I'm Not Going, Le Sigh!!!

We'll as of this morning it is official.  I am no longer attending the Sewing Summit in October.  I sold my ticket.  To say I am a little sad over this would be a massive understatement.  So if I am so sad, you are probably wondering why I sold my ticket.

Well . . . my cousin just announced that she is getting Married!!  Yippee Skippee for my cousin, I am so excited for her.  However, it falls on the same weekend as the Sewing Summit.  Now if she lived in Salt Lake or even in the surrounding area I would have been able to do both, somehow.  However, she lives in Canada!!!! (Which I happen to really enjoy visiting).  My babysitter (my mom)  for the Summit is headed up to Canada and I am left with the decision of what to do with myself and my family. Weddings are about the only time we get together with this side of the family (And I love spending time with my family)  and the amount of cousins left to get married is winding down.  So, after a long debate with myself I came back to the conclusion that I started with (and that I knew I would come to).  Family comes First.  It's the right decision and I am so looking forward to spending time with my family and celebrating with my cousin!!!

 I will miss getting to meet so many of you amazing ladies!!  I will miss the amazing classes that I was so looking forward. I will miss just hanging out with friends, new and old. I will just have to look forward to Sewing Summit 2013 :)

Tetris Quilt-A-Long - Week 5

**  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 5 of the Tetris Quilt-A-Long!!!!  We are winding down!!  (But only with the blocks, we still have borders, and putting it all together, no worries, we don't officially end until the 11th of September :)

But before we get to the pieces for week 5, Let's first announce a winner of the Week 4 giveaway who gets the Cameo Design Roll. And Mr Random Generator says the winner is . . .#19 - KellyS- Congrats!

  

So now  . . .  on to Week 5!!!  (Only one more week of pieces after this week!!)


First, Print off your grid!!

Now, color in your Tetris Pieces

 

Nothing fancy needed, just fill it in as if you were playing.  Here's my grid for this week.  Notice how I had to color over my yellow square.  I missed the second to last piece and had to go back and fix it ;)

Now lay your fabric out to match your grid.  (Sorry it is a little blurry :)

And now just sew your squares into rows and then your rows into your Week 5 Block!!! (For detailed instructions on sewing a grid/patch block together see this post :)  

Yippee Skippee!!!  Week 5 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 Merlot Kona Modern Quilts Half Yard Bundle by Cynthia Frenette for Robert Kaufman Fabrics!!!  

So what do you have to do for a chance to win this beautiful Half Yard Bundle??  Simple . . . Just link up your Week 5 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 Tuesday morning 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 5 Block to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I am just getting so excited seeing everyone's tops coming together!!  They are all incredible!!!

So what are you waiting for . . . Get your Tetris sewing on!!!

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 :)