Winner of the Travelling Charms!

Well Mr. Random did his magic and the winner is comment 5!

Sara Amerine won! Sara, I will be sending you an email. Please respond by Monday evening or I will have to choose another person.

Thanks all for participating!

Charming Travelers Swap

A few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of the Charming Travelers Swap started by Diane. Basically, a group of 56 charms are sent around Canada and the US (at least the one I am in) to whomever wins on the previous blog. You take the charms you want and replace with charms from your stash.

These are the charms I took. (I then added a 10th which is why in the next picture there are 10) Most I am thinking of cutting into 2.5" squares for my eventual postage stamp quilt, but a few will stay as they are for the time being.

These are the 10 charms I added back in (I'm leaving the other 46 a surprise lol). I had great fun choosing which fabrics to make charms from.

So now these are ready to move on. To win the charms please comment on this post before next Saturday, September 29th. I will choose a winner that evening.

Here are the rules for the swap so that you know what your responsibilities are if you win :)

winners must be active bloggers

you must reside in the US or Canada and you MUST BE WILLING to reship to the US or Canada. If you are US and only want to send to the US there is another pack for that, details on Diane's blog.

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 Diane know where you are!

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

So good luck to you all!!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU!

Fear and commitment

Not fear of commitment but fear and commitment. The fear part is how crows will be trembling in their boots when they get a load of the Autumn bitty my friend Teri sent me.

Teri belongs to a bitty group (3" finished blocks) that I used to belong to. She suggested we do our own little private swaps with different themes. We started with the four seasons, and as well will be making a mini for the other one incorporating several bitties with a kitchen theme.

I am blown away by the details on this tiny block. The nice thing about doing this is that it will challenge me to try new things. Here is the bitty I sent Teri. An Autumn leaf with some leaf "skeletons" underneath.

I also made the first kitchen block for her but within minutes of finishing it, I found out her only two colours not to use were purple and pink. Behold!

 

Needless to say I will be making a new one LOL!

As for the commitment part, I have committed to no more on-line fabric buying for one year. I am allowed to buy in person as it happen so rarely. I will also continue in my one stash club for the full 12 months as I have something planned for that one, and will drop my second stash club in December. I not only have a lot of fabric, but I also have a lot of projects I have bought all the fabrics for but never started. I need to do something about that.

I may buy on-line only if it is for my Etsy store, or something needed to finish an already started project. I also will not join any swaps that will require me to purchase anything for my partner.

Putting it out there makes me accountable I hope, so wish me luck LOL!

BEE done!!

Earlier this year I signed up for a whole bunch of quilting bees. After my Dad happened I dropped out of all of them but one... it wasn't due till mid-September so I thought I would be ok to finish on time. And I did! They are due on the 15th and I am sending tomorrow :)

I have a spot in both groups and so I had a yellow and pink colourway and a red and purple.

I chose the Blah Blah Blah as my fun bit... I like to always have one thing to smile at in my blocks :)

And in this one there is literally a smile as the fun bit :)

It feels good to have something crossed off my incredibly long list of due projects and commissions.

Finding his Princess

My co-worker and cubicle mate is getting married in two weeks. Like me he is pretty geeky, although at his young age it's kind of funny how I did things the first time around and he is still discovering them.

I thought about making a quilt for a gift but knew I would never get one finished in time so I channeled my energies in a new direction - mosaics.

The tiles are 3/8" glass tiles and I had so much fun working with them. I could not have done this if it hadn't been for my mosaic mentor and good friend Anne-Marie helping me every step of the way!

It hasn't been grouted yet, but I took a photo as I don't know if I will have time to do another one before gifting it.

Here's to all the best Jacques and Michelle!

Table Top Swap Round 3

Once again I am in the amazing Table Top Swap over on Flickr. I have secret partner so I can't tell you who she is, but she doesn't read my blog (not really a surprise LOL) so I can show you what I have made her.

We were given the choice of making one of two types of fabric baskets. Both are from tutorials by the amazing Ayumi Mills. I chose to make my partner the basket with handles. I absolutely love it! The tutorial is great (as usual) and I kind of want to keep it now.

My partner likes all things sea related and so I added a diving mermaid to the front of the basket. I really struggled with stitching the applique down as I have only ever done it by hand before but I think I did a pretty good job.

I am planning on making some coasters to go along with this in an orange and aqua "snail trail" pattern, keeping with the wave theme.

Go ahead and make a little basket for yourself, I am hoping I get one like this in my swap so I can put my cuttings in there as I trim :)

Joining a QAL

Well I have finally decided to join in a Quilt Along! Lynne from Lily's Quilts has decided to make a quilt with three *huge* Union Jacks... how can a girl say no?

 

This will be my first QAL, and I am a little nervous about keeping up, but I figure now that I have done a blog post telling the world, I will be more accountable. Feel free to check up on my progress if I don't seem to say much about it. :)

 

I haven't settled on final fabrics yet, but I am thinking either polka dots, or maybe solids. One person is going to use Petite Odile and I have to admit a more than a little interest in doing the same.

 

Picture from Fatquartershop.com

 

I hope maybe I have convinced one or two of you to join in as well!