We Have A Winner...Another Year Older...

The last week has been a weird one.  We had a good old fashioned winter blizzard with freezing temperatures, lots of snow, school and road closures, and we were basically just snowed in.  Shoveling the snow was a ton of work, but honestly it was fun.  It reminded me of being a kid again snowed in on my grandma's farm.

We had to travel on Saturday for my son's basketball tournament.  The roads were less than great, and this is a major interstate.

But the snow was beautiful in places, and the blue sky for a background was amazing!

Sometimes we are moving so fast that we don't take the time to enjoy the beauty in nature. 

On Monday I celebrated my 45th birthday by sewing some UFO's...This month for the Schibble's Parade it is "your choice."  I thought I'd finish a few I've already started rather than start something new.  This is Bibelot.  When I got it out and started working on it I heard my son tell my husband that I got "that quilt" out again.  The first go around was less then fun, and this one was just about as frustrating as the first time, but I love it and can't wait to get it quilted.

The second one I finished piecing was Summer Day.  Whew...I'm looking forward to some summer days, warm weather and sunshine.  This one was just about complete and then I guess the deadline came and went and I missed it and moved on.  I'm so glad to see this one in one big piece too.

Here is the result of the drawing for the gift certificate to Stitchin' It Up Quilt Shop which just happens to be...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:40Powered by RANDOM.ORG

mtnquiltr said...

Now I'm retired I can sew when I want to. That is soon to change now I will be caring for a 1 year old part time! I am more productive in the morning .

Congratulations and Happy Stitching!!! --Kristen

Hugs and Kisses Hop...and you can still win!

Some of you may or may not have wondered where I have been for the past couple of weeks.  I actually have been having panic attacks over this Hugs and Kisses Hop.  It is a little known fact that I loathe, dispise, and generally hate paper piecing...or I should say doing paper piecing.  I love looking at finished quilts made with paper piecing.  But paper piecing and I have a long, bad, terrible history together.

You can see by this quilt made circa 1996 that for some reason this lovely snowman quilt is NOT square...it is so crooked that I could not bring myself to finish it.  He would have been cute, and in real life most snowmen don't stand up straight anyway, but it bugged me and remained unfinished.

Now, here is my problem with paper piecing...I hate the fact that I cannot figure out how big to cut the piece of fabric to cover the tiny little piece on the pattern.  It seems that I will cut a huge piece, carefully sew it (ON THE WRONG SIDE), turn it over, iron it, and for some reason although it is massive in size compared to the teeny tiny little piece it is supposed to cover, it misses that line by a half inch or more?!?!  

I decided to look at tutorials, and I took the Carol Doak Craftsy class.  I have watched it so many times in fact I was afraid Craftsy was actually going to call me and tell me that I had used up my time allotted for my class and to stop it! (Did you know they actually have a Craftsy app?)  I'm pretty sure I could turn the sound down on that class and tell you what she is saying word for word for the entire class.  By the way, she also has her own paper and ruler to use for this, which I also purchased because I was sure this time everything would work out.

So, the time has come, I start sewing, carefully cutting my pieces just like Carol tells us to do, measuring exactly like she tells us to...and somehow I end up with this...

I know I folded, flipped, cut, sewed, and pressed just the way she told me to, but alas, it did not turn out the way her perfectly sewn, perfectly square blocks do...and I'm quite certain no one would want a card from me with a paper pieced anything on the front.  I bet you can't wait to see what I actually ended up with...

Is it the four block lap sized quilt I was planning on, no it is not...BUT, it does look like an actual heart and I am pretty impressed with my arrow point (isn't that why most people paper piece, for the points?)  I think it is safe to say that you will not be seeing many more paper pieced projects on my blog...although, does anyone have a cute pattern for a shamrock?  :)

Thanks to Mdm Samm for encouraging me to try it once again.  I've done it and I'm moving on to the ruffles.  Here are the participants for the last day of the Hugs and Kisses Hop. 

Feb 19th

 Lady Bente

iliketoquiltblog.blogspot.com

Lady Kristen

http://meadowbrook-Kristen.blogspot.com/

Lady Linda

catsnqlts2.blogspot.com

Lady Marcy

Madebymeinred.blogspot.com

Lady Susie

www.SusiesSunroom.blogspot.com

Mdm Samm

sewwequilt.com

Oh yes, I haven't drawn the winner for the gift certificate yet, so if you still want to enter you have until tomorrow evening (February 20) at 5 p.m. to do so, you can find the post here.  Happy Hopping and Stitching!!  --Kristen

Sunny Sunday Schnibble Fun

I know I showed this quilt before when I posted it for the Kona hop...but what I didn't share with you is that it was also my Jersey Girl Schnibble by Carrie Nelson for this month.  I still am in love with this quilt, although I haven't started quilting it yet.  I want it to be just right because even though it was bright in my darker photos, it was really bright when I took it outside today.

The Schnibbles parade isn't until tomorrow, but I am so excited to see how everyone interpreted this pattern.  I have a few left over half square triangles and some extra fabric...I'm thinking a table runner would be fun too.

As long as I was outside and the sun and snow were so nice I decided to try again with this...

The wind had done such fun things with the snow, and I couldn't have made the drifts more perfect if I had tried.

All the felt and wool are chosen for the next one, and I think the big game is the perfect time to start it.  I'm linking with Sew Mama Sew Little gifts of love challenge and Sew Many Ways.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen