A quilt for Kyle...

Beki from artsy-crafty babe has a fun cute blog. She is a crafty to all sorts of projects, photography, decorating, cooking, jewelry, knitting, gardening...whew! That is my kind of girl! She makes and sells darling purse patterns through her etsy shop. Cute!

Last week Alex came home from school with a note from his teacher saying that one of his classmates lost everything in a house fire.  Alex was quick to tell me, "mom, he doesn't even have a book sack!".  As a first grader, all this info is a bit difficult to process.

The note went on to say that the school was having a donation drive, but if we had any ideas for the class to do something special for their classmate, that would also be appreciated.

Well you know me, my mind immediately turned to what can I makefor this boy?  What can I do with the kids for this boy?  A quilt seemed like an obvious answer.  A quilt that every kid in the class could contribute to.  As soon as I could, I emailed Alex's teacher with my idea and thankfully she loved it.

The next day I sent to school with Alex some fabric squares that had been ironed onto freezer paper (much easier for little ones to draw on that way) and some fabric markers.  My only instructions were for the kids to draw Kyle a happy picture and sign their name.

Oh my goodness, the pictures I got back were so sweet!  I can't help but smile when I look at them.

This weekend I got busy on the quilt.  My original plan was to border each drawing with a colorful print and back the quilt with a solid gray, but after making block, I decided that was a bit much.  I didn't want to detract from the drawings at all, so I alternated a solid gray border with a print one, then I threw in some white to make it all pop.

Using gray on the front meant that I didn't have enough for a solid back, so that got pieced.  I personally like a pieced back better anyway, so that all worked out.  

I'm so happy with how this turned out!  My quilting is wonky and I machine stitched the binding on entirely, but in this case, done is better than perfect.  Tomorrow I'm sending this quilt to school with Alex to give to Kyle.  I sure hope he likes it!

When you think sewing machine...

For many many people, sewers and non-sewers, when they think of a sewing machine the brand Singer comes to mind.  I think most of us have a "thing" for antique Singer machines :)  A couple of years ago I saw one at a garage sale, the machine, table...looked amazing.  I didn't even ask how much it was (no matter the cost we couldn't afford it at the time!).  I kick myself whenever I think of it.  I'd love to have that in my craft room!!

This post is not intended to be a debate about which machine is best.  I am also not getting anything for doing this post, but I found this site and information interesting and thought you might too!  I personally do have a Singer...we purchased it a few years ago when I really started getting into sewing and quilting.  It has been really good to me and was affordable.

This January Singer is celebrating 160 years!!!  WOW!  And to celebrate they are unveiling a new limited edition machine with the designs of the past but with modern, easy-to-use features.  I personally cannot wait to see what it looks like!!

So if you have or have had a Singer (or maybe your mom did, or your grandma) you should share your Singer story.  I've had fun just reading through them tonight and after I post this I'm going to add my own!  The cool thing is that everyone who shares their story is entered to win one of the new machines!!!!  A girl can dream, right? :)  Let us know if you share your story too...we'd love to read it.

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And another one of me really talented and darling friends Tamara is having a re-opening of her Etsy shop,

 the yellow attic 

She's got all kinds of hand made goodies.

Darling right??  Well she's giving away a custom owl beanie...seriously!!  So make sure to see her blog, love and be loved to enter (you've got until Saturday!) and check out the yellow attic too!

Who wants some fabric??

Heather and I have a serious addiction that we share with many many of you :)  Fabric.  I adore it.  I stare at my stash at least 20 minutes a day and I try to do it for more.  I pet it, name it, laugh with it.  When my honey was gone we had some good conversations.  I dream of the things we'll do together.  Ahhhh...fabric.

Well our friends Annie and Lorna from Sew Obsessed have another great fabric giveaway for you today!!  Wahoo!!  These girlies just ooze with creativity, check out Annie's latest tutorial on Originate and Renovate:

Darling right??  And the Mermaid fabric is coming to their shop.  Just added something to my list :)

Wanna see the the giveaway??

Okay...

1 yard of In Transit from Michael Miller

We've kind of had a boy themed week here, wouldn't this be a great addition to your stash???  I can never have enough boy fabric in my stash.  Even though I'm the only lady in my house I have plenty of pink and floral fabrics!!

And you have until Saturday to save 30% on your entire purchase using the code SEPTEMBER

How to win:
please leave a separate comment for each
if you are a no-reply blogger please leave your email


1. Visit Sew Obsessed and tell us your favorite item! This is my current crush :)
2. Become a follower of ours or tell us if you already are
3. Follow Annie's blog Originate and Renovate
4. "Like" Sew Obsessed on Facebook


This giveaway is now closed.

Winner and a fabulous mini quilt

Here are the winners from our Sprinkles giveaway HERE.  We wanted to know about your fiesty kids!!! :)  The two OH SO FUNNY winners (Erin please contact us!):

 Erin said...

I have a fiesty one too! It is my youngest, I have told people that it is a good thing he was not my first or I wouldn't have had anymore! One night I was putting him to bed and he was being a little sassy. I told him to get in bed and he says, "you aren't the boss!" I fired back "oh yes I am." His response "no you aren't, God is!" How can you argue with that?

September 8, 2011 6:50 PM

 Pamela said...

I have a feisty and fierce one, too - youngest of 5 girls! She definitely makes us laugh and we tease her about the funny things she said when she was little. "I'm not used to this family yet!" is one she will never live down. She's now a senior in high school!

September 7, 2011 10:41 PM

Leona from Leona's Quilting Adventures (I love her name by the way...) has a great modern mini quilt to share.  It's all solids, and in fact my next quilt in my sketch book is all solids!  Anyway, check out her finished quilts (I loooove when ya'll have this tab!) I especially love this castle peeps mini, so cute!!  Leona also has an Etsy fabric shop, small but I did see Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt's that are hard to come by!

Lately I have lived in the world of perpetually behind with many of my blocks swaps and bee blocks. My goal is to get caught up over the next several weeks and start posting everything. I think the changes from moving and transitioning into a new environment caught up with me for a while. Change is good, but sometimes the brain just has to re adapt!!

Over the long weekend I worked on Pam's Quilt. The center of the quilt is finished and needs to have three borders added to it before it can be sent off to be quilted.
The mini for the "For Love of Solids" swap on flickr is almost completed. My secret partner loves purples and her quiltie reflects her favorite color!! One of the things that makes swapping fun is that it makes me push the envelope a bit more with each new project. The Bee Blocks, Blocks Swaps and flickr swaps challenge me because most times I have not attempted the project or process before. For the Love of Solids swap is a perfect example of the road less travelled. This project is improvised from basic instructions that began with a block from the book "Thinking Outside the Block." This is the first block that was created for the mini quilt. A simple improv block for the beginning of a modern quilt.

Nine blocks were created following the same process and alternating the purple to plum color pallet. Several blocks that I made didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked, so they met the trash can!! This picture is of the first four that were acceptable.

This is an initial layout of the nine blocks that ended up in the quiltie. Each block varies in color and placement of the strips. Through the process, which was very fun I decided that somewhere down the road I would like to make a full size quilt with larger blocks...and perhaps the intermingling of Wonky stars!

The interesting thing about sewing the blocks together is that it felt like I was creating a whole piece of fabric. The blocks as they merged (and as you can see their orientation changed) really complimented each other. The straight line quilting started in the center with a triangle that I followed around and around, then ran off the edge of the fabric. Two secondary sections of quilting ran parallel and horizontal to the center triangle. It is pretty amazing in person and will be difficult to let go of once it has to be mailed. 

The back of the quilt.

There are sometimes moments when I step back and look and think "did I do that?" A plum binding will be added and mailed with some purple goodies and a rainbow colored pincushion.

Work starts up again tomorrow. The laundry is done and even Chloe dog had a bath this weekend! She loves to smell everything and roll in the grass outside. The poor little dog had a bit of a green tinge to herself before her bath!!

My goal for the next several weeks is to get caught up with all of the overdue blocks that should have gone out in the mail many many weeks ago!!

Have a happy week and Happy Quilting!!