Quilting Retreat

Wow, that was fun! I sure wish I could have stayed for the entire time but feel lucky to have gone Friday to Saturday.

I finished my 100 Quilts for Kids Quilt. I absolutely love it!!


I used inspiration from Film in the Fridge for the quilting technique. It turned out so well. Thankfully the guild girls talked me into it, I think I'm going to quilt like this again. It was basically dense straight lines, so super easy. The white thread on the solids really worked well.


Then I used this Made By Rae tutorial for the roll over binding. I love how Remix really adds to the edge of this quilt.


I kinda don't want to give it away so I decided I'll make another one for my BFF who's having a baby in spring. Since they won't be looking at the sex this will be perfect.

It's going to charity tonight, it's for a local children's museum auction.

I also re-learned how to hand bind this weekend and I am now hooked! I was really making it hard on myself, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was. It's only Wednesday and I'm already half way done! So glad I asked for someone in the guild for help. It made a huge difference.

WIP Wednesdays

Hi there! It's Wednesday so that means I'm going to share my current WIP's.

I'm still binding my Summer Sampler and I started work on the BOM QAL.


I also cut out all of my squares for the Dead Simple QAL.

On tap:
A play mat/car track with pockets
Thomas Quilt
Dr Seuss Quilt
Guild Quilt Challenge (I can't remember the name of the fabric line, ugh)
Tree skirt
Modern Crosses

I'm linking up with Lee and Freshly Pieced.

I've been working sporadically on a couple of quilts. I finished the top and basted my 100 Quilts for kids quilt, which is also my Robert Kaufman Charm pack quilt.


I'm going on retreat this weekend and it's my number one priority for finishing.

I also started the Block of the Month quilt. Here is block one:


Can't wait to have a day and a half of quilting! YAY!

WIP Wednesdays

It's Wednesday already? Oh well, I guess it is.

So here's what I've been working on this week:


My Summer Sampler is quilted and the binding is attached. I just need to hand sew the binding on. I wonder how long that will take me....my least favorite part of quilting. I ran out of the thread for this quilt, aw shucks, I guess I need to make a stop at the fabric store.

A little about quilting my sampler...I started out wanting to stitch in the ditch around everything but as I started around my squares I ran into some difficulties. Wherever there was seam bulk my machine had trouble getting through it. I was using my walking foot but I wonder if that would happen if I was using the free motion foot. Anyone know? So I ended up just sewing in the ditch around the blocks and in my border fabric and not inside any of the blocks. I still broke a needle even avoiding the very bulky centers of my squares! (I also broke a needle when I was stitching on my binding, but I think that was from a bobbin tangle.) Overall, I think this is good ammunition for getting up the courage to try free motion quilting. We shall see.

Next up is my Storytime quilt for the 100 Quilts for kids QAL. I'm also double dipping and using this as my Robert Kaufman charm pack challenge. Oh yeah I did! I am conveniently using "Remix" by Ann Kelle for Kaufman as an accent fabric and the backing. Looking forward to starting this, there are some awesome prizes for doing this QAL.


Technically not a WIP, but they're finished! My hexi pillows. Thanks again Lee, for this awesome pattern.


TTFN. I'm linking up with WIP at Freshly Pieced.

Madison Quilt Expo

Wow! Long day yesterday. The Madison Quilt Expo was exhausting. I still can't believe how many people were there for a Thursday during the day. I can't even imagine how packed it must get over the weekend.

I didn't spend nearly as much as I thought I would, thankfully, but probably because I didn't see as much modern fabric as I had hoped. There was one entirely modern fabric booth and then with some digging you could find modern fabric sprinkled among the others.

I was very happy with my purchases. I found some great kids fabric and was really excited to find these octopuses. My 2.5 year old loves octopi!




One of the cool things I saw over and over that I just loved were "twisted pinwheels." So I bought this kit to make them in a future quilt. Maybe a Dr Seuss quilt, wink wink.





One of the other cool things I found was this panel. Perfect for two little boys. I am planning to back it with denim or corduroy and including some pockets for cars. Maybe some handle/roll up type action too so that it can go with us. I see a tutorial in my future!

Lastly, I found these spectacular shell buttons. I am going to use these for one of those Modern Crosses quilts that I've got big plans for. Soooo excited. I just love these!!


Those tomatoes I left you with yesterday...became almost 20 cups of sauce. With that and car maintenance and a trip to the zoo for a 1st train ride...I've had another exhausting day. Sheesh. Time for bed.

It's WIP time again!

This was a slow week quilting wise. Probably because the hubs is on vacation, the holiday weekend and the start of teaching class for me. Anyway, I finished the tops of the hexy pillows, but they need quilting and then need to be assembled. Everything is cut and ready to sew!



I also basted my Summer Sampler, so that's ready for quilting. Again, ready to sew. Just need to find time.



And yet another distraction from my sewing...these need to be made into sauce. Yummy.



But of course the best distraction to have is the Madison Quilt Expo tomorrow. Not sure how I'm gonna sleep!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced.

And the winner is...

The "Woolen Winter" color palette from Design Seeds. Yep, this is the color palette I've chosen for the Dead Simple QAL. Whilst (I love that word) at the fabric store today, I pulled out colors from the "Woolen Hues" palette but they weren't really talking to me. So I pulled out these colors and I got a much better vibe from them. They are Kona solids in Midnight, Windsor, Amethyst, Peridot, and Garnet. Interesting that three of them are gemstones.

Also on my trip I bought tickets to the Madison Quilt Expo. Can't wait to go on Thursday. There's sure to be a post on my purchases.