Why Not Sew?

and 28 Buttons Later...

2013-06-19T12:47:00.000-04:00

...I still want to make more.

This whole button thing started with me wanting to make the Prettified Pincusions from Ayumi's book Patchwork, Please in which you can use fabric covered buttons. Well the pincushion was temporarily abandoned last evening for a trip to the store to get more buttons to cover.

My husband actually asked what I needed all of them for. I said I needed them for pincushions. He asked how many pincushions are you going to make. I said maybe 2. Then he looked at all my buttons and laughed a little. He's stopping by the store today for a few odds and ends. I asked him to pick me up some more buttons to cover. hehe.

::Buttons::

2013-06-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

Just having fun making fabric covered buttons today...that's all :)

xo Erin

: : : : : : : : : edited to add : : : : : : : : :

This is the kit I used to make the buttons.

Modern Mini Challenge ~ Free Bird

2013-06-13T17:53:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up my Free Bird quilt with Ellison Lane's Modern Mini Challenge. I was a little hesitant to enter because, seriously, have you seen the gorgeous quilts that are entered? But then figured what the hay! My little Free Bird is in celebration of Independence Day. The gingham reminds me of Fourth of July picnics. The birdie is staring at the fireworks in the sky. Didn't you know birds like fireworks too?!!! Happy Summer-time!!!!
Thanks for visiting!
xo Erin

Kitchen Shelf Progress

2013-06-12T09:05:00.000-04:00

Happy Wednesday! I worked some more on my kitchen shelf quilt. I had to piece together enough background fabric for the space under the mugs. I have used up every little scrap I had of this Kona Ash. I could have ordered more and waited but sometimes I say to myself..."Hello, this is what quilting is...use what you have...make it work". It's easier to listen to myself when I can't run 10 minutes up the road to a local quilt shop like I used to be able to do. I think I'm going to make the shelf a little slimmer. Maybe shave off a 1/2 inch. It's bit thick. I didn't look to see what the pattern in the book suggested. That would have been smart, huh? I followed the pattern "loosely" because I included blocks that aren't from the book. So never really looked at the actual measurement for the strips and background pieces. I have to add a thin background strip that I pieced together also to each side. Then I have to decide how to quilt it. I hope to have it finished this weekend but we are having friends visit. I think there will be some camping and fishing happening so we'll see how much sewing I can do from now until then.

ETA :: The mixer is from a pattern I made and there is a tutorial for it here. The teapot is from Piece by Number and the pattern for that is here. The rest of the patterns are from the book Cups and Saucers by Maiike Bakker. I bought mine from Amazon. It's a really great book for paper piecing and cute kitchen quilts / placemats / etc...

Fun Sewing and a Free Bird

2013-06-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

This weekend I started paper piecing these blocks to make a kitchen shelf quilt. The mixer is my pattern ~ free here, the teapot is a PDF from piece by number, and the rest are from Maaike Bakker's Cups and Saucers book. I forgot how much I love paper piecing, especially with yummy fabric!

I made this little quilt last week. I like to call it Free Bird, in celebration of Independence Day (coming up next month). After making it I thought it still needed a little something, but it's simplicity has grown on me and I rather like it this way.

Hope you are having some sewing fun!
xo Erin

Hope Valley Twister Finished

2013-06-06T18:03:00.000-04:00

YES!!! I finished my quilt and do I ever love it. I decided to quilt 1/4 inch on each side of the diagonal seams in one direction only. Very minimal, for me, but I like it. I didn't have enough Hope Valley fabric left to bind it with so I used some Flea Market Fancy grey eyelet/sprouts. I love it! Did I already say that? I don't usually wash wall hangings but figured I'd give it a go. The quilt isn't perfectly squared, it's a bit wobbly. I really wasn't as gentle with side background triangles as I should have been.

I'm going to hang it in my kitchen for now. Just not sure which direction I like best. Stripey block in the top left or grey? What do you think?

WIP Wednesday ~ 6/5/2013 :: Hope Valley Twister Top, Cutting Mats and a Winner

2013-06-05T10:47:00.000-04:00

I got my Hope Valley Twister blocks put together! I went with making a wall hanging. I think I'll revisit the pattern and make a bigger quilt sometime. I love the look of this block. I started putting the whole blocks together using a y-seam and quickly decided, since there were so few blocks, to take them apart (in half) and sew them together in rows. Much better :)

I feel like my WIP list is manageable now. I have 3 flimsies. I have my on-going hexies and Grandmother's Flower Garden. So comparing my huge list from last year. I've either finished, changed or used most of those WIPs. I think I'm in good shape and can maybe even start a new quilt!

In other exciting news, I got a new rotary cutting mat yesterday. Okay, maybe that's only exciting for a quilter. I really needed one. My old one was in sad shape. Michaels had a 50% off coupon so I used it for my mat. Let me tell ya how nice it was to trim up my Twister top on the new one...it was nice.

And last but not least the winner of Lori Holt's Bake Sale Rolie Polie from Fat Quarter Shop is Tracy! Congratulations Tracy and thank you Fat Quarter Shop!!

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway::Bake Sale by Lori Holt

2013-05-30T11:28:00.002-04:00

Don't you just love Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet!? She has such great style. She seems like so much fun and super sweet. She also hosts awesome quilt alongs on her blog. In my opinion she can do no wrong as far as fabric design goes. Her fabric line Bake Sale is no exception. I LOVE this line, like, a lot. It makes me so happy to look at these beautiful colors. Lori always knows how to add that sweet retro feel to her designs. I have one little 2.5 inch square of the cherries on pink left from her Sew Cherry line and I'm hoarding it. So I've learned my lesson and I am ordering enough Bake Sale to last me for several projects. Including this crazy, cute pattern.

Pre-cuts are going fast. Fat Quarter Shop is generously giving away a 3.5 inch Rolie Polie to one of you lucky people! Just leave a comment on this post by midnight Tuesday June 4th to enter. Good Luck!

Maggie Bunny, Soup and Other Things

2013-05-28T20:48:00.000-04:00

Only 36,000 Feet..that's how far away I am from high speed internet. That's what the phone company told me the other day when I called inquiring about a new package they are offering. They're working their way toward our house. Progress. I guess flickr has made some changes, I can't get it to load yet. I'll be trying again later. But today Bloglovin decided to load for me. It's nice to see what everyone is up to. I missed Blogger's Quilt Festival, that's a bummer. I've seen some of the quilts entered and they are gorgeous.

I did get some sewing time and knitting too. I made a Maggie Bunny from Alicia Paulson's pattern for one of my girls. The instructions were so clear and it was really enjoyable to put together. I decided to make Maggie an apron, because you know, a bunny has to have an apron.

I'm not much of a knitter (really) but the little capelet was simple enough for me. I did buy the hoodie sweater pattern too. My oldest girl is an awesome knitter and crocheter so she's gonna make that for Maggie. That's all the sewing I've done lately.

But I have been cooking. We've had warm weather for the most part but there was a brief cool spell and I seized the moment and made soup. Creamy potato and kale soup. So, so yummy. It's my favorite. I could eat bowls and bowls of it. I'm sorta glad soup season is over for that very reason. It's also so much better the next day but there is rarely a time when we have much leftover for the next day.There's really no "recipe" for it. Just throw your carrots, celery, onion in a pot with some butter and olive oil saute, add garlic. Add peeled cut potatoes, salt, pepper, chicken bouillon, water. wash kale thoroughly, cut or rip into pieces. Cook forever...or about 2 hours. There is never enough kale in this soup in my opinion. I use 3 bunches. Add heavy cream. Enjoy!

Outside, we are still working on our garden. I can't tell you how happy these asparagus plants make me. I hope they do well once in the ground. The chickens and ducks are growing like crazy. They are really entertaining and we pull up a chair near the coop and just watch them. a lot. When the baby naps my little shadow follows me around and picks all the flowers I take pictures of. She's really good at it!

Chicken & Duck Love

2013-05-14T12:23:00.000-04:00

I hope all you mamas out there had a lovely Mother's Day! Mine was wonderful. My husband built our chicken coop this weekend and then took me to pick up my chickens. We found this nice couple that has a really cool homestead a couple of counties over from ours. The only chickens the lady has are Americanas and those are the only ones I wanted. They are the kind that lay tinted eggs in blue, green, pink and sometimes yellows. I'm hoping for blue! My husband got 4 ducks. They are adorable. Three of them are about a week old and one of them is about 3 weeks old and it is living with the chickens right now. The man that we bought the chickens from gave us some quail eggs for eating. They are really pretty eggs and are very small.
My daughter's rose bush is blooming. It's beautiful. We have blueberries on our blueberry bush. My husband cut back our Lemon Verbena plant. I've had it for about 6 years and it was getting very thin and spindly. Now there is a lot of new growth coming on. Have you ever smelled Lemon Verbena? It's such a great smell. My Hens and Chicks that my mother potted for me before we moved are coming back around. I'm really excited that my Echinacea sprouted. When we moved I had to leave so many perennials. A really well established patch of Echinacea and my three Clematis plants that were 8 years old, lush and beautiful. So I'm spending most of my free time working on getting more perennials started. Our garden is growing with much more to put in still. That's what I've been up to. Enjoying all this beauty that surrounds me.
Sorry I have no sewing to show you right now, but I did cut pieces for some Honey Bee blocks. I'll be squeezing in some sewing time here soon. We are going to be having family & friends visiting throughout May and June so I'm really excited about that. Hope you all are well and getting some time to sew or do whatever it is that makes you happy :)
xo Erin

Sweet Quilt Finished

2013-05-03T09:52:00.000-04:00

I finished my "Sweet" quilt!!! The quilting was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It was heavy and big but I broke it down into quarters and never had more than that under my machines throat at one time. I only quilted about 1 bobbin at a time. That's all baby and my shoulders would allow. So 11 bobbins later (including binding) it's done and we have been sleeping cozily under it. This is about a 3 year old (slow) work in progress (WIP) and my all time favorite fabric line (Sweet by Urban Chiks for Moda). I am so happy it's finished.

The weather has been gorgeous and it's hard to stay indoors when the sun is shining and birds are singing. We found a hatched Robin's egg and that led us to do a little study about Robins. Here is neat site with lots of info. They are very interesting little birds. All the buds and blooms are beautiful and smell so good. I receive a bundle of wildflowers almost daily from eager little hands. There really is nothing more sweet. The windows are open at night and we fall asleep being serenaded by some of my favorite sounds, peepers and the whippoorwill.

Have a happy weekend!!!
xo Erin

***pattern is from Crazy Mom Quilts Flea Market Fancy quilt***

The Sun is Shining

2013-04-17T15:21:00.000-04:00

I got the chance to baste my Sweet quilt. I used a cafeteria sized table to baste it, as many of you suggested. I think it's gonna have some puckers because I couldn't get it as secure as I do when I floor baste. I'm going to quilt slowly and adjust as I need too. It's the biggest quilt I've made, like a queen/king size. Wish me luck.

I made Kerry a house block for the cocorico bee. She gave this link to a free pattern. I used the paper piecing technique. I think it came out really cute. I could totally see a whole quilt made of scrappy houses. This was a fun block.

I painted some clothes pins with the Valspar Tranquility paint I mentioned in the prior post. I love this color!

We've been spending a lot of our time outdoors. Planting gardens, flowers and veggie. Hyacinths have always been one of my favorite flowers. Don't they smell wonderful? Everything is starting to come alive. I love this time of year. We have always gardened and started seeds but this is our first year starting asparagus from seed. They actually germinated rather quickly. It was so exciting watching them pop up through the soil. Now just three years until a good harvest!

My father-in-law was visiting this weekend and he and my husband built us a deck from repurposed lumber. A friend of ours asked if we wanted an out building he was gonna tear down. So my husband and his dad took it apart and salvaged all of the good lumber. It was really cool to watch them work together. My FIL is an excellent carpenter. My husband's not half bad either ;)

I hope the sun is shining on you wherever you may be!
xo Erin

Hey, Hey, Hey...

2013-04-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

What's happening?! I started this post 2 weeks ago. The title and first picture are all I got on here before I had to get off. I just wanted to take a minute to say "hey" and catch up. I finally made a permanent little sewing space for myself. I'm really happy about that. I painted an old sewing table we had and added new knobs that I also painted. I think I found the perfect shade of aqua. It's Valspar Tranquility. Love it! I have only had the chance to use my sewing space to make a few small and quick things. I made these cute little fabric baskets from this tutorial as thank you gifts. I machine bound mine. They sew up in about 20 minutes.I wanted to make the baby a few dresses. I found this cute Peasant Dress pattern here. They sew up in about 20 minutes also. I got two made and have fabric pulled for one or two more. So no quilting going on but I am drawing out quilts again and have the backing almost ready for my "Sweet" quilt. That is going to be a beast to quilt on my machine.
I hope you all are well and hopefully having some nice weather.

Hope Valley Twister Blocks

2013-03-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to decide what to do with these blocks. I'm not sure if I should just make it small like this and use it as a wall hanging or if I should use the little bit of Hope Valley I have left and mix it with some other prints to make a bigger, more useful quilt. Any thoughts?

Random Acts of Kindness

2013-03-21T16:15:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for the congratulations on our new baby! Your comments were very sweet and I appreciate each and every one. I'm sorry I haven't replied to them yet. My inbox is overflowing right now from not checking it regularly and with all this Google Reader ending stuff I am getting a lot of notifications from Bloglovin when someone follows me on it. Thank you for that by the way!!! I am so happy that you want to continue to read my blog. I'm considering replying to comments in the comments thread for a while until I resolve some e-mail issues I've had.

I also want to take the time to say THANK YOU to a few special ladies. My very dear friend, Heather, restashed me!!! She sent me a beyond wonderful package of my all time favorite fabric Sweet by Urban Chicks. The package included a very thoughtful card that made me ball like a baby. Not much longer after this package arrived she sent me the nicest package of baby things. Diapers, a sleeper, a Moby blanket and nookies (pacifiers). Thank you, Heather! Your kindness touched me beyond words, really. Thank you, friend!

Then, my very sweet friend, Heidi sent me this beautiful baby quilt. I love every print she used. Heidi also sent along a card, and it too, made me cry. Thank you so much, Heidi! The quilt is already well loved! The gifts are so special but when someone says that they have been praying for you, well, that is something that means more to me than anything. But I love the gifts too ;) Heidi has some great pictures of this quilt here.

Kylie, my friend and bee mate for the cocorico bee, sent me an adorable baby bib along with her bee block for me. Isn't it sweet? Melinda and Leila also sent some cute fabrics that I can use for a few baby things. These random acts of kindness blow me away and it really reinforces the fact that quilters are the most awesome people ever!

(melinda's itsy bitsy spider, amy's there was an old woman who lived in a shoe, kylie's hey diddle diddle, muriel's a little mouse with clogs on dutch nursery rhyme, leila's twinkle, twinkle little star)

Speaking of awesome quilters, I got to play with the cocorico bee blocks I've received so far from my bee mates! Boy, do I ever love these blocks!! My theme was Nursery Rhymes. Aren't these the greatest blocks? So much detail and thought went into each and every one.

Thank all of you so very much. Every package was a little piece of sunshine!

She's Here

2013-03-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

Our little pumpkin was born Friday morning at home. She is so sweet and calm and has brought such joy to our home. I praise God for a healthy pregnancy, labor and delivery. Thank you all for the comments, e-mails, prayers and gifts. I am so touched by the friends I've made through this little blog of mine. I treasure your friendship.

It was so pretty out this morning I wanted to get a few pictures of my finished scrappy trips quilt. I love it all washed and crinkled. It was really windy and I couldn't get many good shots but it felt great to be outside with the sunshine.

I hope you all are well! Happy Sewing!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday!

Waiting...

2013-02-27T11:56:00.001-05:00

Still waiting on baby here. Guess she's just not ready yet. I feel great, baby is doing great, so we will just wait a bit longer.

To keep my mind busy I've been working on my hexagons I started in April of last year. My mom is visiting so we've been sitting and sewing while watching The Waltons on DVD. I am glad I had some hand projects waiting to go because it is not comfortable to sit at my machine at this point. I've totally fallen in love with these hexagons again. I'm going to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden, something that has been on my "list" since I started quilting.

I pulled out these old Twister Blocks from June of 2011. I think they are one of my oldest WIP's now. I've always loved them but just haven't taken the time to work on them. I pieced them on the machine but I'm going to put them together by hand and finish the quilt by hand too.

My husband's dad and step mom sent me an Amazon gift card for my birthday (last week) and I was able to get a few books that I've had in my cart FOREVER. That was fun! The day after the books came all of us girls (me, my mom and daughters) snuggled in bed and looked through the books and picked out projects we wanted to make. I haven't had a nice morning of lounging around like that in a long time. It was lovely!

I hope all is well with you and hoping my next post will be of my finished Scrappy Trips quilt and cute little baby feet :)
xo Erin

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Spam Sushi, Anyone?

2013-02-07T15:16:00.001-05:00

I finished Tamiko's block for the cocorico bee. Her month was October (yes, I know ~ hanging my head in shame). Her theme was Hawaii. She had a list of different ideas and one of them was Spam. I had seen something about Spam and Hawaii a long time ago on Netflix, maybe it was Bizarre Foods or No Reservations?? I can't remember now but I thought it would be fun to make Spam into a bee block. I drafted SO many blocks for this it's silly. Then I thought maybe I'll make something else, like Elvis or a ukelele, but I kept wanting to make a paper pieced can of a Spam. I just could not get it to look right. So then I decided to just go with the Spam rolls. I think their proper name is musubi. Although these still are not paper pieced I think they came out pretty cute. If Spam can be cute. I think this block feels hawaii-ish. I hope she thinks so too.

Free Log Cabin e-book from Fons & Porter

2013-02-05T18:15:00.004-05:00

Recently I was asked to review a free e-book from Fons & Porter. Build Your Best Log Cabin includes many pictures and detailed instructions for making traditional and variations of the Log Cabin quilt block. The book contains 24 pages packed full of Log Cabin history, layout names and ideas, strip measurements for 5 different block sizes, full instructions and measurements to make several whole quilts, tips for organizing your strips, and tips on quilting and binding. I think it's a wonderful e-book. Here is a link if you are interested in the free download.

Free Log Cabin Quilt Patterns from Fons & Porter

*disclaimer : : I am not being compensated for this review. I like Fons & Porter. I think this is a great e-book and think many quilters, from beginners to advanced, will enjoy it.

Scrappy Trip Quilt Top

2013-02-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

I was able to put together my Scrappy Trip quilt top over the weekend. I am so pleased with the way it turned out. My plans are to baste, bind and quilt it this week. I'm thinking aqua binding will set the aqua diamonds off just right.
We are busy here with school and baby appointments but I have a review coming up this week for a free e-book from Fons and Porter so check back for that. Speaking of baby appointments, I have been controlling my Gestational Diabetes with diet and exercise and after turning in my blood glucose numbers this week I now only have to test every other day. I am so grateful for that!!! Thanks to all of you who have sent me messages, prayers and well wishes throughout this pregnancy. I appreciate them all more than you know.

Here's a pic (not the greatest) of what is now our "ice cream" around here. Frozen fruit (berries), a splash of 1/2 &1/2 and homemade whipped cream (all sweetened with just a sprinkle of stevia). Toss all in the food processor and voila! Lower in carbs, high in fiber and antioxidants and so fresh and yummy! This was wild blueberries, red raspberries and strawberries. My favorite is made with only red raspberries!

Have a great day!

Scrappy Trip Progress ~ 9 Blocks Finished

2013-01-28T14:07:00.001-05:00

I was able to make more scrappy trip blocks this weekend. I really love seeing this quilt come together. I have to repeat some of the lighter prints because I'm running low on them. I've decided that this will be the baby's quilt. I was going to use my stash of Bliss, Ruby, and Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille for her quilt. Then I started making these and thought they would be perfect for a little girl. So far I'm thinking of a 4x4 layout (16 blocks) so all of the aqua diamonds are complete. I plan to keep working on it and get it finished before the baby is born. Only a few weeks to go :)

These are my two favorite blocks right now. I didn't use the strip technique for these 2 blocks because the fabric was already cut into 2.5" squares. So I pieced them. I've said over and over again through the years on this blog that this is my absolute favorite fabric. It's Sweet by Urban Chicks for Moda. I only have scraps left. I use them very sparingly. I will be sad when it's all gone.

Scrappy Trip Progress

2013-01-25T13:33:00.000-05:00

Yup, it is as addictive as I heard it was! And so fast and fun. Guess you know what I'll be doing on this snowy weekend :) Hope you get in some sewing time too!!!

I caved...

2013-01-24T17:07:00.001-05:00

By now most of you have probably seen all of the Scrappy Trip quilts that have been the recent craze in quilty blogland. I've really liked all of the ones that I have seen so far. Still, I was trying not to start anything new. I wanted to finish up some quilts, bee blocks, use up those leftover blocks I found, etc. Then I saw Charise's blocks for her Scrappy Trip quilt and it was all over! I had to make one "just like hers". I have quite a few of the same prints that Charise used and I hoard them. I decided it was time to use some of them. I pulled my fabrics today and this is my first block. I'm using up the very last of some of my favorite fabrics. I had to piece a few of the strips for this block which you can see in the top right corner with the American Jane red w/ white flower print and the graph paper print. I can see why this quilt along caught on the way it did. These are so easy and fun to piece. I know I'm really late to the party but I am glad I joined in!

Solids Baby Quilt

2013-01-23T10:40:00.002-05:00

When I was looking through my unfinished projects for blocks, to make the next baby quilt to give to my midwives, I found the solid blocks I had started way back here. I thought some of them might work as a baby quilt because they were nice and bright and because some mamas aren't into the cutesy baby stuff. They might want something a bit more modern looking.

For the quilting I wanted to do something different than my usual stippling. I decided to quilt random lines from each side for something different (for me). I wasn't sure how I felt about it until it was bound and washed and then, of course, I loved it!

All of the solids were Kona. Kona Cottons have the best names, don't they? I bound the quilt in Kona Ash. I thought that it framed all of those bright colors rather nicely. For the backing I used a print that one of my sisters-in-law gave me a few years ago. All of the stars in the print went pretty well with the blocks on the front.
I really like the instant gratification of making these small quilts. Especially when the blocks are already made. It's also really nice to use blocks that would otherwise sit and not be used for who knows how long.

36 Patch Baby Quilt

2013-01-21T11:22:00.001-05:00

I finished a baby quilt this weekend using the 36 Patches I found in my leftovers bag. I hasn't been washed and dried. So it doesn't have that crinkely feel yet. For the quilting I did some bigger meandering so that it would be softer. Sometimes I quilt my quilts pretty heavily and they can be stiff until washed a few times. I backed it with white muslin I had on hand. It's so soft and I think it will be perfect for a baby. I have a baby size whirlygig quilt and strip quilt planned next. I also have my Granny Squares quilt that I need to quilt. I may do that first. Although the other day when I was looking at it I thought I "might" want to take the borders off and make it much bigger to fit a queen size bed. We'll see. I have so many 2.5" squares that it seems like a good idea.

It seems hard to get a good picture this time of year. It was windy yesterday and overcast today. So please forgive my not so great pictures recently. I do have to find a better spot for picture taking I think. I know there are so many really neat barns and fences around our area that I'd love to use. Maybe when it's warmer I'll venture out and see what I can find.