Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Pair of Quilts...

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again, and you know what that means! It's time to get our whoop whoop on!!  Are you ready?  I know I am.... I've worked hard to have a pair of finishes to share with you!

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A few weeks ago, I was poking around in my studio, and found a shoebox full of leftover 2.5" wide binding.  I prefer to use 2.25" wide binding, so I decided to clear out that tub and make a scrappy quilt.  After pressing the strips flat, I sewed all of the strips end to end, then assembled them as a jelly-roll race quilt.  After finishing the top, I cut it cross-wise in varying widths.  Determined to use fabrics from my stash, I pulled out a pretty piece of green Kona cotton that I had on hand.  Wonder of wonders, there was enough to fill in between the strips!  Here's the quilt I ended up with...

I also found in my stash a piece of IKEA fabric that I bought on my last shopping excursion there, and with a piece of Grunge fabric, made a back for it!

I quilted leaves on the green strips, and straight lines about an inch apart on the colored strips.

 OK - one scrappy quilt complete!  But I still had a stack of scrap strips that I didn't have room for in the first quilt.  I checked the stash and found a slightly different shade of green Kona - and lo and behold, there was enough to put together a second quilt!

I decided to make this one a bit more modern, with the shorter strips staggered horizontally instead of vertically.

The back is all from stash, too - almost the end of my favorite IKEA fabric, and a little bit more of that green Grunge fabric that's in the first quilt.

And oh, did I have fun quilting this one!  I played with feathers again, wandering them around the quilt and surrounding them with pebbling, echoing, clamshells, some matchstick quilting - whatever struck my fancy at the time!  

Here's a picture of it after washing - you can see all the wonderful texture on this quilt!

And here are the two quilts together! I like to think of these as "sibling" quilts, or "his and her" quilts.  Similar, yet not identical.  Both are completely scrappy and made from stash - even the binding is scrappy!  The first one measures 56" x 60", the second one is just slightly smaller at 53" x 58".  I'll be entering these in Shannon's Scrap Quilt Challenge 5 - are you participating too?  If you haven't heard about it, click on this link and read about it!  Because everyone has scraps!!

I think I'll be listing these two quilts in my shop - because it's time to start earning some Christmas spending money....

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop??

And as you may already know (because I've been talking about it for weeks!) I'll be at the beach for the next week.  My husband forwarded an email to me (that one of his employees sent him) talking about shark warnings on the beach we are going to.  He then brought home this little video to share with me - and I was rolling on the floor laughing!  I hope you'll take a few minutes and laugh along with me....

Wish us luck on our own personal "Shark Week"!!

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you break out in a happy dance?

Share - we want to dance along with you!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - I Can Almost Smell the Beach.....

Hi, all!

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!  Ours was rather rainy, but we still had a great time - got to spend some time with the grandkids, went out on the boat once in between rainy episodes, and went to the movies.  All in all, a fun weekend!  And of course, rain meant that I got to do a good bit of sewing, too....

So let's see how last week's list went...

1.  Make a back for and quilt the second scrappy green quilt top.

Done!  I actually quilted this one today, and while the fancy quilting is done, I still need to do a little bit of ditch-stitching and bind it.  But here's a picture of some of the quilting as a tease - I'll post about this quilt on Friday!

2.  Complete the HSTs for the vacation quilt.

Done!  I don't have a pic of all of them together, but here's enough to give you an idea... I made 624 of these puppies!

3.  Work on the wedding dress quilt project.

Done!  I've got a good start on the pillow, and finally have a handle on what I'm going to do for the quilt.  I had run into a problem with only using the fabric in the dress, adding nothing, but got permission to add a backing fabric, so now it should be a piece of cake!  (After vacation...)

Seed stitching with a 20 weight glossy twisted thread

4.  Work on Nathanael's stocking.

Done!  Well, not done, but at least in progress!  

5.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Done!  We gave away three quilts this week...

This one to a man who had surgery for lung cancer...

This one to a sick baby...

And this one to a woman with multiple health issues.

And in addition to the things on my list, I did a little fun sewing...

I made these two cute little pin cushions, which measure about 3" square by 1" thick.  I used the same technique for the 16-patch blocks as I did for my husband's quilt, except with 5" squares instead of 10" squares.  It was super simple!  I wonder how small I can go....

And I also busted into my piggy bank, because the Piggy Bank Challenge has come to an end!  For one year, as part of Val's Piggy Bank Challenge, I've been collecting up my spare change in anticipation of a quilt-y treat.....

It was a LOT of change!!! (As CoinStar kept telling me...)

This was the total I came up with, and actually, CoinStar came up with more - $76.79!  I spent part of my loot on this...

While that looks like a strange thing to purchase as part of a quilt-y splurge, it represents 173 hours and 47 minutes of audio books, which I listen to while I'm working!  When I received an email today saying that they were on sale for $4.95 each, I knew that would be a great thing to spend part of my money on.

I'm going to save the rest of my loot in anticipation of this beautiful new fabric by Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts, which should be available on Connecting Threads in the fall sometime.  I can't wait!!

And I've already started stuffing my pig in anticipation of next year's quilt-y splurge!!

OK, so that's the week that was.  This week is a short week, because we're heading to the beach on Friday, but I still have some things I need to get done...

1.  Finish the quilting on the sibling quilt and bind it.

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up on the frame at church.

3.  Hand out the signature blocks for the retirement quilt to be signed this week.

4.  Write up an estimate for a commission quilt.

5.  Clean the house so the pet-sitter doesn't run out screaming!

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

That should be more than enough to keep me out of trouble (especially since I'm also babysitting two mornings this week for the grandkids) but if it isn't, I can also cut out the pieces for the wedding dress quilt, now that I know what I'm going to do!

Whew!

So now, the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Not Enough Hours In The Day!

Hi, all!

Monday has rolled around again after a very busy week!  Why do the weeks seem to go by so quickly when there's so much to do?  Oh well, at least being busy means being productive!  And that means it's time for….

Here's how last week's list went…

1.  Make a back for the pieced commission quilt.
Done!  No picture, though - it's loaded on the frame and I forgot to snap a picture before it went on!

2.  Decide on the quilting design for that quilt.
Done!  I'm hoping to start quilting tomorrow morning!

3.  Order the Kona background fabrics for the t-shirt commission quilt.
Done!  Ochre and Water - such a pretty combination!

4.  Write the special posts for next week.
Yesterday's post is up - you can see it here.  Since November is National Adoption Awareness Month, and because Nathanael will be turning three this week, I'll be auctioning off ten quilts to raise money for the adoption.  Two of them will be featured later in this post, and you can see all of them on my Facebook page here.

5.  Meet with a friend to discuss how to quilt her finished top.
Done!  It's going to be really pretty - a nice mix of free motion quilting and straight line quilting!

6.  Finish four cross-stitched stockings for another friend. (She did the cross-stitch, just needs help turning them into stockings!)
The stockings are blocked, but I'm still looking for the backing fabric she wants.

7.  Finish Nathanael's stocking!
Nope - it's still hanging on my wall looking pretty and unfinished...

8.  Keep up with any ministry needs that arise - and it looks like a busy week, because I've already got six requests!
Done!  We gave away a lot of quilts last week…

This quilt went to a young girl going through some serious emotional issues…



…and this one went to her mother, who is having difficulty holding it together while dealing with her daughter's problems.

This quilt went to a woman dealing with cancer and homelessness...

And these three baby quilts went to The Bridge Mission for homeless moms who are expecting new babies.

This quilt went to my mailman's wife, who had a knee replacement and is going through some serious pain as she recuperates.

This quilt is going to a seminary student who is preparing to have a serious back surgery…

…and these two are going to his son (top) and wife (bottom) who were in a serious automobile accident.

 

If you're following along, the current quilt count is 281 for the  year, 953 all-time!

And here's what I'll be working on this week…

1.  Quilt the commission quilt.

2.  Finish my friend's Christmas stockings.

3.  Finish Nathanael's Christmas stocking.

4. Make more of the cutter quilt stockings for another friend.

5.  Work on the girls' Christmas quilts.

6.  Make Christmas ornaments for Nancy's fundraiser.

7.  Keep up with quilt ministry needs that arise.

Definitely enough to keep me busy! No rest for the wicked, I guess!  So now I want to know - - - what are YOU working on this week?

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And now, in honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, here are two of the quilts that are being auctioned off to raise funds to #bringNathanaelhome!!

Here's quilt #1 - "I Spy!"  This quilt is 41" x 44", made of 98 squares of I Spy prints.  There are 48 pairs for your child to match up, plus two that don't have a match.  I can tell you from experience that it's fun trying to match up the pairs and locate the singles!  It's quilted with rainbow colored variegated thread on the front, white on the back.  Batting is 100% cotton.  The back is made of a cute elephant print combined with a green solid, and the binding is scrappy prints. Completely sewn by machine, this quilt is sturdy and designed to withstand a whole lot of loving and machine washing and drying! 

Starting bid on this quilt is $90.  Bids will close on Monday, November 10th at 5 pm CST.

And here's quilt #2 - "Pigs Can Fly!"  This quilt is 51" x 52", made of fun kid-oriented fabrics with two adorable strips of appliquéd pigs embellished with three-dimensional ears and ric-rac tails.  There's even a few flying pigs in the group!  There's so much to see on this quilt - wild animals, pirates, Sesame Street characters, fish - and the back has dinosaurs paired with a yellow fabric and yellow binding.  100% cotton batting.  Completely sewn by machine, this quilt is sturdy and designed to withstand a whole lot of loving and machine washing and drying!

Starting bid on this quilt is $100.  Bids will close on Monday, November 10th at 5 pm CST.

I'll be posting about two more quilts each day this week - stay tuned and bid on your favorite(s)!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Book Review and a Giveaway!!!

Hi, all!

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that I had passed 900 followers, and that a giveaway would be forthcoming?  Well, I think that's a great reason to whoop it up a bit, so today's the day!  

I was also asked by Christina over at A Few Scraps to review her first book!  Some of you may know that I am a big fan of Christina's blog, and refer lots of folks to her free motion quilting tutorials, which are wonderful - a great way to learn how to do FMQ.  

I was eagerly anticipating this book, but wow, I was blown away by the actuality of it!  The first part of the book deals with the how-to part of FMQ.  There is a section on what you need before beginning, another on the basics of the process, and a third section that covers things like how to decide what type of FMQ to use on a project.  The next twenty-three pages of FMQ design ideas should give you a ton of inspiration!  

But wait, there's more!  Christina not only outlines the basics of free motion quilting, but also has twenty-four (!) great projects to hone your new skills on.  My usual method of deciding whether to purchase a book is to see how many projects "take my breath away" - a minimum of three is require before I'll consider purchasing a book.    When I counted up how many projects I wanted to make in this book, I found at least twenty I want to make, or that will give me a jumping off point for my own interpretation of the technique.  

Here are three projects I've made up from the book in just the past couple of days...

Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow,
this will be a finished pillow cover!

I can't decide whether to make a wall hanging
or a pillow cover out of this one!

I absolutely love these bowls - super simple to make, and I can think of so many uses for them!  In my studio, I can use them to corral thread, rotary cutters, or even my bluetooth headset that I'm constantly worried I'll cut up when I'm not wearing it!  And on my dresser, I always need little "catchers" for jewelry, change, and the like.  How would you use them?

And guess what?  You can totally flip them inside out and change the look!!  I love it!! 

My daughter looked through the book and decided that she wants me to make matching quilts for the little girls by one of the quilt designs.  (There are six quilt designs, by the way, each one designed to highlight the free motion quilting you've learned to do!)

But by far the most eye-opening section for me was the Embroidered Projects!  I've been doing FMQ for four years now, and never once considered using it as embroidery on non-quilt-y projects.  What an epiphany! I'll be doing at least one project out of this section in the next week.  

The book ends with a very short and concise section about sewing and quilt construction techniques - good information but not a textbook on the process - and a very useful troubleshooting section.  I learned a lot here!  

There's a lot in this book for people new to free motion quilting, people who've been doing it for a while, even those of us who use a long-arm quilting machine!  I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to do their own free motion quilting, as Christina is an exceptional teacher and shares her experience (and yes, even her mistakes!) freely.  For those of you who have been quilting a while, I think you'll find some fresh new projects and inspiration here.  It's available in paperback and in a Kindle version on Amazon.

BUT WAIT!!  Remember I promised a giveaway?  Well, I was so excited about this book, I decided to put my money where my mouth is, and I purchased a copy to give away!!  So here's how you can have a chance to win (or two or three!).....

1.  Leave a comment!  Tell me something about your FMQ experience - your biggest quilt on a home machine, the most creative thing you've made, or the biggest "oops" you've ever done!  Have fun with it!

2.  Follow this blog, or let me know you already do!  If you follow through something other than Google Friend Connect, I'd love to know how you follow (just for curiosity's sake).

3.  Join the Whoop Whoop Friday linky party!  It's fun and a great way to get encouragement and inspiration! (Your link below will be your entry for this chance.)

3.  Spread the word about the giveaway by mentioning it on your blog and linking back to this post.  Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did!

Leave a separate comment for each entry.  And be sure you leave an email address if you're a no-reply blogger (or think it's possible you might be!)  I ALWAYS reply to your comments, so if you've commented here before and I've never emailed back, you're a no-reply blogger.  Leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!!

You can enter until next Thursday, September 5th at 5 pm CST.  I'll draw a winner and announce it on next week's Whoop Whoop Friday post!  And if you just can't wait to get a copy of this book (and who could blame you?) you can get it sent right to your door here on Amazon!

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And now it's your turn to whoop it up!!

What have you been working on this week?

What's made you dance the happy dance?

For anyone who's new, it doesn't have to be a finish -

just something you're excited about!

I'll leave the linky party open until 

Thursday at 5 pm this week - 

Be there or be square!!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - It's Starting To Snowball!!

Hi, all!

Well, it's been a busy week!  I spent lots of quality time with my little girls, my husband, and my daughter and son-in-law, PLUS I managed to get a good bit of sewing done!  A good week, all in all!  Thanks to a major internet fail last night, I'm a day late posting this, but better late than never, right?

Here's how I did on last week's list...

1.  Keep quilting for Rogersville - at least five quilts this week.

Done! I took six quilts to church last week for others to bind.  No pictures, though - they were snatched up in a hurry!

2.  Applique stars on the flag field.

Didn't get to this one yet - hopefully tomorrow! I did buy the new fabric and a Chacco chalk marker so it's ready to go.

3.  Finish the six mug rugs.

I finished five of these!  

4.  Make two pinafores for the craft show.

Didn't get to this one - I decided to make up a good stock of each type of item I've already got before branching out into these 

(I think!)

5.  Make first aid roll-up sample for craft show.

Done!  I actually already made four - they are quick and easy!  And I made another of the little pyramid pin cushions too.

6.  Keep up with the quilt ministry needs.

It was an unusual week - no needs came up.  But this week is rapidly making up for that!

Could be better - but still a respectable week!  In addition to the things on the list, I received a copy of Christina Cameli's new book, First Steps to Free Motion Quilting, that she sent me to review.  I'll be sharing my thoughts about it on Friday, along with a few projects from it that I've already finished!  (There might even be a giveaway....)

And here's what's on tap for this week...

1.  Help a friend finish a ministry quilt top for a young boy.

2.  Make a ministry quilt for a 6-year old boy who just had a heart transplant.

3.  Make a ministry quilt for a young woman who was in a serious car accident.

4.  Make a quilt for a teenager dealing with brain cancer.

5.  Finish a quilt started by my MIL to give to my FIL.

6.  Start prepping the house for a visit by my FIL and SIL.  (This involves moving stuff around since we only have one guest room!)

7.  Keep quilting for Rogersville - at least five quilts this week.

8.  Get those stars appliqued on the blue field!

9.  Keep up with any other ministry needs that arise.

Well, that ought to keep me out of trouble!!  It's funny how some weeks are really pretty easy, and others seem to hold more than can possibly get done - but the important stuff always gets done!

So now the question is - - - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah