Ribbon!

Last week a happy package arrived at my doorstep from Modkid!  I had won a giveaway they had a couple of weeks ago for some of their new ribbon.  They were taking some of these sample packs to Quilt Market, and they gave some away too!  

 I am so excited that I won!  Look at all that beautiful ribbon!  It is all two yard cuts, so it is perfect for embellishing dresses or a top. 

I am including a picture of the back of the boxes in the same placement as the picture of the ribbons, so if you wanted some for yourself you can figure out what ribbon is what.  I know the picture is  a little blurry on the type, so if you have a question, leave me a comment and I will double check for you.  I can't wait to use it!

Hexagon Pillow

 I finished my hexagon pillow this past weekend.  I started it last week, and yesterday I added another row of hexagons, quilted, and put it together during nap time.  I love the way it turned out!

I think it will go nicely in the corner of our breakfast nook, and it coordinates well with one side of my tablerunner without being too matchy-matchy.

 I love this fabric on the back!  I quilted on either side of the circles in simple vertical lines.
 This is the first quilted pillow I have made, and it love the extra shape the batting gives it.

 I did a envelope enclosure on the back with binding around the exposed edges of the quilt sandwich.  I didn't want to hand tack the binding down because I wanted it to be finished during nap time, so I experimented with one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine.  The stitch is a big circle followed by a small circle.  I thought that would look neat next to the circles on the back.

It adds a nice pop of color to the corner of the kitchen!  Today was such a great day.  I finished this pillow and then took my daughter to the park; the weather was beautiful which was great because it has been raining and cold here this past week.

Yesterday was not as good of a day, and if you don't like gross baby stories, don't read on!  We have our house on the market, and we had an open house yesterday from 11-3..  We left at eleven in the morning and went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  The thought was we would have lunch and then Z could play on the indoor playground there.  We started eating, and then she projectile vomited all over herself,  my pants, and my husbands shirt. I felt so bad for the people eating around us! We had brought extra clothes for her but not for us!  Needless to say, we couldn't go home until 3 and it was 11:15.  So we had to go into Target, which was right next door, and pick up a new pair of pants for me and a new t-shirt for my husband, so we wouldn't have to walk around in yucky clothes for the rest of the day.  We then went on to the park, and the rest of the day was great.  Since then she has been feeling great, so it was some weird fluke.  I learned to always have a change of clothes for me in the car when you can't go back to the house!

English Paper Pieced Diamonds

I recently saw this post on Crazy Mom Quilts, and I knew it would be the perfect summer project for me.  In a couple of weeks, I am traveling to see my in-laws and my parents in Mobile, Al. and in Destin, Fl.  I needed some type of project that would travel easily and would allow me to work on a sewing project while I was there.  I ordered some quilt patis and got started!

I am not very far yet, but that is okay! This will be a great project to take along to the park or for car rides, and I mainly plan on working on it when I am unable to pull my sewing machine out.

Life Under Quilts has started a Quilt-a-long for this type of project, and if you click on the link above, it will take you to the flickr group.  She also has a great youtube video for how to put these together if you would like to start one too!

Auburn Mugrug from the FRMQG Swap

Last week we had a meeting of the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild, and we exchanged mug rugs that we made for our partners.  I blogged about the one I made here, but at the time I didn't have a picture of the awesome one I received in return.  I had left it in Monument so it could be entered into the Monument Art Hop because I loved it so much that I wanted other people to be able to see it.

Melissa, who made this one for me, took a picture this past weekend to send it to me.  I can't wait until it is in my house, so I can see it everyday.  There are so many things I love about it!  I went to Auburn University for college, and it was really neat that Melissa also attended Auburn. I had the best college experience, and I love Auburn so much.   How cool is it that we went to the same school in Alabama, we now live in Colorado, and we met through the modern quilt guild?  Just to give you a little insight into how deeply Auburn is rooted in my family check  out how many people from my family attend(ed) Auburn: me, my brother, my husband, my brother-in-law, my dad, all of my aunts and uncles (6 of them), five of my six first cousins, numerous second cousins, and the list keeps going on.

She  made it out of lots of blue scraps because I love scraps of fabric, and all of my recent quilts have been made out of scraps!  There are people in my guild that don't believe I buy yardage (Traci), but I do.:)  It is easier for me to use my scraps because I don't worry as much about messing up.  So I love that this has so many blue scraps in it because it reminds me of my scrap quilts.  I love the way she quilted it with the lines going all over-it seems so modern to me.    I don't have a picture of the back, but she put on the cutest label with her name and the title of the swap.  I wish I had done the same to my mug rug, and it will hopefully remind me to do that to my quilts in the future.  Thanks, Melissa!  I love it!

WIP: Wednesday

 It's Wednesday, and I have decided to make a list of my works in progress-mainly so I will remember not to start anything new!  At least, I am trying to not start anything that is a huge project any time soon.  A couple of my blog friends (Katie and GreenStyleMom) link on Wednesdays, so I thought I would join in!

 

W.I.P. Wednesday

Finishes:
This week I finished my tablerunner!

In Progress:
Hexagon Pillow

 This past weekend I checked out a new Quilt Store in Denver called Snappy Quilts.  They have a great assortment of fabric, and I picked up these fat quarters to make a pillow to go in our yellow kitchen that will match the tablerunner I finished this past weekend.

 I cut hexagons and machine pieced them together using some of the skills I picked up at the retreat I went to a while back.  It was tricky, but I am glad I am trying to learn new things.

 This will be a pillow once I add one more row to the width.


 Yo-Yo quilt
 I am determined to finish this summer!  I don't think this is the most recent photo of my progress, but I will have to pull it all out and rephotograph.  I am at the joining it all together stage right now. 

 Paper Pieced Diamond Stars
I just started this one, and I don't have any pictures yet!  My yo-yo quilt is too big to actually tote around anymore, so this is my traveling project.

 Sewconnected Quilt

 I have made the backing, have the batting, and I just need to baste and quilt.  I won't get to this for at least another week.

ABC I-Spy Quilt
I am still collecting fabrics and making blocks.

Nine Patch Quilt a Long
I just need to add sashing, borders, and put it all together.  I hope to finish this one this summer.

 Back Burner/Tabled:
 
 Geese in the Forest/Tokyo Triangles
I need to pull this one out again and see which blocks I still need to make!

 Nine Patch Quilt #2
I was obviously crazy enough to start a second nine patch quilt before I finished the first.

 Craftster Lap Quilt Swap
Top is finished.  It needs to be quilted.

Star Quilt a Long
Top is finished.

Not pictured:
50 States Quilt
Lap Quilt Swap #2-Dog Quilt
Lap Quilt Swap #3-Picnic Quilt
Kona Solids Guild Challenge Quilt


This Weeks Stats:
New Projects: 1
Projects Finished: 1
Projects in Progress: 11
Actively Working On: 4
Back Burner: 7

I think it helps me to just see how many I have to finish to help encourage me to not start anymore new quilts!

Dressing Up the Table

 This past weekend I finished up a table runner for our kitchen table.  I started this table runner this past fall using some 1 1/2 scraps I had left over from my postage stamp quilt.  I really like the way it turned out, and I would love to have a big quilt made in this same style.  That will need to wait a little while because piecing those little squares can be a little tedious.  It wad definitely worth it though!

 

 I used Alexander Henry Farmdale for the the binding, and I love it!  They have that print at Joanne's and I want to make a skirt out of it too.

For the back, I used the last big pieces I had of my Moda Basic Gray Origins leftover from a skirt I made last summer and the gray leftover from the front.  I don't remember the color of gray this is, but it is Kona from Joannes.  I think I like the back as much as the front, and it took a fraction of the time!

I hope you are all having a great start to your week!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2011

 Hi everyone!  I am so excited about this year's Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It is one of my favorite times of the year because you get to visit so many wonderful blogs, see beautiful quilts, and discover new friends! 

I want to share my Scrappy Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt today.  I finished this quilt in February of this year, and it is one of my favorites of all the quilts I have made over the past three years.  I started this quilt in 2008, which is when I truly started quilting. (Yes, it took me a while to finish!) I started collecting novelty fabrics and swapping with people online for bits and pieces of fun prints.  Once I had a collection, I cut them all up into 2.5" squares to make a disappearing nine patch block.  I used 2,052 squares to make the nine patches to make this quilt.  I used a black binding with bright polka dots, and I am so happy with it.  It works well to tie the quilt in together and picks up on the black 1/4" squares that are scattered throughout the quilt.

I am so happy with the way it turned out.  It is approximately 81 x 94", and my original plan was to use it on our full sized bed.  It is funny how things change as the years go by because since I started this quilt, I have had a daughter, who is nineteen months old now.  Instead of on my bed, it may eventually be on hers!  Even now, she loves to lay on it and look at all of the different novelty fabrics to spot all kinds of things, like tennis balls, fish, Auburn University, dogs, cats, and the list goes on and on.  I think she will enjoy spending time looking for different objects and learning what they are for a long time to come-at least I hope so!

There are so many different fun fabrics in this and I love how bright and scrappy it is.  It turned out to be a really neat way of showcasing so many fun prints that really have nothing to do with one another.  I wanted to use a close up picture, so you could get an idea of how many different prints are in this!

I wanted to make a pieced backing using fabrics from my stash, so I pulled out this house print, polka dots, and a jungle theme print.  I did have to go buy the red, but I think they work well together.  If you would like to visit my original post here, there are links to all of the steps in the process of making this craziness.  I made a tutorial for the disappearing nine patch, if you would like to make one of your own.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I am looking forward to visiting all of the people who comment here to see what you have been up to and to check out your beautiful quilts.

Have a great Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Front Range Modern Quilt Guild Mug Rug Swap

Last night I went to the May meeting of the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild down in Monument, CO.  It was so much fun and inspirational.  I really enjoy these meetings so much, and if you live in the Denver/Colorado Springs area, you should go!

We had a mug rug swap at the last meeting, which I missed because I was at the quilting retreat in Ft. Collins, so I had to bring my mug rug this month.  I love this little block, and I plan on eventually making a quilt that is like this full of all of my favorite books.  I want to add book titles to the spines as well.

My partner is an author of young adult books, so I wanted to do something book related.  I found these wonderful stitchery patterns at Wee Wonderfuls called the Book Club Stitchettes, so I had to try out embroidery.  This is my first embroidery!  I then added some books on the right side, so it would look like she was walking away with a stack of books.  She loves Amy Butler, the colors chartreuse and navy, and books, so I added some Daisy Chain from Amy Butler to the binding and a few of the books.

I was inspired to add the ribbons to the spines of the books based on a block that I saw Melinda, who I met at the retreat in Ft. Collins, create for one of her bee members.  I think it really adds a special touch to the blocks.

I really enjoyed being able to tote the embroidery around, and I plan on taking some with me this summer when I travel down to the South to visit with family and go to the beach.  I have to take something to work on for the two weeks I will be gone, and this seems like the perfect project for sitting outside on the porch while visiting.  I have another hand project that I am going to take with me that I will share later on this week.

I received an awesome Auburn mugrug from my partner, Melissa, but I left it in Monument so it could be a part of the Monument Art Hop.  I am hoping my partner has a picture, so I can share it!  It is so perfect for me, as I love Auburn, and it is made out of all these scraps, which I love.  I love it!

I hope you are all having a great Tuesday!

Tutu!

 I recently made the tutu from Oliver + S' new book Little Things to Sew.  I want to make almost all of the projects in this book!  There is so much cuteness in there from little red riding hood capes to sunhats.  Oh, why isn't there more time in my day?

I used four different colors of tulle that I bought at Joannes-a  2 yards of bright pink, a  2 yards of a soft pink, a 2 yards of a salmon and four yards of a soft yellow. 

I love the way it ties in the back, and I love the way the different colors gives it a different look depending on the light.  The ribbons are way too long, but I do like them long.  I made it so it can be reversible with one side having the yellow on the outside and one side has the bright pink, so you get two different looks depending on how it is worn.

It is a little big for my little girl, but it is going to someone else for their birthday that I hope it will fit! It is for a 3-5 year old.  I have enough yardage left over to make another one that is shorter for my girl.  I couldn't wait to see what it looked like, so it is on over her jammies.:)

Other random things that are going on include:
-  I have been trying out contacts this past week, and I have been loving them.  I haven't worn contacts for six years, but I wore them for about twelve years straight before that.  I think my head looks bigger; isn't that weird?

 -If you aren't on pinterest yet, you should check it out.  I have been loving it!  Here is a link to my boards:
http://pinterest.com/audreypawdrey/
 You can request an invite if you don't have one already, and it usually appears within a couple of days.

-There is a Front Range Modern Quilt Guild Meeting on Monday, so if you live in the Denver/Colorado Springs area check it out!  It is a lot of fun, and the people are all great and inspirational.

-Elsie Marley's Kids Week starts next week.  I am plotting what I can make, and while I know I won't have an hour a day, I am determined to make something. 

-I am also up for the challenge behind The Summer of No Pants.  It will have to be the summer of some pants for me though because I don't own enough skirts and dresses for this to completely work!

-This morning when I checked my email I saw the Kate Spain commented on my Barcelona Skirt that I made from her Central Park fabric.  I about died!  It made my day because she is one of my favorite designers, and she likes my skirt.:)  Has this ever happened to you?  It makes me wonder how she stumbled upon that posting, and is she really an Auburn fan.  Either way, she said "Go Auburn" which made me very happy, indeed.:)

Have a happy rest of your week!  I am so glad that it is Thursday.

Lucky me and unlucky me...

I won a couple of blog contest a few weeks ago, and I haven't posted about them!

I won six yards of Moda Bella Solids from p.s. i quilt.  They feel so nice!  I have never used moda bella solids before, so I am excited about trying them out.  The pink has already been used in the backing for my sewconnected quilt that is still not basted.  I need more hours in the day!  P.S. i quilt has a postage stamp quilt along that I am dying to do. 

 

 I won Big Felt Universe from Maya Made, who has a lovely blog.  I read her daily, and I really enjoy it.  I am really excited about using this book to make all kinds of felt creations for my daughter.  I have accepted that I won't have time until summer, but watch out then because I am making a fruit cake first!  This book has all kinds of felt creations in it, and I am looking forward to checking it out. 

 In other news, we are trying to sell our house, and it is officially on the market.  That means that my sewing room is no longer a sewing room.:(  These pictures are from three years ago, so you are seeing my old sewing machine and there was another table to the right of the computer for cutting that was added since then.  This is the unlucky portion of my post.:)

It really had even more stuff than is pictured here including a huge shelf to the right that was full of fabric, felt and quilt tops.

Here is my sewing room now.  It has been a lot harder to sew now that I have to drag everything out of the closet every night, and the house needs to stay clean.  I know I was lucky to have a space that was dedicated to sewing for as long as I did, and I am hopeful that I will be able to reclaim a space in our future space.  I am so hopeful that our house will sell quickly and that we won't lose money on it.