Work in Progress Wednesday...

May is my month in That Stash Bee.  I thought I would go delightfully simple this month with the straight up St. Louis 16 patch.  And I picked some bright and happy fabrics to make my sample blocks.  These blocks sew up in no time at all.  In fact I posted the link to the tutorial last evening and Toni has already made the blocks.  Over achiever, or what?  Thanks, Toni!  Here is the tutorial in case you are interested.

This past weekend, I was busy with this quilt.  I got the whole thing put together, sandwiched and started the quilting.  In fact, I am almost finished the quilting but there is still a bit to go because somebody had the great idea of doing a 1" grid all over the blinkin' quilt.  Good grief, that is a lot of quilting!

And I made a little needle book to go with a swap package.  Still have to find more things to fill the fabirc bucket but needle books are always so much fun!

But I put the inside lining upside down.  Seriously.  Oh well.

Linking up with Lee for Work in Progress Wednesday!

Sneak Peeks... swap sewing in progress...

This round of the 4S swap has us making and filling fabric buckets using the tutorial at Birch Fabrics.  The tutorial is great and sews up easily.  What I wasn't anticipating was how big the small bin actually is.  I am going to have to load a lot of stuff in here for my secret swap partner!  This is the direction I went.  A little Anna Maria Horner Social Climber in teal framed in Kona Cerise and pieced into enough linen to make a bucket.  Little bit of perle cotton and we can call it done.  Now I just have to hope it meets the approval of my swap partner!

Warp and Weft Lotta Jansdotter Challenge and a giveaway!

I am the newest member of the Warp and Weft Sewing Society, and as it would happen, my first project is also a challenge!  Esmari, the lovely proprietor of Warp and Weft, had the great idea to send us all a bundle of 6 fat quarters from Lotta Jansdotter's line Mormor and Sylvia.  She challenged all of us to make something inspired by spring.

I had to make a quilt.  Esmari made a quilt, Sherri made gorgeous tote bags, Carla made a bounty of pouches and bags, Shannon made a baby quilt and a sweet tunic for her daughter.  Cynthia and Lysa are still to come!  I used almost every bit of the 6 fat quarters along with Kona white to make a bright and crisp quilt, perfect for changing up the decor in your living room in time for spring or for snuggling under while out on the deck on a cool spring evening.  I made a variation of a log cabin block, set on point, and then spaced them out with white blocks.  I added a few strips of the leftover fabric to some of the white blocks and then finished it all off with a black and white striped binding.  I had the crazy idea that I should quilt it on the diagonal.  Somebody remind me next time how much of a pain it is to quilt on the diagonal on a big quilt!  Anyway, it turned out just the way I imagined it.  And just for the record, the quilting lines are about an inch apart and I used Aurifil 50 wt in white.

 Quilt Stats
Name:  A Whole "Lotta" Spring

Design:  log cabin on point, mine

Size:  66" by 66"

Fabric: selected fat quarters from Lotta Jandotter's Mormor and Sylvia  

Binding:  Clown Stripe in white, Timeless Treasures

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

Fabric Giveaway

Enter to win 12 Fat Quaters from Lotta Jansdotter’s latest collection Mormor and  Sylvia, generously provided by Warp & Weft.  Thanks Esmari!

In order to enter this Giveaway please follow the Rafflecopter instructions and leave a comment on this post.

You can enter 7 times in total by leaving a comment on each participating blogger’s Lotta Jansdotter Challenge post.

The winner will be announced April 28. Good luck!

Blog Hop Schedule
Esmari – Warp & Weft:  April 21
Sherri – Thread Riding Hood:  April 22
Carla – My ½ Dozen Daily:  April 23
Shannon  - The Finished Garment:  April 24
Cathy – Blueberry Patch:  April 25 Oh, that is me!
Cynthia – cynthiaf:  April 26
Lysa – Lysa Flower:  April 27

My bundle... from the top Mormor:  Little Bloomster in Mist, Pilvi in Sky, Emerald Solid, Tassel in Rubine and from Sylvia, Black Tav and finally from Mormor, Little Bloomster in Emerald.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Random on a Thursday... spring is here

 So I was sewing away last Saturday.  Mum was visiting so she was sitting at the table beside me.  And then I saw a shadow.  I thought it was the neighbour's dog so I looked up.  It was not a dog.  It was Marvin!  He peeked at me through the sliding glass doors and was peeking under the ironing board at me.  EEK!  Marvin is a black bear.  I hollered at Husband, "Little bear!" Just a little guy and a pretty cute little guy at that!  EEK!  He was right there looking at me!  Husband blew the air horn and he toddled off into the woods but he came back again and got another air horn blast.  The not so great picture shows Marvin's smudgy wet bear print and I put the brown leaf beside the wet smudge to show how big or little his  furry wet paws are.

 And the flowering currants are blooming at the pond.  So pretty!  We are a bit worried that the visiting wild ducks might be eating up all the frog eggs but I am sure nature will figure it all out.

Mmmm.  First rhubarb pie of the season.  Mmmm.

I found a ton of lovely and awesome vintage buttons at the thrift store on the weekend.  Lots of glass and shell buttons and so nice of them to sort them into color bags.  Thank you, thrift store!  Mmmm, buttons!

I spy a ritz cracker button in this lot!  What?  Yep.  There it is.

This little chickadee found a pile of Webster's golden retriever fluff and was trying to stuff as much of it into his beak as possible.  I get a warm fuzzy feeling thinking that Webby's fluff is going to line a little bird's nest!

Happy Random Thursday! Linking up with Cindy!

Warp and Weft Lotta Jansdotter Blog Hop and Giveaway has begun!

This week is an exciting week for the Warp and Weft Sewing Society!  Esmari has started the ball rolling over at the Warp and Weft Blog.  Hop on over and see what Esmari created with her bundle of Mormor and Sylvia from Lotta Jansdotter.  And you can enter to win this lovely bunch of fabric with 7 chances starting today!

You can enter a total of  7 times by following the rafflecopter instructions on each participating blogger’s Lotta Jansdotter Challenge post on their day posted!

• Esmari – Warp & Weft: April 21st *Giveaway starts here TODAY!!!
• Sherri – Thread Riding Hood April 22nd
• Carla – My ½ Dozen Daily: April 23rd 
• Shannon - The Finished Garment: April 24th
• Cathy – Blueberry Patch: April 25th
• Cynthia – cynthiaf: April 26th
• Lysa – Lysa Flower: April 27th

Winner to be announced: April 28th!

Here is a sneak peak of what I have been creating with my bundle.  So fresh and pretty!

Eeek, I'm a member!

I bit the bullet and signed up as an individual membership of the "mothership" a.k.a. the Modern Quilt Guild.  My own guild, the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild is still in process so I decided to see what membership gives me.  So far, a card and a pin but I will keep you posted!  It is a very nice pin.  

Last week when we hosted Monica, Happy Zombie, our guild organized a shop hop but I could not go because I had to work.  Darn those full time jobs, getting in the way of my quilting fun!  Anyway, Cynthia became my personal shopper at Daisu!  The snazzy Japanese dollar store.  Oh my goodness.  She found me some really fun things.  Polka dot zippers, purse frames, fabric, cutey patootey tape, all sorts of fun stuff.  Including high tech "barf" bags.  Just in case.  With detailed instructions.  Just saying.  So silly!  Thanks, Cynthia!  You are the best!

Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday!!!!!

Bee Blocks.. That Stash Bee

I made 8 little churn  and dash blocks for April's That Stash Bee for Ginny.  The block pattern came from the great little book, 500 Quilt Blocks by Lynne Goldsworthy and Kerry Greene.  They are pretty darn cute and finish at 6.5".  Ginny thought she would play an April Fools joke on us and suggested she would like 4 New York Beauty blocks.  Har har har.  Too funny.  Churn and dash blocks on the mossy lawn.  Perfect.  Now I just have to get them in the mail.

EEEK! Happy Zombie and Ron!

We have had several days of fun with Monica Solorio-Snow, a.k.a.  Happy Zombie!  And we got to meet the Ron Swanson quilt in person.  Tree pants, too, because not every tree wears skirts!  Hi Cynthia!  Hi Monica!  OMG!  What a hoot!  And would you look at the zippy pouch on the table... spools!

HI Darlene!  Hi Cynthia, again.  Hi, Tree Pants!  A full day of quilty people, great food and sewing.  Bliss.

Meet Buzz and other random bits

Forgive the slightly blurry shot but these little guys don't hang around for long... usually.  Meet Buzz.  He is a male Rufous Hummingbird and he has been back in our neck of the woods for several weeks now.  This is his spot.  He is hard at work guarding the two hummingbird feeders above his head.  He hangs out in front of the dining room window everyday for great lengths of time.  Just in case, you know, someone else might try to have a wee bit of a feed at HIS feeders.  We like him a lot.

 Do full bobbins make you happy?  Man, full bobbins just fill me with such a sense of purpose.  Oh bobbins, you complete me!

Husband took this picture and emailed it to Stokes Seeds.  His point was that they are wasting a lot of money sending us 3, count them, 3 catalogues this spring.  Seriously, what the heck?  Anyway, the garden looks really good.  We just did a tour of the homestead.  It all looks so promising.  The rhubarb is almost ready for the first picking.  Just saying.

That's it.  Off to quilt guild tonight.  Best night of the month!  Linking up for Random Thursday with the Randomeers over at Cindy's.

It filled up the wall!

I was working away on this last weekend because I want to start another project and I need the design wall.  I cannot just take these blocks off the wall though because I would have to number the blocks and the rows.  The blocks totally fit together like some sort of brain teaser.  The risk of messing up just seems all too possible so on the wall it stays!  Hopefully I will get them all put together on the weekend. But not on Saturday because on Saturday, I will be sewing with  Happy Zombie and the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild!

I have bee blocks and the Lucky Stars BOM also on my to do list and the lovely Mormor from Lolla Jansdotter is all chopped up and a pile of blocks is growing.  So much fun!  Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday.

A sneak peak... Warp and Weft Sewing Society...fabric happy!

Oh my goodness!  I have a lovely bunch of fabric waiting to be chopped up!  These are a few of Lotta Jansdotter's new lines, Mormor and Sylvia.  Esmari from Warp and Weft sent them to me after asking me to join the lovely ladies in the Warp and Weft Sewing Society.  We are all sewing with a selection from Mormor and Sylvia this month.  It is lovely and fresh!  And yes, there are even some gorgeous, saturated solids to go along with the prints.  Fabric happiness!  

And just in case you didn't figure it out, you can find this lovely fabric at Warp and Weft!   I have to stash some of it, quick!  The Mist Little Blomster is a perfect low volume print, don't you think?  And the black and whites in Sylvia are awesome.  Check it out.  It will make you think of spring sunshiny days ahead.  And yes, the forsythia is blooming.  Happy Spring!

Whispery soft voile

While I was home over spring break, I transformed a end of the bolt and on sale of this silky, fabulous voile...from Westminster Fabrics, Bromley Collection and I think it is called Ikat Damask in Citron.  Whatever it is called it is lovely.  Like butter.  Whispery soft and perfect for spring.  What did I do with it?  Scarves!  One for me and one for a friend and I think I have enough for at least one more.

A start of something...

I started a new project.  This is a pattern from Quilty magazine, not the newest issue but the one before it.  I am using some of my stash but the focus of the fabrics has come from the custom bundle Esmari and I picked for the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild's last custom bundle from Warp and Weft.  I set aside the really strong colours... and set them aside for another project and kept to this pallette.  I think it is going to be really lovely.  I love how the blocks are interwoven.  It is a bit of a puzzle.  And there is a problem with the cutting directions in the pattern.  Note to self.  Check for corrections online before cutting.  Boo hiss!  Instead of 4.5" wide rectangles the pattern says cut 2.5" rectangles.  Boo hiss.  You get the idea that I know have a stack of 80-2.5" rectangles for something else.  Anyway, since I am not really following the pattern once I got everything cut, I have to build the quilt on the wall to make sure the prints match up from block to block.

Linking up with Lee for Work in Progress Wednesday!  What is on your design wall?