So where did I leave off?

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of activity in my house with some home remodeling. And one of the rooms affected was the sewing room. Eleven years ago when we built our house, I was thrilled to get a decent sized sewing room. It's upstairs above the garage and my husband shares an adjoining office. We carpeted the rooms and the first time I tried to roll my chair, I knew we had made a mistake. All my sewing furniture is on wheels - the sewing machine tables, the cutting table, the ironing board and the storage cabinets. So I've been dreaming of non-carpeted floors for 11 years. We just had to wait long enough for the carpet to wear out a bit!

We had a window of opportunity with our installers and bought wood laminate flooring, cleared the rooms of just about everything, painted, decluttered, organized, built some new Ikea and Target furniture and we're finally back to functional. We're taking our time to move fabric, paper and books back in so we can sort through things and end up with a clean well-organized space. Needless to say, not too much sewing has been happening, but I'm pleased to say I finally got back to sewing on Sunday afternoon! Things happened quickly and I had a hard timing remembering where I'd left off!

I'll share more pictures of the sewing room when I get all the pretties up...

Does it look like I'm back in business?...

This is what I had to take off the design wall and now it's back up. And I've even added a few more blocks! The pattern is Starlit Evening from Heather Mulder Peterson's book Living Large 2 in Anna Maria Horner fabrics. The halves are not sewn together yet which is why they look a little wonky. Just a few more blocks and I'll be ready to sew these together!

One of my plans is to make several scrap quilts this year {maybe one per quarter}. I've been wanting to do the Economy Block and a quilt-along popped up on Instagram. I joined in to make my first scrap quilt of the year. My blocks are 5 1/2" using the tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts...

Some kitchen table sewing last week and I managed to get my MQG Riley Blake challenge done. Except for the quilting... gotta get to that!

In other news, Joanna from Fig Tree Quilts has relisted the Nutmeg Stars pattern. I posted my version here. You might remember that I made my blocks a bit larger. With Joanna's permission, I'll have a tutorial on the block soon along with my changes. You'll still need the pattern for the original dimensions and directions.

And finally, like much of the country, we've been super cold. Makes me want to snuggle under a quilt and do some handwork. I've been doing some embroidery and started crocheting some flowers the other night. Think I have Spring fever already? I'm thinking these may be a garland for the new sewing room? The pattern is available from Emma Lamb.

Since this sure sounds like a WIP post, I'll be linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced on Wednesday...

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Redbird Bee Secret Santa Swap...

I belong to a wonderful Bee within the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild. We're starting our third year with a fun traveling block project. But we decided to end 2013 and  begin 2014 with a Secret Santa swap. Thanks to Kelly who got us all registered at secretsanta.com. We were all able to create a wish list and the site did the name swapping for us. No one knew who had who. We gave ourselves a couple of months to make a handmade gift for out partner. It's a talented group! So we all ooohed and aaahed as each gift was revealed on Saturday!

I received this AMAZING bag from Hannah. Even my husband said "the colors are so you!" {didn't think he even noticed}

And look at all those zippers!! I've been trying to get all my handwork organized and this is perfect. So grateful for such a beautiful, thoughtful gift!

I had Linda's name and she asked for a wallhanging for her sewing room. I decided to use a block chosen by each of our Bee members over the last 2 years and incorporate it into a wall quilt. Here's what I came up with.

I made all the blocks first in a 6" size. Then it took quite a while to figure out an arrangement that I liked. The "Sew" is fused and and machine appliquéd and the needle and thread are embroidered.

Such a fun activity!!

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Hanging Around...

Like much of the midwest {maybe even the country?} I've been snowed in this week. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to go to my want-to-make-quilts list and have some fun.

I've been wanting to make another of this pattern from Simply Modern Christmas. I was a lucky girl and won some Charlie Harper fabric on Instagram from Westwood Acres before Christmas. The little cardinals were the perfect size to fussy cut and place randomly in my wreath made from Botanics.

I just love this little guy peeking out from the design!

Hope you're staying warm and making the best of your inside time!!

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Looking Ahead to 2014...

Within you is a limitless, unborn potential of creativity and substance, and the present experience can be your great opportunity to give birth to it.      --- Eric Butterworth

I love a new year. Not one to make lofty resolutions, I do like a blank slate and the opportunity to dream about a new year and what it may hold.

2013 ended in a nice spot for me. I wrapped up some WIPs and with few demands or looming deadlines ahead, I'm ready to jump in and play with some new fabric and projects I've been contemplating.

I actually finished up these blocks before Christmas and set them together a few days ago. The pattern is Nutmeg Stars from Fig Tree and much of the fabric is V and Co's upcoming line "Color Me Happy". You won't find the pattern listed on the Fig Tree website, but I think she's going to get it posted again. I'll let you know!

Gypsy Kisses from Material Obsession 2.  After seeing Jessica's quilt on Instagram, I knew I wanted to make this one. I'm using my FQ bundle of April Showers by Bonnie and Camille. I have enough fabric to piece all the arcs, but the finish will have to wait until the yardage comes out in March.

This will be an ongoing project this year. Reminiscent of the Farmer's Wife quilt-along, I'm making 60 - 6.0" blocks. It's going to be a special quilt for me, that I hope to finish for a special birthday in December of 2014.

And my AMH Dowry is calling my name. I have a plan and can't wait to give it a whirl!

In other new fabric lines - I've always been a huge fan of Heather Bailey's work. It's been a while since she released a fabric line so I jumped on Lottie Da. I've been working on a Kaleidoscope block that's going surprisingly quick. Hope to provide some details on how to piece this block soon!

What else can you expect to see here in 2014? Some embroidery and maybe even a bit of simple crochet.

One of the things I'm most excited about is a little sewing room makeover. We're putting in new floors in the next couple of months and you know one thing always leads to another. I'll be painting, reorganizing and maybe even a bit of destashing. I've never had a sale before, but hope to offer some good deals on Instagram.

In terms of non-sewing things for 2014, I'm starting an online photography course next week. I'm super excited about it - you'll have to let me know if you see any improvement in my pics here.

And on a personal note - I hope to continue to improve my diet by "eating clean" {and feeling better for it} and embracing my naturally curly hair {a change I made a few months ago}.

Yes! I think it's going to be a good year! Hope you'll join me!

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Looking Back 2013 - Part 2

Thanks for all your feedback from Part 1! It's so much fun looking back and even more so when others join in! So 13 quilts for the first half of 2013. On to the second half...

The quilt started the day the book arrived at my doorstep ~ "Dwell" from Simply Retro
The coolest machine quilting of the year ~ Big Star {get a closer look at the quilting here}
Winner for the best appliqué of the year {and only appliqué of the year} ~ Flowering Vine by Denyse Schmidt
The quilt that left me starstruck when Heather Bailey "liked" it on Instagram ~ Color Wheel for my budding artist granddaughter, Elyse
My Charm Pack quilt of the year ~ Nine-Patch/Snowball using "Happy Go Lucky"

My very first paper-pieced quilt {ever} ~ Lone Starburst in Field Study

My Garden Fence quilt of the year {my 3rd total} ~ also know as Garden Lattice from Simply Modern Christmas
Truly a winner ~ my St Louis Modern Quilt Guild Ohio Star challenge quilt

The most challenging quilt to design ~ Flying Geese, blocks made by my Redbird Bee friends

The quilt with the most Y-seams {like every single one} ~ Bangles from Hand Quilted With Love
The quilt made with the ruler designed by one of the funniest, nicest and most generous designers in the industry {oh, and talented too} ~ Tumbler aka Crumbler

The quilt that made me break my 2013 resolution not to join any quilt-alongs ~ Round and Round
The quilt made with fabric {Florence} bought on a whim ~ On A Whim
The top that sat the longest unquilted {maybe the whole year?} ~ Superstar from The Practical Guide to Patchwork
My mini of the year ~ Mini "Skirted" from Simply Modern Christmas

Thanks so much to all of you for traveling this road with me! You know I read many of your blogs and enjoy all of your comments. You truly are an inspiration to me and I appreciate your encouraging words. Thank you!

And I'm not done yet! My head has been spinning with new quilts and ideas for 2014. I'll be back soon to share some of those. Until then Happy New Year and I can't tell you how much I look forward to hanging out with you here again next year!

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Looking Back 2013 ~ Part 1

Tis the season. The time to look back and reflect on the past year. Here are my quilts from 2013~

The largest single block of the year at 61" x 63" ~ Courthouse Steps
The cuddliest quilt ~ AMH Flannel Hexagons, backed in voile with no batting
The "friendliest" quilt for 2013 ~ my Redbird Bee quilt

The quilt that's been repeated the most ~ Starburst
The biggest stretch of a traditional design ~ oversize Trip Off the World
The most excited I was about a fabric line this year ~ Dilly Dally in Flea Market Fancy

The quilt that made me smile the most ~ Big Hugs Little Kisses for my new baby grandson, Sam
My biggest {permanent} goof of the year ~ Candy Necklace

My biggest stash buster for 2013 ~ modern Log Cabin
My favorite quilt to make {by far} ~ Marcelle Medallion

The quilt whose fabrics have been in my stash the longest ~ Hourglass with pieces from every Amy Butler collection

The most unplanned quilt ~ Nine Block Sampler designed and created one block at a time
The biggest Starburst ~ I added extra rows for a lap size quilt!

I'll be back in a day or two to finish up the year!!

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Fresh

I have one more quilt to share for 2013! This is Fresh from the book Simply Retro...

The color palette came from an Art Gallery collection called Reminisce and per usual I added some stash fabrics. I so love the colors and the scrappiness.

Whoops! I cut too many triangles and they ended up in a strip on the back with the floral from Reminisce and the hexagon print from Simply Style.

I had this one longarm quilted and the quilting is perfect - just beautiful. There are feathers in the star points and a curvy geometric pattern in the white. A really nice density... creating a lovely drape.

Last night we got to sleep under it. And we woke up refreshed and happy. So I guess it's a working quilt!

As we head into the holiday week, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope your week is filled with friends, family, presents, good food and many blessings. As always thank you for visiting my little space on the web. I'll be back after Christmas with a 2013 wrap-up and plans for the new year. All the best!!

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