An update!

I'm so excited to show you my latest finish! It has been in progress for a little over 1 year. Last year I joined the BOM with Quilt Story making a block each month according to the theme. Each block was to be 12 1/2" unfinished but I made mine 6 1/2" unfinished and then added Kona White around each block to make up the difference. I did this with the idea that I would practice my quilting of negative space. 

I signed up for the class on Craftsy ~ Machine Quilting Negative Space with Angela Walters to help with all the negative space I created in this quilt. I have to be honest as I am a bit impatient and have not finished the class. After viewing several classes, I jumped in. I echo quilted around each block and since they were offset, in the negative space created, I FMQ an organic boxy swirl. 

I'm pretty pleased with the results!

The backing is a Denyse Schmidt print. All the other prints are from my stash. The binding is scrappy leftovers from the blocks. 

The finished size of the quilt is 36"x 48" ~ a nice size throw.

I still need to label it and wash it so it has a nice crinkly look. 

I enjoyed doing this BOM...picking out my own blocks based on a theme: flying geese, HST, etc. It gave me the opportunity to try some new techniques.

Thanks Heather and Megan!

I'm linking up with Quilt Story, Show and Tell Tuesday, Freshly Pieced.

Sunday's Summary

It is Spring Break and I'm in Austin, TX visiting 2 of our daughters and SIL. I'm so very ready for some warm weather! Back home it doesn't seem like Spring at all. Snow is in the forecast...what happen to an early Spring?

The quilt that I've been showing glimpses of will be delivered this week and then I will reveal the story and some pictures. 

Besides finishing that quilt this week, I made my March Rainbow Scrap Challenge block...yes I know that March is almost over! March's color is orange!

Here are the first 3 month's blocks together.

Pretty!

After watching several more inspiring episodes of The Quilting Show on International Quilting Day, I tried playing a little with stripes. The technique was taught by Anita Grossman Solomon (Episode 902). I found some stripe fabric that I was given in my stash and started cutting squares, stitching and cutting and stitching again. Here are the results.

I think I'll play a little more in the near future Ü

When I get back from Austin, I will be working on quilting my BOM with Quilt Story quilt. This week I sandwiched it...so it is ready to go. 

I have been taking a Craftsy class - Machine Quilting Negative Space with Angela Waters to get ready for quilting this. I purposely made this quilt to have a lot of negative space to practice some quilting in large open spaces. I just hope I can do it!

I'll leave you this week with my fabulous thrift store find! 

Most of these pieces were 25¢, the 2 novelty prints were 50¢, and the Jinny Beyer print was $1 (which is about a yard). Yay!

Sunday's Summary

It has been a week and it is time for my Sunday Summary of what's been happening here. I got a good amount done this week (at least in my sewing room) but the most exciting is....a finish! The baby airplane quilt is finished...quilting, binding, labeling, and washing. I'm named this quilt Wings!

Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating today...so no pretty outside pictures.

Besides quilting in the ditch around each airplane... I  FMQ in the negative space to resemble isobars or wind currents. The squares formed where the 4 propellers come together, I quilted a twirling circle to give the concept of the propeller movement. In the border, I FMQ the saying..."Give me wings and I will fly." The font is long and wispy to give the feel of a sky writer and I added a little plane. 

Finished in time for next week's baby shower!

Purple is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here is my block! To see some inspiration, click on the button on my side bar and it will take you to the challenge and link up. 

February is also the final month in the BOM with Quilt Story. This month the block challenge was 4 patch. I decided to do a disappearing 4 patch. 

Since I made all my blocks 6" instead of 12"...I will be framing each block in Kona Snow to give the quilt a more modern feel...a lot more negative space. 

Next month is the reveal!

I have also almost finished the quilting on my Craftsy BOM quilt. 

All the blocks are now done and I am quilting the border. 

Stay tuned...it should be finished soon!

BOM updates and Easy Street

Well, it seems that I have forgotten to show you my September block for the BOM with Quilt Story. The theme for September was paper piece and I decided to make the Circle of Geese block by Forest Quilting.

I also finished the December block - Star and the January block - Squares and Rectangles. 

Only one month left to go...February's theme is 4 patch and March is the reveal. Looking forward to putting this one together! You can hop over to Quilt Story to see Heather and Megan's blocks and here for the monthly link up. 

Easy Street is coming along but boy are there a lot of pieces. I just made half of the blocks because I didn't want my quilt so big. Without knowing the mystery layout, I figured I may need to add blocks in the end. Sure enough now that we know the layout, I am cutting a few more from each step to complete the layout. Instead of 4 x 4 blocks on point, mine will be 3 x 3. 

Here is what I have so far.

3 more blocks to go and then I need to do the borders. I don't think I have enough of any of the fabrics for the borders seeing that I used fabrics from my stash and scraps (except for the black on white and the gray) so I will probably need to buy something. (To see all my pieces for each step, go here.) This is my first Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and I am excited to see it all put together! I'm linking up here.

Catching up and FNSI

Work has been very busy most of the fall so I haven't spent as much time as I usually do in my sewing room. 

So I took a little time off of Blog Hops to do some catching up. 

I had fallen behind in both the Craftsy BOM and the BOM with Quilt Story. 

For the FNSI, I made these 2 blocks that I will use in place of the April Craftsy BOM blocks. 

Disappearing 4-patch

Disappearing 9-patch

The April blocks were supposed to be English Paper Piecing. Since I am already have a long term paper piecing project in process, I decided not to do those blocks and replaced the blocks in the quilt with these. They are the last of the blocks I needed to make!

After sewing the blocks, I started knitting this scarf.

This will be a scarf, hat, and mitten set that will be donated for a 5 year old boy. One of the schools that I work at adopts families for Christmas and this was one of the needs. The pattern is very easy and goes fairly quickly. 

 Between Hops, I managed to complete these Craftsy BOM blocks.

October blocks were paper piecing.

September blocks were curved piecing.

I am now working on sashing and the borders!

I also worked on the BOM with Quilt Story blocks. 

October was Pinwheel. 

November is Log Cabin. 

Each month has a theme but you could choose any block that fits the theme. My blocks are also half the size...measuring 6". I do have a plan...hope it turns out like I envision in my head. 

I have the week off for Thanksgiving Holiday! I hope to get a few more things done as well as joining in the fun of the Holiday Lane Pillow Blog Hop! It starts on Wednesday! Check here for the schedule.

Some Sewing and a Giveaway

It has been some time since I've posted any sewing news but I have been busy...sewing and life in general. I have been keeping up with the blog hops over at Sew We Quilt even though I didn't get signed up. I'm just lovin' the Stacks of Bowls! If you haven't seen them, you can take a peek at the schedule of hoppers here.

Any who...you ask what I've been doing? Well, I finished this new table runner and placemat set (the table runner has been finished for a while but the placemats were waiting to be made.)

The fabric is Hometown by Sweetwater. I just love this line! It is so much fun to look for names of cities/towns from all over. My DH and I have even looked up a few on google maps.

I love the giant rick rack detail.

The pattern is called Riff~Raff by Silk Road Creations. 

I also caught up on my BOM quilting! Here is the August block for BOM with Quilt Story. The theme for August is fussy cut which was a little challenging for me because only one fabric that I am using is able to be fussy cut. The rest are blenders. 

Here are the blocks all together: hour glass, fussy cut, rounded, flying geese, 9-patch, HST

And here are the July and August blocks for the Craftsy BOM with Amy Gibson. 

July blocks: Dresdens

traditional

modern

August blocks: stars

I also made 2 blocks for the Quilting for Kids charity group on Flickr. 

These string blocks were fun to make!

I have a few more projects that I have been working on but you'll have to wait to see them. Here is just a peek...

They are for the Dots on Dots Blog Hop coming in September!

Now did someone mention a giveaway? Yep I did! 

During the Red White and Blue Blog Hop, I was elated to see that I reached over 200 followers! This did not go unnoticed...love the encouragement from my followers! So as a thanks to my followers, I have this giveaway made from my Hometown collection.

A mug rug (mug not included)

A coaster set (mug not included)

Here are the details:

1. You must be a follower of my blog or become one (all are welcome to join). Tell me in your comment.

2. Tell me which gift you would prefer if you should be chosen ~ the mug rug or the coaster set. (1st drawn will get their 1st choice)

3. If you are a no~reply blogger, you must leave your email in your comment or I'll redraw.

4. Giveaway is open to all and will end on Friday, August 24th at 10pm CST. Winners will be chosen by Mr. Random Generator. 

Here they are!

Wow! What a world wind of inspiring blocks during the Red White and Blue Blog Hop! I want to thank all those that visited here. Your comments and encouragement meant a lot to me! 

Now, several of you asked for the patterns for the paper pieced stars which I drew. These included the Tennessee Star, Hawaii Star and the Star of Stripes. I finally had a chance to draw up the patterns to share. Thanks for your patience as I emerged back into life...jet lag...argh!

 Before I give the link, I wanted to give a few guide lines to my patterns. 

Each section that will be paper pieced together has a letter...A, B, C. Within those pieces, the sections are numbered 1, 2,3...etc. depending on the number of pieces to that section. When piecing, follow the number order.  

I also marked what color I used for each section. You can use that information and the pictures below  as a reference. Feel free to choose any color that you want. I also noted how to put together the sections to complete one quarter of the star. You need to make 4 for each star...make 4 copies of the pattern. 

Remember that when you paper piece, you are working from the back of the piece. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, I suggest that you look for some tutorials. I am not going to give a tutorial on paper piecing since there are many available online. 

One last bit of information...I am not very technical so I hope this works. I put a 1" square on each pattern so that you can tell if the pattern size is accurate. If you are having any problems, please leave me a comment or email and I will do my best to help. 

So without further adieu...

For Tennessee  Star 

For Hawaii Star

For Star of Stripes

Yesterday I spent the day helping my DD1 with her apartment. After a full morning of running around for needed supplies, we were able to finish one of the projects. 

This is a no sew Faux Roman Shade that she found on Pinterest. It is cleverly constructed and looks great! It doesn't raise or lower easily but this window is in the studio part of her place so it doesn't need to be closed often.

While running around getting supplies, look what I found at Hancock Fabrics. 

Heather Ross' line of fabric ~ Crafty Chloe. There is one more print in the line but the store I was in hadn't received it yet. The prints are too cute...with the Heather Ross unique look. I love them!

I caught up with one of my BOM...First Monday of the Month over at Quilt Story. July's theme is rounded. Here is my block...

...and all of them so far...can you see my mistake? 

My HST block was made with Kona Snow and my Hour Glass block with Kona White. It will drive me crazy so I will be remaking the Hour Glass block.

I have hundreds of photos of our Norway vacation but I will only post a few in the coming days...don't want to bore you with vacation overload...but Norway is so beautiful...I'll share the best! 

Tomorrow is a big event day...I'll be back soon to show and tell!