Quick quilt: Hooty Hoot!

I'm helping my friend Leah with some sewing for her nursery. She picked Riley Blake's Hooty Hoot fabric, which I love. She's helping us with Luke this week, so I surprised her with this quick quilt as a thank you.


The Hooty Hoot line has this adorable panel, so I just had to quilt and bind it.






I used the Starburst print for the backing and bound it with the stripes. Very fun and easy! I'm excited to work with more of this fabric.

Love/hate

I really love everything about making quilts...except basting them. I'm just not patient enough do to a good job. It's not to be attempted if there is a dog or a 3-year-old around (I know from experience...), and crawling around on my hard tile floor isn't my idea of fun. Sometimes I even sweat! There's just nothing redeemable about it, except...


It means I'm one step closer to my favorite part: binding the quilt. On the flip side, I love everything about binding a quilt! Cutting the strips, machine sewing on the binding, and then finishing it by hand. Love.

I'll be back soon to show you my finished Arcadia quilt.

Fall TV

Wondering when your favorite show comes back? Check out Entertainment Weekly's handy guide.

As much as I love Big Brother (I love it! I really do!), I'll be looking forward to something with a bit more substance soon. I'm marking my calendar for Sons of Anarchy and Dexter. Big Bang Theory and Modern Family too. Can't say any of the new shows sound too interesting!

And, of course, this.

Finally!

I finally finished The Passage. It is, as my friend Marilyn said, an epic book. I managed to finish it with only a $1.65 overdue fine from the library. The book is 766 pages long, so I think that's pretty good! I really enjoyed this book, and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel. It does have a vampire element (although they aren't the stars of the show), so if that's not your thing, you might skip it.

Charmed by Arcadia

I'm working on this quilt using Kate Conklin's Charm Bracelets pattern using Arcadia. (Oh, Arcadia! Why must you be so hard to find?)

This quilt is meant to be a gift, but I'm kind of falling in love with it...


The sashing is Kona Stone, and the links are Kona Sage Green. I love this color, but I have to say Sage Green is not a good name for it! It's really more of an aqua.


I don't have a plan for the backing yet. Any suggestions? I might just keep it simple and use some more of the "sage green" fabric for the back.

Stacked coins, Verna style

My friend recently added a baby girl to her brood of boys, so I figured something girly was in order.

I made this quilt using Kate Spain's Verna.


The pattern is AmandaJean's Stacked Coins Quilt for Moda Bake Shop.


For the back I used the Verna Clover Earth fabric.


Here's a close-up of the quilting. Meg shared her excellent idea of quilting straight lines in the sashing and doing a diamond pattern in the coins.
My walking foot is bedeviled (so is my rotary cutter...what is up with my quilting tools???), so I used my regular presser foot. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Things turned out better when I quilted the straight lines first and then went back and did the diamonds. (When I did the diamonds first and then the straight lines, it led to some puckering.)


The binding is Verna Sewing Seeds in Apricot. They look like little starfish.


I love this fabric! A lot! The pattern is really fun and simple too.

Note to self: Buy a new walking foot, stat!

Drumroll, please

And the winner of my little charm pack giveaway is...


Lucky #86!


That's you, Patty! I'm e-mailing you for your address. Congrats!

Quilty history

My aunt sent me this quilt top today. She thought it was made by my great-grandma, but my grandma says she thinks her grandma made it. (So that would be my great-great-great grandma. I think.) I'm not sure how old it is, but it's safe to assume it was made "back in the day."

Isn't it awesome?!?! It's big. About twin size.


It's all hand-stitched. I think it's really cool that the colors and design look like a contemporary quilt.


All this with no rotary cutter?


I'm so excited to finish this up! It's in really good condition. I don't have a plan, but I'm thinking this might be one to quilt by hand. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Aunt Mary for sending this to me!

A "charming" giveaway

UPDATE: Comments are now closed. I'll announce the winner soon.

I've had more than my share of giveaway luck lately. Here's my attempt to restore a bit of balance to the universe.



Up for grabs: two charm packs (one Fandango by Kate Spain; one Make Life by Sweetwater).

Just leave a comment on this post (any comment will do), and I'll pick a winner at random first thing Friday morning. International entries are welcome. Just make sure I have a way to contact you!

Luck be a lady...named Katie

So it's no secret that I tend to be lucky with the giveaways. But lately...well, my hot streak has gotten even hotter.


A few months ago I won a Free Fabric Friday giveaway on Sew, Mama, Sew! I chose this fabric from Michael Miller's Hedgehog and the Big E. Cause it's awesome.


Then I won this bundle of lilac loveliness all the way from Sardana Creations in Austria.


I was also the lucky recipient of this super cool pattern from Carolina Patchworks. Can't wait to try this one.


I heard from Andrea that I won this little stuffie pattern from Wee Wonderfuls (did you see that Hillary's book is out now? Must have.)

Why am I embarrassed? It's not my fault Mr. Random Number Generator likes me.

I got this stack of floral goodness in the mail today after winning a giveaway on The Quilt Nook.


Fat quarters of Lecien's Flower Sugar 2.


This is just fueling my burgeoning polka dot obsession.


Cara sent along this cute pattern too.

But, wait, there's more!
I heard today that I won a gift certificate to Downstairs Designs. I'm looking forward to spending it.

Okay, now I'm feeling a bit sheepish. And very, very lucky! I suppose the only thing left to do is have a little giveaway of my own. Stay tuned...