WiP Wednesday: Giveaway and Organization

Over the weekend I hit over 50,000 views!! When I started my blog I thought it would be mostly for me to keep track of the things I've created. Then I fell in love with the quilting community and have since made several online friends and found so much inspiration. I know I've grown and become better just from associating with all of you. As a bit of a thank you there is a charm pack at the end of this post that I will be giving away to one lucky reader.

One of the things I've learned from all of this is that I can create fun things that people will pay money for! Before I'd always just given them away and smiled at people telling me to sell things. Now I have an Etsy shop and this is my latest completed order for a Sleepy Fox Hat.

Also in my journey I've become a pattern tester for a few people. I just adore testing patterns. With my Bachelors in English it's nice to use those skills combined with my sewing ability. These lovely fabrics are destined to become the latest from Grits and Giggles, which I better get on because it's due on Friday. She says it's super fast and I'm counting on that.

While I have the fabric cut for several quilts I try to not get overwhelmed and work on too many things at once. I have a three things rule - only three projects going at once - and I'm at my limit. Next week though I plan on getting going on a fun quilt for me with the newest line from V. and Co. These are burp cloths that I'm making with matching swaddle blankets for my friends with upcoming babies.

As I've progressed with my sewing I've found I need a ton more thread. This isn't a lot but compared to the three colors I used to stock I'm pretty happy with my selection and it's growing with nearly every project. This awesome thread organizer I found on Amazon here. I love that it was only $15 and it can close and be stored even vertically so it doesn't have to sit there on my wall/desk. Heaven knows I have enough clutter.

I also got these bobbin holders from Amazon. I love them! The foam keeps the bobbins in place even when my munchkins flip them upside-down and shake!! They come in a two pack.

I've been in love with many things I've found on various quilty blogs. One of them is the idea of quilt storage on a antique ladder. My hubby and I found one at our local antique mall and I had to have it! It's so sturdy and lovely. My kids recently used many of my quilts in a fort/picnic adventure so they're in the laundry pile but only two on there really shows off the ladder. The best part was the price at $45. I've also been in love with the idea of a pie safe for storing quilts but those are several hundred dollars a piece.

I also got this fabulous red rocker! I can't get over how perfect it is! I may not keep it red. The paint job leaves a lot to be desired so it needs to be repainted anyway. Maybe an aqua or something would be fun. The red does look awesome with my Ruby's quilt though. My hubby and I were talking about how my house doesn't really reflect my style and we were wondering why that was. As it turns out in our entire house - including shelving and storage - we only purchased 10 pieces. The two in this blog are included in that ten. The rest of everything in my house was given to us or inherited. No wonder it doesn't feel like me! The chair and the ladder are baby steps toward house greatness.

Finally, the giveaway! You deserve it after reading all of that. This is a charm pack of La Belle Fleur by French General for Moda. The package is a little beat up, it actually came to me that way, but the charms are all intact.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment, anything will do but if you'd like a topic how about what color you think I should paint my new rocker?

One entry per person. While I do love my followers I don't want people following just for the giveaway. I will pick a winner on Wednesday and email you so please please make sure I have a way to contact you. If I can't reach you then you can't win. I'll post the winner in my next WiP post so you can check back that way too.

I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by!

S'more Love with Juki

Very exciting news here today... I got a new sewing machine!!! I'm over the moon excited! The timing went out on my Singer (again!!) so the choice was fix it for the millionth time or just get a new one. Not a hard choice. It's a Juki HZL-F600. I only got it yesterday and while I am absolutely in love I'm not ready to write a full review yet. I did make an entire quilt top with it already which is at the bottom of this post. This machine is whisper quiet. Seriously you could sew in a library and no one would care. I could hold normal conversations with my hubby and kids while sewing, it was glorious.

So my tenth wedding anniversary is later this month and my hubby and I kicked around the idea of getting me a new sewing machine to celebrate. I looked and looked for the best one in my price range. There are seriously no bad reviews on the internet for a Juki. I thought that was a really good sign. I picked out the one I wanted and unbeknownst to me he bought it! He told me the day it was coming in the mail! It was an awesome surprise.

The very first thing I noticed was that the handle is so beefy! I didn't like carrying my old one by the handle because it felt like it would pop off. I would always support it from the bottom. This one is so awesome I'll never have to worry about that again. I am holding on the bottom for the picture though because it got really heavy posing like this.

Here it is in all its glory. It has like a million stitches and comes with so many awesome accessories and features! The needle threader is one of my favorites. I never used the one on my old machine because it was difficult and time consuming. Frankly it was faster just to thread it myself. This one is so easy! You just slide it in a giant rubber notch and trim the end and push a button. Another feature I love is the thread trimmer. Either rocking back on the foot pedal or pushing a button on the front the machine cuts the thread off for you. It's really lovely.

Here it is all opened up, you can see all the stitches on the top. It has a 1.5" more throat than my last machine which I love already. It also came with an extender table (not on) and a slew of extra feet including a 1/4" foot, a walking foot, a FMQing foot, and an automatic button hole foot. The last one is so awesome. You pop your button on the back and just go. I love how organized the compartment is with a place for everything and the little tray that pops out.

Here's the top I made all basted and everything! I made the back and the binding yesterday too along with the entire quilt top. I couldn't stop playing. The fabric is S'more Love and the pattern is Happy Weekender from the Moda Bakeshop. I changed the pattern a little bit to use only two charm packs instead of the required three. It's just as big but the pieced border has four fewer squares.

Here's a closeup of the adorable fabric. I love it! This is my April goal for ALYoF. I'm cruising right along so I bet it won't be a last minute finish like march was.

So now I'm off to quilt my first quilt on my new machine. I know I'm going to get a ton of sewing done this week because I just can't stop playing. Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Blog Hop, Progress, and Spoiling

First off it's the final day of the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop.  Beth from Plum and June has put a lot of work into this hop and it has been running for quite some time.  The hop started in May and is now ending six months later.  It was a fun journey and I really enjoyed being a part of it and meeting so many other new bloggers like myself.  Here's my post from back in September.  The list of women for today/this week, is fabulous and found below...

         Cynthia from A Quilter by Night
         Stephanie from Smalltown Dreamz
         Cynthia from Quilt Doodle Doodles
         Diane from From Blank Pages
         Laura from Waffle Kisses
         Mary Ann from Rocknquilts
         Jaime from Stitches to Sprinkles
         Allegory from {sew} Allegorical
         Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts
         Lynne from Bouts Choisis
         Nat from Made in Home
         Francine from Mocha Wild Child
         Lyanna from Purple Panda Quilts
         Stacey from The Tilted Quilt


Now onto my progress.  I've been working hard on a quilt for my mother this past week.  I picked it up again last Tuesday after not working on it since July.  I'm getting to the part now where it's all coming together so quickly and getting bigger and bigger which is so fun!

Here's my progress with the center portion of the quilt.  There are to be 28 of each block.  I must now sew the three sections of the star block together and then assemble in a checker pattern.  I'm so excited with how quickly it's progressing!

To aid in the progression of this and other quilts my hubby spoils me enormously!  He's pretty cute about it to.  Tomorrow I turn 30 (I'm so excited, is that odd?) and he was worried he didn't have enough presents for me so he offered to take me to Joann's and supplement as well as use my 60% off coupons.  How could I refuse?!

He got me this new fancy yellow cutting mat.  It's HUGE!  I'm so excited to use it.  I put my old one on top for a size comparison.  The new one is 24" by 36" and a little slice of heaven.  He also got me a fancy new pair of Gingher scissors.  I'm in love.  They cut like a dream not like my cheap scissors that are about nine years old.  They make me want to make another HST quilt so I can cut out all that fabric with the nice ones!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop around the last stops of the hop today!  I'm linking up with Plum and June for the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link Up.

TNT Thursday; Quilter's Roll Clips

 I used to have someone else quilt my quilts for me or I'd try them at home with my regular foot.  They were always such a pain that I resisted picking up the chore of doing it myself again.  Recently I discovered the value of a walking foot and the fun of free motion quilting.  I am in love with doing it myself now and may only send off the really huge ones.  I've found with a little difficulty I can quilt a twin sized at home but I have yet to try anything bigger.  While I was at JoAnn's during coupon commotion I found these Quilter's Roll Clips.  I was excited that something so cheap (I got them for $5) could make my quilting experience better.  I tried them out today and I'm linking up with TNT Thursday with Melissa at Happy Quilting.

Here are the Quilter's Roll Clips in the package just in case you didn't know what they might look like.

I got them out to use them and my cute three year-old Amelia thought they were big earrings.  To give everyone a laugh I tried them on.  I think I could totally rock these given the right outfit and they actually stayed on pretty well, lol.  Not really, well they did stay on but I wouldn't wear them.

Here they are doing their proper job.  They came six to a package and I probably could have used less and maybe I'll do three to a side when I'm working on the middle.

Tightly wound like this gives me so much more room!!  I had no idea my machine could be anything other than a miserable quilt trap!  It made working with it much easier.  I was using the walking foot at this point and needed to pivot a lot!

While in the middle of quilting with the walking foot I thought, "This is dumb!  I should try it with my FMQing foot."  The lines weren't as straight and it took a little getting used to but it was much easier!  I've never tried straight lines with my FMQ foot.  I'd just used a regular then a walking foot before.  This kind of quilt with lots of turning seemed just right.  I'm outlining all the curves in the swirl pattern.  While working with this I found the roll was better positioned off to the side of my machine but I still liked the clips because it kept it all contained.

I loved the clips and would recommend them for keeping this more orderly.  If nothing else they make a fabulous fashion accessory!  Thanks for stopping by!

I Love My Cricut!

 My birthday was this week and my super amazing husband bought me a Cricut!  I'm so excited to play with it.  He did his research and picked out the Expression 2.  It has a fancy touch screen and two preloaded cartridges.  I have a few projects that I really need to get done right now but I keep finding myself going back to it and making quick fun little things.

I was so excited to get it open!  I suspected this was going to be my present but it was more fancy than the one I asked for so it was still a fun surprise.

My baby wanted to help me with the first Cricut cut. He was so excited when it was moving itself and I was loving seeing what it could do.

Here are my first Cricut creations. I love them. It was so fun and easy with no scissors involved! I'm so slow at cutting and even with the drama of learning a new machine and trying to figure out something I've never done before it was so much faster than I could have done on my own.

I Love My... Accuquilt Go!

 My quilting world is a much better place since the Accuquilt Go! entered my life.  I love to quilt, it's probably my favorite hobby but cutting has always been a pain.  The Go! is like a Cricut for fabric.  You buy some dies and a mat slap on your fabric, run it through the machine and you get perfect cuts every time.

Here's a stock photo of what the Accuquilt can do.

I cut out 262 diamonds in 45 minutes while watching TV.  It doesn't get any better than that.

The is the quilt I made with the diamonds.  My brother and his wife were having a baby and she loves argyle.  I thought it wouldn't be that hard to create and it turned out beautifully.

I Love My... Yarn Tainer

As a mother of four small children and an avid crafter I love anything that makes my life easier.  Snapware makes something called a Yarn Tainer and it has seriously improved my crocheting experience.

Here it is.  You just plop in the entire skein, thread the end through the hole one the top and viola, you're ready to go!  The worst things my kids can do to my yarn now is pull out more.   It stays tangle-free and seriously makes me a happier person.  This is obviously a stock photo because I don't knit but you get the idea.  FABULOUS!

A quick tip for when you're storing yarn but not using it... Grab a bit of yarn from the inside and close it in the lid, that way you can't pull anymore out through the top.