Spread the Love - Valentine Blog Hop & Giveaway

Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts has put together a great blog hop full of Valentine's Day themed tutorials and giveaways.

Today we are teaming up with Lindsey or LR Stitched.  Lindsey put together a tutorial for a fabric bunting, and we are sponsoring a giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of Havana.

Spread the love, and head over to LR Stitched for the tutorial.  Then post a comment to enter your name for the giveaway.

Here is the rest of the schedule for the blog hop:

1/28:

Blog: Ellison Lane - Giveaway: Papa’s Old Shirts Fabric Shop

Blog: Doodle Do Designs - Giveaway: Material Girl Quilts

1/29:

Blog: Canoe Ridge Creations - Giveaway: Knotted Threads Fabric Shop

Blog: LR Stitched - Giveaway: Lima Sews Fabric Shop

1/30:

Blog: Owen’s Olivia - Giveaway: During Quiet Time

Blog: Petit Lyons - Giveaway: Stitch By Stitch Long Arm Quilting

1/31:

Blog: Jednoiglec/Sewing Under the Rainbow - Giveaway: By Mary Fabric Shop

Blog: Stitchery Dickory Dock - Giveaway: Knotty Gnome Crafts

2/1:

Blog: From the Blue Chair - Giveaway: Our Epoch Fabric Shop

Blog: Sew Crafty Jess - Giveaway: Hot Pink Stitches

Havana by Monaluna - organic, 16 prints

Literally Pulled From the Scrap Heap

I think I mentioned a while back that I was forced to go through my scrap basket while making up a bee block.  I found this quilt top buried in there -- yes, an entire quit top!  I had started the top to gift to a friend's baby boy.  As I went along, the colors and pattern were not doing it for me, so I set it aside.

So this week, I attached the border and then started the quilting process.  I had a lot of fun with the quilting, and was pushing to finish it today, but life got in the way.  As you can see, I still have a lot of thread ends to snip, and the binding to do still.  I love how the quilting pattern turned out on the back.

Oh, and the baby is now well into boyhood.



If you haven't done so already, go visit Erin at Sew at Home Mummy. She has a wonderful tutorial posted as part of the Dare to Dresden blog hop.  AND, if you comment on her post, you may be the lucky recipient of this fat quarter bundle -- good luck!

WiP Wednesday - Jellyroll Sampler Blocks

Did you notice I got a blog makeover? Mr. Elvy has been working with Illustrator and kindly created a new banner and buttons for me. I told him I wanted something with chevrons, and orange and aqua. He did a pretty good job, no? Okay, onto sewing...

"Card trick" is probably my favorite block from Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts. I started out by trying to simplify some of those HSTs with flying geese, until I realized I was going to run out of fabric. Light bulb moment, that's why the directions were written the way they were!

Block 9 - Card Trick

This second block, Maple Star, didn't turn out quite like I wanted. I didn't pick a fabric with enough contrast between the background and star points (which you can barely see), and the green rectangles have too much contrast. But these block patterns for the Classic Sampler forces you to use almost every scrap of an entire jelly roll, so there's not much room to change one's mind.  Oh well, live and learn.

Block 10 - Maple Star

Hope you all are having a great week. Don't forget to stop by Erin's blog on Friday.  Erin has some pretty neat things happening there, including a giveaway of a New Leaf fat quarter bundle!

I've also been doing some quilting, so I hope to have an FO ready for Friday too.  Fingers crossed.

Swoon, A Friday Finish!

I first posted about Swoon in September 2011, and now it's finally done! Actually, it was so nearly done for a long time, but I couldn't decide on what to use for the binding. I finally decided to keep it simple and used a solid aqua.



It's no wonder this pattern, Swoon, is so beloved by so many.  The results are striking, and I love everything about this quilt.  The fabric is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, which is still at the top of my list of awesome collections. 



It was machine quilted using a pattern called "Pretty Plumes," by Judy Allen.  I wanted something organic and flowing.  This pattern did not disappoint and was a pleasure to quilt.

I'm linking up today to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, as well as Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday hosted this week by Celtic Thistle.

Projects for 2013

We really hit the ground running for the new year, so I didn't have time to do a retrospective of 2012.  Rather than dwell on that now, I thought I'd organize my thoughts about sewing commitments and projects for 2013.  Making my mental list, I'm going to say the theme for 2013 is "ambition."

This year, I'm involved in two sewing bees, Stash Bee and Simply Solids Modern: A Modern {Bee}.  I've really enjoyed Stash Bee, and Simply Solids looks to be just as fun, based on the first block assignment for February.

In addition to quilting bees, I love the idea of Block of the Month clubs.  It's like getting a little present every month.  Of course, I've bemoaned in the past how far behind I am on Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Block of the Month, but forget that, I'm still tempted to sign up for 2013.

I also signed up for not one, but two, online BOMs.  Both clubs are pretty ubiquitous, which speaks for the popularity of the designers.  First off is Sugar Block Club from Stitchery Dickory Dock.  I think what really got me was the little button for the club and the blocks on the button -- so cute.  Next, is Don't Call Me Betsy's Lucky Stars club.

So between these two bees and three BOMs, I think I'm well committed for now. The way I thought I would handle it is to devote one weekend per month powering through these blocks. I'll let you know if that works out.

BUT, it doesn't end there.  There are a bunch of very cool free sewing bees going on right now too.  Very tempting.  If you haven't seen them, there is one from Gen-X Quilters called Sister's Ten Modern Block of the Month.   The second one is from Open Gates Quilts called Blogger Girls Block of the Month.  Finally, Riley Blake Designs is introducing a video BOM on January 14th, called "Things we Love."

My 8-year-old recently picked up on my constant lamentation, "I wish there were 30 hours in a day!"

Longarm Quilting Services Up and Running & Fabric Sale Ending Soon

You might have noticed a new tab up there.  Yes, we are launching our longarm quilting service!  I'm excited and nervous, but mostly excited.  Longarm quilting adds a whole new dimension to this endeavor. 

In this picture, I'm quilting on a Gammill Vision 26-10.  It's awesome.  It purrs, it hums, it makes really nice stitches.  I am operating from behind the machine, as I'm using a pantograph to quilt an all-over pattern.

If you want to find out more, then click that tab up there, or email me at limasews(at)gmail(dot)com, and I'd be happy to get you more information.

Also, I'm gratified by the great response to both the giveaway at Fresh Lemons, as well as to our sale.  The sale lasts through Monday, January 7th.  It's a 25% discount off all items in the store with promo code FRESH2013.

Awesome Giveaway at Fresh Lemons

I love Faith's blog, Fresh Lemons, and have been a long time follower.  That's why it was a simple decision when we started looking for blogs to help promote the store.  If you go over there right now, you can enter to win an fat quarter bundle of the ENTIRE Salt Water collection!  Now that it is pretty cool.  Click here to enter.

As an added bonus, use this coupon code in the store for a 25% discount off your order: FRESH2013.  Go sew!

Salt Water by Tula Pink - Aqua, Coral, and Seaweed Color Groups

Prosperity and Luck For 2013

Family life can get hectic (understatement), and sometimes holidays and traditions can go unobserved or not truly celebrated.  So one of the goals we discussed for this year is to establish or revive some traditions.

To celebrate the New Year, we made hoppin' john for dinner.  This is a dish of rice and beans from the South, which is meant to confer prosperity and luck for the coming year.  I used an Emeril Lagasse recipe, found here, but I tweaked it a bit based on ingredients that were available.  Delicious!