A month and a half ago, I had the pleasure to share my Lotus quilt over at Sew Sweetness as part of the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along, it was such a fun quilt to make and after it was finished I was just itching to make another one of Julie's patterns.  They really are great y'all.  Well I quickly figured out the next pattern I wanted to make after seeing Debbie's version of Northern Lights.  Oh so pretty!  So I ordered the Northern Lights pattern (I already had the Hex N More ruler) and I ordered this gorgeous fabric (Shimmer) by Jennifer Sampou.  I quickly got to work!

I decided to make the Baby sized quilt, I ordered seven different fabrics, so I only had to figure out which one to eliminate.  Well as you can see, in the end I was unable to eliminate one and instead decided to use them all!  So in order to use them all, I added another row to the width, and two extra rows to the length.  Thus my quilt ended up being right in between the Baby size and Lap size, measuring 44" x 56."  The great thing about this pattern is how easy it is to customize to get just the right size. 

I intend for this quilt to be a wall hanging in my house and honestly this is probably the most elegant thing I have ever sewn.  Very subdued for me, usually I am all bright and crazy, so this is really a step out of my comfort zone.  Now you can't really tell in these photos, but the fabric is named "Shimmer" for a reason, it has just a slight touch of metallic accents or shimmer to them.  They are gorgeous!  Really stunning. and I hate the fact that you just can't appreciate it unless you see these in person.  The print in the very center, the lightest one, is my absolute favorite, in a way it reminds me of a snake skin, but it is just so darn perfect!  I chose to arrange the fabrics from dark to light back to dark and also to separate the two different colorways.  I was hoping for a smooth transition, and I am really pleased with the result.

This quilt top was cut out and sewn in about a day, which is also one of the things I love about Jaybird Quilts patterns, so fast and it packs such a visual punch.  I had hoped to have it quilted by now (I already have my thread) but am struggling to find the perfect backing and honestly don't want to just settle to have it finished.  So that being said, I took it outside this morning for a quick photo shoot and for now we will have to enjoy it as just a quilt top.  I plan to matchstick quilt this one via She Can Quilt inspiration, but not all over, rather in a very deliberate pattern, I think it will be awesome, or at least I hope it will be!  It looks great in my head!

I am linking up this quilt with the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along.  It was really fun to be part of the Blog Hop, and then turn around, sew another quilt and be able to link it up!  If you get a chance, head over to the link up and check out the other entries, there are some fabulous projects over there!  Thank you to both Sara at Sew Sweetness for holding such a fun Sew Along and for Julie at Jaybird Quilts for designing such awesome patterns and rulers!

Popping in today to share an upcoming blog hop hosted by I'm Feelin' Crafty.  I was lucky enough to be a pattern tester for this great new quilt pattern and will be showing off my finished quilt on Friday.  Not to brag or anything, but it turned out so darn cute!  I know you will want to make one too once you see all the great participants in this blog hop!

Excited already?  Ready to purchase the pattern?  Then click HERE to go to the I'm Feelin' Crafty Craftsy shop to purchase the pattern and get stitching!

I know I've been super quiet lately, but I've been steady sewing and have quite a few finishes to show off in the upcoming weeks, so please stay tuned and I hope you all are thoroughly enjoying your summer!

Inspired by Stitched in Color's Flirting the Issue Sew Along, I was excited to quickly whip up a skirt.  The sew along was based on the Flirting the Issue Skirt by Anna Maria Horner, which is a free project download from her (Anna Maria Horner's) website.  I dug through my stash, found the beautiful Anna Maria Horner voile seen above, made a quick trip to the store for some muslin (for the lining) and enough elastic to make that gorgeous waist.  Three supplies, super easy.

The skirt is very easy to make, two rectangles, mine were cut at 19" tall by the width of fabric twice, which ended up being more than twice my waist measurement, so this skirt is very full.  Once the rectangles are sewn, you stitch the outer fabric to the lining and then create four channels for the elastic.  The most time consuming part is threading all the elastic, but I used my car rider line time effectively, then came home and finished it up.  The hem was super quick and the last step, voila, you have a finished beautiful skirt.

Well beautiful on a hanger and not necessarily on me.  It fits, it is the right length, but honestly I think it is too full for my frame.  I don't necessarily think it is horrible on me, and I definitely need to find the perfect shirt to wear with it (which will help a lot,) it just isn't that flattering.  Oh well, lesson learned, next time I will stick with the straight skirt.  But for now I will enjoy the glorious waist band, which is my favorite part and the main reason I decided to make the skirt, oh I love those gathers!  You can see my lining fabric, or inside of my skirt below.

I'm linking up my finished (in about 3 hours) Flirting the Issue skirt with Stitched in Color's linky party!  Rachel did a great job illustrating the steps and talking your through each section making this skirt even easier to put together.  A great project for a beginner!  Thank you Rachel!

Lastly I need to take care of a little business, time for me to post the winner of the Juliana Horner fabric bundle below from Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!  The Random Number Generator from Random.org chose number 74, which was Beth T.  Congratulations Beth, whom I already contacted, she quickly responded and I already shipped the fabrics to her, enjoy them Beth!  Thanks to all that entered and all my new followers!

Welcome to Marci Girl Designs!  If you are here for the first time from Blogger's Quilt Festival, I would love for you to have a look around.  I am a stay at home mom to two precious boys and I fill all my free time with all forms of sewing, and in the last few years, mostly quilting.  I'm pretty obsessed, but anyways, enough about me, let's talk about this quilt!

This is my Cosmic Burst quilt that was part of two sew alongs that took place a few years ago.  It started with the Cosmic Burst Quilt Along hosted by Distant Pickles and then I chose to use "my precious" fabrics and incorporated the My Precious Quilt Along hosted by Kelby Sews.  Way back in the day when this quilt was started, I worked pretty diligently on it and had the quilt top finished in a semi-timely manner (good for me anyway.)  In typical fashion, once the quilt top was finished, it sat for a long time, probably a year.  Well at the beginning of last year (think last March) I finally basted, quilted and bound it.  I even took pictures back then, but NEVER blogged about it.  I have no idea why I never blogged about it, I ADORE this quilt, it is currently hanging in my living room and I love it, I guess I just never sat down to share this beauty.  Well today is the day and I decided to share it today by participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

I said before that this quilt started with the Cosmic Burst Quilt Along, so the pattern was chosen from the very beginning, I knew what the overall quilt design was based on this awesome pattern that Julie designed.  I still love it today as much as I did when I started this project.  Such a pretty design.  I then had to choose what fabrics I wanted to use to compliment the pattern.  Well I knew I wanted something pretty special, so i chose to cut up my hoarded, precious Heather Ross, Macaroni Love Story that was printed exclusively for Spoonflower.  I created 3 digital mock-ups of fabric placement (I didn't want to mess this thing up) and after debating for a while, chose the one I liked best.  In the end I added in Patty Young, Lush, Running Stitch (the pink and orange dotted stripes) and then framed the whole thing with a background fabric of Alexander Henry Heath (the gray crosshatch,) still one of my all time favorites.

I had to do quite a bit of figuring to get all of the directional prints to fall perfectly, especially those blue and yellow sail boats, that was a mental challenge!  But once the cutting was done, the sewing was fast and before I knew it I had a finished quilt top.  And there it sat forever.  Well in the meantime Heather Ross designed fabric for Hancock Fabric stores, one of the prints was a matching clothespin doll print in gray (which worked out PERFECTLY) and I was able to buy enough yardage for the back of this precious quilt that featured all of these much loved and hoarded fabrics.  So I basted it, and then had to decide on quilting.

I pretty much knew that I would straight line quilt this one, and I wanted to feature the radiance of that center star from which the whole quilt pattern was based.  I started quilting on the diagonal in 1/2" lines from corner to corner and then the opposite direction, this creating the wonderful grid right in the dead center of this quilt, seen below.  I just loved how that turned out.  Oh and I used a nice matching gray quilting thread, to hopefully blend in, but yet be seen just the right amount.

Once the center sections were quilted, I just echoed the quilting in diagonal "triangles" in the top, bottom and sides.  I chose to do this stitching 3/4" apart, hoping it would make the center section stand out, and I think it did exactly what I was intending!  Once the quilting was complete I decided to bind it in the same Alexander Henry Heath, so that the binding would just blend into the background.  The finished quilt measures 40" x 40", I used a cotton batting (don't remember the details) and it is a perfect wall hanging.

I am so happy to have shared this finished quilt today and thanks so much for reading along!  I also wanted to mention that I am fairly new to Instagram, and I would love it if you would follow along with my daily antics, you can find my Instagram account here, marci_girl.

Hello and welcome to Marci Girl Designs, today is Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew!  If you are here for the first time from Sew Mama Sew, I'd love for you to stick around and have a look, but if you don't have time, you can just enter to win some fabric, that is cool too! 

Today's giveaway is five fat quarters of Juliana Horner fabric from JoAnn Fabrics!  Are you familiar with Juliana Horner, you know daughter of the great fabric designer Anna Maria Horner?  Well Juliana has designed 3 separate lines for JoAnn Fabrics and the giveaway today is from two of those lines.  You see I was kinda on the fence about the first two lines she designed.  I loved the actual prints, but the colors were far from my style and I just couldn't commit, until line three came out and I knew they were right up my alley!  So I went to my local store, and started digging and ended up picking out my favorite prints, and these favorites are the five featured above.  The first (brown latticework) is from her first line and the other four are from her third.  They all play together nicely, don't you think?

If you would like to win this little collection, all you need to do is this:
1.  Answer this question in the comments:  Are you looking forward to any big blockbuster movie this summer?  If not, any TV show that is starting up this summer that you are looking forward to?
2.  For all my followers, you get a second entry, just leave a second comment, and if you want to become a new follower (hello!,) leave a second comment as well!

Details:
This giveaway is open May 12, 2014 and will close May 16, 2014 at 5 pm PST
The max number of entries you may have is two.
This giveaway is open internationally, as long as you have an address that I can ship to!
The winner will be picked randomly via a Random Number Generator.

Thanks and have fun entering all those giveaways!

Today, I am over at Sew Sweetness with a Jaybird Quilts pattern review as part of the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along.  Above you can see my fabric palette for the quilt that I created, and below you can see a sneak peak of the finished quilt.  Click HERE to read my review of the pattern Lotus by Jaybird Quilts and to see my finished quilt!

Hello all!  Hoping you had a good weekend and excited about starting a new week!  I am, or at least really trying!  I have a few bee blocks to share and will start out with the Always Bee Learning group.

First up are some Hobo Blocks for "hettie k."  These measure 6.5" square and I believe the symbol above is "Poor Man."  These blocks feature 1.5" half square triangles, not my strongest skill for sure, but I don't think these turned out that bad.  Hettie is making a quilt for her youngest sister's graduation present, I can't wait to see it all together.

Above is an "Ogee Quilt" block for "QuiltGenius."  Our bee is based on the concept of "learning" and I have to say that this is a great block for that.  I used Leanne's (She Can Quilt) technique for sewing curves, which worked so well, sewing these curves was a snap. Well I messed up and was supposed to trim those blocks, which I didn't and I just stitched them together, then realized they were too large and decided to trim them at that point.  That was a mistake, because when sewing together the final block you can see that my curves aren't very "curvy" but rather a tad squished and choppy.  Sorry about that, but I really did learn a lot from this block.  I don't remember the finished size, but it is large, I will guess around 16" x 16."

My last set for the Always Bee Learning group are for "flickrdeb50" and technically these are super early, as these are the May blocks.  Debbie requested a very easy block (but another learning one that I have never done before) half rectangle triangles.  The tutorial for these blocks can be found HERE.  It really is quite straight forward and I know that these blocks will become part of an awesome quilt!  These measure 7" x 13" unfinished, and I made 6 of them.  We were only supposed to make 4, but alas I messed up 2 (let's just say my iron didn't like those 2) so I was able to squeeze 2 more out of the fabric she sent and make things all right with the world!

Now let us talk about that PROMISE.  At the beginning of the year I applied for do.Good Stitches, I was at a point that I realized I was now in only one bee and was able to take on a bit more work that was going to go to a great cause.  Fast forward around 1.5 months and Rachel was able to fit me into an existing group, the PROMISE Circle.  I was to start with April's blocks and just continue on with the group.  Well being the overachiever that I am, I also offered to make blocks for the March round as well.

So first up are the two blocks that I made for "carrie bee" for the month of March.  She was the quilter that month and chose to have us all make reverse applique blocks based on the tutorial found HERE.  Her requirements were creme, tan or beige background, with a spring like fabric "applique."  These were the only two solid fabrics in my stash that "kinda" match those requirements, I certainly hope they work.  I also want to defend myself and say that these blocks photographed horribly and really and truly aren't this wrinkly and HORRID looking.  I promise they aren't.  I think the camera just picks up every single wrinkle and flaw, but honestly they were fairly smooth and flat.  These blocks were easy and dare I say FUN.  I didn't think I would like them, but I really did, and made both in less than an hour.  These both measure 12.5" x 12.5."  I have to say that I love my little "hippie dippy" cat down there peeping out.

Last but certainly not least are 4 "plaid" blocks that I made for the month of April for "eschbaugh."  From my understanding she designed this block which measures 10.5" x 10.5" and is made out of 2.5" squares and 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles.  She asked for 2 blocks, but said any more would be appreciated, and since I have a ton of solid blue in my stash, I was happy to oblige and honestly these were really straight forward.  Don't you think this design is so clever.  I certainly do!

In conclusion, I am happy/thrilled/delighted to be part of the PROMISE Circle of do.Good Stitches and look forward to contributing to quilts that will end up doing good and contributing to those in need!

This week is the start of the Jaybird Quilt Sew Along hosted by Sew Sweetness!  I am happy to announce to that I am a participant in this blog hop and you can see my quilt next Friday!  Until then, make sure to go and check out all the guests this week (there are some awesome projects) and then just continue to follow along!

I don't want this to be a "photo free" post, so I'll share a tiny sneak peak of the selvedges that I used in my quilt!

Here is the schedule of guest posts:

April 21 - Lynn @ The Little Red Hen – Science Fair
April 22 – Scott @ Blue Nickel Studios - Seaside
April 23 – Emily @ Mommy’s Naptime – Mini Disco
April 24 – Hadley @ Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle - Jawbreaker
April 25 – Kelly @ Kelby Sews - Giggles

April 28 – Becky @ My Fabric Obsession - Snack Time
April 29 – Sara @ Sew Sweetness - Tasty
April 30 – Michelle @ City House Quilts - Candy Dish
May 1 – Debbie @ A Quilter’s Table - Northern Lights
May 2 – Marci @ Marci Girl Designs - Lotus

May 5 – Kerry @ Verrykerryberry - Rock Candy
May 6 – Andres @ Mad Tesla - Mini Northern Lights
May 7 – Lee @ May Chappell - Day Break   &    Kim @ My Go-Go Life – Candy Dish
May 8 – Leona @ Leona’s Quilting Adventure - Wonton
May 9 – Heather @ House of a la Mode - Disco

May 12 – Jane @ Quilt Jane - Night Sky
May 13 – Lucy @ Charm About You - Tiny Dancer

You can participate in the Sew Along also and win some awesome prizes!  Starting April 21, 2014 - June 13, 2014 all you have to do is create a project from one of Julie's (Jaybird Quilts) great patterns or her book, Skip the Borders.  Link up your finished project over at Sew Sweetness and Julie herself will pick the winners!  For full details of the contest and to see all of the wonderful prizes, click HERE.  Now go pick up a ruler and pattern and get started!  You won't regret it, I promise!

We have reached the point where we sew all the rows together and trim it up.  So here I am with a finished quilt top!  It measures 41" x 48" and will be a wall hanging in my house.  I plan to do some simple straight line quilting, and I just ordered some more basting pins (I ran out and actually they were delivered yesterday) so I plan to baste it up soon and get to quilting. The fabrics in this quilt are Indian Summer by Sarah Watson, the peach is Carolyn Friedlander's Architextures and some solids, both Art Gallery and Kona.

I included the photo below because of the little guy in red all the way to the right.  He cracks me up back there, down the trail.  Anyways, quite a few have linked up their finished quilt tops, so hop on over and have a look at the diverse selection of quilts, because I promise, they are all really different!

Excited about my first quarter finishes, I am eager to make my second quarter list and start crossing them off!  I thought I was going to have a longer list, but honestly I have six projects this time, just like last quarter, the main difference is less small projects and more quilts.  I think I can do it!  So here we go!

1.  Small Project - Autumn Sampler, pattern by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I only have black and white floss left to add in and then I will be done.  Well of course I want to mat and frame it as well.  I am so close to done I can taste it!

2.  Small Project - Two large handbags for a friend that I promised like 2.5 years ago.  Yep they have just been sitting there, cut out and waiting for me to stitch them up.  This is the quarter that I will finish this project!

1.  Quilt (Large Project) -  Triangle Quilt Along, the rows are sewn, just need to finish the top, trim it, baste and quilt.  It is small, so it should go rather quickly.

2.  Quilt (Large Project) - City Sampler, it is basted and just awaiting quilting.  I have already wound 10 bobbins, so I just have to sit down and start!  I know how I will quilt the blocks, but NO idea of how to quilt the stripes....

3.  Quilt (Large Project) - Radiant Orchid, I ordered the backing yesterday.  So I need to construct the back, baste and quilt.  I'm not sure how this one will be quilted, any suggestions?

4.  Quilt (Large Project) - Bloom Bloom Pow, I have the backing done and the white batting.  Just need to baste and quilt it.  Also not sure how to quilt this one, seriously leave me some suggestions!

A total of six project, two small and four large.  I can do it!  Interested in joining along?  You still have time, click on the 2014 Finish Along picture below for all the details and more information!