Sew Mama Sew winner

Wow! You all blew me away with your responses to my giveaway. A lot of people asked where they could get a rainbow zipper. I get mine here at my LQS. They don't have them listed on their online shop, but I'm sure you can call for one.

And now to the good stuff!! The winner of the zipper and FQ stack of Flea Market Fancy......

 

Congratulations Deb! I have sent you an email. If I don't hear back by Monday night I will re-draw another winner. :)

Giveaway Day - Sew Mama Sew Style

Yay! It's giveaway day! I missed the last one and was bummed about it. But this time I'm fully prepared. Welcome to all of you visiting, I've got what I think is a great giveaway for you.

Last time I was at my local quilt shop, Sew Smart Fabrics, I picked up this great fat quarter bundle of Flea Market Fancy. It's 8 fat quarters of the re-release.

And what is that around it? That is one of the awesome rainbow zippers that I used for this beachy bag. (Bag not part of giveaway!)

I got so many compliments on that zipper that I thought I would include one in my giveaway.


To enter:

Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite fabric line is right now or coming soon. (cause I need some enablers to help me shop!) For the record, I'm really looking forward to Heaven and Helsinki by Patty Young and of course Birds and Bees by Tula Pink.

Giveaway will be open until May 25, 8pm EST. It is open internationally. Make sure I have a way to contact you if your email is not in your profile. I will use Random Generator to pick my winner.



Good luck and thank you for stopping by! The rest of the giveaways are here...

Must Love Purple - My Bloggers Quilt Festival Quilt

The quilt I have chosen to show for Blogger's Quilt Festival is my current favorite. (Don't we all say that about every quilt?) I think it's my favorite because it's so different from anything else I've done. And it is my favorite colors. I don't know why, but I'm drawn to cool colors.

It started as my bee quilt in August for the Sew Modern Quilt Bee. The girls did a fantastic job with the blocks they sent me. But when I had put everything together, I realized I hadn't paid close attention. These blocks are only about 7" finished. When I got all my blocks back, the quilt just wasn't big enough for me. Plus I still had a ton of scraps cut up. So I started using this quilt as my leader and ender project and now it's finally finished! And quite large - lol.

The block was one I got from this tutorial on Nittany Block Party. It has since popped up a lot all over blog land. It's fantastic for using up scraps. The only fabric that was not from my stash or scraps is the purple border. So it felt good to use up fabric I already had!

The back is the same thing, all stash. I pieced together all some of the larger pieces I had left in the right colors and of course put my label in there too.  You can also see some of the quilting I did.

I machine quilted this and used a variegated thread for the first time which was a lot of fun. It is purple, blue, green and pink. It shows up best on the solids on the back side.

I basically outlined the "X" pattern and did some straight line along the borders. I didn't want the quilting to compete with the 'busy-ness' of the x's and scraps.

Here are some close ups so you can see all the different fabrics in the blocks.

That's one of the things I like best about this. Up close, it's fun to look at all the different prints. I've never been a huge scrap quilt person, but after this, they are really growing on me! So much so that I've got 2 scrappy quilts in the works now.

Surprise, the binding is scrappy too!

Quilt stats:

Size: 70" x 70"

Pattern: X String Block

Fabrics: Mix of scraps and stash

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 4/25/2012

As I mentioned before, this is my quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Welcome to any new visitors who found me through the Festival. And for those who haven't heard of it, go check it out! It's an online quilt show with lots of fantastic submissions.

Dresden top finished

Last week I finished my Dresden quilt top for the Scrappy Plate Club. I found that I can sometimes do more hand sewing than machine sewing. You know, while sitting in front of the TV as the toddler watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

I was a little lazy with my picture taking. It's been raining and raining here so I didn't have too many outdoor options. So maybe we'll just consider these shots preview of the finished top!

At one point I had considered raspberry sashing. But once the blocks were all done, I realized the raspberry was brighter than the color I used in the plates. I had a bunch of Kona Ash on hand so I used that.

I'm glad I did, I really like the ash and navy. I think it gives it a more classic look.  I may still use the raspberry as binding? Not sure yet. I still have a lot of scraps in this color that might be nice to use up as binding too.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks.

Now I just need to decide how to quilt this one. My budget for long-arm work is temporarily suspended as hubby was laid off. So I have to come up with something I can do myself. Any ideas? I've never quilted something with applique!

May Bee Blocks

Yes, I have become that girl. The one who gets her bee blocks done super early! Well, in my defense, with the way nap times go around here, I feel better getting them done when I have the chance than having to worry about getting them done later. Then I know I'm free to spend any time I get on my own projects without guilt.


So first off I have the blocks for the Bliss Circle of Do.Good Stitches. Carol requested Elizabeth Hartmann's Octagonal Orb Block. These were on my potential list for my next time so I was really excited to make them! We each picked two colors.

I chose purple and orange.

These are HUGE blocks at about 17" each.  Carol is thinking she might make two quilts out of all the blocks and I think she will be able to do so easily!!


Then I put together the blocks for Sew Modern Bee. Christine sent us fabrics for Garden Fence blocks. Since she had already cut everything and I have done this pattern before, these blocks went together super quick.

I love the colors she's chosen and can't wait to see the whole thing put together.

An adult sized tunic

I have to start this post with my little "quilting hostage". I know he won't be napping in his swing for long so I had to capture this set up. After he is bound and gagged swaddled and binked, he hangs out with me in the afternoons while I sew. He's three months now so I'm going to start working on getting him in his crib for naps. Wish me luck!


At any rate, a while ago I posted this little tunic that I made for my daughter.

I finally finished the one for me. I used a voile for this and I'm so glad I did. It's super soft and drapes really nicely. The fabric is Joel Dewberry, Tile Flourish from the Heirloom collection. One word of warning with voile. Order extra because it's rather sheer. You will need to make a lining for the front of your shirt. Or wear a cami under it.

Again, Amy Butler's pattern went together very easily and quickly. I even managed to get the part around the zippers correct this time. oohh.. so professional.

There are four lengths in this pattern (shirt, long shirt, tunic and dress). Because I'm only 5'3" I went with the long shirt rather than the tunic and I'm glad I did because it came out long enough.

It's pulling around the chest a little, but that will go away once I'm not a nursing mama. I think the whole thing will lay better once that happens. One question for all you stylish people out there. I need something to cover my arms with when I wear this. What would you wear? A really long sweater?? (also, I will not be wearing it with those pants, I was too lazy to change.)

Another family commission

This time from my sister and not for a quilt. A while back I made my nephew this quilt.

My sister requested some valances to go with it. Here's what I came up with.

The front is flat with pleats going where the curtain rod curves. I'm just hoping my sisters measurements were good! It's hard to make curtains when you don't have the window/rod in front of you!

And I have to brag a little. Here's where I matched up my fabrics. I'm actually getting better at it!!


The other thing she requested was burp cloths for a friend who is having a baby girl. I worked up a bunch in a lot of different fabrics.

I think these two are my favorites.

And they all have my label on them yay!

So this fun little package will be off to my sister tomorrow. I hope she likes everything.