4-patches?

Are you making 4 patch blocks?  Sewing with American Patchwork & Quilting's 4 patch 'Go Four It' Sew Along? I wanted to join last year when they made the Burgoyne Surrounded blocks, but never started, so this year I jumped in!

I loved Moda Lissa's quilt~ Rainbow Rows!

I decided to start cutting my scraps into 1½ inch squares and strips and have some fun. :-)

I quickly discovered that I didn't have enough light prints for backgrounds, so I cut strips from FQ's~

 And sewed my bits to them.

So far I am only making piles of each color, I haven't made a single 4 patch yet! :-o

And I am not planning on having this quilt done by April like the bloggers who are quilting along with AP&Q!

Oh no!  This is going to be my on-going/leader-ender project for the whole year.;-)  I'm slow like that! LOL  I will keep you updated as the year goes on.

And I'm sorry I have been MIA again. I wasn't sitting on the couch eating bon-bons. LOL I was pattern testing and the designers aren't ready to show their new projects yet.  As soon as I can I will show what I was up to.

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

~A Spring/Summer Bag~

Remember when I showed you the planner cover and said you would be seeing that fabric again?

Well this was the first project out of the 'ocean' fabric. :-)

A new bag for me!

(my DD tried her hardest to acquire it, but it is still mine! LOL)

I found the pattern in the local quilt shop when I was on the last retreat.  She only had one copy of the pattern as the store owner's friend had made the bag for her and she talked her friend into making a pattern.~

The pattern pieces need to be enlarged 200% and the shop owner was so sweet to print them off for me since I was on retreat and didn't have access to a printer. :-)

I will admit there are a few places where the pattern is hard to understand, but all-in-all it was a fun bag to put together. :-)

Today is a sunshiny spring day here. Hope you are enjoying a bit of nice weather too!

Don't forget to 'spring' those clocks ahead tonight! ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Thinking Spring & A Winner!

Just a photo to show you, it does not always rain in the beautiful PNW!  :-)

Today we have sunny skies and our ornamental plum trees are starting to bloom.  

My neighbors daffodils are blooming too!  Mine are about a week behind. ;-)

And for the lucky winner of the Jacquelynne Steves Sew Sweet Simplicity BOM~

 

Congratulations to.....

 

Sherry!

 

Who said~

  Sherry said...Your quilt top is beautiful. I have completed my blocks, I appliqued them, and I am now thinking about how I want to put them together. Thanks for your inspiration.

February 25, 2015 at 11:51 AM

Until next time~~

 

Happy Spring!! :-)

~~My Embroidery Blocks~~

I am back today to show you what I did with my embroidered blocks from the Sew Sweet Simplicity BOM sew along.  Remember that I colored a set of the inside part of the blocks?  

It is really easy to do the coloring if you have never tried it. :-)  I traced my pattern onto my background,  using a mechanical pencil because I knew I would be pressing this and didn't want to use any of the disappearing-type pens on the market.  Some of them turn brown when pressed and I sure didn't need that! :-o

Then I colored all the parts with a white crayon (I only use Crayola crayons because they seem less waxy to me).  The white helps the colors to set and not get streaky.  (I learned this little tip from an exhibitor at an expo a few years ago.)  After all the parts were colored in with the white~ with a rather heavy hand. Then I used the colors I wanted in each section.  The white really helped the color to blend in.

Next you want to press your piece with a white paper towel or scrap of muslin over your fabric. Do not use steam.  This sets the colors and you will notice some comes off on your scraps of muslin or paper towel.  That is expected. ;-)  After I pressed until the color no longer came off (moving to a clean part of the towel with each pressing, so you don't transfer any color back), I pressed a light weight interfacing to the back of my squares.  I like to use interfacing, especially with white fabric so no threads show through to the front. ;-)

Then, you just go crazy with your embroidery! Have fun and try new stitches!

I decided to make doll quilts with these squares.  Three squares in each~

This one has two 16-patch blocks joined by a strip~ 

I just had to add in a caterpillar with those flowers!!  :-)

For the second one I kept to my 'trying new stitches' theme and tried all those sewing machine stitches we have on our machines and rarely use. :-)

I used my vintage sheet scraps to make the zig-zag part and then just quilted it with those fancy stitches on my machine.  It is a little bigger than the other one and now I'm trying to decide if it should still be a doll quilt, or should I turn it into a pillow to go with the quilt?  What would you do?

Before you go, don't forget about the giveaways!

You can find mine here~

Blog Hop Giveaway

And our BOM designer, Jacquelynne Steves has a big giveaway here~

Sew Sweet Simplicity Giveaway

And if you have been sewing along with us, but are a bit behind, you might want to get back to finishing your top, or whatever you decide to make as Jacquelynne has a really fantastic giveaway for finishers!

Read all about it here~

Finishing &  Great Big Giveaway
Good luck!! :-)

Sew Sweet Simplicity BOM & Giveaway

Boy has this month ever flown!!  I know if you are stuck in the snow in the eastern US, you probably don't agree with me, but here in the west, time is flying! ;-)

We are coming to the end of the BOM and this time all the blogs involved in the hop will show you their finished tops.  Jacquelynne has a few finishes too!  Before I show you mine, LOL I want to give a shout out to the other bloggers.  Be sure to visit them (not only will you see their lovely BOM tops, but you will get another chance in the giveaway!  Oh, did I forget to mention there is a giveaway? Well, actually there are two! but more about that later....

Here are the hoppers~

Barb @ Garden Path Quilts

Barb @ Mountain Quiltworks

Deanna @ Wedding Dress Blue

Barb @ Bejeweled Quilts

Deonn @ Quiltscapes

Teresa @ A Quilt and a Prayer

Sandy @ Upstairs Hobby Room

Snoodles @ Lily Pad Quilting

And me... right here. :-)

Ok, here is my top...

I chose to hand embroider the blocks and I used my collection of vintage sheets to put it together..

This photo really doesn't do it justice. I will have to try taking some when it is less windy and cloudy. 

I used a Garden Maze sashing that I just made up to finish at 3 inches.  I really wasn't thinking about those 'X' cornerstones when I decided the sizes for the sashing strips and when I got to those, I realized I needed to cut in 16th's of an inch to get the points to fit! :-o  I could have printed out paper pieced patterns from EQ, but I didn't, I just eyeballed the 1/16th's line. LOL   Never again!! :-)

This photo shows the true colors better...

Remember that I was also embroidering a set of blocks that I was coloring in with crayons? 

I will show you what I am doing with those on Wednesday. :-)  Please come back!!

Now for the giveaways!  Jacquelynne has this wonderful e-book, and two pdf patterns for one of my lucky commenters~

 I will leave the drawing open until the last day of the month.  Remember the drawing is open to everyone as it is a pdf book/pattern~~ BUT that means I have to have your email address!  If you are a no comment blogger or if you aren't sure, then please leave your email address in the comments.  If you do it like this-- Sandie at yahoo dot com -- it will be fine.  Tell me how you are coming along with the BOM and if you will get your top together in March. ;-)

Now, hop on over to Jacquelynne's @ The Art of Home and see the wonderful giveaway she has for one of you! Here is a peek! :-)

Now wouldn't that be fun?!!

A Little More Fun~~

There is just something about small projects that sparks my energy to work on larger projects!

This little project came together really fast!

It is a free tutorial/pattern called Color Theory from Silly Mama Quilts.

I had a charm pack of Daily Zen from Benartex that I cut up.

My DS needs a little dresser topper and this fits the bill perfectly. :-)

I hope you are having a little fun in your sewing room too!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Playing With Planners~

Surprise! I'm back!! :-)

Jennie @ Clover & Violet did a sweet little tutorial on making a planner cover.  I decided I needed to do one too! Or how about two?  I have friend whose b-day is coming up. ;-)

I found my planners at Barnes & Nobles too~ for 75% off!! Happy!!

This is the outside~

*you will see this fabric again soon. ;-)

Inside~~

I made bias binding, but I should have made it a bit thinner.. this is how I rounded 

the corners to avoid tucks. ;-)

This is the start of #2~

the quilting~~ just a fun stitch on my machine. ;-)

 

I am having a lot of fun playing with these!

I hope you are doing a bit of fun sewing too~

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!