My new friends

I've been slowly making me some new friends.  I made a couple more star girls to add to my Zetti quilt.  I started calling it a zetti quilt in the beginning but wasn't sure how to go about creating the zetti's.  I find this project morphing all the time and know am just referring to these girls as personality people.  Remember this is a quilt I am putting together for a family member with a new degree in Psychology. 

But I am realizing I forgot to give these ladies...hands, shoes, hats.  I think I was suppose to do that so do I use them or re-do them.  Hmmm???  Not sure.  In the meantime, I have been following Carrie Payne's work over at BelieveMagic .  If you have never checked out her work you should as what she creates amazes me.  I recently bought a couple of her patterns at her etsy shop and they are sweet.  The pattern not only had the pattern for making the creative girls she makes but the faces were printed on a piece of fabric in 3 sizes, 4 times each. Awesome!!! Totally not expected.  She also threw in a complimentary package of buttons that are simply gorgeous.  How sweet was that of her to include an extra goodie with my purchase.  I just finished my first block with her creative girl featured on it.  She makes these as art quilts and I certainly plan on making the quilt shop pattern of hers to hang in my quilting studio but I thought they might look nice in the center of these star girls.

I want to make four of these for the center of the quilt.  Oh yeah, she also included in the pattern the ruffle fabric needed to make this next girls dress.  I have not outlined her in black stitching yet but check out her dress.

For now I am calling her my 'Take a Chance Girl' mainly because I think she should kiss the frog.  She doesn't seem to sure about it but the frog looks eager.  Maybe she has kissed one too many toads before.

I love how Carrie put some words on some of them.  On some she has put whole quotes but they are much larger and I want these girls to be just the center of the quilt not the whole thing. Be sure to check out Carrie's other works and I am sure she will have you wanting to Create. Imagine. Smile.  I know that is what she is inspiring me to do.

Snip It Real Good

I finished my April block for the Quiet Play And Sew On BOM  a few weeks ago but haven't got around to posting it yet.  With the month end quickly approaching I had best tie up loose ends so I can start the month of May fresh.  So far I am keeping up with the BOM's which is so far so good. This month we made a pair of scissors for the And Sew on BOM and I really like the addition it will make to the sewing related theme of these blocks. 

I also finished the three castle additions.  This month we added a hill at the bottom of the castle.  My daughter insisted it was a hill.  I thought it was the lower section of the castle.  Thank goodness the pattern called that section a hill, otherwise my fabric choices would have been all wrong and it would have just looked silly.

I like how the hills look so far and the block that will be in the center bottom leading up to the castle wouldn't have looked right without the hill.








Castle three remains my "to be revealed at a later date" castle.  For now let's just say castle two with the gnomes was my favorite until Castle three got it's hill this month.  Too cute is all I'm saying for now.

This is my Craftsy April BOM.  It was the first time I have ever done curved piecing. I had done a dresden before but this was a little different then that, It had you piece it in four sections.  The outer background fabric was pieced on as curved pieces.  It was actually surprisingly SUPER EASY.  I should definitely do more of this.  Each piece never fought me and the curve laid down so flat which was where my fear with this method was.  Fear keeps us from trying many things that are probably just this easy and rewarding. 

This is the part I fretted but it was Easy Peasy and I will have to stop being so fearful of this process because all went as planned and laid perfectly flat like it should...YEAH!  Love it when it works out that way.

The last BOM which is actually the first one I usually do each month and this month was no different is the Quilt Doodle block.  I will have to get a picture posted soon as I don't think I have taken one yet.  I love how it turned out but I would love to appliqued a toadstool into the center of it.

Bring on May...I'm ready are you???

Beautiful Blue Jay

The Forest QAL seems to be my newest obsession.  The blocks are challenging and they take a while to complete but the pay off is HUGE.  I am loving how each of them is turning out.  A few weeks ago Joanna at Shape Moth created a Eurasian Jay for us to make.  The colors were not exactly something I wanted to duplicate in my quilt.  I have been having fun with the teal green and didn't really think the colors of her bird suit my quilt.  I did however, like the fact that she created him to match a bird that they have in her area near Poland.  Think, think, think...
I decided to surf the web and look at the colors of  jay birds.  Not the black and white striped ones behind bars but some real birds.  We have blue jays in our area and found a picture that not only showed one in flight but the background color was ideal for my quilt!!!

My inspirational picture is copyrighted  but you can see it but you can view it here.  It is absolutely gorgeous and this blue jay's pose in flight is so much like Joanna's pattern that it was just a matter of picking out fabrics to bring him to life.  Really not the easiest task.  I still struggled with fabric selection.  I must have done a fairly good job of it though because the ladies at work thought this was the best block I've ever done and they have seen most of my work.

Here is my Beautiful Blue Jay:

I added some leaves like he is taking off from a tree or flying close to one because the fabric so matched my background I couldn't resist adding it and I really like the visual interest it adds to the block.  I struggled the most with wing colors and I started with the black and blue part of the wing and made the wing tips that are white a little shorter to mimic the real thing a little closer.   I would have loved to have two rows of white tips like the real bird does but decided it wasn't worth all the extra piecing.  Once I had that section done I was sure I had blown the coloring so I switched to gray and blue on the next sections and once again thought I had blown it.  At this point I thought of re-doing the whole thing but didn't want to invest another day into it.  I decided to bite the bullet and leave it as is and put it all together.  Once I had done that and looked at my inspirational picture again, I decided I loved how it turned out.

Hours later when showing one of the many girls at work my pretty block, I noticed the real error of my ways...The second black strip down from the left on his wing section is his beak fabric and doesn't belong on his wing.

I won't tell him if you don't.  It will be our secret.

Have fun and keep stitchin'

Traveling Stash giveaway update!!!

qreativequilts, a photo by qreativequilts on Flickr.

The Traveling Stash must hit the road and move on down the road.  Mr Random has had the honor of choosing the recipient of the stash and without further adieu he has chosen  Katie as the lucky winner.
She was number Three.  Since the first comment was from overseas and unfortunately couldn't participate in the traveling stash because the stash has to stay in the Continental US to keep shipping costs down, Mr Random had to choose between numbers two thru four. 

I will be contacting Katie shortly to get her info and will send the box out to her quickly thereafter so she can have fun choosing what she would like to swap out of it.  I hope you find some great treasures in there that you can have fun with!!!   Thanks for hosting a visit with the stash.

Roaring Elk and The American Spirit

This week over at the Forest QAL Joanna from Shape Moth has a pattern for a Roaring Deer.  I think it is an awesome Elk.  I couldn't wait to get started on him and right away started hunting thru my stash for some fabric choices for him.  I started to make his antlers a lighter color but didn't like how they looked with my background fabric.

I loved the print but it just didn't have enough contrast and I didn't want to have them get lost in the background and not really be seen to there full potential.  I decided to make those four sections again with a different fabric.  I could have chosen to use a different background like a forest green and then those antlers probably would have been great, but it was easier to replace 4 sections then all the others.  So I choose a darker fabric for the antlers.

This was a pretty cool second choice.  Somehow the antlers remind me of a Jan Brett children's story book illustration.  It stared me thinking of how cool this elk would look in whimsical Christmas fabric. Hmmm...maybe another day I will challenge myself to try that???  I wonder if my stash is up to that or if I will have to keep my eye out for just the right fabrics to create that deer.

Any how this is how my elk turned out this time with these fabrics.

He would even look great in all black and white fabrics and could still carry off that Jan Brett appeal.  I will have to just stop thinking of all the possibilities and wait and see what the others in the group will do with this pattern.  I am so addicted to seeing their creations on flickr.  Don't you just love flickr groups!!!

In closing I thought I would share this.  This video starts with a few pictures of the tragedy of the Boston Marathon and then the National Anthem sung by 17,000 NHL Bruin fans.  I heard it on my local radio station and it did bring goose bumps to my arms.  It sure does bring home that we live in a GREAT land with a people who will endure

and triumph over our adversaries be they foreign or domestic. The strength of the American people and pride in our country will always stand proud and United.  God Bless Boston and the American Spirit of her people!!!  

God Bless America 

Traveling Stash Box Giveaway

I recently won a visit with the Two Sisters Traveling Stash box.  For those of you that may not have heard of these boxes they travel around the continental US and if you win a visit with them, you can take out whatever you want from the box to keep as long as you follow the rules by replacing what you take out with like quantities of goods.  You must agree to post pictures of what arrives and what you add back in and agree to keep the box moving in a timely fashion.

Here is what arrived for a visit:

Plus these goodies

 Below is what is I am permanently adopting into my stash:

I figure with the grand child on the way the bib pattern and taggies will be put to good use soon.  I took a couple black prints and some browns.  It equaled two and a third yards.  The three measuring tapes will make good swap treats in the coming months. 


Here is what I added back into the box:

 A couple patterns, 3 zippers and some cute novelty prints.  I am also adding in 20 - 6 1/2 inch nine patch blocks that can be made into a baby quilt rather quickly.   Here is a pic of them:

 If you would like a visit with the Two Sisters Box and a chance to adopt any of the things in the box just leave a comment on this post and Mr Random will choose a winner Thursday April 19th.  I will contact the winner and send the package out promptly.  

Be sure to check out the rules and agree to adhere so that all can enjoy the next visit with the traveling stash.

  RULES:

1. Be an active blogger. Post about receiving and the giveaway on your blog in a timely manner.
2. There is a note in the box that logs where the box has been. Please add your info and place the note back in the box.
3. There is a list of Rules and Guidelines in the box. Please read and follow these and return the list to the box.
4. You may take anything you like from the box. Just replace every item with comparable quilt shop quality items equal to the amount taken. See guidelines below.
5. Ship the box to the next person in a reasonable amount of time.
6. Due to the amount of postage shipping is only within the USA.

 GUIDELINES:
The definition of a stash is a secret store of valuables. For quilters it's a collection of usable quality products. The stash should contain mostly fabric with a few patterns and/or books and other items.

• FABRIC:     Should be quilt shop quality in new condition. Scraps should only be included if they are cut for adding to a collection and packaged accordingly (i.e. I-Spy squares, postage stamp squares, etc.). There should not be anything under a Fat Quarter unless packaged like this.
• PATTERNS/BOOKS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. They should be kept to a minimum (books are bulky and add weight).
• OTHER ITEMS:     Should be in new or gently used condition. Tools, notions, etc. These items should be packaged if necessary.

 IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• If you receive a box with anything that is of "poor" condition you should not feel guilty in tossing it out.
• Only put items in the box that you would be proud to own. The box is NOT a dumping place for all your outdated unwanted items.
• Items should be free of smoke and pet hairs.
• You must replace items you take with the same quantity of like-kind items. Replacing more than you take is always welcome.  :)  

Good Luck!!!

Congrats to ???

 

Woot Woot We have a winner!!!  I had Mr Random choose a winner from the 22 qualifying comments entered and without further adieu he said:  

Wow the last person to leave a comment is the lucky winner!!!  I didn't even have time to reply to the last few comments.   Please accept my apologies, I try to reply to each comment but my kids have been spending the last couple nights from out of town with us and our grand kids don't stay still for one minute.  Busy busy busy.

Congratulations Sarah!!!  I will be contacting you shortly to get your info so I can get these fat quarters out to you ASAP.

Here is what Sarah said:

Thanks for becoming a new follower.  Sorry to hear about your friend fighting cancer but wishing her all the best and I will keep your friend in my prayers.  How sweet of you to make her a quilt to cheer her up and bring her some comfort.  Wishing her strength for the days ahead and a speedy recovery to good health!

 

Here is a pic of my two feathers block for the Forest QAL.  

 
 Wasn't too sure about how to incorporate my colors into these feathers but I think they turned out rather nicely.  Now the big challenge will be picking out colors for the Eurasia Jay that is this weeks assignment.  But in the meantime I am trying to tackle the Craftsy block this month and it has CURVES.  I have yet to put together a curved pieced block. If I can do this...I can do anything...well maybe.

Aubrey or Calvin???

We won't know if our next grandchild will be an Aubrey or Calvin until April 29th so I can't finish this quilt I started for the newest family member until I find out because I want to have the baby's name run down the right side of this quilt.  I thought I would share my progress on it though because I am over the top in love with how it is turning out.

I based the words from the fabric you see in the picture and used the paper piecing pattern from Kristy at Quiet Play that she has available on her craftsy site.  The rest I just sat down and drew out an approximation and then tweaked as I was putting it together.  I love how fresh and beautiful it is turning out.  It has been a long wait to find out if it is for a boy or girl but we will know soon.

It looks so much like Spring that I had to get a picture with my favorite flower.  Aren't those baby feet adorable???

Here is how the Asian Scrappy is turning out, too.  I am waiting to finish it till I can find the $$$ to buy the border.  I could find the $$$ easier if I didn't keep spending it elsewhere but what fun would that be?  I am accumulating a lot of fabric lately.  There was another quilt show in town this last weekend and another this weekend.  I always find something I need.   Bye Bye $$$

This one will be for my daughter, Ashley, she is wanting to switch from her queen size bed to a twin so she can gain room in her bedroom so I don't feel too rushed to finish it as we don't have a twin in there right now.  We just recently gave one to the littlest grandchild so Ashley will have to wait in line for funds for that, too.

Tomorrow Mr Random will choose a winner for the current giveaway that is open to my followers.  Leave a comment on the previous post if you are a follower that would like to be entered in the drawing for it.  I recently won the Two Sisters traveling stash box and will be posting that giveaway this weekend.

Speaking of accumulating fabric and winning...look what I recently won from Boardwalk Quilts in Long Beach, WA.  When I was in town in March they were having a fabulous fat quarter sale and I LOVE FAT QUARTERS.  So I quickly scooped up something like 23 or so of those babies at 1.69 a piece.  I was in heaven.  I entered their drawing for what I believed was the pattern to a quilt they had on display.  I WON!!!  But it turns out I didn't win just the pattern oh no...I won the whole quilt kit to put it together.  Can I hear a WOOT WOOT!!!??  Here is a pic of this dreamy win.  I ran to town this last weekend and picked it up.

The pattern can make four different designs.  I really love the pattern but am tempted to use the fabric (a whooping 15 fat quarters and two large cuts of white and black for the blocks and borders) in my Zetti quilt that I have been procrastinating on.  I am still pondering design options but recently tried something and just by coincidence they were 8" blocks the same as this pattern has. I think I can swap my Zetti blocks and use the black and white string blocks in between them.  The blocks wouldn't be set on point but I think it would look great and wham look at all the fabric that I can incorporate into the Zetti quilt. Here is how the first two blocks turned out.  I also just bought the pattern for the Believe Magic girls that Carrie makes ( I LOVE THEM) and want to incorporate them in here, too.

Keep Stitchin'

 

100th post, giveaway and a plea

                                                 Wow ...Celebrating 100th

Technically I think I had my 100th post a few posts ago...but when I recently added the labels to my posts somehow I lost a few of them but now it is official.  100 posts !!!  To celebrate I am hosting a giveaway.  I picked up a few new fat quarters just for this occasion.  Here is what I thought would help me celebrate this milestone.

 4 yummy fat quarters!!!  This giveaway is open to all my followers.  I will ship internationally.  Winner will be chosen next Thursday, April 11th,  8 pm PST by Mr Random.  I will contact the winner by email so please make sure you are not a no reply blogger or leave your email info in your post.  


Here are the rules to follow if you want a chance to win these cuties.

1.  You need to be a follower for this one...old or new doesn't matter

2.   Leave a comment telling me what project you are working on right now

3.   Please read the plea from Michele below.  

     You can have a second entry if you leave a comment saying you committed to helping Joey and left a comment with Michele on her blog telling her that you would be sending her a 9 inch piece of fabric and a wish for Joey.  Michele will contact you and give you her address when you email her.  You can read below her original post about her plea to help Joey by making him a 100  good wishes quilt and what she needs from us.  What a better way to celebrate my 100th post than to help Michele and  more importantly Joey and his parents with our support in a 100 good wishes quilt.

 Here is what we can do to help:


Michele says:

Please Help Joey

A 9 year old boy Joey is now battling a very serious form of renal cancer and there is no cure. It has also unfortunately spread to his lymph nodes. He is the very good friend and classmate of my friend Kris's daughter. The diagnoses just came 3 days ago. I'm petrified of something happening to my own kids and I can't imagine what his parents are going through. He is facing surgery and chemo as they attempt to beat the odds and he will be in the hospital at least a month, if not a lot longer.

Last night Kris came up with the idea of having a 100 Good Wishes Quilt made for him and she asked if I'd be willing to make it. I immediately said "Absolutely"! She has posted on her local FCC group (Families with Children From China) asking for contributions of fabric squares and good wishes and I told her that I'd post here too requesting the same from my readers. Hopefully together we can collect enough squares to make him a decent sized quilt to comfort him in the coming days, weeks and months.

Kris has the crazy idea that she is going to pay me to make this quilt and of course that is absurd. I wouldn't take a single dime from her to make this quilt. But I will need to find a long arm quilter who might be willing to donate her services for this one. If not I'll pay for the work out of my own pocket.

So here is what I'm asking of you....please pick out and send to me a 9" square of fabric, something that you think a 9 year old boy would love. He lives in Florida so obviously anything with snow or winter themes is foreign to him but I'm sure there are tons of other possibilities available.

The wish? For those that aren't familiar with this part of the tradition, it is something written to the child. For a baby to be born, it would be some sort of wish for a happy and healthy life, much like what you find written inside a new baby congratulations card. For this it should be something more akin to what a young boy would appreciate but please keep them happy and upbeat. It can be a wish, a funny story, a poem or just a note telling him that he is in your thoughts and prayers.

Please write your wish on card stock paper instead of inside a folding card as Kris wants to put them all in a scrapbook album for Joey to keep with him, so he can go through and read the wishes any time he wants to. You can make it fancy with lively scrapbooking flair or keep it simple, totally up to you.

Obviously time is of the essence here so if you want to help please let me know and I will email you my address. If you can help spread the word I would be eternally grateful. No child should have to face something like this. I don't know how long he has but I'm sure knowing that so many people care and are sending him wishes for recovery will help keep his spirits up and the hope high.

Thank you one and all!
Update: To clarify for those that have asked and everyone else that will read this, I am requesting just a square piece of fabric, not a quilt block. And Joey does not yet know that he has cancer. The parents are waiting until they get more test results back and have more information before they break the news to him so please keep that in mind when you write your wish.


 Anyone can be a part of this project. All you need to do is to send Michele a 9" square piece of fabric (just fabric, not a quilt block), something appropriate for a 9 year old boy (Michele just learned that he likes super heroes and he plays the violin) and a written wish or quote, a poem or a joke, or a silly story...something to cheer him up and bring a smile to his face. 


I bought a bat man print to send off to him but am hoping I can find a dragon print this weekend as this is a quote I found that I would like to include with my 9 inch fabric if I can find a dragon print.

" Fairy Tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."  ---Neil Gaiman ---Coraline