Spoke too Soon

I seem to put a jinx on myself!

Many of my bee's are ending this or next month.  I am queen bee and have most {not all} of my blocks I have to sew done, although not out the door.

I need to slow down my commitments. . but then something like this . . .

comes by! 

Easy 3.5" squares. . why YES!  I can do that!

This is a stash buster baby!

Come check out the flickr group or the beautiful blog post found here at The Peacock Tree.

This is being hosted by the talented The Crafty Blackbird

*Sign-up's til May 1*

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!

March Bee Blocks. . . Part 2

{Yeah. .I realize it's April.  I'm sewing up a storm not taking the time to blog. Hee Hee}

Well since I blogged about a part 1 I suppose that I should follow up with the finale for March. 

I successfully completed all of my bee blocks on time. 

Not only that I also got my fabric out the door for the THREE bee's that I'm queen bee for. I sent all these off and they are making their way across the world. 

On to the pretties. .  here we go

{Sew Bee It}

My wonderful bff blogs over at Sharing Jovanna Moments.  She requested a twist on the garden fence block that she blogged about here.  She sent along some yummy batiks. 



I had a wonderful sewing day with Jo and she supervised me while sewing these up.  Good thing I might have kept these!



Her quilt is going to be rocking! 

Sew Modern Bee

I also finished up two blocks for the lovely Canadian, Emelote she blogs over at Flory Counter Flory. She had us sew up some awesome blocks from The Fresh Lemons solstice stars Another Star. 

 

The greatest colors - eva! 

 

A whole quilt of these blocks . . YUM.

Bee a {Modern} Swapper

Here's a different quilt bee that I joined.  It's 2 blocks every other month. I finished up these two blocks for our lovely queen bee, This Crafty Fox who is making a picnic quilt.

This one is a rainbow. . well my improv rainbow - with rain drops.  Eeep!

This next block was so fun to make.  I'm starting to dip my toes into more advanced paper piecing patterns {say that 5 times fast}. 

For this block I melded two free patterns from Artisania and tweeked them both. 

The mushroom house has been enlarged. The hedgehog was flipped to make him coming in from the left. 
The hedgehog isn't perfect but pretty rocking {if I do say so myself}.

There's more coming in April. . Happy Spring!

Going Award Free with many thanks around

I've learned so much from my fellow quilt bloggers. Ya'll are a sweet bunch! Encouragement around every corner.

I've been given a few awards over the last few months.  Here they are!

The Versatile blogger award

I thank 

~ Chelsea who blogs over at Pins and Bobbins she gave me this award here

AND

~JanetK who blogs over at Entropy Undone she gave me this award here. 

Go check them both out. . amazing gals!

Oh it doesn't stop there . . .

I also got a Liebster Award

 

Liebster what's that you ask . . . German for darling, beloved, or sweetheart.

I received this from Danny who blogs over at Mommy for Reals she gave me this award here.
 AND
Ella who blogs over at Throw a Wench in the Works she gave me this award here.

They are both sweethearts!

~~~

With these lovely awards that I've been sitting on for awhile and fretting over who to pick, what to say, and when to post. 

Well that's been a smidge too much stress! 

[Image from www.bethsbookreviews.com]

I've decided to make my blog an Award Free blog. 

The rules are just way too much for me to think about and I would rather be creating to blog about rather than worrying about if I'm doing things right with an award. This kinda falls into my personality!

There are many other efforts out there to spread the love of my wonderful followers, friends, and the other uber talented people out there. I put in a lot of time to track down links to other people's blogs and try to spread the love in my posts. I will totally continue to do that. 

Thanks for the ♥

Pardon me while I do a jig

Why yes, I do have a spring in my step today.  Oh that's right I got me some Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy also known as FMF!

Everyone (tweeps, co-workers, and my family) have been hearing about FMF.  How I SO need this fabric line. Oh yes, I even blogged about it back here.

I finally calmed down a bit when Julie over at The Intrepid Thread took a pre-order. Julie has the best service I've found on-line!

Oh you wanted to see?  Ohhhh Okay! 

Last week LQS just got some FMF in.  I was standing there begging them to inventory the gray seeds while I was standing there!  I held back and only bought a little and I'm sure I'll go back for more!

This was me holding back because I have a yard bundle {plus some} AT MY DOOR STEP TODAY!

I'm not the only one out there drooling over FMF there is a whole flickr group that is going gag gag over this original and reprint! Oh how I love the quilting network I've tapped into.  ♥
 

I'll be adding a little of my new pretties out with my 33 bee packages I'm sending out this next week.  {crazy}

March Bee Blocks . . Part 1

March has started as such a funny month really cold and lovely spring weather with in the same week.

For me throw in traveling, for work, and the daylight savings time change and you have a frazzled woman.

  I'm pretty sure it's calming down as I had a moment of sewing frenzy.  Oh the sewing machine was a going. 

Here's a few photos of what I've gotten accomplished.

Threadheads

This Bee is officially over now.  I'm amazed at how quickly an entire year can fly by. 

Here are my two "tree" blocks. 

These came out just as I planned.  Funky to say the least.

Aqua and Red

Two lovely queen-bee's asked for some awesome blocks.

OneyGirl , she blogs over at Leona's Quilting Adventure, asked for a lovely Reverse Rainbow Starburst block, the tutorial found over here at Diary of a Flutter.Kat

And littlemamaD, she blogs over at Little Ms. Sew-Unsew 

*** Go check her out if you are a Dr. Who FAN***

She asked for a spiderweb block and had the center pre-glued.  The tutorial that we used can be found here.

Aqua and Orange

Our lovely queen bee in this group, tracey pnw, asked for Converging Corner a new tutorial from Film in the Fridge.

These are so awesome. 

Plan on seeing more of these as I'm gonna have some bee-mates make these for ME.

Orange you Glad

The Hive B Queen Bee, MargaretW319, she blogs over at A day in the World Around Me.

She sent some lovely batik's that I couldn't capture well with my camera.  This is what she requested. 
A tutorial can be found on her blog here.

Quilting for Kids

So Sarah Sews is hosting another quilting for kids quilt. 
Here are the two asterisk blocks I signed up for.   

 

I had to "put a bird on it" with the designated color choices. 

 

Meh - they aren't perfect but I leaned a ton with them.  I hope the recipient loves it.

~~~

There are a few more bee blocks I haven't had time to get to . .but I shall.

Hope everyone is grand!

Mute Mouse

I've lost something but not sure where to find it again.

I realize I've been mute and haven't even answered comments from some of you lovely people from my last few blog posts.  I'm sure I'll be back again with joy - but not sure when.

I have been enjoying the moments I get to sew!

I've finished all but one of my February commitments - whoo hooo!

I haven't taken photos of them all but here are the last few that I haven't blogged about.

Aqua and Orange

The lovely Queen Bee heidigoneaussie (she blogs here) provided the greatest scraps. 

 

I wanted to keep these for myself. . but I made these instead.

I even sent them to her. . pfft.

I had to include this cute mer-girl in here.  There wasn't a ton I could do with the cut of fabric so I improvised.

Aqua and Red Bee

The second lovely Queen Bee, guiltyquilter,  asked for a flying geese.  I made her a block in the first round of this bee back in August blogged about here. 

 

This time round I used starch and these points are sharp baby sharp.

~~~

Hope everyone is grand.  Rest assured I'll be back, but it may take me a bit to get out of my funk.  Keep up with what I'm doing over at my flickr account. Or find a group of us that talk over on twitter.

Story of my first pin cushion

Do ya ever have something that just moves you to almost tears?  Well I get a bit of that with my interactions I have through my on-line bee's, reading the many crafty bloggers, and my tweeps.

I'm in an interesting bee run by Staci (she blogs over here) She runs a tight ship and is helpful when something goes awry.  She's like the many mother's I've adopted over the years!

The Orange you Glad bee is 2 hives of talented and very talkative ladies. Many of them, I believe, are older and many of them are religious.  I find that I don't mix in a lot of their conversations - although it's entertaining to watch.  While I feel a bit different it doesn't mean that I don't feel welcome.

I had 10 of these lovely ladies make me blocks back in November.  I've yet to make this into a top but here's a blah photo of their creativity with my fabrics. This night photo does not give any justice to these amazing blocks! 

One of these lovely ladies, grendelskin (she blogs over here) sent me two amazing blocks, a note, and a start of a block. I was totally confused when I opened this package but when I read the note I was taken aback. She included a small (around 4" square) block with amazing stitching with a small burn in the middle.

She had an iron malfunction at the start of this block.  Totally happens. I'm happy she didn't rip this all out and start again. I personally would have cried, complained to my fella, and thrown out this mistake. No word to the Queen Bee. . . I mean it wasn't a ton of fabric.  I expect some mistakes to happen and I hope that I provide enough fabric to compensate. 

I think that's why grendelskin sending me this block has just stuck with me.  I adore this little block!

I love it so much I made myself a pin cushion from it! 
I couldn't get the burn from the center and I'm glad it didn't come all the way out.
I pondered putting some stitch the burn area but decided against even that.

Here's my cherished first pin cushion.



Now I can't live without this pincushion.  I'm sure a few more of these will be on my to-do list this year - with or without burns. . it doesn't matter.

This time last month

I'm feeling behind this month.  My 7 bee's are still going, yes some are ending soon.

Sad that one gal didn't want us to sew for her this month. One queen bee is asking for a free-style block. Even with the below finishes, a lack of sun around these parts and life just hitting at once has make it where I'm a bit of the white rabbit.

I'm late . .  I'm late. . .

It's not getting me down per say, I'm just gonna wait for fabric love to hit and enjoy getting these creative blocks out the door.

Here are a few that I have made a few to-date for February.

Here's blocks for one (of two) Queen Bee's in  my Red and Aqua group.

This one is for tangled_threads . . . it's going to be a lovely quilt!

For the{Sew Bee It} group.

monkeysx2 requested confetti blocks.  These were rocking to make! 

I love the background color, I happen to be using it in one of MY projects. And the snippets of color are something else.  I wish I would have added more empty space (I actually thought I was!). I love these blocks. I could envision a huge quilt from large snippets.  I'm not sure if I could handle making tons of blocks for a whole thing. . . wait maybe that's why we are in bee's ;)

I also finished my blocks for Orange you Glad.  The queen bee miniaturequilter asked us to make pumpkin blocks.  A few photos and some fabric . . here's what I made.  I'm pretty happy with the stem. 

The blocks I haven't gotten to yet include a flying geese block, a tree block, and a few spiderweb blocks.

I'm pretty sure I can knock these out during my Quilt Day with Jo and Becky this weekend.

 

Still sewing and by hand too!

 

I've been doing quilty things in between life things.

Kinda difficult with life being so busy.  Lots of things going on. 
I'm having to come to grips with some of my bff's leaving town, darn better opportunities and family being closer. 

To ease my pain I've been sewing on a few things, one of them is this hand stitched block.




My fella told me it's so authentic!  And the fabric is from England.  Oh my - I'm spoiled rotten!

I'm thinking I'll turn this into something else and make another without wonky edges.  I do love my first hand pieced block. 

This is the first block of a new Quilt Along with Erin over at Why Not Sew? I'm behind but it doesn't bother me. :)  I'm not sure if I'll do all of these or not.  But having a new tool is helpful!

Hope that you all are doing grand and a bit more productive than I have been the last few weeks.

She's doing it again - jump on the bandwagon

It's better to give {again}.

I'm so happy to have participated in (the first round and second round) of Quilting for Kids with Sarah over at So Sarah Sews.

Head on over the flickr group there is another round - Sarah has blogged about the chosen block and awesome colors here. 

There's still room if you're interested.

~~~

 

And I've decided to use this idea for one of my 3 on-line bee's I'm Queen Bee in March. Phew that's a relief to decide on one of these.

 

 

Still working it. . that's right

I want to share some links to some local (amazing) bloggers that have some photos of the ice storm that we had. 

Becky over at Becky's Blabber is a local quilter.  We've had coffee a few times and have to plan a quilting night - she said with WINE.  Oh lala!  Some of her photos of the ice storm are here. 

A good friend of mine has a way with the camera. She hasn't posted in a while but she did post an amazing photo from this past storm here and here.

I've been blah blah blah.  I think it's because I'm forced to work.

I was able to catch up in my Sew.Happy.Quilt quilt along. 

This beauty is called Fireflies

I used this tute

And this is called Template Star Block

I used this tute.

My brain apparently couldn't grasp this block to save my life.  I re-cut this thing FOUR TIMES {yes, that is me cyber-yelling}. First I didn't have the template large enough, then I cut the white too small.  Then I re-cut this and I had the blue (used to be orange} cut on the wrong side - twice.  I used my seam ripper more times on this than I want to admit. Lalalala.  So eventually I got this block right.  And let me tell ya. . I'm happy to have it done with.  :)

 

Another block came out yesterday.  I might break into my fabrics soon - maybe.

 

Go check out the flickr group of the amazing 100+ participants and Jenna over at Sew Happy Geek {click the pretty button}.