Little Forest Quilt Along

Have you noticed the new widget on my sidebar for the Little Forest Quilt Along? (Look right and just below the "about me" section)

I've decided to participate in my first quilt along.

I'll be making my own version of this quilt. Mine will be the Polka Dot Forest as I've chosen all polka dot fabrics for my trees.

I even have a plan for the quilt drawn in one of my sketchbooks!

I'm making mine in a horizontal layout because I want it to hang in a specific spot in my dining room. So far I'm on schedule for the quilt along. We'll see how long that lasts.

If you are looking for the giveaway click here and come back tomorrow and Friday for the other two.

Blogging and My First Giveaway

I first discovered blogs about 3 years ago and started following a few. After about a year of reading and following I decided that I'd like to start my own blog. My main goals for my blog were to document my projects and share patterns and techniques I like. I was not prepared for the friendships and sense of community I would get in return.

I haven't been sharing on my blog most of the work related and personal issues I've been struggling with lately. I try to keep the blog mostly about quilting and sewing. However, I have made a very good friend, Stephanie of Peas in a Pod, through my blog and I've shared these things with her. Check out the sweet surprise she sent me last week as a little "pick-me-up."

Five Kona solid fat quarters and a sweet card - THANK YOU Stephanie!

To celebrate my 500th post, which was last Friday, and to thank all of you for your friendship I'm having three giveaways this week. Today is the first one. I'm giving away one of the thread catchers I made recently.

To enter leave a comment and include where you are from. That's it. It would be nice if you became a follower, but it is not necessary. I will draw a winner on Friday (Sept. 9th) morning. I notify the winner by email and post the winner on the blog on Friday. Be sure that I have a way to contact you if you win. If you are a "no-reply" commenter and do not leave your email address in the comment then I will just draw another name. International commenters are welcome too.

The other giveaways this week will be on Wednesday and Friday.

Meet Bernie

I have tried and tried to nurse Lily along. I pieced the entire Puzzle Quilt I showed you yesterday with Lily. I ran out of bobbin thread half way through and Lily wouldn't wind a bobbin. I just pulled another already wound bobbin out of my thread stash and continued sewing, but I knew this was not a good sign for Lily. Not being able to wind bobbins was the last nail in her coffin. Her bobbins are not compatible with any of the sidewinders, so there is no other way to wind them, except by hand (and that's not happening).

Yesterday I went to my LQS to buy batting for the Puzzle Quilt and sewed on a Bernina 380. I came home and had lunch and told my husband all about it. Bernina is having a sale starting Sept. 15th, but the shop owner said she would give me the sale price today. After listening patiently while I told him about all the cool features of the Bernina he said, "why don't you just go buy it! You know you are going to get it eventually anyway." So I did.

Here is Bernie.

The needle threader is incredible! Lily didn't have one of those. Nor did she have a knee lift. I'm not sure whether I like the knee lift or not. I'm not used to having one so I keep forgetting to use it. I'm going to give it at least a month before I decide.

I'm off today for my free class that comes with the machine. I'm sure I can figure most stuff out but it's nice not to have to read the book for everything.

Change of subject: yesterdays post was 500! I've got some great giveaways lined up for next week to celebrate. They will be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

UFO Bust Report - Week 35

I did not get the Puzzle Quilt quilted this week. I did get the border on so the top is finished.

I also cut out the binding strips. I will use the black solid. 

I do not have any backing or batting for this which is mainly why it didn't get quilted. In shopping for something else I found the perfect backing fabric and have ordered it.

This is called Jigsaw Camo and is printed by Michael Miller Fabrics. I had planned to just piece some stuff from my stash for the back, but this just screamed "buy me for the back of your Puzzle Quilt." So I did. I'll pick up some batting soon and then when the backing fabric comes I'll be ready to quilt it.

Hop over to Susan's blog, Blackberry Creek Home Arts, to see what the other UFO Busters have been up to this week.

More Practice with Hattie

The semester has started. It started last week. I'm working on Wednesdays again which means not much sewing happens on Wednesdays. I'm online a lot on Wednesday so I do get to get caught up with my blog reading in between classes and work tasks.

Tuesday afternoon I basted this quilt together in preparation for quilting.

I pieced this at my last guild retreat in February and blogged about it here. I didn't start on it on Tuesday because I didn't know how I wanted to quilt it. I tried several things on paper. I decided that I needed to actually practice stitching my idea so I found some scrap fabric and batting. I drew two blocks onto the fabric using a sharpie then sandwiched them and tried out my idea. Click on the image to see it larger.

I like it! At the bottom of the photo above you can see the ruler I purchased to use with Hattie. There are lots of long arm rulers you can buy but I decided that for now all I want is a straight ruler. It is really difficult to make a straight line with Hattie over a long distance. This ruler works surprising well and isn't difficult to use. I will use it to stitch in the ditch between the blocks.

Second Pillow Cover

I finished the second pillow cover yesterday.

And the back.

Please ignore the stray threads on the back. I didn't bother to pick them all off since this will be inside the pillow cover eventually. The batting used on both of these is fusible fleece. It's what came with them when I was given them. The first one was even already fused to the fleece.

In case anyone is interested, this one had a selvedge. These were printed in 2004 by Andover Fabrics under license from the American Folk Art Museum. The line name is Home Sweet Home II by Kathy Hall and the pattern is F2751. I don't know if the one I showed you yesterday is Home Sweet Home I or if they are both Home Sweet Home II. They obviously go together and the backing fabric has the birds from this one, only much smaller, all over it. When I get some pillow forms I'll finish these.

More Practice with Hattie

Someone gave me everything but the pillow forms to make two pillows. They just need to be quilted. I wanted to quilt something, anything, yesterday so I got them out.

One is now quilted.

I used black thread so it is nearly impossible for me to capture the quilting from the front. Here is what the back looks like.

To give you an idea of the size, this will require a 20" pillow form.

FYI: This is my 497th post! I'm planning a few giveaways for next week in celebration of getting to 500 posts. Be sure to check back next Monday for the first one.