Quilting

Anna Maria Horner – Loulouthi – Pink Castle Fabrics Giveaway! (And An Update On My Recovery)

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What could possibly bring me crawling out of bed rest to blog? Oh… I don’t know… free fabric? Yes. Free fabric.

Just A Bit Frayed is hosting a giveaway for bloggers. The winner will receive some GORGEOUS new Anna Maria Horner fabric!

It was a hard call, but I think my favorites are 3, 5, 15, 20, and 25! I’m always partial to the dots 🙂

So if you’re a blogger, and you LOVE free fabric, head on over and check out the details of the giveaway!

I’m hoping my entry will secretly count for more, since I am completely stoned on painkillers, and begged my husband to hook my computer up to my tv so I could do this from bed.

I haven’t posted any post-op pictures yet, partially because I haven’t really felt like doing ANYTHING, but also because I’m not sure anyone wants to see those 🙂 I did decide I’m not going to create a blog specifically for them, but I’m going to post them on a jaw surgery blog I’ve been frequenting and then just link to that.

Please continue to pray for me, because this is rough stuff! I think I’m about 1/3 of the way through the hardest part, and things should start getting better maybe by the end of next week!

Still Here!!!

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I’m sorry for the lack of posting recently! Sickness has been ravaging our home!

I have barely been able to craft, although my mom and I cut out about 2000 2 inch squares while she was staying with me through my sickness. These squares will go toward my mom’s quilt… whenever that might be started…

Browsing through my pictures today, in search of something crafty to share, I came across pictures of Tiny Dexter, The Chunky Baby. He has grown and changed so much over the past year! And sometimes I feel like he is trying to outgrow being my baby. But today he gave me the sweetest, unsolicited hug, and it was wonderful 🙂

So feeling nostalgic, and longing for the time when my family is healthy and back to normal and snuggly and not cranky, I’ll leave you with a sweet picture of a then 7.5-month-old Dex and his sleeping daddy. And, to this day, he still loves to go wake his daddy up 🙂

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The Curious Quilter: Tips and a Giveaway!

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Head over to The Curious Quilter for some tips on how to tame your stash of 2” squares! Obviously, I need to heed her advice!

I love how my box says “Big Smile”!
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And, if you’re intimidated by the prospect of gathering 3 or 4 thousand squares for a quilt and need a boost to get started, Mary is giving a way a set of 500 2” squares! (Or 80 5” if you’d prefer…) Or, if you’re like me, and you have 2000+ squares already, but you could just use some more, enter away 🙂

But who can blame me! They’re soooooo pretty 🙂 IMG_8191

Mailbox Magic

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Yesterday, I came home from a play date with my friend Stephanie, to a mailbox full of happiness!

First of all, I got my first copy of Parents Magazine. Who doesn’t love magazines, especially when you get a year’s subscription for $3? And I got a disc from Netflix to replace a broken DVD, which I’d been waiting on for almost a week.
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But the best thing of all was from The Curious Quilter!!!

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A tiny, wonderful package of tiny, wonderful 2 inch squares for my postage stamp quilt!

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I sat down right at the door and started playing with my new present 🙂 There were so many really awesome clippings, but I wanted to show off a few of my favorites!

Ok, geekery abounds in this house, so this could not have been a more perfect addition to my quilt 🙂

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I just loved this little polar bear!

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And I love gnomes!!! When we owned our own house, I wanted a garden gnome so much! But grumpy Alex told me no. I’ll wear him down at the next place 😉 Or who knows, gnomes have a way of just wandering in and making themselves at home…

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This square is just the sweetest!

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I really liked this one, especially since Mary calls these 2 inch treasures.

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How awesome is this set?? I had wanted to sneak some skulls into my quilt, but I didn’t think I wanted so many as to go buy a length of fabric. Two is the perfect amount 🙂 And I LOVE that star fabric.

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So after grouping those 4 together, I started thinking about other groupings. There were lots of little animals, which made me want to do a Critter Quilt for Dex. I LOVED the bee square, but felt really guilty about wanting to keep it because I know Dexter LOVES bees too. (We LOVE a lot in this house lol. We’re not very neutral people!)  But maybe I’ll trade him the polar bear for the bees…

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And then I have to decide if animal print is a fun girly addition to my quilt, or if it ultimately belongs in the Critter Quilt.

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And then I came across this “square”… made up of 2 tiny triangles. I’m saving that one. Because I’ve got a lot of scraps that are too small to make 2 inch squares, and I feel a Tiny Triangle Quilt may be in my future…

WIP: Postage Stamp Quilt (Cutting and Calculating!)

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Isn’t this project supposed to be a scrap-buster? What am I doing bringing new fabrics into this house??

I cleaned out my tiny scraps and had only 450 of my proposed 4096 squares. And I get a little impatient sometimes, and do impulsive things. I went to Joann’s looking for Thomas fabric for a birthday gift. I didn’t find any Thomas the Train, but I did find LOTS of fabrics that would look great in my postage stamp quilt.

My rationality: I planned on getting a few fat quarters. But it occurred to be me that 4 fat quarters would come out to $8. so, why shouldn’t I just get lots of 1/8 and 1/16 cuts of lots of fabrics for the same price? Yes, this is very sound logic indeed.

But it turned out to be a great choice. For $5.50 I got 13 different fabrics (just over 1.25 yards) as opposed to 4 for $8 (1 yard).

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I loved all the fabrics I chose, but I was really excited about a few. This green fabric was around 60% off because it was a St. Patrick’s Day print. Awesome!!!

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Novelty fabrics were 30% off so I threw in some mushrooms and owls! (BTW, somewhere along the line, I decided this quilt is definitely for me. I’m apparently not interested in sharing a “Big Hug”.)

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I fussy-cut the owls, which is something I’ve always wanted to do! But, as they were almost 2 inches tall, they’ll still get a little cut off at the edges.

So I’ve been cutting up a storm, between other projects, “cleaning” (ha!), and going to birthday parties (2 this weekend). And I’ve now reached 1104 pieces. Proof:

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I’m doing my calculations right on the box, lest I lose them and become desperate and frustrated later. It’s a lot of gibberish, but I know what it means. For now… (Update: I took down the picture of my “calculations” because something was way off.)

My quilt will be roughly 74”x90”, modeled after a quilt that I already use all the time. I’m currently planning to do 1/4 seams, because that’s what I normally do when sewing, unless a clothing pattern calls for something different. So that means my finished squares will be 1.5” instead of 1”. After all my calculations, I will need 2296.875 squares… as you can see, my calculations still need to be tweaked 🙂 (Update: I have done some crazy-bad calculating it seems… As Mary says on her blog, you should have 64 squares per 12” block. For some reason I came to the conclusion that she was using 1/2” seams, but she is also using 1/4” seams. NEVER TRUST MY MATH 😛 ) But I’m excited to have a semi-functional plan!

Postage Stamp Quilt (Am I Crazy???)

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I’ve always wanted to do a block quilt, possibly out of 4” squares… sometime in the distant future, because that would take forever, right??

But then I saw this beautiful postage stamp quilt over at The Curious Quilter, made of 2” squares, and I felt I must rise to the challenge.

I told the creator (borrowing from her comments section):

“one of my favorite parts of the process is dreaming up my new creation. i do enjoy piecing (by machine) but i don’t enjoy the technical planning stage (figuring out how much fabric i need and how big everything needs to be), it just seems like it takes all the fun out of it. i just want to create!!!”

And she replied with this great advice for getting started:

“Thank you! Actually this is a great project for you then. Every time you make something, cut yourself a few two inch squares. When you have a pile, start sewing them into squares of 64 each, for a 12.5 inch block. You can assemble blocks using the Classic Squares Tutorial, but with two inch squares instead of ten inch ones. Over time, you will build a healthy pile of blocks!”

So I recently got started! I cut up tons of scraps into two inch squares while I was watching tv. (Got to love a simple, mindless task!) After a while I thought maybe I had enough for about half a quilt. I counted my squares… 420.

I checked Mary’s blog again to see how many squares I’d need. And I realized I didn’t pay enough attention before. That beautiful quilt is made up of 4096 pieces!!!!

At least I’ve made a dent 🙂

Anyone up for a quilt-along? If so, hop on over to The Curious Quilter and check out her postage stamp quilts. She calls them “Big Hugs”, and really, after that much work, that is exactly what they are! And the quilts can be very personal, made up of favorite fabrics or bits of old, well-loved clothing.

She also has great storage tips for all those teensy squares.  Don’t do what I’m doing… you can see mine are all thrown into a box and that I didn’t even iron the fabric before I cut it.

Progress Report: Pink/Blue Owl Quilt

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I’m both excited and frustrated… I’m extremely happy because I completed all 12 of my squares!!! But I ran across lots of problems. Namely that I apparently cut my sashing strips too short, boo, and I can’t find my scrap material to add to the strips, extra boo. And by the end, I was having a lot of sewing trouble and I’m going to have to rip some seams. A break was called for.

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I am LOVING the way it’s looking with the sashing. I can’t wait til I work out the kinks. I added a little plain chocolate brown to the length , hopefully it won’t be too distracting. I’ll have to do this on every wide strip and at the end of all the border pieces.

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It’s really coming together! The tree on the back will be the next challenge 🙂

I Won!! (Oh, and pix of some hats)

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So, the first week I moved to Chattanooga I found out I won a free yard of Kaffe Fasset Fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew! It was a very nice cheer-up 🙂IMG_5614

I have been planning a quilt of peach, purple, and red. I’m still not sure how this is going to look, or when I’ll get around to making it, but I’m fairly sure this fabric is going into that quilt.

Also, my wonderful nephews, Ty and Micah, celebrated their 1st birthdays a few weeks ago! I made them some monster hats. I love the way these turned out!IMG_5627

Sew, Mama, Sew! Show Us Your Stash Questionnaire

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For a lot of you, this may be a really boring blog post. It’s about thread 🙂 You’re welcome to just look at the pretty pictures and then move on. Unless, of course, you are truly interested in info about my thread 🙂

If you’d like to answer the questionnaire on your own blog for a chance to win Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett thread, then jog on over to Sew, Mama, Sew!,  one of my absolute favorite sewing sites.

  • How did you select colors for your personal thread collection?

I’m always drawn to bright colors. In the past, I had tons of red thread, because most of my projects were in red tones. Just recently I’ve started branching out to some gorgeous blues and greens.IMG_5264

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  • Do you always match the color perfectly to your project?

Not always. I try to get close on certain projects, because I feel like the piece should stand on it’s own merit, without any distractions.

  • Do you ever use contrasting thread?

I use contrasting thread more recently. I used to be really afraid to, but I especially like the contrast in my baby items. I guess I feel the freedom to play a little when it comes to those things.IMG_5275

  • Do you use the same color in the bobbin as the upper thread?

I usually do, because I hate when some of the bobbin thread is visible on top in a different color. That’s a machine issue, and until I know how to always make things run better, I’d prefer not to risk it. If it’s something I’m just throwing together for myself, I don’t always worry about it.

  • What if a fabric has big areas of very different colors?

I still stick with the same color. I’d probably match the most dominate color, or use something deliberately contrasting, like black or white.

  • Do you have any tips or suggestions about choosing thread?

I don’t experiment with thread brands. I’ve never had problems with basic, inexpensive Coats & Clark. So I’m not sure my suggestions mean much 🙂 But have fun with it, and take risks sometimes. Build a small stash of basics, but add a few colors when you can!IMG_5265

  • Can you show us a picture(s) of your thread collection?

Certainly! I normally keep my thread in a photo box. I’m hoping to one day get a nice rack to keep it from tangling. IMG_5243 

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  • Do you ever buy thread because you fall in love with the color (without a particular project in mind)?

Rarely, because I waste enough money on fabric 🙂

  • Do you “invest” in thread?

No, I go cheap. There were 2 times I bought special thread: I bought some “fancy” thread in college for a project. The brand is Mettler and I got it in pink, green, and blue. The second time I bought special thread was when I made mei tais. I bought heavy-duty thread to support the weight.IMG_5252

  • What types of thread do you have? (elastic, quilting, all-purpose, wool, etc.)

Pretty much all-purpose, and a little of my heavy-duty is left.