A Winning Streak!

I have really been on a winning streak lately... it's a little creepy. I hope it stops soon because you know how things have a way of evening themselves out.... and I'd hate to see what the opposite of this streak is!  On my birthday post I mentioned winning a gift certificate from Pink Chalk Studios - an awesome prize! Reminds me that I need to do a little shopping over there...  A week later at the dog walk I won a raffle prize which was about a years supply of dog treats, also very awesome.  A couple of weeks ago I visited Nancy Zieman's blog - now Nancy is a Wisconsin sewing staple, she also is a huge deal at the Madison Quilt Expo which I mentioned in an earlier post - Nancy was giving away all kinds of awesome stuff to promote her new book Quick Column Quilts. I headed back over there on Saturday to take a look at the winner list and wouldn't you know it I won the mother of all prizes, a new Baby Lock Tempo Sewing Machine!! There was much screaming, squealing and heart palpitations followed by taking deep breaths. All I can say is wow! Maybe I should just buy a lottery ticket or two just to make sure the streak is over...

Quilts

Since Nancy's new book is about column quilts I thought it would be appropriate to share a recent column quilt finish of mine. The Glimma Quilt was a kit from Fat Quarter Shop - they have the best kits over there! 

This quilt was supposed to have an a white border between the green stripe fabric and the binding, which by the way is Michael Miller Couture in Mermaid. It was already big enough for a twin size bed so I nixed the extra border....  The fabrics are from Glimma by Lotta Jansdotter.  There were lots of scraps leftover so I pieced this backing with Kona Ash and Michael Miller Couture Mauve. I like the backing enough that I would use it as a front! 

 

And, all folded up nicely - gosh I love a teal binding! 

My favorite part of this quilt is the quilting - it took forever, but totally worth it. I free motion quilted the sashing in a random square pattern. I quilted each block differently. The texture is really cool. It's killing me not to wash it to find out how it will look when washed, but I've added this quilt to my shop so I'd rather send it to its new home crisp and new! Someone else will be able to enjoy the amazing crinklyness of this one. Yes, I am sure that crinklyness is a word - I have just used it. The solids totally show off the wonky, improv-y quilting on the backing. Here's a close up of the free motion quilting on the front

When finished with the quilt I still had enough scraps to make another project. I used them to create this improv log cabin block quilted pillow. Actually I pieced and quilted this pillow before quilting the bed quilt... it was also a bit of a practice piece since I hadn't used this square quilting pattern before!  

And I still have more leftover scraps from this kit! Fat Quarter Shop is always generous with their kits - thankfully because I've had plenty of whoopsies  and needed that extra fabric! Sometimes I have even used up all the fabric! I can't say enough good things about Fat Quarter Shop! The Glimma Quilt and Pillow are both available in my shop. 

With all the excitement I've still been able to make some great progress on my teal, orange and grey quilt. Blocks are all lined up on my design wall - ok, its actually the floor - and several rows have been sewn together! I hope to have it ready for Finish Up Friday. I don't have any progress photos - I sew in the basement and it gets dark early now so my photo time has been greatly reduced... And now you know, I sew in the dark, in the basement, I am a vampire sewer. Oh well, suits me just fine and I'm happy to have my own space even if it is dark and in the basement. Summer has returned to Wisconsin again... I've been out enjoying it so progress has been a little slow. I did some last minute tweaking of the fabric so I'll leave you with that

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Quilt Story, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics, Freshly Pieced, My Quilt Infatuation, Two Little Aussie Birds, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Can I get a Whoop Whoop Friday Vals Quilting Studio and Sew Fresh Quilts.