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...

Verna in progress

I'm making a quilt out of Verna for an undisclosed recipient. I finished up the quilt top tonight.



Any suggestions on how to quilt it? I'd like to do some straight-line quilting, but my walking foot and I are not friends. Perhaps it's time to mend that relationship... Of course, I could just stipple it. Thoughts?

Huh.

If you notice a few extra wrinkles on my forehead, it's because I had to concentrate extra hard while watching this movie.

I don't know...I'm glad I saw it, but I can't necessarily say I enjoyed it. It was mostly strange and complicated. Maybe I'm not smart enough...

We saw some good previews though. I'm guessing these will be more my speed.


'Cause Ben Affleck? Missed ya, bud.


And if this movie is half as funny as the trailer, it will be worth the price of admission.

You better check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Birthday shirt

Luke is turning 3 this weekend, so we're having a pirate party. I made him a shirt for the occasion.

Probably the hardest part was finding a plain (no pocket!) red t-shirt. I finally ordered one here.




I had lots of leftover fabric, so I made a pirate bunting using this easy tutorial.


Hard to photograph, but you get the idea.


I found this unfinished pirate ship birdhouse at Michaels for $4. My nephew and I painted it.


And here are the invited my super-talented friend Mary Elizabeth made. Argh!

We got a pirate bounce house for the kids. Unfortunately it poured down rain for the first hour of the party, and then the power went out, so the kids didn't get to enjoy it. (BUMMER!) I think they had fun anyway...

Space boy

Luke has a birthday this weekend, and I wanted him to have a handmade gift. I've had this pattern from Wee Wonderfuls for a while, and this was a good excuse to use it.


He fits in nicely in Luke's robot/space room.


Space boy comes with removable goggles in case he wants to moonlight as a bandit.

A few more new additions in the robot room:

Robot decals from AllPosters.com


And I finally got these cute robot prints framed and on display. They're from Stephanie Fizer, my favorite Etsy artist.

And with that, I'm calling Luke's room done!

Play ball!

Have you heard of Quilts for Kids? I heard about it on Teaginny's blog. It's a really cool organization that, in partnership with Downy Touch of Comfort, provides quilts to kids with serious illnesses. There are lots of awesome organizations similar to this one, but Quilts for Kids makes things a little easier (and more affordable) for the quilters. If you go to their web site, you can request a quilt kit, and they send you everything you need to make a quilt (except for the batting). I requested my kit, and they sent me a package with fabric and a pattern to make this quilt.


The organization collects discontinued (new) fabric for the kits. I probably wouldn't have picked out this fabric on my own, but I imagine they can find a baseball-loving boy who will like it. (Hope so!)


For the backing they sent me yardage of this baseball print. They don't send fabric for the binding; they suggest using leftover backing fabric. Instead, I used this bright red.


I was really worried about washing this quilt--most of the fabrics came precut, so I couldn't wash them ahead of time (not that I would have...I'm lazy like that). But I threw a Shout Color Catcher in the machine, and it came out just fine.




My little guy thought it was pretty cool.

I really like this organization, and I'll definitely try to make another quilt for them soon.

Check out more projects on Amy's blog!

Wrap-me-up Puppy

I finished knitting up this little guy just in time for a birthday party for Luke's best bud.



The pattern (from Susan Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys) calls for a knitted blanket for the puppy. I sewed a little blanket for him instead. It's 6 inches square. One side is white flannel; the other is a square of David Walker's Oh Boy fabric.


I followed the original pattern for the little bobble-and-loop closure. I hope it holds up to a 3-year-old! Luke followed the puppy's progress carefully and has requested one for his birthday too. I suppose I can accommodate that...

Pinwheel Sampler Finished!

I'm a little late, but I finished Rachel's pinwheel quiltalong.


Thanks for your encouragement on the border. I was really considering taking the easy/fast way out and skipping the border. I'm so glad I added it! I fell in love with this version on Flickr by pas681 and decided to follow her lead with the checkerboard border. I added two rows of 2.5-inch squares to both sides of the quilt.


For the binding, I just used leftover scraps of Hope Valley.


I'm thinking this is my favorite block.




For the back, I added a row of 6-inch pinwheels.


I have to admit I'm pretty much in love with this one...

Check out more finished projects on Amy's blog.