A bee block for Angela

Angela from My Three Sons sent her fabric for our bee this month.  She gave very few requirements, simply saying she wanted everyone to make a block that is "You".  This was so hard for me.  I have been thinking about her block all month and sketched dozens of designs.  A few nights ago an idea came to my head, and I went with it.

In my quilting I like to do various projects--some quite precise work and some definitely wonky.  I love this block because it is precisely wonky.  I wanted the block to appear wonky, but I wanted each intersection to match perfectly.  I decided to sketch this on paper first and then paper piece the block.  The whole time I worked on it I just hoped that it would all come together in the end.  I was really happy when every seam matched up fairly close.  I had a lot of fun putting this together. It reminds me a lot of my Day at the Aquarium quilt. The final size is 16.5" square.

In process.

From the back you can see my design I drew.  This block took quite a while to put together, but I think I'll try it again sometime for a pillow.

I'm featured on Quilt Story today!

Head on over to Quilt Story today.  They are featuring my Stargate quilt!

WIP Wednesday

I've made some good progress on my HST quilt.  I really like how these blocks come together.  I finished 12 of my 16 blocks and am debating on my final layout.  Originally I planned to make this quilt 4x4 blocks so 72" square.  I could do it 3x5 blocks and add borders to the sides to make a twin quilt.  I don't really need a twin, and the large throw would be fun.  Who am I kidding, I don't really need a really large throw either.  I'm still debating.

I cut these hexagons the other day from my stack of Art Gallery fabrics I bought at Sample Spree at Quilt Market.  I've wanted to try machine piecing hexagons for quite a while and decided to give it a try after seeing Jessica's hexagon pillow.  I'm not sure that I'll start immediately, but they are all cut and ready to sew.

Finally, these came in the mail last week from Kim over at My Go-Go Life from her giveaway.  I love them, especially the bikes and the VW buses.  I'd really like to incorporate some of these into one of my next projects, but I'm stumped.  Any great suggestions?

My sister the quilter

My sister just finished her first quilt!  I was really excited to see how it turned out.  When we were all together over President's Day in February, I got to help her rework the design a bit.  She made this for her eight-year-old daughter who is as girly as they come.  This is the perfect quilt for her.  I'm really proud of my sister for making this.  She got the sewing bug about a year ago and bought her first sewing machine. I think she has come a long way.  She barely knew how to sew when she bought her machine.  She did a fabulous job on this quilt.  I asked her if I could share her pictures on my blog as she doesn't have one.  Didn't she do great for her first quilt?!

Edit:  A couple of you have asked about the fabric.  The line is Girly Girl and the designer is Bella Pilar.  Here is a link for it on fabric.com where she originally found it.  It's even on sale this week.

Kona Card Winner!

Thanks to all who participated in my little giveaway last week.  Random.org chose #69.  That lucky winner is:

69 

Leila said...

I have been wanting one of these for over a year, but I always thought, "Card or Fabric?" and fabric always won! Thanks for sharing!

You are even on my side bar. :)

Congrats Leila!  I'll send you an email.  

Treats for Modern Quilt Guild

Thanks for all your great comments on my post yesterday about my crazy life.  I think we've all been there. Several of those things on my list happened just while I attempted to unload the dishwasher. Kids are pros at detecting when you're a little distracted.

We have our monthly guild meeting tonight.  Normally we have loads of treats and snacks.  Last month we had nothing.  It was pretty sad.  I took it upon myself to make one of my current favorite treats for tonight. This is actually our last month we can even have treats since our group has grown, and we'll start meeting at a library next month. They won't allow food in the library which I thought was a bit rude.

This stuff is so fabulous.  I could probably eat an entire batch by myself, and I'm not exaggerating.  It's pretty awful for you, but it tastes really good.  I got this recipe from Our Best Bites which is one of my favorite food blogs right now.  

Just a couple tips.  I use less popcorn than they recommend because I like it well coated--about 10 cups rather than 12.  You'll need to cook it a bit longer because of this.  I also add a bit of salt--about 1/4 tsp. Her original recipe had salt, and I think it makes a difference. I use white chocolate chips rather than almond bark because I like the taste better.  Next time I plan to leave out the cinnamon and drizzle with some dark chocolate as well.  Yum!

I bet you wish you were coming to quilt group tonight.

Cinnamon Caramel Corn with Pecans & White Chocolate 
Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
1 C pecan halves, roughly chopped
1 C brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 C karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
1 stick real butter (1/2 C)
1t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda
3 squares almond bark (about 4 oz)

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
• Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. 
• Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a 2 liter capacity microwave safe bowl.  Mix well.  Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture.  Pour corn syrup over the top of everything.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir to combine.  Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes.  Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more. 
• Remove from microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda.  Stir to combine.  Mixture will foam and rise.  Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated.  
• Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan.  Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  
• Remove from oven and spread out on a large piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil. 
• Melt almond bark according to package instructions.  Drizzle over popcorn mixture.  When almond bark is hardened and popcorn is cool, break into chunks and enjoy!

WIP Wednesday

Many of us sew for a bit of therapy/sanity in our lives. This was certainly the case for me today.  My sewing time has steadily decreased over the past months. I can generally sneak in 30 minutes in the afternoon while Miss C has something to entertain her and the twins nap. I really needed my sewing time this afternoon. This is what happened today before we even ate lunch:

• The twins unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper.
• Miss C found the mousse and made a beehive on top of her head.
• She also pumped her doll's hair full of hairspray.
• Someone dumped Cheerios all over the living room carpet and proceeded to smash them in.
• Miss C threw a horrible tantrum because I informed her we were not going to the grocery store.
• She then decided it was a good idea to sneak a container of yogurt into her room and everyone proceeded to paint themselves, the carpet, the walls and all the toys with it.
• The twins unloaded all the clothes they could reach from their closet.
• Miss C scaled the twin's dresser and started applying the lotion she found all over herself.
• Miss C and Miss A unloaded a full box of baby wipes.  

I've decided they coordinate their efforts to destroy our house and make me as frazzled as possible. Little Dude says to Miss C, "Okay, I'll distract her while you snatch the yogurt, and we'll all meet back in five minutes."  Such is my life with three mini-destroyers.

Now onto sewing. I haven't played along with Lee's WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced for a while. I just haven't had many works in progress to show. After finishing my quilt for Lynne's quilt along, I didn't have any quilts in progress. I started sewing these HSTs months ago but shelved them to work on other projects. I decided to pull them out again this week, although I've realized I'm so sick of HSTs. I only had about 150 blocks pressed and trimmed. I've sewn and pressed about 250 since I pulled it out again, but still have lots of squaring up to do.

One of the reasons this project got shelved in the first place was my indecisiveness. I just couldn't decide how I wanted to arranged all these squares once I finished sewing them. Enter Lynne again. She showed a great HST design on her blog a while ago, and I thought it would be perfect for my HSTs. I plan to make my quilt 4x4 blocks. Each block is 18" finished.

I finished up my first block this afternoon, pressed it, took a picture and thought it looked great until I was cropping the picture to post. Notice anything wrong?

Luckily it was just the corner so it was easy to fix. I actually switched out the the whole square because I didn't want the corners to match which I also realized after it was sewn.

Only 15 blocks to go.

Kona Color Card Giveaway--CLOSED

I scored a Kona color card at Quilt Market, but lucky for you all, I already have one.  I will send this one along to a commenter picked at random.

To enter just follow my blog AND leave a comment (an rss reader counts as well).  If you want a second entry, blog about the giveaway and leave a second comment.  It's easy this time--just two possible entries.  Mr. Random will pick the winner on Monday, May 23rd.  

Don't forget to leave your email if it's not in your profile.  

A lucky day

I checked my email this morning and found a wonderful message from Kim at My Go-Go Life.  I won her most recent giveaway.  I'll be getting these fabulous 1/2 yard cuts in the mail in a few days.  I am so, so excited.  I've never splurged on any Heather Ross prints and am so excited to have some to play with.

Picture from My Go-Go Life

Quilt Market Blogger's Meet-Up

A huge kudos to Amy Smart from Diary of a Quilter for putting this party together.  She put so much work into this and it showed.  It was a fun party with good food and great prizes from the sponsors.  Everyone at my table won something from the evening.  I got a Riley Blake layer cake.  Rachel and Amy were super lucky and each won a Slice.  I'm a little jealous, but I know where they live.

I got my picture with Jacquie.  I wish she would move to SLC so she could come to our quilt guild every month.

With Amy and Amy.  I think Amy Smart was pretty tired by the end of the night.  She is so sweet.  I can't wait to get to know her better.  We're trying to convince her to start up another chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild south of SLC.

Rachel and Amy with their loot for the night.

Here is my pile of loot from the weekend.  It was a really fabulous weekend and such a fun opportunity.  I'm so grateful I had the chance to go.  The whole experience makes me even more excited for Sewing Summit coming up in October.  It was exciting to see all the ideas and inspiration out there, and I really enjoyed meeting so many great people. 

I've taken several weeks off from quilting to sew little projects.  I'm so ready to get back into it.  I have lots of new ideas floating around and can't wait to get back in the groove.

Quilt Market Update

We just finished up walking the exhibits from Quilt Market.  It was a lot of fun to see all the fabulous new fabrics.  We also got to meet some great people.

We hit the Kona booth. I have a fun little something from Kona to give away next week.

Amy Butler is fabulous as always and has some really fun corduroy fabric coming out that I might have to make something with.

Anna Maria Horner's booth was beautiful.  She has a new bag pattern coming out this summer that would be the perfect carry-all bag.

Here I am with Kayli, Brooke and Jennifer Paganelli.  We bought Jennifer's Girls' World book and had it signed.  She was a hoot and definitely one of my favorite people to meet.  Don't you just love her glasses?!

I love Joel Dewberry's new line, plus they are finally coming out with a pattern for their skirt that I adore.

Aneela had her own tattoo parlor.  Here is Brooke getting one.  The Little Apples line is super cute and soft.  I got a free little pack of 2.5" squares that I'm excited to play with a bit.  I think this fabric might make a couple cute skirts for my girls.  Aneela was so cute and had such a fabulous accent.

If you look close in this picture, you can see my tattoo as well. 

Also, I had a chance to chat for a minute with Bonnie and Camille.  We are all originally from the same tiny Idaho town.  I didn't know Camille growing up because she is a few years younger, but I'm always proud of people from our little town who do great things.

I'm headed to the Quilt Market Meet-Up for a bit tonight.  The Modern Quilt Guild Meet-Up was great last night as well.  I had a chance to chat with several people including Jacquie.  I just adore her. 

Stick around, I have a couple goodies to give away next week!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

I debated on which quilt I wanted to share for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  I don't have anything new to show, so I decided to share one of my favorites that I finished about a year ago.  Last year my SIL asked me to make a baby quilt for a good friend of hers who was adopting a baby girl.  I love how it came out with the pinks and browns against the white.  It makes me happy that it went to someone so excited to have a baby in their lives.

Sample Spree!

Blogger seems to have eaten my last post.  I'm not sure that it will ever resurface, but I mentioned in there that I get to experience Quilt Market this weekend.  A friend from my quilt guild got passes for a few of us, and I am so excited. 

Last night we hit Sample Spree. Here I am with Amy and Leigh just after getting in.  We didn't have tickets so we weren't allowed in until 9:00 p.m.  I must say it probably saved me some money.  We got in for half price, plus the Moda table was almost cleaned out.

Art Gallery Fabrics had some great finds.  I picked up these two bundles.  The first one is a bundle of 8 yards.  The solids pack (which I have wanted for a while) is 1/2 yards.  I'm so excited to find the perfect project for these. 

I also picked up the last one of these from Robert Kauffman.  I love the fabrics in this stack.  Amy and Leigh got roll-ups of the same fabric. 

It was a fun and successful night.  Tonight I'm headed over to the Modern Quilt Guild Meet-Up.  Saturday morning we're hitting the exhibit hall and Saturday night is the Quilt Market Meet-Up.  It's shaping up to be a fabulous weekend.