QAL's & WIP's

Does your sewing room ever look like a fabric bomb went off? I have been doing so many new projects that my sewing room is a huge mess!! We were getting ready for a trip and I really needed to get this room cleaned up. 

I found a ton of said projects that I really need to finish up when I get back home. The top left is the Tokyo Subway Quilt. As you can see I have made tons of progress :).

The blocks on the right are my Crafty's BOM. I have really fallen behind and need to get caught up.  Then my Modern BOM QAL is at the bottom left.

Here is a little lighter photo.

So I have a lot to finish up this summer! What are some of your WIP's? There are just to many fun things to do!!

January T

My First Chariot Quilt

I was asked the other day to donate a quilt for a fundraiser for Hope Center For Autism. My youngest son asked me who I was making the quilt for and I told him it was a Charity Quilt. Cuteness is calling it the Chariot Quilt :) Be still my heart! 

I needed to do something fairly quickly since I am already backed up and wanting to do the QAL that Angela from Cut To Pieces is starting. Yeah it's Super Mario Brothers - who isn't excited :) We are also leaving for a trip in a few weeks. We are taking our first family trip and I'm so excited. We are driving with two little boys from Texas to Atlanta GA. I'm already praying for peace and hoping that the boys do ok with that long of a ride. Anyways I searched around my stash and found a couple of charm packs and decided to do HST. 

 

I decided to use the "Magic HST" method that I learned from Amy Gibson on one of her Craftsy BOM classes. It's such an easy way to get HST, tiny draw back they have bias edges. Quick how to sans pictures. Take two charm squares right sides together and sew 1/4" around the entire square. Press to set the seams. Take your ruler and line it up diagonally from top left to bottom right and cut. Then without moving the pieces turn ruler diagonally from top right to bottom left and cut. You now should have four perfect HST.

I thought about making a cool/hot quilt and just started playing around. 

Thank You design wall!! This has changed quilting for me!!

I really think HST are amazing and can instantly change the look of the quilt just by turning a few squares. 

Cloudy day so the picture is a tad dark. I really liked the layout and started stitching. Does this happen to anyone else? I'm super careful when taking the pieces over to my machine and inevitably they get turned. Lots of ripping going on. By the time I finished up the top I had somehow sewed several of the top rows to the bottom. I actually like the way it looks even better, but how did this happen? Was I sleep piecing? 

It has gone together pretty quickly and I'm getting ready to quilt this bad boy. I think I'm going to outline the diamonds and still debating about how to quilt the boarder. Any feedback is appreciated!! One last thing, we were buying some goodies for the boys for our road trip and we got each one a lap desk. One picked a black one and the other wait for it....picked a patchwork one. I'm loving the colors and I'm so inspired. 

I hope you guys are having a wonderful day! 

January T.

  

A winner and some reality!!

Man reality hits you hard bro!! I have this idea of the kind of blogger I want to be (updates at least a few times a week) and it is seriously hard to achieve that in this season of my life right now!  I have been on this journey for a very short time and I am loving every minute of it. However it's hard to carve out the time for everything I want to do. If only we had 36 hour days :) I would probably still be in the same boat, but more tired haha. This week has been extra rough, because we have had some sickness going on. It started with my 5 year old who started feeling bad, then he passed it on to his brother, who passed it on to me. Everyone is on the mend except for the little one who now has strep throat. When it rains it pours! Sorry no more pity party. I was reading over at Quokka Quilts and she wrote a post about this hideous name badge dilemma - Someone had made this badge of an Octopus sword fighting a Kangaroo.  I told her that I made that name badge :(  She wrote me and asked if I really did and could I send her a pic. Of course I was just teasing, but then that got me thinking. So I set out to create it.  This was my first draft and I thought it needed  a little somethin somethin.

So here comes the rainbow and some stars.

 I also added an eyepatch for the Kangaroo :)
So being couch ridden for the last few day I was able to get my stitching on. I'm loving it!! It makes me smile every time I look at it. I needed to smile more this week for sure.

I'm Linking up with The Handmade Parade.

 Go check out some of the hand stitching that's going on.

Now time for that amazing giveaway - Finally!!

The winners of Elizabeth Hartman's  Perfect Zip Bag pattern are: 

#95 - megstringJune 4, 2012 12:10 PM

I luv cloud 9 organics. Thanks for the giveaway! 

#10 - SandyJune 2, 2012 12:57 PM

I am loving Flea Market Fancy...I have gotten some for my stash but actually wish I could get a BOLT of each of the fabrics! That is how much I love it.

and  #84 - KatieJune 3, 2012 6:09 PM

Definitely Marmalade!

I have emailed our winners and Elizabeth will email the patterns shortly. I want to thank you all for playing and a Big thank you to  Elizabeth. I really appreciate it so much!! I can't wait to see all your bags you guys create.  I hope you guys are having a fantastic week and I'll see you soon. Hopefully with everyone feeling much better.

Reality Hits You Hard Bro!!

Make sure you let it stream, it runs really fast!

Giveaway - I asked and boy did you tell me!!

Everything has slowed down a bit since giveaway day and getting back to normal. I was so excited reading all your comments about what your favorite blog is. There are some I visit all the time and a few I hadn't had the pleasure of visiting yet. I thought it would be fun to see which blog had the most votes. Drumroll please - It was Elizabeth Hartman from Oh, Fransson! I contacted her to let her know and do you know how awesome she is? She is going to give her Perfect Zip Bag Pattern away to three of my followers! :) 

Elizabeth Hartman

Super cool, right?  The giveaway will run until Thursday the 7th and I will choose three winners from Random.org. I will announce the winners on Friday and Elizabeth will email you the pattern. Be sure that you leave your email if you are a no-reply blogger. Better yet if you think you might be (If you never get replies to comments you left, there's a good chance your a no-reply blogger) here are some steps to get you out of the no-reply zone.

1. In blogger.com, click on Dashboard.
2. Select Edit Profile
3. Check the box for "Show my Email Address."
4. Save Changes

A BIG THANK YOU again to Elizabeth Hartman. She is showing off some amazing quilts that are in her new book Modern Patchwork so if you haven't been over to her blog lately jump on over and check them out. This one is so up my alley! I just finished a quilt top out of The Practical Guide To Patchwork and can't wait to post about it. I love it so much!!

  

For a chance to win this time tell me what fabric line you are really loving right now or are anxiously waiting to come out. The next giveaway starts on July 1st. See you soon!!

January T.