Pint Sized Wee Play

I have another finish, woohoo! This quilt is from the pattern called Pint Sized, by Camille over at Simplify. I had one charm pack of Wee Play in my stash, and dug around to find the borders and backing too. I am happy to have this completed. I really like the looks of these pinwheels, they are fun. Also, it took a long time to make these little blocks, they are only about 4” square, and you have to cut, sew, press, cut again, etc. It was time consuming to make, not a quickie. I don’t mind that though, but in case you want to run out and make one right now (like I did!) then be aware :D Camille also has a pattern that uses the same block, only bigger and it is called Wild Thing, I have that pattern too, and I am sure it goes together quicker than the “mini” version that I did.
I did find another tutorial for this quilt block here if you are interested. The blog is Two Dogs & a Quilt. Let me know if you make one, they are super cute!
In other news I’ve been listening to podcasts for Quilting. Who would have thought? I have really enjoyed them too. I have downloaded several, and have found I like these two the best:

Annie Smith with Simple Arts. Annie has been doing this for 4+ years, and is good at it, she’s got it down. I like her approach to talking with quilt shop owners, designers, and teachers. She lets them just talk, and it’s neat to hear how they approach quilting, such a huge variety of people. You’ll love her!

And

Pat Sloan with Creative Talk Radio. Pat just started hers up a few months ago, and I love her! She has had some awesome quilters on her show that I have learned a lot from. Pat is fun, and really keeps it fresh, with what is new in the industry.

I went to my Itunes and downloaded all of their episodes, and have been listening in my car, or on my walks. Let me know if you have any favorite podcasts, quilting or non quilting.

Tagalong Schnibbles

*pretty double rainbow last week*

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? We had a really nice one. The weather was so gorgeous on Sunday, we went for a long bike ride with the kids. On Saturday I got a lot of sewing done, and had friends over for dinner. I am sad it is over.

So, my weekend plans were to get two quilts quilted right? Wrong. I got my Schnibbles Tagalong quilted and bound, and Pint Sized basted, that is it. I should not be so hard on myself, I did pretty good considering right?

Here is Tagalong. I used two Fig & Plum charm packs from my stash, and when I got to the borders I didn’t have enough strips to finish it up, so I went stash diving. I found lots of fabrics that worked great so I could finish this quilt top. Woo! It is stipple quilted with cream thread.

I had some Heather Bailey fabric yardage that I put on the back that had peach in it. I hardly have any peach colored fabrics in my stash. I was so happy with how this looks with the top, it’s so pretty. So, everything making up this quilt is from stash, you all should high five me, seriously.

Now I get to wonder what pattern we are making for May. And… can you believe it is mid-April? It is flying by. The weather is finally getting nicer here. For the first time I’ve had to take allergy medicine. The pollen is horrid right now! Even Mark and Jessie are taking it. I hope that it will clear up soon, I don’t like taking medicine.

You know, now that I am thinking about it, I bet I could have finished both quilts this weekend, but I started a new one (don’t ask, I was bored on Friday evening and was going through my stash). My friend Becky is making a quilt using the cutest pink and green fabrics. I started looking through what I have, and found lots (and lots) of pink and green, so I am copying haha! She is using a different pattern, but it’s all her fault :) This quilt didn’t even put a dent in the stash. It’s a baby quilt, cute yes? I think I could make a dozen of them and maybe use up my pink and green. We won’t talk about that though. Okay that is enough yammering for today, thanks for visiting!!!

I had better get quilting

So, the quilt tops are taking over my house! I have 3 tops to quilt now :) I love piecing tops, but when it comes to basting, I totally put it off. Once I get going I am okay, it's just starting...

I finished the Tagalong quilt top, here it is with the backing and binding so you can see what I am using.

Then I have Pint Sized, look how cute! I have a nice swirly blue flannel for the backing of it.

There is also a larger lap size quilt called Spring Stars. I want at least two of these quilted this weekend. Wish me luck :D

Tagalongs and Hexagons

Hey there! The crazy hectic week is over for another year. My kids are a year older now. Curren turned 9 years old on the 8th, and Jessie turned 8 years old on the 9th. Isn’t that confusing? They are getting so big, and I am loving it. Mark’s parents came out for their birthdays, the first time they have been able to celebrate with us, and it was great. Jessie also got baptized on the 10th. Another wonderful event!
Between parties, shopping, and sightseeing, not a whole lot of crafting time was put in. I started a new cross stitch, but it’s for an exchange I am doing. It is adorable, and you will love it too!

There is so much going on in blog-land right now. I want to sign up for everything, but I am using some self control. You know I am doing the Schnibbles Quilt a month, well, I started Tagalong this week. I am using fabric from my stash. The charm packs I picked out are called Fig & Plum. Aren’t they pretty? Aqua, lavender, sage green, cream, nice. Go check out Fig Tree Quilts blog, eye candy. Also, Julie at Jaybird Quilts has started a Hexagon Quiltalong. I decided to join since I have several jelly rolls laying around. I chose to use Plume by Tula Pink.
There is a pattern book I bought called Sizzling Sixties by Heather Mulder Peterson. It uses the 60 degree triangle ruler to make hexagon blocks as well, so I am happy Julie is doing this quiltalong, because I’ll be ready to make quilts from this book!

More to share, but have to go make dinner. Mark is having a coworker come over, and I am blogging, when I should be cleaning :D

Sam Sarah: Plant the Seeds

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter holiday. We were able to spend it with our good friends, which made it extra nice. The weekend was productive for me because it rained constantly, and we had nowhere to be.

I actually finished another cross stitch. I know, I have not been stitching as much as I used to :) I finished this up while watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition… it was hard to finish it because I was crying so much. That show always gets to me. The chart is by Sam Sarah called Plant the Seeds. I like the cute buttons on it.
I’d like to give this chart away, so if you are interested please leave your name and email, I’ll draw a name next week for it :) Katrina gave this kit to me as a gift, and so I’ll send it on.

What is the next project I plan to start? I can't tell, it's for an exchange.

So, I am counting down the days until summer. Mark and I went out on a date Saturday night, and stopped by REI. While he was looking at knives, I checked out their books. I found a great hiking book for Oregon. I have plans you see, plans of hiking every weekend through the wilderness around here, and I am totally excited. I bought the hiking book, found an empty notebook and started writing down the hikes I found interesting. All of them are shorter 2-6 mile hikes, because I plan on dragging my kids along for the fun. Now, it just needs to dry up around here so we can get out. That won’t be for another month or two though. *sigh*

Pint Sized Wee Play

Oh dear, I can't resist baby quilts right now, I have about a dozen in my head I want to make. I plan on it too, but that may be a bit over ambitious!

So, I started Pint Sized, a pattern by Thimble Blossoms. You all know the designer Camille at Simplify. Her blog is so awesome, and very inspiring, go and see her if you have not already. She has this pattern Pint Sized, which is a mini version of another quilt pattern called Wild Thing (which I plan to make as well). So, it requires using 1 charm pack, and I happened to have only one charm pack of Wee Play, which I have been hoarding for a few years now. Talk about the perfect pattern for this fabric! I love this pattern, it's adorable.

When I first started cutting this out, I soon found out it was pretty tedious. Not that this scares me off, but just saying, it'll take a bit of time to cut and piece this quilt. It turns out really perfect though, since you have to cut down all of the pieces.

There are the border fabrics I am using, all from my stash. Yep, this whole quilt is from stash. Awesome right? I am trying...

On Thursday we went to see the movie How to Train Your Dragon. We all loved it! I wish they could have just started it all over again after it ended. It was fantastic. Mark and I both agreed it was one of the best movies we'd seen for a long time. We saw it in 3D, and it was very cool :) Let me know if you see it!

I've got a lot to do now, it's Easter on Sunday. Mark's parents come in on Wednesday, Curren's birthday is Thursday, Jessie's birthday is Friday, and Jessie is getting baptized on Saturday. Phew! I can't wait, it'll be a wonderful week. You all have a nice weekend, and enjoy Easter and take the time to think about the blessing that Jesus gave us. I am so thankful.