A Pink Panda Pillow ...and a Giveaway!!

I have been sick this weekend and had trouble getting to this post to get it online but here it (finally!) goes.

I have been doing a little around here trying to get motivation back. I finished my April block for the Round Robin Mystery Mini and got it sent off. The May block is also finished (the first person sent it early) but I thought I'd hold onto it for just a bit so the next person isn't overwhelmed.
I also have both kids going to birthday slumber parties tonight so I've been doing some last minute crafting. My daughter is going next door to the "girl" house (3 daughters) and I always make them stuff. Their mom and I joke that we are our kids' other moms so I always think I should do stuff for them. I found out that this particular daughter has a collection of pandas so I went to PiecebyNumber for their paper pieced panda here. Let's just say, when paper piecing one should not rush. I can't tell you how many mistakes went into this piece, but it's finally done.

I didn't have time to add the bamboo. I just whipped up a pillow for her. So what do you get when you have a girl that likes pink and pandas? Why a pink panda pillow, of course!

I thought it turned out pretty cute and I think she'll like it. Considering I finished it 2 hours before my daughter had to take it to the party, I was cutting it close.I also found out that I did not win the Accuquilt barn quilt contest but congrats to the winners. Their blocks are gorgeous!
I had also planned a giveaway for my 1 year blogiversary but we are now a month out from that so I am way overdo. I even have it in a box ready to go...I just needed to get it done so without further ado...

To celebrate my one year and one month blogiversary, I am giving away a self made charm pack of leftovers from my boy twin quilt and a TMQ binding tool.

The charm pack is made up of leftovers from my boy twin quilt so you are getting some Dr. Seuss fabrics, some Fairy Tale Friends by Moda and a few other prints. I bought two binding tools; one for me and one for you. I used mine on the boy twin quilt and I loved it. There's a great video by the Missouri Star Quilt Co. on youtube to show you how to use it.

This giveaway will stay open through 9 pm EST Saturday 5/5/12 and a winner will be announced on May 6th. This contest is open to United States and Canada only. Sorry international! This all comes out of my pocket (or hubby's, rather, since I'm not working right now!).

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

To enter...
1) Leave one comment below for a single entry.
2) Be a follower for a second entry.
3) If you post about it in any way (blog post, tweet, etc), leave a third entry.

That's it! Good luck, and happy (very late) blogiversary to me!

WiP...The One Where I Relaxed

Okay, so I went on a trip this weekend and not much else got done this week. So instead, I decided to look back at my UFO's to help me decide what needs to be readdressed the soonest. Let's see what we have going on here...

 Here is my block from the Pepper Cory class I attended. I really need to get back to this one and at least work on it a little at a time, but I need to get the paper pieces traced so I can do each piece.

These are from Leila's Skill Builder series. This is as far as I got before getting distracted by other projects. I really should just sew all but the red/black house into one quilt. That wouldn't take all that much to get done.

I have only done one block for Bottled Rainbows which is bad because our quilt guild is doing it. My lime green block is done and this pink one has been sitting for A WHILE!

I did this Fiesta ware mini for my MIL at Christmas and she has requested a second one.

I have four Carpenter Wheels done for my own bed...

and I have a few more Granny Squares to finish for making a baby quilt. This one will have to be my next finish because the baby is due in 5 weeks. I've got to get on the ball!

But I do think the one I am most anxious to get back to and finish is this one...my red and white hexie.

I really want to see this one all put together.
And sorry for the less than crisp edges on the pictures. I figured out that I could keep using my Picasa if I cut the picture size down to less than 100 KB per picture so I've been doing that to increase my time with it before having to purchase more space. Sure wish I'd done this at the beginning. Then maybe I wouldn't have had to down the size quite so much.

Purple Mountain's Majesty

Just got back yesterday from my trip and we had a great time. Very quiet and serene, relaxing with no arguing. Let me state that again. No arguing. I don't remember a time where I've spent two days where I didn't hear an argument at some point. That picture is the view from my room in the cabin. This was basically looking out toward Blue Ridge. So gorgeous....and quiet. Did I mention how quiet it was? I don't think we mothers get exposed to quiet enough.
We spent most of our time just chilling out, but we were able to visit a little arts and crafts festival where one of the photographers very kindly offered each of us a free 5x7. My sister and I each purchased another print as well but I thought it was very kind of him to offer us a free piece. We did a little meandering in downtown Blue Ridge and I even sniffed out the LQS!!  The cabin was great and we are planning on making this an annual trip.

I was frustrated leaving because I didn't get my travel bag finished in time to take it, but I had a little something in my email when I got back to make me feel better. I won a $25 gift card to Pink Chalk Fabrics from Rachel over at Stitched in Color!  I may look to see if they carry any longer fabric for backing. I always seem to need that.

Mountain Mama!

Headed out on my Girl's Weekend with my sis, mom and grandma. Mountains look out for us cause here we come!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

WiP and a Callout to Fellow Quilters

First the callout: if you knew someone in need to make a difference in a community, would you help? My bloggy buddy Michele has sent out the word that she needs star blocks in red, black and white. These blocks will be sewn into a quilt which will be raffled off as part of an annual baseball tournament which is held in remembrance of her late nephew, Danny. All the details can be found here. I'm sure she'd appreciate any star blocks you could send her way.

As far as progress goes this week, there wasn't a lot. I got my Granny Square shams done to go with the twin quilts.
I'm also trying to get things together to make a travel bag from Studio Cherie. Still can't find jute webbing unless I order it online so I may not have it done for my weekend trip with my sister, mom and grandma. So I decided to make up a quick bag I could take.

It's just a little pouch but I needed something for my chargers and such. I thought that Heirloom fabric by Joel Dewberry was just the trick. Very cute!
Now back to my jute webbing search! Oh, and I'm pretty sure today is the last day to vote for the Accuquilt Barn Quilt contest. Make sure you get over there and vote. If you happen to like 18, 94 and 100, I sure appreciate your vote!
And don't forget to check everyone else's progress over at Lee's!

Family: It's a Good Thing

It's been a busy day. I spent the morning at the Minute Clinic only to confirm what I already figured out. Ear infection and beginning sinus infection. Yahoo for me. At least I don't feel bad; just can't hear well out of one ear.

Tomorrow is the final day for voting in the the Accuquilt Barn Quilt Contest. Blocks 18, 94, and 100 are mine and I greatly appreciate your vote if you like them!

I finally delivered the shams for the twin quilts and had to come up with a price for my work. I'm really not good at this. My husband says I have a tendency to underprice things, but I also make most things for family and friends so it's hard for me to charge my family lots of money. I had kept up with the cost of the supplies so I was gauging my prices on that. My hubby's wonderful aunt and uncle thought I had undercharged and added more to my totals. Yeah family! I need to talk to hubby but I could register for the Sewing Summit with what I made on these quilts. Yahoo! Just have to figure out if I can go.

Also along the "family" conversation, my sister set up a trip for us this weekend. It will be her, myself, my mom, and my grandmother in the mountains all weekend by ourselves. Aaahhh!!! I'm trying to do a mad dash and make one of these bags by StudioCherie.

I'm still figuring out where to get some jute webbing for the straps. Otherwise the rest should come together fairly quickly.

Granny Shams! A Glutton for Punishment

Don't forget to go by and vote for your favorite blocks at the Accuquilt Barn Quilt Contest. I am numbers 18, 94 and 100, and I would greatly appreciate your vote!

So I got the crazy idea to offer to make pillow shams to match the twin quilts I just finished. Yeah, I know. Barb already told me we tend to make more work for ourselves! I came across this great tutorial for putting them together using a quilt block so I made two big Granny Squares using charm squares from my leftovers. The fronts are quilted and I loved how they turned out.

Here's how they look filled and on the bed.

I thought they turned out very cute and they'll go great with the bed quilts. I will definitely use this pattern again, but I think I will move the opening in the back for the pillows to the center so there is no pucker at the end of the pillow.

Linking up!

I Made the Accuquilt Barn Quilt Contest Top 100!!!!

I made the cut on the top 100 blocks for the Accuquilt Barn Quilt Contest! I turned in several designs and at least two have made the cut. Why do I say "at least"? Well, someone didn't catch it but one of my blocks is on the list twice.
Please go by and vote. You can pick your top 5 blocks and I'd love it if you liked mine enough to vote for one. Here are my blocks.

Block 18

Block 94

Block 100

I'm going to try to contact them to let them know I'm on there twice with the same block.  They will pick the top 20 on April 18th so get your votes in before then!

Belated WiP...the one where I'm freaking out!

Okay, you would think that having two twin size commission quilts done and crossed off my list would de-stress me, right? NOT! I got my first block for the Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin a week or so a ago but put it to the side to finish my quilts. Before I could even get to it, I received the second one! Ach! I'm feeling a little pressure (breathing in the paper bag... eeeehhh....... hoooo.... eeeeehhh.... hoooo!). And I'm sort of second guessing my creativity because I had trouble coming up with great ideas for them. I really don't want to send them on and have people not like what I did.... just breathe.....
Now, I've gone and finished the second one before I even did the first one! Yikes! Oh, and for some dumb reason I offered to make pillow shams to go with the twin quilts since hubby's aunt will be coming back through here Sunday after Disneyworld and staying until Wednesday. What was I thinking...?

I did, in fact, finish the boy quilt and you can read about that here.

Twin Quilt Number 2: Finis!

Mannie's quilt has been finished and delivered. Both will be on their way to the Hague after their trip to Disneyworld. I did straight line stitching again which helped it come together fairly quickly. I didn't quite get the center quilting line centered on the back but it was close!

I still love the back. I will say, however, that one should definitely use those color guard sheets when there is so much blue (or other colors like red, purple, etc.). I used two sheets and both came out a dull blue color.

Quilt size is approximately 64"x87".


Now I feel the sudden urge to do something completely different like a bag!

Twin Quilt Number 2: Top is Done!

Happy Easter!!!!

I finally finished the top for the boy twin quilt!

We've got Dr. Seuss fabrics, Pezzy prints, alphabet fabrics, some of everything!
I actually just finished killing my knees and getting the whole thing pinned together. Onto the quilting! Sorry for the pictures lately. I did some reading and realized I should have been lowering the size of the pictures before putting them in the blog. I've started doing that and so far I've been able to continue using Picasa like I was doing before. But I have noted that the pictures are not as clear which gets on my nerves.

Spring Break Fun and Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt!

I've been trying to keep the kiddos busy while they've been out for Spring Break. We did some family stuff early in the week (cookouts, family get togethers) but we've been hitting some actual places later in the week. Wednesday my neighbor and I took the kids (6 of them!) to the The Cheese (aka, Chuck E.). It actually wasn't horribly busy when we got there so it wasn't too bad.
Yesterday another friend and I took our kids to the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. I lucked out while checking it out online. I  just happened to look at the "special ticket offers" section and saw that you could you My Coke Rewards points to get tickets for free. Lucky me! I had been keeping my points up for quite a while now (just for the heck of it) and had enough to get both of my kids tickets free. Excellent!

This is inside the shop as you're leaving. I didn't take a lot of pictures but my friend did so I'm hoping she got some good ones.
This is a chandelier that appears to be made of slices taken from glass coke bottles to form circles.

My neighbor noticed that the glow in the dark egg hunt appeared to have gone viral on Pinterest so we gave it a try. Hubby remarked that it was a bit more trouble than it was worth because it took more time to get the little glow in the dark bracelets tied and inside the eggs than it took them to find most of them. But I thought it was cool. And the kids thought it was fun.

A couple of thoughts if you try it yourself.

1. Different glow bracelets did better than others. If you find bracelets that glow like the ones shown in the pinterest pictures, I want to know where you got them.
2. They are difficult to get inside the eggs without them popping out. I recommend eggs that close lengthwise instead of width wise. They seemed to stay closed better once you got them inside.
3. Glow bracelets don't like to be bent too sharply and they will break. This results in plutonium all over your hands and whatever else they exploded onto. Like white Kona fabric because you were too dumb to realize that your sewing room was not the best place to do this.
4. If you do get it on you, it dries clear, but I'd still wash it off. Not sure what that stuff is, ya know?

Oh, and figure out anything you need to about taking pictures in the dark beforehand. I knew I needed to do something with my aperture,etc. but I didn't take the time to figure it out before so the pictures are not great. Especially when you're trying to take pics of eggs when children are moving!

 

 

WiP Wednesday

Well, we have Dutch guests (hubby's cousin and her hubby) in our home and there are Canadian guests (hubby's aunt and uncle, and his cousin's kids) at my mother in laws. I have already given Brooke her quilt and I am working like a madwoman on the one for Mannie. I finished the back and I just have to sew the front together. I am VERY proud of the back. I think I went overboard and I like it better than the front.

Remember this is a twin size quilt! Each one of those Granny Squares is 19"x19"! I love how this ended up. It should really probably be the front but I guess it will end up being reversible, which is probably better for a boy anyway!

I reported yesterday that I have sent off my 6" block for the Mystery Modern Mini Round Robin and I also received the first one I am to work on! I'm so excited! Here is mine again:

Thread and needle will be added during quilting. I won't get to see how it ends up until October...don't know if I can wait that long!

I'm also a week overdo for celebrating my blogiversary with a  giveaway, but I will be doing that soon.

Family from Afar & the Start of a Mystery!

We have family visiting this week from Canada, as well as The Hague in the Netherlands.

That means Brookie got her quilt. I gave it to her last night and she was so cute in her response. In her little British accent she told me "I like it" and then proceeded to wrap herself up in it with a big grin on her face! I took that to mean it was a hit!
That family is here also means I'm late on quilt number two but I got a lot of work done on it today. I need to make a run for more Kona Marine but I should be able to finish with everything else. I do need to pick up some batting as well. Then it's just putting it all together. Pictures to follow!!!

I also got my 6 inch block out to the first person on my list for the Mystery Modern Mini Round Robin over at Quilts from My Crayon Box. We all are sending out 6" blocks and members are to add borders to the blocks...7 times over! I can't wait to see how mine ends up.

Sorry for the blurry pic: didn't realize how bad it was til I got it in the computer.

I decided to go with a paper pieced sewing machine that eventually will go on my sewing room wall. It is not perfect but I like it and I can't wait to see what everyone does with it. I plan on adding the needle and thread in the quilting of it when I finally get it back. Ooh, the suspense!!!