Birthday Month's Almost Over

January is almost over and I feel like I just celebrated New Years yesterday! It's been a spectacular birthday month and I am now able to sit down and start sharing some of my swag since my last posts.

My friends and family know exactly how to spoil me. The fun fabrics and Angela Walters books are already being put to good use. I am pretty excited about future projects that I can dream of making.

Here's part of my haul:

Place mats from Judy!
I love how well they match my table runner.

Pressing mat with pockets and a trash holder.
Love!

Fabrics from my love.

The little scissors make me smile.

This love letter fabric is amazing.
J'adore the center where is says,
"Holding your hand over the rainbow".

The following came in a goodie box from my in-laws in PA:

Precuts - too many to spread out.
I'll just share the finished projects later.)

This photo does not show the awesomeness of these batiks and
hand-dyed fabrics she found online.

My favorite way to have sweets!

These ethnic prints are so fun.
My favorite is the wax print elephants, of course.

Rainbows, butterflies, colorful elephants,
yes please and thank you!

Great colors to use for piecing and borders!

I am open to suggestions on this one!
A yard of pink, gray and black animal print has me stumped.

I hope you get lots of fabric from those you love this year!

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Works in Progress:

Switching gears now for a bit, I wanted to share something fun I worked on today.

A very generous Beth let me have some time on her long arm to work on some quilting. Here's the Halloween quilt and am finishing for my godson. I am forming a giant spider web using free motion quilting with glow-in-the-dark thread. I get a little giddy when I turn off the lights as I am pretty excited about how it's turning out. I can't wait to see his smile in person instead of on Skype since they are coming down in a few months for a visit.

I'll try to get a good picture of the glow-in-the-dark thread work
when it's all finished and bound later this week.

(He's now very into Wonder Woman which has my brain already thinking of another project for him. Perhaps I'll make a pillow? You may not know I feel about Linda Carter but I love her! Can't wait to start sketches for that!)

I also worked on my friends' baby quilt that is coming along nicely. I didn't get any good pics of it yet but I'll be sure to post those when the sun decides to come out.

I'll stop here for now and share my other projects in another post this week.

Thanks for reading to the end of this one! Enjoy your last few days of January.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

My first full day of vacation was AWESOME! I woke early to wait in the eternal line at the post office, I had a gorgeous drive over to my friend Beth's house. I was able to use her long arm machine again and finally finished the quilt I started ages ago it seems.

Although I still have binding to do and need to take good pictures outside, I can show you some of the fun I had while finishing my first ever quilt on a long arm. (I've done practice work and a weird sampler I gave to my little furbaby so this one is quite special.)

I used 10 different color threads for this thing which is part of why it took so long. It was worth it!

What a great book with step by step directions for quilting.
(I hope Santa can get it for me this Christmas.
If not, the birthday fairy can bring it in Jan.)
I attempted many of her designs and ended up with
some quirky variations.

I had the idea of making her "square flower" design.

It's looks more like bricks,
but I like it!

I was so excited when I came to the last green set,
I forgot to take more pictures.

I can't wait to bind, wash and photograph this quilt to share with you. I also can't wait to see the looks on my friends' faces when I give it to them for their 10 year wedding anniversary this March.

How was your Saturday? Make anything fun?

Long Arm Heaven

Today, I visited my friend and was able to spend some time learning more about long arm quilting. I would want to win the lottery just to afford the space and the machine needed to really get going on larger projects. I am quite envious of her Baby Lock Jewel and the accompanying computer software.

I am working on a project and was able to get a large part of it completed today. I learned a lot more about computerized quilting and love the results so far:

The stitch pattern is called Pipeline and perfect for the geometric shapes of my Tetris quilt. It still has a ways to go but it's all basted and ready for some color quilting this week.

As of now, I am officially on vacation! Whoo hoo! I can't wait to get lots done and share it with you.
Hope you had a nice weekend.

Making Progress in March

This month has been a whirlwind of fun. Despite a busy season at work, I'm still making time to sew and quilt. I even completed my long arm certification at my local quilt shop so I can make larger projects this year. I haven't had a chance to rent time on it yet, but I can't wait to expand on designs in my sketch book. (My guild president offered to show me how to use her L.A. machine, too, which makes me eager to get crafty!)

I completed a few mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative challenge and a several pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. I can't wait to create more this year for the different challenges our guild plans to sponsor.
I also spent a lot of time enjoying my sewing table and practicing free-motion techniques before I put together my QAYG project.

Time for a photo summary...

"I Wish I Made That" Winner at OMQG

Gifts from QuiltCon. I am so there in 2015!

Bargello Blues for AAQI

Missing You for AAQI

For Mom (AAQI)

BOM for April OMQG

My Pillowcases

More of my pillowcases

I love our guild's creativity and generosity.

Leftover gingham strips for top of baby quilt.

Drunkard's Path blocks
(Pattern TBD)

... and that's all for now. I look forward to making more to share.