Bee Blocks & A Tip

this past week i got 3 more bee blocks in the mail from my Let's Bee Together group.

1st up is this one from Colleen
next is this one from Mollie

last but not least this one from Wendy

i am very please with how all of the blocks are turning out.

thanks ladies you all have done a great job!!!!

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TIP ALERT

yep, you read that right. i have a tip to share with all of you. its not my tip but its a tip that i found on a blog that i read. i was over at Red Pepper Quilts which is a blog that i read often & i came across this post. at the end of the post Rita talks about the type of gloves she wears when machine quilting. to my shock & awe they are work gloves that have rubber on the palms of them as well as the fingers. i read that post & thought 'why not'. so off to the hardware store i went where i bought these.

not the brand that Rita talks about in the post however they work amazingly well. better then any machine quilting gloves i have tried in the past. the best part is that they are about 1/2 the price of 'quilting gloves'.

i have so much more control over the quilt with these. my hands do not slip at all. thanks Rita for sharing such a great tip. i suggest everyone give these gloves a try.

WIP Wednesday

i have had a semi-busy week with work, family stuff & the flu. the flu was a total blast......NOT

i still managed to get some stuff done in sewing land.

i quilted this French General quilt which is for my mom & i got the binding sewin on it. i am in the middle of sewing down the binding.

i did finish sewing down the binding on this French General quilt. yep, 2 French General quilts. this one i did as a quilt along with KarrieLyne over at Freckled Whimsy. once our weather gets better here i will get outside & get a pic of it to share with you all.
yesterday in the mail i got 2 packages which i am sure are some more bee blocks.
something to look forward to when i get home this evening.
i also got the ribbon added as well as a bow & a button to this bag. i think that it really brought the bag to life.

i am in the middle of quilting this for my niece. i figured that if i was taking my new niece a quilt that i had to take my other niece one as well. i finished the quilt top last October at a camp & i am just now getting around to quilting it. i am about 1/2 way through it.

i have also started a quilt that is inspired by this book from The Buggy Barn. long story short we have 3 ladies expecting babies in our family this year. i was so hoping that one of them would be having a little boy so i could make this quilt for one of them. needless to say they are all having girls & i was grumbling about it because i really wanted to make this quilt. so, my dad said 'i like trucks & tractors.... you can make it for me.'

so i am doing just that.

i am using the truck & tractor blocks but giving it my renegade twist with a different layout.

if you have never made a Buggy Barn quilt before i strongly encourage you to make one. they are a ton of fun to make. i think this is my 5th or 6th one.

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up this next week i would love to finish the quilting on the quilt for my niece. plus a week from now i will be at quilt camp. so i have a lot of packing to get done.

i hope you all have an amazing week.

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one more thing.

just as a reminder i am a guest judge over at Kim's Crafty Apple for Project Quilting.

if you have never seen this give it a click & go check it out.

it should be fun.

Awhile back.....

awhile back i got a message on Twitter from Kim who blogs over at Kim's Crafty Apple. she wanted to know if i wanted to be a guest judge for one of her Project Quilting Challenges for Season 2. how could i say no to that?

so, i am the guest judge for Challenge #4 - Hardware Store.

if you have never been over to Kim's blog & seen the challenge you really need to go & take a look. you can participate by entering one of the challenges or by voting for your favorite once they have been posted.

THANKS Kim for asking as well as featuring me on your blog today!!!

i am looking forward to the entries & what people come up with.

My (soon to be) Niece's Quilt

this adorable little monster is going to be a big sister soon.

real soon.

i made this quilt for her when she was born. it has hung in her nursery & she is well aware of who made it for her.
so......
i needed to make her soon to be little sister a quilt.

some applique'.

some rick rack.

some striped binding.

i followed Julie's binding tutorial over at Jaybird Quilts.

it is awesome & i am a convert to bias binding now.

the backing is a Valori Wells print.

the quilt is a kit that i got at Fat Quarter Shop.

i am very please with how it turned out.

i hope that my soon to be niece will love it as much as i do.

Some Bee Blocks

i have finished up the spiderweb blocks for Jeannette in my Bee Splendid quilting bee group.

i have never made a block like this before.
i enjoyed making them & now i have a project for some of my scraps.

the other day in the mail i got this block from Marta from my other online quilting bee group Let's Bee Together. i love the yellow dot fabric. thanks Marta.

WIP Wednesday

over the past week i finished this quilt for my niece.
more on this quilt later in another post.

i make & sell handbags at a local artisan barn & i had made this bag awhile back but wasn't happy with it. i went & got some ribbon & i am in the process of adding it to the bag. i think i will add a bow as well.
this is a hand project that i have been working on for sometime now. okay for years now. i have finally finished block #4.
& i have started on block #5 which is the center block. there are 10 blocks total. at my pace it might get done in another couple of years.

last night i started sewing together my bee blocks for the Bee Splendid online group that i am in.

the blocks are for Jeannette who choose a spider web block.

i really like how they are coming together & they are fun to make.

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lots on tap for the upcoming week. i have a couple quilts to get quilted, BOM's to get done, a quilt to start & some binding to finish.

i hope that you are all doing well with your own sewing projects.

Let's Bee Together Block

this week i got a few blocks from my Let's Bee Together online quilting bee. for this bee i used some of my Make Life stash.

this is Shannon's block - it came a few weeks ago.
this is Linda's block.

this is Staci's block.

this is Tiffany's block.

here are the 4 of them together.

i am looking forward to getting the rest of them.

THANKS LADIES!!!!!

WIP Wednesday

a few things got worked on in my sewing world this past week.

my friend Denise came over & we sewed on Sunday. we both were working on projects for the new baby that will be coming into our lives soon. i am the baby's aunt & she is its grandma. so not only is Denise a great friend but a relative as well - through marriage.

Denise's quilt for the baby has her name appliqued on it so that is what she is working on here.

remember this pile of fabric from last week?
well, i hacked it up & i have been sewing it back together.

putting some circles on.

putting some rick rack on.

its not done yet but i am hoping in the next couple days it will be done & i can start quilting it.

i have also started hand sewing the binding on 1 of my French General quilts this past week. i needed a little variety - hey its the spice of life..... right???

i hope you all have a wonderful week & a successful one no matter what you are doing.

Katie Jump Rope

i have been entering giveaways on blogs since before i was blogging. i love entering giveaways - it usually always leads me to a blog i haven't seen before. awhile back i entered a giveaway on Terri's blog Sew-fantastic she was giving away some Katie Jump Rope fabric.

surprise.......

i won some of it.

yesterday in the mail it came all cute & neat tied up with some floss & a super awesome card.

i would only assume that Terri made this card herself. 1st i love the fabric that its made from & 2nd what a super cool idea.
i also love her business cards. i am an owl freak after all.

i love this line of fabric & i am happy to now have some in my possession.

what am i going to do with it you ask?????

i am going to do Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl quilt.

if you are not aware of it there in an online single girl support group going on for this pattern.

THANK YOU Terri for the great fabric!!!!!!

Some New Things

had to go to the big city this past week & so i stopped at one of my favorite quilt shops while i was there & this is what i got.

Amy Butler's new book. i have seen a few bags made from this book online & i knew i had to have this book. i have paged through it a few times & i am excited to make some of them - heck all of them. i already have the perfect fabric for the Cosmo bag - i just hope i have enough of it......
i also got this fabric while i was at the shop. the top 3 were all on sale 30% off. the blue one is from the same line that i cut my tumblers from using the Studio cutter. i will use this for a boarder & binding for that quilt. the other 2 greens will be pj pants - i think. the brown is just for the stash.

yesterday in the mail i received my 1st block back from my Let's Bee Together online quilting bee. its from Shannon & i love how it looks. i am looking forward to the others arriving.

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this weekend i have to work some of it but the rest of it will be spent sewing - working on my nieces quilt. what are you doing this weekend? something fun & exciting, maybe some sewing or watching the super bowl?

WIP Wednesday

about a year ago at a quilt camp i met this great group of quilters who have a quilt shop about 45 minutes from me. sad to say, but it has taken me almost a year to get there. its called Material Girls Quilting & its a great shop with fabric, supplies, patterns, a big classroom & an accuquilt Studio Fabric Cutter. they rent out the cutter so people like me can come & chop up their fabric. so this past Saturday my friend Sharon & i had a road trip to Material Girls Quilting to use their cutter.

i got this fat quarter bundle sometime ago & really didn't know what i was going to do with it - shocking i know. it caught my eye, i liked the colors & it was on sale. so while i was thinking about what i wanted to cut on the machine this bundle came to mind & the tumbler dye came to mind as well.

so, in about 10 minutes i had my 20 fat quarters cut up into tumblers. the Studio Fabric Cutter is amazing. you can cut between 8 & 10 layers at a time.

my next fabric that i picked to hack up on the machine was my Poppy fat quarters & i knew i wanted to do drunkards path with them.

they were a little more time consuming getting them on the dye. the way i folded the fat quarter on the dye i was able to get 2 blocks out of 1 fat quarter with very little waste.

i think that these will be fun to put together & see how they look. i have no idea when they will get put together but they are cut & this is something that i would never take the time to do by hand so it was well worth the trip there.

this is Sharon getting her fabric ready for the machine.

this past week i was able to finish up my postage stamp quilt & i love it. all the fabric came from my stash so i think that is a double bonus.

this is the fabric for my next project. a quilt for my niece who is going to be joining the world in about 7 weeks - that's if she doesn't come early like her big sister did.

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i am headed to the big city for a couple doctor appointments & i have a gift card to one of my favorite quilt shops that i got for Christmas. check back to see what i get with that gift card.