Tidal Pool Tutorial

Hello everyone!

This past week I, along with 75 of my closest friends, had an opportunity to test a new pattern for Mollie Sparkles called Tidal Pool. It's a really cool block and I love the variations I've seen in sea colors, but I decided to use fabrics that would match the bee quilt I've been trying to finish forever. It goes together pretty quickly if you use non-directional fabric - whoops!

Fabrics:
1. Lizzy House, 1001 Peeps in Jewel Purple
2. Clippings in Spackle from the Paint Collection by Carrie Bloomston

He has also made a variation of the block here. I think it would be fun to use a text print and have the "leaking" color in white and then go to a solid grey background. Maybe I'll do that for my next try!

I think 25 bee blocks is finally enough to sew this quilt together! It has been in progress for at least 3 years. To sash or not to sash...

FMT

The Quilter's Planner

Hello Everyone!  Do you remember that Treasure Hunt block I designed for the Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop? It will be one of 52 featured in The Quilter's Planner 2016! Stephanie Palmer (Late Night Quilter) has created an incredible tool to help us get organized!

Stephanie is self-publishing this book through Indiegogo and has already tripled her initial goal! 

What’s Inside:

• Monthly calendars
• Weekly calendars
• Project planning pages
• Swatch saver
• Graph paper
• Free motion quilting practice pages
• Goal-setting prompts
• 8 full quilt patterns from amazing designers (Cheryl Brickey (Meadowmist Designs), Yvonne Fuchs (Quilting Jetgirl), Amy Garro (13 Spools), Lee Heinrich (Freshly Pieced), Mandy Leins (Mandalei Quilts), Pat Sloan (Pat Sloan), Kitty Wilkin (Night Quilter) and me).
• 52 original quilt block designs from awesome quilt bloggers
• Gorgeous artwork pull-outs by the talented Kelsey Boes from Lovely and Enough
• Reference section for quilting calculations and common construction techniques

The cost is just $35 and there are discounts if you get one for yourself and one for a friend!  I hope you will support Stephanie - I'm off to order mine! 

FMT

Quarter 4!

Wow, I can't believe it's already time for the 4th quarter of the 2015 Finish Along! I've done miserably with my proposed finishes, but have completed more projects for my own home than in any year I can remember, so it's still a win for me!

In Quarter 3, I attempted to finish these things:

1. Birthday Quilt for my son. 

'Result - I finished the top! I'll move the quilting/finishing to next quarter.

2. Ballerina drawstring bag - Finished! 

3. Placemats - still need 2 for kitchen table. - Finished! 

4. Paper airplane pouches (a few of these have been requested by friends.) - not even started! 

5. Dusseldorf pouches (making a few for a craft fair) - not done
6. Finish bee quilt - I'm not sure where this thing even is lol. 

For Quarter 4  I will attempt to

1. Finish Birthday quilt. Maybe it'll turn into a Christmas quilt? 

2. Dusseldorf pouches

3. Paper airplane pouches

4. Quilt for mom

5. Quilt for friend's new baby

6. Quilt the stinking bee quilt that has been hanging around all year

7. Make something from my toppling stack of Lotta Jansdotter fat quarters

8. Christmas table runner

9. Fairy pillow (using PP pattern from Tartan Kiwi)

I'm not really fussed to complete any of this quickly and it's nice to have no pressure, but wish me luck! 

Linking up with OntheWindySide.

Pretty Placemats

 Hello again! Next up on the very incomplete list of Quarter 3 proposed finishes, I have a set of kitchen place mats finished this weekend. The 2nd one was actually finished about 25 minutes before my family had to dash out to meet friends for dinner. I wish I had taken a picture of my daughter catching my threads as I snipped the loose ones on the train as we headed to the restaurant!

 Side by side and ALMOST the same dang size...

I really love the texture that quilting provides. I need to learn free motion quilting, but I like the surprise of straight lines when you just keep adding angles - so fun!

Ballerina Bag

Hello! Just a quick pop in to update my projects for the third quarter of the Finish Along hosted by On the Windy Side. . 

I am proud to have completed this bag for my daughter. She was super excited to show it to her ballet teacher last week. This bag was a mix of paper piecing, improv and a little hint of a bag pattern. I cam across a really cool ballerina shoe pattern from Tartan Kiwi a few months ago, and knew right away that I wanted to make a "Brown ballerina" for my little brown ballerina.

 I made the shoes and then stalled out for a few weeks trying to decide how to execute the bag. I wanted a drawstring backpack with a zipper pocket, but really regretted using Kona white for the background instead of something much sturdier. I finally got back to it and after sashing with a cool grey and quilting, I added a zipper pocket just under the shoes and lined with a black and white print from my stash.

I 

I remembered seeing a tote bag I liked from the S.O.T.A.K. handmade blog, and I bought her pattern. I just used it for the handles and drawstring of the tote and finished the rest as usual. I made the back initials using an alphabet PP pattern 

I'd say she's a happy gal and ready to retire her plastic ballet bag now ;)