Jelly Roll Race Quilt -- Indy 500 Day with 1 Choice 4 Quilting

On Friday, more fabric was purchased at another garage sale for $10 (box and all).  There were a lot of Christmas prints.  I picked out the small prints that I thought my son would be able to play "I Spy" with and cut them and made my own jelly roll for the Jelly Roll Race Quilt with 1 Choice 4 Quilting.  I prepared the pieces by sewing them end to end the night before the big race.  It took less than two hours to zip together this race day quilt (a fun project for nap time).  It was fun because you didn't really know what the quilt would look like until you cut the bottom and opened it.  Fun challenge.  It's the perfect size for my four-year old son!  That is if I don't steal it for a lap quilt.  Happy Memorial Day weekend!

There's still time!  You can get in on the raceday fun.  Go to:
http://blog.1choice4quilting.com/2011/05/ladies-gentlemen-start-your-sewing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+1Choice4Quilting+%281+Choice+4+Quilting%29

Big stash increase! Garage Sale Finds

Today a friend called me to tell me that she spotted some fabric at a garage sale.  She said they had little bundles for $1.  I was curious and thought I would check out the lead.  This is what I got:

I roughly measured it by holding it the length of my arm (which is a generous yard.)  There is over SIXTY yards of fabric here.  I paid under $20 for it.  That's less than 33 cents per yard!!!  A lot of it seems to be in one, two, three, four, and even a six yard piece.  I am guessing it is from the 80's and 90's by the writing on the salvage pieces.  I think there are two vintage sheets in here.  I can tell the fabric from the bolt easily by the salvage.  Here are some of my favorites:

The flowers are about the size of a dime.  I should have put a quarter on the stuff...

I think this is an upholstery fabric.  It will make a great bag soon.

Some Christmas stuff...  There's over four yards of the Santa fabric.  I'll have to think hard how to use that.

Interesting print with the elephants on the bottom???  All in all it was a great day.  I didn't even clear the lady's table.  There were several polyesters and some corderoy there.  But it will be fun figuring out where to use these.  I have a feeling I won't need to buy a back for the next Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  Wonder when that will come out.  Can't wait!

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For a really cool raceday jellyroll challenge go to
http://blog.1choice4quilting.com/2011/05/ladies-and-gentlemenget-ready-to-start.html?showComment=1306484939420#c1557265693813324777

It sounds like a lot of fun.  I hope I can fit it in this weekend during nap time!

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Tales At Wayne Manor is having a giveaway.  You could win a whole box of fabric.

WIP Wednesday #28

Completed project:  This week flew by!  I struggled with my first attempt at paper piecing.  But the end result was a really nice block for the Bluepatch Quilter Mystery Quilt.  http://www.bluepatchquilter.blogspot.com/

I am excited for the We Can Do It skill builder to start on 6/17.  Since this picture I have added some of my mom's vintage fabrics in browns that go perfect with these colors.  I am so happy with these color combos.  I am getting better at the color thing (I think.)  Here are some of the fabrics for my color choices on that project. 

Also new this week, I tried my new stich-in-the-ditch foot to quilt and finish the Sunflower Seeds QA.  What a disaster!  The backing moved.  I still have two rows of stitches to remove with the stitch ripper.  Lesson learned on that one.  My co-worker that is having the baby is leaving TODAY!  I won't be able to give it to her for her last day of work and will have to extend the project until her baby shower on July 17th.  Hopefully it will be finished then.

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
California King Country Kitties http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/country-kitties.html
Sunflower Seeds Quilt-along  at http://jamiemueller.blogspot.com/2011/04/awesome-quilt-along-week-three.html

On hold ...
Flower Basket quilt (in reds) http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/flower-basket-quilt.html

This week's stats:
New projects - 0

Completed projects - 1 (Block #2 for Bluepatch Quilter Mystery Quilt)
Currently in progress - 5

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For a GREAT GIVEAWAY...
Sew...It's Midnight Mama is having a giveaway.  Jennifer is giving away a fat quarter bundle of Picnic & Fairgrounds by Denyse Schmidt!!!

My first squishy arrived in the mail.

My first squishy arrived in the mail!  It is from Beena in Daytona Beach, FL.  It is a beautiful hand-painted square!  Beena had a giveaway.  Although I did not win, she still sent me a cool panel!  Thank you, Beena!  You can check out her website at http://blogofathousandfaces.blogspot.com/  Here it is...

Excited about colors for We Can Do It Skill Builder

I am very very excited about the colors I have selected for the We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler!  Normally I dred this part, but it just came to me. 

This time I started with the blue fabric with the little brown dots (top of photo) for the background.  (I try to not do too many projects with white backgrounds because of our water pipes for now).  I had a charm pack in mind to give me some direction and added it.  Then I added the light tan print in the bottom left and two items from the remnant rack (love the one with the birds on top of the mentioned tan print) and the light colored background one to the right of the tan print).  I have some darker browns in my stash that will be perfect for this (that were my grandmother's/mom's fabrics).  I can't wait for this to start.  I don't know how I'm going to wait for the next block to come out.  LOL.  Thanks again, Leila.



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Kool Beenz is giving sponsoring a giveaway.  Win a cute MODA charm pack!  Go to
http://koolbeenz-blog.blogspot.com/2011/05/give-away-9-who-wants-to-win-moda-charm.html?showComment=1306134319280#c8988659710503394660

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It's Sew Kiki is having a cool giveaway in which you can win a really cute bag and some things to fill it at
http://kiki-itssewkiki.blogspot.com/2011/05/annual-sew-mama-sew-giveaway.html

We Can Do It! Skill Buuilder Sampler with Leila starting June 17, 2011

I will be joining Leila's We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler group.  I need it!  Check it out at
http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com/
I definitely need to work on my basic skills!

I have not been able to complete ANY of the four sections of the paper pieced block for the mystery quilt with the bluepatch quilter.  I keep ending up with templates the wrong size and blocks the wrong size... Monday is another day.  I have fresh templates sitting on the desk and I will start over again. 

I will spend the rest of the night with my stitch ripper tearing out two rows of the stitch in the ditch that I did on a baby quilt I am making.  It is supposed to be done Wednesday.  Grrr.  I might have to finish it another way than what I had planned with the stitch in the ditch quilting and a binding and go back to my old ways to make sure it gets done.

My son will be done with preschool on Thursday this week.  I don't plan on getting much sewing in during the summer break.  But my little guy and I have tons of outdoor fun planned.  I'll quilt now and then during the evening and night, and will get back to it full swing after school starts up again.  I plan to keep up with my current quiltalongs and mystery quilts and block swap adventure and block lotto.  I'll also need to get my friendship blocks for the quilt guild done this summer.

Oh what a boring post this was.  Back to my stitch ripping...

WIP Wednesday #27

Completed Projects:
Completed step 7 & 8 of the Our Susannah mystery quilt at http://erikhomemade.typepad.com/erik_homemade/  This was a pretty easy step since it was just adding the plaid inner borders.  Every time my husband sees me working on this quilt he tells me that he likes the colors.  Today I said, "You should... they are your clothes."  Well, they really aren't all of his clothes (just the jeans), but they all resemble the colors of his work clothes.  I made the border wider than it called for on the mystery.  I usually don't make the quilt to the pattern size.  It's usually bigger.

Finished block one of a mystery quilt with http://www.bluepatchquilter.blogspot.com/.  I thought it wouldn't be bad to do a mystery quilt with one block a month.  Egads! it looks like it's a weekly thing.  Oh well, what's one more block here and there?  This quilt will be special because I am using my grandmother's fabrics.  She has been gone over 30 years.  The next block is a paper pieced block.  YIKES!  I'm kinda scared, but I will get through it.  Here's a pic of the week one block and the fabrics.  If the Ohio sun ever comes out (hopefully by block two or three) I will get some true color pics.  They are a very bright peacock color.  Oh, and don't worry about the uneven block.  It squared up after I took the picture.



Mailed the 12" quilt block for the Block Swap Adventure to Italy.  -- I haven't heard from my April partner. :(   I have contacted my May partner three times via e-mail and still no response.  Her block is on the way.


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
California King Country Kitties http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/country-kitties.html
Sunflower Seeds Quilt-along  at http://jamiemueller.blogspot.com/2011/04/awesome-quilt-along-week-three.html

On hold ...
Flower Basket quilt (in reds) http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/flower-basket-quilt.html

This week's stats:
New projects - 1 (Mystery quilt with Bluepatch Quilter)
Completed projects - 1 (12" block for the Block Swap Adventure)
Currently in progress - 5

Here's a sneak peek of the block I made for Evelina in Italy for the Block Swap Adventure.  Sorry, I can't reveal the whole block at this time.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for Evelina!

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For an awesome giveaway for come really cute Halloween fabric, go to
http://koolbeenz-blog.blogspot.com/2011/05/fat-quarter-shop-give-away-8-who-wants.html?showComment=1305529958545#c6470877576958509208

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Another great giveaway is at

..http://kiki-itssewkiki.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-revealsome-great-newsand-giveaway.html

She is giving away a hard copy of the  "Around Town" Bag pattern and all the materials needed to make it, including:
A 33 piece Charm pack of "Around Town" Charms
1 yard linen
1 yard lining fabric from the "Around Town" line from Connecting Threads
1/2 yard contrasting fabric for interior pockets from the "Around Town" line
1/2 yard Pellon Fusible Fleece
A 12 inch zipper
A skein of #5 Perle cotton WOW -- Thanks from It's Sew Kiki!

Week 1 Mystery Quilt Along Block with Bluepatch Quilter

Today I completed the first block for the Mystery Quilt Along with Bluepatch Quilter.  I know, I know.  I needed another project like I need a hole in my head, but the yardage required for this quilt just seemed to go perfect with two of the fabrics that I found that were my grandma's.  Grandma has been gone for over thirty years.  She loved to quilt.  I will think of her as I work on this quilt and when I see the finished quilt.  I did splurge and buy my first Moda fabric at a real quilt shop.  I only needed a little over a yard, so this purchase was justified.  It just didn't look right with my $1/yd. stuff.  And I owe it to my grandma to do something nice with her fabrics.  Hopefully she will be sending happy quilting vibes to be as she looks down on me from heaven.

Here's a pic of the Week 1 block.  It measures a huge 18.5"

That bottom corner looks pretty shabby.  I didn't square it up yet...  This photo really doesn't do the block much justice.  The colors are much bolder than the photo shows.  If I wait until the sun comes out to take the pictures who knows when that will be???

Have a great weekend!

Baby Quilt - the Awesome Quilt Along with Jamie of Sunflower Seeds

I made it outside this morning to get a quick picture of a baby quilt that I started yesterday -- yes, YESTERDAY!  Jamie Mueller of Sunlower Seeds did a cute jelly roll quilt pattern.  Great job, Jamie.  I left one row off of the bottom and it measures 48" x 50" right now.  I will not be adding a border.  The binding is pink, yellow, and green solids.  The back will be pieced.

I was a little worried that I was starting the QA a little late, but I made my own jelly roll and jumped in.  I didn't even buy anything!!!  These are all fabrics that were small pieces of my stash and some of the $1/yd items from last week's shopping trip at JoAnn Fabrics. 

I will do a pieced back.  I am also thinking of doing some 3D butterflies, flowers, a dragonfly, and a ladybug for this top.  I have the scraps sitting on my desk.  I know the 3D flowers on the Double Irish Chain baby quilt seemed to be a big hit with my family.  I have a little more time to think about this quilt top.  My friend's baby isn't due until the end of August. 

WIP Wednesday #26

This is my first WIP post.  So here it goes...

Completed Projects
Supernova Quilt-Along
COMPLETE!!!  Even though I had to deal with a broken sewing machine and then a new sewing machine, I made it through the quilt-along.  I am so happy with the finished result.  There were a lot of firsts on this quilt.  My first finished bed-sized quilt, my first quilt-along, my first attempt at machine quilting, my first time using a camera to help remember my plan, my first thin, all cotton batting.  Ahhhh.  I can breath now that it is done.  Thanks again, Lee.  Great job on the quilt-along and the easy-to-follow instructions.

May Block Lotto Blocks
The nine pineapple blocks for the May Block Lotto are complete.  I like to get these done in the beginning of the month so that I can move on to my bigger projects.

Irish Chain Baby Quilt

My niece had a baby girl this week.  I finished this Irish Chain baby quilt just in time.  I just love the way the 3-D flowers made it special.

Quilting Spreadsheet
I know this seems a little odd, but I made a spreadsheet to let me know what projects and obligations I have.  I am so spreadsheet oriented.  When I first made the spreadsheet I had 31 planned projects.  Yikes!  Remember that I just started quilting in January of this year.  I guess the quilt bug has bitten me and taken over my body.  Some of these projects are big (full-sized quilts and quilt-alongs), and some are pretty small (Block Swap Adventure).  Here's a look at some of it:
 

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
California King Country Kitties http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/country-kitties.html
On hold ... yeah, yeah.
Flower Basket quilt (in reds) http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/03/flower-basket-quilt.html

This week's stats:
New projects - 1 (Sunflower Seeds Quilt-along)  (But I am doing a baby quilt from the spreadsheet).
It's not too late to join this quilt-along at http://jamiemueller.blogspot.com/2011/04/awesome-quilt-along-week-three.html
Completed projects - 1 (Supernova)
Currently in progress - 5

Priority	Date	Quilting Project	Completed
1	05/06/11	Oh Susanna Mystery Quilt (pg 4)	05/02/11
2	05/11/11	Supernova quilt-along	05/10/11
3	05/13/11	Oh Susanna Mystery Quilt (pg 5 & 6)
4	05/20/11	Oh Susanna Mystery Quilt (pg 7)
5	05/25/11	Block Swap Adventure – May	05/03/11
6	05/25/11	Jesse's baby girl quilt (Sunflower Seeds QAL)
12	07/25/11	Julie's baby girl quilt
17	09/20/11	18 sets of Friendship Blocks for Quilt Guild
18	09/25/11	California King Country Kitties
21	10/01/11	30 x 30 Quilt Guild Quilt Show Quilt
22	10/15/11	Akron Children's Hospital quilt (Quilt Guild)
25	11/20/11	Snowflake Auction Quilt
28	12/01/11	Christmas Tree Skirt
29	12/25/11	Flower Basket Blocks

House of Henrie is having a giveaway.  Becca is giving away a blog prize package.

I Candy is having a sponsored giveaway.  You could win 5 yards of fabric from Raspberry Creek Fabrics.

Supernova Quilt-Along Quilt COMPLETE!

I'm happy to announce that I completed the Supernova quilt that I have been working on in the quilt-along with Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Lee did a great job.  Hats off to Lee.  My colors are bright.  Besides one baby quilt this is the first BIG quilt I machine quilted... and I did it in RED!  It has it's character spots, but I am very very happy with it.  It's perfect for watching fireworks, going to a ball game, or having a picnic in the park.  Here are some pics:

Look how nice it looks on the grass

Then there's the pieced back.  I still love those picnic ants.

All those half square triangles made super cute pinwheels for the back.

I haven't done a binding yet, so I stuck with pillowcasing it.  Maybe the next baby quilt I'll try to have perfect mitered corners.  LOL.  You can also see the McD's fabric I thought was fitting for this because of all the red, yellow, black, and white.  I was calling my McSupernova for a while.

The quilted stars turned out okay too.  It was ALOT of turning and turning and pivoting.  Whew.  After about three of them I wasn't sure if that is what I wanted, but I was already committed to it.  I am really happy with them now that it is done.

This star isn't as crooked as it looks.  Must have been the wind and the angle.

The finished quilt is 81 x 99.

Supernova Quilt Along Progress

Well, this is where I am with my Supernova quilt along.  I don't think I've seen the episode of Fons & Porter where they do this...

Oh, and here's the front (lol)

A Latte Quilts is having a giveaway.  Paula is giving away four different kits to four lucky winners. 
Quilter In The Gap is having a giveaway.  You could win the book Modern Basics by Amy Ellis and 10-1/2yd cuts of Sunkissed and 5/8 yd to use for the binding to make the 1,2,3 quilt in the book. 

Hawthorne Threads is having their weekly giveaway.  This week you could win a Dena Fishbein Kumari Garden fat quarter bundle in Morning. 

Judith from needles and lemons  is giving away a Fat Quarter set of the entire picnic and fairground Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Jo-Ann.  Go to http://www.needlesandlemons.com/2011/05/stash-note-no-13-and-giveaway.html

Alison at Little Island Quilting is giving away a beautiful Kaffe Fassett quilt and two Moda jelly rolls

If I don't win an Accuquilt Baby GO! soon, I will have to buy one.  But for now I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will win one over at Leona's Quilting Adventure.
Go enter!  Celebrate her 500 followers.  WOW!

May Block Lotto - Pineapple Blossom

Here are the nine pineapple blossom blocks that I am submitting for the Block Lotto in May.  The block design is by Bonnie Hunter.  Did I mention that I am a huge fan of Bonnie Hunter?  I'm sure I did!

The yellow, gray, and white in each block is the color control for the month.  The other colors are quilter's choice.

Great sale today at JoAnn Fabrics.  HUGE savings in the clearance aisle.  I got a lot of pastel cotton prints in pinks and blues.  Perfect for those baby quilts I need to make this year.

There's a great giveaway at Sew Dang Cute.  Wouldn't you love to win A GO! Baby and three dies?  I've been oooing and ahhhing one of these but it's not in my budget right now.  Check it out!

Accuquilt is giving one of you Sew Dang Cute readers a GO! Baby Fabric Cutter as well as 3 dies of your choice!!!!

Mystery Quilt Monday

Here's where my mystery quilt is right now.  As usual, I am not following the instructions exactly.  The blocks are supposed to be 8" square.  I was using the really old sewing machine and I didn't have the 1/4" eyeballed correctly.  So my squares ended up at 7" square.  (I'm okay with that... I just made more squares and more rows.)  My quilt will be a little bigger.  This weeks instructions was to just sew the rows together.  Looks like I still have another week to figure out what 2" strips I need to cut (I assume it will be for sashing, but you never know with a mystery quilt.)  I think I may go with a plaid flannel of some sort.  The original was supposed to be six blocks across and eight rows down.  This is seven blocks across and ten rows down.  Our bed is huge.  We always need an extra seat on the bleachers.  This size will still be perfect no matter how the mystery ends.  Come back next week to see what happens next.

This weekend I also decided to put my quilting projects on a spreadsheet.  (I am so spreadsheet oriented.)  Well, if I count my new projects from the quilt guild along with the Block Lotto and the Block Swap Adventure blocks for the rest of the year, I have THIRTY-ONE quilting projects!  Whew!!!  I guess this addiction just snowballed on me.  School will be out on 5/25.  I don't know what summer will bring.  I just need to keep things in perspective and remember that this is a hobby.  I guess I better get off here and start sewing.  Happy quilting.