Treats from Retreat...

Last weekend was the Boston and Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild joint retreat and it was fabulous!  This was the first time I was able to participate for more than one day and now that I've been able to stay for an entire weekend, I never want to miss another one!

We spent three full days and nights of sewing and socializing in Kennebunk, Maine...although since I was just getting over a mega-flu and still had no voice (except for a squeaky facsimile), my sewing was far more productive than my socializing.  I hope that no one was too offended that I wasn't talking too much!  (And a big thank you to my tablemate Sarah for braving the germs and keeping things ridiculously fun!!)  Getting to see everyone's projects in progress and the steady stream of finishes was quite a treat.

I'm waiting until this weather cooperates so that I can get some better pictures of the Littlest quilt top that was finished, but in the meantime let me share with you all the treats from retreat!

On Saturday, we had a raffle for some amazing prizes - I bought two tickets and was totally blown away to win two prizes: an amazing fat quarter pack of 22 Robert Kaufman blue solids and a variety of charm and candy squares!!

We also received a swag bag when we checked in and mine contained a 4-pack of Mormor fat quarters and a bag of "scraps" (they were all WOF strips and one was about an eighth of a yard, but most were quarter yards and larger!).  See that peacock print?  I've been drooling over that for a while and now that I have some in my hot little hands, I've got some big plans for it!

And of course I couldn't resist the siren song of Mardens, but I was incredibly restrained.  I only purchased a large cut of Amy Butler for a quilt backing and a smaller cut of a pretty print for the stash.

I can't wait to share my finishes with you, so hope for sunny weather and dry ground - it IS supposed to be spring now, right?

I'm Going to be in Hot Water...

...or at least I would be if my husband actually read my blog.

These are simply awesome

The fabric binge has officially turned into a gorge-fest.  It's gotten a teensy bit out of control and I think I'm going to ban myself from buying fabric for 6 months...

It all started innocently enough when I had to buy extra fabric for the backing and binding for my feather quilt (mere days after the last binge wrapped up).  I did get these Joel Dewberry cuts for a total steal, after all!

But then this week when I was sorting out my scraps for the Alphabet Lesson quilt, I realized that my stash was a little slim in the red bag.

Some Dear Stella, Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt all mixed together...

And then...and then...it just sort of became a rolling ball of fabric buying.  Because I had been eyeing this panel from a magazine for months - and the store had only one left!

And then, then I couldn't resist all the bolts of Mormor that were all lined up...

(Side bar:  I hate, HATE when this LQS rips the fabric instead of cutting it with a rotary cutter...all those messy strings and the extra shredding...)

And then there weren't even any more reasons except for a total lack of self discipline.

I started losing track of fabric names/designers at this point...

...except for this cute Kokka fat quarter!

Holy moly.

Let the fabric shame commence...

Linking up:

What's Bigger Than a Binge?

I've gone on some pretty good fabric buying binges before.  But while everyone else in the blogosphere seems to be doing some super productive destashing, I've been on the mother of all fabric buying sprees.  It's practically a buffet.

I can't tell whether this has been fueled by my discovery that I was pretty far under what I anticipated spending on fabric during 2013, the Fabric Extravaganza that is happening this weekend in Nashua, NH where there are some amazing fabrics available at $4-5 a yard(!!!), or by my current frustration at my feather quilt (which means that I'm itching to start something new and fresh), but either way I think I need an intervention.

Some Kate Spain and Amy Butler earmarked for some spring/summer dresses

The fabric that you're going to see the soonest put to good use is here - mostly made up of the Littlest collection from Art Gallery fabrics.  This is a super sweet collection that I'm going to use for a baby quilt to send off to family further away.  They don't know if they are having a boy or girl yet, so this gives me lots of opportunities for a beautiful combination of mint green, apricot and greys.

I added in some more random fat quarters, but I'm undecided between these two yellows - any opinions on which fits in best?

Here they are all together along with a cozy grey and light yellow flannel that I got for the backing.  It's going to be so pretty!!

Of course with some more black and white herringbone blocks to finish, I couldn't resist the call of some more black and white prints to add in...

And then a few more random fat quarters and cuts that I couldn't resist...

When I added it all up, there's 20 yards of fabric here. Granted, this includes larger cuts meant for clothing and quilt backings, but still.  20.  Yards.  People.

Oh, and did I mention that 4 more yards are still coming in the mail to finish up what I need for the feather quilt backing and binding?  You know what...forget I even just said that.

A Leftover Finish and Double Giveaway...

It's here - the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!  It's no secret that these days I am living and breathing Patty Sloniger's Les Amis fabric collection with my Amis Rangoon quilt (quilting is just about done - yay!!), so I am offering up a small collection of four fat eighths from her Les Amis line that I had left over:

And since I went through a bit of a blogging funk around my 100th post and neglected to do something special around then, I'm doing a SECOND giveaway!  Speaking of leftovers, as I mentioned in my post about the X Plus bee blocks, I had a handy pile of teal and magenta HSTs leftover from my two bee blocks.  I threw them together to make another heating pad and finished it with a complementary aqua backing from my stash.

It finished at approximately 7 x 9 inches and is filled with lavender scented rice.  Just throw it in your microwave for a minute and enjoy the hot bliss!

So to enter:

Leave a comment letting me know if you'd rather receive the fabric bundle or the heating pad.  You can leave a second entry if you are a follower (and let me know how you follow - Bloglovin, Feedly, etc.).  I will select a random winner for each prize and announce it on December 13th at 8 pm (EST).  I will ship internationally, so the more comments, the merrier!  And thanks for visiting from Sew Mama Sew!

Linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday

Stumped...

I've had this pile of fabric sitting on my shelf for over a month now - actually closer to two - and I am positively stumped.

With a capital S and a big fat exclamation point behind the D.

This is the bundle of fabric that we received for the MQG's latest fabric challenge using Riley Blake's Basics line of fabrics.  We can make ANYTHING as long as it's quilted in some way.  And I'm coming up with a big goose egg.

What do you do when quilting block rears its ugly head?  Review Pinterest for ideas?  Look through old magazines and internet bookmarks?  Ignore that sinking feeling that you are fresh out of ideas until the week before the deadline?

I think I need some bright ideas because February will be here sooner than I think...

Little Bits Add Up...

I'm definitely sorry to say that I don't have another big reveal to share yet.  The Rangoon quilt top is still just shy of being complete, so I didn't end up meeting my self-imposed deadline of an October finish.  I guess I just got carried away with my black and white herringbones!  But since I finished that top, my week has been filled with a few little successes that have been on my to-do list for FAR too long.

I was simply buried under a pile of minky scraps from my cuddle blanket finishes in August and was trying to figure out if they were worth saving.  My oldest kept playing around with them and eventually asked me to make her a scarf with them.  "Sure - that's easy!" I said...and then promptly got around to it two months later.  Ah well - it's done now and checked off the list!  Of course, I still have enough minky scraps for at least 4 more scarfs, but all in good time.

The girls have been pretty interested in painting and crafting lately and our arts and crafts area is always the kitchen table.  Until this point, I had been using a fairly small scrap of laminated fabric that only covered about half the table but a trip with a friend up to Mardens gave me the excuse I needed to finally get off my butt and get some materials for a tutorial that I had seen in the August 2013 Parents magazine for a DIY tablecloth.  Laminated fabric is a mom's best friend - gorgeous fabric to decorate your table and you can clean up food messes, spilled and dried on paint, glue stick remnants and even markers with a simple swipe of a wet wipe.

Wait - did I say proper tablecloth?  How about this instead...I bought 2 yards of this beautiful cranberry Joel Dewberry oilcloth for $10 - that's right $10!! - and simply used my sewing scissors to cut curves around the fabric pattern, slapped it on the table and called it a day.  Check!

And that pesky pair of jeans that has needed a patch for a while now is finally fully dressed with a scrap of Salt Water that's a pretty good color match.  Check!

So not much showstopping stuff happening around here, but it feels awfully good to have so many little things done and off my list!  But speaking of a Showstopper - I saw this new pattern by Don't Call Me Betsy earlier this week and have been drooling over it ever since.  It looks like a lot of work, but certainly seems worth it to me!

Linking up:

Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday!

Some Good News and a Winner...

Remember how I had a teensy moment of panic when I realized that the quilt I'm planning for a coworker has partial seams?  Well I am here to tell you that partial seams are not actually a big deal.  In fact, they go together pretty darn quickly!  I watched a couple videos online to psyche myself up for the task and felt pretty prepared.  Here's the true test of simplicity - no seam ripper was needed!

I've gotten a few blocks completed so far (and I only need 15 for the entire top!) so I'm hopeful that this one will speed along to a (relatively) quick finish.  Could it be that I am actually keeping my procrastination in check this time?

I apologize that these blocks look so rumpled and wrinkled - I brought them along to work with me for my friend's approval.  I was still a little hesitant about the brown background working well with all the fabric colors, so they were stashed in my bag during the workday (and unfortunately before the photo shoot - why can't I keep an iron at my desk?).  Thankfully, she loved them, so the brown is here to stay and I think that if the oranges and peaches are spread out, it should minimize the potential for this to become "That 70's Quilt"...

Now onto some blog business - we've got a winner from my Sunday Funday Giveaway.  Thanks to the almighty Random Number Generator...

Congratulations Anna!!  I've sent you an email, so I hope that you enjoy your back to school fat quarter bundle!

Welcome the Amis with a Giveaway...

Remember how I introduced you all to a new quilt request for a coworker a week or so back?  Well the fabric has arrived and I can't wait to start cutting into it!

For this quilt, I was asked to use an owl theme because they are just her absolute favorite.  As an added stroke of sewendipity, a few days after we started talking about our plan of attack, I saw a snippet of fabric in a quilt during a guild show and tell that was part of the Les Amis collection for Michael Miller fabrics.  It was perfect!  But in addition to the Les Amis line, some prints from the Backyard Baby line caught my eye too - and the two collections really play nicely together!  A little online fabric shopping later, and these pretties arrived:

I wanted to round things out with some filler fabrics from my stash:

And here they are all together - I think its going to create a fun and whimsical Rangoon quilt!

To make those pixie sticks for the Rangoon pop, we are using the dark brown vine fabric for the background.  My only real fear is that the peachy oranges with the brown and bright greens will translate to icky 70's vibes, so I'm planning on using the orange colorways sparingly and focusing more on the aquas, greys and greens.

But with all this fabric goodness, aren't you just itching to do a little fabric shopping of your own?  Let me help you out!

Hosted by Julie at 627 Handworks, I'm a part of this week's Sunday Funday Giveaway and I'd like to offer you a 4-pack of fat quarters with a little "back to school" color scheme.  These are straight out of my stash and looking for a home in yours!

To enter, just leave me a comment from now through Wednesday at 5p EST.  If you want an additional chance to win, leave a second comment to let me know that you're a follower through the reader of your choice!  I will announce the winner on Thursday morning along with a sneak peek at some completed blocks for the Rangoon Amis quilt. Check back to see how I do on the dreaded partial seams...

Update - Thanks for all the entries guys!  Comments are now closed :)

ScrapBeeLicious and Loving It!

Well the Plum and June Blog Hop has wrapped up and it was such a great way to meet lots of like-minded and inspiring modern quilters!  I'm thanking my lucky stars that Ashley and Laura decided that all that fun was just too good to give up already and they put out the call between the Hop participants to start up our own bee!  Now I and 12 other bloggers make up the ScrapBeeLicious Quilting Bee!  This will be my (and a lot of other members of the hive's) first bee experience and our fearless leaders decided that these bee blocks should have us working from our stash and scraps.  This is a total blessing for me.  Mostly because I have a lot of scraps.  A lot.

This is because I save practically every scrap - even those fabric "crumbs" - when I probably have no good reason to do so.  Until now that is!  I've already started combing Pinterest and Flickr for inspiration on block designs and color palettes...it's all just too much to narrow down yet but at least I have until May to finally get things figured out.  

But I really need to focus on less new fabric and working from my extensive stash.  I haven't even considered trying to total up yardage or different prints.  I think I would scare myself.  And speaking of scraps, how extensively do you guys hoard those scraps and crumbs?  And what about orphaned blocks?  While I was combing through my scraps, I separated out all the orphaned blocks from random quilts, minis and various guild projects.  I can't bring myself to just toss them, but I'm not sure what I'll use them for.  

Correction - I did use some of my leftover Posy HSTs to create this block for a surprise mystery project.  Guess there's a good reason to keep them after all!  Yay for fabric justification!

In the meantime, check out the other members of ScrapBeeLicious - it's going to be an amazing 13 months of blocks!

August: Ashley @ Wasn’t Quilt in a Day

September: Gwendellyn @ The Rainbow Revolts

October: Cath @ Wombat Quilts

November: Alyce @ Wonderland by Alyce

December: Nicole @  Modern Handcraft

January: Rachel @ Let’s Begin Sewing

February: Nanette @  Yeah, I Made That

March: Liz @ beadqueene’s bits and baubles

April: Robin Sue @  RobinSue Quilts

May: Stephanie H @ Simple Sewendipity

June: Stephanie A @ Quarter Incher

July: Michelle @ Factotum of Arts

August: Laura @ Little and Lots

Fabric Binge...

I've acquired quite a bit of fabric lately.  If I don't get my sewing butt motivated to use up these gorgeous finds soon, I'm going to have a serious problem.  I hope these additions to the stash will help get the creative juices flowing.  Now before you think that I'm fabric shopping all the live-long day, this post contains about a month's worth of fabric - and a very active month at that!  I picked up the bunch that you see above about a month ago at gather here before our Quilts for Boston sew-in.

And then we rounded up a few friends to trek up to Marden's yesterday.  Marden's in Sanford, Maine has a HUGE selection at super cheap prices.  Last time I went, I felt a little overwhelmed and grabbed a random selection of stuff without a clear idea of how to use it.  This time I kicked my super-nerd into gear and made a list of projects that needed fabric.

Fabric mission completed!  I grabbed a good selection of white, yellow and light blue for background and filler fabrics for Quilts for Boston tops (plus a few random brights for good measure).

I also wanted to grab an off-white background to go with these fabrics that you may remember from my charm pack query a while back.  I've decided that I want to use the P's and Q's charm pack to make this pattern - I think it will make a very cute gender neutral baby quilt!

But the crown jewel in all these new fabrics is my brand new Echino stash...

Samantha from the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild organized a big Echino swap.  Each of us that participated purchased two yards of a different print and then we cut them up into equal pieces to share with the group.  Now I have 8 different Echino fat quarters with not a clue as to how to use them.  I love them...but need to wait for inspiration to hit.  Seen any great projects that you liked using Echino?

Linking up:

Sewing Slacker...

I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but Ron Swanson is giving me the stink eye because I'm a total slacker.  Apparently when Traceyjay decided to stop her "Just Three" link ups where you can list your three goals for the month, I decided to stop holding myself accountable for keeping up with stuff.  Granted, life has interrupted in a major way over the past couple weeks that involved some major heavy metal damage...

My husband was in the middle of a car sandwich on the highway that actually didn't look too, too bad...until you got it into the body shop and saw the damage from underneath.  Ugh.  But the good news is that no one in the 6 car pile-up was seriously hurt and things are just starting to get back to normal for us.  Plus we got to giggle these lines back and forth endlessly to cheer ourselves up...

"You wanna get hit? Because I know a guy!  Super gentle - minor scrapes and bruises, major dollars and cents."


Ah, the joys of Jean Ralphio.

I did manage to get in a little bit of sewing by completing my X's and O's mini, but my Gen X Block of the Month completely fell off my radar.  I might just put it off a couple more days and do the blocks for May and June after the new block is posted this Friday.  But I also did make a slew of clutches for teacher gifts and finally attend a BMQG sew-in, so it wasn't a completely inactive month over here!

Plus I still need to finish my custom quilt due in August (at the latest!!) and some quilt tops for Quilts for Boston now that the block deadline has passed.  I've got a really good plan going for the packets of blocks I have - really I do!  It just requires a little bit of fabric shopping for some background fill in.  Good thing a friend and I are trekking up to Marden's tomorrow!  I'll be sharing my finds (plus a little Echino goodness - squee!) on Wednesday.