Supernova Friendship Block Swap

Have you heard about this new swap? I was reading the Freshly Pieced blog the other day, and stumbled upon this combination quilt along/friendship swap.  At the end of 5 months, you have a finished throw and a new friend! It's not too late for you and a partner to join up! I have teamed up with my new pal Elita and we spent some fun hours yesterday searching for a bundle to use. Just as I was seriously starting to question her taste, (lol) we came upon this gorgeous bundle from Hawthorne Threads.

It's called Meadow by Beth Studley and I just love it! I was originally trying to find something to match my family room decor, but this is much more fun. We decided to use Kona white for our background and to maybe throw some Ash in there too. I can't wait to get started and to finally have my own quilt to snuggle up with!

FMT

An Auction Quilt

I'll have to be a little out of order in my sharing here. A week ago I returned from my 2nd Patchwork in the Peaks retreat in the breathtaking Swiss Alps and I've been inspired to get things finished ever since!  I'll have to share retreat pics next time because my husband "organized" the pictures from my camera and now I can't find them!

My latest finish is for an auction. My gutsy girlfriend is a volunteer for a charitable organization that her children belong to. She's gutsy because she signed up all her girlfriends to donate things for their upcoming auction and then she asked us.  So, we have someone donating Pilates lessons, someone painting a picture, someone baking, and me making a small quilt. Don't worry - we all offered to smack her before starting on our various projects.

I thought I should go with something neutral and modern in order to (hopefully) appeal to SOMEONE. I used various shades of grey, one shade of black and a tiny bit of Kona cactus. On the back is a fun print I discovered on a recent trip to Ikea. I call it Night Sky.

My daughter's insistent contribution to the staging

 Off to find the pics from last weekend..

FMT

A Mystery

Have you ever signed up to do a mystery quilt? They make me a little nervous. I'll be attending Patchwork in the Peaks again this weekend in the beautiful French Alps and  I'm super excited for everything EXCEPT the doggone mystery quilt! I have been stressed about picking fabric not knowing how it would come together. I even roped Cindy (Fluffy Sheep Quilting) into my nonsense and she patiently and humorously attempted to help me. After sending retreat hostess Ms. E (the "E" is for evil) a million emails begging for hints (she said "no" lol,) I came up with a palette using some stash fabrics that have been lying around awhile.

My focus fabric is It's a Hoot by MoMo and I've finally found a use for 2 of the grey prints from Good Fortune by Kate Spain. I didn't realize they matched, heh heh. My sashing is Kona snow and the rest of the choices were random so I hope this sucker turns out pretty.

Finished up the prep work and now have this pretty pile all ready to bag up

off to pack!

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Phooey!!

Hello there! I had a little disaster on Thursday and my cell phone was taken from a shop's fitting room! There were more than 400 pictures in there ~ darnit! I'm still learning about iCloud and how it works so I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the pictures from my phone in there, but definitely not all of them. I'm so bummed!!  Scrounging for pics, I found a few Doll Quilters Monthly Swap & Bee photos that I haven't shared. I try to wait for my partner to receive before posting pics, but I almost always forget after a few days.

January  "Try Something New" from Vickie 

February "Love" from Nedra

"Love" from me to Nedra plus a Polish Pottery thimble

March "Think Green" Sprouts from me to Leonie

Stash Bee Feb "Stars" for Em Off to enjoy this beautiful weather! FMT

Stash Bee March "Improv" for Michelle

Early Results!

For my April ALYoF (A Lovely Year of Finishes) goal, I chose the family room pillows. Check me out - it's April 1 and I completed the 2nd pillow today! I'm not yet sure if I'll consider myself finished or if the couch is begging for one more pillow. For full effect, here's the couch with its sad & flat pillows. These suckers spend a lot of time on the floor, being hurled by one sibling to/at another and as doll props.

 I was inspired by the improv projects in Quilting Modern by Jaquie Gering.

Pillow #1 - isn't that snappy?

Pillow #2 - Log cabin

Not sure how long before these beauties will be on the floor, beaten up and dirty, but I'll enjoy the view until then.

Stats:

20" envelope style pillow covers

Fabric : RK Slate Rock FQ bundle

quilted in Aurifil #2615

linking up

FAL Q1, Q2 & ALYoF :)

2014 Finish Along ~ Quarter 1 results

Hello again! Whew, talk about failure! This is my first time participating in FAL and I'm astounded by how little of my list is complete. I did have many bee blocks completed and the Doll Quilt Swap monthly projects that weren't included, but dang!


1. Finish my son's Ninja quilt -  My one finish!! Yehaw!!!

Finished! 

2. Turn this fq bundle of Garden Party into this for a special couple ~ I had a little change of plans, but did make some progress!

Not crazy about the layout, I changed the plan and did this 

3. Family room pillows using this FQ bundle -

1 done & 1 or 2 to go! 

4. Turn these bee blocks into a finished quilt for my bed - No progress

5. Turn these "drunk love in a log cabin" bee blocks into guest room quilt - No progress

6. Finish king size DS Florence Churn Dash quilt  - No progress

7. Make the Tipsy City Quilt - No progress but new recipient

8. Finish my mini from Lu Summers' Improv class at FQR '13 - No progress

9. Quilt for Granny - No progress

So - for Q2 let's roll everything over and have #3 - family room pillows be my April goal!

ALYoF March

Hello again! I guess it's time for my March goal! I'm making a "Thank You" throw for a very special (and short) couple so it only needs to be 60" x 60" ;).

My idea was to make large (30") blocks so I'd only need 4. I'm not feeling the love right now. I'm not sure whether to keep going or stop and go a different direction. The good news is that I've used very little of the fat quarter bundle so far. 

I came across this quilt a few days ago on the Moda Bake Shop blog and I'm tempted to go this direction

What would you do?

FMT