We need some time.

Hey blog and quilty friends

This week has been a very sad and tragic week for our family.  Heather and I have another sister as we've said before, we're a trio.  Amy is the oldest child in our family of 7.  Tragically her husband passed away this past Tuesday.  They have 10 amazing children together, ranging in ages 4-21.  I was 7 years old when Amy and Greg got married, they made me an aunt at 8.  Their family has been a huge part of my life as long as I can remember.  Below is the most recent photo I could find.  It's missing their youngest son, Talon.



We are both absolutely overwhelmed right now.  Heather is in Utah (where most of the family is) caring for children, helping make plans for the funeral, future, everything.  And I am stuck in Arizona at 38 1/2 weeks pregnant feeling totally helpless.

If you ever had the opportunity to get to know any of their kids your life would be greatly enriched...they are amazing, happy, smart kids and I think the world of each of them.

We are reaching out today for a couple reasons.  First we are going to be on hiatus for the next week or so, just too much going on to try to keep up on this right now.

Second we are reaching out to any of you who may be able to help these kids.  Even a small amount helps.  All funds will be used for the funeral and children.  Here's how you could help.

America First Credit Union
Greg Domgaard Memorial Fund
Acct: 9055609

via Paypal.com
GregDomgaardMemorial@gmail.com


Thank you for hanging in there with us and for those of you who are able to help.

A Princess Quilt from OCD

Our feature today is from one of our favorite quilters in blogland, Kristie from ocd: obsessive crafting disorder.  She's awesome.  And we love her projects.  Today's is no exception, a princess quilt for her princess.  It's hard to go wrong with Heather Ross fabrics too!  Kristie has a great design for design, layout, colors, ya know.  For some eye candy check out her finishes and tutorials/patterns.

It's been 2 years since I bought my Far Far Away 2 fabrics.

And one year since I promised a birthday quilt for The Middle Child.

And 6 months since I started the quilt.

Anyways, it came one year plus a couple weeks after the birthday deadline, but all was forgiven when I presented her with her own very Mama-made special quilt :) My girl is now SEVEN, and full of fairy tales and fashion and make believe and creativity and helpfulness and caring and so many wonderful attributes. I lucked out getting this kid, I tell you, she is so much more than the sum of the best bits of her dad and me. Love her to pieces.
I finished the quilt while away at the cabin, and spread it out on the grass and had her sister lead her over with closed eyes for the unveiling. Big grins from ear to ear!

She spent time studying all the blocks and declared the owl running away with the underwear as a favorite, along with Rapunzel.
For the top, I used Kate's Fussy Cut Fairytales pattern, which I modified to make twin size. It is a great compliment to these fabrics, and I adore the distinctive floating border! On the back I used some leftover pieces and pieced them together with blocks of pink and green solid.

I quilted with an overall stipple. Man, it was a heavy quilt to move around given all that linen content in the Heather Ross prints! The quilt was hand bound in a Kona solid. Don't ask me to remember which one. It made a nice and cheery frame!

She loves it. I love it. I really do think it is my favorite quilt to date. And it looks fantastic on her bed. Just need to make a matching sham or two! And the sweetest part was, that night as she tucked her in snugly under her new quilt, she said, "The thing I like best about my quilt is that you made it for me, Mom!". A true princess.

Fabric Tuesday & Winner!

Winner for the fabulous Hypernoodle giveaway is.....

 SherryB said...

Oh my, what can I say...I love their kids' fabrics as I make lots of children's quilts, and their dots & stripes, and their duos/trios...fun, fun place to visit!

Congrats Sherry!!

***********************

Fabric Tuesday!  And selfishly I'm sharing again!  I've remade our popular Oh Baby! pattern in one of Riley Blake's newest lines, oh goodness.  It is so so so sweet, I'm in love!

This fabric line is just now available, it's called The Simple Life by tasha noel for Riley Blake designs.  I haven't seen it in my LQS quite yet.  There's a blue, pink and white colorway.  The main print with the sheep on the quilts, girls reading a book, picking from the apple tree...swooning!!  I knew I would love that for sure, but the small vintage flowers?! (Seen here on the car seat canopy trim and large ball)  I am stocking up, I already used what I had.  They are the daintiest prettiest flowers.

Sometimes when I make these toys I add tags, no tags, sometimes I just stuff them and sometimes I add these cat toys.  Have you seen that before?  It's genius whoever thought of it.  It makes the perfect little baby noises.

I added the pink floral border on this canopy and used it for the straps as well.  On the inside lining I used the cute bunting print.  I like using just cotton prints on the canopy because it just seems so breathable and light.  Especially in Arizona where our winters are many people's summers!!

Oh Baby! pattern can be found in our shop.

Fabric Tuesday #105

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Let's see what projects you've been up to!  Remember you can link up multiple times, it doesn't have to be this week just "recent" and it only has to include fabric!

Sweet Ruffles a Quilt Tutorial from Meg!

Want to make one??

I received some of this mini ruffle in grey from the lovely Ruffle Fabric peeps so I could do a quilt tutorial for you!

Finished Quilt Size: 40.5" x 44.5"

Materials Needed: 

• 3/4 yards Ruffle Fabric
• 1/2 yard of coordinating quilting cotton print 
• 1/8 yard of FIVE coordinating quilting cotton prints (each print needs to be exactly 4.5", so bump this up if your not confident in the cut.)

Tips for Ruffle Fabric:

• Take time and care cutting ruffle fabric.  You'll need to separate the ruffles with each cut.  Also take care that the ruffles are hanging correctly when sewing.  To do this I recommend a lot of pinning!
• Make sure when you cut your ruffles run horizontal.
• Make sure your ruffles all hang in the same direction when assembling the quilt top.
• Don't stretch!  This is a stretchy material and thankfully very forgiving.  However pin a lot and do your best not to stretch it as you sew, otherwise you'll cause your other prints to gather.
• I had no problem ironing it, it didn't effect the ruffles at all. It also does not shrink if you like to pre-wash.

Step 1: Cutting

• From ruffle fabric cut 5 strips 4.5" x 40.5".  The ruffle should run horizontal in the cut.
• From coordinating prints cut 3 strips 4.5" x 40.5"
• From five coordinating trim to 4.5" x WOF

Step 2: Creating the Squares Row

• Sew the five strips together, top to bottom.  Press.  Refer to the picture below.  
• Sub-cut the prints to 4.5" strips and cut 6.
• Sew end to end for 3 total strips.  Refer to second picture below.

Step 3: Layout

• Lay all your strips on a flat surface.  Arrange in the following order, sew top to bottom and press:

1. Squares Row
2. Ruffle Row
3. Solid Row
4. Ruffle Row
5. Squares Row
6. Ruffle Row
7. Solid Row
8. Ruffle Row
9. Squares Row
10. Ruffle Row
11. Solid Row

Step 4:  Quilting

I haven't quilted mine yet, obviously, but I will share when I do!  Here are a couple of my thoughts.  I plan to straight-line stitch on the cotton fabrics horizontally, maybe every inch.  I will stitch in the ditch above and below the ruffle fabric but DO NOT quilt on top of the ruffle fabric or you'll flatten it!  Sad! 

This will mostly likely be for the little lady :) Two and a half weeks to go!!!  It's a great size for a play quilt on the floor, plus I think those tiny fingers will love the ruffles!

It is such a grown-up color palette which is making me smile!  I've done so many sweet things for her this was fun to be a little more dramatic.

I hope you like it!  It was so fun to make!! I have a couple more Ruffle Fabric projects I'll be sharing so stay tuned!

Fabrics Used:

Grey Mini Ruffle from Ruffle Fabric

Cameo by Amy Butler from Fabric Shoppe (one of the coral prints is from her previous collection Lark)

Cancer is so limited by Robot Mom Sews

This sweet quilt comes from Robot Mom Sews. Made for a friend's Dad diagnosed with cancer. What a kind gift to give. Cancer has hit so many of us so close to home. Megan and I recently had an Uncle diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer. Heartbreaking! I am sure this quilt will bring this man peace. Be sure to check out Robot Mom Sews, and visit her etsy shop too!

My best friend's Dad was recently diagnosed with cancer and I knew right away that I wanted to make him a quilt.  I talked to her about it and she mentioned she saw this wonderful saying at the hospital about how cancer is so limited, it cannot destroy families, it can't take away love, our dreams etc.  She wanted to cross-stitch it and we decided what a great idea to incorporate it into his quilt.  She copied the saying and cross-stitched it and I got started on the quilt.

I wanted this quilt to be so perfect, I gave myself stress over it.  I kept running into problems, my machine was not cooperating, I ran out of thread, then I bought the wrong color thread!  It was one thing after the other and I kept thinking, I've never had this many issues on any other quilts.

I wanted it to be comforting to their family and this quilt means so much more than my other quilts. 

It's not perfect.  There are mistakes everywhere.  But this quilt needed to get to him and I just hope that this quilt can bring comfort to him and their family, regardless of it's imperfections.

We've all known someone or a loved one that has been stricken with cancer.  I love this saying and I'm glad my BF found it - it can remind us all that cancer is so invasive and can take away so much, but it can't take away everything from us.

♥

Hypernoodle fabric giveaway

Today we have a giveaway from Hypernoodle fabrics! 8 yards!

We love Hypernoodle's slogan, "fabric finds for the overactive mind." Hmmm, I wonder if we qualify as that...when it comes to fabric and quilting, certainly!  Hypernoodle has a wonderful selection, with a huge variety of designers! Super user friendly shop as well, that is always nice!

The bundle consists of 8 yards from Robert Kaufman's "Kona Modern Quilts" collection.  4 yards from the "Pacific" colorway and 4 yards from the "Merlot" colorway. 

In Michelle's own words,one of the unique things about our shop is our name--lots of crafty people identify with being a " Hypernoodle  " (which means "over-active mind"). Anyone who has more than 2 projects going at a given time in a  Hypernoodle!  Anyone who has more than 1 idea in their mind brewing about projects they want to start is also a  Hypernoodle  !

So we try to cater to the needs of all the  Hypernoodle's out there offering "fabric finds for overactive minds".

In addition to fresh & fun prints, we offer every colorway of Ta-Dot prints that Michael Miller carries and a great selection of other fillers as we know that blenders are at times just as  important than the main print.

We also offer duos and trios of fabrics paired on our website for inspiration.  We know not all crafty minds quilt, so for those that only need fabrics paired up, this works wonderfully for them.  For those that do quilt, our duos and trios are great "jumping off" points!

2 ways to enter:

Visit Hypernoodle, leave a comment here on what caught your eye

and "like" their facebook page (leave a second comment here that you did)

That's it!  Goodluck, wish I could enter!

This giveaway has now closed.

Simply Charmed Quilt Top and Fabric Tuesday

 Quilt top finish!

Finished Size: 36.5" x 45.5"

This simple and sweet quilt top is made of Hello Luscious charm packs and a few pieced blocks. 

The blocks didn't stick out as much as I'd hoped.  But I am smitten with the color palette, so pretty!

If you wanted to make your own I'll give you a quick tutorial!  It's really easy so don't be intimidated.  You'd need two charm packs OR seventy-one 5" x 5" squares.  I made one small pieced block (the star), so the finished size for that would also be 5" x 5".  You could make as many of these as you want, just subtract from the seventy-one for each that you make!  Next I made two pieced blocks to replace 4 smaller blocks.  The finished size of those blocks would need to be 9.5" x 9.5".  Piece together as seen below.

It's fun to dress up simple blocks with a few pieced ones.  Can't wait to quilt it!  I'll share when I do :)

Fabric Tuesday #103

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Red, White and Blue flag quilt...

This is a great flag quilt. Tiny tiny piecing! What a great keepsake.   Elaine from Summer Crafter made this great quilt. I love her blog name, she is a teacher, so saves most of her crafting for summertime! Here are some awesome finishes, love them! Elaine also has a shop for some great crafts here.

You're a grand old flag, you're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of the land I love,

Home of the free and the brave...

by George M. Cohan

I wanted to make a hanging flag quilt for my dad who immigrated here in the 60's. He loves the USA! We love the USA. I wanted to keep it simple, use small pieces and try something new. This was the original drawing a couple of months ago.  That was the plan....

Then I got the Riley Blake, Stars and Stripes collection.

And everything changed from there! Look at these neat patterns and colors.... the pinwheels!!

I decided to fussy cut these, yes 50 of them, and alternate them with 49 blue squares for the blue part of the flag. The pinwheels are about 1 1/2 inches so the actual size when sewn is 1 inch. Perfect. 

It only took me 2 hours to cut all these tiny squares! Truly a labor of love...

Then I thought, how in the world am I going to arrange these? In what order? Aren't quilts supposed to have repeating patterns? Well, amazingly enough, while  "playing with the squares" a pattern emerged, actually a couple. VOILA!!  OK lots.  It was quite dizzying...

For the 13 stripes I planned to cut rectangles in the reds and also in the whites and assemble them in rows 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. If you are going to quilt the "Grand Ole' Flag" you better get the details right! (Although mixing it up is fun too!)  Unfortunately, I cut all the little rectangles the wrong size and had to "re-invent" the pattern and there went the 13 stripes idea.

TIP: Never cut fabric when:

1. You are upset

2. Distracted

3. Annoyed

4. Sad

5. Frustrated

6. Emotional in any way.

But I think, considering the huge Faux Pas .... I managed to salvage the thing!

I quilted the "star" section in diagonals and the stripes part in "waves."

 My dad said "How will they know it's not Coca-Cola?" 

Very Funny.

I added 2 loops on the back with Grossgrain ribbon for hanging.

He was speechless, except for the Coca-Cola remark

and counted to make sure there were fifty stars. : )