Black Cat Crossing - Keep Hopping

I was supposed to be part of the black cat crossing blog hop - see the button on my side bar. I had my fabric and pattern picked out and ready to go.

Here's my cute fabric from the Black Cat Crossing line. I was going to do some houses from Camille Roskelley's Dwell pattern and an appliqued cat. I even bought some awesome glow-in-the-dark thread!

Then two weeks ago my husband was unexpectedly transfered. We had two weeks to pack, find a place, and get settled. Today, when I should have been putting the final touches on my post and project I packed the moving van. I was so jazzed about this hop and don't even have the internet to play along. I'm posting from my sketchy phone. Sorry to disappoint and I hope you enjoy the hop and come back to see me when I have internet and a computer again.

Here's the sad and nearly empty state of my craft room. I miss sewing!

Here are the other stops on the hop. My silly phone won't do links. I so so wish I could have played along! There was just no time.

Wednesday, October 29

That's Sew Julie - you are here

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Queen Online

Sew Peace To Peace

A Stitch in Time

Q4 FAL Goal Post

I completely forgot to link up my finishes for last quarter! Can you believe it?! I had NINE! I felt like a rockstar and then dropped the ball. I hope this time goes better. I have a list of eighteen fabulous projects. I always put a list on my sidebar and link to it as I finish them so you can follow along with me. I'm linking up with Q4FAL over at The Littlest Thistle.

#1 Ruby Crochet Blanket - Since she had her first birthday this Summer and I usually have these done before their birth I've feeling a little guilt about this one and need to get it off my list. I think I only have 18 rows which would be six color changes left.

#2 Mint To Be Swoon - The fabric is Mint To Be and I think it would be wonderful as a swoon quilt. I made a swoon block for another project this year and loved it.

#3 Zigzag Baby Quilt - This one should be pretty fast and simple. I think it will end up being for my shop. Just a zigzag pattern with a print and white rectangle.

#4 Route 15 Quilt - This one has been pushed off for way too long. It will be one for me with the Happy Weekender tutorial I fell in love with.

#5 Route 15 Pillow - Made to match the above quilt. Should be quick, easy, and fun!

#6 Supernova Friendship Swap - The last blocks are being shipped this week. I adore this one and can't wait to play with layouts.

#7 Instagram Mini Swap - I joined in with the igminiswap and am so excited about this one! It's due the beginning of December so finishing it this quarter is a must. I picked the Cut Glass pattern from Vintage Quilt Revival and some Kona solids.

#8 April Showers Quilt - This one is so much more fun than I thought it would be! I love these fabrics more and more each time I play with them. I just have to sew these together in a grid then baste, quilt, and bind.

#9 Orange Fancy Fox Quilt - My youngest son adores all things orange and foxes. This quilt is going to be epic for me. I have all the pieces cut I just need to get it put together.

#10 Pink Seed Stitch Cowl - This is my second ever knitting project and I don't want it to be forgotten. It's a bit trickier than my first project but I'm still loving it.

#11 Dottie Mini - This was a total impulse buy at my LQS. I usually don't do that. It should be fun though. I think I'll try the pinwheel one in the middle.

#12 Halloween Dwell Mini - I joined in the Black Cat Crossing blog hop and picked up these fabrics to make a Dwell Mini. I have a few changes to the pattern by Camille Roskelley to make it fit my needs and I hope it turns out as fun as it is in my head.

#13 Sparklettes Quilt - Using Far Far Away II and Cotton + Steel Basics I'm going to make the first quilt in the Fat Quarter Style book. My middle daughter is over the moon excited about this one.

#14 Hazel Hedgehog Quilt - My eldest daughter is in love with all kids of animals and wanted an animal quilt. I'm in love with C+S Basics so the two combined should be pretty epic.

#15 Primrose Quilt - Ruby is about ready to trade to a twin bed. I was poking through the Fat Quarter Style book with her sitting next to me and she freaked out with excitement when she saw this quilt. She was bouncing around and pointing like crazy then patting and hugging the book. Ruby is currently 15 months old so this is pretty adorable sharing her opinion. I thought it was a one time thing but every time she's seen this quilt for weeks now she gets really excited about it. She even knows how to find it in the book now and won't stop for any other quilt. I decided to use the Miss Kate fabric from Bonnie and Camille because it will coordinate well with her baby quilt made from Ruby by Bonnie and Camille.

#16 Aviatrix Quilt - I'm sure this is biting off more that I can chew (especially considering the rest of the list) but I just can't help myself. This is going to be for me and AMAZING!!

#17 Vintage Quilt - Using Lotus Pond fabric I'm going to make the Vintage quilt from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro. I may or may not let my small people touch this one. We'll see how it goes. ;)

#18 Make Up Bag - When my mom was visiting this Summer I made her a bag with this fabric. I'm going to make her a matching makeup bag too and line it with vinyl fused onto the green print.

Once again a crazy long list. I'm excited about so many of the things on it now and can't wait to get working! It will be fun to see what I get finished and what I end up working on not on the list - there's always something. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Fancy Fox, Shark Hat, and First Knit Finish

I have a few fun finishes to share today. It's been a great week for getting stuff done around the house and craftiness. We also got our family pictures taken this week. I joined in the Hot Pad Swap and had so much fun. I both received and sent mine this week.

Here's my cute family. It's funny how I don't think there are that many of us until you get us all in a clump. The kids all love getting their picture taken and we went downtown Des Moines this time so it was super fun.

Here are my Fancy Fox hot pads. LOVE! I'm especially taken with the fox print from Picture Pie on the back. One of the hot pads is reversed so you can see it. They have different prints on the front.

Here's the loot I sent along. I was a little worried that it wasn't enough but I went for quality over quantity. My partner also asked for no food treats.

This is the awesome package I got in the mail! I adore the hot pads and the extras were perfect. She even went the extra mile to include stuff for the kids (which they loved). I'm especially taken with that chair pin cushion.

In yarn news I finished of another order. I love this shark hat and it was for an adult. She asked for exceptionally pointy teeth so I changed the pattern a little bit and I like it better! You can buy your own (or another awesome hat) in my shop.

I also finished my first ever knit project!! I'm so in love! I'm pretty taken with this whole knitting thing and right now I'm loving it more than crochet. I even learned the cool trick of binding off in pattern and used the invisible ending I know from crochet.

It's so cute and warm on too!

Even the kids love it! Well, mostly. #4/5 wouldn't try it on because it wasn't orange. ;)

Well, that's me this week. It was fun and I already started another knitting project! I'm linking up with my favorite places, TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday, and Finish It Up Friday.

Quilt Shop Recap, Crochet, and Knitting

I took Miya to her first ever quilt show. She had a blast! So many people were taken with her she said, "It feels like I'm famous!" She got a lot of free things including a Olfa rotary cutter pin. We took a lot of fun pictures but I narrowed it down to my favorites. I also had fun working up crochet orders for my shop and I picked up a new skill! But first, a winner from Friday's fish pillow giveaway.

I figured out how to save the image! The winner was #15. Who turned out to be...

Congrats Leanne! I've emailed you and Kitty will send you the pattern soon.

Now on to the show! It was the AQS Des Moines Quilt Show...

Here we are looking so cute at the entrance!

I was quite taken with many quilts but there were too many to post. However, what captured my interest the most this time was fancy quilting. I can't seem to get enough lately and could stand and follow lines forever. This Anchor quilt has some of my favorite.

Here's another that impressed me. I actually know the women who made this one. Doris - who pieced it - is in my guild and Trina (the quilter) came for a visit to talk to us about quilting. I'm currently saving up my pennies to have her quilt one of mine that I've been saving.

Miya really loved this one. Connie from my MQG made this one and Miya like the cool shape it made. She was doing a cute little dance in front of the quilt that I had to capture.

We walked by this machine and Miya just had to try it. She sat down and took right to it. It was her first ever attempt on a long arm...

Check it out! She made a horse! I love it! She has no fear or limits when it comes to free motion quilting and I could totally learn from her.

She then found the Sweet Sixteen and took right to that one too. She said it was a little harder without something to hold on to but quickly got the hang of it. She declared, much to the delight of the salespeople, that we needed one of these at home.

She went with a unicorn on this one. I love it! They even let is take home the sample fabric so she wants to make a tiny pillow with the unicorn for her stuffed unicorn at home.

Now onto what I've been working on. There isn't much this week...

I cut up all the fabric for my little man's Fancy Fox quilt. It is going to be all in orange foxes. I finished two which I turned into hot pads and will share later this week.

I got a custom order in my shop for a dalmatian dog hat. I'm pretty over the moon with how it turned out. I found the pattern here.

Halloween orders are in full swing. There's still time if you'd like to pick one up check out the choices in my shop. The Crab Hat continues to be my most popular. I've even made several adult sizes which cracks me up.

Finally, look what I picked up this week!! I'm so excited. I've always wanted to learn to knit. I've tried it a couple of times in the past but it was a fail every time. This time I took a class from my favorite new shop Stitch. They sell fabric, yarn, and embroidery things. This is my progress after one class. I'm in love!

Well, that's me this week. You can check back in on Friday for come cute finishes I have to share. Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Splash of Color a Finish and Giveaway!

I was poking around the Late Night Quilters group on Facebook when I saw a post by Kitty asking for pattern testers. I just LOVE to test patterns for people - seriously it's one of my favorite things. So I jumped at the chance and sent Kitty a link to my blog. She poked around and asked me to make a low-volume pillow with rainbow fish. I could not be happier with the results. Check it out...

Can I say again how I love it?! Perfect on my red rocker too. I showed this to my hubby and he was surprised by how much he liked it too. He said, "I like the rainbow fish with the words fabric. It is like a splash of color." It wasn't until after I giggled as his pun that he realized he was so cute and funny. It made it even better.

The fish on this pillow were all paper pieced but they were REALLY easy. You can see all the pieces and quilting as I hold it up backwards to the window here. Kitty from Night Quilter wrote the pattern and you can find it in her Craftsy shop.

Here is a closeup of the scales on the green fish. I practiced some FMQ with thread to match each of the fish. I was worried that I'd mess it up so I did a perfect match for each color. Seriously, check it out! Now I wish I would have been even a bit more brave and picked a contrasting color for the scales so they stood out more.

Here's another picture of it on my rocker just because I love it!

 

I used this purple print from V. and Co. Simply Style line to do an envelope backing. I also bound this one, another first for me. I love it so much I keep thinking, "bind all the things!"

Splash of Color Stats
Pattern by Kitty Wilken found here.
Finished size: 16.5" square
Fish fabric: Various prints/designers
Background fabric: Text print from Architextures by Carolyn Friendlander for Robert Kaufman
Quilting: FMQ scales on the fish and wavy lines on the text by me using Aurifil 50w.

If you've stuck around this long you deserve a reward! Kitty has graciously offered a free pattern to one of my readers! Simply leave a comment to be entered. If you are a no-reply blogger make sure I have a way to contact you. This giveaway is open to all! I'll pick a winner and email you on Wednesday when I write my next post. I will also post it here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the pattern! I'm linking up with my favorite Friday places. Fabric Frenzy Friday, TGIFF, and Finish It Up Friday.

WiP Wednesday: Trying Something New

I tend not to try new things because I'm afraid they won't turn out well or that they'll be too much work. This week I tried a few new things and I'm so in love with them I think it may make me more brave in the future!

Check out these awesome fishy scales! I don't consider myself good at free motion quilting. In fact, it really freaks me out. The possibility of ruining a quilt I made makes me stay safe. However, I really wanted these little fish to have scales so I got over it and tried it out. I'm so happy!

Here's one from the front. They are not at all perfect but they are pretty adorable and turned out WAY better than I expected but just as I hoped they would. I'm testing this pattern for the lovely Kitty at Night Quilter. I should be available soon and I'll share the finish this week!

I also like sticking to my tried and true crochet patterns. A sweet customer contacted me for a custom hat and I readily agreed. It's been fun to try a new pattern. This one has a lot of bits to make and sew on. It is going to be a Dalmatian for her baby boy for Halloween. I can't wait to see it come together.

I also get nervous changing patterns around. I worry that I won't have enough fabric or that it won't look good. I have no problem making them bigger, I do that all the time, but changing an aspect makes me worry that I'll end up liking the original better. This particular pattern wanted half the smaller squares to be four patches and the other half to me a single piece. I wasn't feeling that so I changed them all to a single piece and I think I like it better. I hope I don't change my mind! I hope to finish this one as my October ALYoF goal.

Now this is not something new I tried. It's a fabulous bundle of fabric! The Intrepid Thread was having a flash sale and I took part in a big way. Several of these are bindings for upcoming quilts, two are backing, and the rest are for fronts. I wish there was more time in the day to make all the things!

Well, that's me this week. I'm excited about what is happening here and thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.