)  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!
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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

So Quiet

Yup, things have been a little on the quiet side the last few days.  That's because we were camping and you just don't have internet connections in the great outdoors.   Friday morning we loaded the kids up and headed up the mountain to some family property for some good old camping family fun.

We love camping!!  Can you tell by the smiles??


The girls taking a break from our "clearing a trail" activity aka work project.


And if it is one thing that will always be a guarantee, it is that we end taking half of the dirt from the mountain home ;)  (But if I am being honest, I get a kick out of the dirty faces, so cute!!!)


And after a long day of play, I love to take a moment and just enjoy the beauty of nature at sunset.


 Talk about a view.  Just stunning.  You can actually see Zion National Park along the horizon :)

And lest you think I didn't manage to squeeze any quilting into the weekend . . .

I practiced a little free motion quilting designs while the kids and I enjoyed some sidewalk chalk time.


And, with the help of my cutting mat caddy, I managed to cut out the pieces for a new quilt while the younger girls took a nap.


So that's what we have been up to :)

And now I am off to widdle down the massive pile of laundry from the weekend ;)  Gotta love that campfire smell!!
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Friday, May 24, 2013

Interlocking Rectangles - A Free Motion Quilting Tutorial

Thank you all so much on your sweet comments for my Rally quilt I finished yesterday !  I am just over the moon about it and am so glad to finally have my own personal quilt finished :)  And as promised, I managed to finish the video for the free motion quilting design I quilted on it, Interlocking Rectangles :)  This is a fantastic, beginner friendly, wonderfully modern free motion design that will go perfectly with your geometric quilts :)

Here is an example of the pattern :)


And here is the video tutorial :)



Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!

Linking this video finish (and the quilt for that matter) up to Amanda's :)
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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2013


I just love Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love seeing so many amazing quilts and finding great new quilting friends and their amazing creations!!  Welcome to any new friends stopping by for the first time!!

I am so excited to share a new quilt that I just finished today!!!  (I know, just under the wire there :)  This quilt has been on my to do list for a while, pretty much ever since I finished this quilt for my husband.  I knew I wanted my own  Rally Quilt with my Alma Mater's logo and my own design that would be similar enough to match his with our same school colors :)


This design has been in my sketch book just waiting to be turned into this quilt.  I just love coming up with geometric patterns that seem to weave together.  They have such amazing movement to them.  This one took a little while to design, but i knew the moment I saw it sketched out on graph paper that I would be fantastic.  I am working on writing a  pattern for it that will hopefully be done next week. It is a block pattern but I love that it doesn't look like it is.  


The applique was tricky to say the least.  (Okay, let's just say it was hard.)   Southern Utah University's fabulous thunderbird logo really forced me to raise the bar on my applique skills. But after hours of cutting and stitching around all the individual pieces, it was perfection.  And honestly, I couldn't be happier, I just love it!!!


Here is a look at it appliqued and attached to the quilt.  I quilted this with a new free motion design for me.  And all over interlocking rectangles pattern.  I am hoping to get a video tutorial edited and posted tomorrow on how to do it :)  It really is a super fun pattern to stitch that has a great modern feel and really fits this geometric pattern well.


And just for fun, here are our two Rally quilts together.  Luckily, our Universities don't compete against each other,  But if they did, I would be yelling, "Go Thunderbirds" while wrapped in my new Rally quilt!!!


Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me share my quilt.  Now pop on over to the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the amazing quilts!!! 




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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

While Mom's Away . . .

Today I started quilting my newest quilt and I am hoping to finish it so I can link it up with blogger's quilt festival :)  Sometimes I wonder why things always seem to get pushed to the last minute , ah well :)

I am trying a new free motion design.  It's similar to my interlocking circles design I used for my Ring Around quilt, just a different shape.  Interlocking squares (and rectangles but that's a mouthful :)


And let me share a little funny (but not so ha ha at the moment)  from my morning.  I went to get my tripod to record me quilting so I could make another FMQ video tutorial for ya'll and come to find that my wee ones decided while I was gone that the tripod was a really fun toy.  I tried to put it back together only  to find a piece missing.  After searching high and low and still no piece, I resorted to the next best thing . . . tape :)  Ya gotta use what works :)


Here's hoping I have a new quilt, video tutorial, and pattern to share very soon :)  All though, most likely not all at the same time :)  I'm off to do some more quilting :)

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Spring Quilt Market - 2013

Spring Market was incredible!!!  What a whirlwind weekend.  I thought I had taken a million pictures, turns out I took just over 100 and it still doesn't seem to do the weekend justice for everything I saw :)  I have been trying to figure how to best share this weekend with you and decided that it can be summed up in three words . . . Fabric, Friends, and Fun!!!!

FABRIC

So many wonderful, amazing, exciting new fabric lines coming our way.  I tell you!!  And of course, I can't share every single fabric picture I took (that would be one long post) but here are some of the lines that I am so excited for.

Violet Craft's Waterfront Park.   Oh, i just love those purples, and the quilt with the bridge, awesome!!

Sweetwater's Road 15.   So stinking cute!!  I got some at Sample Spree and have plans in the works for it :)

Tula Pink's Acacia.  Tula's fabrics are just a work of art, the details are amazing!!

Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew's debut line Wallflowers.  It is just precious!!

Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies super awesome Technicolor.  And her booth was one of my fav's!!!

Jeni Baker of In Color Order's Nordika.  It has such a fun Scandinavian feel to it!!

Vanessa Christensen's fabulous Simply Style.  Another Sample Spree bundle that I can't wait to cut into.

FRIENDS

I think my favorite thing about market is the friends!!!  I love getting to make new friends, meet friends that you have felt you have known forever though all your emails for the first time in person, and reconnect with friends from past quilty gatherings.

I was so excited to get to chat with some of my favorite designers, some of who I had met before and some for the first time.  I just love hearing all about their inspiration, their design process, and in general about them, their families, and their lives as a fabric designer!  Here's just a few that I remembered to take pictures with :)

I really admire Camille and all she does while still being a Mom so meeting her was a real treat!!

Meeting Heather Ross.  She is just amazing!!

Chatting with Vanessa. She is just so spunky!!  We had a really great time chatting and I really got to know her more.

It was also really fantastic to get to chat with some of my amazing sponsors!!!  I chat with these gals weekly through emails but being able to sit down in person is so much more fun!!!

Christa from Christa Quilts.  She met us for lunch before we flew out and I don't think we stopped talking for 3 hours!

Julie from The Intrepid Thread.  We bumped into each other so many times, and every time it was smiles and laughs.

Judy from Green Fairy Quilts.  As you can see, we were having a great time chatting :)  
 And then the last group of friends are my blogger gals!!  I loved, loved, loved, getting to hang out and chat with all of my wonderful friends from the blog world.  There were so many hugs and smiles and laughs!!  You just feel a connection with these gals.  And of course, since I felt like we were old time friends, I didn't think to take pictures.  So here's a shout out to my Market blogger gals, love you ladies:  Amy, Stephanie, Vickie, Lee, AnnMarie, Adrianne, Jenny,  Elizabeth, SherriKerri, and  Tracey.
Tracey from TraceyJay Quilts.  This was right before we were about to leave for the airport so I think it spurred me to take a picture, finally :)

FUN

And of course, when it all comes down to it, Market is just lots and lots of fun!!

Me and some of the gals from Modern Baby doing our schoolhouse.  As you can see, there were a lot of laughs and we really just had a whole lot of fun :)

Later that day in Tula Pink's schoolhouse I won her 100 Modern Quilt Blocks book!!!  I squealed so loud and pretty much popped right out of my seat, so fun!!!  I can't wait to tear through my scrap bins on this.

And then later that evening, was Sample Spree.  And I don't know about you but hundreds of women going all sorts of crazy over fabric, doesn't get much more fun than that.  And I was so excited that even though I hung out in the very back of the line and waited for the crowds to die down a bit (I don't really handle the pushing and shoving all that well, I get a little claustrophobic) I still got what I was hoping to get ;)  Score!!

And as you all know, I am not a big fan of handwork, but I have to say, watching Heather Bailey embroider the side of her booth wall sure make handwork look like a lot of fun!! 

And I even got to get my groove on with the Quiltmaker's Shuffle.  This was so much fun!!!  I can't wait to see the video of it.  And I placed myself very well, just in the middle hidden behind everyone else :)  (My dance moves aren't anything to write home about :) 

Right before it was time to go, I got to watch Angela Walters do a little demo on her quilting.  So much fun!!!    It was like being inside one of her Craftsy classes :)

And last, but not least, Among all the Fabric, Friends and Fun, I still had a second to put my feet up and just enjoy taking it all in.
Part of the Micheal Miller Booth
And that about wraps it up :)  The Fabric, Friends, and Fun of Spring Quilt Market 2013!!!


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