Couldn't Resist Any Longer

I really tried.  For several weeks.  Even after seeing this post.  And this one.  And this one.  Oh, and this one.  And a hundred others.  I'm sure I need some sort of therapy.  If you'd like more details about the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long, visit Amanda and Angela who are hosting this wonderful quilt-along.   

Oh, and one more thing!  The winner of a copy of Scrap-Basket Sensations is Kathie.  Congratulations!  If you'll send me your mailing address, the book will be on its way.   And if you entered the drawing at The Fat Quarter Shop, hurry on over to see if you won a copy there.  Thank you all for playing along.

Hope I run into you at the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long!

Kim

Good Help Is So Hard to Find

 

To his credit, he’s always on time, doesn’t make a lot of personal phone calls, and works for kitty treats.

 

Stop by Tuesday to find out the winner of Scrap-Basket Sensations.  And if you haven’t entered The Fat Quarter Shop’s giveaway, go now!

 

Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

 

Kim

Fat Quarter Shop's Scrap-Basket Sensations Quilt Club

Have you been to The Fat Quarter Shop's blog, The Jolly Jabber today?  I'm "visiting" over there today, so hop on over to see what's going on.  Kimberly has paired patterns from my book, Scrap-Basket Sensations, with unbelievably gorgeous Moda Jelly Rolls.  As a club member, you'll receive a complete kit every quarter that includes fabrics for the top, border and binding!  There's also a separate club for the backing fabric.  I know you'll love the Jelly Rolls Kimberly has chosen for each of the kits.  Here's the kit that will ship in August -- Picnic made with the Hometown collection by Sweetwater.  

And in November, you'll receive the kit for Flowers for Nana Girl made with Butterscotch and Roses by Fig Tree & Co.

Kimberly is generously giving away five copies of Scrap-Basket Sensations, so go on over now to find out how you can win a copy.  And just for the fun of it, I'll be giving away a signed copy of the book here -- just leave a comment here and tell me your favorite thing (or four or five) about The Fat Quarter Shop.  

See you at The Jolly Jabber!

Kim   

Dots!

Collecting polka dot fabric is my latest obsession.  I picked up these Amy Butler Lotus fabrics from

Lily Bella Fabrics.  I love that you can create your own fat quarter bundle there. 

They'll look really nice with the fabrics I picked up recently.   

 And a very sweet friend shared a gazillion dotty charm squares from her stash!

Don't these look fun?

 

Stephanie is actually the person responsible for my quest to find every polka dot fabric on the planet.  I was inspired by her posts here and here.  She has a pattern coming soon, too.  Thanks so much, Stephanie, for understanding my dot addiction and not being judgmental. :-)

And speaking of sweet friends, Wendy sent me the absolute cutest little bag with

stitched seashells.  I love beachy things!  Not only is this an adorable little bag,

but Wendy's work is perfection.  Thank you so much, Wendy!

I hope all of you here in the U.S. have a fun and safe Fourth of July weekend!

Kim

Folded-Corner Triangles

What do you do with your leftover folded-corner triangles?  Do you make small quilts with them?  Do you use them for pieced sashings? 

Or do you throw them away without guilt and never give it another thought? 

Personally, I can’t force myself to throw them away, so I just collect them and stuff them into a big apothecary jar.  Looking through the jar is like an archeological dig.  Each layer identifies a quilt I worked on, in the order I made it.  If I couldn’t remember when I made the quilt, I would at least remember that it was before the pink and brown layer, but after the red and tan layer. 

The jar is overflowing, so I thought it would be a good time to use some of them.  These were on top of the jar, and from my latest project.  I grabbed a few and sewed light and dark triangles together, using a small seam allowance (about 3/16”).

  Since I’m not sure yet how I’ll put these together, I pressed the seams open.  Now I won’t have to worry about bulky seam allowances, no matter how I arrange the half-square triangle units.

To make sure they end up the same size,  I used the Bias Square Ruler to trim the unfinished units to 1 3/4”.   You can use any ruler with a diagonal marking, but this is my favorite.  My plan now is to decide on a layout and sew the units together in rows, using a full 1/4” seam allowance, then trimming off the excess and pressing the seam allowances in alternating directions from row to row. 

And now for the fun part!  These are some arrangements I played around with, using only 16 half-square triangle units.   I’m leaning toward the layout in the middle row on the right. 

If you’ve created anything using your folded-corner triangles, I would love for you to share a link to your post in the box below – it can be an older post, or one you do in the future.  Hopefully the Linky thing will work.  This is the first time I’ve tried to use it, and I’m a little challenged that way.

Hope you’re having a good weekend!

Kim

 

Weekend Fun

It seems there is an issue with Blogger that hasn't been resolved.  I am only able to leave comments on blogs that have the comments page set to pop up in a different window.  If the comments page is embedded, I'm unable to leave a comment.  Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.  I haven't forgotten about you, and I'm visiting every chance I get. 

The Azalea City Quilters' Guild held its quilt show on Saturday.  I went with two fellow bloggers and friends, Karen and Wendy.  Such a fun day!  We chattered, saw lots of beautiful quilts, had lunch, and spent lots of time stuck in traffic.  

Here's a picture of the opportunity quilt that I was absolutely certain I would win.  

It was made from Carrie's Cracked Pots pattern.  The colors are a little different in this picture, but you'll have to trust me when I say it was one gorgeous quilt.  I'm still waiting for the phone to ring, even though the drawing was on Saturday. 

And here's my friend Ellen (The Quilting Station) at her vendor booth. 

 

I love the quilt top hanging behind her.  It's made with a Green Tea Bali Pop,

and it's even prettier in person. 

The quilt show was held at a middle school, and I was fascinated by the painted ceiling tiles in the hallways.  My apologies to all the people I tripped over as I photographed the ceiling. :-) 

Wonder if my boss would let me paint the ceiling tiles in my office?

Have a great week!

Kim 

Oh, My! Again

So did you visit Sinta?  If you did, you know that she made the first sample quilt for

Fat Quarter Shop's Scrap-Basket Sensations Quilt Club using the pattern for Picnic along with Hometown fabrics by Sweetwater.  What you may not know is that Kimberly enjoyed your sweet comments and has decided to give away five more copies of the book!

The drawing will be on June 1, so scoot on over if you haven't entered. 

I spent a little time in my playroom this weekend working with my bag of strings.

And trimming a few triangles.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Kim

Oh, My!

You won't believe what Sinta and Fat Quarter Shop have been up to! 

Click here to find out.

Is the Weekend Over Already?

Is it just me, or do weekend days go by so much faster than weekdays? 

I worked on sample blocks yesterday for an upcoming class, and I had a lot of 2 1/2" strips left over.  I had seen Heirloom Creations' Jelly Roll Race a while back, and decided to sew my leftover strips this way.  Instead of sewing the strips with diagonal seams, I sewed them end to end.  Since I wasn't using full-length strips, my quilt is smaller, but large enough for a baby quilt. 

If you haven't seen the Jelly Roll Race video, check it out.

 

Have a good week!

Kim

Happy Friday!

Sorry for my absence lately.  You know how it is, right?  When real life takes over, there isn't much time to play.  The "thing" that has been causing me a lot of stress at work has been moved to later this fall.  I'll be hyperventilating then, but for now I have a nice long weekend to relax and hopefully work on something fun. 

Since I haven't been sewing lately, I thought I would share some pictures that some lovely people have shared over at the Scrap-Basket Group.  Just click on the links below to see each of the quilts.  Enjoy!

1. Nova, 2. Island Chain , 3. Over and Under, 4. Misty (from A Little Tangy), 5. Sprouting Pinwheels (from Pinwheel), 6. Scrap-Basket Paddlewheel, 7. Bali Sea Star, 8. Barbed Wire, 9. modified from Bali Sea Star, 10. Jenn's Christmas (from Summer Breeze), 11. Mocha Remix (from Kitchen Sink), 12. Spinning Bali Sea Star (modified from Bali Sea Star), 13. Pinwheel, 14. Kitchen Sink, 15. Snail Takes a Detour, 16. Over and Under, 17. Past and Present, 18. Cheryl's Snail Takes a Detour, 19. Cottage Miagia (from Beach Cottage), 20. Miagia (from Summer Breeze)

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Leftovers Again – This Time With Photos

Do you have little bits of leftover 2 1/2” strips and charm squares?  What do you do with them?

I'm playing around with a couple of things, and I've cut the leftovers into smaller pieces (ugh!) for a wildly scrappy quilt. Here's a sample of some of the fabrics. Maybe a solid white background to pull it together?

 

My friend Kathy has a new blog (Needle Delights Originals)! Kathy is a fellow quilting guild member, but she also designs counted needlepoint, and owns and operates a needlework store. I haven't tried counted needlepoint, but I'm in love with her designs that look like quilts. Like this one:

Her brick-and-mortar store is in Pensacola, Florida, but she also has an e-store here. So if you love needlepoint, quilts, or both, stop by and take a look.

Have a great week!

Kim

Leftovers

Do you have little bits of leftover 2 1/2" strips and charm squares? What do you do with them?

I'm playing around with a couple of things, and I've cut the leftovers into smaller pieces (ugh!) for a wildly scrappy quilt. Here's a sample of some of the fabrics. Maybe a solid white background to pull it together?

My friend Kathy has a new blog (Needle Delights Originals)! Kathy is a fellow quilting guild member, but she also designs counted needlepoint, and owns and operates a needlework store. I haven't tried counted needlepoint, but I'm in love with her designs that look like quilts. Like this one:

Her brick-and-mortar store is in Pensacola, Florida, but she also has an e-store here. So if you love needlepoint, quilts, or both, stop by and take a look.

Have a great week!

Kim

Sweet Surprise

Can you imagine how exciting it was to open the mail I received recently from Stephanie?

Stephanie is the Queen of All Things Dresden.  And the Queen of a Few Other Things.  Like bags.  Have you seen her bag patterns?  You can order them from Connecting Threads, or from Loft Creations' Etsy Shop.  You can even download some of them in .pdf format if you don't want to wait for the mail.  If you haven't visited Stephanie's blog, go on over and say hello.  And if you run into Abby, give her a pat from me.  You know how much I love me some cats, but I'd love to share custody of this D-O-G.  (Sorry -- habit.  We usually spell that word when the cats are around.) 

Don't you love the blue and green Amy Butler fabrics?  I've been in a blue and green mood for a while now, and I'm really enjoying this quilt.  Thanks so much, Stephanie!  The quilt is incredible -- I love everything about it. 

Have a super weekend!

Kim

Project Photos

It's so much fun to see all the different quilts you're making from Scrap-Basket Sensations!  I considered creating a gallery on this blog to share them, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do it the way I wanted to.  So I made a Flickr group, and would love for you to join the group and share your pictures of projects you've made from Scrap-Basket Surprises and Scrap-Basket Sensations.  I did it myself, so it couldn't be that hard, right?  Just click on the picture below or the button on my sidebar, and you'll end up over there.  Hopefully.

Hope you have a terrific week!

Kim