Fabric Goodies

While surfing blogs, I came across a post on Cluck, Cluck, Sew. Have you been to this blog? It’s so awesome, and I love the quilts that she makes, total eye candy.

She posted about a giveaway at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics, a fabric shop on Etsy. I decided to go ahead and enter the giveaway, even though there was a lot of other people that did too. I won!! There were close to 800 comments. Woohoo! Randi was giving away 10 fat quarters and one of the patterns from Cluck, Cluck, Sew called Skipping Squares.

I ordered some Castle Peeps fabric from her site. Look how FUN! There have been some adorable projects made from this fabric that I’ve seen online. I can’t wait to use it up.

The giveaway was for 10 fat quarters, enough to make the quilt pattern. I chose 10 fat quarters from Holiday Happy. The fabric is designed by Monica over at Happy Zombie. Who is a fellow Oregonian! She lives in Astoria. Well, I got to meet Monica at the last Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting. She was super duper nice. Look at this cute fabric, awwww!!!

So many quilts to make, so little time. *sigh*

A Year of Heather’s Schnibbles Quilts

For those of you who haven’t been following the Schnibbles Quilts I’ve been making in the past year, here is a recap. Back in September of 2009 I was reading Carrie Nelson’s Blog. She is a quilt designer, her business is called Miss Rosie’s Quilt Company. She said that two ladies Sinta and Sherri are going to host a quilt a long, to make one Schnibble a month for a year. A Schnibble is a small quilt pattern that Carrie designs, she has dozens of these patterns. I love making Schnibbles, they use the 5” charm packs that Moda distributes, and since I always seem to buy charm packs, these quilts are right up my alley.

Here is what I made in the past year! (I linked them to the original posts if you want the information of what fabric I used)

September 2009: Winter White

October 2009: Cindy Lou Who

November 2009: Picnic

December 2009: TuffetsJanuary 2010: Madeline

February 2010: Sunday Best

March 2010: Roundabout

April 2010: Tagalong
May 2010: NashJune 2010: State FairJuly 2010: Joy Luck
August 2010: Plan C
I have also completely finished (as in quilted and bound) almost all of them too, which is great! It has helped me get better at my free motion quilting. I am glad that I started this journey and stuck with it, I’ve learned a lot more about quilting and reading patterns. Thank goodness Carrie writes good instructions! Which one is your favorite? It’s really hard to pick just one of them, but I think I like the June 2010 quilt State Fair the best, the fabric is just too fun.

My husband calls these “Toe Warmers” because he says they are kinda small and it can only fit over my toes… haha! What am I going to do with them all? Well, I’ve given a few of them away as gifts already. I plan to keep most of them and use them as table covers, or to hang on the wall, or just to sit and stare at. So, have I convinced you to go and try making a Schnibble??

Plan C Schnibbles Quilt Top

I managed to finish the quilt top for the August Schnibbles quilt last night! I did it, all 12 quilt tops were finished on time in the past year woohoo!! *high fives all around* I know a lot of others were able to get them done too, and I give them kudos, it was hard getting them all finished, but really fun, I am glad I joined in on the process.

Here is Plan C. I used Eva charm packs. Eva is designed by Basic Grey and Moda distributes it. It's beautiful fabric, I love it. I picked these up at my favorite shop: Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe in West Linn. They do still have some if you would like to own the fabric.

Thank you Sinta and Sherri for planning this whole thing out, I can see it was a lot of work, but I sure do appreciate it! Be sure and visit their blogs to see the "parade" on September 1st.

So, I now have a huge pile of quilts to work on. Several need to be quilted (they are already basted!) one needs the binding sewed down, other quilt tops are cut and waiting to be pieced. Off I go!

Plan "C" and other quilt goodies

The Schnibbles a month is winding to a close. I’ve made 1 every month for the past 11 months, that is a lot of little quilts! The final month you get a choice between the patterns “Short Story” and “Plan C” It so happens I’ve already made “Short Story” awhile ago, long before the monthly quilts were being made. I was waffling on not making another quilt since I’d already made one. Then I thought that wouldn’t be right because everybody else if making one, and I haven’t made the “Plan C” quilt yet anyway. And I love starting new quilts… so there you go.

The fabric I chose is Eva by Basic Grey. I had two pretty charm packs in my stash for awhile, and I started cutting it out last night. Purple, Pink and Green, all very pretty and something I normally wouldn’t choose, but since these Schnibbles are so small, it’s fun to try new things. Let’s see if I can get this done in time.

My sister was here for two weeks. We played hard, and went everywhere, but at night when our kids were sound asleep we sewed quite a bit. Nikki tries to sew, but it’s hard for her with a one year old running around! She is making a braid quilt with a jelly roll she purchased last time she was here (in March). She got all of her braids done last night, yay!

She is using the pattern from this book. I love this book, a lot. Have I made anything from it yet? Nope. Have my friends borrowed my book and made quilts from it? Yes, and lots of them. Oh well, I’ll eventually cut into one of my pretty jelly rolls!

I got really lucky last month with the Schnibbles parade, I won the $50 gift certificate from The Fat Quarter Shop. I was in shock! Here is what I bought with the gift card... ooooh pretty fabric! What to make next...

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow Framed and Hung

Finally! I went and got my finished Shores of Hawk Run Hollow framed, woohoo! So, I went to Joann's to look into getting it framed. When we measured it we realized it could fit into a standard size frame (18" x 24") That saved me a bizillion dollars getting it framed. I didn't find a frame at Joann's I liked however. After going to the always awesome Craft Warehouse, I found a great frame for it. They even stretched it and mounted it in the frame for me for a fee of $23.00. How can you beat that? I was so excited.

I went back on forth between a black and white frame. I finally settled on black, it'll be in "style" forever, and the blocks are all framed in black.

I hung it in my living room, since I've got the beach theme going on. It matches perfect, I am so happy with how it turned out. Who else has finished their Hawk Run Hollow projects? They are awesome :D

Some Answers To Your Questions

August is here, it’s summery, warm, perfect weather outside. I haven’t been doing much of anything sewing related, other than petting my fabric the past week. My sister is in town visiting us for a few weeks again. It is so fun having my sister around!

Since I really don’t have much to show you guys, I thought I’d answer some questions that have been brought up in the comments lately. I haven’t been able to answer them directly because there is no email address to reply. If you have a question for me, please leave an email address so I can get back to you :)

So, when I made Vonna’s Project Bag recently, I was asked if I’d be interested in being hired out to do this for others? Of course I would! If you have lovely cross stitching sitting unfinished and want it made into a bag, email me and we’ll work on a price for making it. Here are a few I've made. Another question was about the quilt I made for Curren’s bed. What pattern is it? The book is called: Sew Simple Quilts by Pamela Mostek. This is a great book, it has several simple patterns that have a big visual impact. I’ve made two quilts out of it, and have liked the book.

Robin in Virginia asked about my Pink and Green quilt. “Your pink and green quilt is precious! What pattern did you use or did you create one?” I have seen many quilts like this and just made blocks in the size I liked. You can find a free tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew for a similar quilt, here is the link for it: Orange Quilt Dimensions

If any of you have question for me, my email is: oregonsurfers@gmail.com
I’d be happy to answer! Thanks for visiting my blog, you all inspire me! Have a fabulous weekend.

Spooky Chinese Coin Quilt?

Can a Chinese Coin Quilt pattern be made using Halloween fabric? I threw tradition out the window and just went for it. The July Schnibbles pattern chosen is called Joy Luck. It is a pretty adorable quilt, and a little daunting. I didn't have a whole lot of time this month to work on it, I usually start these quilts at the beginning of the month... I started last week. I am happy to report I finished the top on Wednesday night though!

The fabric I used are two charm packs I picked up last fall, when Halloween was long over, they were super cheap, and super cute, so I added them to my basket. They go well with the pattern I think, the colors are really bright. The fabric line is called Spooktacular.

By the way I wanted to give a shout out to Quilt Taffy, they shipped me the Joy Luck pattern with no shipping charge! Woohoo!

Be sure to check out Sinta and Sherri's blogs on the first of August. They will have a Joy Luck Schnibbles parade and show off everybody's quilts, it's very cool to see them all.

Summer Porch

Doesn’t this make you want to sit out on a porch with a cold lemonade? This quilt is one of my favorites, it is such a cool pattern. When I first saw this pattern it was in a magazine. There was an ad for some long arm quilting machine and a Summer Porch quilt was draped on a couch, and I thought “oh my gosh, that quilt is so pretty!” some time goes by before I spot it again on somebody’s blog and they had the pattern name, woohoo! I found out it was an Eleanor Burns pattern, and bought the book at Joann’s.

Can I just say how much I enjoyed making this quilt? Eleanor gives the best and most detailed instructions for making it in a variety of sizes. It had a picture or diagram of every single step, with hints and tips to boot. I love that, it made it a no brainer, and the quilt went together easily. I used the remainder of my fat quarter pack called Shangri La by Moda. I bought it from Nicole (Sisters Choice Quilts) sometime ago when she was selling some of her stash. I’ve made 3 quilts from this fabric now, and I am kind of sad to see it all gone, BUT there is so much more out there to use right?

This is one of the two quilts I quilted on the long arm last weekend. I did not use a panto, I did it free motion stippling (looks like big puzzle pieces, a meandering pattern), with a cream thread on top and dark red thread on back.

In order to take a good picture of a big quilt, you need lots of helpers standing on the back of my truck!

The backing is a soft plaid red flannel. Did I mention I love using flannel for a backing? Okay, I mention it all of the time. I can’t help it, it’s so soft and warm. I pre-wash my flannel backing before I put it all together, flannel I have found likes to shrink, so I wash it in hot water and dry it hot too. No, I don’t wash my regular cottons, ever… it takes too long! Haha!

Regarding the trip I took back in June, I stayed only 9 days, because I had to get back to work, the rest of my family got to stay and play! Lucky them :)

Visiting Charissa and the Long Arm

Charissa is so lucky! Her mother in law bought a long arm quilting machine, and she lets Charissa use it whenever she wants… and then I got lucky because she said I could use it too! You know somebody is addicted to quilting when she’ll drive 5 hours (one way) to go sew. That is me, I am not ashamed. Also I missed Charissa, I mean we had been apart for 5 whole days after the quilt show!

I brought two quilts to try out on this machine. It was interesting because it’s the opposite of the free motion quilting I do at home on my domestic machine. It goes pretty fast, and I did do a super basic pattern on both of them.

In between quilting two large quilts, we managed to shop… and we bought beads to make these bracelets, how fun huh? Thank you Charissa for letting me come visit!

This butterfly was hanging out in my backyard for the past few days, it's so pretty, I had to share.

There has been a lot of free time for me this month, I was home alone, all by myself, single… for 17 days straight! How on earth does a young mom of two manage this? Well, we went to visit Mark’s family in West Virginia on June 26th, I came home alone on July 5th. The kids and Mark stayed out there to play and hang out with his family until yesterday the 22nd. I know! It was very fun, but I am not going to lie, I felt like half a person, I missed my family a lot. You can tell I kept myself pretty busy huh?

More pictures of the family vacation to come :) Lots more quilting to share as well!

Portland Modern Quilt Guild July Meeting

Barbara, Jenn and I were all lucky, we got to attend the Portland Modern Quilt Guild’s July meeting. It was held downtown. Since I am a suburbanite it’s always fun to venture into downtown. I think those people are crazy for living there, but in a small way I envy them.

There were about 40 of us in a room at the art college. It was pretty warm, but we didn’t seem to mind. Christina gave a really good speech about how to make hexagons. Have you guys been to Christina’s blog The Sometimes Crafter? I LOVE her blog, like a lot. I was so excited to meet her. So, hexagons were the big topic of the night. I’ve seen them all over blogland right? But… I didn’t dare try them, you know why… I need another addiction like I need another hole in my head. Well, it was fun, I am smitten, they are so adorable.

Here are the few I did. They took a picture of me doing the “show and tell” I enjoyed seeing everybody’s work, talk about inspiring, the wheels can’t stop turning in my head. I hope I can go to these meetings regularly.

Sisters Quilt Show

Look at me, trying to play catch up. This will be very interesting! I've had so much going on these past few weeks, and I want to share, so it'll take a few posts to get it all down.

Every second weekend of July is the Sisters Quilt Show. Sisters is a little town in central Oregon, about 3 hours from Portland. They hang quilts all over the town and a bizillion people go to this. I thought it was a blast!

My boss has a house in Sunriver he let me use for 4 days, I invited my friends to come with me and we had a girls weekend. Seriously, we were so lucky to be able to spend so many days there and we took advantage of it. My friend Charissa came from Anacortes, Washington. Jenn came from Portland, Barbara my neighbor, and her sister Carol from Idaho came, and my friend Karen came too! There were six of us.

We got there on Thursday afternoon. Riding bikes is so fun to do in Sunriver, so we rode down to the lodge to eat dinner, then headed back home to sew. On Friday morning some of us had signed up to take classes that day, so we drove to Sisters. They have the classes in the high school, how cool is that? Charissa and I took the same class, taught by Alma Cox. It's so hard to explain the process, but it was sooooo fun. It felt like we were in art class as a kid, we had free reign to do whatever we wanted, it was very liberating.

Saturday was the big show, so we left a little early to get there, I am glad we did. It was backed up to even get into town. We enjoyed the day looking at quilts, shopping for clothes, jewelry and cowboy boots :) We may have had too much fun!

We came back home Sunday tired and happy. I loved the Sisters Quilt Show. I hope to go again sometime.