WIP Wednesday + a FQ Win

Wednesday and Friday in the same Post?

Happy Wednesday. Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced where my blogger friend Debbie from  A Quilter's Table is guest hosting. I'm also linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday since I did manage to complete my Pillow -wish I'd installed a cool zipper like Amanda Jean did on hers.
Edit: I added this picture so you can see the lovely bulky white dressing on my finger and to explain why Julia looks like she's sporting a Pippi Longstocking hairdo in the photo at the end of this post thanks to the garland on the wall. SueDee's October show is appropriately themed Day of The Dead.  I've also added some pillow details pics because I'm not good at leaving well enough alone - thanks for indulging.

me and my boo boo

The biggest work in progress for me is getting my injured finger healed so that I can get back to quilting. It's been two full weeks since I sliced a chunk off with my rotary and although it's better it's not good enough. I can iron, I can sort of cut and kind of sew. It's in a bandage instead of the bulky dressing... but I'm getting anxious about how awkward things continue to be.

The Big Reveal

Secret Pillow Swap I made for Tina

Shot cotton was a bit tricky to quilt on

The backing fabric from my stash - thought it matched well

Thank goodness I hadn't procrastinated too many projects and was able to keep on track despite the rotary mishap.   Organizing our MQG's first swap was a lot of fun and I think a successful with positive feed back. 

In August participants  brought a brown bag of scraps that I randomly and secretly distributed.  To make the reveal entertaining, I called up the first person and they told a story about their creative process, presented the completed pillow to their partner and posed for a picture... then that person did the same thing and so on. It wasn't seamless but went pretty smoothly.

My Pillow from Julia

You might recognize the fabric from my Tassels tutorial post. When I finish my F+F=AMSB quilt I'll have a coordinating pillow to go with it. Julia did a great job, I love it. We had 14 participants, about half the Guild.  You can see all of them here.

Since this was our first MQG swap I thought a prize was in order. A matching set of Fresh Fabric Treats books for Pam and Anne who happened to have been the only two paired up with one another - what are the odds? I'm already tossing around our next swap and am inspired by LAMQG's reusable grocery bag exchange done in the style of white elephant as blogged about by their Pres Latifah.

I won't post the zipper pouch photo I made until after Sewing Summit but I'm pretty please and hope whoever gets it like it. 

Same thing goes for our Quilt Retreat Swag Bag goodies partially completed this week - attendees should be surprised and that would spoil it.

Joining 4x5 Bee once again after a bit of a break. My hive mama Sarah  will be at Sewing Summit so we'll get to meet. Here's my inspiration mosaic (links to each item here):

4x5 Hive #7 Mosiac

WIP Weekly Status Update:

Finished = 3
Sewing Summit zipper pouch swap
Secret Partner MQG pillow swap
HTABQ's Japanese Charm Swap
Progress = 1
Quilt Retreat Goodies and Bags
New Projects =1
4x5 Bee sign up
No Progress = +
Sewing Summit Black/White swap (fabric purchased, pics posted)
Project Bag or Needle book for ME @ Sewing Summit
ModPop QAL
FMF Charity Quilt (top done)
Luminaria (center complete)
...and endless others..

 a Wonderful WIN

I was reading the CraftBuds post announcing the Craft Book Linky Winners yesterday when all of the sudden I spotted my wristlet clutch in the mosaic.  All the prizes were great but I've made a lot of my MQG seriously jealous with the FQ bundle that I have won ... V&Co.’s new collection “Simply Color".  Lindsay even offered to hand deliver it to me at Sewing Summit - how great is that!!

Happy Quilting, Karen