STUD

STUD is a mini quilt swap over on Flickr. It is "Swap Till U Drop" and is every two months. The themes change every swap. I was in the July / August STUD where the theme was 'same shape rainbow'. We knew who our partners were so we could ask each other questions and get to know them a little bit. I swapped with Leah, who is Ryersmama over on Flickr. Leah sent me this mini quilt with the rainbow triangles going around. She knew I loved this block. It 12" X 12".


I knew that Leah loves Heather Ross fabric and wonky stars so this is what I made her. The top stars are machine appliqued on. The middle stars are pieced wonky stars. And the last tiny bottom row are made with sharpie markers. There are some Heather Ross fabrics added to some of the middle wonky stars.

I forgot what it measured but was about 14" X 16" maybe. I'm in the Scrappy Mug Rug swap over on Flickr also, but it doesn't end until the last week of August. Pictures from that swap to come soon.

Mug Rugs being sent all over the World

I signed up for the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap #4 over on Flickr and the mug rugs are starting to travel the World. A Mug Rug is a tiny quilt made for your cup of tea/coffee/wine/mug/etc. It is like a big coaster. I received my mug rug yesterday and boy was I spoiled!! The partners were kept secret so I had no idea who was making my mug rug. Yesterday I found out her name is Karen and she lives in Canada! And she is wonderful! Here is the mug rug she made me. She knew I like to camp in our VW bus and that my favorite color is orange.

Here is a closer picture, she added the constellation sky so it looks like we were camping under the stars. If you look closely you can see the frayed grass for texture.

Here is what was in my whole package.... two frogs ( because I LOVE frogs and toads) they represent my two children. A sweet frog cookie cutter ( on the book in this picture). A quilt book with an 'orange story' in it. LOL Some frog fabric and a Charley Harper card.

Here is my mug rug in action setting by my bed. It looks so cute with my bus pin cushion that stays there for hand stitching in bed.

BUT WAIT... There's more.... the back of my mug rug is ORANGE! I love the back as much as I love the front. See the frog and the sweet spiders. Yes, I like spiders.

I haven't sent my mug rug yet because domestic shippers don't ship theirs until after May 23rd. The partner I ship to and I both live in the U.S. Karen shipped mine from Canada ( international) so she had to ship before May 23rd. I'll be sending mine out to my partner ( still a secret to her) in a few days, but here is the sneak peek. I can say she loves green , purple, and orange together. And she likes turtles.

I added some hand embroidered flowers and machine quilted it.

I loved this swap. The people are so sweet and the mug rugs are so little you can whip one out in no time. I'd love to have lots of the all over the house. And some in the bus.

UFO's

Sewing Log: January 18, 2009: So many unfinished projects going on . It is driving me a little crazy. There are so many things I want to make and I hate to start new projects if I don't have the ones I have already started finished.

Here is the 'Flower' Quilt top. WIP. I still have lots of stitching to do on it. This is what I will probably be working on at Sit and Stitch Tuesday evening.

This is another BOM, but I am not sure if I am doing the whole thing. I just really liked this stitchery so I decided to do this one and just see what the next few months looked like. This block in not yet done, can ya tell? Another WIP.
Another Swap in progress. This black/ white / and red triangles are for my siggy swap. But they are no where near done.
I've got lots of sewing to do.

PS. check you the cool new logo in my sidebar: "Blogging Amy's". It is a list of Amy s that blog. :o)

starting on Christmas gifts.

I picked up this book about a month ago. It has the cutest projects in it. A lot of them I am going to be making into Christmas gifts. The book is by "Betty Oppenheimer" and published by Storey Publishing.

So , Here is the first one I am making. I will probably end up making 2 of these. I am not going to say who they will be for just in case they read my blog.... but I doubt they do. It is called the Lumberjack Tote.
The fabric I am using is the Home Dec weight, so It is really thick and strong. This fabric came from the shop..."Quilting Adventures". They are carrying more and more of the Home Dec weight fabric.
Here are the handles being sewn on. This is where I had to stop. My little boy has another fever and ear/throat ache. So off to the Dr. we go again.
ps. I got my pattern cut out of my pj pants. Now I just need to cut out the fabric for them. I think I need more time in the day.

SWAP and swap

I started a new class called SWAP. ( sewing with a plan.) It is wonderful. Monica, the teacher, teaches you how to sew garments that will fit YOU. I am so excited about the class. It is an on going class so you can join anytime.

This is my first garment I am making. PJ's pants. I need to start out very easy , and I love PJ pants. I live in them. And my husband's big T-shirts.


Here is our new Amy Butler fabric I pick for my PJ's. I will be showing you progress, we can laugh together as I try to make garments. LOL We also have a blog so you can keep up with the whole class. : http://www.qaswap.blogspot.com/.

And... I get home from work today and I found this WONDERFUL postcard in the mail from my swap angel partner ( the one I am swap to) She lives in Germany , so my postcard came all the way from Germany. This is so cool. I've gotten a postcard from my swap angel in Australia and a postcard from my partner in Germany. I am going to hang them on my sewing room wall.

Dream Catcher done

The "dream catcher" quilt top is done. It is a shop sample , so I may have to take a better picture of it when it is hanging up. It is huge. The fabrics are batiks in soft colors. It looks "beachy" Which is right up my ally. " The shop", Quilting Adventures is going to be selling the kits for it. ( There is a link to the shop in my side bar.)



And my 2nd tea towel arrived. Yeah. Here is my stitching for it. Her theme is a 50's kitchen theme.

Thank you everyone for the kind words you have sent me. I went to a SWAP class last night and laughed and giggled so I am feeling a bit better today.

Vacation

I will be leaving for the beach tomorrow for a week. Yeah! So I won't be blogging next week. I got my swap angel the other day. And I am so excited to get started. We have to keep our swap angel partners a secret , but I can tell you she lives in Germany. I went to her blog and I can't read a thing, but the pictures are beautiful. She probably won't be able to read my blog either. The picture above is a snip of the fabric I am using in her 1st project. I will hopefully be working on it at the beach this week. And my advent calendar embroidery. I'll pictures when I get back.
Also, I finally got some Sublime Stitching patterns. I got the "Camp out!" one, "Craftopia" , and the "Chi-Chi Fever". I can't wait to start playing around with these. The shop I work for, Quilting Adventures is now carrying 20 different Sublime Stitching patterns . http://www.quiltingadventures.com

Block #7

I got around to making block #7 of the quilt along. I am so far behind.
Here are all the block together....
And a picture of the vintage fat quarter sheets I received from the swap.

vintage sheet swap

I received my sheet fat quarters. They are wonderful. Elizabeth Hartman from www.ohfrannson.com organized the swap. I can't wait to make things with them. I will post pictures of the fabric opened up later.

Happy 4th of July.

Happy 4th of July. We are going to a cookout today. But I am having sew withdrawal. I have not gotten to sew since Tuesday and it's driving me crazy, so before we go to the cookout, I am going to go sew 2 blocks of my "dream catcher" .
Here is a picture a blocks I have received in a "block swap". I have 3 more blocks to come in the mail. The bottom right one is the one I made.
My "hungry caterpillar" fabric. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet..It's either going to be something for my cousin , she is a kindergarten teacher. Or something for my son's teacher this year. He starts kindergarten this year. We've spent lots of time at the park this week, that's why there has been no sewing... here is Jonah acting like a silly boy.
And Jonah fishing .. He LOVES fishing.
Hopefully I will get to sew soon, (or they might have to lock me up. )

fat quarter vintage sheet swap

I am "playing along" with a bunch of people in a vintage sheet swap ( fat quarters). http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/ , Oh fransson is managing the swap and you should go to her site and check out all the fat quarters she has received so far. They are eye candy.

Here is one more sheet I haven't cut up yet. I am hoping to have them all cut, folded, packed up and mailed up Wednesday.