Hugs and Kisses Giveaway Winner

I've picked the Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop comment winner. The winner will receive these three fat quarters.

Congratulations

Diann, who  said...
I couldn't tell you why that one, but I like the woven heart wall hanging the best.

 

In case you missed it, Diann likes this woven heart wallhanging

 

 

 

best of all the projects I posted HERE.

 

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop to to those who followed along and left such wonderful comments!

 

Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop

It's my day for the Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop!

Before I get to the projects, I'd like to thank Jane of Jane's Fabrics and Quilts for being an awesome cheerleader and Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt! for organizing this hop. You two ROCK!! 

You can see the entire Blog Hop Schedule HERE.

 

Here are my cohorts for the day; so grab a cup of coffee or beverage of choice and enjoy the eye candy. (My close up pictures will not post correctly, but hopefully I can get that resolved quickly.) I've got them in now, so check them out at the end of the post.  :-) 

 

In the mean time, enjoy what's here.) By the way; read to the end of this post and see how you can win a couple of fat quarters.

 

Thursday February 14th

Dachsies with Moxie

From This to That

Sew at Home Mummy

Everyone Deserves a Quilt (You are here!)

A Geeky Crafty Life

Charlottes Creations

The German Mom

Debby Kratovil Quilts

 

NorthHills Quilter

 

I was very excited to sign up for this hop and when Jane notified me that I had made the cut, I got right to work and had my first project done within the day.

 

If I was asked to use quilting terms to describe life in general, I would probably say things like, "Life is like a quilt and you never know what how beautiful all the little bits and pieces are until you put them together. Perhaps life is best described as a crazy quilt. All those little bits and pieces are really life's loose ends and when put together you never know what you're going to get, but you know they'll be something wonderful because they were pieced together with love."

 

I want my quilts to make people feel loved every moment of every day. From the moment they wake up to the moment they fall alseep, I want them to know how I feel about them.

 

Not only is there a love/heart quilt on this bed, a Valentine table runner makes a great bed runner.
 



A woven rug on the floor takes the chill out of any morning and reminds my family that I love them and want to keep them warm and safe! (This rug was based on a design by Jera (quiltingintherain.com) for Moda Bake Shop.)

 

 

A foundation pieced scrappy rug is just the thing to protect my family from the cold tiles of the bathroom floor.

 



OK, I admit it. This looks like a heart, but it also looks a bit like an alien, doesn't it? Maybe it's the right move to have this in the bathroom, considering how I look in the morning.  :-)

 

Totay, at my house, when you walk out the door to start your day you'll be greeted with a woven heart, appliqued to a quilted background. This should serve as a reminder that I love you, hope your day is wonderful, and that I can't wait for your return. (The heart was made using the same technique as the two-color woven rug next to the bed above.)

 

 

It really is all about love and every quilt I make is made with love!

 

 

When you're in love, you really don't sweat the small stuff, so the pictures not posting correctly early this morning was not really a big deal. A good night's sleep and a cup (or two) of coffee and I figured out the problem.

 

All is good and here are the close-ups  :-) 

 

Here's the woven rug along side the bed. I really do like this in two-colors only!

 

And what we lovingly refer to as the Alien Heart Rug.  :-)

 

Can you see the alien now? Here's he starting to reer his ugly head. Ok, it's really just the wind, but I like the alien story so I'm sticking to it.

 

This woven heart wall hanging reminds me of the 1970's and 80's. I'm sure it's the colors in the heart and all I need to do is add some grey and I'll be transported right back there. I guess I didn't mind those years because I didn't hate this when it was done.  :-)

 

I like the quilting on the back too! (The sleeve is cut off in the picture, but you don't need to see that anyway, right?)

 

And finally the bed runner that is really a table runner, but I like it as bed runner today. The wind wouldn't cooperate so I decided that the message here is that my heart is all aflutter and this just proves it!

 

Now for the giveaway. Leave a comment and tell me which of these projects you like best. Be a follower (new or continuing), and letting me know will earn you another chance. I have three fat quarters to give away. Of course that picture won't load right now, but I'll get it on here soon. I can tell you that the fabrics would have been perfect to use for any of these projects. They are pink, red, white, cream, hearts..... I took a new picture and added a third fat quarter. YEAH!! If the winner saw this post earlier, won't they be surprised when they receive three fat quarters? I love happy endings!

 

Oopps! Forgot to say that I'll pick a winner of Tuesday, Feb. 19th.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

 

Found Pictures

I was looking at some pictures and realized that I hadn't posted a picture of Jerry and his finished Framed Rectangles quilt.

 

Jerry first worked on this way back in July while he and Connie were visiting, and he finished it on a subsequent trip, but I didn't have it quilted for quite a while. Of course even after it was quilted I didn't give it to him. Noooooo, instead I put it on one of the guest beds and waited until he came to visit, hoping he would forget it was his and just leave it there.

 

Here's Jerry with the quilt. (I think he did a nice job!)

 

 

I think he likes it.

 

 

As I was putting this on the bed, I found a spot in the quilting that I didn't finish a loop. I ddn't fix it and think an appropriate name for this quilt would be "The Missing Loop."

 

Quilter's Moonshine

I've had a number of requests for the recipe to the Quilters Moonshine that Kare and I made and gave to the participants of our first Old Bags Day. This recipe makes a little over a gallon so be prepared to make it in a bucket or large bowl and then transfer to other containers.

Mix well:
1 gallon of distilled water
1/2 cup liquid starch (we used Sta-Flo)
1 cup vodka (cheap is fine - and now you know why we call it Moonshine!)

You can add up to 4 teaspoons of your favorite essential oil for a scent, if you'd like. We did not do that. For one thing, I don't particularly care for scented items because I never know if it will set off my allergies. Of course another reason we didn't "flavor it" was because we would never have been able to decide on one scent that all 32 participants would like.  :-)

So there you have it! Vodka really does have a place in the sewing room.  :-))

Old Bags Day Recap, Part 3

As promised, here are the final pictures from the Old Bags Day Sew-In. For the first two posts click HERE and HERE.

After gettting home and sleeping in, Ann's chenille quilt got bound. She and Claire had to leave so she didn't get it washed before they left. :-(  Here they are together. Ann sent me a picture of it washed, but I don't know where I saved it.

 

Jerry spent some time with possible layout options for all the blocks he got sewn. He and Jack put some serious thought into these layouts. The running joke is that this is the salad quilt, because all the greens look like lettuce. I think he should add some orange for carrots and some white for mushrooms.(They aren't really sideways doing this. For some reason I can't get the picture to be right side up here. It is saved correctly, but I can't get it to work. Guess I won't add the other ones that are of them working. Sorry!)

 

 

I was with Darla yesterday and she has all of her blocks sewn together now. Aren't these fun fabrics?

 



 

Here's what she's adding for the borders. I think her granddaughter is going to love her quilt!

 



 

Old Bags Day Recap, Part 2

Finally getting around to post more pictures from the sew-in on January 26th. For the first part of this recap, click HERE. For Recap, Part 3, click HERE.

For those who asked about the Quilter's Moonshine. It is not just water, but a concoction that is similar to Best Press. I'll post the recipe later today. (I promise!) Click HERE for the recipe.

A fair number of people were able to finish at least one quit top. Here is Mabel's. Nice job!

Martha was seeing stars... Isn't this fun?

 

Claire (our youngest participant) was making here first chenille quilt. It's all sewn and now she's cutting.

 

 

And she's still cutting...

 

 

Joan finished a really fun quilt top. Love this!

 

 

Yeah! The chenille is sewn. cut and bound. Now it just needs washed. Cute!!

 

 

Keeping it all in the family, Ann was also making her first chenille quilt. She used homespuns and I really like how this looks. This just needs to be bound and washed.

 

 

Don't you just love this quilt that Roberta showed us? I sure do!

 

 

 OK; there will be one last recap post, but I have to get dinner started and download the rest of the pictures. 









Old Bags Day Recap, Part 1

Kare and I hosted our first Old Bags Day Sew-In January 26th and it was a big success. No we weren't calling anyone an Old Bag. We just wanted them to bring a bag (or two) of UFOs and get working on them. It was just a happy coincidence that "Old Bag" has two meanings. :-) When we were toying with the idea of doing this, we were hoping to have enough people sign up to at least cover the cost of the hall rental. We were pleasantly surprised to fill all the spots and then some. We had 32 participants and a waiting list of 6. WOW!!

Since this was our first event and we wanted to keep everyone happy just in case there were some issues, we decided to give everyone a little gift. (By the way, we had one small issue with the electricity, but it was resolved very quickly.) We gave everyone a spray bottle with their very own homemade Quilter's Moonshine (aka Iron Juice).

 



We were so fortunate to have help with the set up. Thanks Ann, Claire, Gail and Jack!

After setting up, we went home a bit excited and nervous, wondering what the next day would bring. Braving the elements (snow and cold) the participants began arriving right at 9:00!

 

Ahhhh, I love the sound of sewing machines running!

 

 

Work continues... lots of sewing, consulation and just plain FUN!

 

 

And finally, the oohing and ahhing begins! Isn't Karen's quilt beautiful?



 

 

Look at what Mariann was working on. There was some discussion on her border options and I can't wait to see what she decided.

 



 

Janet got her binding on all handstitched down. I love this quilt!

 

 

I have a couple of things I have to do right now, so I'll continue with part 2 later today. Are you excited to see more?

 

Click to see Recap Part Two and Recap Part Three. 

Click here for the Quilter's Moonshine recipe.

 

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's up on the wall today. This is the completed Zen Garden quilt top. I'm playing with ideas on quilting before I take it down. I'm thinking about something girly like flowers or big swirls.

 

 

I really like how this turned out and hope to quilt it soon, especially since I want to offer this as a class in the next series of classes in the Spring. This is coming down from the wall tonight or tomorrow even if I haven't decided on the quilting because I've got all the pieces cut and ready to sew for the same quilt with a dark background. The print fabric is all the same for both quilts. (Ticklish by Me and My Sister Designs for  Moda)

 

 

For most quilts I teach, I like to have one quilt completely done that is full size, as well as at least a few blocks using a very different colorway or style of fabric. Because many of us quilters struggle to visualize projects in any fabric other than the sample, I think it's worth my time and energy to do that. I've had more than one student tell me that they appreciate what I've done so I plan to continue. 

 

Since one of these quilts take 20 strips that measure 2.5" x width of fabric plus background fabric, I'm making two complete quilts. I love that about this pattern and others by Little Louise Designs.  My Gateway to Paradise is by the same designer and uses only 20 strips also.  

 

 

I've been busy the last couple of weeks, but that really isn't an excuse for not posting. Later tonight or early tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from the Old Bags Day Sew-In that my friend Kare and I hosted on January 26th. We had 32 participants and I think they all had as much fun as Kare and I did. There was a lot of productivity that day, including a number of quilt tops being completed.

 

See what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.