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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Friendship Stars - finished!

There's nothing quite like finishing a project before the deadline! I was asked by one of my daughter's preschool teachers to make a surprise quilt for her other teacher who is expecting her first child. She will not be returning to school in the fall and I only had until this Friday to get it finished. The only request she made was for muted colors so I thought 2wenty Thr3e (I really hate typing that) was a good choice. The block reminds me of samurai stars but according to Erin, it's called a Friendship Star - oops!

I put the camera back on 'auto' and took a few pics before racing it over to school. The colors are definitely looking much brighter than they did in person.
stars quilt HST Moda Twenty Three charms
Friendship Stars

The words were a happy surprise - "goodbye" = perfect!
For the quilting, I stitched double lines in a grid between blocks (which bunched - anyone know why?) and then diagonal lines through each block.
moda Twenty Three charm square quilt
a view of the back 

For the binding, I used an un-prewashed soft orange/pink floral I had in my stash from Joann's. I had to say a little prayer and throw 5 or 6 color catchers in the wash and there was no bleeding - whew!
folded & ready to go
Stats:
size: 48" x 48"
fabric: 2 charm packs Moda 2wenty Thr3e & approx. 2 yds Kona snow
block size: 12.5" unfinished
quilting: straight line grid & diagonal lines
NEXT! fmt
linking up 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

I think all I do is SWAP!

Hey friends! I just found this draft that I forgot to post - oops!

Did you hear about the Mug Rug Revival? Look what I got from Staci @ The Confused Quilter!
The crazy thing is that I had a dresden idea as well, but I'd never tried it and I didn't have a template, so I had to wing it! My partner requested rainbow colors, so I thought Half Moon Modern was in order:


The additional placemat was made using the dresden scraps - they were much too pretty to waste!


For June's Doll Quilt Swap, I had the lovely Karen as a partner. It was so great getting to know her! I love the interaction that comes from a non-secret swap! I made a granny square doll quilt using Breath of Avignon charms.


Mini Quilt granny square swap
Granny Squares for Karen

back
and look what I got - it's honestly one of the most beautiful things I've ever received in a swap!
new york beauty mini quilt
amazing New York Beauty from Karen


and for June's Japanese X and + Quilt queen bees:


and finally, COMFORT at do.good stitches requested Granny's Front Porch blocks - this is definitely one of my new favorites!
that's it for June - and now on to July! ***ok I know I'm late
FMT

Friday, August 2, 2013

Winners and sewing!

Hi friends,

Thank you for the birthday wishes! Guess what? After I posted, I realized I had TWO journals, so we'll have 2 winners - yay!

Mr. Random picked number 2:
hsppy birthday and hopefully many more babscorbitt@gmail.com

and number 18:
Happy Birthday Francine. I'm still working on my FQR post too :)
 Congrats ladies!

Also, I wanted to mention a cool swap I've joined - if you're interested - hop over quick cause signups close August 4th!

I have quite a few newborn and soon to be born babies to sew for, so I jumped right on it this week and have 2 tops so far!
hst baby quilt half square triangle bungle jungle
Bungle Jungle baby w/ Kona Coal

Bungle Jungle baby
My photos aren't as successful for quilt #2. I was all cocky after taking Judith's photography class and I had the nerve to take my camera off 'auto' and got some really dark pictures. I guess I need practice, so I'll take more when these babies are finished!
2wenty Thr3e (I hate spelling that) Samurai Stars


2wenty Thr3e Samurai Stars on Kona Snow
Linking up to Finish it up Friday &

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Fat Quarterly Retreat - the loot

Luckily, I had 3 manly men with me on this trip to carry all my stuff! We started with a Liberty goody bag filled with all sorts of great junk and coupons. I immediately set the coupons aside for safe keeping and I've never seen them again - GRR.

tools & scraps & threads & tacks & fq & charms &..
Kona delivered by Cindy @ FluffySheepQuilting!

My haul - so pretty!
Many of us took a little field trip to this shop


Poring over the Liberty with Kathy & Rachael
hmm, how much can I carry..



joined the mob to snag a Liberty Keychain from Hadley!

The Sample Swap was really great. My partners were Jan (who was lucky I didn't steal her bag) she made the cute keychain pouch and Liberty pin, Catherine who made the awesome Liberty pillow cover and the cool crazy hoop was made by Reene - love everything!

 a couple of other adorable swappy things flying around the terrace:
cool mug rugs made by Leanne

SUCH a cool tote!!
 and finally - Quilt Market!

I had a ball and found a few really great things:


autographed by the Cool Katy herself!
Lu's new book!

Neutral Ice Cream bundle from Village Haberdashery & designed by Sarah

gems from Eternal Maker
 and quite a few other things. I'm really kicking myself for not grabbing an Oakshott bundle!

Hugs,
Francine




Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Fat Quarterly Retreat - the classes

Well, I better jump on the bandwagon and tell you a little about my experience at FQR. I was really nervous about going for the first time and not knowing a soul but wow - this was such an amazing group, I felt right at home! Now that it's over, I also have lots of new blog friends to visit too :)

I had an opportunity to take Photography with Judith Dahmen on Friday. I even got an impromptu lesson when I interrupted her meal (sorry!) to have her help me take some pics of the mini quilts I'd made for the Sample Swap. She is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! Look:




pretty cool, right?

on Saturday, I had Improv with Lu Summers. She is an absolute mess and we had a ball. I was amazed at the quilters who finished the whole top because I barely got 2 blocks done so it's on my soon-to-do list before I forget how! I used Mod Century, but I really loved seeing everyone's choices - especially the solids!



Next up was hand quilting with Mandy Noble. She was nice enough to provide us with practice blocks to work with. I didn't take a picture cause mine was rubbish, but I did learn a lot - most importantly: burying your knots is not an urban legend, people really do it! Here she is with one of her incredible quilts
The weekend ended with precision piecing taught by Lynne. This was my favorite class - I learned a ton and now my sewing is a little bit more accurate and my flying geese no longer have chopped off heads - score!



and I don't want to forget the little spontaneous fitting lesson from Rachael. I  wish I'd stayed a bit longer to see how her model got out of all those pins.
next up - the loot!!
FMT

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