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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Tula Pink 10" Fabric Swap (and a giveaway)

I am currently hosting round 4/5 of a Tula Pink 10" square fabric swap.  

We have done 3 previous rounds and are trying not to repeat any fabrics. 

The Flickr group can be found here if you are interested in joining.  
One of our swappers made this cool button if you want to add it to your blog.  
You can copy it from my side bar.  
We have one last spot available.  
Another of our swappers has made a list of each fabric by line and which ones are taken so it makes it easier to figure out what is available to swap. 
 They need some updating though 
so make sure you check with me first before purchasing any fabric!  

You would need 2 yards of 2 different fabrics to play along in this round, all cut into 10" squares.  
If you know anyone that might be interested please spread the word!

In fact, let's do this.  I will have a giveaway, my choice, and if you want a chance to enter you have to re-blog about this swap so we can get our last spot filled!!

So for a chance to win, you need to re-blog this swap, and leave me a comment telling me you re-blogged this and your blog address.

Easy right?

Now get out there and blog people!!!

~XOP~


Monday, March 25, 2013

Swooning Along

I finally got back into my sewing room and did some damage! 
 I needed to get some (or all) of the rest of the blocks for my Swoon quilt and I was on a mission!!!  
I did get the other 5 blocks finished. 
 So now I have all 9 blocks finished and ready to put together!!!! 
 Yeah, go me!!






This week I will try to work on getting these set into a quilt top.  
I have an idea for a border too but I might need some additional navy for it.  

Here is an example of how it might look all put together


Thanks everyone, for all your well wishes on my recovering health! 
 I am getting better and will be back at work today, even though I am still coughing. 
 How was your weekend?

~XOP~

I am linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday list.  
If you haven't stopped by her blog you really should!
She is also doing a Bloom Bloom Pow QAL that I am trying desperately to resist.
I think, as the Borg say, "Resistance is futile"!

Friday, March 22, 2013

Sorry I've Been Gone So Long

I don't have much to write about but wanted to check in and tell you that I have been really ill.
  I had bronchitis/pneumonia. 
 I have been off work for three days, and on antibiotics. 
 I am finally beginning to feel better. 
 I hope to be back in the swing of things and sewing soon. 
 Just wanted to let you all know.



~XOP~


Monday, March 18, 2013

Blog Hop Winner

I wanted to take a minute and let you all know who won the goodies from the blog hop. 
 It is lucky number 24!!  
This is what "C" had to say:

"i have been following you a long time, the only thing i would like to see is more of your pets, i adore your projects, your informative happiness in the quilting world is such a plus to any day you post-thanks"

What a lovely comment! 
 Thank you to everyone that stopped by and left such wonderful comments!
 I hope you come back again and visit too.

C- please send me your mailing address and I will get your goodies in the mail next week.

Have a good weekend!!

~XOP~


Sunday, March 17, 2013

I'm Finally Swooning

I had to get my bee commitments done so I could start on the Swoon blocks
for the wedding quilt for my nephew. 
 I finally had some time to sew today.  
Although I feel like death! 
 I have had a cold for a week now and it is actually seeming to get worse now. 
 How is that possible? 
 I was not going to be deterred! 
 I persevered and made 4 blocks today. 
 Seriously? 
This was all I was good for today.  
The requested colors are navy and yellow with white. 
 I am not a fan of blue and yellow (for obvious reasons, ahem being a Spartan) but they came out quite nice.  

This was the first block I made. 
 Probably good since there was no directional fabric in this one like there was in the rest of them.  
Why did I do that??


Next block I used some directional fabric but I like it anyway.


This one was pretty when done too. 
 Stripes...glutton for punishment, LOL.



Last one for today I used fabric with words in it. 
 I did a lot of ripping on this one, but am happy with the finished block though.



I still have 5 more blocks to make. 
 It took me around 2 hours per block to make them. 
 For the most part, I enjoyed making these blocks.  

Just wish I felt better.

What did you work on this weekend??

~XOP~


Friday, March 15, 2013

A Study In Cats

I had to take some photos for another online publication and, of course, the cats were right there offering their 2 cents worth. I can't show you the quilt yet, but I can show you my helpers.  I could not resist snapping a few close ups.  I hope you enjoy them!

First up is Aiden checking out why I am even in her room


Settle down Fatty McFatty, let me introduce you to a new friend


 I see, you are bored already eh?


 Companionable silence


 Nap time


 Thank God you took him away, mom


Now it's Hallie's turn to wonder what I am up to.


 Aiden


 Hallie
 I love this photo of her!


 Hallie


Do you think I could get either of them to actually lay on the quilt I needed to photograph? 
NO, so I used the stuffed cat.  
In a house full of 4 cats I ended up using a prop.  
Go figure.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~XOP~


Monday, March 11, 2013

More Bee Blocks

I have been very busy finishing up my bee committments for the month of March. 
 I did the Ima Bee blocks yesterday. 
 I really enjoyed making these blocks and love how they came out. 
 I might make more of these later.  
We each got to choose a color to make ours as the woman wanted rainbow for her quilt. 
  I chose blue.  
Shocker I know.

The link to the tutorial is here if you want to make them too!




I worked on some binding, finished the flannel tumbler top, and 
worked on another chenille blanket on Sunday. 
 I suppose it was a pretty productive day all in all. 
 How was your weekend??

~XOP~



Saturday, March 09, 2013

More Bee Vintage Blocks

I had a few minutes on Friday to eek out 2 more blocks for Nikki who is in the Bee Vintage bee.  
It was a fun block to make and I might like to make more of these in the future.  

She got the directions from Film in the fridge's blog over here.  

Nikki wanted different colored backgrounds.

Here you go Nikki.






You might like to try making them too!!  They would be a great way to use up your scraps!!!

Have a wonderful evening!

~XOP~


Friday, March 08, 2013

Blog Hop Giveaway

Well the day is finally here.  
The Quilting Gallery is hosting a quilter's blog hop with giveaways! 
 If you would like a list of all the blogs that are participating just pop over to the Quilting Gallery and hop around for lots of awesome giveaways!

Let me get on to my giveaway!  
I have 2 patterns by Me and My Sister.
There is also 40" of the flower fabric and just about half a yard o the pink.
 I have taken a little bit from them both but you will have a lot of fabric to work with!


If you would like to win please leave me one comment
 telling me what kinds of things you would like to see me do on the blog in the future. 

 I am always trying to improve my blog and 
would love to know what you would like to see more of in the future. 
 That's it.  
Of course I would love you to follow.

Thanks for all the love over at the Moda Bake Shop.
  My first post on the Bake Shop, Charmalade, has over 20,000 hits!!!  
You guys are the BEST.
   Peacock Love is my latest creation featured there right now too. 
 If you haven't checked them out take a minute and go see them!

OK so leave me a comment, make sure I can contact you too. 
 Leave your email in your comment if you are unsure if you are a "no reply" blogger. 
 I will draw a winner on March 15th.  

Take a minute and visit all the other blog hoppers. 

 My friend Cori is participating and her shop is great!
My friend Pauline is also participating.
  Stop over to their blogs and check out their giveaways too.

I can't wait to hear what you guys are looking forward to. 
 Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

~XOP~


Thursday, March 07, 2013

Look Over Here ----->> Shiny Bauble

This seems to be the story of my life right now. 
 I begin one thing only to get side tracked by another! 
 I brought up another bin from the basement and decided to go through it.  
In it I found some flannels from when I was a child! 
 (read really, really vintage here).  
There was not too much of any given one so I thought, 
why not use the GO cutter and cut out some 5" squares?  
Well I will tell you why not, because I don't have that die!
 LOL. 
 I do have the 3 1/2" tumbler die and that would work too.  
I busily cut all the flannels into tumblers. 
 Like I had ANY business spending my time doing that when I had bee blocks to make 
and quilts to make for weddings and any number of "gotta's" to get to but what did I do?  
You got it.  

Things started out well and I began the bee blocks and then I thought,
 I can use those tumblers as leader and enders. 
 I did begin that way.  

Then HEY...shiny bauble look over here ---->>>>happened.

I just started sewing them together and could not stop myself!!  Oh well, I went with it.  As it turns out, I had a great helper too.


You know you can deposit MUCH more cat hair if you roll all over the quilt as mom makes it!

Do you know how difficult it is to try to sew blocks together with this happening??
  Do you??

Some progress was made.  
My goal is to use as much of the vintage flannel as I can and 
make the quilt as large as I can without adding any new fabric to it. 



After pushing her off the table multiple times 
she finally settled for sleeping next to me in the scrap bin.  

Silly, silly Autumn!


I hope you stop back tomorrow because I am in the Blog Hop Giveaway a
nd I have something very amazing to give away to one of my readers!!  

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!!

~XOP~


Monday, March 04, 2013

Vintage Sheets and Bee Blocks

I found some amazing sheets recently when I was thrifting.  
In fact I saw some on Saturday and didn't buy them and will probably be sorry about that. 
 If they are still there tonight I will pick them up.  
Here are my finds.



I was working on my blocks for Bee Vintage for March.  
Jodi requested "trees" of our choice with a white background.  
Here are the 2 blocks I designed.

The first one I used fusible and man was this fun to make!  
See the little guy hiding in the tree??


This one was totally improv. 
 I made some wonky strips and sewed them up and then just cut to make "whatever" triangles 
and put gray trunks on them.  
Really fun too.


It was exhausting work for Autumn too.  
She fell asleep standing and resting her head on my sewing machine!


I started a new leader ender project too but ended up working on the L/E quilt 
and it is now a small top. 
 I hope to finish it this week.  
More about that later.

Have a great day!

~XOP~