Whew....just in the nick of time, I finished it up.  What started out as these simple 8.5" x 8.5" string blocks made entirely out of Heather Bailey fabrics, seen in the photo to the left.  Twenty-two of these blocks were made by my Always Bee Learning Bee mates in the first round of this group, eight were made by yours truly.  Were then transformed into the roughly 13" x 13" blocks below, still featuring Heather Bailey fabrics, but with Kona White added in there too for a bit of contrast.  It was a lot of sewing and constructing of blocks, 30 in total.  I didn't think I would meet my deadline, but in the end these blocks were constructed into a throw quilt, and now she is together and transformed into a pretty cheerful quilt, if I do say so myself!  I love how she turned out.  So bright, happy, random and yet structured, such a nice combination of things.  It looks as good in person as it did in my head, and I just love when that happens.

This throw quilt measures 62" x 75" and is a great size, not too big, not too small.  I did something a bit odd with this quilt, and constructed it a tad bit differently than I normally would.  I sewed the finished blocks together with 3/8" seam allowance.  I did this for several reasons.  The main reason is that when you construct string blocks on paper as a foundation, like these were, when you tear off the paper, the edges of these blocks tend to get un-sewn a bit in spots.  Some of these blocks had strings that didn't quite go all the way to the edge once they were trimmed either.  Thus the 3/8" seam allowance fixed all these issues.  Any raw edges were totally sewn in and encased, and any unraveling ends aren't really an issue anymore.  This also explains why I left these blocks roughly 13" x 13", I was sorta (without any math involved) allowing for the extra seam allowance, which worked out great.

This was the type of quilt that as I was making the blocks I started dreading the process of sewing the blocks together in the end.  All these strings, so many seam allowances and the fear of the bulkiness involved.  Honestly, it wasn't bad, at all, in fact it went together so smoothly I was really surprised.  I stitched all these blocks together, yesterday, in about 2 hours, maybe not even that long.  I think that since the strings aren't supposed to match up, that the majority of the seams don't line up, thus the bulk I was so worried about, never really happened but in one or two places on the quilt.  That was a nice surprise that I did not expect.

I have the backing fabric, so I just need to get it ready, baste and quilt this one.  I am looking forward to quilting it, but am still unsure as to how I will quilt it.  I think I will sketch things out, but I do know that I want to free motion quilt it, and hopefully I will be able to use my recently cleaned up and restored vintage Singer 15-91that I have set up and dedicated to free motion quilting.  I have been dying to use this machine on a larger quilt, so I plan to quilt this one sooner than later!  So exciting for us quilt nerds! HA!

This quilt top is my entry into the Festival of Strings over at Stitched in Color.  Make sure to stop by and see all the other beautiful entries.

I know I have mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again, I belong to a Flickr group that swaps Postage Stamp Blocks.  Well, I haven't posted pictures of my finished blocks.  The first set of 10 above are for me to keep and add to the 10 or so I already have.  I strip/chain pieced these blocks to save time and these 10 are actually duplicates of 10 that I sent to swap.  The 20 blocks pictured below are the ones that I sent to FairlyMerry (the group leader and swap mama) in order for her to swap them with the other members and then send back 20 different blocks to me.  After this swap is finished I am hoping to have enough to put my quilt top together,  Excited to get this one laid out and finished up.  I am really looking forward to seeing what this one will look like finished.

Oh, and before I forget to post this...I have a winner for the fabric bundle and book from Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day!  Random.org picked number 198, which ended up being Michelle Smith!  I have already contacted Michelle, and since she has already returned my response, giveaway day is officially over.  Congratulations Michelle, enjoy your fabric and new book!

Laying out a quilt, of course, what were your thinking?  Trash, that is what you were thinking!  Shame, shame....

With the children tucked into their beds, I spent some time on the kitchen floor auditioning layouts.  I think this one won!  Hope to sew her up soon.  This picture is terrible and does not show off the true beauty of these fabrics, but this quilt will be stunning, if I do say so myself.

P.S.   To all you hard working, self sacrificing lovely mamas out there, Happy Mother's Day a tad bit early!

A while ago, maybe a month or so, Threadbias announced a contest designing a quilt pattern using Heather Ross' newest fabric line Briar Rose.  I was interested, but then I read that you would have full access to their Quilt Design Tool in order to design the quilt.  What?  I'm so in!  I had been dying to try out the full version, so this was the perfect opportunity.

I played around quite a bit, the program is really easy to use, I read no directions, watched no tutorials, just dove right in.  So fun.  If I ever get extra funds, I will so subscribe to this tool, it makes designing quilts so easy.  After playing around for quite a while, I decided on my final design and you can see it here, below.  I titled it Modern Portal and my description of it is as follows, "A simple geometric pattern that showcases the lovely feminine prints in this collection. Each "portal" focuses on the fabric design and can be appreciated on its own accord."  I am quite happy with the final design, and truly hope to make this quilt on my own, maybe once I get a little more caught up on those Wips!

Oh and before I forget, the Quilt Design Tool calculates the amount of fabric that it will take to make the quilt that you design.  This quilt which measures 60" x 75" will take roughly 4 yards of the white and 1/4 yard of all the other prints.  How cool is that?

This is a contest, and voting is open now through Friday.  If you are a member of Threadbias, you can vote.  I would love for you to vote on mine, but even if you don't, please take a moment to check out the other entries.  So many beautiful designs, so hard to pick one favorite for sure!  You can go vote HERE, and remember, you have to be logged on, in order to vote.

Thank you to all the sponsors of this contest, it really was fun to play around with great digital prints from Heather Ross and to use the Quilt Design Tool at Threadbias.

It is that time of year again, Sew, Mama Sew! Giveaway Day!  Welcome to my blog and website and I do hope you like the giveaway I have lined up for you today!

This giveaway consists of two prizes!  First up is a fat eighth bundle of the lovely Cut and Sew fabrics by Robert Kaufman.  This bundle consists of 10 super cute prints that I think are so appropriate for the occasion!  Every sewer needs some sewing themed fabrics, don't you think?

The second part of the giveaway is this great book, Inspired to Quilt by Melanie Testa.  This book covers a variety of very interesting techniques and would be a great addition to your library, if you would so happen to win it!

How do you enter?  It is easy, just leave me a comment, answering this question:  "What is your favorite current television show?"  Currently, I am loving Nashville, which is funny because I'm not really a fan of country music!  If you would like a second entry, either be a current follower, or become a new follower of my blog via Bloglovin or your favorite reader, just leave a comment letting me know how you follow my blog!

This giveaway is open to US residents only, the cost to ship internationally is just too high, I'm sorry!  The giveaway will close Friday, May 10, 2013 by 5 pm PST, and a winner will be picked via Random.org and announced by May 12, 2013.  Please make sure to leave your email address, so that I have a way to contact you if you are the winner!  Thank you for visiting and have fun blog hoping during this Giveaway week!