On the Cutting Mat

I am having so much fun with Instagram Quilt Fest hosted by Amy Ellis.  If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a daily photo prompt on Instagram for the month of March.  See here for details ;)  Today's photo prompt is "On the Cutting Mat" and it made me think of what I have been working on the last few days and I wanted to share the updates with you. So think of this as a Work In Progress Wednesday straight from the Cutting Mat ;)

First off, I am hoping to get all of my hexagon starts trimmed today so I can start adding on the next set of strips ;)  I fixed my first row that I sewed at the retreat and figured for the rest of the 25ish blocks, I would chain piece each step.   This will be a great "filler" project when I have 20 minuites or less to sit and sew.  I can just piece what I have time for and I don't have to think one bit ;)  Super fun!!! 

And talk about inspiration to get it done . . . Barbara already has all of her blocks sewn!!!  Aren't they just so fun!!  I love the rainbow of colors from a mixture of April Rosenthal's fabric lines ;)  And this moment was to precious not to capture.  Josie asked if she could help Grandma "design" the quilt, and she had so much fun placing them all up on the wall, with a little color placement help of course.  But she was adamant, that purple block by her head went right in the middle ;)

And in other Cutting Mat projects, I managed to cut up a little secret sewing project that I mentioned back here using Sweetwater's new Overnight Delivery line over the weekend.   And yesterday, I was about to put all of the scraps in my scrap bins, when I realized, they would make the cutest little pieced strip in the back of the quilt.   The strips were 2" x 5" and I was able to sew them up in just a few minutes.   I am so glad I thought of this, as it is going to be the cutest little "pop" in the back of the quilt, and honestly, it made me think I should do this more often when I have such standard size scraps, at least it would help cut down on my scrap drawers overflowing ;)

And finally, I am so super excited to share that my little oopsie last week is back in full swing sewing!!!  I cut out the new pieces and managed to make some progress on the blocks.  I can't wait to share this quilt and tutorial with you all.  It is going to be so fun!!!

And that is what has been On the Cutting Mat the last few days :)  And now, it's time to hurry and go finish a quilt on the Long Arm so that the next thing on my cutting mat will be a Queen Size beauty that is having the binding put on.   Yippee!!!

So what's on your Cutting Mat???  You can add a picture to the #igquiltfest or just leave a comment here if you don't do Instagram ;)

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!

Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day!!!

It's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day so let's have some fun :)  And a quick note - I am giving Anonymous comments a try again in hopes to help some of you that are having troubles posting comments.   Just be sure to leave an email address with your comment so if you win, I have a way to  contact you ;)   

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

The winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from The Scarlet Thread Quilt Co.  is . . .   Number #222. Congrats Kelly Wall!!!   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 fantastic Warm Terrarium Roll Up by Elizabeth Hartman for Robert Kaufman Fabrics to one lucky winner!!! I have been so excited for this fabric line to release and now it's here and one lucky reader is going to get to play with some roll-up goodness!!!

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 your Favorite Quilt to Cuddle Up in and get Warm ;)

 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 13th, when I will announce a winner at the beginning of next weeks Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Post :)

Good Luck and Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!


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Charming Tote for the Fast Finish!!!

Thanks so much for all of the kind words after my post about my 1/4" mix up the other day!!!   It put a smile on my face to read them and yesterday I went down to my sewing room to start cutting out new squares.  But honestly, I just didn't want to re-cut everything, so instead, I decided to make a Charming Tote.   I needed a special little gift and knew this would be just perfect :) 

So I put everything else aside and laid out my squares.  I decided to use a favorite charm pack,  Olive's Flower Market by Lella Botique.  I have been stashing this for a bit waiting for the perfect project and it certainly made me smile to pull it out!!!   (and if you love this line, but can't find it anymore,  Farmer's Daughter is a similar color scheme with yellow added ;) 

I started stitching away and before I knew it, I had the tote made, the lining stitched and the handles sewn ready to all be assembled.  And then of course, I had to break for lunch ;)

But as soon as I got home from taking the little one to Kindergarten, I was back to the sewing machine and finishing up my tote ;)   And I just love it!!!   And the best news of all, I had such a boost of motivation after this fast finish, I totally pulled out the fabrics from Thursday's post, and got them all cut out right!!!   So ya, sometimes a fast finish is just what ya need!!!

If you happen to find yourself needed a tote and a fast finish . . . you can find the free step by step tutorial for this Charming Tote right over here ;)  

Happy Quilting!!!

1/4" Short, Keeping it Real!!

So today's post truly is about keeping it real.  You might recall back here  that I recently cut out a new quilt design using Amy Smart's adorable new Sunnyside Ave fabric.   Well, today as I went to start sewing with it, I had the horrible realization that I had cut all 192 of my squares 1/4" short!!!   What, how in the world did I do that???  I went back and realized where I had made my mistake in a calculation.  Of course, I have made that same calculation countless times before with no problems but somehow this one went amiss.  All you can do is move on right :)   Luckily, I have extra of the prints, but sadly, I am such a neat freak that I had already folded them back up and stashed them away.  Now I will have to press them all  again before I can cut.   

So I thought, I will press later tonight and move onto another part of the block that is cut correctly.  Ya, not so much.  I must have been way to distracted when doing the math of this particular design, because my little white kisses squares, ya, they are also 1/4"  short!!!  And wouldn't ya know, I don't have enough to cut all of them in the right size.  Luckily, Fat Quarter Shop  has a little of it in stock and fast shipping.   And I admit it, I might have added a few other things in my cart, just to cheer myself up ;)

So it looks like I need to find something new to work on today.    

 I hope you are all having a Happy Quilting Day with hopefully more forward progress than mine ; )

February Sew Sampler Box!!

Wow, it's the last day of February!!  I know February is a shorter month, but still, that just flew by!!   The best thing though, about another month come and gone is that my February Sew Sampler box showed up in my mailbox ;)    This month's theme is Home Sweet Cottage and I am just thrilled with all of it's quilty goodies!!!

It's no secret that I absolutely love Charm Packs!!! And I totally squealed when I saw that this month's fabric included not one, but two of  April's new Mama's Cottage Charm Packs!!!  I just love the super happy and bright colors of this line and the prints are just so fun and whimsical.  Wouldn't these just make the cutest Charming Totes!!!  I think I might have to just earmark one of these Charm Packs for just that :)

And I just love this month's pattern by Lissa Alexander. I totally want to make this pattern a la super scrappy, which seems fitting as it is in conjunction with Lisa's new book Oh, Scrap!  (which I will be sharing more about soon, it's awesome!!! ;)   And I am excited to try out Doug Leko's new Simple Folded Corners Ruler.  It makes is so you don't have to draw the line on your stitch and flip corners.  I haven't drawn my lines for a while now as I use the Clearly Perfect Angles on my sewing table which I absolutely love!!!!  (and it works for HST's too)    So I will have to try out this ruler and see which option I like better for stitch and flip corners ;)  Or, maybe it will go with my traveling machine as I don't take my sewing table when I travel which makes it so I can't use the CPA cling.  There's an idea ;)

And the last few goodies out of the box included a Triangles on a Roll for 2" Finished HST's  and some Aurifil Thread, which we all know, you can never have to much of ;)     I am not much for Paper Piecing my HST's as I can make them super fast as I don't have to draw my lines and I love my Bloc-Loc's for trimming them, but this will be the perfect little gift for a Paper Piecing friend ;)  

And of course, I can't finish up a Sew Sampler box post without this month's Basket Block!!!   Block 11 and I have to say, I just love that background fabric,it's just so fun!!!  .Only one more month and this will be ready to be sewn up, my my how a year flies by!!!

And that is my February Sew Sampler Box  . . . and it just makes me want to stay Home Sweet Home all day and sew!!!  I know I say it every month, but Thanks again Fat Quarter Shop for always sending an amazing box of Quilty Goodness!!!

And now I am off to work on a project for an upcoming tutorial in a few months,  and hey, I just thought, it has stitch and flip corners, so looks like I will be trying out that new ruler today!!!

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!



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