Modern siggy's - DONE

There are 101 of them! I have been working on my siggies for atleast a month. There were a few other projects that scooted in between.  There will be more posts about those real soon.

Anyhow, like all great project..mistakes can happen.  Remember this post I had cut all my squares for the siggy blocks?  Well it just so happens that I actually cut twice as many as I needed.

for real.

Not sure exactly how I figured that I need 400 squares...

the only thing I can figure is that I took 101 and doubled it...then while cutting a small say 2 year old came over asking 10X for chocolate milk...

I got her the chocolate milk and thought

"gee I need double the number of connectors, since there are connector corners on both sides"

double.

bleh....now I have an extra 202  squares.

So of course I HAVE to use them somewhere..not sure where.... yet.

cookies and lemonade...don't let it fool you.

The kids were off school yesterday due to the snow and road conditions.

I had my usual day off.

I know. I am lucky.

So what does one do with a 2 and 8 year old ALL day?

We made cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies.

And we ate them above my newest quilt finish. It's a pattern by Me and My Sister from their fabric Strawberry Lemonade.  I have had the top done F-O-R- E-V-E-R. Okay atleast a year. Finally had it quilted so that it wouldn't rot waiting for me to quilt it.

 I ♥ this little quilt, it's so summery.

So my picture looks all summery and pretty. 

Don't let that fool you.

This is REALLY the view from my window.

more snow.

go away snow.

that's all I have to say.

When life gives you jelly rolls.....

eat it.....

or make a foot stool.....

{chronicals of Elly and her Mom's fabric}

commitment

I've decided to do it...

commitment...

to this quilt along.

with Moose On the Porch Quilts

I have so many jelly rolls...and I think I can actually do this one.

I hope I can.

Are any of you joining?

I know, I know...you thought commiment was going to be a 'HEAVY' subject didn't you?

modern, japanese, fabric = etsy

As I was saying yesterday, I was so inspired by window shopping about japanese fabric, books and magazines that I found my self cruising around etsy and here are some of the awesome things I found.

First, I found sewdeerlyloved. 

Kerri has a really inspiring blog and makes super duper cute projects. After seeing bee inspired and all the Munki Munki sites, I decided to buy a piece of Heather Ross's Munki Munki fabric with gnomes on it. In addition, she had Monaluna and an aqua/red designer print bundle that I couldn't live without!

My friend Carol clued me into this book. She had seen it on PamKittyMornings blog awhile back. Pam being super cool helped Carol find it on ebay. Once Carol sent me a picture I searched and searched for it. And low and behold....I found it on etsy.

Happiness Flower

This etsy seller is in Japan, so I haven't received my items yet...so here are the pictures.

Deco tape

have you seen this? deco tape...I have no idea what to do with it..but it's pink with matryoshka dolls....so I HAD to have it!

plus this lovely little book...

Patchwork Hexagon Book


hmm...I see a project for my aqua and red fabrics.
well that's all for today...stay tuned tomorrow...as I will addressing -- commitment.

Japanese inspiration

Inspirational gifts from my husband. He recently went to Japan and brought me back QUILT JAPAN and a book on patchwork purses. He thought I might like it. It was totally sweet of him. His first trip to Japan wasn't that great (he ended up in the hospital) so this trip was WAY better for him and he even had energy to shop! He went to a Yuwazawa for me. Anyhow, he's home now...and I am thankful for that too.

All this talk about Japan peeked my interest and I started to browse etsy for some japanese books and fabric. Ah have you been on etsy? dangerous...seriously.

I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.

Friday fun

I had to blog this today....ahead of etsy etc..

cause this was more important.

 Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger at my local quilt shop.  She had inquired about my Green Beer runner kit and through emails we figured out that we are only about 1/2 hour apart from each other. It was a perfect chance to meet. 

       Here are Sandy and I at Country Charm. She had her camera...I forgot mine! and I didn't even put on makeup..yikes.

and Please look past the bulky coats...LOL

We had a good chat and wished we had more time. I had to get on home to sew before I took 2 quilts to my machine quilter and Sandy needed to pick up her doggy from the groomer. It was a totally worthwhile meet. Hope we can hang out again soon.

Get Crackin'

 I have found some giveaways in which I am going to spread the word because I really love it when other bloggers spread the word about my giveaways. The problem is, is that I find myself inclined to purchase from the bloggers and websites LOL. I know that's the point....and darn it there are such creative people out there.

So without further ado...

Check out jandi her blog, Jandi in Stitches, it  has just moved to blogger ... As her prize she's got MODA.

 ack! I said Moda...and I know I can ALWAYS use more Moda fabric. A Hunky Dory charm pack and a petit four ....awesome stuff.

The next place I ended up this morning was Twin Stitchers.  Kari from Ucreate did a little blog about these gals and their uber cute stitcheries. I - want - them - ALL. seriously.  But for today I am entering their giveaway for a few of their patterns and they have a SUPER duper cute freebie stitchery for Easter -- Get Crackin'. It should be my motto this week...I NEED to get crackin' on a BUNCH of projects.

And Bev's blog Burgandy Buttons is hosting a giveaway..she sells pre-cuts on her website at 25% off everyday...oh gosh the tempations.  I totally  ♥ Moda as you know and I just never feel like I have enough.

 And finally I stumbled onto another new blog A Little Bit Biased. This gal's got talent and Amber's designed 3 new quilt patterns. I know how tough it is to write quilt patterns.  My favorite is Mod Medallions. Amber is giving away 3 of her patterns as well! Head on over and leave her a comment!

SO now I am all reved up and inspired..I want to buy tons of fabric and didn't I just splurge on cotton linen and Plume? I have to maintain control here.  I haven't even started to talk about etsy. yes etsy....

I found some sellers and items on etsy I just couldn't live without.  If I can get real organized today I will post that for tomorrow!

Spongecake and pizza

I decided to pick up some of the new lines of Moda last week. I have been stalking Green Fairy Quilts site for weeks and I finally bought some.  L'Amour, Love is in the Air, and Plume.  I had unpacked them and sort of abandoned them on my cutting table. My 2 year old brought her step stool out and climbed up to play. 

She affectionately referred to the jelly rolls as her 'sponge cakes' and the turnovers as 'pizza'. It was pretty funny listening to her.

I had to snap some pictures of her carefully looking through the Plume "spongecake".  She has always been interested in my fabric...but she's never named it before. I like her spongecake idea and maybe Moda is listening and the next pre-cut will be a 'spongecake'...like fat 1/8th size or something??

Love Linen

I have been debating on whether or not to try cotton linen....

I bit the bullet and bought Kona cotton linen from Jackie at Canton Village Quiltworks.

I chose Putty and Natural colorways  and also snagged Kona in Ash.

I'm still looking for Kona in Coal colorway...I'm sure it's out there somewhere.I don't have a plan for it...but I want it or a Moda bella solid alternative.

I pre-washed the linen...which is totally against my religion but I did it anyway since it's linen.

I haven't sewn it yet but I did pair it up with Amy Butler "LOVE" fabrics that I bought from the Fat Quarter Shop. We'll see IF I can actually make myself cut into the LOVE fabric bundle???

It's Thursday and I am hoping for a productive sewing weekend...

Green Beer Table Runner Tutorial

GREEN BEER TABLE RUNNER

Last week my mom came from Iowa for a visit.  On the way to the airport we stopped at JoAnn's in Polaris.   Grace was begging for some decor that would represent her birthday March 16th. She knows St. Patty's Day is the 17th and so she & I picked out this cool green beer fabric from the seasonal section.  Elly my 2 year old picked the green fat quarter bundle to match (no joke).

I don't have very many holiday decorations for St. Patty's Day since I am German/English and my husband is Indian, however.....

 in the Spirit of St. Patty's Day.....

I created this Green Beer Table Runner and a tutorial for anyone else that may be interested in making one.

Gather all your Ingredients:

• 1.5 yards Green theme fabric for top and backing (14 X 50)

• Fat Quarter bundle of green coordinating prints or 5 different greens ~1 yard

• Batting at least 14 X 50 inches

• Varigated green thread

• general sewing/quilting supplies, rotary cutter, mat,pins, sewing machine etc.

St. Patty's Day Beer Tablerunner

10" X 50"

Cut the following:

G - beer print

 (3) 7.5" X 10.5"

(2) 3.75" X 10.5"

G1 - darker green

(2) 2.25" X 10.5"

G2 - dark green

(2) 2.25" X 10.5"

G3 - medium green

(2) 1.5" X 10.5"

(2) 1.75"  X 10.5"

G4- light green

(4) 1.5" X 10.5"

G5 - lightest green

(2) 1.5 X 10.5"

(2) 2.5 X 10.5"

• cut your pieces and arrange them to sew long sides together.

use this arrangement:

G4  G  G2  G4  G  G5  G3  G1  G5  G3  G  G3  G5  G1  G3  G5  G  G4  G2  G  G4

• I used my design wall and kept rearranging the strips to make sure I had the balance I started with.

• Here is the top pieced.

 • Note: I left the piece rectangular until the quilting was complete.

• layer your quilt top, batting and backing and quilt as you like....

• I used a varigated green thread and stitched 1/4 inch lines down the 50 inch length of the quilt.

• Here's another view.

• Once the quilting was complete measure one end of the top about 10.5 inches. 

 • Divided it by 2 and then measured over that far to find the center of the short end about 5.25 inches.

• Mark it with a pencil mark.

• Line up the ruler with the marked dot and the corner of second fabric row as shown in the picture.

• Repeat for the opposite end.

• Draw a pencil line here. It will be your sewing line for your binding.

• I made 2.25 inch binding for this project.

• Sew on the binding.

• Here's a close up.

• Once binding is sewn then trim the extra quilt fabric away.

• Flip the bindng and hand slip stitch to the back.

Enjoy!

Hoping for signs of Spring....

But realistically...there aren't any. Just SNOW. Bleh.

I have been sewing this weekend.  I developed a bit of a viral cold/ laryngitis this weekend and sewing seemed to be the only thing I wanted to do. Laundry--- bleh. I sewed.

Here's a little Dandlelion Girl Tablerunner I sewed about a year and a half ago.

I had it machined quilted.

So the binding was finally complete this weekend. It's always good to finish a quilt...even a small one. Hoping to feel better by tomorrow...as I have a FULL day at work ahead of me.

Ikea Fabric winner..

And the Random Number Generator picked #18 Beth from Southern Ohio!

Beth commented  "We're getting lots of snow in the southern part of the state, too!"

Congrats Beth, I hope you can use this fabric, otherwise please pass it on! Send me your address and I will ship it right to you. :)