Little Birdie Ornamant with Crocheted Trim { a Tutorial }

Today I'm guest posting over at Quilt Story for their Holiday Tutorial Series. I'm showing you how I made these cute little ornaments. Please check it out HERE and let me know what you think! Have a great weekend!

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin

Honey Bee Quilt with Patchwork Borders { Tutorial }

Today I have a tutorial for this cute throw size Honey Bee quilt over on the Benartex blog ~ Sew in Love.

Go check it out and then come back and enter for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle from Benartex!

To enter follow Sew in Love {with fabric} and for a second chance you can follow their Facebook page. and comment below letting me know that you did.

The winner will be picked by Random Number Generator on 12/12/2013!

Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour :: Week Six

Welcome to week six of the Quilty Fun Sew Along! I am so happy I was invited to be in the blog tour to celebrate the release of Lori Holt's (Bee in My Bonnet) new book, Quilty Fun ~ Lessons in Scrappy Patchwork, published by Fat Quarter Shop's It's Sew Emma pattern company. I am such a fan of Lori's fabric and patterns. The book is a feast for your eyes! There are many lovely pictures. Full of color. You get to see some of Lori's vintage goodies too! I love that. Not only is it pretty but it is also very informative. Lori has lots of experience and comes from a long line of quilters. She has some really good tips and hints for you in her book.

The sew along is 20 weeks long and will be going on through March 31. So if you haven't started yet there is still time to catch up. All of the info is HERE... This is the quilt that we will be making during the sew along. Isn't it wonderful?!!

Lori's book includes directions for her popular row along quilt. AND It also has 10 fantastic other quilty projects!

I really want to make this Apple~licious Quilt!

The blocks I made for the sew along are the Chubby Chevrons. Now, these are great because you don't have to worry about cutting off the bottom chevron point with these when sewing or not getting perfect points the way you would with a normal non-chubby chevron. I love the scrappy look of these!

You can download the pdf companion HERE

I enjoyed using my scraps for these. Lori has a great system for organizing her scraps. I've started organizing mine this way. I love it!

Now for the giveaway!  Fat Quarter Shop is giving away 2  Bee in my Bonnet Hexie Half Ruler Sets 

and a package of their new Alphabitties!  

To enter upload your Chubby Chevrons to the Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour Flickr Page!
  
All of the info for the blog tour can be found HERE

I can't wait to see all of your blocks!

Happy Sewing ~


xo Erin  

:: Hi ::

It's a gloomy day here today. I think I'll spend a little time hand quilting this piece of hexie patchwork this afternoon, maybe snuggled up with a quilt and some tea, and no doubt a kiddo or two. I started the hexies when I got this fabric from Shay. I picked them up again the other night when I couldn't sleep. I'll be turning this into a pillow. I'll post a picture when I finish.

I've been able to get some machine sewing time lately and it's been great. I have a project coming up for Benartex. A lap/throw sized quilt. It's a happy, bright quilt and I can't wait to show it to you.

If you've seen me on Pinterest lately, you may have noticed I went on a crazy peg doll / clothespin doll pinning spree not too long ago! I'm going to be making one of my girls a dollhouse and peg dolls for Christmas. This is one that I made for my pillow swap partner. I didn't realize how shaky my hand was until I tried painting the little details on this. I used to paint cute, small wooden things a lot when my oldest was younger. But I haven't done it in years. I'm shakier and my eyes are getting worse as I get older. But they are still cute, I think!!! 

Thanks for the nice comments on my last post. Seems a lot of you like the crocheted edging on things!!! I've been asked a few times how I put the edging on the fabric. I guess very often people use an awl. But I don't have an awl. What I do is blanket stitch around the whole piece and then crochet the scallops into the stitches. I learned this from Heather. She makes the prettiest things with crocheted edges!

A Finished Pillow and Coasters

I hope you all are doing well and that those of you in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was really nice. Good food and good times with family.
I joined the Pillow Talk Swap on flickr sometime back. I was able to finish the pillow for my partner this weekend. This was the holiday edition of the swap. I love the way it turned out. I hope my partner does too!

For the back I kept it simple. I made a crochet hoop and used one cute little deer button.You can see I'm still enjoying crocheting those scalloped edges on everything!

I finished the coasters I was making. My mom saw them when she was here for the holiday. She kept commenting on how much she liked them. I'll be making  her some for Christmas!

Hope all is well where you are.

Happy sewing!
xo Erin

Handmade Coasters with Crocheted Edge

I've been on bit of a crocheting kick lately. I want to put a crocheted edge on EVERYTHING!!! It started with these ornaments I made. Now I'm making coasters for Christmas gifts. Super simple. I'll post a little quickie tutorial soon.

I also added a crocheted edge to the tea towel that Charise sent me. I love it! At this point nothing is safe from a crocheted edge!!!

*** My inspiration for the edgings came from Heather's beautiful handmades! 

Have a great week!

xo Erin

Quilt Barns

So I mentioned a long while ago about the Quilt Barns that are in the county where I live. I've started trying to get some better pictures of them.

At some point I'd love to have them all photographed but I think many are in inconspicuous areas. Here are two that are very near my home.
 

A pretty fall picture of a back road near our house. I'm pretty sure 99% of the roads where I live are back roads. I love them!

This one is on the ridge near our house. I really love this one. I wish I would have had my camera with me when we drove by this summer.

The loft doors were open and a horse was out front. Everything was green. It was really pretty. Maybe next year.

I love this view!

This one is really far away from the road. It's a Lone Star but it's hard to make out in this picture.

This one just snuck up on me! I remember after the fact, EVERY TIME! So I have to get a better picture of this one too.

There are so many more. I see them here and there.  There is a list of them I am going to have to get so that I can track them all down.

Of course no ride is complete without these pretty deer. Hey... you... you with the fur... are you the punk that ate my garden?

Lately, I've been thinking about organizing a quilt retreat. Maybe this spring? Just brainstorming. I'm kinda afraid I'll organize it only to end up eating brownies and sewing in my jammies all by myself. Oh, wait, that doesn't really sound too bad, does it?!

xo Erin

Celebration Junior Jelly Rolls Winner!!!

Hello!
Just poppin' in to announce the winner of the Celebration Junior Jelly Rolls form Green Fairy Quilts!!!

The winner is number 36! Lisa! Congratulations Lisa!

Thanks to all who entered!

P.S. Green Fairy Quilts has 20% off all Layer Cakes right now and free shipping in the U.S.!!!

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin

This and That ~ Swaps and a Little Quilt and The Quilty Fun Blog Tour info (lots of pictures)

Hey there! I hope you all are having a lovely weekend. I wanted to pop in and say hi and show a few things I have been up to lately. I made these little ornament for the Trim the Tree Handmade swap on flickr. I love the way they turned out! I had so much fun crocheting the scalloped edge around these little cuties.

I made quite a few more and listed them in my etsy shop. 

 There are more mushrooms! I just love these!

 

Then I had to make some little birdies too!

Love these 2 soft colored ones!

I think I'll keep making them for the holidays. So much fun!!!

I've also been working on these cute little twister hexies for The Pillow Talk swap on flickr. I think these will make a cute pillow.

Then lastly but not leastly, I had a custom order for a birdie quilt.

I used Lori Holt's quilty back pockets technique for hanging. It's really awesome.

Speaking of Lori. I am sure by now most of you have heard about the Quilty Fun blog tour.
Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet Co. published a really great book with Fat Quarter Shop.

I am so excited to be apart of the blog tour! I'll be making the Chubby Chevrons in week six of the tour. The tour has already kicked off with Kerry and her lovely apples!!! Monday is Amy's (nanaCompany) stop on the blog tour. This is so much fun and there are prizes too! Here is the breakdown of info!

Quilty Fun Blog Tour details HERE
join the flickr group HERE
You can purchase the book HERE

Whew mama! So that's what's been going on here. Hope you all well!

Happy Sewing!!!
xo Erin

I'll be back Monday to announce the winner of the Celebration junior Jelly Rolls! There's still time to enter HERE!

Celebration Giveaway!

Good Morning! I am so happy to be able to have another giveaway for you all today!

Green Fairy Quilts have offered to giveaway 2 Junior Jelly Rolls of Moda's Celebration by Bunny Hill Designs.

One boy junior Jelly Roll

and one girl junior Jelly Roll of Celebration will be given away to one of you.

I think this line is so cute! Aren't these little birds adorable?!

and these little flowers are just perfect. This line is full of great little prints with dots, gingham, scalloped edged stripes, little animals and more.

To enter go to this page HERE and sign up by email for Green Fairy Quilts newsletter! Don't forget to come back here and leave a comment telling me you signed up.

I'll announce the winner next Monday!

***On a personal note. I am really fond of Green Fairy Quilts and am really happy to have them as blog sponsors. They are very charitable and caring people. You can read more about that here.

I'm really excited to see Judy's book come out!!! She is an incredible quilter. Very intricate and just stunning really. Have a look here.

Hope you all have a great week! I'll be back in a couple days to catch up and show you some cute little things I've made lately.

xo Erin