Touch of Summer

Spring has been a very busy time of year at work for me which has limited my quilting time. School is winding down ~ next week is our final week! I'm so looking forward to summer! Hence, I named my newest quilt Touch of Summer!

The chevrons are all made with HST using the Always and Forever fabric line by Alex Anderson and Kona white. 

The backing is a white with blue polka dots that I found in my stash ~ perfect! The blue on white chevron is also Always and Forever. 

I finished sewing on the binding last night! I love the pop of red framing the blue and white chevrons! I don't remember the name of the binding fabric. 

This is one of the most densely quilted quilts that I have made. Without marking, I followed the lines of the chevrons every 1/2" so they are a little organic feeling (not completely straight). It is a perfect size for a summer quilt finishing at 47" x 50". 

It is my newest favorite! What do you think?

I'm linking here:

 

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I also finished the 6th and final book in the What's in a Name book challenge. The last title was to have something on a calendar. I chose to read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. 

This novel is a story of friendship and the bond that is formed through the unlikely group of women at the Friday Night Knitting Club.  The main character is Georgia Walker, owner of Walker and Daughter, a local knit shop.  Georgia is a single mom of Dakota.  Anita is a older woman that befriended Georgia when Dakota's dad left her and helps to run the shop. This novel deals with many issues that women face and the strength and support that is found among friendship.  The ending was a little unexpected. I enjoyed this book. You can see other novels in this category here. This wraps up my book challenge! I hope you enjoyed my selections!

Something for the kitchen...

Tomorrow I will be a guest blogger over at Sew We Quilt! I am so thrilled to be back. Thank you Madame Samm for inviting me! 

The tutorials featured throughout the month of April will all be about the kitchen. 

Now I am not the expert when it comes to the kitchen. I much prefer to spend my days/nights in my sewing room. So if something for the kitchen can be made simply, I am all for it! 

I had this idea mulling around my head for a while. I decided to go ahead and prepare this tutorial for all of you. Pot holder covers are very simple and quick to make, inexpensive and can be sewn together without the usual need for Insul-brite heat resistant batting. 

If you want to learn more, stop over at Sew We Quilt tomorrow, April 11th for my tutorial. I would love to hear what you think.

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On another note, I finished the 5th book in the book challenge. This book was to have a topographical feature in the title. I chose to read the book The Angels of Morgan Hill by Donna Van Liere. 

 It is set in the small town of Morgan Hill, Tennessee. It is the story of the life of Jane and her brother John during the year 1947. After the death of their alcoholic father, Jane dreams of the possibility of a 'real' father.  That same day, Jane and John see for the first time a black boy, named Milo Turner, who recently moved to Morgan Hill with his family. This brings many challenges to this small community and tragedy soon strikes.  The story holds onto a promise, hope for a better life, friendship and understanding in the midst of change. 

This novel is an easy and enjoyable read. If you want to read other books with a topographical feature you can find some here. 

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I am almost completely moved back into my sewing room. I have a few things to organize before I am settled in. I'll post a few pictures soon.

I'm back...

from Austin, Texas!  I had a wonderful visit with my daughter and son-in-law. Austin is a beautiful city and the weather was perfect. We didn't make any big plans because the purpose of my trip was to just spend time together. 

One of the unique things in Austin are the trailers. Now coming from Chicago, trailers don't exactly have a great connotation but these trailers are places to get  very yummy food and then eat at the picnic tables. 

The Short Bus serves sub sandwiches.

And this place serves cajun food.

Another night that we ate at a different trailer area, we had tasty tacos and then walked to the next trailer, Gourdough's, which serve amazing doughnut desserts. 

 The greatest part is that they can stay open all year long!

We took a drive up to Mount Bonnell, looking down onto Lake Austin. 

Beautiful wildflowers are in bloom.

We also visited Mayfield Park. 

And worked on a few sewing projects. A new dust ruffle for their bed, a quilted camera case, some bags from recycled t-shirts and a pencil skirt for my daughter. I visited TreeHouse the 'green' building store where DD2 & SIL work. I found many things I liked but could only bring home what could fit in my suitcase. 

And I finished another book on my challenge list. 

The 4th challenge was to read a book with a creepy crawly in the title. 

I chose to read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. 

 This book is set in South Carolina in 1964 during the civil rights movement. The main character is Lily Owens, a 14-year-old girl whose mother was killed when she was 4 years old. She is raised by her African American nanny, Rosaleen, and her hateful father, T. Ray. When Rosaleen gets in trouble with some local racists for trying to exercise her right to vote, Lily and Rosaleen escape and run away to Tiburon, South Carolina in search for the secret to her mother’s past. Kidd uses the complex life of bees to paralleled Lily’s complicated life since losing her mother. In her search for answers, Lily finds healing, friendship, love and a new meaning for mother and home. 

I enjoyed this book and its compelling story of injustice during this time in history. You can find what others have read on this topic here.

My sewing room is still getting a facelift so most everything is packed away. I'll  be posting some pictures later.

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.

On the Bandwagon Wagon Again!

I have picked up my hexagons again! Here are the flowers that I have recently put together. 

Very scrappy! These little hexagons flowers are so much fun to make. I use a 3/4" hexagon paper pattern from paperpieces.

I sew my hexagons without sewing thru the pattern piece. This is the back of my pieces. How do you stitch your hexagons?

I have also finished the second book in the reading challenge. For a book with something you'd see in the sky,  I read The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

This book is told from a dog's point of view.  Enzo is the name of the dog and he takes you through a season in the life of his master, Denny.  Enzo wishes that he could talk be so he can tell 'the humans' all that he knows.  Although there are sad situations in this story, it is an enjoyable book to read. You can find what others have read for this topic here.

Another Flimsy Finish

After not getting much done over the weekend to complete my Scraptacular Picnic Quilt, 

I finished it this morning [or at least the top]! I decided to use a small white border as a stop to the busy scrappy patchwork and then add a blue and white checked outer border. 

I do love the picnic feel that the border adds to it. 

A red and white checkered border would have been great but I had the blue and white in my stash. That's what it's all about....using what you have.

All of the blocks were made from my scraps and the borders from my stash.

Doing 'scrappy' is a bit out of my comfort zone as I tend toward organized, symmetrical patterns. I'm happy with the results and that I took on this challenge as it has been on my 'to do' for some time. If you want some more scrappy inspiration, head over to the Sew Scrap Along Flickr page.

And speaking of challenge, I have finished the first book of my reading challenge. The category I read was: A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary

Well, what would a quilter carry in her backpack? A quilt, of coarse. Or even those hand pieces can be carried in your purse for the next spare moment to stitch. 

The book I read was The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

It is a mother/daughter story about their relationship and how it is changing as they move into a new season in life. The quilt is being made by mom on the long car trip to take the daughter to college. Oh, the things you learn about yourself and your daughter when you are on a long road trip. This story resonated with me as I have taken my daughters off to college and experienced many of the same feelings that this mom has. This book is an enjoyable, easy read with a simple message. 

Head over here to see what others have read.

A challenge and a tiny finish

Last post I told you about my word of the year...challenge. I also mentioned the reading challenge that I signed up for since it sounded like fun. Here is a bit more about it.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.
Now that is only 6 books which I'm sure will be easy enough. I'm hoping on finding some new authors to read by visiting with other readers on the challenge. 

I'm still working on my 'less preferred' stash quilt and have finished 9 of the 20.  

Almost halfway done! 

I also finished this cute pin cushion, inspiration here. 

I had a few scraps of plaid that I found going through my stash, sew I stitched up this guy. Sometimes I just find myself off on a tangent. Back to those 'less preferred' blocks.