Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

The Block That Had Me Cussing...

Let me introduce you to this block. It's a Farmer's Wife block. It's an uncooperative block. I really extremely very much dislike this block. I almost gave up on the FWQAL because of this block. Number 18 Century of Progress. 10 seams that meet in the middle. This is the second one I made. I'm still mad at it!

I really made a mess of the first one. This is the first one. I ripped this one apart so many times that it really looked bad. I was having fits. I absolutely could not get my center seams to look good.

 I really didn't care for the lay out suggested in the book either. So weeks and weeks later I took another stab at it and made the block in the first picture. It's still not great. The seams are awful. But I am NOT making another. I couldn't skip it either. I want to make every block from the book. I guess I will just like some better than others.  I was hoping to really catch up with the quilt along. We'll see....

Here's block 17 Cat & Mice. This one was okay :)

I have 18 made now and I think the FWQAL will be up to 56 blocks by the end of January. Realistically I know I won't get that many made in a month but I'm going to keep working on it. Did any of you making these blocks have trouble with number 18?

Here's a sneak peak of something I'm working on for one of my dearest friends. An anniversary gift. She was married in Jamaica and her husband sent me a message asking if I could make this for her. I have a bunch more to do but I like the way it's coming together.

★☆★☆The Quilted Castle Riley Blake Tuxedo FQ Bundle Giveaway WINNER!!!★☆★☆

The winner is # 30, Lorrie! Congratulations Lorrie! Thanks to all of you who left comments  telling me about your quilting inspirations. I enjoyed reading all of them. Thanks to The Quilted Castle for a wonderfully generous giveaway!

A Sweet Top

I finally have my Sweet quilt top put together and I couldn't be happier! This is my absolute all-time favorite fabric line ever.

I bought a fat quarter bundle of Sweet by Urban Chiks a couple of years ago. I found a remnant of the pink peeps at my LQS but I couldn't find anymore of it anywhere local. I ordered the bundle and saved it for so long, using just a few pieces here and there. Last year I decided it was time to make a quilt with this sweetest of Sweet fabric!

 

I wanted the peeps to be the center piece or main attraction. They are my favorite of all the prints.

This is the biggest quilt I have made so far. I know I'll be wrestling with my sewing machine when I quilt this one. I'm just going to stipple it. I think ... I hope ... :)

★☆★☆This block is from Amanda Jean's tutorial! ★☆★☆

My Needle Book From nanaCompany (Amy's) Tutorial

 The fat quarter bundle giveaway is here.

 I've been mixing in a few small things that I want to make for myself with Christmas sewing for others. It's a nice break and most of the little projects take no time at all to finish. Amy @ nanaCompany has a really fun tutorial for a super cute needle book. I pulled fabric from my scrap bins and got started.

 I was really happy the tutorial called for 1.5" squares because I already had some cut when I made the border for this quilt. No cutting, less time, bonus :)

For the front of the needle book I appliqued a strawberry. I added a smile because I thought Amy's birthday cake with the smile was really cute. I thought the strawberry might look cute with one too.

It was really fun embellishing the felt pages.

I used the tiniest buttons I could find to secure the ric rac. I love that ric rac. It's only about a bit more than 1/8 of an inch wide, teeny tiny.

I added a little piece of material to hold my needle threader. I got to use the cute pins I made too!

This is a really fun and quick tutorial. Thanks Amy! I love my little needle book :)

Tuxedo by Riley Blake Giveaway from The Quilted Castle

I am so happy to share with you my newest sponsor, The Quilted Castle. Many of you already know about this fantastic on-line quilt shop, but for those of you who don't, please go check it out. I've spent a lot of time on their site and I have quite a list going. Some of my favorites are:

 

This egg print from the Pear Tree collection by Thomas Knauer for Andover Fabrics. I love it!

I really, seriously want this I Heart 12 Fat Quarter Set in Blue by Rashida Coleman Hale. 

 I would like any of these Echo prints.

Oh, my list goes on and on. This shop has so much to choose from. I always gravitate to the Japanese prints and they have plenty of them too. It's a great shop.

The Quilted Castle has very generously offered a Fat Quarter Bundle of Tuxedo by Riley Blake! 24 fabulous black, white and grey prints.  I love the dots!

To enter just leave a comment. You can just say hey or hi but if you feel like it tell me what inspired you to start quilting / sewing!

I'll announce the  winner Tuesday Dec. 27th! Good luck! 

☆☆☆ The Quilted Castle is also having an awesome giveaway on their Facebook page for a $50.00 gift certificate o their store. Go like their page before 12/31/2011! ☆☆☆

Christmas Birdie Tutorial

Hi there! Hope you all had a great weekend. Back in November Heather and Megan from Quilt Story asked me if I would be a part of their Christmas Tutorial series they were having. I was thrilled for the invite and I made a Christmas Bird quilt for them. If you'd like to check out the tutorial it's here. I even made templates! That was exciting! I'm not much of a formal pattern follower or maker so I hope it's easy to understand. Let me know what you think!