WIP Wednesday!

Anna Maria Horner box pouch for Shruti

One finish this week - finished finished! A little gift has made it all the way to it's proper destination - So I can finally share finished pics of the pouch for Shruti! Read all about it here (my version), and here (her version). 

When it comes to my other projects I feel like I'm treading water - I know I'm making progress on these projects, but it seems like they're dragging! 

Current WIP's:

QAYG Weekender in progress.

Weekender - I'm so close. I have started sewing the outer pieces together. It's going ok except I broke the only size 100 needle I had... and then I tried continuing with a size 80 needle. Nope. lol. I picked up a pack of Jeans needles (size 130 I think?) yesterday, so I shouldn't have any problems with those. 

Doll Quilt Swap 13 - no progress since last week. I really need to get piecing a couple more stars so I can put it all together! This one needs to be mailed in a week! 

Michelle's Quilt - It's basted and ready. Now I need to pick up some thread and quilt it up! Michelle is in town visiting this week so it would be great to get it finished so she could take it home!

All other projects - no progress! 

But... I did order some new zippers from Zipit on etsy. So pouches again soon! :) hehe.

Linked up with WIP Wednesday!

Sending some love...

Have you ever noticed just how much you can cram into a flat rate envelope? If you have then you're a quilter! We've got a special knack for being able to make the best of every little bit of space!

A couple weeks ago the rates for flat rate envelopes (international) increased significantly... so that pretty pouch I made for Shruti ages ago? It needed to be shipped! Of course I've been adding little bits and pieces to that package over the last couple months.

Here are the highlights of the package: Echino deer fabric, Some other bits of fabric, a package of my fav. Frixion pens, one of my favorite candy bars, a little mini quilt made of those pearler beads, and of course the fab pouch.

But what I really sent off in that package? Some love.

It's hard to explain quilting friendships. And it's even harder to explain them when it's a friend that you've known for years, yet they live on the other side of the world, and you've never met in real life. I suppose not many non-quilters have friendships like that. But I do, and I'm glad. This is another example of how participating in the online quilt community has changed my life. Imagine, this friendship started from a flickr swap! Yep, I received the awesomest quilt from Shruti in the Doll Quilt Swap a couple rounds back!

One day I'll make it out to India, or Shruti will travel here - we'll meet.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention - I sent a couple boxes of Kraft Mac N Cheese too. Since Shruti's son should have the chance to try it!

QuiltCon Countdown!

QuiltCon is coming up, are you going??

I'll be there from Thursday - Sunday and I'm excited to be taking a classes with Angela Walters and Elizabeth Hartman! I can't wait!

In talking about QuiltCon today with my Stitch & Bitch group, one of my friends suggested that we decide what our main goal for the weekend be (am I there to learn stuff, to be social, or to make industry connections?). 

Obviously I going for all three of those options, but I'm not sure what my focus for the weekend is (aside from meeting AMH - I have to meet her!. I really want to get a feel for some more intricate free motion quilting. Taking the class with Angela should definately help me toward that goal. Otherwise I'd love to meet some bloggers I've "known" for ages. If you're going to be there please speak up! Let's make plans for coffee or something! 

Until then... I'll be working on finishing my Weekender! :) 

Welcoming a new sponsor: Sewing Patterns By Mrs H!

Did you guys notice the new pretties over there on the sidebar? I've got a fancy new sponsor, Sewing Patterns By Mrs H! 

Sewing Patterns by Mrs H is run by Samantha (Mrs H) who lives in Wales. Samantha designs handbags and produces patterns for them. Her etsy shop is full of great PDF purse patterns and purse making supplies. 

I'm personally excited about The Stella Pleated Bag pattern. I have the pattern ready and waiting for the perfect fabric (and a spare minute) to make one for myself! 

Go check out her shop, I'd love to hear what you think of her bags!

PS - Don't forget to check out Samantha's blog too, where she shares household tips, tutorials, and recipes!

Sew Thinky Thursday: A new linky party.

Feel free to grab this button to use on your blog post and/or sidebar!
The button was made by the lovely Shruti!

I've been thinking about starting this linky party for a long while. There are so many sewing and quilting related subjects that I'd love to take the time to think about. I love to talk things out but I'm fairly sure most of this doesn't matter to my husband - so maybe my bloggy friends would like to come along for the ride? After all you'll understand what I'm saying when I talk about sewing stuff! 

So I present you the first edition of Sew Thinky Thursday! A place to think about your sewing life, and share with other bloggers. 

This will be your place for some thoughtful blog reading. Each Thursday I'll post a different question regarding sewing and quilting, then I'll write my response to that question. I'll have the linky tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up a post sharing your response.

There are no wrong answers here. Many of these questions are open ended  personal stories. I'll leave the linky party open for a few days so that everyone has a chance to write up their post. My hope is that by having this linkup on Thursday we'll be able to stop in over the weekend to read each other's responses! 

This week we'll start off simple. Here's our question:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

Here's my answer:

I started sewing when I was young. At maybe seven years old I received a little "creativity for kids" quilt kit set. It came with some charm squares and a couple needles for hand sewing. I don't recall there being any real instructions, but I do remember cutting those squares into quarters so I'd have more of them (the fear of running out of fabric started early). In the end I was always too afraid of screwing up and wasting the fabric that I never really made anything with it.

At about 11 years old my Aunt Kathy gave me a secondhand sewing machine - my White machine. I learned to sew on it and sewed faux fur stuffed animals. If you can sew faux fur you can sew anything!

Throughout the rest of my jr high, high school, and college years I sewed periodically. I made odd projects such as self designed (poorly designed) purses and clothes (the tie purse I made out of my best friend's dad's old ties... lol), and one t-shirt quilt (backed with fleece!).

I didn't become serious about sewing until I had my daughter. When Allie was a few months old I wanted to make her a quilt. I'm not sure why. But I spent those late night nursing sessions combing the Internet for every tip and trick. I found people modern designer fabrics (finally some beautiful quality fabric!), and bloggers like Elizabeth Hartman, SewMamaSew, Anna Maria Horner, etc. I breezed through that first quilt and started planning my second.

I knew I was really hooked on quilting when that first package came in the mail - two yards of luxurious Anna Maria Horner Chocolate Lollipop fabric. I made the cutest dress for Allie out of that fabric, and she wore that dress once a week until she grew out of it (it still hangs on display in her closet). The designs I saw in Anna's fabrics were reminiscent of the pages upon pages of doodles from every notebook I've ever owned. It was the best of all worlds, beautiful colors, fabulous designs, and the freedom to make whatever I wanted. I was in love.

I'm still in love. :) A few years and dozen quilts later and I still get excited looking at that first little quilt, and that little ruffly dress.

Now's your chance to link up and share your thoughts too!

Five things about me...

With QuiltCon just around the corner there's a linky party going on to show our actual faces! lol. I know from my experience at Sewing Summit, that it's really odd when you're chatting with someone and suddenly realize you have followed their blog for ages but didn't recognize them!

So in attempt to not have that happen as much - here's my face. My hair is growing out so it's wild and does it's own thing most of the time.

Now for five things you don't know about me:
1) I met my husband in a piazza in Rome, Italy. Pretty freaking awesome really - I mean we can always leave out the part about how drunk we were when we tell the grandkids. lol.
2) I have a degree in Catholic Theology - and wanted to double major in Theology and Math... but I knew I'd never be hired to teach theology if I had a degree in Math (math teachers are harder to come by) ... so I dropped the math. I enjoy doing quilt math.
3) I totally want 10 kids. Really really. I think it's about time I had some twins.
4) I got a C in high school biology because I refused to respond to my older sister's name... I ignored the teacher after reminding him a dozen times that I had my own name.
5) I shaved my head to raise money for childhood cancer research (about 10 months ago). The organization I shaved with (St Baldrick's) is funding research that may one day cure my niece's cancer.

If you're going to QuiltCon let me know - maybe we can meet up! Oh and add your link to the linky party so we can see your pretty face!

WIP Wednesday

Doll Quilt Swap 13 Progress!

Unfortunately it hasn't been as productive of a week as I'd like. We had some issues with our furnace last weekend which left me hiding under quilts rather than piecing them! Thankfully that's all fixed now, so I see some real progress soon! 

This week I've made a little more progress on my weekender - I just have two more outer pieces to piece/quilt. I'm ready to get this one together!

Florida star - minus the HST's on the corners. Pattern found here (and reduced 50%)

I've also made some progress on my Doll Quilt Swap quilt. I've pieced another block and a half. I'm really having fun with the paper piecing. I'm thinking maybe one more intricate paper pieced block, or maybe a mini swoon block? We'll see. I'm really sad that my EPP block is missing (along with my hand sewing kit eek!). So that one may not be included unless it turns up soon!

I did start and finish my Modern Quilt Guild Madrona Road challenge quilt. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and It'll look nice on my sewing room wall. :) You can read the whole story here.

The biggest thing being checked off my list this week  - prepping for my first week of my new linky party! 

I'm starting a linky party titled "Sew Thinky Thursday." My goal is to get the blogging community thinking and talking. Each Thursday I'll post a conversation topic related to sewing. These are all things that I'd love to chat forever about, but it would likely bore my husband to death if I did. So instead I'll chat with you guys! Here's how it'll work:

I'll post the question a week in advance, and you can then blog your response anytime throughout that week. Stop by my blog every Thursday to join the linky and to read the responses of everyone else. 

This week's question (linking up tomorrow!) is: 

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

So go ahead and think about it - and stop by to link up tomorrow!

Finally the sad list of things I haven't worked on at all this week:

1. Michelle's Quilt - no progress, but the batting arrived this morning. So quilting soon! (still waiting for the thread!)
2. {Modern} Robin - no progress. 
3. Bubble Quilt - no progress.
4. Sabrina's Quilt - no progress.
5. Harry Potter Patronus/Dementor Mini - no progress.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.