Warning: Photo Intensive Post!
Ughhh....I'm playing catch up again, and the annoying part is that I have had these blocks completed for over a month, I just haven't had a chance to photograph or blog about them.  Oh well, I hope to spend this week catching up and getting current with showing off my blocks.  These blocks are the start of the second chapter, Rectangles.  All six of these blocks were fairly easy and straight forward.  I like them all equally with the exception of number 21, I think it had potential, but alas I am not too happy with that block.  I may redo it in the end, or leave it, we shall see.  Enough chitter-chatter, here are the blocks:

Wondering what all of this is about?  Here are the details:
Book:  City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks by Tula Pink
Quilt Along:  Hosted by Sara over at Sew Sweetness
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/citysamplerquiltalong/
Blocks:  6.5" x 6.5" Featuring the fabric line Constellations by Lizzy House.

The Triple-Zip Pouch Swap is officially over, for me anyway, and I have to say that this swap was so much fun.  Swaps on Flickr are always fun, speculating which pouch will end up as yours.  I tried really hard for this swap to comment on all pouches posted, and am happy to say that I did comment on the one that I received.  Awesome!  Before I show off my goodies that I received, I want to show you guys what I sent to my secret partner.  The photo above is what I sent to Tracy Hudson (Cece sews) and no worries, she has received her package so I'm not spoiling anything.  The package I sent included the triple zip pouch, note cards, post it notes, Aurifil thread samples, five text print fat eighths and a Moda mini charm pack of the fabric line Tapestry.  I tried to stick to a color theme with the fabric and thread, and I felt that it matched the pouch quite nicely.  I think she was happy with her package, so I am thrilled about that!

Now it is time to show off my goodies!  I honestly couldn't be more thrilled with my pouch!  It is so much my style and taste, honestly like I would make for myself!  This lovely pouch was made by the uber talented Alyce Rodriguez (wonderlandbyalyce) and she blogs HERE.  She totally stalked me, found out my favorites and totally rocked it!  I mean seriously, look how cute this pouch is!

Here is the back of the pouch, equally cute, and she was so smart to use a print that was multi-directional, so it worked for the front and back.

Here is the photo of my entire package!  How lucky am I?  I said that my favorite color was purple, so Alyce sent me some beautiful purple fabrics, none of which I had in my stash, and I love them all!  Such a cute notebook and candy that I scarfed down the first day! Sad but true! My pouch was stuffed full.  Thank you Alyce, such a nice present and a great end to such a fun swap!  Huge thanks to Stephanie at Quarter Incher for putting this whole swap together and doing so much hard work to make it successful!

Hello!  I feel like it has been ages since I have blogged, and I guess it has.  I've been busy stitching up a storm, plus the kids and I seem to live with a summer cold lately....yuck.  Anyways, earlier this year I participated in the Triple-Zip Pouch Sew Along hosted by A Quilter's Table, and the tutorial for the pouch can be found HERE.  At the time, I stitched up five finished pouches and cut out six more.  You can see and read about my first five HERE.  Well the extra six I cut out sat around for a while, but I grew tired of looking at the unfinished stack so I went ahead and finished them up.  Not long after finishing the final six I stumbled across Stephanie at Quarter Incher who decided to host a Triple-Zip Swap.  Well I just knew I had to sign up, how fun!

The basic premise for this blind swap (we have no idea who has our name) was that we were to make them a triple zip pouch and fill it with some goodies like notions, fabrics, you know that sort of thing.  Well since I have quite a few pouches already made, I knew that one was bound to be the perfect fit for my partner, because honestly I made eleven pouches that were pretty diversified, one had to be her tastes, or at least I was hoping so.

The swap is nearing its deadline to ship and I haven't posted anything for my partner yet, so I wanted to make sure and add an assortment to the Flickr group and hopes she responds as to which one she likes the best.  If not, then I'll make the ultimate decision, fill it with the goodies I have assembled and ship it off, hopefully later this week, or the beginning of next!  My partner was a bit vague, but I do have a pretty good idea of what she likes just by looking at her Flickr stream, I have my fingers crossed that I am on the right track.

Not all of these pouches shown here are up for grabs, some have been gifted to family members already, I pulled four pouches for her to choose from (or the Flickr group members to choose from!)   I just wanted to make sure I showed off all of the Triple-Zip Pouches that I made this year!  Such a fun tutorial and great gift, I know there will be more of these pouches in my future for sure!

Now that the summer is rapidly drawing to an end and my oldest starts Kindergarten soon, I am hoping to share some of my finished projects in the coming weeks with you guys, I have so much to blog about and oh so little time!  I do hope that once we get a good routine established again I'll be able to blog more frequently, fingers crossed!  Until next time, do enjoy your last bits of summer!

It is already the third quarter of the year, is anyone else depressed that the year is half way over.  *Huge Sigh*  Oh well, time to move on! I don't want to say that the second quarter was a bust, but it kinda was in terms of finishing things.  I believe I had high aspirations of 11 or 13 projects or something ridiculous like that, which obviously I didn't finish.  But....I did finish two.  I didn't link them up with the second quarter finish-a-long, simply because I haven't photographed them yet.  I finished two sets of pajamas for my boys and my Cosmic Burst Quilt.  I will post about them another time when the weather is right and the boys are behaving, so hopefully in the next three months! HA!  I was happy to at least cross two things off the list.

This quarter I am taking things a bit differently, instead of a long list, I am aiming for a smaller do-able one.  I actually finished up quite a few quilt tops last quarter and have all the backings put together too!  So here are my goals for quarter three:

Project One: Boom Boom Pow Quilt - This top is finished, the backing is finished.  I just have to baste, quilt and bind it.  This is a throw quilt that I plan to keep for myself!

Project Two: Dancing Stars Table Runner - The table runner top is finished and I have the backing ready to go.  The letters print will be the binding.  I need to baste it, quilt it and bind it.  This is to gift, but I don't have an intended recipient yet, I will just know when it is done, I'm sure.

Project Three:  Latticework Strings Quilt - This quilt top is finished and so is the backing.  I need to baste it, quilt it and bind it.  This is a throw quilt that also has no intended recipient, yet.

Project Four:  Emerald Cut Quilt - This odd sized wall hanging is all basted and ready to quilt.  This quilt will hang in my house when it is finished and will cover up a window that will be removed.  No rush, the window has not been removed, well not yet anyway!

Obviously, I will be doing a lot of quilting this quarter, but I have all of the supplies, so nothing should hold me up.  Linking up with Leanne at She Can Quilt and Never too hot to stitch! 2013 the Year of the Finished Project.

Rachel over at Stitched in Color is hosting a mosaic contest called Clashy Bright.  The basic point is to head over to Marmalade Fabrics, pick a collection of 12 that you define as "clashy bright."  This is my collection, I think I wanted to enter because I kinda define myself as clashy bright, and if you asked my husband, I'm sure he would agree.  Instead of just picking a bunch of random fabrics that would "clash" I chose fabrics that I think clash within themselves, especially the two ends on the very first row.  Those two are like, "Wow, these are some CRAZY colors mashed together in one print!"  I then choreographed the rest of the collection to match those two and stuck with a very defined palette that in the end I think is the definition of Clashy Bright!  Do you agree?

Last month, Threadbias announced they would be holding another quilt design contest featuring the fabric Wallflowers by Allison Harris.  I just knew I would participate.  I loved it last time so here was another chance to play around with the quilt design tool and some lovely digital fabric swatches.

I immediately knew that I wanted to try out some other ideas based on a recent quilt top that I finished up, a design that featured strings and a latticework design, which can be seen HERE.  Knowing that was my basis for the design, I wanted to see what a deliberate patchwork background would look like and if the block was even possible.  Well it was!  Once I had drawn up the block, the rest was easy, until I had to decide how I wanted the latticework to look.  Hmm....

My three ideas for the latticework can be see here.  My very first version started out with just random placement of the five larger scale prints from the collection.  That then transformed into a more deliberate placement of the fabrics, one that ended up with a predominant cross design, with a weaving of the other prints around it.  My second version featured the latticework all in one print, very traditional.  Lastly, I decided to lay out the five prints in a chevron like layout.  I liked this version a lot, but wasn't sold.  In the end I left the vote up to my mom and she decided that she liked the very first version, the one that featured the cross.  Be it that Mother knows best, that is the design that I entered into the contest.

Once again, this contest was really fun, and I loved playing with the Quilt Design Tool by Threadbias.  I used all of the prints from the collection and one of the solids that we were given the option to use.  Voting is open now in this contest, and if you have a free Threadbias account you can vote.  Please take a moment to hop on over and vote, I would love it if you would vote for mine, but honestly there are a ton of great entries, so vote for the one that you love the best!  Click on the image below to take you to the contest and there you will find the View Entries button!  Thank you to all the sponsors of this contest, I appreciate the chance to enter the contest and use the Quilt Design Tool.

Here we are at Week Five in the Zakka 2.0 Sew Along!  This week, the Diamond Patchwork Placemat, from the book Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi.  I knew all along that I would be making four placemats and not just one, and boy am I glad that I did, they turned out so cute and really didn't take that long to make all four.

I used fabric from my stash with the exception of the 100% linen, which I bought from JoAnn's Fabrics.  I pre-washed the linen because I know that it tends to shrink a lot in the wash, but washed nothing else.  Hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt me one day.  The backing and binding is a Darlene Zimmerman 30's reproduction print that I have been holding on to for quite some time, I felt the scale and coloring was perfect for these placemats, especially since the backing wraps around to the front to create the binding.  I like that method, so quick and easy!

For some strange reason I have an insanely huge stash of kitchen and food prints.  I started pulling them for this project and after digging just a short time pulled out 25 prints.  I know I have more than that, that is just what I pulled out from light digging!  In the end I narrowed it down to just fruit, vegetable and Kawaii prints like the picnic and sushi themed ones.  I even used two of my HOARDED Spoonflower sample prints and cut them up!  It was the right decision, I just love them mixed in!

I didn't change much from the printed directions, just three little things.  First, I did not paper piece the diamond patchwork panels on either side, but rather just pieced them normally.  I can see why she recommended paper piecing, especially with the shiftiness of linen, but otherwise it worked out just fine.  Second, I used a pretty little lace on the side of my panels instead of the ric rac the author called for.  I wanted to use from my stash and this was the only suitable thing I had enough yardage of.  I rather like the look of lace, linen and a bunch of silly Kawaii prints.  Lastly, I did not spray baste as she suggested.  I didn't have any, so I just pinned, pinned, pinned!  You can obviously see that the front and back are not glued together simply by noticing the MILLION wrinkles all over.  Honestly the pictures make it look worse than it is, but they are there.

I quilted exactly as she suggested and I really like it, I used the binding directions that was suggested also.  I mentioned earlier, this is such a great method for this project.  In the detail shots below you can see a better example of my mitered corners, good and bad, which I machine stitched instead of stitching by hand.  They aren't perfect, but heck, they won't be perfect once food and drink gets spilled on them either!

Closing with a few detail shots of my favorite fussy cut blocks.  Love these little vegetable and fruit people, especially broccoli guy!  These are going to look so nice on my dining room table.

Details of the Sew Along:
Book:  Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi
Sew Along: Hosted by LRstitched and A Quilter's Table
Project: Polka Dot Cafe Apron
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/patchworkplease/

Here we are at Week Four of the Zakka 2.0 Sew Along.  This week my project is an ode to Denyse Schmidt, the fabric designer.  The majority of the prints in this jazzy little apron are by Denyse Schmidt, I used three of her fabric lines, and I think they blend so well.  The little bits of "kitchen scenes and chickens" featured in the pocket quilt blocks are various designers, but everything else is by her.  The quilt blocks feature fabric from the Quilter's Quarters sold at JoAnn Fabrics, this fabric was also used as the binding on top of the pocket.  The body of the apron is a home dec/canvas print from the Country Fair line, I've been hoarding this fabric for quite a while.  The straps are from her Flea Market Fancy Legacy line.  See, I told you it was an ode to her!

I actually made the quilt blocks last week, and instead of using the templates that were in the book, I just measured and used my clear quilter's ruler.  This method worked out great, especially for fussy cutting since I could see through the ruler.  I sewed them all together and then they just sat there staring at me for the majority of the week.  I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make the apron or something else.  Well obviously the apron won out, and I am so glad that I went that route in the end.

I used a cheapo muslin for the back of the blocks/pocket lining, and did a simple straight line quilting on the pocket.  I did change the way the author suggested finishing up the top binding on the pocket.  I sewed it on the way she suggested, but then she suggested hand stitching it down on the backside (inside of the pocket.)  Well I was way to lazy for that and just stitched in the ditch right at the top of the pocket/binding, thus sealing it on the backside.  If you look closely at the block above you can see my stitching right on the line, or below it.  That was a huge time and sanity saver.

The book suggested using a twill fabric for the body of the apron, but I wanted to use stash and after a bit of digging, unearthed this home dec fabric and decided to go for it.  Wild and crazy?  Yes, a bit, but I love it, and I feel that the pocket stands out on the dark background fabric.

I am a petite gal, so I chopped off 1" on the bottom of the apron, just to shorten it a bit, which was perfect, thus instead of placing the pocket 2.75" from the bottom edge, I placed it 2" from the bottom edge.  I also created two pockets instead of one, simply by stitching in between two of the blocks.  So the first quilt block is one pocket, and the last two combined are the second pocket.  This way pencils and such won't get lost in a huge open pocket.  You can also see in the photo below the reinforcement stitching that I did on the spot where the ties meet the apron body.  This way I know they won't be coming off.  The book called for you to cut the ties at 34" long, but since I cut them with the width of the fabric, which was around 42", I just left them at that length.  A little extra length never hurt anybody, right?  I don't think so.

I am pleased as punch with this little apron and look forward to using it in the kitchen and if I ever tackle any other craft fairs, I can use it there too!

Details of the Sew Along:
Book:  Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi
Sew Along: Hosted by LRstitched and A Quilter's Table
Project: Polka Dot Cafe Apron
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/patchworkplease/

Here we are at the end of Chapter One.  Thus, the end of the "cross" blocks.  The number 14 block is a bit wonky, I guess those long skinny center strips are a bit off, but it isn't too bad.  Once again these three were straight forward and easy, oh and fun!  I used every print from the Constellations collection, with the exception of one in the first 15 blocks, and aim to try and distribute each of the prints through each chapter evenly.  I hope by doing so at the end I don't have a ton of blocks that look really similar, you know?  Well I better run, I've got to cut out next weeks blocks!

Wondering what all of this is about?  Here are the details:
Book:  City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks by Tula Pink
Quilt Along:  Hosted by Sara over at Sew Sweetness
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/citysamplerquiltalong/
Blocks:  6.5" x 6.5" Featuring the fabric line Constellations by Lizzy House.

Week Three of the Zakka Along 2.0!  This week features both a Lettered Tea Cozy and a Teabag Pouch.  I didn't make the tea cozy, but I did take the time to make the teabag pouch, except not.  We do drink tea, both hot and cold, but it isn't a ritual, but rather teabags thrown in a glass jar, so I knew that I didn't want to use the pouch to hold tea, so i decided to use it for sewing supplies!  Originally I thought I would use it to hold my hand sewing needles, but after seeing this version HERE I knew that I would use it for machine needles instead!  I thought it was such a great idea!

Once I had decided it would be a sewing pouch, I figured, why not use up some of my sewing themed fabric!  I dug through my stash and found a print that featured small sewing items, gathered up a few solid scraps, a scrap of ribbon, a random button, and I was good to go!  This was a quick and super easy project, simple directions and straight forward.  I added the stitching around the outside just to "finish it off" and I like that look, it looks polished and neat.  Now it holds my little cases of sewing machine needles, all organized and tidy in my sewing box.  No more digging around for the different sizes, they are all in one place now.

Details of the Sew Along:
Book:  Patchwork, Please! by Ayumi Takahashi
Sew Along: Hosted by LRstitched and A Quilter's Table
Project: Teabag Pouch
Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/patchworkplease/