Lazy Sunday Quilt - On Friday {is that a problem?}

A little over a year ago, my friend Leona and I came up with a bargain - she would "sell" me her Accu-Quilt Go! cutter and I would make her four quilts.  What a deal, huh?

First I made this scrappy Flea Market Fancy Hugs and Kisses quilt.

Then I made this Neptune Snow Globes quilt.

Then I made this dotty Scrappy Trip Along quilt.

And the whole time I was kind of plodding along with this Fat Quarter Shop Vintage Modern Block of the Month Mystery quilt.  About the time I was finishing up the blocks and starting on the finishing kit, she decided that this quilt had some difficult memories for her and she really didn't want the quilt after all.  And this after I had made doubles of all the blocks!  Note that FQS BOM kits are so generous, I got two blocks out of almost all of them - I was thinking "a quilt for Leona, and a quilt for me."  But since she decided she didn't want this quilt, I've been feeling a little guilty....  I didn't feel like I had lived up to my part of the deal we made.

So when Leona decided she wanted this Lazy Sunday quilt (pattern by Lee of May Chappel Designs) made from Anna Maria Horner's Dowry and True Colors lines, I agreed to make it immediately.  Even though there were 112 blocks required to make the double size quilt, they were fast and easy and fun.  In a day I had the blocks made and I put the quilt together over the next couple of days.  Then it took me another two days to get around to taking the pictures.  Less than a week from start to finish, and on top of a bunch of other stuff I was doing.

Since I was trying to take photos between rain squalls, I asked my friends Bob and Billie to hold the quilt up off the ground for me, rather than my usual pin-it-to-the-fence method.  And it's sideways for the same reason.

Here's the quilt right side up, but everything else is kind of topsy-turvy.  Anyway, I love how these fabrics in this pattern make just a riot of color!  I think it will be truly spectacular when it is quilted.  I just can't wait.

Meanwhile, I finished up another baby quilt, this one for Billie's new grandchild, Locke.  Mom and Dad decided not to find out the baby's gender beforehand, so neutral colors were the thing.  Their nursery is green with a monkey theme, so I used a really cute monkey fabric for the backing.  I really had fun making these two hexie flower baby quilts (click here to see the pink one).  They're super fast and a blast to make.  I think there will be more of these in my future.

I'm linking up with crazymomquilts for Finish-it Friday.

So what have you been up to this week?

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.

2nd Blogiversary - Flea Market Fancy Giveaway! - WINNER

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to help me celebrate my blogiversary.  I had so much fun reading everyone's comments and discovering what you would do with these strips of fabric goodness if you were the lucky winner, or learning what you have been creating lately.  I'm so amazed that so many creative people are doing so many lovely things.  Creating for  others. Creating for yourself (much less common, but necessary, now and again!).  A dozen projects going at once.  Current trends (several people talked about a granny square quilt and jelly roll race quilts, which seem to be a current trend).  Pillow covers are very popular, I think.  It was great to journey into your creative space with you, if only briefly.

I tried to respond to everyone (although I did not respond to the "follower" comments), but I think I may have deleted a few from my I-phone, so if I missed you, I apologize.  The best part is, I feel like I made some new friends and connected with several of you.  It's wonderful how much we have in common (I laughed at how many of you said you would just pet this fabric for awhile, if you won {grin}).  Thank you all for visiting my little blog and making my blogiversary special.

It seems everyone who stopped by deserves to win, but alas, I only have one FMF fabric roll, and there is no more to be had, so I can only select one winner.

I talked to Mr. Random Integer Generator this morning, and he said...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

51 

Timestamp: 2012-04-06 11:05:05 UTC

I guess I haven't done a giveaway in awhile, because I hadn't realized that although I had comment numbering on my blog for a long time, it is now gone.  In searching the web for a solution, apparently you have to go directly into the HTML code and add some code, and I'm just not that good - especially at 6 am.  So after trying to count the comments on the screen, in desperation, I finally printed them out to figure out who number 51 actually is.  I counted and counted, and I believe - I hope - I am right.  Whew!  I'm going to have to find a computer geek knowledgeable computer expert to put comment numbering back on my blog before I do another giveaway.

With that said, THE WINNER IS...

epbanApr 1, 2012 04:58 PM

Happy 2nd Blogiversary! I would make a table runner with your generous prize. Thanks for the chance!

Congratulations!  I'm off to email you now.

And thanks again to everyone who entered.  I wish you all could have won.

Wow!

Note:  This is not the giveaway post.  If you are interested in the giveaway, go here.

I just finished answering the comments from my giveaway post. I love it, but I admit to being slightly overwhelmed.  I knew FMF was popular, but I've never had so many bloggy visitors before.  I was determined to answer everyone who commented, but it is something of a daunting task to answer them all.  Whew!  I'm caught up for now.  But of course, it's bedtime.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments.  I've had so much fun reading them.  Everyone is so nice, and there are such wonderful plans and projects being contemplated.  I wish I could do half of them myself.  In fact, I found myself wishing I had more than one FMF fabric roll, but there are no more to be had, so we'll just have to be content with what we have.

Thanks again everyone for visiting. 

2nd Blogiversary - Flea Market Fancy Giveaway! - NOW CLOSED

If you had asked me two years ago if I thought I would ever be a blogger, the answer would have been a resounding "no".  On April 1, two years ago, I started this little blog simply so I could respond to posts on my daughter's blog about my little granddaughter, Abby.  So I am as surprised as any one that I actually have a blog, and that I actually post rather frequently.  I really enjoy sharing my little creations, and the lovely things that people in Flickrland send to me - and the things I send them.

Happy blogiversary to me!  To celebrate, I have a little surprise of my own.  I am giving away a fabric roll of Denyse Schmidt's re-release of her incomparable Flea Market Fancy, provided by Westwood Acres.  The fabric roll consists of a 2-1/2 inch strip of each of the 21 fabrics that make up this oh-so-yummy line of fabric.

How do you enter, you ask?

1.  Leave me a comment, and tell me what you would make with this roll of fabric goodness.  Or, alternatively, tell me about something  you completed recently.
2.  If you are a follower - or become a follower - you will get a second chance.  Just leave another message to tell me so.

That's it.  Easy peasy.  Be sure I have an email address to contact you!  If you are a no-reply blogger, I won't have a way to get in touch with you, and I'll have to choose another winner.

Giveaway closes April 5 at midnight Central time.

Good luck - and thanks for stopping by my little blog.

The giveaway is now closed.

Speaking of Mail...

Photo courtesy of Westwood Acres Etsy Shoppe

So look what I found in my mailbox yesterday!  Isn't it lovely?  Yes, BD#1 and her husband saved me a FQ bundle all my own from their little shop, Westwood Acres.  It arrived so fast!  I just ordered it  Friday after work, and it was in my mailbox on Monday.  You can't beat that!  And maybe, just maybe, I ordered a little something extra.  My blogiversary is coming up on Sunday you know. There might be something a little special in a day or two.    (Hint.  Hint.)

Meanwhile, BD#1 and DSIL#1 have been busy, busy, busy processing orders, and now, I'm told they have just a tad bit of this left until their next shipment arrives in May.  I'm sure I'll need some more by then.  But they have some other stuff in their shop that I really NEED...  like those cool Riley Blake chevrons that I think I really must get my hands on!

OK, confession time....  Do you ever just sit and pet your stash?  WH thinks I'm crazy, but he usually doesn't say anything.  Sometimes he just smiles.  Sometimes, he says, "Uh, so you know you're petting that fabric, right?"  Of course I do!  It's therapeutic.  It's relaxing.  It keeps me sane sometimes.

And sometimes, fabric can be SOOOOO frustrating.  Like today, for example.  I really need some Kona Snow to finish my Fairy Tale Friends quilt.  I need about a yard and a half for sashing and borders.  I really wanted it today so I could come home and finish piecing the top of my FTF quilt (not to be confused with the FMF above).  I know JoAnn's doesn't carry Kona Snow.  But now my LQS is out of it.  They offered to order it for me, but I bet they're not as quick as BD#1's shoppe above.  I ordered it, but the waiting is killer.

Oh well, it's not like there's nothing else in my To Do pile.

But, while I was surfing around blogland and through all the online fabric shops this evening trying to decide if I'd get the Kona faster if I ordered online, I dropped in at my daughter's blog, A Crafty Fox, just to see what she was up to, you know?  Well, her latest post tells the sweetest story of generosity from our mutual friend Leona.  Leona was my first-ever Flickr Swap partner, so she holds a special place in my heart.  And now, she has been kind to my daughter, and that's a sure way to stay there.  And Leona has reached a true milestone with her blog and is having a fun little giveaway.  Check it out!