July do.Good Stitches

The colors for our July do.Good Stitches block were so pretty that I couldn't put the fabrics away until I cut up bunches and bunches of it! My groupmate MsMinnesota (link to her blog) selected a palette rich in blues with pops of grey, green-mustard and burnt orange. Almost everyone in our group has an abundance of blue... not me, I'm all about teal but I have made an effort to select different blues to add to my stash since joining the group.

I would not have thought to put these all together but they worked beautifully! She selected the big multicolored plus block below - another block I haven't made before. It was very easy to do and I can't wait to see what she does with it!

While considering whether or not to put the fabric away after finishing my blocks or just letting it sit in the middle of my sewing room I couldn't help but note that these colors would make a great boy quilt... And boy colors are tough to pick! So I selected cluck cluck sews Scrappy Summer pattern which I've admired since Alison blogged about it and whipped up a bunch of these blocks in no time! I'm developing a bit of a habit with these do.Good Stitches blocks and color palettes. I did the same thing for May's do.Good Stitches blocks which were done in red, blue and navy also great masculine colors. Trying new things is one of the fun things about being a part of do.Good Stitches.

 

The Scrappy Summer patter is such a wonderful pattern! It goes together very quickly and works great for scraps. I used Kona White to make the four-patch blocks which are all strip pieced. 

I assembled 30 blocks and arranged them in a crib size quilt measuring about 40x48 over the weekend. Next up is backing and binding additions. I've been hanging onto these little jellyfish guys for just the right boy quilt...  not sure if this is the one or not! 

And these too - running low on blues again I see! Not sure when when I'll be back to finish this quilt as my son in finishing up his Marines training and we'll be off to see him before he heads off to California to his next duty station.

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 Freshly Pieced My Quilt Infatuation Whoop Whoop Friday and Sew Fresh Quilts 

One Lovely Blog Award

Oh. My. Goodness. I was ridiculously happy to see that someone had selected my blog to participate in One Lovely Blog Award, thanks Amanda! The rules are as follows

1) Share a little bit about the person (or people) who nominated you.

Amanda has some seriously cute things going on over at her blog, The Cozy Pumpkin. I don’t have any littles but if I did I’d be checking out her blog for adorable hand-made clothes. Instead I’m interested in her quilty awesomeness and amazing hand-stitching skills. One of my favorite Cozy Pumpkin quilts is one that she made for her daughters room, a giant tumbler quilt with free motion stippling, yum! The colors drew me in right away but that quilt has some beautiful crinkliness that I can't get enough of! She has a lot of tips and tutes too!

2) Share seven things about yourself your readers may not know.

1. I've only been quilting about 5 years although I had dabbled before. I attempted my first quilt in college, bought a sewing machine, fabric and set out to complete a king size pinwheel quilt with very small pinwheels (I needed about a thousand or two)... still working on that one!

2. I have quilted all of my own quilts. I recognized right away that I couldn't afford to take my quilts to a long-armer. When I first started I just made quilt tops and folded them up and put them in the closet (good idea right?!). After a small pile amassed I bought a plastic free motion foot for my little Wal-Mart sewing machine. I finished one quilt with the little foot and started a second. Unfortunately the machine and foot exploded into a dozen parts! This is the story of how I came to purchase my Pfaff 4.2 Quilt Expressions machine which has been a workhorse and improved my piecing and quilting dramatically. It has made sewing and quilting so much more fun.

3. I probably spend more time researching ideas for quilts than actually making quilts! Anyone else have this problem?! I'm a regular pinterest, instagram, flickr, blog stalker... and boy does that keep you busy!

4. Proud mama time! My son is a US Marine and currently stationed in Pensacola, Florida. He's studying to be an air traffic controller and is waiting to find out where his next duty station will be! He's hoping for the west coast - he is not a fan of Florida humidity. Wisconsinite through and through.

5. Speaking of Florida, my hubby and I met in college while completing our Masters program and were married in Panama City Beach, Florida at sunset. We stayed at a little pink hotel on the beach which was demolished a year or so later and turned into a high rise condo. My hubby put together all of the flowers for the wedding including my bouquet. I bought my wedding dress from ebay for $300. I like to be thrifty like that...

6.  I've been taking an interest in sewing clothes lately! Not sure what got into me.  Over Memorial Day a friend and I got together to sew the Staple Dress. After that I completed the Belcarra Blouse in cotton and a self drafted linen circle skirt! There are some cute dress and tank patterns I've been eyeing up for future projects. This has been a new adventure - there is so much to learn, garment photography, reading patterns, tailoring, apparel fabric... The Pinterest, instagram and blog research is in full swing!

7.  Randomness. I'm currently watching Lost on Netflix; I was never caught up in it while it was airing. I was missing out. I'm also way hooked on Mad Men; I want to be on Mad Men. I just finished reading Overdressed by Elizabeth Cline, a book about the clothing industry in America. Favorite books include Like Water for Chocolate, The Help and anything by Jen Lancaster. Some of my favorite movies are Steel Magnolias, Hope Floats, and Drowning Mona. I love watching old movies, especially Carey Grant, James Stewart and Jack Lemmon flicks. Don't even get me started on holiday movies... I have a large stack that must be watched every single year. Every. Single. Year. I listen to a lot of country and classic rock music. I like a craft beer or glass of wine (or two) pretty much every day. Green Bay Packers have my heart always. And I wish I could remember half of the Spanish I learned in high school. Randomness.

3) Choose bloggers that you wish to nominate for the One Lovely Blog Award and share a bit about them.

Girl With a Sewing Machine: Lala sews some amazing clothes for herself and her young daughter. Great photos and the fabric, oh my, the fabric! I love reading about her sewing adventures in Singapore.

Where is My Instruction Manual: Again with the clothes! A theme here? I want to sew everything she has made. Lots of kids sewing too.

Never Just Jennifer: A quilty blog! I've had this scrappy baby quilt pinned for half a year. I love the random blocks in the simple and slightly off center setting setting. And then there's the rounded corners to fall in love with!  I love Jenn's style and use of color.

This post has been quite an adventure - hope you enjoy!

Wonky Work In Progress

It has been a busy week! Hardly any sewing, boo. We have been in California - our son graduated from Marine bootcamp, yay! We had a few days in the sun before returning to the cold weather. Thankfully no snow yet. Before I left I did manage to decide on my next project and even sew up a block to see if I liked 'the plan.'  I stumbled across the wonky pinwheel tutorial by Greenleaf Goods; I really liked the idea and saw a number of variations on Pinterest. It took me awhile, seriously days, to decide on what I wanted to do here. I finally decided on solid Kona Navy surrounded by teal prints. Yum!

I like it! I'm thinking about doing a larger starting square; these were 3.5 inches and seems like it might take forever and ever before a quilt would emerge. My test block above is 6.5 square, it will be 6 when finished. The benefit of using the smaller starting squares is that you can use up even small scraps... a trade off, forever and ever before a finish or using up small scraps. Don't know, gonna have to ponder this one.

Using the dark centers is really no trouble at all, I just used my pink sewline to mark the lines

I can't wait until this is finished. I don't know what it will end up as but I'm excited to see! In the meantime I'm doing another dog quilt that will hang in a dog rescue! Instead of pastels the request for this quilt was 'bright and fun.' I had a couple of ideas, Lily Ashbury always comes to mind when I hear 'bright' but didn't think her awesome florals would work here. I decided on V and Co Simply Style. These fabrics are bright and fun and not too girly or boyish. I think the colors will really pop against a bright white background. I'm planning to use Kona White as the background fabric. I'm working on a plan for the background and borders.

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 Freshly Pieced My Quilt Infatuation Whoop Whoop Friday Stitch by Stitch and Let's Bee Social

The Same Breakfast Every Day

I didn't quite make my goal for Finish Up Friday - at least not the goal that I had set out to complete! I got pretty close though and I'm not 'in' to rushing just to get done especially if the quilt is for someone else. I did finish the quilt top and added straight-line quilting to the Vertical Chevron Quilt, formerly known as the aqua, orange, grey quilt (I also named the quilt!). Just the binding and lots of clean-up; minky dust is absolutely everywhere! I'm waiting on the new mama to let me know about the binding and I'm planning something a little extra before I send this one out the door next week.... I am just not finished with these pretty fabrics yet! This quilt will be the crib quilt for a special addition this November/December.

Speaking of babies - our son Tyler has been at Marine Core boot camp since August. Sounds like things are going alright for him; he doesn't have a lot of time to write and hasn't been allowed to call since the first week. He is not used to the '20 second showers' and 'same thing for breakfast every single day,' but says that he 'doesn't mind the yelling' - I guess we must have broke him in for the yelling bit. And what's so wrong with eating the same thing every day for breakfast? I've been eating half an English muffin with peanut butter for breakfast for literally years! Sometimes I have my peanut butter with oatmeal or steel cut oats instead, but always, always peanut butter. Moving on. He was quite sick when he got there and had to go on Rest but has been feeling much better lately. We'll be seeing him on his graduation from boot camp in early November... it sorta feels like a long way off even though September has just flown by. When he left in August he only had the clothes on his back, no cellphone, gaming system, favorite snacks, not a thing. After graduation we should be able to speak with him more regularly as I think he can have his cellphone back. Here we all are at his 'Good-bye & kick-ass Tyler' party this August - it is one of my favorite pictures ever! And look, there's my hubby, sans the dog costume!

And here's the cake, because there is always cake! That's how we roll

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 Sew Can She, TwoLoQuilting, Blossom Heart Quilts, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics, Sew Fresh Quilts and Freshly Pieced 

Best,
Heather