November's End

So much has happened since my last post.  I'll do my best to sum up the fun parts.


The second annual Orlando MQG retreat took place the first weekend and that was such a blast. It was nice to get away for a few days and just hang out with some wonderful people. I didn't take many photos while I was there but did put a dent in my budget allotted for shopping.

Here are some highlights:

Our view for breakfast each day in Cocoa, FL

Couldn't resist more Cotton+Steel.

Periodic Table Symbols: I'll be making something
nerdy and fun.

Fantasy Forrest:
No plans yet but am so in love!

My continued addiction to Whites with Black prints.
(Love those mustaches the most!)

Coffee...yum!

Crazy great prices so I had to get both!

Some yellows and orange since I have so little in my stash.

Something intriguing in this retro design.

I've had my eye on this Effervescence print from Michael Miller
 for a while and took the plunge.
Those purple polka dots are fun, too.

Safety pins and a fun black on black print.
(I'm going to make a few projects that needed zippers this
Christmas so I bought one to practice.)

A gift from a fellow guildmate!
(She finished a project and gave me her leftovers!)

My absolute favorite!!!

 Finished some blocks:

Last set of StashBee Hive blocks were sent to their new home.

Worked on a few block from T.Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.
(Still have a long way to go!)

BOM for OMQG Block Lotto this week!
(They need to get trimmed but I was chain piecing
a bunch to better my odds of winning.)

I've just realized that I had many other good times but didn't take any pictures to share. I'll need to do better next month.

How was your November?

Summer's Here!

I hope you are well and having a great start to your summer.

I have been kept busy and I am so grateful for any chance to sneak in some sewing. There are a few projects waiting, taunting me to work on them. I have put a tiny dent in my UFO list and have a long way to go.

Here's a quick look at a few things I've been up to since my last post.

Guild Holiday Quilt

We are making a quilt for the Festival of Trees fundraiser here in Orlando. We set out to design a quilt that all members of the guild can help complete and I thought of making a tree shape out of random blocks. This way, each member can make their own favorite block for the final quilt that will be donated. I made a crude and quick design on EQ7 and put it with the other chosen designs from the committee. The group selected my design and I am excited to see it come to life. (I might have to bid on it at the auction.)

B is the winner!

 SEA Quilt Complete

I was so excited to see the final quilt made by the 5th graders this year. I can't believe how fast the year flew by with them and the wonderful result of our hard work. In my previous post, I shared the final background after it was sewn.

They used a giant t-square to mark the space needed for the binding and set to adding all of the leaves they've embroidered.

 I left after I taught a parent how to attach the binding but didn't see the completed quilt until their graduation at the end of May. I was really moved when I saw the finished piece.
Here is their Ancestry Tree which includes their names and the country where their families are from. Many of them included the year which their family came to America under the country's name and outline.

(Wishing I had a real camera so you
could see all of the great colors and
details on this quilt.)

It took 20 minutes for the crowd to clear so
I could take the picture above.
They were all so sweet!

This is one of my favorite quilts now and I am so glad they asked our guild to be a part of their project next year. We are starting earlier in the year so it can be quilted on their field trip. 

(I arranged a field trip with Wandering Stitches, a fantastic quilt shop in Orlando, where the students learned about sewing machines and long-arm quilting with Lisa. They were even allowed to practice on a machine that was set up for them to play. I am so grateful she let them come to her shop and have lunch in her lesson space.)

So worth the wait

Remember the Halloween blocks I won last October? I finally finished my godson's Christmas present in May. I was getting ready to ship it to North Carolina when I his mom called to say they would be in town in June. I did my happy dance, put it aside and counted the days until they would be here.

He started squealing in delight as he
noticed something new in a block.

After he was buckled in, he really
examined each square. Marge's Day of the Dead
fabric was his FAVORITE!

He giggled and played in the back seat with his
 "favorite quilt" for the rest of the day.
(It was over 90 degrees in FL and he didn't care.)

Front of Quilt

He really loved that the spider web quilting design was completed with glow-in-the-dark thread. My thanks to Marge again for trading BOM wins with me to make this fun quilt. I even have a few blocks left over for some October birthday pillowcases.

Back of Quilt

I'm so glad I waited to ship this quilt because I would not have had the pleasure of seeing his priceless reaction in person. This is my first official completed UFO on my long list, too!

BOM/Works in Progress

I am making my way through the rest of my Bee blocks. I'm with the paper piecing group and have had some fun making them. Here's a look:

I really liked this one for Alejandrina.
I see a lot of possibilities with this simple design.

Love asked us to make our favorite block in blacks, whites,
and a solid color so I chose to make this design again.

Marge's Tulips

I made one for Leslie but really disliked the scrappy fabrics used. So, I have two more to go and then I'll be ready to swap. The OMQG blocks are due in July and I need to get busy.

My second favorite part of making these block is the tearing of the paper from the back. It's a great stress reliever. 

To the compost bin!

I'm almost done with this baby quilt for our OMQG charity project. I made it with lots of colors so it can be gender neutral. (I'm almost done with my vintage gingham, too. I think I'll donate the rest of the unused fabric because this is my 3rd and most likely final gingham quilt.)

Thanks for reading my post. Let me know your summer quilting plans in the comments below.

Happy Quilting.

What to do?

So am off on a Monday for the first time in forever and I just don't know where to start. The list of UFOs loom and other non-quilt related projects seem to be everywhere. I wish I had a cloning machine so that I could make more things happen. (I don't want a Gremlin situation with too many multiples to handle though.)

I do want to share a few things since I last posted.

I delivered the Tetris quilt to my dear friends for their anniversary and they immediately put it on the bed:

It fit so perfectly in the room. They really loved it.



I joined another Bee with my Orlando Modern Quilt Guild and am in the paper piecing hive.

Here's the block I am asking the group to make for me:

Paper-pieced paper planes
(Say that 5 times fast!)
They can use print or plain white fabric.

I even asked for various sizes so I can make a quilt with perspective instead of worrying that they were all able to print them to scale. I found this pattern on Craftsy a while back and always loved the idea of making a giant quilt with them. (It reminds me of the last day of school when I let students make planes with their portfolio work to see whose plane can fly the farthest.)


I've finished my next Stash Bee BOM which I need to drop in the mail today.

Scrappy Mountains

I really love that she had a simple tutorial and she did not want us to sew the four blocks together. I was able to whip these up in less than an hour. (I think I spent more time going through fabric than actual sewing.)
Here's another block I made for her because I read the wrong blog posting about her being Queen Bee for the month. (It didn't occur to me that some people are members of more than one hive online and since I subscribe to her blog, I just followed the email and didn't bother to check the details. Oh well! It was a challenge to make but will be fun to see it when she puts them together.)

Scrappy Sochi-inspired design
(I love this word search fabric and made it the center block.)

The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild and I have also been helping a sweet group of 5th graders make a modern quilt for their school as their graduation present. I taught them a little about the history of quilt making and the modern movement. They were really interested in the geometric designs I showed them. Using graph paper, they came up with a really cool idea to make an ancestry tree which shows their families backgrounds. It tied into their history project so it was pretty perfect. They found several quilts online they like and I wanted them to really make this quilt unique. (Plus, I reminded them about plagiarism and that those designs are property of the original artist.)

Here's a sneak peek:

Bare tree

They designed this shape and the final look of this project. I did offer suggestions for the colors and fabric to purchase. It was so great to see this creativity and the excitement of the next generation of potential quilters.

We were invited to attend graduation this Thursday evening where they will present the quilt to the school and share the finished piece. I can't wait to see it and share it with you.

What are you up to this week?

Just Made the Deadline

I finally sorted my Sewing Room and am so thrilled. It only took most of March to do. I had to come the realization that I have a lot of fabric. When you're shuffling things around, it doesn't seem like it's out of control. When you have to box it up to add/remove furniture, it's another story.

I am reaffirming my pledge to not purchase any more fabric for the rest of the year. (Said after I placed an order today to use my expiring vouchers at Pink Castle fabrics. I couldn't let that deal go!) I am done with online fabric shopping. For real this time.

Now that I have my long desired design wall in place, it's on! I still have to figure out how to get more time to sew but that's another problem for another day. I'll share pics of my room later.

So, I also needed to make my BOM for my Stash Bee hive due in March. Since I didn't even have a place to sew for weeks, I was able to work on it last night and this morning. Finally.

I just made the deadline!

Here's my March BOM for hive #6:

Super Scrappy Sunny Day block

I love that I was able to chain piece each section as I went and whipped it together pretty quickly. This was a lot of fun to make for Melodee.

Hope you've been making a dent in your stash.
Enjoy your week!

Have Hot Iron, Will Travel (plus other February Notes)

How is it possible that February is almost over? I've worked a lot, sewn a little, and slept even less. I have to keep my eyes on the prize and remember that there is an end goal. Unfortunately it means that I will post on this blog when I can and not feel bad when time doesn't allow me to do so.

I do want to catch you up on where I've been and the fun I did manage to squeeze in mostly on weekends.

Completed Stash Bee Blocks and mailed them to England.
Hearts and Flowers in 12x6 or 6x6 blocks. I did one of each.

I also made an iron cover for traveling to and from sew days. Here's how:

First, I outlined the shape of the bottom of my iron on fabric and cut it out 1.5in larger all the way around for seam allowances.
I basted the iron shape with heat-resistant batting and the backing fabric.

I quilted the layers with straight lines to keep things simple.

I cut out the shape of the iron bottom using the top as the template.

 I roughly measured the perimeter of this shape to create the top of this cover. It was about 38 inches so I I used the width of fabric by 9 inches to be safe.
I folded over 1 inch to create a casing for the ribbon I was using.

I sewed the opposite side without the casing to the perimeter of the quilted bottom. Use lots of pins to keep the shape of the top and bottom curves.

Remember to leave a 2-3in gap from the starting and stopping point of your sewing.

Next, I sewed the two sides of the top fabric together. You can easily pinch the quilted bottom so it does not get caught in your sewing here. Do not sew the casing opening closed!

Once you finish sewing the sides together, you can close the seam along the bottom. (Double check for the correct measurement so there is no gap when you close things up to sew the last seam.)

Feed your ribbon through the casing using a safety pin. (I used this Moda jelly roll ribbon because it's so cute and it's a great way to recycle.) I tied a knot so it doesn't slip out. Ensure that your opening is more than wide enough for the iron to come in and out without struggle before your tie things off.

Sorry this picture cuts off the top but there a numerous
tutorials how how to push ribbon through casing.

Finally, flip your masterpiece inside out and kiss those biceps. You have your very own iron cover that will hold a warm iron safely for travel.

I made this during our guild's recent sew day and
actually took home a warm iron.

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I am frantically working to complete a gift for my sister's 40th birthday in March. (I can't believe how old we are already and that 40 is around the corner for me, too.) I don't think I will have it done for her actual birthday after all but she will get it as soon as humanly possible.
Here's a teaser photo:

I saw this paper pieced camera last November at our guild's retreat and started working on a sketch for my sister later that month. I can't wait to share the completed quilt with you soon.

_______________________________

And last but not least, some Orlando Modern Quilt Guild news:

At the February meeting, I was elected President. Whoo hoo! (I was unopposed so I didn't have to kiss any babies.) I'm pretty excited about this new role and look forward to a fun year with some amazing quilters.

Yesterday, the guild and I went to Trenton, Florida to spend the day at the The Suwannnee Valley Shops. I was so happy to get to know Maya during our drive and we only had to turn around twice along the way. (Stupid Google Maps!) We were the last to arrive but the journey was as much fun as the destination.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Tea Room and started our shopping spree. I came under budget on my shopping for fabric and scored these gems:

Julia Cairns for Quilting Treasures
I plan to make something for my momma with this beauty.

Hoopla and Everyday Fun by Jennifer Heynen for In the Beginning fabrics
It's all things quilting in lovely, bold colors.

Technicolor by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics

Black and White Houndstooth
Faye Burgos for Marcus Brothers Textiles

Spotlight by Michael Miller
(So retro, so awesome!)

Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda

Zip It (Michael Miller Fabrics)

Where the Toys Are by Dan Morris
for RJR Fabrics

I loved these circles the most.
Blank Quilting (#6270)

Afterwards, we wandered over to the antique shop and found this blast from the past. I felt like a kid all over again and the price was too good to pass up.

As Rainbow Dash would say, "My quilt room just got 20% cooler".


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Stay tuned for more Tula Pink City Blocks next weekend.

Hope you are well. Leave a comment with what you've been up to in February.