Charming Travelers - Charm Swap Giveaway

Woo Hoo!  I've got the stash!  I won the Charming Travelers  traveling charm swap from Kelsey at Kelsey Sews.  

 

There really is a variety of charms in this pack.  There is some modern fabric, novelties, and even some civil war repro fabrics.  Here is a sample.

 

 

These are the charms that I have pulled to keep - some novelties and some dots.  I am going to replace them with maybe some FMF and some Amy Butler fabrics.

 

 

So, do you wanna play along and have a chance to win this travelling stash?

 

Here are a few of the rules taken from the blog From Blank Pages where there is also a map showing where this travelling stash has been. 

 

winners must be active bloggers

you must reside in the US (ONLY the blue pack is traveling throughout Canada as well as the US - you must be willing to ship to either country to enter that giveaway.)

before sending the charm pack off to the next winner, there must be 56 - 5" x 5" squares of fabric inside - please no yucky fabrics

to help keep the map updated, winners will fill out the quick and easy form to let me know where you are!

if the charm pack arrives full of unwanted charms, let me know and we'll clear it out and fill it back up with some more beautiful fabrics!

To play along, leave me a comment on this post and I will draw a random winner on Saturday, December 15th.  If you'd like a topic to comment on, how about telling me how you learned to machine quilt (if you do).  I am trying to learn and have a class scheduled, but I was wondering how others learned - a class, a friend, a book, YouTube video? 

 

Also, please be sure I have a way to contact you.  Good Luck!

Color Palette Challenge - November

The color palette for November's challenge was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

 

 

I didn't know what to do with this at first.  (Yes, I know I say that every month!)  Something designed for Christmas would probably be the way to go, but my Christmas decorations have moved away from the traditional colors.

 

After searching through my stash, I decided to use a charm pack of a Stitch in Color and create a LOVE mini that has been on my to-do list.

 

 

 

I cut out four pieces of tissue paper 5 x 7 and used those as a base to freely paper piece the letters.  It was hand quilted and is now hanging as part of my Christmas decorations on my door at work.  I like that although these colors are Christmasy, I think I will be able to use this piece year-round.

 

Check out how other's used these challenge colors at Patchwork Times.  For December's challenge, we are to choose our favorite color and then create something monochromatic.  Eek!  This sounds like it will be the toughest challenge piece yet!

 

 

Color Palette Challenge - October

The color palette for October's challenge was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

 

 

I wasn't quite sure what to do with these colors and I could not find a focal piece in my stash.  I pulled what colors I could find and decided to work with some very small scraps to create an 8x10 inch mini. 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out all of the other October challenge projects at Patchwork Times.  Also, check out the color palette challenge for November. 

 

 

Color Palette Challenge - October

In January, I prepared a list of sewing goals that I have been faithfully working on throughout 2012.  One item was to join in with more challenges.  The Color Palette Challenge is held monthly over at Patchwork Times.  I have looked forward to these monthly challenges and have (so far) been able to keep up.

 

Each month's palette is chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.  October's challenge is taken from a Kandinsky painting.

I searched my stash and could not find a focal fabric that contained these colors, so I decided to work with solids.  It is still a work in progress.

Blogtoberfest - Day 16

Color Palette Challenge - September

The color palette for September's challenge was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

For this month's challenge, I searched my stash and found the following fabrics from a Garden Diva's bundle.

I thought that the colors really matched great, but I had a difficult time finding a way to combine the fabrics.  Then, I read about the party at Craft Buds  to celebrate that September was Craft Book month. 

I realized that there was a pattern that I had seen in a book I had recently won during a blog hop.  The mini is called "The Fan" and is found in Jane Sassaman's book "Patchwork Sassaman Style".

 

I had to change the dimensions of the arch a bit to fit the fussy cut fabric.  Can you tell, I'm kinda really loving polka dots a lot right now?  I call this mini "Dawn & Dusk" and it is 18x18.

Check out all of the other Color Palette Challenge projects at Patchwork Times.

Each month, Judy chooses a random winner for a bundle of fabric from Vicki's Etsy store.  In August, I was selected and received the following dyed fabrics from Vicki.  My first thought was thunderstorm.  Now, I will have to see how I can interpret that using these fabrics.  Thanks Vicki.

EZ Dresden Quilting Challenge

 

 

Earlier this year, the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild announced a challenge using Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Dresden ruler.  I knew that I owned this ruler, but I had never used it before.

This mini is 18 x 21.  This piece started with the floral fabric.  I wanted to make mini flowers, so I started with the 2 1/2 size plate.   I cut the plates or blades out of scraps. I think that the tedious part was ironing each blade to create the pointed petal ends.

Once I started sewing the blades together the flower is made pretty fast, but I did not have a mini block. I am still trying to figure this one out.   I thought that using a small blade would produce a small flower.  My flowers measure about 7 inches across. The flowers were hand appliqued to the floral fabric with a straight line running stitch. The stems were also appliqued with stash scraps.

This was so fun, that I know that I will be making more projects with this ruler.  Please check out the other challenge entries at the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild.

 

 

 

 

Color Palette Challenge - August

The color palette for August's challenge was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

 

 

 

For this month's challenge, I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go or what new technique I wanted to try.  When I went to pull fabric from my stash, this circle fabric was sitting at the top.  The colors matched perfectly, so I knew that I had to use it. 

 

 

 

I decided that this month I would work with circles.  This mini is maybe the smallest piece I have ever made at 8 x 8.  The circles are hand appliqued with added beads.  It came out better than I thought and is very cute.

 

Please check out other challenge pieces at Patchwork Times.

 

September's challenge palette

 

WIP Wednesday - August Color Palette Challenge

OMG!!!  I can't believe the amount of projects that I am juggling right now.......its all good though.

I thought I would get started on my project for this month's Color Palette Challenge at Patchwork Times.  I am glad that I have been able to keep up with all the color challenges for the months of 2012 so far. 

This is an in-progress pic taken with my iPad of my August mini (8x8).  When I saw this month's color palette, I thought that the colors were right for a civil war piece.  I wasn't to keen on making a civil war project since I have been moving more modern, but thought it would be OK for August.  I went to pull colors from my stash, but I didn't get very far.  This circle fabric was sitting on the top of a box and it matched up so perfectly that I knew I had to work with it.

I used some solid color scraps for the circles and thought it looked bland, so I started working with the beads.  So far, so good.  I should be finished with this soon.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday today at Freshly Pieced

Color Palette Challenge - July

This month's color palette was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

Please don't laugh at me this month (.....OK, go ahead). I don't know what it was.  Maybe it was that I really liked the colors or maybe I have been in a wishy washy mood. But I tried 4 (yes, four) project attempts with these colors. I don't know what happened, but nothing was really working for me.

I stared at my stash - nothing.

I went back through my stash - nothing.

I went on several occasions to the fabric store with my mom, my cousin, and my sister - nothing.

I bought a fabric remnant that I thought may kinda work and was pleased with the result. I know the color choices don't all match exactly, so I will say that my piece was inspired by the challenge colors. The finished piece is 32 x 30 and is hand quilted.

I really liked the graphics on this comic book fabric which I think appeals to my inner geek/nerd. (I wonder if they make Star Trek fabric...)   

The plan was to applique the words "BAM" and "POW" on the piece.   I searched for a bit to find the fonts for these words and had cut out the applique.  But then, I thought that I liked the piece the way it is.   I hand stitched straight lines every one inch apart.  It almost feels to me like a cheat because the mini is a whole cloth and not pieced, but I do like the result.  I may applique "POW" on it later, but for now it will hang in my sewing area.

Please check out the other challenge projects at Patchwork Times.

Work in Progress - July Color Palette Challenge

Linking up to Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Just a snippet of my project for the July Color Palette Challenge at  Patchwork Times.   Are you participating in the challenge?  Here is this month's color palette chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

Color Palette Challenge - June

Hello all.  This month's color palette was chosen by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

When I first saw this month's colors, I was inspired to work with a vintage sheet.  However, my mom wouldn't give me any of hers (bummer).  I went to my LQS and then to Joann's, but didnt find anything that matched what was in my mind.  I did find in the remnant bin at Joann's a piece of floral fabric.  Now I am not at all floraly, but thought it may work. 

 

This month, there were several new ideas that I thought I would try out:

1. Using a traditional block, but making it very small.  Maybe a monkey wrench, shoo-fly, or star.
2. Inspired by the recent EZ Dresden quilting challenge blog hop, I thought I may try using my EZ Quilting Rulers by Darlene Zimmerman (a dresden & a traingle).  I have never used the rulers before.  

Now, I have never made a dresden before, but since I wanted a mini block I thought I would work with the 2 1/2 size plate.  Since these plates seemed so small I figured that I would make 3 mini dresden flowers.  I cut the plates or blades out of scraps.  I think that the tedious part was ironing each blade to create the pointed petal ends.

Once I started sewing the blades together the flower is made pretty fast, but I did not have a mini block.  I am still trying to figure this one out.  My flowers measure about 7 inches across.  The flowers were hand appliqued to the floral fabric with a straight line running stitch.  The stems were also appliqued with stash scraps. 

It was hand quilted and hangs in my mom's house.  I am glad that I managed to just get this piece finished to be posted on this month's Color Palette Challenge at Patchwork Times.  

Action photo shot

Today, I feel like I spent more time trying to get a good shot of this mini than I did quilting.  A small break in the rain today, but no sunny shots.

I am also linking up today to Hand Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.

Design Wall Monday - In the Bag Ugly Fabric Challenge

Today I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

I really do not have much on the design wall today yet, but I have several upcoming projects.

(1)  I received the ugly fabric from my swap partner Kristy from In Stitches on the Compound  before I went on vacation.  Look close, there is some chicken fabric! 

Uh.......there is nothing speaking to me right now so I think I will just stare at it for awhile and maybe an idea will come to me.

(2)  I am also participating in the Lets Get Acquainted blog hop.  This is my first blog hop and I am working on a project and mini-tut for my blog date June 21.

(3)  Also on my to-do list this month is June's Color Palette challenge at Patchwork Times.  In early May, Tuesday Morning had a sale on Westminster fabrics and I purchased a goo-gob (huge!) amount.  I am hoping that I will be able to find some new fabric that works with June's challenge colors.

Color Palette Challenge - May

The inspiration piece for May's challenge was created by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

As discussed briefly in my last post, May really threw me for a loop.  The only project that I worked on was this challenge piece.  When I first saw these colors, I was surprised to find myself saying the exact same thing I say every month - "I don't know what I will do with these colors, these are not the colors I work with!"

But after searching through my stash, I found a small bag of leftover snippets from a quilt I had made and the colors matched nicely.  This month I decided to work on a design idea using a lot of white with small shots of color, something simple and geometric.  I also thought I would try machine quilting.

So those were the ideas I started with, and the finished piece is close to what I had imagined in my mind.  This mini quilt measures 16 x 17.  Now, I have no experience with machine quilting, but thought I would just try something.......well, it didn't quite work out.  Obviously I need more time to learn how to machine quilt.  I ripped out the machine stitches and started hand quilting the mini-quilt.  My mom was able to finish the piece just in time so I could post it for this month's challenge at Patchwork Times.  Check out the challenge colors for June, they are bright.  And yes, not my normal colors.

As you can tell from my photo, I am still working on one of my 2012 goals of learning to take better photos of my quilts.

Also, today is the 1st of the month so I am linking up to the Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts.  This is a good opportunity to discover smaller blogs as there is so much great inspiration out in the blogworld.

Color Palette Challenge - April

The inspiration piece for April's challenge was created by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

I actually did not start on my project for a few days because I thought that this was an April Fools Day joke. The colors for this month's challenge were inspired by a moldy pie!

After pulling fabrics from my stash, I thought that all of the colors match nicely to my Flea Market Fancy (FMF) bundle.  But I had plans for the fabric.  So I thought about how I could use snippets from the fabrics in a piece and decided to use them as a frame.  Next was determining something to put in the frame.

I have been wanting to work on a project that features my dogs and thought about creating them in redwork or bluework.  Now, I had a plan.

First, I talked to my mom to see if she could embroider something drawn by me.  My mom sews by hand and creates beautiful redwork.  I actually have many of her blocks that need to be turned into quilts.

I wasn't quite sure how to transfer a design, but I found pictures with a strong outline.  I enlarged the pictures and printed them in black & white.

I traced the outline on a piece of white Kona and gave them to my mom to embroider in deep blue.  I left the snout area of my schnauzer blank and told my mom to create something because I wasn't sure how to draw that outline. 

I think I need to still work on a way to capture the schnauzer's bushy face!  I decided to work with the dalmatian.
 

My dalmatian reminds me of Mona Lisa.  Her name may be added later, if I can find where I put the blue embroidery thread.

I am really pleased with the result!  Its ready to hang in my mom's house.

Stop by Patchwork Times to check out the other entries in this month's challenge and view the color palette for May's challenge.

Also, its the first of the month so I am linking up to the Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts. I always enjoy this meet up because I get a chance to discover new blogs.

Color Palette Challenge - March

The inspiration piece for March's challenge was created by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

I honestly do not know where the month of March has gone.  With the exception of this challenge, I promised myself that I would not start a new project until I completed some UFO's (and I cant believe that I actually stuck to this resolve!)

I was happy with the colors because I have been wanting to work with black in a quilt.  I pulled out my scraps and had an idea that was a bit ambitious.  My inspiration was my hand made matryoshka doll with chimes inside which I believe is also called a "nevalaska".  I got this in Sitka, Alaska on a cruise several years ago.  Its really pretty with a nice chime, kinda like a super fancy weeble wobble.

Soon though, time ran out and I had to lay this project aside.  I decided to create a mini that incorporated the curves of the black fabric in the design.  I tried creating some wonky flying geese and I liked the look, but I did not leave enough seam allowance on the sides.  When I sewed the geese together, the side points of the geese were cut off.

So, I took some scraps and started sewing them randomly and I came up with this mini for the AAQI.  It is machine pieced and hand quilted and measures just a hair under 9 X 12.  It currently does not have a title.

Stop by Patchwork Times to check out the other entries in this month's challenge and view the color palette for April's challenge.

Also, its the first of the month so I am linking up to the Small Blog Meet  at Lily's Quilts. I always enjoy this meet up because I get a chance to discover new blogs.

Color Palette Challenge - February

The inspiration piece for February's challenge was created by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

When I first saw all of the colors for February, I thought of making a landscape using a design where I could practice working with curves.  I didn't stray too far from my first thoughts to the final design.  

This is a mini quilt created for the AAQI titled "Empty Path".  The piece measures just under 9 x 12 and is machine pieced and hand quilted.  I have added small black beads randomly to the shadowed tree.  I could not easily determine how to incorporate the red and orange colors.  I finally decided to include these colors as mini half square triangles which represent flowers. 

I am happy with my curves and the hand stitching, but I have a feeling that this piece just doesn't seem done to me.

I have enjoyed working with these challenges and having the deadline of one month to complete the project.  This time restriction has really caused me stretch in many ways.  Not only do I need to determine a project that I can complete in a month, but I also need to plan out the project.  (Usually I am a person that takes a long time to complete a project because I work on many projects at once!) 

Stop by Patchwork Times to check out the other entries in this month's challenge. 

Also, its the first of the month so I am linking up to the Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts. I always enjoy this meet up because I get a chance to discover new blogs.

Color Pallette Challenge - January

The inspiration piece for January's challenge was created by Vicki Welsh at Field Trips in Fiber.

I really liked the colors for this month's challenge and was able to use all of the fabric from my stash. 

I first started to sketch designs with a peacock theme, but didn't think that I could finish those project ideas within a month.  Next, I thought of using an Amish style but I couldn't come up with a final design.  I finally decided to work with the "space" material that was in my stash.

This is a mini quilt created for the AAQI titled "Night Flight".  One of the geese has left the formation and is flying alone.  The piece measures 8.5 x 8.5 and is machine pieced and hand quilted.  It has crystal beads added to every white star on the fabric.

I cant wait to see the other projects made during this challenge.  Stop by Patchwork Times to check them out.  Now, I'm off to get started on February's challenge.

Also, its the first of the month so I am linking up to the Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts. I enjoyed this meet up last month and discovered new blogs.  Looking forward to meeting new bloggers this month.