Quick post

Spring Break has officially started in the School District I work. I don't typically go away over break but this year is different and I am so excited! I will be visiting my DD2 and SIL in Austin, TX. 

I am traveling there alone leaving my DH home. To keep him busy so he won't miss me too much (hehe), he is going to be giving my sewing room a fresh coat of paint and some other updates. 

This past week I have been packing up everything {boy do I have a lot of stuff.} I left a few things to the last minute because I really couldn't see not sewing for very long.  So you ask, what did you work on? 

A couple of new pin cushions! 

I am aware that there has been much written and discussed about Pinterest among bloggers lately. I admit that I do enjoy it and have gotten a lot of inspiration from the site. I will not be making any judgements yet and will try to keep calm. I only pin if I have made sure the link to the original site is working and the proper credit is given. To be honest, I have been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to spend on this time consuming addition. 

Sew until further notice...I will be working on my hexies.

For those of you interested, I also added a subscribe to button so you can now get notice of when I post. Look on my left sidebar. 

You are sew very appreciated!

What did I work on...

for the Friday Night Sew In? 

After a very unexpected dinner invite and fun evening with our very close friends, I came home and started sewing. I already planned on working on a tutorial that I will be sharing soon. So I got to work sewing and taking pictures of the process for the tutorial. (I like tutorials with lots of pictures). I will only share some peeks today so stay tuned for the whole process. 

some strip piecing and scrap busting...

finished....

I also stated working on another vintage dresden. 

before removing from the soiled backing fabric

ready for a new project ♥

Now off to see what others have worked on...won't you join me here?

A couple of finishes...

...another mini quilt finish. 

I have been having fun creating some mini quilts thanks to Jennifer over at Ellison Lane Quilts.  Although my quilt did not win in her recent challenge, I feel that I have won as I have been challenged to try some 'new to me' techniques. Minis are a great way to 'give it a try'.  

This quilt's challenge was combining red, yellow and white together. Madame Samm sent out a request for quilts using these 3 colors. Unfortunately, this isn't a color combination that I often see so I dug through my stash and this is all I found. The red fabric has roses with some being yellow and the yellow fabric has little tiny pinpoint dots in red. I took out my graph paper and using the chunky chevron idea that Amy Gibson showed on Craftsy in February, 

I designed this mini.

This is the first time that I tried a chevron. The tutorial on Craftsy by Amy Gibson is great. I made it a little different, extending the chevrons, but used her technique for the chunky chevron block. 

I also big stitched quilted the mini using Finca Perle 8 in Cranberry.  

I love the results!

I also finished my 3rd personnel stash challenge quilt.  I had finished the flimsy back in January but a few other projects were waiting for some attention so it took its turn in line. I finally managed to sandwich the quilt in February and set out to get it quilted. 

During this time, we got some sad news that our daughter's good friend, Jenny, was diagnosed with breast cancer. So as I quilted, many prayers were said for Jenny and she was kept in my thoughts.

I will be taking this quilt down to Austin, TX in a little over a week for Jenny when I visit my DD2 & SIL. I am very excited!

Jenny's surgery was today and the results are successful! 

The cancer had not spread! Praise God!

Until next time...

The reveal...

Many of you commented on my mini quilt that I posted a peek of back on my February 18th post. Yep, the one with the coffee cups! Well, I got notice that it arrived at its new home so I can now show you the whole mini quilt. 

I originally made a similar one for the Little Quilt swap.  

Shortly after the 3 month long Wantobe Quilter campaign, I decided that this would be a nice thank you quilt to the one and only Madame Samm. She does sew much for the quilting blog community and this campaign had to be a bit overwhelming (in my opinion).  I just wanted her to know that she is surely appreciated. She also hosted the Ghastlie Blog Hop which I also took a part.

And besides, she shares a love of coffee with me ♥. 

I have never met Samm in real life, but I used the picture on her blog profile, Sew I Quilt, to hopefully get a resemblance of her. 

Sorry about the blurry picture of the back...didn't realize until it already was sent off.

I just love this fabric...with all the coffee cups. 

I may just have to find me some more! 

Anyway, it is nice to know that it arrived safely as I get nervous with the mail. I had a very bad experience once when a quilt that someone sent me never arrived. It was either lost or stolen somewhere in the postal system and that makes me sad (and nervous).

On another note, I did finish the 3rd book for the reading challenge I joined. 

This challenge was to read a book with a type of house in the title.  I chose to read the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

This historical fiction story is told in flashback format and takes place in Seattle during the war and the internment of Japanese Americans. 

Henry is the main character and the flashback part of the story is of his young life and that of Keiko, a Japanese American. Although Henry is Chinese American, he struggles with the injustice of the situation around him, his relationship with his father and the commitment of a promise. There is a sweet, tender love story that develops between Henry and Keiko. Ford does a very good job of relating the feelings toward Japanese Americans and the hardships that were imposed on them during this sad time in our history. Fast forward to present day and how life turned out for the characters years after the war. 

This novel was beautifully written.

You can go here to find other novels in this category.

Modern Mini Finish

I am very excited to join the Modern Mini Quilt challenge!  

After 2 weeks of mini quilt inspiration hosted by Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts, I started working on my own modern mini quilt. 

I must admit that I haven't made very many mini quilts before this and I am not a pattern or fabric designer but I wanted to challenge myself in my quilting. 

So many of the guest bloggers for this challenge said that mini quilts were a great way to learn a new technique, practice something that you want to get better at, or try something 'new to you' without a huge investment in time or fabric. I really wasn't sure how it all would turn out. 

I thought that it would be fun to use some bright colored solids keeping the design very simple for a modern feel. I started with a 7" base and I measured 12" from the base to the tip and then drew the 'legs' of the isosceles triangle. I used the freezer paper method to piece to insure that the points of the triangles wouldn't get cut off. The finished size is 12" x 25". 

I used 6 different Kona bright solids for the full triangles, and Kona charcoal for the half triangles. It is bound in Kona black to frame the quilt. 

The back is a brightly colored geometric print from my stash.

I straight line quilted in a spiral triangle pattern following the triangular shapes using gray thread.

I added hanging corners to the back on 3 corners so the quilt could be hung vertical or horizontal. 

I'm am pleased with my modern mini challenge quilt...Prisms.  I hope you like it too! Thanks Jennifer and all those inspiring guest bloggers. ♥

I'm linking up here!