Ima Bee Blocks

I am part of a bee called Ima Bee.  

Each month we make 2 blocks for the queen of the month (sometimes there are 2 queens).  

The block for this month is called the Schoenrock Cross.  

The pattern can be found here. 

It is a spectacular block.  

It is also one of the most difficult time consuming blocks I have ever made! 

Now mind you I am not an expert paper piecer, but I do passibly well on that part.  

Once I got the hang of the correct size I needed to make all the pieces to fit the pattern I did better.  

I think it would be nice when you do a pp pattern if they told you the best size of fabric to use to make piece 1 and piece 2 and so on. 

 I think I would struggle less, but maybe that's just me.  

I know when I did the Geese in a Ring block once I figured that out 

the blocks went much more quickly!

These are beautiful blocks and it took me over 7 hours to make 2 of them.    

The first one she wanted a red cross in.  

The most difficult part was getting those whiteish points to form that crisp point.  

I have no idea how many times I ripped that block apart!

I was however, very happy with the kitty int he middle!

 

Next up was to pull the fabric for the second block.  

She wanted a dark cross.  

I broke out the Neptune for that.  

I used all Tula Pink fabrics except for the white.  

That is Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelet fabric.  

Which I am now obsessed with and *need* to buy more.  

What a great basic!

This is how the second block turned out and I have to say I really like it.  

Much more to my taste too.

I don't know if you can tell but I tried to fussy frame in the swallows.

 I was tickled to frame the butterfly in the middle. 

 I am loving the pearl bracelets so much!!

 

This is how they look together.

I have to say it was a HUGE learning experience for me and I am pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Next up is working on my blocks for the Vintage Bee and beginning my Swoon wedding quilt.

What are you working on?

~XOP~

Introducing Peacock Love

I would like to show you my latest quilt, and I call it Peacock Love. 

 It is having a proper introduction today over on the Moda Bake Shop!!

I designed this quilt for my daughter that raises pea fowl on her farm.  

I used the fabric line Kissing Booth by Basic Grey for Moda.  

What a beautiful line!  

The cream background actually has hints of pink in it. 

 It is such a beautiful fabric to work with. 

I just might have to buy some more to make some more quilts!

My friend Liz did the overall heart quilting and I filled in with loops around the "tail feathers".  

I also quilted the large heart and the bird and outlined the heart feathers and the bird too.  

I embroidered the legs, the crown and the eye using black floss.  

The binding was made from the floral in the Kissing Booth line.  

It is a very pretty fabric too.

I did have some kitty help with the binding.  

Those quilt inspectors are a tough crowd!

I have a companion piece rattling around in my head, 

but maybe I will save him for next Valentine's Day.  

What do you think?

I can't wait to give this to my peacock loving daughter in the near future, 

but I wanted to keep it just a bit longer to share it with all of you. 

 If you would like the instructions on how to make one for yourself, 

please go over to the Moda Bake Shop.  

The tutorial is posted there. 

 Also if you are interested in making one with the same fabrics my friend Cori, 

at Crazy Quilt Girl has everything you need to do so.  

Seriously, even if you don't you so need to pick up some of that Creme Brulee grunge 

(the background fabric). 

 It's gorgeous!

So if you have a minute, please stop over at the Moda Bake Shop and leave me a comment. 

 I would LOVE to know what you think of my latest creation!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my excitement!!

Oh and it was a BIG hit with the new owner too!

I just love that happy face!!

~XOP~

A Little Tula Pink Anyone?

I am hosting round 3 of the Tula Pink fabric swap.  

All you need is 2 yards of a TP fabric not used in rounds 1 & 2, cut into 10" squares 

and mailed off to me. 

 In return you will receive 28 different 10" squares back! 

Have I peaked your interest? 

 Go here to sign up!  

There are 8 spots still open.  

Deadline to ship is March 11th.  

Here is what we had from round 1

And here is what we had from round 2

As you can see we got some pretty sweet fabrics!  

Round 3 promises to be just a fab!  

You know you want to join us.  

Just hop over to Flickr and sign up here.

I have a really good friend that has been bitten by the TP bug and look at her additions to her stash

Those 2 center shelves are all TP and then there are 2 BOLTS sitting on the floor.

See that coin quilt to the right?  

It's made out of all TP fabrics!!!  

She is going to use the ivory turtle bay fabric from the Prince Charming line 

for the sashing between the rows of coins.  

Really I'm just a little envious of her amazing stash of TP fabrics!  

I already have an idea of how I am going to use my 10" squares but I'll save that for another post!  

Just a little heads up that there will be a fun little post tomorrow and

 you will get to see something I finished recently but could not share until tomorrow. 

 I hope you will come back and visit!

Until then, go sign up for the swap already, OK?

~XOP~

I'm a winner

I don't have time to visit many blogs so I skim most of the time.  

I love Laurie Wisburn's designs so I pop in every now and again to see what she has been up to.  

I am in LOVE with her Llama's.  

I so hope someone picks those up soon.  

Anyway, she has done some embroidery designs (machine embroidery) and 

was giving away a set of 26 threads to be able to make her designs and I was the winner!! 

 I received the thread in the mail yesterday. 

 I couldn't figure out what was in this HUGE envelope I got in the mail and it was the thread. 

    (photo from Laurie's blog)

It was too dark to get a good picture of all the threads, but what an amazing collection!  

Thank you Laurie!

If you get a minute stop over at the Scarlet Fig and see her work.  You will be happy you did!

~XOP~

A Little Help From My Friend

I have been trying to finish up a project that had a deadline by the end of the month. 

 I finally got it all pieced and quilted but needed to put the binding on.  

Autumn thought she needed to help me.

You can see the pins in the binding!

She fell asleep as I stitched and watched Supernatural.

It was a very relaxing afternoon over here.  

Now I have bread rising and laundry in. 

 Getting ready to watch the new Once Upon a Time, Walking Dead and Downton Abbey!

~XOP~

New Bee Blocks

I have joined 2 online bees. 

 Bee Vintage which uses vintage sheets and Ima Bee where we make 2 blocks of the queen's choosing.  I decided to make 2 blocks for each person in the Bee Vintage bee too.  

You just don't get enough with only one. 

 I have 4 to make for this month and have 3 o the 4 done. 

 Wanna see?

Here are the blocks for the Bee Vintage

And these

I showed the heart blocks that I made already but in case you forgot here they are again

On the train ride to and from Toronto I worked on my Birdie Stitches October block.

I got the center all finished

This week I got the squares around the block sewn on too. 

 Woo Hoo!! 

 Only 2 more months to go and I can begin to assemble the quilt!

I have also been working on getting my Tula Pink swap finished up and ready for the mail. 

 I think I will do things a little differently next time. 

 Yes, I am a sucker and there will be a round 3.  

On Sunday I made buffalo chicken lasagne and it was fabulous!!

  I also made bread and an apple pie.  

We packed them all up and took it to my daughter's house and ate dinner with her. 

 It was so nice. 

 That lasagne was amazing!!!  

I had to drive up to GR to see my dad again on Tuesday.

  I got to watch the amazing MSU vs U of M basketball game.

  I took the time and cleaned out some of a closet at the same time.

 I found some weird stuff, like my sixth grade gym suit. 

 Who keeps that stuff?  

 We had to be at court on Wed morning

so I could assume guardianship of my older, mentally impaired sister. 

 I had to actually go up on the witness stand and testify! 

 It all went well and I am the newest guardian of my sister.  

No shortage of fun over here at my house! 

 I am happy to be making progress though. 

I am also working on a project that I, hopefully, will be able to share shortly!  

What's going on in your life?? 

 Send me some good vibes,

 I think I need some right now!

~XOP~

Destashing Patterns and Books

I have some patterns and a book that would like to have a new home. 

 You interested??  

Send me an email to mamaspark@gmail.com

Here we go.

All of the following patterns are $3 plus shipping

This dino pattern is a full 81/2 x 11" pattern pack and is $5 plus shipping

This pattern is $4 plus shipping

This book is $10 plus shipping

SOLD

Still cleaning so stay tuned!

I just whipped up some bread dough using the Artsian bread in 5 minutes a day recipe.

I will let you know how it comes out.

Have a good day!

~XOP~

One More Thing

I almost forgot I did remember to have one photo of me and my hubby together while we were in TO

I have a cute story to share too.  He and the other pilot were telling me about a team building thing they had to do at work where they had to match a word with the person it went with.  Guess what my hubby's word was?  Wait for it....   Wait for it.....

QUILTER 

Hahahaha, I almost shot pop out of my nose when they told me that!

And, no he does not quilt.

~XOP~

Ready For A Little More TO?

TO, that's what the Canadian's call Toronto. 

 Who knew?  

We had one more full day to go exploring and boy did we make the most of it! 

 We walked for over 5 hours! 

 I was exhausted. 

 Ready to go exploring with us?

I am just going to state here that there are a bazillion photos over on Flickr .

 I couldn't possibly post them all here.  

So if you want the entire tour you will need to stop over there.

We went to the train station and bought a day pass.  

That let us ride the subway, bus or street car all day. 

 Took the street car to the Distillery District. 

 I somehow thought there would be more alcohol in said district but sadly, no.

  Lots of little shops though.

There was a Sake distillery.  

We got to watch them make it and learn a lot about how they do so.

 We bought a small bottle. 

 It came with Sake glasses. 

 Hubby is a sucker for anything that comes with something else,

 LOL. 

 The process was interesting to hear about.

Next we visited a chocolate shop.  

YUM

Hubby and the other pilot are in the corner getting some hot chocolate. 

 I walked over after taking this photo. 

 I burst out laughing when I saw this on the hot chocolate container.

I think I need a Ninja sticker too!! 

 BWAHAHAHA!

OK, I'm composing myself now. 

 Whew!

Next we walked some more.  

Through the Eaton Place mall and stopped at a pub for lunch.

 I wanted to go to the Toronto Textile Museum and the guys wanted to go to the hockey hall of fame.  They dropped me off at the museum and went on their way to the hall of fame.

There were a lot of interesting textile things but there was one really unusual item.  

A camel cover.

The museum washosting a Marimekko exhibit too. 

Very interesting. 

 Loads of photos on my Flickr.

There was an amazing sashiko quilt hanging up when I first entered the museum too. 

Apparently done by a group of Canadian women for the museum.

A few close ups

I trudged to the subway and took it to Front street and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. 

I was BEAT! 

 We went out for dinner close to the hotel as we were all so tired.  

This was our view on the way back to the hotel.  

The CN tower was lit up in 2 colors. 

 The night before it was rainbow and I didn't get a picture but it was cool. 

 Too bad it was soooo pricey to go up to the top. 

 $32 to the restaurant and another $12 to to to the observation deck. 

 No thank you! 

 I like the view down here just fine.

I had to laugh when I was trying to get across the border to come home the border agent was shocked that I didn't buy anything while I was there. 

 I told her I could buy everything I wanted at home much cheaper.  

She didn't seem to like that very much! 

 HA

I did manage to get the October Birdie Stitches block done and

 will show it to you once I can get it pressed.

Hope everyone is staying safe in all this snow. 

 I am walking over to Cori's for some thread in a little bit. 

 I am quilting a little wall hanging myself but don't have the right thread color. 

 It sure is great to have her shop so close! 

 (Or maybe it's dangerous?!) 

If you are stuck inside, why don't you go online and visit her too?  

I'm sure you need something she has too. 

 It will kind of be like shopping together right?  

Virtual shopping! 

 I show you mine if you show me yours...purchases I mean.

~XOP~