Fat Quarter Shop contest winner!!!

Announcing the Fat Quarter Shop winner...

receiving five yards of Quilted Fish fabric...

Teje said...

I would use the fabric to make my dream quilt!

We can't wait to see the dream quilt!!!  Fun contest, thanks Fat Quarter Shop!

Mountain Quilt from Spotted Stone

 Welcome to a Wednesday feature!  Today we've got Krista from Spotted Stone.  Her blog is a fun mix of family, quilting and other fun sewing things.  She's got some impressive finishes!!  Make sure to see her Etsy shop with cute sachets and a ridiculously cute mini sailboat quilt!  Today she's sharing a special quilt she made for someone special :)

I just finished maybe my favorite quilt ever.

    Imade this abstract landscape for Rob, who has mentioned a few times that I make things for everyone else but had yet to do something just for him. It took me awhile to figure out what to do, but his love for the mountains inspired me. Anyone who knows us in real life can attest to the fact that Rob is happiest when he is out on a trail. It doesn't matter if there is snow, rain, mud. He's out there enjoying every bit. He has shared this passion for the outdoors with me and our kids, and for that I'm so grateful. Rob is the best husband, the best father. I'm lucky to have him.

Quilting details-- The quilt measures 28" x 27". I made it entirely out of shot cottons, save for the few pieces of Kona Snow and Aqua. Most of the fabric came from my scrap stash. I started the sky at my sew-in day last weekend but completed the rest in the last 24 hours. (Rob is away at a conference, so I was able to stay up extra late to get it done!) The mountains were pieced in sections and appliqued onto the sky, then the rest was improvisationaly pieced as I went along.  I took extra time with my quilting since there were so many starts and stops in the middle. I made sure to hold my thread ends and wove them into the quilt, so the back is as neatly stitched as the front. I also didn't square it up until the quilting was done, since the shot cottons are so thin and flimsy. Here's a photo of the top before it was quilted:

On the surprise part-- I'm 99% positive that Rob doesn't read my blog, and I just couldn't wait to post the photos! This is destined for his office at work, but I'll be hanging it up to enjoy here until he returns home.

Just a reminder, in case you've totally missed the memo, today is the last day to sign up for a fab giveaway from fat quarter shop, so check it out! :)

Fabric Tuesday #29!

Hello!  Happy Fabric Tuesday :) Hope everyone has had a fabric-licious week, I certainly have.  A LQS had a major scraps/remnants sale, and although I have more project than I can handle, it is way too hard to pass up current gorgeous designer fabric lines for $2 or less a yard!  Ah!

So this week we got to most everyone who linked-up last week, but I know some where left out.  We had the most link-ups ever last week, by about 20!  We love doing Fabric Tuesday, you all have such great projects week after week.

Speaking of which, here are a few of my favorites from last week:

Ridge Top Quilts; disappearing 16 patch

loving these colors, can't wait to see how it turns out!!

Don't Call Me Betsy; Bookshelf mini quilt

Love, just plain love.

Mama Roux; Mezzo Messenger Bag

Loving this bag and the color combinations!

KT Quilts 4 Fun; Tag Along Tote

I love how this is put together, and it looks so fresh!

Jane of All Crafts; Fabric covered eggs

Such a cute idea and tutorial, love the "scrappy" look!

And now for more link-ups, if you need a refresher or are new to the party, please review the guidelines to play.

PS do you have a quilt block tutorial?  We'd love for you to add it to our permanent linky for block tutorials!

Fabric Tuesday

edition 29

Bloggers Pillow Party

Have you seen or participated in Rachel from Stitched in Color's Blogger's Pillow Party? (that was hard to say!)  Well I've been admiring for the last couple of months, and since I've been on this kick of making holiday and seasonal pillows, I thought I'd enter my spring pillow!

This is my Valentine's pillow (which I'm not entering) but I'd never posted about.  I was finishing up my Spinning Coins Quilt and I had leftover fabric (that I'm ridiculously in love with) and had to find a way to use it.

And here is my Spring Pillow

Originally I was thinking of an Easter pillow, and using a bunny instead of a deer.  But then I realized I like deer more, plus it will be Spring and I can keep it out longer!!

I love my deer friend.  I'm still playing around with her name.  Any thoughts? :)  I played around with how to design it, considering a white background and patchwork deer.  Ultimately I liked how the deer stood out in white with the pink embroidery stitches.

I wanted the background to be scrappy, but in the same color palette so nothing really stood out.  I believe there are 12 different fabric prints used.  I just started with one square and started sewing and trimming!  Came together really fast.

There you go!  Check out the Pillow Party for plenty of cute pillows :)

We'll see you tomorrow for Fabric Tuesday and a great feature on Wednesday!

  

We interrupt...

We apologize to be interrupting your (hopefully) super crafty weekend for a couple little things to say!  As you can see to the left there, we are trying to annoy you in every way possible...and coming from a family with 7 kids, Heather and I are pretty awesome at that.  Oh the stories we could tell... well we've had our facebook fan page set-up all week and thanks to everyone for "liking" us!  We have two more fun little adventures to tell you about.

Flickr
We've created a group, QuiltStory Inspiration.  (You can access it by clicking on those little blue and pink dots to the left) This is a place to share your photos of ways in which QuiltStory has inspired YOU!  Whether you were inspired by a feature, us or one of our tutorials, we'd love for you to add it to our very lonely Flickr group!  Also, if your quilt was featured here, we'd also love for you to add it :)

hang in there...just about done...

Block Tutorial Link-Up

We've started a permanent link-up for Quilt Block Tutorials!  We have a button on our sidebar so you can always access it.  We wanted to create a central place to find and share block tutorials.  This linky is very lonely!  We'd love for you to add as many tutorials as you have, it doesn't matter how long ago you made them.  Also, multiple entries of the same block is great, there are so many different ways to do things.
We'll see you on Monday for another great quilt feature!

Over the river and through the woods....

When Jeanene submitted this project, we were blown away! Look at all the detailed hand embroidery, look at the intricate quilting! What an amazing quilt and fun story to go along. Make sure to go say hi to Jeanene at the queen bees hive! 

Finally, here’s my latest project:

my “Over the River and Through the Woods” Quilt

(The pattern is by:  Crabapple Hill)

This was actually my summer project. I fell in love with it last spring when I saw it hanging in a shop in Logan. Loved it immediately, but looked at all that detail and embroidery and decided ‘no’.

Then I saw it again, in one of my favorite little  shops near home, and knew I had to get it!

You remember the song don’t you? “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go, the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh….(finish it up);)

We had a few road trips last summer, and I stitched all the way, over the hi-ways, and through the bi-ways!

I usually machine quilt them myself, but this was was extra special, so after I got it pieced together I had Kaylene  at ‘My Little Quilting Shoppe’ do it. Look at that detail work!

Then I had to bribe my little nephew to come and hang it over the stairs for me.

Her new home!

She likes it there!

Fat Quarter Shop GIVEAWAY!!

Shhh...don't tell me what happened on Idol, I haven't got to see it yet.  My evening that I was planning on squaring up some double hourglass squares ended up with me desperately taking a crash course on facebook---and I failed.  Oh well, I have a QuiltStory fan page set-up and I'm about to bribe you into liking us :)  But if you have any ideas or suggestions for us regarding f-book, we'd love to hear.  *sigh*

We've got a fabulous new sponsor, Fat Quarter Shop.  As if you haven't heard of them, they're so great!  It's one of my go-to places, especially if I am wanting something specific, because they have everything!!  They have so many designers and fabric lines, it really is a destination place for fabric!!

They also have a fabulous blog, the Jolly Jabber where they have a lot of quilting tips, latest fabric deals, contests and giveaways.

Today they've got a giveaway just for us!!  Check it:

5 yards of Sugar and Spice-winner's choice

*gasp*

We loooove this line, I'm especially smitten with the argyle and the aqua and red colorway?  Come on! In fact, Heather just finished a DARLING quilt with these fabrics.  More on that later...

Want to win??  Here's how:

please leave a separate comment for each, it's so much easier for us! thanks :)

1. comment on what you would use the fabric for should you win
2. become a follower, or tell us you already are :)
3. "like" Fat Quarter Shop on facebook
4. "like" QuiltStory on facebook

Ready, set, GO!

Edited to add: I always get so excited about giveaways I forget to add when they end!!  This giveaway will run for a week through Wednesday March 30th, we will announce the winner Thursday March 31st!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Super cute Heather Ross quilt....

Sara from Sew Sweetness created this super duper darling Heather Ross quilt I am SO jealous of! I love it. She has so many of Heather Ross prints that are super hard to find, and if you do, you will have to sell an arm and a leg to get them. Make sure to check out Sara's blog, really cute stuff!

I just finished my Heather Ross quilt and I couldn't be more excited! A small group of us banded together for a Heather Ross Quilt Along. Some people used other fabrics than Heather Ross, which was just fine! Everyone in the group was so supportive of each other...it was amazing! The tutorial used was the Boxed In quilt pattern by Freckled Whimsy. I also used this McKinley quilt tutorial from OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder for the sashing and the lovely band near the bottom of the quilt.

So, first of all, I could not have made this quilt without my friend, Kim, who sent me pieces of her entire Heather Ross collection, including bits of Munki Munki pajama pants. Kim is so generous and selfless, it's unbelievable. She sent me both of the goldfish prints and some dots for Christmas, and the rest later when we decided we were going to make this quilt. As a matter of fact, her grandson is due any day now, and look at the cute little Heather Ross outfits she just made for him!

Outfits that Kim made for her new grandson!

And as a matter of fact, Kim's daughter-in-law joined the quilt along, too, and she started on a Heather Ross play mat for the new baby! Isn't it the cutest?!

Heather, the mother-to-be, is working on this quilt top! Isn't she amazing?!

Oh man, I've got the warm and fuzzies now. :-) Anyway, so my quilt, I just finished it. I used Heather Ross fabrics for the inside of the squares (no print used more than once), for a total of 42 blocks. For the outside of the squares, I used a variety of Kona solids in really bright colors. Along the way, I hemmed and hawed about the use of these solids, but seeing the finished quilt, I think I made the right choice.

Spray basting the quilt in my grandmother's living room, because she has the space for this, lol!

For the back of the quilt, I used a polka dot cotton shower curtain that I got at Target on clearance for only $7! The shower curtain was 72" x 72", so I made it a little bit bigger by cutting it and adding strips of Heather Ross Mendocino prints in pinks and orange.

The back of the quilt: mermaids and octopi and seahorses, oh my!

This was a very easy quilt pattern to assemble. Easy, but beautiful, and the added tutorial from OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has a great impact, I think. If you're new to quilting, this would be a great quilt to start out with. I like that the blocks are wonky, but if you are more of a symmetrical girl, you could also make one like Heather did for her baby's play mat. I quilted it using wavy lines, 2 inches apart, thanks to Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations, who helped me out and answered all my questions after I saw her Sliced Coin Quilt. Wow, thank goodness for those wavy lines, I only had to quilt in one direction. The one part I hate about making quilts was accomplished much faster! Yay!

I bound the quilt using four different colorways of Heather Ross dots from the 'Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries' line. I didn't have enough to do the binding in one single color, but I think it's sort of cool with the alternating dots.

My daughter, Violet, and I enjoying the quilt.

The best part about this quilt is that I used so many different tutorials to make it...it just goes to show what an inspiration all the blogs out there in blogland are! Everyone is so creative and individual!

I'm so happy that this is finished...now on to the next quilt!!

Fabric Tuesday...come link up!

Morning all, happy fabric Tuesday. Again, Megan and I have been so busy crafting, that we haven't taken photos or posted about them. Hopefully that will change soon.

Come back Thursday for a super fun giveaway, I think our biggest giveaway yet from our sponsor Fat Quarter Shop...

Love this cute pillow from last week...cute doggy and bunny from Nero's post and patch.

This cute quilt from the Q and the U. Cute mendocino mermaids!

Isn't this a great Irish chain quilt from Not so plain Jane?

Alright, link up, make sure to check out the rules if you forgot them...can't wait to see all the projects!

Five generation flower garden quilt...

Tiffany from Lower Columbia Modern Quilting and Crafting sent us this wonderful five generation quilt. Isn't it amazing? We love it!  Five generations of Women had a hand in this quilt! Isn't that amazing? I don't know many people who have a quilt like that! So much hand work put into this quilt. Be sure to go say to Tiffany at her blog...


Grandmother's Garden Quilt....5 generations!

I've wanted to show this quilt for a while now but I never had a decent picture of the whole quilt.  I went to my sister in law Connie's house this weekend and she has it on the wall and the lighting was pretty good for a rainy Washington day.

This is such an amazing quilt.  It has been touched by five generations of women in one family! The quilt was started in the 30's or 40's and was hand pieced using feedsacks.  It sat unfinished all those years until my mother in law, Joyce,  had it quilted in 2010.  The quilt was very fragile and we had many discussions about how to finish the quilt.  Should she hand quilt it, machine quilt it, or have it professionally quilted. 

We finally decided that having it professionally quilted which would ensure that it would last through another five generations.  Sue is a local longarm quilter and she has finished a lot of vintage quilts in this fashion and was just the person to take it to. 

It was important to keep the story with the quilt so my mother in law wrote up a label and my girlfriend Darci designed the family tree showing the names through the generations.

I am happy to have married into a family with such strong family ties.  I am very proud that my daughter will be part of the "strong stuff" that these women are made of.

The label/story is:

This quilt was pieced by Minnie - probably in the 30's or 40's.  All piecing was done by hand and many of the fabrics are from feed sacks.  

Minnie gave the quilt to her daughter Loneta , who later gave it to her own daughter, Joyce.  It has stayed folded in a drawer for many years waiting to be finished.

Joyce had it machine quilted in 2010 as a 50th birthday gift for her daughter Connie. 


Connie is now "required" to pass it on to her young daughter, Jadyn.


Five generations of women have seen and touched this quilt!!!