IgMiniSwap ~ Sent and Recived

I seem to find myself a lot of Instagram these days. 

My lovely friends lured me into the IgMiniSwap and oh I was so excited I did.

My partner in Australia was Kay of Shocking Hocking was the lovely I got to stalk as I made a quilt for her.  She loves improv and reds.  

This so stretches my comfort zone..in all good ways.

I was glad to attempt new ideas and designs for me.

Okay I was also very very scared!








But I finally sat myself down and accomplished improv scrappy curves

Adding different strips and I was so glad to work on this. I even added different fabrics in the binding fabric.

Yes and some hangers...

Quilt Stats:

Name: Leading Lady

Size: approx. 16.5 x 16.5"

Fabrics:  Reds and low volume.  

Pattern:  None - Improv with curves
Quilting: Machine quilted on my 1008 Bernina and a dabble of handstitching

Started : November 2014

Completed: November 2014

I added a line of handquilting although it's not the "proper" technique.  I may have bought a craftsy class to help me with this.

Overall, I was so happy to send this away with my name on it.  Which I of course forgot my label...bahahaha.

~~~

Now the beauty of a swap is that I get something in return.

I had a partner that floored me with his quilting awesomeness.
This was made by travlis




Look at this beauty!

Look at all these y-seams

Look at the quilting.

I totally wish this were bigger for a lap quilt!  Is that bad :)

This is a fantastic addition to my mini quilt collection.

I am so happy to be part of the #igminiswap and part of #kaysgroup

~~

Just keep Sewing

Totes all around - Sew Sew Modern 4

I love being parts of swaps.

This time round I finally jumped into Sew Sew Modern 4.

I love my noodlehead Super Tote and why not make a few more!

So I made my partner a tote from this awesome pattern. I'm thinking this is my 2nd time round.




This is one of the outside pockets.  Seriously a 12" block works really well for these!  WHOOP!




I nearly botched this by cutting the pattern pieces before quilting.
Quilt then cut!  Learn from me.

Here's the finished
package...


*Thanks to MLR Designs for letting me use her photo.
I was in a super rush to get this out the door.

~~~

Well it was a swap.  And here's what I got in return.

I was so uber lucky to have a fantastic partner Purple Panda Quilts

I adore Lyanna and she just blew my mind!

Such great details on this beauty.

The recessed zipper, which I have yet to attempt;
piping, which I've yet to attempt on this bag;
QAYG pockets ..& TWO perfect pockets I might add!


Her bag is sturdy for sure.  I love it and it's wearing perfectly.

There is some curry lining, Joel Dewberry, Tula Pink, AND some Denyse Schmidt.
And oh and yes I got some of the scraps too.

She pretty much knew me inside and out. She's a fantastic stalker down to the lip balm.

I'm gleefully sporting this beauty all round with me now!!

Here is her post on the bag.

Thank you again sweetie.

~~

The other awesome part is that this was part of my FAL Q1 goal.

CHECK

Pincusion Swap - Sent and Received

I've been so good! 

I've avoided bee's ... to stay away from distractions.

Then KA-POW a few fantastic swaps just became irresistible!
DISTRACTED!

I joined in a facebook swap because of an enabler - she's evil by the way!

The task was fantastic to make a pin cushion. 

I so could do this. 

I made this cute little pin cushion. 

Perfect for when I did my wonky star tutorial

I adored how nice and simple it is.
I even got some hand stitching in here. . . tada!

Filled with crushed walnut seeds.

It's reminded me that my own skills have grown leaps and bounds in the last few years.

I could never work on something this small before - it's all about learning! 

~~

In return during the same swap, I received an amazing package I got from

CeLynn's Sunflower Patch.

She talked a little about her work on my pin cushions  here and here

{yes way back in February and March}

I'm super spoiled!

I love triangles and CeLynn was spot on with this lovely package.

So fun to swap with such great people! ♥

Sometimes distractions is just what I need to get more done.

 

Blogger’s Quilt Festival ~ May 2013 ~ Wall Hanging entry

Welcome if you're jumping over from Amy's Creative Side for the fantastic

Blogger's Quilt Festival.

As an intro ...

I'm Shanna {like Banana}.

You can find me on the many Internet venues through my buttons just to the left.

<----------------

Please look around, I would love to have you visit me again.

I'm so excited to participate in the Blogger's Quilt Festival again.

Here is my entry into the Wall Hanging

I made this for the Modern She Made 3 swap.

I knew that I could do this as a challenge as it included stars

{I love stars & triangles of all sorts!}

This is for a secret partner, Lee from May Chappell. 

Quilt Stats:

Name: Rainbows in Gray

Size: approx. 21" x 21"

Fabrics:  Stash fabrics + Kona grays

Binding: Amy Butler - Cameo - Forget Me Not in Midnight 
Pattern:  My own design scaled down version of fireflies tutorial from Sew Bittersweet Designs

Quilting: Machine quilted by me on my Pfaff Performance 2058

Started : April 2013

Completed: May 2013 

I used and tweaked the fireflies tutorial by Melissa over at Sew Bittersweet Designs.

It was fun to post some status on Instagram

Oh and I even did this fancy smancy labeling technique from the tutorial by Melissa over at Sew Bittersweet Designs.

I also added a star for the back.  I used a the wonky star tutorial I posted here.

~~~

When I started my blog I was super excited to share my very first quilt during this festival.  I was so proud. 

This is my first time to participate since 2010.

I've been lacking in my finishes.

To remedy this Melissa from Sew BitterSweet Designs and I have been running a monthly goal {with sponsors} called 'A Lovely Year of Finishes'  we would love to have your join us.  It's been fantastic to see finishes - even some of my own.

Please go check out the other amazing quilts with this springs Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Thanks for visiting

Baby you've come a long way

When I first started quilting I couldn't get enough of orange.  

It was kind of annoying really.  

It seemed as if every fabric I bought or wanted to buy was orange, orange, orange.  

Well I've embraced change and right now it's yellow - but that's besides the point.

I gleefully signed up for a swap over here on flickr called Crazy Nine Patch Orange-Style

We're using the fantastic tutorial over at Elizabeth Hartman's Oh Fransson!

So I went to my orange stash and was pretty much shocked.  I barely have enough large pieces of orange fabric left.  I barely squeezed out these 9 blocks with my orange fabric.  

I am pretty proud that I've not continued to stash without using up these lovely fabrics.
I'm also happy I had enough for these fun blocks.

If you wanted to join in these blocks are super fast and fun.
The deadline is the end of this month.
♥

Hoopie Love - sent

I sew with an amazing group of ladies over with the Bee a {modern} swapper group.

There is a "bee" part to this group but there is also an open swapper

portion to this as well (open to all awesome swappers! The next swap is in October but you can sign -up now, or as soon as the bee mama's put up the thread.)

Although I shouldn't have I jumped in to the hoopie swap for August.  I couldn't help myself.

I made this beauty.

As a teen I used to draw these flowers on everything.

Even the back is fun!  And doesn't even look like a mess!

I threw in this lanyard (and a few other things).  

So this is what I sent out for my hoopie love -

I can't wait to share what I get in return.

Just a bunch of scraps

Do ya'll do anything with your fabric scraps?  I usually keep larger scraps from my projects. There is never any real plans on what I'll do with them. 

A siggy block swap came about and thought this was a perfect opportunity to use up all these scraps.  Wow, I was right!

I made 57 (I think) of these beauties.

Once of the swap ladies mentioned a cleaver way to sign the blocks.  I've had a bugger of a time with my pen and fabric moving!  No more - get a piece of fine grit sandpaper and sign away!  I was so impressed that a little bit of stability made such a difference.  This is yet another tool in my "sewing" room.  Bahaha

I would think all these blocks would help clear out my scraps and it didn't make a dent. The scraps jars are still overflowing.

The next scrap busting exercise I completed was a few angel blocks for a gal in the awesome Bee a {modern} Swapper group.

She was missing a few postage stamp blocks, so why not!  I made these beauties!



Bits and pieces of my sewing adventures over the last 2+ years. WOW!



There are a few repeats in the blocks but not many.

I made these and then remembered I got some ROCKING pincushions from this lovely lady! So happy I could make something for her after her generosity.

While I've moved some scraps out of my sewing room. . I'm still making more! I can't wait to get my camera out to show you some of my new blocks.  Yipee!

What do you make with your scraps? 
Are you like me and think something will come up...eventually!

One day I would like to do make something like this...

Source: quispamsisquilter.blogspot.com via Shanna on Pinterest

although I'm in awe that I like anything with sealvages!

What'cha what'cha what'cha want?

Pincushion love you ask. . ooooohhhh okay!

Well I am part of a lovely group over at Bee a {Modern} Swapper. 

It's a bee AND a swap.

The beauty of this is that I can choose which swaps throughout this next year. 
This is a huge sigh of relief I can choose when to participate. I sometimes have more of my plate that I'm able to complete.

This wasn't the case for the pincushion swap, I signed up with glee! I've been wanting a pincushion for a long while.

I smartly went into my local pet store and asked for crushed walnut shells {I've been meaning to do this for 10 months}.  The workers looked at me all perplexed . . I then added that it's usually used for lizards or birds.  Oh then the lights went on. 

He had a chuckle as I obviously wasn't shopping for a pet.  I told him that I was making pincushions.

Crafters out there are all types apparently!

I made this Tula Pink overloaded pincushion for the beauty over at Handmade with Love

I loosely followed the tutorial found here. .  but I didn't read it very well and I so didn't read it all the way through so it's a wing it job!

Look at the turtle in the pincushion portion of this.  EEPP! 

I didn't think of a lot of other embellishments I could have added until I was done. . sigh.  Whateva!

I hope jmmaxman still adores this.

~~

Now a swap I got something back.

Ahhhhh!

I was SPOILED by my partner Nilya2011 from Germany.

I received TWO pincushions and some candy.  Oh the gummy bears were gone way too fast!

Two . . I mean what can be more perfect! 

I have one on my ironing board and the other on my sewing table.  They are both so fun to use and I use them a LOT!

I can not believe that I'm using pins - but at times it makes everything piece together so much smoother! 

What a great swap this was. . . thanks ladies ♥

 I'm sitting out the potholder swap that is currently going.  It's killing me but I am getting some family time and other sewing commitments out the door.  Yeah for self control!

Have a lovely weekend!

Sew Happy Geek - Wall Hanging Swap received

I sent off my wall hanging to Jenna last month - remember this post? My designs usually come out a lot larger than I anticipate; Jenna wrote her new wall hanging here.

I finished the last of my late blocks this past weekend. I mailed these off yesterday morning.
As a weird coincidence I got this in the mail yesterday afternoon.  How grand is that! It's like a huge gift for finishing my commitements!

Here is my new beautiful wall hanging!
{The photo isn't perfect but it's the best I can get on winter days}

I la la love it! Here is the center - eeep!

The back you can see the quilting in detail.  I love the details this quilting adds.  And there is a lovely tag on it just for me!

And the binding.  Oh my the work that was involved in this. The handstitching the binding down is something to aspire to.

I really adore my new wall hanging.  Now is the decision of where to hang it.  My fella being so kind is letting me decide.  I can hang it in the dining room, our bedroom, or I can be super selfish and hang it in my sewing room.  Oh the decisions!

Thank you Naomi!

Go check out the other awesome wall hangings by these talented ladies over at the flickr group.

{By the way, when you live in Walla Walla, Washington for 7 years it's really hard to spell wall without adding the extra "a"}

Mug Rug - check. My first handmade item swap - check

Mug Rugs. . such wonderful projects.  They are small and take less time. . right .. nooooooo.  I signed up for Sew Happy Geek's Mug Rug Swap v.2 way back when.  I was so lucky to get a wonderful partner that loves everything.  So the world is wide open.  :)  Easy right?

All that runs through my head is an episode of the show Radio Lab called Choices. How am I ever to choose what to do?  I needed something simple, fun, but something that my partner may love.  Here's what I came up with.

A wonky star because it's all the rage.  I added the border down the right side because I HATE wasting fabric.  Look it totally matches.  :)

The quilting was a new experiment for me.  This totally adds to the effect of a quilt or a mug rug.  This is yet another reason why I haven't finished many quilts.  It's the commitment of it all.  I didn't feel comfortable using a colored thread and I couldn't bring myself to handstiching. . so I tried this.

The back are the cute cups I purchased for something just like this.  I have more of this and other 'coffee' stuff just waiting for mug rugs!



The binding is something else.  I used Very Kerry Berry's Single Binding Tutorial .  And look it totally worked.  Not only did it work but I HANDSTITCHED the binding on. . eep! I'm a rockstar!

I know that it's not perfect but it's so perfect to me and I hope my partner adores it too.  For being my first mug rug ever  - I'm proud!

First "real" swap

You have 5-ish hours to join from NOW.
Just click on the pretty button above to read the rules and join the fun.

Sew Happy Geek is in my new bee and she's introducing me to swaps.

I'm scared but here we go.

I can SO make a mug rug and post it by July 15

 Sew Happy Geek is trouble!

SpRiNg CiTRuS sURpRisE sWAp!! blocks - sending out

Apparently I function on deadlines.  I want to be ahead of deadlines. I seem to find myself behind too many times this last 5 months.  But pressure is good.  

This is the group of blocks that I'll be sending out for the SpRiNg CiTRuS sURpRisE sWAp!! the flickr group is full of pretty blocks. . go check it out. 

Here are my favorites.

I like how the strips work in this.  I'll do this again for sure. 

An hourglass that I've wanted to try.

Wonky Star. . in green of course.

I like this one too. Interesting look. 

This one I think is my top favorite! Makes me think of summer.  But it's spring.

These are the blocks that I'm sending out.  I'm excited to see what I get back.