PMQG Pincushion swap

This last week at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild we had a pincushion swap and I have to share the great pincushion I received.  I think her name should be Penelope.  Penelope was made by Jennifer Ball who blogs over at the quilted cat.  Jennifer is super talented and I feel so lucky to have picked Penelope to come home with me.  We just took a pincushion that we had made and put it in a brown paper bag and at break randomly chose a bag to exchange for ours.  Penelope even matches my latest block color scheme.  Thank you so much Jennifer for making such a lovely pincushion for me.  I love her!!!

 

I took Penelope to work to show my co-worker, Jean, and Jean thinks Penelope should stay at work and bring some cheer to our shelf.  While I agree she added some great color and her vibrant personality to our little corner at work,  I definitely think she likes my sewing studio better.

 

I love the ribbon wrapped spool she put Penelope on and she put the year and PMGQ pincushion swap on the bottom.  Why didn't I think of doing that on mine.  She also included her business card with the pincushion and I will have to remember to include my info with any exchange I do in the future.  It was so appreciated and I just never thought to include it with my pincushion.

 

 

Here is the pincushion I made to give away.  I briefly met the young lady who picked mine but I know I wouldn't be able to pick her out of  a crowd again.   We have 175 members in our guild and about 140 to 150 seem to be active and present at each meeting.  Here is the fellow I made.  I had some scraps of Pendleton wool I put on the bottom.  I thought it went well with my moose.  I loved his tape measure antlers.  The pattern for this moose can be found in Go Wild With Quilts by Margaret Wolfe. I just resized it so I could use it in a pincushion.

 

 I finished the Snow White block tonight.  It is a pattern in a series I bought from Kristy at Quiet Play.  I have been wanting to find time to make them.  They are all different story book characters and I love all of them.  Since I have a little time to kill until the May BOMs come out I thought I would whip a couple of these out. 

 I did flub up on this one.  It is a goof I will live with as the apple piece of the block has too many small pieces to want to do it again.  Not to mention that with paper piecing the stitches are so small that it is easier to start over and I just think I can live with the goof up.  See how it looks like she is tossing the apple in the palm of her hand?  She is suppose to be holding it.  The gray under the apple is suppose to be her fingers...oops.   What I have as her fingers is suppose to be the gray.  Since I figure it kind of looks like she is tossing it in her hand...maybe wondering if it is safe to eat...I decided I can live with it and the small people who receive this block in a future quilt will never even see my mistake...at least that is what I am telling myself.
Chin up and just keep stitchin'

Easter Blessings to you

Wishing all my peeps a very Blessed Easter full of all the love and hope

and peace offered to us from our Risen Savior 

 

Hope your Easter was full of blessings!!!

 

We spent the afternoon with the grandchildren.  Always feel so blessed and loved when they are near.

Last night while the DH was watching the Ten Commandments as is his Easter tradition , I got the PMQG medallion April addition done.  It continued to be a struggle envisioning the right placement of colors but I like the result.

The idea is to make the center look like a heart.  Next month hopefully I will find a way to make the bottom of the heart come to a point.  Can you see where I am working the pink in the center into a heart?  The only thing I wish I had done differently is to make the one light X a darker value.  It seems to be calling out to be a yellow instead of pale violet.  It was one of the earlier ones I made and thought to make more lighter ones but the darker ones really were more eye catching so I kept working with the darker values.  I should have tossed it out but with so many flubs of color and re-dos I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I should have taken a picture of it before I sewed it all together because the instant I viewed the picture I knew the light X was a total mistake...to redo it would be a huge undertaking. Yikes what to do.  At this point I am making a pincushion for the swap at the meeting on Thursday and don't really want to rip this thing apart.  Maybe it is something I will decide to do next month.

One way or the other I will just Keep Stitchin' 

Tears and therapy

The past week and a half have been a time of tears and reflection for my family.  I've mentioned before that my father's health has been declining and on April 7th, he passed peacefully in the night.
Losing a parent is never easy and although it has been hard , it also has been comforting to know it is what he would have wanted given his recent health struggles.  We had to move him into an adult foster home less than a month before his passing and in his moments of clarity, he would always ask...whose crazy idea was this?  It is comforting to know he is at rest and in a much better place.  I just never foresaw his being gone so soon...

While I have been grieving,  I found it easier to cope by staying busy, followed closely by spending money... retail therapy is so satisfying and then finally getting back to some sewing therapy.  The result of all that is a new wardrobe, the roof ripped off our deck and a gazebo from Lowes in it's place on the deck, new umbrella for the table on the deck, new cushions and pillows  and repainted chairs for the deck and some new planters with new plants for the deck.  When all is done I should have a refreshing new place in the backyard to relax and feel at peace in.  The new scheme is a peaceful blue and green instead of the rust colors I've lived with for far too long.  We also bought a fabulous new fire pit for the yard...one that has a grill like the one that we used at Mount Rainier at our favorite camping spot...Cougar Campground.  There will be a whole lot more work to do to install it which will distract me as the whole back yard is up for a remodel at the same time.  We have been so busy being involved in my dad and stepmom's lives for the past year that our place has fallen into a huge mess....maybe too much time spending quilting is the cause of some of all those weeds but it's time to put my house back into a place I can find comfort and peace...once some of the work is done that is.

Once I found time for a little sewing therapy, here is what I have accomplished.  I busted out my quilt block for the In the Garden BOM that Janeen has at Quilt Art Designs.  You can find her free pattern here this month and then it will be available for a small fee.  I LOVE how this one turned out, it seems these blocks just get better every month.  It has a ton of pieces to it but it is one of those patterns that really goes together effortlessly.

The vibrant colors of the sunflower just POP so nicely out from the low volume background.  I love how the birds are looking at the sunflowers.  You can just imagine them loving the free lunch they represent to them.  My favorite color being yellow might just add to the overall pleasure I get from looking at this beauty!

After that, I wanted to knock out the row for the Quilt Doodle Design 2014 BOM.  This month Cindy has us making a row of stars for our sky.  The row went together very fast.  It helped that I broke down and bought the 2 1/2 inch Accuquilt Go die that cuts 9, plus it can cut 4 to 6 layers of fabric at a time, which makes cutting 36 to 54 pieces at a time a snap and I figured this quilt would definitely put this die to good use.  It's not to late to join in on this one it is going to make a fantastic quilt.  You can find out more about it here along with how to get the April pattern.

Now I'm working on the medallion quilt for the PMQG quilt top.  This month has us piecing 24 ---4 inch blocks and it is taking it's toll on me.  I am really playing with the colors in the X blocks we are making for it and I have gotten the colors wrong more than once.  I hate re-doing blocks but have had no choice so it's forcing me to slow down and get it right the first time.  I have it half done but am not ready to share it yet so hopefully I will get it done before the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting this Thursday and have it ready to post about soon.

Keep Stitchin'

Time for tea

Once again I started the month out with my Sew Kitschy block from Kristy at Quiet Play.  This time I am remembering to share it early on.  Kristy's pattern this month features a teapot and I had this great fabric stashed away just waiting to be featured in this block.  I really like how it turned out.

Be sure to check her linky party out as there are already some great looking teapots showing up over there.  I adore seeing how one pattern can be so vastly different based on everyone's fabric choices.
Have a great weekend! 

Keep Stitchin'

Scrappy Trip Blocks

  I love the newest round of Scrappy Blocks I made for my Hive this month.  I hope everyone loves them as much as I do.

Ivana requested low volume prints with the occasional pastel print.  Calling it sweet and low all around.  I recently found this bird print and thought it complemented all the other fabrics perfectly and added to the sweet-a-bility of this block.

Next Salley wanted low volume greys, very pale aquas and a raspberry pink/red as the feature strip.  Here is what I came up with:

I made the mistake of using a strip of noteworthy from a jelly roll.  Mistake that I won't do again. It was just a little shy of the 2 1/2 inch width, but I got it to work.  Hope it will be ok :)

Tricia wanted purple, aqua/teals, gray, and pink.  I really like this one!!!

 

Debbie wanted lime green with blue and yellow.  I had a hard time finding a yellow that I thought looked nice with lime green.  Luckily I found one fabric with a combo I liked.  Overall, I surprisingly ended up liking this one.  Hope Debbie will, too.

 

Our Beekeeper, Mariana requested bright happy colors. No blacks or browns. She likes florals and geometrics and said Have Fun!  Wow...I had the hardest time because the choices were so huge and varied.  Her flickr page showed that previous blocks varied immensely so I finally just let go and put together some fabrics that appealed to me.  I hope she will love it.  One thing I will have to say I love about these scrappy blocks is that when you put them all together, they work so nicely together.  Even though the colors, hues, values, tints are all so widely different they look wonderful together.  I don't think I have ever seen one of the tops put together that I have not loved.  So with that I let go and let faith guide my final decisions.

I will get these posted this week and on their way.  Looking forward to the next round of swaps already. 

Look what I found in my mailbox today:)

This one found it's way to me via Spain.  Thanks so much Mariana.  I love it!!!  My colors are Brown, Green and Blues.  I adore the wide range of fabrics I find in all the blocks I receive.  It is definitely, fun watching all the blocks arrive from all their destinations and seeing my scrappy trip top grow each quarter.

Keep Stitichin'

March Madness ends

I don't follow March madness despite this blog post title.  In fact, since it messes up my favorite TV shows for the month...I hate March Madness.  So when it ends I am over the moon happy!!!  But since that seems to be a great title for my life this month, I am glad to see it end and I hope to find time to finally get my Sewjo back on track. 

Why is it every month when Kristy from Quiet Play posts that it is almost month end and highlights some of the other peoples blocks made with her free Sew Kitchsy pattern for the month...I am shocked to see I haven't posted mine yet.  It is always one of the first things I do each month.  So far the patterns have been pretty simple and quickly go together.  I really love how this month's block turned out.  Why haven't I posted or linked it up before now???

I love the color of this bowl.  When we bought our truck a few years ago from a private party the home we bought it from had a collection of vintage yellow bowls on a high shelf...simply gorgeous!!!

This week I got my tree block done for the Quilt Doodle Doodles BOM.  Love how the colors on this one turned out.  I had cut the squares out earlier in the month but it took awhile to find time to piece it together.  This week I ordered the Accuquilt die for 2 1/2 inch squares.  I got the die that will cut 9 at a time.  I figured this BOM will make excellent use of it.

I am finishing up my commitment to the Scrappy Trip blocks that I am swapping from Julie Hirt's Scrappy Trip block swap.  They are due to be shipped April 15th.  Just got the taxes done so it must be time to get these done, too.  Here is a picture of the 5 blocks I received from the last swap, plus one I made and two I have received from this round already.  They look so good together.

I love receiving these and I must say am addicted to making them for the other ladies, too.  Great way to add fabric to my stash.  Love anything that helps me do that!

Here is the five I am currently working on before they are opened up and sewn together into the finished blocks they will become today.

Also on my to do list today is to cut all my charms for the Kate Spin charm swap hosted by Michele from Quilts from my Crayon Box.  I thought these were due tax day, also but they need to be mailed by April 5th.  I have one fabric cut and will cut up the other three today.  I grabbed two spots like I did last time.  I am hoping to be able to make a couple charm quilts from one group when I add them to last swaps charms.  One group of charms from the two swaps are becoming a hexagon quilt that I have had in mind for a while. 

These fabrics are just delicious.  I can't wait to get all 112 x 2 charms back :)
 

Keep Stitchin'

March goes out like a Lion

March has come in like a lamb and seems to be going out like a lion.  That is not even a reference to the weather but the busy-ness that is surrounding me at the moment.  It all started out like a normal month but my dad's health has taken another turn for the worse and after some time in the hospital recently it has been decided he needs more help than his wife is able to give and a foster home has been found and he is getting settled in.  Not exactly by choice but definitely a necessity.  Still busy getting his home on the market and getting his wife settled into their new home also.

At the same time we spent a rushed and busy week squeezing in time with our daughter while she was home from WSU for Spring break and took her back this last weekend.  We did get to a local quilt show on Friday and is was so nice to spend some quality time together during what has been a month of turmoil.

My oldest grand-daughter has just been diagnosed with pediatric migraines and that has been waying heavy on our hearts too this month.  So I haven't spent as much time blogging but have sneaked in a little time in the studio.  Here is what I have been up to.

After I finished my medallion for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild medallion-along,   I set to work making one for Karen who blogs at The Recipe Bunny.  She had said she didn't have time and believe me...I understand.  I have been wanting to make a New York Beauty block for some time and decided to make one for her medallion.  I also knew that she may not have time to complete the rows we have to add to it each month but if she should choose to it would be interesting to see it come to life thru her eyes.  If it becomes a pillow or tote bag I am fine with that too.  I was interested in working through the process and it was challenging.  The color choices alone were very important and had to be penciled in on paper several times to get it so I liked them.  

Piecing the outer curves are so much easier than the inner curves.  But all in all, they came together much smoother than expected.   I asked her what colors she would someday like to make a quilt top in and she responded lime green, navy blue and gray and white.  Her choices made for a great combo for the New York Beauty.  Karen is currently working on a quilt for the 2014 Hands 2 Help Charity quilt challenge and I would love to commit to making one for one of the charities myself this year but with all that is going on with my family I feel the need to not over commit right now.  Therefore, I totally get if she doesn't have time for an extra thing on her plate right now...I get it :)

Karen and I attend the PMQG meeting each month and I so loved the February meeting I was totally stoked for the March meeting.  The March meeting also focused on a charity project.  Camp Erin representatives explained that they are looking for donations of quilts for the camp that reaches out to kids who are grieving for the loss of a family member that they experienced at a young age.  The kids attending are in the age groups of 6-18 years of age and have lost someone dear to them.  I think both of these are very worthy charity organizations and because I just don't have the time right now, I hope to put together a couple of quilts this year and set them aside for next years charities that will pull my heartstrings.

I have also spent a little time doing a little spring cleaning.  A few short weeks ago all of these fabrics were on the floor in baskets with no room to walk around.  It was good to get them somewhat organized and more accessible.  I thought about showing the before picture but it was not pretty.  In fact just to the left of this picture it is still a mess.

The quilt show I mentioned that took place this last weekend was one I enjoy going to each year because of its garage sale.  At least that is what I call it. Bargain prices on unwanted fabrics.  Here is what I dragged home with me this year.  Not quite as much as last year but a substantial amount to play with:)

Keep Stitchin'