My blog is 2 years old

I'm TWO . . .

okay my blog is 2. 

I'm taking a moment to remind myself I've come a long way.

I've completed a few things.

9 yearly bee's ,
2 quarterly bee's,
dropped out of 1 bee,
hosted 2 yearly bee's, and

finished multiple fabric or block swaps.

I've met a ton of amazing people.
Some in real life even.

There are nearly 200 people following me.

But what strikes me is that I have things in my house from the most generous people in the world!  I have a clutch, 2 mug rugs, a hoopie, and a few wall hangings.  Oh and fabric. Oh the fabric. 

I hope to finish the many quilts I have hanging out waiting to be loved. 

Don't worry I've got plans! 

Thank you all for everything!

 And here's to moments to ponder
where I've been
and
where I'm going.



Postage Stamps



Oh my dreams are filled again with orange and white spots, dots, and squares.

This WIP finally made an appearance on my design wall as it's been on my to-do list since. . uhh ever.  I started this beauty with the Postage Stamp quilt-along over at ps. i quilt

Rachel's instructions are sparse but it's only squares. . right!

I finished up my 48 blocks and slapped these on my design wall. 

I've come a LONG way since I started this project.  I'm fighting to match seams and at times needing to bring out the trusty seam ripper. And I use the iron a LOT more today that I did back then, apparently.

These have only been on my design wall for about 30 hours and so want this done.  I'm over halfway sewing this beauty together. 

I've even started plotting of a design to try on the local long-arm quilting machine I can rent. I'm thinking a loop in each white square.

I'm working on this project as part of the 100 day hustle!

{GO ME}

I'm linking this post to the lovely

Jenna over at Sew Happy Geek

and

Megan over at Canoe Ridge Creations.

Happy Monday

 

Not sewing but getting mail

 I've been getting mail.  Like super-duper mail.

Wednesday I got this ROCKING book.



Patchwork Patterns 318



Yes, you can be jealous! I've been drooling over this book since seeing photos like this, this, or this.

My book arrived from Toyko from my fella's friend living over there.  I am so lucky.  I can't wait to try a few of the patterns out!

THEN
when Thursday rolls around and I get a text from my fella . . .

"What did you order from Dansko?"

I didn't know to read this text.  Is this with or without tone?  I chose to read it with tone because I've been tight with money - like super tight!   Of course that isn't the way that my fella meant it. . he's such a sweetie! He was just wanting to share I had something sitting waiting for me at home!

So, the deal is that my Dansko's are pretty much my favorite shoes but they have been squeaking anytime I walk.  The place I bought them from is ohhh 5 hours away. I contacted the company directly and there is a one time fix. I was super happy that they were willing to do this. 

When I opened up my box from Dansko and I have brand new shoes. . not my old shoes fixed but brand new. sweet, beautiful, shiny Dansko's.

I'm in love all over again.

~~~

So I have tons of fabric (stashed), an awesome new quilt book, and new shoes!

I think this all makes up for having a teen in the house. 
{Please remind me of this when I feel emotionally beat up}

Luckiest girl in the world

Sometimes I do feel like the luckiest girl in the world! 

This year I was in time to order directly from Heather Ross for her Studio Sale.

I'm  in love with HR fabrics but also all my perceptions I have of her including how generous she seems to be with complete strangers.

Well let me tell you.. I hit the jackpot with my Studio Sale purchase! How this meager envelope could contain pieces that seemed to be picked out just with me in mind.

I received 2 generous cuts of Mendocino prints that I did not have. I adore the skin color of these lovely mermaids.

I also received a generous cut of Denyse Schmidt - Gold Seeds from the first run of Flea Market Fancy. You know the one that wasn't re-printed.  EEEP!

I'm seriously in love with Heather!  She not only can share not only her work but another artists!  This package has made me more than happy!

While showing my fella my jackpot winnings. . I gleefully put the fabrics back in the envelope (thankfully) and I saw there was another sealed package inside the package. . what!!! there is a PRINT in my package too! I'm in total awe how much I got with my small package.

♥

I'm more than pleased with my studio sale package. Worth WAY more than what I paid!

As a note, there have been a lot of negative feedback on the flickr group about this sale. I know that some people have been put off by the timing of the shipment of their packages. But would they really bash Heather Ross in real life - I'm completely shocked with some of these comments!

I realize that life is sometimes always busy. I've been around artists who put so much into their work, and wants to to personalize as much as they can.

Kudos to Heather! She did a smashing job with my package and I'm so happy to participate this year.



I've fallen!

I have been very successful in avoiding any new projects, on-line bee's, swaps, quilt-along's (QAL).

Until now.

I happened to blog about the most awesome Quick Curve Ruler (QCR) - oh yesterday.

And lookie here! 

There is a 'Curve it Up' with the QCR - QAL announced - oh yesterday!
*There is a sale on the QCR till Friday*

And it's all traditional blocks with a little twist. . oh I mean curve. 
First up will be a curved Churn Dash.

I'll be stalking Sew Kind of Wonderful for more about this QAL.

~~~

I'm almost in tears! I'm so happy!

That also could be because I have a lovely co-worker that brought me flowers. . isn't she sweet!

In a mason jar too! 
My fav ♥

If this isn't from my co-worker, I have a stalker!

Ohhh baby ... curve it up

There are so many awesome projects or blocks that I see in my quilting circles, through blogs and flickr.
I am in constant awe of how cool these people are!

Melissa of Sew Bittersweet Designs is one on my many muses.

She posted this block waaaaay back in August.

I immediately went to the tutorial over at Sew Kind of Wonderful and ohh-ed and awww-ed.

It was only a matter of time really. 

It took me a whole 2 days before I broke down and bought the ruler from Jenny. 

This awesome Quick Curved Ruler was instantly shipped and arrived at my doorstep.

Totally worth it! 

This is my first block

Seriously this is my FIRST block!

Go check out Jenny's videos for sewing these curves. 

{Left side of her blog}

And there is a flickr group of uber talented ladies that use this ruler found here.

I put this block in my foundation stripper row . . .

Looks pretty good front and center :)

I can't wait to get to some me sewing time as you'll be seeing more curves from me for sure!

Hoopie love in action

Better late than never. . right! This is what I keep telling myself. 

Oh there is a lot more of this gonna come around!

Can you see this lovely hoopie!?  There are other items that came in my awesome package but they are being used or maybe a little MIA.

la la la la

Seriously there are many (better) photos by the lovely lady that made me this.

Em over at Sewing by Moonlight posted about her mad talents making this hoopie at this blog post

By the way, this is the hoopie's temporary location.  I do plan on moving it somewhere near eye level.

I'm just pretty proud of myself that it has a temporary location (and snapped a crappy photo)!  And it won't be lost in the mess I call a sewing room!

Lately the sewing routine has been as follows:

walk in to my sewing room,
look around,
turn around,
close the door with a heavy sigh.
I'm at least thankful there is a door to hide the mess! 

It's nice to have loved things in the disaster area - it helps me want to clean said area.

Go give Em some loving for being such a great swappie partner.
Psst . .  
She has a grand opening going on. . and a little giveaway.

Building a Foundation

My lovely group of Strip Quilters are ladies I've sewn with in previously through other flickr groups.

More about these strippers I talked previously about here. 

I'm so excited to sew with them again!

Each of us are using our stash fabrics to create a block within usually general guidelines.

My row should include one triangle per block.  That's as much guidance as I provided.  Muahahaha

I pondered my foundation row for weeks!

I even started a journal to jot some of my ideas down. 

My journal is quickly replacing the rotating 15 + sticky notes I have floating around (which sometimes get lost).

These poor ladies!!
My obsession with triangles just continues on! I've requested triangles for ohhhhh the last 3 online bee's. Some of my strippers have previously been subjected to my !

This is the foundation row I came up with.

It's remarkably close to the notebook above. . no really!

But I cheated!  Some of these blocks are from the lovely ladies from {Sew Bee It} that ended in July 2012.

Not only was I running late but the blocks were remarkably similar to what I wanted!  So ta-da!

Special thanks to:

Corrie of Thread Girl Designs for her block
Sarah of Bluprint Textiles for her block
Mary of Fairly Merry for her block 

I'll blog about the center block and the other block I made in a few days.

Make sure to keep tabs on what we are doing by checking out our photos over here

Until then, happy sewing!

Strip Quilters Button {and blog headers and titles} images created by Kristin Holt Photography Copyright © 2002-2012 Modjeska Designs. All Rights Reserved.

Traveling west

I went my annual pilgrimage to meet up with my girlfriends from college.  I'm always so lucky to be close enough to (most) of them.

I went with my quilty friend Jovanna and it's a lovely time to find new quilt stores along the way.

I have to say that I had great restraint the entire trip!

We first stopped at cutest shop Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop in Vancouver, Washington.   I picked up two lovely greys and a Lo-Lo Bar - eep!

On this trip, Jovanna and I got to meet up with Melissa who blogs over at Sew Bittersweet Designs. 

We also got to meet Melissa's lovely daughter, Anne.  By the end of the visit I knew she's a quilters daughter. 

We all went to 2 quilt stores.  In the first quilt store she greeted the quilt store worker and ran straight to the toy area.  I was just giggling and then tried to absorb the lovely fabrics.  After playing with the toys for about 60 seconds she started looking for Jovanna and I.  Oh the fun of a toddler!

Once Anne found me she instantly started petting bolts of fabric that caught her eye.  She said something like 'ohhh gorgous'.   Anne being very polite, smiled and nodded when I said a fabric was lovely.

The second quilt store was a bit larger layout.  Anne had toddler speed that took all of three of us to make sure she was not running away.  At one point in time she zoomed past all of us and said 'Ohhh Minky' while hugging the bolt of Minky. I can't get over how adorable Anne is and that she's so hip on all the fabric types! 

It was such a lovely visit to finally meet a blogging, on-line quilting, quilty friend I forgot to get a photo! 

I guess that means that I need to make another visit - if she'll let me.

♥

Until then I have a few quilt tops and other things to show. . I love fall!

Learning to Strip

I've been a wee bit obsessed with on-line quilting bee's.  It was so fun to meet new people and to sew different blocks.  One result is piles of blocks just waiting to be made into quilt-top and eventually quilts.

Because of some commitments to our family budget I decided to scale WAY back on my mailing costs and my wonderful fella has allowed me to stay in one group. To keep feeling like I'm creative with others.

So, I'm learning to strip. . . strip quilt. 

And I'm not the only one!


Image created by Kristin Holt Photography Copyright © 2002-2012 Modjeska Designs. All Rights Reserved.



This is the group of us are taking on this different kind of project:

Melissa of Sew Bittersweet Designs

Jovanna of Sharing Jovanna Moments

Shelley with no blog but go check out her flickr photos

Mary of Fairly Merry

Leona of Leona's Quilting Adventure

We'll each be be making a row of blocks a "strip" for each other. 

There are some fun color combos and requirements.

Here's a my foundation row. . .

But I'll talk more about this later.

Happy Monday!