Weekender - Take.2

If you are looking for the 400 post - Tula Pink giveaway, enter here.

I've spent the last couple of days making another Weekender bag - this one for my partner in the Sew Sew Modern 2 Swap.  This one seemed more difficult than the first one - partly because I tried a new technique, and partly, I think, because I didn't follow the directions as closely.  The new-to-me technique was a modified quilt-as-you-go technique.  I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I think I will experiment with it some more.  Elizabeth Hartman uses a similar technique, but densely quilts over each piece as it is added.  I didn't think I wanted that much quilting, but I may try it another time and see.

I'm not really a random/improv kind of person, so the random placement of the fabrics kind of drove me nuts.  But overall, I like the effect.  It is obviously something I need to practice.

I started with the Heather Ross vans/campers print, and worked from there.  Can you believe I actually used GRAY???  That was a total departure for me, and coming up with enough grays was a challenge.  I added some pinks in random places to liven it up a bit.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I hope my partner likes it. 

NOTE TO SELF:  The next weekender bag is for me!

400th Post Giveaway - Quilts From the House of Tula Pink

This is my 400th blog post, a fact which amazes me no end.  When I started this blog, I NEVER, E-V-E-R thought that I would really blog - you know, actually write in this forum.  Regularly write.

I really started the blog just to be able to see - and comment on - pictures of my grandchildren (gratuitous photos of grandchildren inserted here), which you know is almost as necessary as breathing, if you're a Grandma.  But once again, I digress...

I have decided to honor the occasion with a giveaway.  I really like doing giveaways.  I love reading the comments I receive.  It's so fun.  I try to answer every one, although sometimes its kind of daunting, and I know that in past giveaways I have missed a few.

So, to celebrate my 400th blog post, I am giving away Tula Pink's book Quilts From the House of Tula Pink and a charm pack of the remaining prints I have of Prince Charming.

I regret that this won't be a complete set of the fabrics in the line, as I have used and/or given away a few of them.  But there is a respectable selection remaining in my stash, and I want you to have something to work with when you get the book. 

You can see that I've used this particular fabric a lot.

So, what do you have to do to win this little gift?  You have up to four chances to win:

1. Just leave a comment here and tell me about a project that's on your quilting bucket list, and why.  Or tell me about a project you are currently working on.  That's all - you will be entered in the giveaway.
2.  If you are - or become - a follower, you get a second entry.
3.  LIKE my Facebook page, or if you have already done so, just leave a comment on my FB page and then come back here to enter. 
4.  Use your favorite social media to tell your friends about my giveaway - blog, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc., then come back here and let me know.

This giveaway will be open until midnight Central time on Friday, May 24.  I will post the winner on my blog by Sunday, May 26.  Please be sure you are not a no-reply blogger.  I will immediately choose another winner if I don't have your email address.

Thanks for visiting - and good luck!

Hugs and Kisses

Awhile back I mentioned the deal I made with my friend to trade her Accu Quilt Go! Cutter for my labor.  I haven't received all the Block of the Month packets yet - the May block was just mailed out - but I did get a chance to work on another of the quilts she requested over the last couple of weeks, and so I have a finish to report.

The pattern is Hugs and Kisses by Jaybird Quilts.  The fabric, of course, is Flea Market Fancy, by Denyse Schmidt.

The design uses this cool Lazy Angle Ruler by Joan Hawley.  It's really pretty easy to use.  Julie at Jaybird Quilts has several other amazing quilts using this ruler on her website.  Personally, I think I'd like to make the Unwind quilt for myself, although the one she calls Carnival is pretty too - but you know I am a sucker for any fabric by Kate Spain, which is the fabric featured in her cover quilt.

The quilt went together like a dream.  I love its dramatic x's and o's, but the dominant diamond shape and the strong diagonal lines appeal to me also.  Honestly, it was a really fun quilt to make.

The quilt is twin size, and my friend has plans for it to go on her bed.  I think she will really like it.

All in the Family

My son came to visit his mom (and dad) for Mother's Day!  So glad to see him!  He brought along a jigsaw puzzle he bought for us at Disney World.  My kids and I have done many puzzles together over the years.  I love puzzling together.  It gives us a chance to chat and really enjoy each other's company while figuring out where the pieces go.  He arrived Friday afternoon and we jumped right in.  (As you can see, housework tends to take a back seat when we're puzzling.)

In between puzzle sessions, we watched a few movies, including Iron Man 3 since Saturday afternoon was rainy and gray, ate lots of yummy food - WH cooked breakfast and dinner (what a dinner!) and Sean cooked lunch on "the day" [and they did all the dishes!] -  and laughed and talked and enjoyed each other's company.

We had some sunny weather too, so HS managed a couple of trips to the beach while he was here...

And he commissioned a Mickey Mouse Fanny pack to aid in his traveling and beach-going (yes, he chose the fabric himself because Disney just didn't have anything he liked!)  Can you see it there against his plaid shorts?  Apparently I didn't take a photo of the fanny pack itself, although I could have sworn we did.  Fanny pack patterns are amazingly hard to find, now that said bags are out of style (though to me they're darn useful.)  Luckily, I had a pattern for a fanny pack in a shorts pattern that I made for him when he was - oh, maybe 8 years old.  (Good thing I keep all this stuff, huh?  You just never know when you will need it!)

We had a lovely visit.  So nice of him to come home and see his mom for Mother's Day - for the fourth year in a row, I think.  And no, he had to leave before the puzzle was completely finished - we were probably 2/3 done with it.  But I finished it last night, and am off this morning to buy some foam board and some mod podge.  It's too pretty (and too much work) to just tear it apart and stick it back in the box.

Hope everyone has as lovely a Mother's Day as I did! 

To Boston With Love

Thanks, Melanie, for holding my flag!

I attended our monthly meeting of the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild on Saturday.  The Guild had decided to participate in the "To Boston With Love" project sponsored by the Vancouver MQG. The project will "show the love" of quilter's everywhere in response to last month's tragedy in Boston. Our hearts truly go out to those affected by this tragedy.  It seems that there are more wackos than ever in the world, doesn't it?

The  hundreds of flags collected from quilters all over the world will be displayed in the Shapiro Family Courtyard of the Boston Museum of Fine Art for several weeks, beginning Memorial Day weekend. 

But, as usual, while I knew for weeks what I planned to do, I didn't make my flag until Saturday morning before the meeting.  Too often, it seems, I'm a last-minute kind of gal.  But still, last-minute is better than not-at-all, don't you think?

Thank goodness for scraps and bonus HSTs, because I created this little flag in about 15 minutes.  (I hope you can't tell!)  The HSTs are left over from all the flying geese in the Fat Quarter Shop BOM quilt and a scrap of text from the Weekender Bag.  Easy peasy - no cutting, just sewing the bits together, backing it and turning it right side out.  I used a scrap of blue navy dot 1/2 inch bias tape for the tie at the top, which was probably purchased in about 1985, which had a price tag of 94 cents.  (I knew I'd find a use for it someday.)

I hope somehow that seeing all those flags displayed will bring a bit of comfort to those affected by this event.

"W" is for WINNER of the WEEKENDER

Well, it's a good thing that SMS Giveaway Day lasts a whole week, or I would be in a pickle, wouldn't I?  When I got up last Monday morning, I had no idea what I was going to do for a giveaway prize, and being that I hadn't yet started sewing on Monday morning, I'm glad I had a few days to finish it.

Overall it was a really fun project and not at all the nightmare I had been led to expect.  I pretty much followed Elizabeth Hartmann's suggestions and took it slow and easy, and used a large (size 18) needle.  Since WH was out of town, I had lots of time to play on the sewing machine, so when I got bogged down with it, I worked on another project.  Consequently, I have made progress on several other projects in the process of making the bag that undoubtedly will become topics of future blog posts.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments.  If I didn't respond to your comment, it was because I was something of a ditz - I got so excited reading them that I forgot to respond, and once they were read, I couldn't figure out who I had responded to and who I had missed.   Thank you all for the kind words, for following the blog, and for following me on FB and Pinterest.  I hope that we can become good online friends.  Maybe I'll even get to meet some of you in person one day.

But now it's time to choose a winner.  I have to admit that I'm having a little trouble letting go of this bag.  This is the third or fourth time I have sat down to write this post, and each time I have gotten interrupted sidetracked.

But this time, I am going to succeed in posting a winner.  I asked Mr. Random, and he chose

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

84

Timestamp: 2013-05-12 20:09:29 UTC

Who is my friend and former swap partner, Mary,  and who writes one of the very first blogs I ever started following.

 84 Mary on Lake Pulaski  May 6, 2013 at 2:23 PM

I "like" you on Facebook.

Again, thanks to everyone who entered.  Mary, I'm off to email you right now.

Weekender Travel Bag #Sew Mama Sew Giveaway - FINISHED!

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I couldn't wait for "sweet light" to introduce you the Weekender Travel Bag I made for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway.  (If you are entering the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post - comments left anywhere else, while oh-so-welcome, will not count as entries for the giveaway.)

As you can see, I used mostly Amy Butler Lark for the quilted outside panels of the bag.  I am actually really excited about these chevrons, you know - these were some of the "bonus HSTs" (I made the HSTs as I was making the flying geese - a suggestion I read somewhere - Flickr, maybe?)  I had left over from all those flying geese in Amanda's Swoon Quilt that I made her for Christmas.  You can read about the Swoon quilt here and here.   I really love creating things out of scraps.  It makes me feel so thrifty!  And I really had a blast creating this bag.  (And now that I've re-read the Swoon posts, I think I'm going to have a really hard time giving this baby away.  Luckily, there are lots more HSTs if I decide to make another bag.)  If you'd like to make one, I think Amanda still has some Lark in her shop.

Here's the other side.  While the color combinations are basically the same, the fabrics on both sides are different, partly because I didn't have enough of any one fabric, and partly because I thought it was a fun way to create the bag.  Making the bag wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  The most time consuming part was quilting the outside.

Not a single wordy-dirty on this project, can you believe it?  A bunch of bent pins, but that was to be expected (I really have to get some of those quilting binder clips.)  And only two broken needles - one because I didn't screw the needle in tight enough and it came loose while I was sewing - oops!  The other because the needle I was using was too small.  In the instructions, Amy recommends a size 16 needle and sewing s-l-o-w-l-y.  I think she means it!  I didn't have any 16's, but I did use an 18 for most of the bag construction (after I broke the size 12 needle, of course), and it worked perfectly.  I used most of Elizabeth Hartmann's suggestions for the bag, including using cotton duck instead of peltex, and I really like the sturdiness and heft of the bag.  If I do make this bag again, I'll use this same idea. 

I decided to vary my chevrons a bit for the end pockets.  I kinda wish I'd thought of that sooner.  It's really fun!

I used texty prints as filler - and also because I thought it was really fun.  And the piping is a texty print I stole scavenged from Amanda when she made her Weekender last fall.

It has a double zipper...

And my favorite divided pocket inside - perfect for cell phone, keys, and other small objects you don't want to lose in the bottom of the bag.

I'm so excited about this project!  I sure hope the winner likes it!