Urban Home Goods swap package sent!

Yesterday, I sent out my completed Urban Home Goods swap package.  I have been busting my behind this last week or so to get this stuff done, it took me some time but in the end it was all worth i! I love how everything turned out.

I decided to make a set of items for my partner's table.  I made 4 each of placemats, napkins, and coasters, all designed to coordinate with one another.



The main placemats have a natural linen background, with some Orla Kiely inspired embroidery and applique.  The binding is a Moda Crossweave.



I also made some matching napkins and coasters.  I didn't have enough linen for the napkins, so I used Kona Cotton in Bone, which matched the color of the linen perfectly.  I then made some little coasters with the leftover scraps from the placemats and napkins.



I really think my partner is going to like them.  I can't wait until s/he receives them!  And I'm also excitedly waiting to receive my package as well!  I wonder what I'll get? :)

DQS9 received!

A few days ago, my Doll Quilt Swap 9 quilt arrived in the mail!



Isn't it lovely?  It was made for me by Nichol (HardyPartyof5) and it looks beautiful against my green walls in my sewing room.  I love it! Thank you again Nichol!

I also packaged up my quilt and sent it off to my partner yesterday...



I hope my partner loves it!

I'm also working away on my items for the Urban Home Goods swap.  I'm doing a little Orla Kiely inspired embroidery for a placemat set.  I am going to do two embroidered like this below, and two with fabric applique in the same design.  It will be set against a Kona Ash for the main background.



All right, I've got to get back to my stitching if I'm going to be done in time!

Sew and Tell Friday - Doll Quilt all finished!

I am happy to report that I have a finish to report for this week's Sew and Tell Friday!

I finished my Doll Quilt Swap 9 quilt!  And I have to say, I think it turned out beautifully!



I decided to use a black and white Kei honeycomb dot for the binding. I think it sets off the rainbow of colors in the quilt nicely!  The label is already attached and it is ready to go to its owner. I just need to add a few little goodies to my package before I mail it out!

In other swap news, I've started working on my projects for the Urban Home Goods Swap!

My first project I've got planned is a set of placemats.  I'm imagining the background in Kona Ash, with a strip of white somewhere along the placemat, with a pretty little embroidery on the strip.  As you can see from my picture below, we've got some Orla Kiely inspiration going on here.  I used one of her lovely designs and created the drawing I'll be using for the embroidery.  I hope it turns out like I'm envisioning in my mind!



I'm hoping to get some work on these done tomorrow at the modern quilt guild sew-in I'll be attending! Can't wait, I'm so excited!  Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures of lots of progress to show.

Catching up!

I need to catch you all up on what I've been doing over the last two weeks.

First up, in my last post I showed the hexies I had made for the Handsome Hexie swap over on Flickr.  In addition to the hexies I posted, I also made a cute hexie holder for my partner.  I combined the gathered clutch pattern over at Noodlehead, with the cute hexie holder tutorial at Comfortstitching.

Here's my hexie holder.  Cute, isn't it?





And everything all together!



I have also been working on my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 9.  You may remember this post about my start to the quilt, the pink and grey spiderweb.  Well, I abandoned that project.  It was just taking forever and I knew I wouldn't be able to get it done before the deadline without completely forgoing any and all other projects, and I didn't want to do that.  So I went another route.  Based on my partner's preferences, I thought s/he might like something like the Colorwheel Quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  So I used my dresden plate template ruler to make a giant dresden plate color wheel. I think it turned out great!



I did simple quilted lines 1/4" on either side of the stitching line between wedges, and a circle around the center.  From the back it looks like a sun and its rays.  Simple, but I love it.



Now I just need to finish up the binding and label, get a few little other things together for the package, and I'm done!

Now I am off to work on a pincushion for a swap at next week's meeting of the local modern quilt guild. I've never made a pincushion before!  A first time for everything...

Hexagon swap

I recently joined a hexagon swap over on Flickr.  You're assigned a partner, and you make 25 hexies to send off, along with a little holder, if you like.

This swap has a very short turnaround, as I received my partner info this last week, and the hexagons must be mailed by the beginning of next week. So I went ahead and jumped right on it so I could get everything done on time.

I decided on a red/aqua/gray theme for the hexies.  They were so much fun to make, now I want to make some for myself!  These are 1 1/4" hexagons.



Now I'm going to whip up a little pouch to hold them in, and send them off to my partner. I can't wait to see what I receive!

New fabric storage!

I am excited to report that I am the proud new owner of an Ikea Expedit bookcase for my fabric storage!  A coworker/friend of mine traveled to Atlanta this last weekend for a trip to Ikea and told me if I wanted anything to let her know.  I asked her to pick me up the bookcase if she had room in the back of the truck after getting all her stuff, and lucky me, she had room for my boxes.

Hubby and I put it together and set it up this week, and I've thrown my fabric on it in an attempt to start getting organized.



It nicely holds all my books and magazines on the bottom, without fear of shelves bending and breaking and everything falling, and I've tentatively placed my fabric and other bits on the rest of the shelves. Right now they are kind of broken down by color, or style, etc.  I have all my precuts on one shelf, all japanese fabrics on another, all solids on another, and the rest of my cut fabric separated by color.  It's still in the organization stage so it's likely this will change a bit.  I am also planning on refolding my fabric to uniform sizes so right now it's kind of haphazardly thrown on the shelves.  But I am happy to see that even with all my fabric on there (well, not ALL, I do have bunches of fat quarters in some boxes that have yet to be pulled out) I still have lots of room for expansion.  I think this is going to help immensely as far as keeping track of what I have and having everything out where I see it and use it.

In other news, I've started my DQS9 quilt.  I'm doing pink and grey spiderwebs.  Here's my progress as of a few nights ago.



Just a little bit. I've since sewn a bit more and it's about double this size.  The plan is for there to be 9 full spiderwebs, so I've got a way to go.  I'm still not sure about how it's turning out, or whether my partner will like it.  My partner has been quite silent since the swap started, not much input lately, and none really on the swap itself and so I just don't know whether s/he will like it!  The plan is to finish it up, see what I think, and if I don't think it's good enough/the right style/etc., I'll just keep it for myself!

That's all for now.  I'm planning to head upstairs for a little bit of sewing tonight, and then enjoy the rest of the three day weekend!  Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

*Tap Tap* Hello, is this thing on?

I know I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth lately!  Life has been super busy.  I have been busy and preoccupied with work, traveling quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, and my husband and daughter returned from their trip about two weeks ago, so they've been home and occupying my time (which is a good thing!) and so I just have not had much spare time!

I have been doing some sewing and quilting related things!

First, last weekend my chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild went on a shop hop!  This past week has been shop hop week in East Tennessee and we decided to all get together and shop hop for our meeting this month.  It was TONS of fun, we visited six stores in one day (!) and I bought some yummy stuff.  Unfortunately, no pictures.  Part of that whole busy-with-life thing!

I have also spent most of the little sewing time I've had over the last week or two getting my siggy swaps done and out in the mail.  I finally finished a day or so ago and put them in the mail today!

Here they are, all signed and ready to go, all 101 of them! I am super excited to receive back the siggy blocks, from 101 different quilters, and assemble them into a neat little quilt!



And I've also been thinking and thinking about the quilt I will make for Doll Quilt Swap 9!  I have been stalking my partner's Flickr and blog, and trying to come up with a good idea.  I think I've finally got one.   I've pulled these fabrics, and am thinking about a spiderweb quilt.  What do you think? Are you out there partner? Do you like?



So that's what I've been up to.  I'm hoping work will slow down a bit (at least I won't be traveling so much, I know that!) and I'll be able to have more time for sewing.  Next weekend is a three day weekend and so maybe I can get in some sewing time then.

Hopefully soon I'll be back with a post about some of the lovely fabric I've acquired recently... :)

Doll Quilt Swap 9

I'm very excited to be participating in the latest round of the Doll Quilt Swap over on Flickr!  I've watched the last few rounds from the sidelines and when signups came open this time I decided to just jump in, having more confidence now that I've partcipated in some other swaps.

We were just assigned our partners a few days ago, and I've commenced to stalking my partner! I also need to start dropping some clues for my own stalker.  So I made a mosaic of inspiration pieces, which hopefully gives them a place to start.  And as time goes by, I will try to add more posts with more inspiration, as well as sneak peaks of my own quilt I'm making for my partner.

I'm so excited!  The anticipation is so much fun!



1. The Modern Flying Geese Quilt, 2. Scrap X quilt, 3. Circles and Waves quilt, 4. Cobblestones, 5. dqs7 quilt maybe?, 6. The Princess and the Pea embroidery, 7. The Lady of the Lake Quilt top, 8. Fat Quarterly E-Zine Flying Geese Challenge, 9. far far away 2 quilt top, 10. a wonky anna maria horner string quilt, 11. 1st attempt at Dresdens!, 12. Color Wheel Mini Quilt, 13. DQS8 Received!, 14. dqs8 received, 15. Flea Market Fancy hexagon quilt, 16. My Doll Quilt from katiejeanbags

Sew and Tell Friday - Pillow Talk Swap 3 pillow!

I finished my Pillow Talk Swap 3 pillow!  And I love how it turned out!





(Please excuse the picture of the back, it got super wrinkly while I was trying to shove a too-big pillow form inside!)

I took several ideas my partner mentioned and that I saw in their favorites on Flickr, and came up with this.  It's a simple design, just squares, but I added the little whimsical appliques in between to make it more interesting.  I think my partner will like it! I hope so, at least!

Anyway, it will soon be winging its way to its new home, hopefully to a very happy new owner!

And with this, I've also finally got a finish for Sew and Tell!

I am so indecisive!

As I mentioned recently, I was lucky to join in for the latest round of the Pillow Talk Swap over on Flickr.  Right before I left on vacation I received my partner information.  I have until June 18 to make and send out a pillow to my partner based on their likes/inspiration, etc.

And now I am stumped!  I really loved the items shown in my partner's inspiration mosaic, they have some great stuff in their favorites list...but I just can't commit to a design!  I think I have a pretty good idea of what they want, but it's something I've never done before and I'm a little scared!  There is so much talent in these groups and I just don't want my partner to be disappointed!

I think I need to just sit down and start something.  If I wait too long I think it will make things worse, especially as time starts to pressure me.  And right now I'm home alone with nothing but time to sit and sew without interruption, so I reallllllly need to get this done before the hubby and baby get back and time escapes from me.

Plus I joined the Siggy Block swap being hosted by Jaybird Quilts, so I'm thinking about what to use to make those (and actually sitting down and making them), and I've got a bee block to complete for one of the modern quilt guild members for last month that I need to bring with me to our next meeting on June 19...I need to just sit down at the machine and get to it!

Pillow Talk Swap Round 3

I was lucky to recently get in on Round 3 of the Pillow Talk Swap!  I am sooooo unbelievably excited about this!  I've seen some of the pillows from the last two rounds around Flickr and they are amazing! I am so looking forward to making something awesome for my swap partner and receiving something awesome in return!

We are supposed to be receiving our partner's information soon.  In the meantime, we've all been making inspiration mosaics for our future partners, to give them an idea of what kinds of things we like, to help them out in deciding what kind of pillow to make. 

Below is the inspiration mosaic I created for my partner.



1. Twinkle pilow , 2. pillow swap d.o.n.e., 3. Hexagon Pillow in its new home, 4. Pillow Swap Round 2 - Full View, 5. Arcadia Wonky Log Cabin Pillow, 6. Quilted Pillow, 7. postcards from the park quilt, 8. hexagon quilted pillow 2, 9. String Quilt Pillow, 10. Pillow Talk Swap *Sent*, 11. Half Square Triangle flea market fancy , 12. Red and Aqua ZigZag Quilt, 13. Pillow Talk Swap & Tutorial, 14. Pillow Talk Swap 2, 15. Pillow Swap - A little bird, 16. Sew New To Me Virtual Quilting Bee * Corey *

How fun!

Vintage Sheet Swap

I recently signed up on Flickr to participate in the Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap.  Each participant sends in fat quarters cut from vintage sheets, and receives an assortment of fat quarters in return.

I finally was able to divide my sheets up, and I've now got my stacks ready to go!  I just need to drop these in the mail on Monday.  I really hope everyone likes them.  I think the florals are really pretty.  And the pattern on the bottom left, and bottom right, both have butterflies on them, which I just love!  I can't wait to see what I get in return.  I am sending in around 45 fat quarters, so I should be receiving that many in return. I can't wait to see what I get!!



At this point my plan is to make a simple patchwork squares quilt with whatever I receive in return.  I saved one whole sheet, with a small floral print, to use for the backing of whatever I make.  I'm thinking maybe using it as a picnic/outside play blanket.  So excited to see what is coming my way.

Actual quilting in progress!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA yet again.  I just get so darn busy, that whole going to work, having a small child thing is definitely getting in the way of sewing and blogging. :)

But there has been a little bit of sewing going on!

First, I want to show the pictures of my swap item that I teased you all with last time.

For the last meeting of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild, we decided to swap a friendship bag.  We decided we'd use this tutorial from P.S. I Quilt for the basic idea and dimensions.  I decided to tweak the tutorial a little and add a band of solid fabric around the top and change the size of the fabric strips on the side.  I think it came out super cute!





Unfortunately I haven't yet taken any pictures of the bag I received, but trust me, it's super cute! I'll try to get some pictures soon.

I also finally decided on how I wanted to quilt my Perfect 10 quilt.  I had picked out a backing a while back (from Hobby Lobby), got it all basted a few weeks ago, but have been procrastinating because I couldn't decide what kind of quilting to do or what color thread to use given all the different colors in the top.

I finally this last weekend, after some trial and error, to use a clear thread for the top.  I tried white, and brown, and they both just stuck out too much on some of the fabric colors in the top.  The clear, while a pain in the butt to work with, looks the best.  I'm using a dark brown on the back.  In the pictures below you can see what I chose for backing, the dark brown with the simple floral in white.  I also decided to just do straight vertical lines for quilting.  I'm not confident enough yet in my stippling, especially to do a quilt this large (it's about 60"x70"), and I couldn't think of any other pattern that wouldn't fight with the design of the top.  As soon as I started quilting, I knew this was the perfect choice, as I LOVE how it's turning out! I can't wait until it's done.  Right now I'm a little over a quarter of the way through, and it's taking a while with that many lines close together.  But hopefully I can finish it up over the next week or two.





Now I've got to get back to it!

Sneaky peaky

A little sneak peak of the project I finished yesterday...

I can't show more, because it's for a swap next week and I don't want to give away too much...

I had so much fun making it, and I really hope whoever gets it enjoys it.

Potholders!

Today we had another meeting of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild chapter.  For today's meeting, we decided last time that we would do a potholder swap.  I've never made a potholder before, but I had fun making this one and I think I might make some more in the future.

I almost didn't give this one away, I thought about keeping it and making another one to swap, it is so cute!







And here's the one I received in the swap...isn't it cute? I love the color combination.




Isn't that fun?  Next month we're going to swap little quilted tote bags.  Can't wait!

(I realize I never came back to post about the quilt show I went to last week...hopefully I'll get around to it!)

Swappy McSwaperson

That's me!  Today I managed to swap away the majority of my Flea Market Fancy blue seeds for 19, yes you heard correctly, that's 19 fat quarters of various other FMF prints.  I'm going to drop all the fabric in the mail tomorrow and I should be getting my fabrics sometime soon.  I'm so excited! 

In other news, I finally gave the new machine a whirl today.  I sewed a little on a couple of scraps just to try it out.  It's so smooth, so quiet, and so FAST! I can't believe how different it feels from my old machine.  I can't wait to really use it, it seems like it's going to make everything so much easier!  Hopefully soon I'll have some pictures of a new project.

Right now I'm trying to decide which quilt to make next.  Since I finished the receiving blanket quilt I haven't started one.  I started a couple of Christmas coasters and the Village Frock.  Both are in progress, but I've been waffling on which quilt to do next. I want to do a coin quilt with one of my jelly rolls, a dresden plate with another, a hexagon Grandmother's Garden type hand-pieced quilt with the third, and then I have another charm pack that is intended for either a pinwheel or hourglass pattern.  Decisions decisions!  I want to make a baby sized quilt for some friends who are expecting, who I thought by now would know the sex to help me narrow down my selection, but they told us recently they don't intend to find out.  So now I have to come up with something unisex.  No big deal, but just adds another layer of decision making to the whole project!  I need to hurry up and pick something out!

Coming up next, Sunday Stash...