Hourglass Quilt Finish

I have my first quilt finish for the year. Technically it's a 2012 finish, but I'm counting it for this year. I started this scrappy quilt last year when Rachel started her Scrap Attack Quilt Along. Once I started it I knew I wasn't going to finish it in time for her deadline, but instead it became my leader and ender project. It was a great way to do something like this, I probably would have died of boredom otherwise! So here's the finished product:

All of those hourglasses are 3" square. And there are 480 of them!! I just kept making them until I thought I had a substantial enough pile.

Evan can not resist this quilt. Every time I put it down he has to crawl all over it. Note the baby toes at the top of this photo! Most of my shots looked like this.

 My good friend Denise has been teaching me how to use her longarm. So I thought this would be the perfect project to try to long-arm myself. She generously let me use her machine for the afternoon and I ran a pantograph over it. I love how it came out! Now I need to scheme to get myself one now! I had a hard time getting a good photograph of the quilting because of the busy pattern. This was probably where you can see it best. I should have taken pictures before washing.

It was a pretty dense swirly plume pattern. I wanted something dense with all those seams. Here's the rest of the back. Just a collection of fabric I had around that was all kind of low volume so it wouldn't show through. No real plan there.

One of the things I love most about this quilt is that it is totally made of scraps. Sitting under it is fun for me because I can look at all the fabrics and remember the projects (usually gifts) that were made from those fabrics.

And finally, I just have to share this video. When I got the quilt out of the dryer, I laid it out so I could see it all. Evan went bananas and did this for about 5 minutes straight. The video is only about a minute though. This is just what a quilter wants to see their kids do!  :)

Quilt stats:

Size: 68"x57"

Pattern: Hourglass

Fabrics:  stash

Quilted by: Myself

Finished:12/20/12

Happy New Year

Here's to leaving behind a rough year and moving on to better things. Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all a wonderful 2013.

Scrappy Happy Mail

Last week I received my package for the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap. My fantastic package was from Alison of Peachy Keen Quilts. I was blown away by my scrappy pouch!

The back is so cute too!

And I'm in love with the lining fabric.

And then I got some amazing scraps too. She was so thoughtful and picked a lot of reds and purples which I had mentioned I was lacking. And how cute is that Swim Party scrap!?

Thank you so much Alison! I love every bit of it!

I hope they'll be opening another round in the New Year. Keep your eyes on it if you want to join us!

A little Christmas...

I ran into a little Christmas dilemma this year. You see, last year I only had one child! These were our stockings.

(i took this photo because a certain Elf was hanging out on the mantle).

This year I have two kids. So I went back to Pottery Barn to see if I could order another stocking for Evan. No deal. They discontinued them!! ack. Well, being crafty I figured it was time to make my own.

I used this pattern and I highly recommend it. It was super easy.

The fabrics are from the Blitzen line by Basic Grey for Moda which I picked up at my LQS.

And I hand embroidered the cuffs by transferring our names printed from the computer.

I'm so happy with how they turned out. Take that Pottery Barn! haha!

Oh, and if you are still with me and have a moment, I would love if you could vote for my do.Good Stitches group. Rachel, the creator of do. Good Stitches has gathered together one finished quilt from each bee circle and the one with most votes will win.   This sailboat quilt is the one we chose to submit, and in my opinion, it is the best! :)  If you have a second, head here and throw us a vote? Thanks!

Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for coming by to enter my giveway! It was so fun to read all your favorite projects. And thanks for bearing with me through some Rafflecopter learning bumps. When all was said and done here is my winner. Congrats Nikita! I have emailed her. If I don't hear anything by the end of the day Sunday, I'll pull another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Other things going on

I realized that I've only been posting about my finished projects. There have been lots of other things going on in the sewing room.

I won an awesome giveaway with lots of goodies from Jan DiCintio aka Daisy Janie.

I love her fabrics so I was particularly excited about this generous scrap pack.

 I also received some fantastic blocks from my 4x5 Modern Bee members. We were the paper piecing group and these girls outdid themselves. (the first one is my block)

I also must be a glutton for punishment because I can't stop signing up for things! I just signed up for the Make it Modern Bee. And I did my inspiration mosaic for the Doll Quilt Swap 13.

I finished my package to send out for Scrappy Bits Swap and I'm excitedly checking my mail to see what I get!

And this past weekend I got to spend time with friends from PMQG sewing. You can see my Christmas Stockings that I'm work on here. Whew! I didn't realize I had so much sewing going on! Anyone else as addicted to getting fun fabric mail as I apparently am?!a1a`

SMS Giveaway day Fall 2012

It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet! I know you've got lots to do. If you have the time and want to look around, up top are some links to finished projects.  But - you are here for giveaway day. I'm giving away a fat quarter bundle of Denise Schmidt's Chicopee!

I've had problems in the past trying to get blogger to number posts for me. So I've gone to the dark side and this giveaway will be on Rafflecopter.

Here are the rules:
1. This giveaway will close close December 7 at 2 p.m. EST.
2. Sorry, this is a US only giveaway.
3. Leave a comment on Rafflecopter answering my question.
4. Followers get an extra comment because I love you so!

oh, and since I'm asking what your favorite project is, here is my favorite project ever. Feel free to visit and read about it. Yes, I did it, I picked a favorite. haha!

**ETA - I've had a glitch with rafflecopter. Please leave me a message if you still want to enter and I will add it manually.  

This giveaway is closed.


a Rafflecopter giveaway