BASTE

the joy
of a nearly finished quilt
and the excitement of one little boy anticipating a new quilt on his bed.

catching up

I have been embarrassingly behind on my blocks...

both in making them and blogging about them!

So here goes!

Coffee Improv Blocks for Jan of Hip 2 Bee Square


These were for January 2011

Next up: 3x6 BEE blocks

In this bee you make 7 of the same blocks using your own fabric and the colours choices by your fellow bee mates...
aqua, red and white

pink, red and white

a baby quilt inspired block of green, yellow and white

black, white and yellow

a baby boy quilt block--no specified colours

and this was for my friend Tong (from the Great White North Bee) and was my favourite...

blue, yellow and gray

My colours for this swap were yellow and grey but I've yet to make myself a block.

I'll show you my blocks from my fellow bees another day, once I get my last one :)

The following block was made for Quynh in the Hip 2 Bee Square

The theme was bubbles and I had a terrible time with the circles!

But mine looked like most of the other ladies so I guess I didn't do too badly.

This was November's block.

For the December blocks of the Great White North Bee

Jen entrusted us with some much coveted Heather Ross fabrics to make confetti blocks

using this tutorial...

I got super behind on these because they scared me!

Alot of seams! Not my forte...

Barb asked for pink stars for January's blocks for the GWNBee

I love the look of the ohio star quilt block and used this tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop.
(this is the same tutorial I used for the blocks above)

The pinks she sent were so pretty :)

now I want a pink quilt!

I'm still behind on the last block for the Tethered Threads 2 bee and then I'm caught up for 2 weeks...

Then more fabric will arrive...

Mug Rug Swap 3

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this!

Back in December I took part once again in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap on Flickr.

You might remember my first swap in this group and I loved it!

So I did it again.

Only this time I was shaking in my boots a bit.

My partner wasn't just anybody.

She was a somebody...

Kaye Prince to be exact.

of Miss Print blog fame!

If you don't know of her,

you soon will.

She is the next up and comer in the quilting world of blogging and Moda Bake Shop

and she's CANADIAN!!

This is my most favourite of her quilt designs HERE.

so I set to it and came up with this design...

(mug rug front)
(mug rug back)
I was pretty happy with it in the end --however my machine was having a serious hissy fit so the quilting isn't what I had envisioned.

I think Kaye was pleased, however :)

It was hard to let that one go but soon enough mine arrived in the mail from
Katy! I had asked for a winter/Christmas mug rug and she delivered!
Thanks Katy!

So here's the thing--
I signed up again to do the 3rd swap and it's due to be sent by February 14th....

I have lots of ideas but so far nothing concrete put together so I'd best get a move on!

What was that about not joining any more swaps?
*wink*

Love Nest

My new "friend" is Carina Gardner.

Have you ever heard of her?

She's a fabulous new designer for Northcott Fabrics and her second line is called Love Nest.

This is my favourite new novelty line of fabric!
Isn't it fabulous?

It's all hearts and flowers and paisley's but my fave is those birdies up there.

When I came across this fabric I knew I had to have some!
so I right away called my LQS who is now looking into carrying some of Carina's new lines for the spring/summer but couldn't get me any Love Nest.

I was bummed and then Carina herself sent me a 12 fat quarter set!
Can you believe it!

I'm planning on making a table runner for Valentine's Day with it but in the mean time...
look who got into it first!

She's so proud to be sewing--
and yes--
she did pick this out fit out herself! :)

this little quilt is the beginnings of a 100 days project for school.

more on that later...

but a BIG THANK YOU to Carina Gardner!!!

p.s. check out this quilt that Carina just designed!!!
fabulous!

fears

I am afraid.
nothing scary, but it holds me in its grasp and I stress...

After reading this post by Anna of Noodlehead fame--I don't feel alone.
not completely.

This was my comment on her blog after reading this:

"i fear wasting fabric...the fabric industry is so cruel...it turns over fabrics too fast and just when i get the nerve to use my beloved fabric it goes OOP and i can't get it anymore. i stand stuck in this place.
my husband does not understand.
nice to know that someone else does :)"

note: OOP means Out Of Print.
as in done.
gone.
finished.
nada.
a bazillion dollars on Ebay for the world's last remaining fat quarter that someone else is selling because they were smarter than me and bought lots so now they can share it and get their projects done.

hmph.

yes. it's the strawberries all over again.
why do I obsess?

My hubby asures me "we can buy more fabric.
They will design fabric that I like just as much. take it one project at a time."

Problem is that it takes me MONTHS to finally begin a project and then the amount of fabric I have limits my creativity.

Fabric is expensive!
I don't want to waste it!

'cause once it's gone. it's gone.
so sad.

Hubs said to me the other day,
"you're getting a nice little stash of fabric now. Great for creativity."

umm...yeah.
except, no.
practically every piece of fabric I have was bought for a purpose.

It's not a stash.
It's a hoard.
waiting it's turn.
hmmmmm.....
time is also a problem.

I'm not entering any more quilt bees so that I can work on my own stuff.
promise.

what's that?
no I'm not crossing my fingers behind my back.

Swaps don't count do they?

hmmm.... could someone pass the strawberries please?

TO BE CONTINUED...

QUESTION?

I have so much to blog about and yet so little time....

but I have a pressing question.

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Preparing for my month in the Great White North Bee...

and I'm undecided...

Does the blue play?

or does it take away?

are the stripes too much?

hmmmmmmmmm.........

(please note that these are not pieced blocks, they're just staged so I can get a concensus)

edit: thank you to everyone who commented and emailed.

I decided to keep the stripes but nix the blue.

Instead I added in some golden corduroy to warm it up a bit.

I'll update you once my blocks start rolling in :)

crafty endeavours

WARNING:

photo heavy post ahead!

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This month I have been focusing on getting things done!

Since having #3 I've been sneeking in sewing time when I can...

and not blogging at all because all my spare time has been spent sewing or cuddling a newborn :)

first up: Bee Blocks

Made these 3 blocks using Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley for Beth.

She is on for the last month of our Teathered Threads 2 swap.


can I just say that nothing is better to work with than the quality that comes with designer fabrics--and I don't even like Hope Valley!

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Next up:
Blocks for Ruth that were due in August....oops!
also for Tethered Threads 2.
We got to use fabulous fabrics designed by Laurie Wisbrun for Scarlet Fig fabrics
Heaven!

Ruth had us use a new method of piecing that had you leave the first piece half unsewn and then sewing it at the end...

very cool.

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This is a table runner I made for my secret sister at church.

it was our revealing night where we find out who our secret sister was for the year and I had won these fabrics at guild and decided to make something fall-like for her.

I used a tutorial by Anina at the Twiddle Tails blog for the Strippy Runner.

Easy Peasy!

I wasn't able to give it to her in person and she made a point of thanking me at church the next Sunday and giving me a thank you card--so I guess she liked it :)

I didn't like these fabrics at all but then went shopping for the binding and made the back from my stash and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it!

Now I want one!

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lastly,

I made a doll quilt for an auction fundraiser at my daughter's school.

I made it to be 14"x 17" and after quilting and washing it measures 13" x 16"

Using a http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarletfigtutorial by Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts
for this cute pillow and case!

The fabric was from my SIL (thanks Kit Kat!)

and was slated for another project, however I decided the little house was just too cute to have sitting in my stash so I chopped and diced and made it nice :)

I still have a bunch of houses so this is not the last time you will see them.

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off to sew some more!