Don't Touch Me - tester giveaways

I had the privilege of working with two wonderful women who were willing to test out the pattern for Don't Touch Me.  They gave me some awesome feedback.  And it was so interesting to see how their quilts turned out!

For reference, this was mine.

Karen from K's Quilting Korner made it more scrappy and used a colored border.  It looks great!

Kat from Made with Love and Ladybug Hugs made hers in softer pastels.  It'll be perfect for a girl.

Both ladies are having a giveaway!  So stop by and see them!
Kat is giving away the pattern.
Karen is giving away the pattern and some beautiful fabric.

additional quilts:
Lea from Podunk Pretties made this one:

A Huge Surprise

For the first part of this week, my son and I went up north.  So this post was going to show you some of the blocks I cut, some of the colorful scraps, and the cloth I bought.

BUT, then I got home.  My husband said, "I have something to show you in the basement."  And I found this...

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?  I still can't.  He even put the quilting frame together and that took him all three nights while we were gone.  And here I thought he was just relaxing.  I had been thinking how awesome it would be to have a quilter, but was having a hard time justifying the money and the space.  But since it was a gift I can just enjoy it!!  The only sad thing is that I only have one quilt top that needs quilting right now.

I've been smiling at my husband all evening.  And wishing that I didn't have to be an adult for the next few days so I could just quilt.  But the baby needs to be taken care of, so quilting/piecing can't be my first priority.  It can be my second though. And they might be able to overlap a little bit. :)

Quilt 11: arrival

I sent off Quilt 11 to its handsome owner and just saw the following blog post appear.  I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you.  (Images and text used by permission.)

A Michigan blanket in Alabama

A few weeks ago, a gift from Michigan showed up. But this was no ordinary blanket, it was a blanket who enjoyed the outdoors.  Knowing that, we took it outside to make it feel more at home.

First it decided to soak up some Alabama sun after borrowing some sun glasses. Fortunately, a dark complexion means no worrying about sun screen.

Next, some tree climbing. Or at least, the closest thing we have at the house.

Then a little more relaxing fun rolling down the hill out back. 

After that, some leg-dangling off the porch with a cool bottle of water.

All that play was pretty tiring, so it came in and collapsed. But it moved around in its sleep and ended up snuggling [the baby].

Tetris

Happy Quilting is hosting a Tetris Quilt-a-long.  I've never done a quilt-a-long before, but this one sounded like a lot of fun.

I got my fabrics.  I'll have some time apart from my sewing machine next week, so I thought it would be a good time to start cutting.  You'll notice that these are very similar to my heart quilt colors.  I'm in a bright solid phase and just going with it.

Progress

I finished some more coasters.  Only 1.5 left.

I finished my hearts!  I had to redo two of the side blocks that I thought were done, but most of the points come together well.

So now before I start the next one I want to figure out the design...and was hoping you could help.  So I quickly made up some ideas.  Emphasis on the quickly.

A) rainbow, all colored hearts on the left.

B) Diagonal rainbow, mix which side the white heart is on

C) Random, mix which side the white heart is on.  (I might not use this exact layout, but it gives a good idea at least.)

Any other ideas?

Linking up with Quilting by the River and WIP Wednesday.

Heart Progress, Behind the Seams

Today I'm linking up with Sarah's Whoop-whoop party!

Slow going on the hearts.  I was all excited two nights ago because I got the two hard pieces put together, but then last night it took me forever to figure out how to actually get those pieces together.  And the baby needed extra attention.  I managed to get the middle block together this morning, so I only have square pieces to put together now...hopefully that will be easy!

And here's the info on my linky party!

 

The introduction: I often feel like I don't really have much progress to show on projects.  Sure, I'm making progress, but sometimes it takes me two solid weeks to quilt a small quilt.  And I'd like something interesting to post about in the meantime.  So we'll be covering topics that are related to sewing/quilting but don't relate to how much progress you're making.

The mechanics: On the 15th of each month I'll post the topic for the next month's party.  Sometime during the month you can write a blog post about the topic...whenever works for you.  (Please include the link to this post or use the button on the side bar.)  Then link up on the 15th of the following month!

Next month's party: The oldest fabric in your fabric stash.  (Or at least the one that you think is the oldest.)  Some things to include might be a picture of the fabric, how you got it, what you think of it (do you like it?), how old you think it is, etc.

Future topics: Here are more that I'm considering.  If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

*The location you normally take your quilt pictures - zoomed out and/or without the quilt.

*Critters on a quilt - and who can get the most on at once?

*5 minute clean up - pictures before and after

*Various elements of your sewing area - fabric, ironing board, trash can, thread storage

Locked Hearts and Linky announcement

This week I started work on my heart quilt.

I also continued to make many mistakes. This white piece can at least be used in another block.  I now know that non-square blocks have an orientation.

And this mistake.  It needs to be paper pieced because it's on an awkward angle, and I didn't realize that you get a mirror image of the block when you're done.  So I've managed to learn two things to not do this week.  That counts as progress, right?  Please?

I'm also thinking about starting a linky party called "Behind the Seams."  It would be a sewing/quilting related topic, but wouldn't really have anything to do with the progress your making.  Things like what your sewing area looks like, your oldest piece of fabric, one of your quilts with an animal on it, etc.  So that when we are still working on the same thing there is still something to post about.  I like to post but am so slow that I don't want my readers to get completely bored seeing the same thing a million times.  I'll give you the topic the month prior and then you'll have a month and you can post at any time.  Then we'll link up!  I'm going to post on the 15th of the month, so the first topic will be coming up this Friday.  Sound like fun?

Speaking of linky parties, I'm joining up with Quilting by the River and WIP Wednesday.

Started

I started the heart quilt. I had 3+ sides of the coasters done, and that was the official goal for this month. The shower curtain needs more fabric.  I used up the bolt at my LQS when I got it and was expecting to need more. And mending...I've been working on it and adding to the pile, but it just isn't as much fun.

I know, it's super exciting so far. :)  

WIP Wednesday

It's WIP Wednesday again!  I feel like I put in a normal amount of effort this week and got less than I was expecting back.

Let's start with paper piercing.  It was my first time doing it, and for the first coaster I'm pretty sure I took out every seam three times.  (Although, this makes it really, really easy to get the paper off.)  The second one went together a little better; I sort of figured out what I was doing.  And the with the third one...the quarter with the pin has incorrect measurements and won't line up.  So I tossed them all in a bag to put on hold for a few days.  (I'm still planning on three more with the rest of the color combinations.)

Next I worked on putting a back on the pieced part of the shower curtain.  I cut it too small the first time and had to recut.  Luckily I had a huge piece of scrap...I got it for the very first thing I sewed, a tablecloth, and WAY overestimated how much I needed.  I've also learned about french seams since I started piecing it, so I'll finish the curtain up with those.

And lastly, I got more fabric. It's for my heart quilt, and I'm really excited to start.  But I need to finish the two things above and some mending first.  (Hopefully.  Unless I can convince myself otherwise.)

Edit: since I also tried paper piercing for the first time, I'm linking up with TNT Thursday too!

Quilt 11: finished!

Quilt 11 is finished!

Here's the front.  The original idea is from here.

And the back.

For the quilting I quilted it about 3/8" away from the seams.  So almost a zigzag, but not quite.

An outside shot.

I put it on some beautiful flowers. Then I realized that the flowers don't match and it is for a boy.

So to the woodpile it went!

Linking up with Sew Modern Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Quilting by the River, Whoop-Whoop Friday, Sew and Tell Friday, and Richard Quilts.

May accomplishments, June goals

Here's my progress from May.  I finished the top three items that I really wanted to finish early Wednesday, which gave me some time to progress of the other items on my list.

1. "Don't Touch Me"  - finished!
2. Create a pattern for Don't Touch Me - finished and out for testing!

3. Finish quilting another baby quilt - finished!  The official post will be up in a few days, but here's a preview.

4. Finish a shower curtain - started with good progress.

5. Quilt another baby quilt - no progress.
6. Try paper piecing and FMQ.  I was thinking of making some coasters.  Paper piece coasters just got started yesterday with several speed bumps. Maybe I should have read the directions on the technique more carefully.

Choosing the top three things to work on really worked well for me last month.  I'm sure I would have gotten sidetracked several times otherwise!  So here are my top three for June:

1. Finish the shower curtain.
2. Mend.  I have a pile of it with two quilts, two pillowcases, a shirt, a swimsuit, three pairs of pants, a coat button, a cushion, and a window shade.  It would be nice to get it out of my work space and most of them will go very quickly.

3. Finish piecing the coasters.

And the "if I'm lucky":
4. Quilt the coasters
5. Start a heart quilt. (I really want to do this one.  It was hard to not put it in the top three.)
6. Quilt the other baby quilt.
7. Come up with a design for the fabric I won.

I'm linking up with some people.