WHOOMP There IT Is! #7

This week's post is short...and bittersweet.  My uncle passed away and I'm making a comfort quilt for my cousin who is his only daughter.  I'd like to have it in hand when I see her this Saturday at his memorial.

   

I finished the top last night.

It's Zeus approved.  He's a 5 mos old English Bulldog who was our overnight house guest last night. 

Tonight I pieced the back and got it basted...and tomorrow evening I shall quilt like the wind.  

I also managed to finish the blocks for the top half of the custom order quilt and put my 49 quilting books in alphabetical order this week.

Thanks for stopping by.  Let's see what you've been up to this week!

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Thank the Host

Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

Use a direct link to a specific post, not your main blog.

Link Back

In your blog post, include a link back to my post/blog and/or grab the 
WHOOMP There IT Is! button above and put in your post or sidebar. Thanks for spreading the love.

Follow Me ;)

Of course I would love for all you linky-uppers to be followers, but it's NOT required.

Party Hearty! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Goal Reached and Other Things

I pray everyone had a Merry Christmas. Mine was good. My family came to my  house where we ate, drank and were merry. Afterward we went to Glendale Glitters. It was a really good day.

I actually finished sewing my quilted gifts on Christmas Eve. I wanted to give something quilted AND useful. I settled on these microwave cozies.

Leaning Tower of Cozies

 I made...and gave 37 of them. They were well received. I got the idea from this post and Jenn graciously sent me this tutorial.  Thanks ladies!

I've got my new grandson's quilt top together. It measures 39.75" x 47.5".   I basted it last night and will be quilting it this week. I remember Greta saying, as she was cutting out the triangles w/her Go! Baby Accuquilt Fabric Cutter, how the colors and fabrics reminded her of a "gourmet" Iowa spring day.  So I'm calling this quilt; Iowa Spring Day. Thanks Greta!

 At first I was overwhelmed, not sure how to layout all these colors and fabrics. I finally decided to just alternate dark and light triangles in each row. Eventually I started to run out of lighter colored fabrics but then I remembered a trick I saw somewhere...I think it was Instagram.  By turning a fabric over, to wrong side out, it basically looks like a lighter/muted shade of the same fabric. I did this several times through out the baby quilt.  Thank you whoever thought of this wonderful technique!

Middle fabric used as a dark

Middle fabric turned wrong side out and used as a light

This was my first time sewing triangles together. I found/used this tutorial. Thanks Lorna!  Instead of pressing the seams open, I opted to press to one side or the other, alternating rows.

I've also been working on the pattern test I mentioned in my last post. I've got it basted and ditched. I'm calling it Walk Like An Egyptian. I love how it's turning out. I can't wait for everyone to see it! It's going to be a wall hanging above my bed. I'm not sure how I'm going to hang it as I've never hung a quilt before, so if anyone can point me in the direction of a good How to Hang Quilts tutorial, please point away.

I bought myself a walking foot. One came w/my machine when I bought it a couple of years ago, but every time I used it, it bunched up my fabric and put a black line on it.

Anyway, I used my new one for ditching Walk Like An Egyptian and it worked beautifully. I am going to use it to quilt both of these quilt and I'm sure many others to come.

I haven't shared pics of Ivy in a while. She is now 6 1/2 mos.  Look how big and beautiful she's gotten.

I pray this coming year is a blessed and peaceful one for you all.

Until next time, Happy Quilting and God Bless!

A Thread for Life
So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble. Matt 6:34

Linking up at:
Design Wall Monday
Let's Bee Social

   

Friends, Challenges and a Finish

First off I'd just like to say I'm so very pleased to have met all the peeps I have in my new blogging-quilty world. Thank you all for being so welcoming and encouraging. We are one giant circle of quilty love.

I finished Red Chevy Crush a couple of weeks ago.

I didn't blog about it because I really only have time to blog 1x/week. And the last two week's posts were about my blog's birthday giveaway and the giveaway winner . 

This post is a little longer because I have some catching up to do.

Ok, so...I've been free motion quilting, herein referred to as FMQ. In an effort to get good at it...and I DO want to be good, I started the #dailyfmq challenge on Instagram (it goes through 9/22/14).  It challenges me to practice for at least 10 mins/day. I had previously enrolled in two Craftsy quilting classes (one of which I wrote about here) but I haven't really done what qualifies as practice until about 2 weeks ago.

As those of us who have done it know, the biggest challenge in FMQ is making sure your (foot) machine speed is not too fast or slow for your hand speed. (Kinda puts me in the mind of learning to drive a stick shift). I'm guessing it's not something most peeps are good at right off the bat, least of all me.  I've tried meandering/stipple several times and have always ended up extremely FRUSTRATED! But w/the challenge I decided to start w/Chrsitina's woodgrain and I am thrilled!  It's very forgiving and I really like the idea of no curves.  It's not the only fmq I've been practicing, but it's my favorite. I've also practiced loopy flowers and circuit board, taught in Elizabeth Dackson's Craftsy class.

Also practicing w/Paint

I've been doing my FMQ practice on this Autumn quilt top I finished a few weeks ago. I'm quilting something different on each piece w/in a block.

 I don't mean to toot my own horn...but toot toot! I already feel and see a difference in my FMQ.

The other challenge I'm participating in is the #ablockadaychallenge on Instagram.  I've been making Bento Box blocks for a charity quilt for QA .

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a notion or gadget, but a friend told me about Clearly Perfect Angles and how it works beautifully for sewing HST and mitered binding, so I ordered it. It's perfect! And speaking of mitered binding, I found and used this sanity-saving tutorial for a mitered join.

Scrappy Fail

 I attempted to make my first pattern tutorial for something scrappy but I don't like how it turned out at all.  A solid fabric would've improved the look, but I'm still not liking the center either.

Maybe pattern tutorials aren't my thing just yet. In the mean time, I will continue to use other peeps' patterns and tutorials, like the tons of free lovelies I came across on Quilter's Cache.   

My grandson was bugging me about sewing so last week I gave him a crash course and helped him make a Tube Pillowcase using this YouTube video tutorial...but I also just found this pdf using a slightly different method.

We went camping over the Labor Day weekend and aside from fear of being mauled by a bear while sleeping, it was fun.

A las, I'm proud and happy to say Ivy is housebroken and using the doggy door like an old pro.

A Thread for Life 

 This life is a journey we walk by faith

And there will always be the mountains in our way

But right here in this moment, may our strength be renewed

As we recall what God has done and how we've seen Him move

Sometimes through the darkness, it's hard to see

So just be brave and follow where He leads

'Cause greater is the one who's in us, than he who's in the world

So child of God remember, the battle is the Lord's

Even in the valley of the shadow when you feel alone in the unknown

Just say Amen, Just say Amen

Even when the storms are raging, Stand and know you're not forsaken

Just say Amen, Just say Amen

If there's anybody here who's found Him faithful

Anybody here who knows He's able, Say Amen

And if there's anybody here who's seen His power

Anybody here brought through the fire, Say Amen

Anybody here found joy in the middle of sorrow

Just Say AMEN!

Say Amen - Finding Favour

I'm linking up on TGIFF , Whoop Whoop, Free Motion Mavericks, Free Motion by the River AND Let's Bee Social!

Have I gone overboard w/the Linkys? Is there such a thing? I  hope not.

And They Call it Puppy Love

Ivy Queen Mackenzie Lewis

Life w/Ivy is going well. It's kind of like having a new born but easier. You can't just leave a newborn in the crate or backyard unattended when necessary like you can do w/a pup.   I am crate training and feel it's been successful. There have only been a few accidents in the crate (pee) which isn't bad for an almost 10 wk old pup. Of course there have also been accidents in the house but she is learning. 

I'm grateful to be able to bring her to work w/me everyday. Everyone likes having her around. She is crated at work too but I let her have some free time on and off the leash.

Look at that belly!

Ivy and Inka still aren't BFFs but they will be.  Inka really needs to relax. Ivy just wants to taste her tail.  =)

I just realized I slept a full 5 hrs last night (the longest interval w/o Ivy interruption since I got her 2 weeks ago).  I'd like more sleep BUT I like sewing/quilting more and I stay up super late on Friday/Saturday nights to get quality sew time in.

Ivy is growing faster that I thought she would but she is a delightful companion!

A Thread for Life
"Never run away with the idea that it does not matter much what we believe or think; it does. What we think and believe, we are; not what we say we think and believe, but what we really do think and believe, we are; there is no divorce at all. To believe, in the sense our Lord used the word, is never an intellectual act but a moral act." --Oswald Chambers, in The Moral Foundations of Life from The Quotable Oswald Chambers.

More Finishes and a New Addition to the Family

I finished the college bound, scrappy strip twist quilt for my niece. I'm extremely pleased w/how it turned out!  She is going to love it!

I practiced FMQ -  meandering in the pink borders. It's not the prettiest job, but the important things are:  I'm practicing, thus getting better AND I used a light colored thread so you can't see how not-so-curvy it really is. ;)






I've been experimenting more w/taking pics of my quilts. This one was too long to hang where I usually do to get a full frontal. I realize pics don't have to be full frontal but whenever I just "lay" the quilt over the end of the sofa or a wall, it looks stupid.  Anyone have any pointers?

I also finished this little charity quilt. At the last QA meeting, someone brought in a bunch of individual 10" squares already quilted.  I grabbed a handful and this is what they became.






I came across this handy dandy post by +bellezza squillace on how to fold and store quilts. I've tried this several times. Mine still aren't as neat looking as the originators pic seen here, but they will no longer have hard creases down and across the middle! =)

Remember the puppy I wrote about in this post? I named her Ivy. I brought her home last night. I got her from my dear friend +Pam Hammond. If anyone is interested in a Blue Heeler aka Australian Cattle Dog, she has 4 pups for sale; 2 females, 2 males.  I'm hoping Ivy and Inka (our cat), will be fast friends soon.

3 wks

Look how much Ivy has changed in 5 weeks. They are born white and quickly develop their colors/spots like Dalmatians (because they were cross bred with Dalmatians way back when). She has beautiful markings w/ a single mask and was the only pup in the litter w/brown ears.

7 1/2 wks

I'm still hanging w/Bikram Yoga. I just completed my 4th week. Only 8 more to go. I have to adjust my schedule to 2 classes a week starting Monday because I drop my grandson off at school. I may have to adjust it even more to accommodate Ivy. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, I almost forgot, my blog's 1st birthday is this month and I want to do a give away. Any tips/pointers you can give for a successful giveaway will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Happy Quilting!

A Thread for Life
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Heb 3:13 NASB