Modern Swappers - Swap Partner Received Gifts!

My swap partner finally received her package!



This spread includes:

• A hand pieced machine quilted mug rug made from pink hexagons. The back is also pink with 1 solid pink colored hexagon serving as a label. 
• Some extra pink hexagons that match her mug rug in case she wants to make an accessory to go with it
• Some blank hexagon templates to make some hexagons from any color fabric she chooses
• 2.5 yards of Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt (5 pieces in orange and purple each cut at 1/2 yard)
• A package of standard needles in sizes 14 and 16
• 3 magnetic containers for storing little colorful things
• A quilted chalkboard framed in blues and browns (unfortunately I forgot about chalk until the last minute and ran out of time to get any, sorry Dorrie!)
• And of course a card from me to my partner Dorrie

Her picture makes everything look so good together! Hopefully she likes using all of her goodies!

Modern Swappers Package Sent

I'm patiently waiting for this....



to show up at my swap partner's house. According to the delivery confirmation tracking number it was delivered yesterday but I am not sure if she's opened it because she hasn't said anything. I hope she likes it!

Happy Quilting

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} December Blocks

It's been very busy around here. All the hustle and bustle of the season has had me very tied up still. Hopefully in the new year I will be able to post more but for now I'm keeping it short and sweet.

Here are my latest blocks for my do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. Jeni asked us to make two 12.5" (unfinished blocks) checkerboard style blocks using turquoise and orange. My original idea was to make a very simple block with 4 squares and within 1 of the squares I would make a square from 9 smaller squares.

However, it didn't work out so well...in an end-of-the-weekend-I-just-drove-7-hours-in-the-last-2-days stupor I miscalculated and ended up with a block of 9 squares too big to work for my block. I could have gotten my seam ripper out and made it work but I didn't feel like doing that. Instead, I made 2 blocks with big squares and 2 blocks with my 9 patch block bordered with orange and aqua. Jeni gets 2 bonus blocks!

Here are some photos of the unfinished blocks I will be sending to Jeni later this week: 

And all of the blocks together:

I hope these blend in well with the other blocks all the ladies in the group are making!

Happy Quilting

ps--in some of these photos you can see the new color of paint we put up in our basement. It's called Sassy Green and I love it!

Etsy Hotness

My little Etsy shop Lovie and Boo has been getting a lot of action lately! I have had several people add my items to their Treasury listings or mark them as favorites. It's very rewarding that other people enjoy the fruits of my hobby! Here are some hot items:

My Fiona bracelet was featured in the Orange Creamsicle Treasury listed by Gryphon Vintage. This is one of my absolute favorite bracelets. This bracelet is created from Joel Dewberry's orange and cream damask from his Aviary collection. Even though the scale of this print is a bit large, the pattern lends well to the button size of the bracelet. I thought this print was gone for good but I recently found some on sale at Fabric.com. I love this pattern so much that I bought several yards!

My Poinsettia bracelet was featured in the Decorate with the Christmas Botanical Staple Treasury created by Genuine Creations. This traditional holiday print is very festive and I love the touches of gold outlining the petals of each flower and leaf. This is a limited edition bracelet much like all of my holiday bracelets. Once the fabric is gone it's gone so get one while you can!

My Blue and Silver Snowflake bracelet was also featured in a Treasury called Blue Bug created by Latika Natural Soap. I love this print because it can be worn throughout the winter season.

My Janelle's Jazzy Batik bracelet was added to the Batik Chic Treasury created by Elliesueg. This print is also the backing and a border on the second quilt I ever made (Queen Jungle Batik). I love the colors of this print and the black markings remind me of early civilization art.

Some of my other items have been added as favorites like:

Mia's Blue Blossom bracelet. This fabric was a gift from my MIL Ann from her Japanese print collection. The flecks of gold and little blue blossoms make for a very elegant bracelet, ring, and earrings.

Jayden's Jungle Leaf bracelet. I received this fabric in a scrap pack. It's actually a Heather Bailey print from her Freshcut line but cut down to this size reminds me of zebra stripes. I can make matching earrings in almost any of the colors featured on the bracelet.

And a few more:

Annabelle's Cornflower Blue bracelet

Kate's Rockin' Red  Batik earrings

And Laurie's Garden bracelet
All earrings are $4, all rings are $8, and all bracelets are $12 (I like to keep things simple). I do ship internationally but shipping is a bit more than domestic prices. It is a busy season and the post office is packed but there is still time to get your order by Christmas so if you have any last minute gift needs check the shop!

Thank you to everyone who added one of my items to a treasury or added one as a favorite. I really appreciate it!

Happy Holidays!

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} November Blocks

Our do. Good Stitches {s Charity Bee} November block was designed by Emily of this little life of mine. She tasked us to create any block style in yellows and white. Since I am a little late and since I had some extra pieces of white already cut out I made 3 blocks instead of the usual 2:

I didn't really have a lot of yellows in my stash. Thankfully Aunt Ginny had some to donate to the cause. I think our fabrics coordinated well together and hopefully will look good with the rest of the blocks.

 

These are going off in the mail tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

A Dozen Quilters Christmas Stocking

My blog friend Hollie recently asked for volunteers to join A Dozen Quilters, a charity bee much like do. Good Stitches but instead of quilt blocks they pick a quilted project each month to do together to benefit a charity organization.

In November we were tasked to make a stocking to benefit the St. Pj's Children's Home in San Antonio. I made mine from pre-quilted Amy Butler fabric from her love collection, some super soft fleece for the cuff, and stuffed it with a gift card to Walmart.

If I could do it all over again I would have done a French seam for the inside of the stocking but who looks in the inside of the stocking anyways??

Happy Quilting!

I'm back!

A little bird reminded me that it has been awhile since my last post. I agree! 

The past few weeks have been quite eventful but unfortunately they've also been very time consuming and I haven't had many spare moments to write a post. Let's see, I interviewed for and started a new job, I went on a quilting retreat, we started painting our basement, I hit a deer (I'm ok and after some repairs and some paint my car is too), went to the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild sew in, moved my crafting stuff back downstairs into my new nook, my niece was born and we hosted my parents at our house when they came up to meet her, we moved our computers and desks back downstairs, went to Roanoke for Thanksgiving, bought a dinning room table and buffet, and painted the dining room. Whew!

What little spare time I did have was mostly spent eating, cleaning, or sleeping. I did manage to make a few sales from my Etsy shop and send those out but absolutely no sewing has been done since the retreat on the 5th-7th with the Cabin Branch Quilt Guild and the sew in on the 13th. I'm so behind! Hopefully I can catch up tonight after we finish the second coat on the dining room walls. 

My blocks are due for the do.Good Stitches {A Charity Bee}. This month we were asked to make yellow and white blocks in any style we wanted. This is a tough one for me because I don't actually have a lot of yellow. Hopefully I can scrounge something up and finish those up tonight. Since I don't have anything to show you, you should go check out the blogs of the other ladies in my bee: 

Krista of Spotted Stones

Emily of This Little Life of Mine

Jeni of In Color Order

Corey of Little Miss Shabby

Anna of The Joy Cottage

Muriël of Hopfaldera

Robyn of Coffee and Cotton

Hollie of The Undercover Crafter 

Hopefully the next time I post I will have some great pictures to show you!!!

Happy Quilting!

Batting Scrap Challenge Failure

I was avoiding this post hoping that there would be some late Batting Scrap Challenge participants, but sadly there were none. Part of me feels silly for trying and part of me just hopes that people were really busy and that's why no one wanted to join. The other part of me just wonders if people use batting scraps all the time and didn't even see it as a challenge. I'm sure you're wondering how many parts I have at this point...

Instead of focusing on the fact that no one joined me in the fun I am going to focus on the fact that I had a lot of fun using batting scraps for different projects!

What did I make?

This book cover:

And this book cover:

This pin cushion and a square version with the same fabrics:

This onesie (that I ended up taking apart and re-making) to pad the star a little and give it dimension:

This pincushion as filling:

This pincushion as filling:

I also made some projects after the October deadline using batting scraps like this car seat quilt for baby Asa. I made one very similar for my nephew but didn't get a chance to take a picture before I gave it to him at his baptism:

And these tic tac toe on the go mats:

I had so much fun making these trash-to-treasure' projects! I hope you enjoyed following along and that you will be inspired to transform your batting scraps too!

Happy Quilting!

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} Quilters Needed

If you've been keeping up with my blog or read my previous post you know that I am part of a flickr group called do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. I have had so much fun participating in the last 2 months' bees: 

October 'Hope' Blocks

September 'Hope' Blocks

Currently the group has three circles: Love, Hope, and Faith. Each circle benefits a charity and each month the members of the bee make two blocks from their stash (or fabric provided by the quilter) under the direction of that month's Quilter. Everyone sends their blocks to the Quilter by the end of the month and then the Quilter has one more month to piece, quilt, bind and send the quilt off to the charity. Sewers commit to making two blocks a month. Quilters also make two blocks a month but rotate months with the other Quilters to finish the project for the circle.  

I am one of the Quilters in the Hope group so for the past two months I have made blocks for the quilts other Quilters have designed. In January I will design a quilt, communicate the details to the other ladies in the group, collect the blocks from everyone, combine all of the blocks together to make a quilt, and send it off to its new home where it will be loved and cherished. This has been a wonderful way for me to meet new people, try new patterns,  and also give back to the community. 

Two new circles will be opening up soon but they are looking for more quilters!. If you're interested in joining us please head on over to our Flickr group and sign up today! I hope to see you over there!

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} October Blocks

Just a few pictures of the October Blocks I made for the do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} flickr group:

Uploaded to flickr here

Uploaded to flickr here

Uploaded to flickr here

You can read more about this stash buster block at Little Miss Shabby. There are two great versions of this block for you to try. I hope mine don't stand out too much from everyone else's blocks. I didn't have many matching scraps on hand so I went with what I had to work with. Most of these are leftover from the nursing cover I made for my sister last Christmas.

Happy Quilting!

Favorite Fabric Stores

I haven't talked about fabric shopping in awhile so I figured it was time for an update. As my taste in fabric has developed, so have my choices in fabric stores. I started off shopping mostly at Hancocks-Paducah and Fabric Depot. Both are still great stores to shop at for more traditional prints and batiks, and both offer great discounts but for modern prints I've had to look elsewhere.

First up is Quilt Home. I love this store and can't say enough great things about it. They have a great selection of Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey, Erin McMorris, Heather Ross, and so many more great designers. They even carry designer specialty fabrics like laminate/oilcloth and pre-quilted.  I think I have bought a yard or two or three of almost every AMH print they carry to stash away for clothing and quilting projects.

I always take a peek at their daily specials section to see what's on sale. They offer free shipping on orders over $50! I never seem to have trouble filling up my cart to take advantage of that deal. I also love that they take the time to write a personal message on the invoice of each order. I definitely recommend signing up for their newsletter and reading it weekly. They always have great feature articles about designers or new lines and offer great discounts.They also do 2 great giveaways each newsletter!

I've also really enjoyed shopping at fabricworm (the are also on etsy here). I don't find super awesome deals at this shop like I do at Quilt Home but I do love their selection and their mixed bundles are so cute! I love the color combinations they come up with and the way they mix different lines together.

fabricworm is very good about blogging when they expect new lines to arrive or when out of stock items are back in. Unfortunately the first time I shopped with them, my package arrived opened and emptied. I am sure my beautiful Lizzy House Castle Peeps and orange scrap pack are stuck in Post Office limbo somewhere (makes me want to cry) unappreciated and lonely. Hopefully they will end up in a good home eventually! Happily, fabricworm was more than willing to re-cut and ship me my order again at no charge to me. That definitely made me want to shop with them again!

 

Last but not least, I am happy to announce that I found a local quilt shop I actually like and who actually likes me! The Artful Quilter in Burke, VA is filled with beautiful fabrics and friendly ladies just dying to know what you're working on and bend over backwards to help you. It's a little further out of my way than the shop I was going to but it's totally worth the extra 10 minutes. My most recent trip with fellow NOVA Modern Quilt Guild member Kate was very successful! We both brought home at least 5 yards each of Amy Butler Midwest Modern in aqua and cream (my all time favorite fabric) because it was on clearance and several other smaller cuts of various designs.

Happy Quilting!

The New Face of the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild

Check out the new face of the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild!

Our About Us page features useful information about Modern Quilting and The Modern Quilt Guild.

The Photos page will feature work from all of the NOVA Modern Quilt Guild members.

The Events page lists upcoming events for the next 3 months.

The Contact page allows potential members to contact us through the webpage.

 

In other news, I also purchased matching business cards for our guild from Moo.com:

Aren't they cute?!

I hope you like the changes!

Happy Quilting!

Calling All Crafters: Help With Making a Wrist Wallet

Hey fellow crafters--

I am having trouble figuring out how to make a wrist wallet. Have any of you seen patterns out there for an item like this:

It has a hidden zippered pocket for small items and cash and fits over the hand and on the wrist without snaps, buttons, or any other type of closure. In other words it's one continuous loop around the wrist. My step-mom Laurie saw them in a magazine and was hoping I could make some but I just can't figure it out! Help!