Baskets for Anita

I was excited to be invited to play in the Flickr Friends Bee (BeeFF) earlier this year by Sarah.  Sarah and I were partners in the placemat swap a year or so ago.  I haven't participated in many swaps as of late, but love the idea of the online bee...just doing a few blocks a month and even getting blocks made for you one of those months! 

January is Anita at BloominWorkshop's month, and she chose baskets inspired by Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran's book, Collaborative Quilting.  Anita asked for bright colored baskets and backgrounds in varied neutral prints. 

I was nervous about the basket handles because I have never appliqued, but they turned out fine and I love how the applique foot on my Horizon worked wonderfully to line up my stitching so close to the edge and the wide plastic foot smoothed down the handles as I sewed them on.  My mistake on my practice block (below) was to trim the block halves before joining them...and I didn't think about how the handles are getting wider and basket narrower as I was trying to match up the handles with the basket edges?  There really is always something to learn isn't there?
 

To see all the other pretty basket blocks everyone made for Anita, check out our Flickr group.

Building Houses

Sherri and Sinta have organized Another Year of Schnibbles.  I plan to participate again this year as time allows.  January's Schnibble is the Full House pattern.  Carrie had several variations posted on her blog, and I opted for one of the pillows. These are a few of the houses I have constructed so far from an older Moda line, Renewal by Brannock & Patek.  Be sure to check out the parade of finishes on February 1st!

Best Pressed

It seems like every year it takes a fair amount of time after the holidays before things return to normal around here... There are many decorations to put away, gifts to find places for, and inevitably I have a mess to clean up in my sewing room from sewing last minute gifts.  And also, this very important guy just turned 10 a few weeks ago! (my oldest son, Jon).

One of the things I received this year for Christmas was a new iron.  My old iron was ok, but I put it up in our bedroom for ironing clothes and will keep this new one downstairs in my sewing room. It is a SINGER Expert Finish 1700 Watt Steam Iron.  There are so many wonderful irons to choose from now: the cute Oliso irons (but I just couldn't get over the foot thing), the cordless Panasonic (that some of the reviews said weren't very hot) and the Rowentas that everyone seems to either love or hate passionately.  I wanted something that was a bit lower in price point and this one was recommended by Consumer Reports, so this is what I picked and my husband got.  It is has 1700 watts which is comparable to the more expensive models and several settings...and gets very hot.  I haven't done any large projects yet, but so far it gets a thumbs up.

And of course, a new iron meant that I had to spiff up my ironing board.  It hadn't been that long since I covered mine but let me assure you it was rather nasty...so I kept the patchwork strip and replaced the rest of the body of the cover.  So now I'm all set, ready to sew and ready to press!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Minnesota! Hope you all have an enjoyable holiday weekend with your families and safe travels to wherever you are going! See you in 2012!

Sew Mama Sew Winner!

Without further delay, RNG picked #69,

Cassandra who said:

Gorgeous charm packs! I'm a new quilter, so I really haven't had any experience with patterns. The one quilt I finished with a pattern was a Moda quilt from their bakeshop. It was fun!

Your top recomended pattern designers were Cluck Cluck Sew, Thimbleblossoms, Miss Rosie, Keyka Lou, Noodlehead, Atkinson Designs, Eleanor Burns, Oh Fransson, Amy Butler and Jaybird Quilts.  Many of you also utilize the tutorials available on the Moda Bake Shop and blogs and also many use patterns from magazines.


Congratulations to Cassandra and all the other winners...thanks to Sew Mama Sew for hosting and organizing such a fun event for us all to participate in!

Merry Christmas to Me?

Last night was the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild Christmas social and mug rug swap.  Yesterday turned into one of those days...unplanned company, too many phone calls, my 4th grader had two tests to study for and a huge amount of homework for his HP math class all to do last night, and I wasn't exactly a 100% anyway, etc. - needless to say, I just couldn't make it. 

So I guess that means the mug rug I made for the swap is for me?  In the midst of Christmas shopping and a bit of gift sewing, it's kind of exciting to have a tiny quilt that's mine.

(For inquiring minds, I used Thangles for the 1" finished HSTs w/ Basic Grey Basics fabric as the HST backgrounds and Kaufman Quilters Tweed in the fiesta colorway for the body of the mug rug.) 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Thanks for stopping by for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! I am giving away two charm packs of Panier de Fleurs by French General to one winner.  (You have so many more project options with two charm packs than one!)

It can be so overwhelming and inspiring looking at all the patterns available when you plan a project.  I have been quilting a few years and have found that I am drawn to a pattern not only by the design, but especially if I know the designer writes and illustrates well.  And those that are hard to follow, I don't buy again.  I can think of one pattern I used that the instructions didn't make sense and the type was SO tiny with no white space on the page (I'm sure just to get it on the color page), that I'd never buy again from that designer. 

Some of my favorite patterns are by Terry at Atkinson Designs, Heather at Anka's Treasures, Carrie at Miss Rosie's and Elizabeth at Oh Fransson.  And I'm sure there are many others, I just haven't tried.... so to enter my giveaway (will ship internationally), leave a comment what designer/line of patterns that you have used, is the most clearly written and illustrated?

Congratulations to Cassandra, entry #69!, she is the winner as selected by RNG!  Thanks to all that entered!