Make Up Clutch and Mini-Sew-Day

As if I needed another reason to love Friday today, my email this morning had the topic line "you won.." and of course I jumped to open it.

Rafflecopter picked me, Lucky #13 at One Little Minute to win a 2 half-yard bundle of flea market fancy from her sponsor Raspberry Creek Fabric.   I came across Miranda's blog via Swim, Bike, Quilt! and the 100 Quilts for Kids Blog Hop earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed her post. She tells a wonderful story about discovering the world of quilting as an apparel sewist and the steps leading up to making the Double Dog Dare Quilt.  Don't you love that name?  I totally need to use that tactic with myself.  Read about it here.

More Blog Hopping and Give-Aways

I came across this fun Hop with 144 participants and am trying not to get myself too distracted... but...they don't call it hopping for nothing. One click leads to another click!

Make-Up Clutch Prototype

With the left over pieces from Chevron Cat for Kitty, I made this make-up clutch to test out proportion and procedure before teaching my son's girlfriend how to make one for herself and a friend.  You may recall her runner and tote, two totally successful sewing projects.

I washed up a small chunk of Essex Linen which turned into a wrinkled wad - mental note not repeat that! If you have any pre-washing tips on that subject I'd love to hear.

I wanted the fold over to be large enough so that small items wouldn't have a chance to fall out...

...which made for a deeper than ideal reach to the bottom for those small items...

The wider style hair band with a snug button worked out well.

The end result was pretty cute with the mock chevron from striped fabric and will be a nice little gift.  A few lessons learned which is the reason for a prototype anyway - we added a pocket inside of hers so the little things had a better place to be!  She also got to play around with swirly organic quilting with contrasting Aurifil on the linen and had fun.  sorry no pictures, it was late - but trust me it turned out super cute!

 Mini-Sew-Day

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending some much needed Girl Time sewing with friends.  More of a Sew-Night than Day since I didn't get home until 10:30pm. We all had our plans and projects and although not all that much sewing was accomplished, we ate, chatted and had a great time.

I was able to pin my strips for Not Your Granny Bee in charcoal and cut the strips for F+F=AMSB herringbone blocks for September.

Hope you all have a fun holiday weekend planned.  I have family in from out of town and just might play tourist and attend the Capitola's 60th Begonia Festival.

WIP Wednesday - a productive week

WIP Wednesday with guest blogger Michelle  at CityHouseStudio has some amazing inspiration so be sure to check it out.

It's been a busy week despite the lingering migraines trying to keep me down.  The pieced back for Old Italian Block aka: OIB is now together.
Here's another shot of the front in case you missed it:

Ready to sandwich and quilt.

I'm in love with the F+F=AMS block choice (I say that every month) and pleased to have mailed them off while still in the month of August.

I added the border to "Cat Chevron for Kitty" and like how the center now floats and the little fish look like they are swimming around in circles.  Have you ever seen the sardines at the Monterey Bay Aquarium? - my kids loved that tank - so mesmerizing. 

I've been admiring the Quilt Con blocks featured each morning in the newsletter and today in the Pick Up Stick grouping one of our South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild members Jenny was included -  and her husband Paul's Squarish Piecing block seen below on the design wall- congrats to them both - way to represent!

July SBAMQG meeting Quilt Con Challenge

Hope you're all having a wonderful week.  My boys are back in classes although they drive themselves to college which isn't the same as holding their hand and walking them to class like the old days.  Back to school around these parts also means crazy traffic jams on my commute to the office so I'd better sign off and get on the road.

WIP Weekly Status Update:

Finished
Solid Improv Puzzle Blocks for F+F=AMSB (mailed)
Progress
Wedding Quilt - Old Italian block (ready to sandwich)
Quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids (most parts done)
Modern Scrappy Bits swap (fabric and pattern chosen)
Not your Granny's Bee (white done, others cut and ready to sew)
New Projects
Cat Chevron
Chevron Pouch
No Progress
Sew Intertwined QAL in AMH Field Study
HTABQ's Japanese Charm Swap
Make a "We Eloped" Quilt
Make A Baby Boy Quilt
Secret Partner MQG pillow swap
Alpaca Pillow 
...and endless others....

Bee Blocks - Improv Puzzle

 This is the latest I've ever made my Bee Blocks - where did August disappear to?  Bri requested for her Friends + Fabric = A Modern Stash Bee two blocks based on the Film In The Fridge  improv puzzle in solids so a I made this one

and this one to go along with it.

 I'm pretty pleased with the results and anxious to see the entire quilt put together.   It's going to be awesome.

Chevron Cats for a Kitty

One of the many blogs that I follow is Laurie Wisbrun at Scarlet Fig.  Today she posted a picture of the Insignia Quilt with a link to Sarah's tutorial at Bluprint Textiles where a give away of the adorable Olive the Ostrich is also going on.

My favorite part of the quilt is the mix of Chevron with the feature fabric and the way that the various fabrics connect with each other.  After a day and a half with a migraine I couldn't quite wrap my head around reproducing Sarah's pattern but was inspired enough to give the general concept a try.

21"x25" Chevron Cats

 It felt good to play with the layout and add pops of color.  The support fabrics were chosen based on the Cat fabric with the fish and birds keeping in theme.

The Creative Grids 2 Peaks in 1 ruler that I picked up during Shop Hop finally got to come out of the shrink wrap. So often I buy rulers and never use them but it was time to Try New Things TNT. You can see that the points aren't perfect but in my mind they're good enough and I assume the Kitty Cat who will be sleeping on the quilt will agree.

Linking up to Melissa at TNT.

Friday Favs and Following Blogs

They may seem random and they kind of are... but these are a few of my favorite things from flickr this week.  I couldn't figure out how to include the links to the original creators here but they can be found by clicking here.

I hope that you'll be flattered that f I've included a photo of your work, 
however, if you'd prefer that I didn't my apologies. Please email and I'll remove it.

I always enjoy seeing mosaics of favs like on In Color Order and have only made them a couple of times.  That's going to change because it's a great way to remind myself of projects that have inspired me without the distraction of browsing around aimlessly.  A quick and easy resource for that "oh, that's right - I was going to make that pattern or try that technique". 

Following Blogs

Because I love following blogs and am discovering new ones every day, I keep adding them to my Google Reader.  So here's the dilemma - when is it too many to read and will I get to the point that I'll have to stop following? I'd be curious to know how many are on your list and how you decide.

Granny Progress

All of my strips are cut and the white background is joined ready to cut and sew.  Here's a mock up so I could get an idea of value placement of my swap blocks.  I had to do a bit of ripper action because my original layout had three dark purples that created an unintended stripe. I like this better.

My Hulu Queue is filled with mindless shows to quilt by - yeah.  Let me know what you've been up to and inspired by lately...

WIP Wednesday and Happy Mail

The OIB, Old Italian Block top made it to the porch for a picture just as the wind picked up.

I'm the only one who will know there's a right side up for this quilt with the light-bright shades on the top and dull shades on the bottom.

The underside of quilts always make me smile with the seams ironed open flat.  I'm wanting to try more patterns from the book Rotary Cutting Revolution once this is done.

Happy Mail

Not sure how she did it but the amazing Julie of Intrepid Thread filled and shipped my order of AMH Field Study before I could even blink.  It's catch up time for the Sew Intertwined QAL with no excuses.

In other amazing news... my wonderfully generous prize for participating in the Zakka Style Sew Along arrived with a cute little note from Sukie - how'd she know I love Tina Givens stationary? Check out the SAL at LRStitched. Get a load of all that Lecien Cosmo - yikes, I'm lucky. Thanks you Lindsey and Amy.

Linking up this week to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday with guest blogger Rebecca of Pieces and Cream!

WIP Weekly Status Update:

Finished
Starred Swoon (given away-yeah) 
Progress
Wedding Quilt - Old Italian block (top done, back partial)
Quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids (most parts done)
Modern Scrappy Bits swap (fabric and pattern chosen)
Not your Granny's Bee (partially cut)
New Projects
Sew Intertwined QAL in AMH Field Study
HTABQ's Japanese Charm Swap
Make a "We Eloped" Quilt
Make A Baby Boy Quilt
No Progress
Secret Partner MQG pillow swap
F+F=AMSB 2 Solids in Puzzle
Alpaca Pillow 
...and endless others....