Bitchesgetsittches Swap Haul

I have some quilty friends at work that are always asking me why I kill myself when I do swaps. Truth be told they don't actually even understand why I participate.  

This swap.  This one, is why.  

I got the BEST gifts back this time.  

Not that my other swaps weren't great, 

but sometimes someone just gets you and goes above and beyond.

This was a secret swap.  

The person that had me had to stalk my social media to learn about me and what I like and don't like.  I try to make things easy and post LOTS of things that I love.  

My package arrived last week and looked like this.

I was super excited!!  

So I carefully took out the contents and just about crapped my pants 

when I saw all the amazing things in this package.  

Holy cow you guys!!!  

Just look at all this loot!!  That little pin cushion is so sweet!!  Just like all the candy!

By FAR the best things in this package were these hoops.  

This first one was based on a photo I took of my daughter's cat in her peacock costume. 

 Remember this?

Last Halloween?

Instead of Lenore, she substituted my cat Atutmn.  Isn't this fabulous!!!???

Just look at the cat's face.  So much teeny tiny detail.

Also notice the detail in the peacock feather eyes.

Next fav was this angry bird yelling at me to tell me, "Don't tell me what to do!!"  

This is something I say with my girls all the time. 

 I actually love the woman that designed the bird too.  Bad Bird Embroidery.  

Her work is great and it is amazing that Lisa chose to use someone whose patterns I love

 to do this appliqued hoop!  

Plus you should see her embroidery work.  

I have NEVER seen such exquisite embroidery work in my life.  

That applique is amazing too.  

This was how Lisa did the backs of the hoops and I love the little year mishap.

The bags were super cute too and 

I thought his little hiccup was well covered with the little heart note.

I have already hung the hoops on the wall in my sewing room. 

 They are in a place of honor right under the mini quilt made for me by 

Amanda Jean Nyberg (Crazy Mom Quilts).

I feel like I was incredibly spoiled by Lisa in this swap.

I hope my partner felt the same (she seemed pretty psyched by her package)

On to the Tula Pink Mini Quilt Swap.

I can't wait to get started on that.

I finished the last block for the wedding quilt and now I need to work on a muslin of a dress.

A mother's work is never done.

Even when said daughter lives in NC!

Hope you are having a great week!

~XOP~

Finish It Up Friday

I have a finish today.  

I am part of the Bitchesgetstitches swap.  

I showed you the trivet I made for that swap already.  

I decided to make a mini quilt for my partner.  

She didn't have much put in her Instagram feed for ideas so 

I just decided to make something I would love to receive.  

What else do you do right?  I finished the binding last night (after all the drama).  

So here is the mini quilt for my partner.  

I am really thrilled with how it turned out.  I did my own quilting.  

The geese were paper pieced from a pattern my friend Kelly has on Craftsy.  

You can see the stitchery better in this photo.  

I used metallic thread which makes the stitches look a little choppier but he is so sparkly!

This is the top all finished before I quilted it.

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday post too.

What do you think of this?  Would you be happy to receive it as a mini quilt for your wall?  

~XOP~

Wip Wednesday

I want to share what I am working on at the moment. 

I have a mini quilt I need to finish for my Bitches get stitches swap partner.  

You have all seen Mr Peacock and his attitude!  

Well I am working on the quilting part of this now.  

I decided that I wanted to quilt a grid on the center of the quilt, approximately 1 1/2" apart.  

What is the easiest way to do this?  

Well, if you ask me? Tape.  Here is what I mean.  

I measured and then put down the tape.  I used the edge of the tape to guide my quilting.  

No marking to remove and I can re-use the tape many times.

You can see the grid is emerging nicely. 

The first piece of tape I put on was corner to corner diagonally to begin the grid.

That also anchored the three layers together. 

I did spray baste this as it was a small piece.

I will usually pin baste larger quilts.

This is my helper.  

Although she is really more of a pest than a help!

How do you get things done with your pets "helping"?

Oh Autumn!

You can see what the grid looks like all quilted up.  

If you look at the corners you can see the purple marking pen I used to mark the quilting.

I made quarter square triangles for the corners.

This is the back and you can see the quilting around the geese better in this photo.

Now all I have to do is trim it up and bind it!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

What are your WIP's?

~XOP~

Weekend Update and Wednesday WIP

I actually had quite a productive weekend!  

I managed to add two rows to the stitch and flip charity quilt.  

That top is now ready for making into a quilt and donated.  I just have to figure out how to quilt it.  

I did some cooking.  Pigs in a blanket.

Individual chicken pot pies

I finished embroidering my peacock for my swap partner

Working with sparkly thread is more difficult!

Then I finished the top too.  

I got the side geese made but one was incorrect.  

I must have printed the paper piecing incorrectly.  

I ended up having to remake one set of the geese to put the whole top together. 

I tried to trim it down but that didn't work.  

It was kind of close on the side but I just didn't have the heart to discard it.

So I used it on the back!  

One of the points is cut off due to my earlier trimming, but it's on the back.

I figured my partner would not care and I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away!

Did laundry, and grocery shopping, went to Cabela's with hubby and then a quilt shop.  

All in all it was a great weekend, but I wish I had one more day at home.

Linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday too.

How did you spend your weekend?

~XOP~

Working On A Swap Project

The deadline is quickly approaching for a swap that I am in.  

Autumn is praying that I will finish it in time.

I did begin the embroidery portion of the mini quilt and this is the outer border,

 or one of them anyway.  

I am using a pattern by my friend Kelly.  

You can find it here if you want to make awesome wavy goose borders for something too.  

I had to make 8 of these for my project and they took me most of a day to get them all finished. 

 I graded them by shade then decided that I should have made 2 more but 

if I do that now they won't grade.  

This just means that the outer 4 corners will be white, but I'm going with

 "it's a design decision" not a brain bubble.  Right?

I am going to link up with a Lovely Year of Finishes and

 this is the project I want to complete for January.
I am also linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

I also decided that I most certainly did NOT have enough things of my own to do so decided to host a Tula Pink Mini Quilt Swap over on Instagram.  

Sign ups are complete and I am working with my friend, Tracey, to get this organized and to get partners assigned.

It should be a lot of fun and hopefully not too much work!  What have you been up to?

~XOP~

Naughty Bunnies

I am in a naughty swap called bitchesgetstitchesswap.  

We are using bad language and some other fun things (as you saw in my last post) for our swap gifts.  I did use some of the bunny fabric to make the cutest little trivet for my swap partner. 

 It is from the book Patchwork Please.  

There are some fabulous patterns in this book. 

My friend Ayumi is the author.  

You can find her amazing book right here on Amazon.  

Since the naughty bunnies are the centerpiece I thought I should surround them with some overly sweet fabrics, maybe giving them some privacy eh? 

 So I choose Scrumptious for the fabrics (it also has the word scrump in it, giggle).  I

 used insulbright for the batting so it could be used for a trivet for something hot.  

You could also just use it for a mug rug. 

 So here is my little naughty trivet.

Here is what the back looked like before I sewed the binding down.  

I think it came out cute.  

Several of the co-workers that I showed it to did not realize what the bunnies were up to, so I think it is subtle enough not to be offensive to anyone that may see it. 

 Although if you are participating in this particular swap I would hope you are ready for whatever! 

 I think I may make some of these for Christmas gifts this year too.  

Would YOU be happy to receive one of these trivets?

(not with the naughty bunnies, just with pretty fabric).

I have another idea too for a mini quilt for my partner. 

 I don't think she views my blog so I will show you the embroidery I have planned.  

I am still contemplating how to make it into a mini quilt but I have some ideas.  

You know of my love of peacocks so this incorporates that.

I would embroider the peacock and the words (already traced on to fabric)

then do some kind of border.

I am considering some form of flying geese, probably from my friend Kelly's patterns.

I love her Goosing borders so that will probably be the one.

You may need her patterns too.  They are stunning!

I need to figure out a color scheme for the embroidery yet, but I am excited to get started.

I am linking up with Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Have a great weekend!

~XOP~

A Quick Finish

I did have some time to sew over the weekend and 

decided that my newest great niece needed a chenille blanket. 

 So I just whipped one up!  

Each time I make one that one is my favorite and this was no exception!  

Of course I had a little help 

(purr usual).

I decided this vintage looking bunny fabric would be a great fit for a chenille blanket.

As usual I chose 3 colors. 

 I have yellow for the uncut layer and then used the aqua to form a sandwich

 with a retro pink in the middle.  

This is what it looked like after it was cut and before I washed it.  

I have been working on my machine binding and it is improving. 

 I did glue baste the binding and then could literally zoom around the blanket and stitch it down!

  This is the tutorial I learned how to glue baste from, if you are interested in learning how too. 

 It sure makes binding easier, by hand or machine.

This is what it looked like after it was washed and dried.  

I have a tutorial on how to make this right here if you are interested in learning how to make it.  These are definitely my "go to" baby gift. 

 They are relatively inexpensive to make, make up quickly and are so loved by the babies!  

I can't even begin to tell you how tactile these are. 

 Thanks to my friend, Pauline, for introducing me to this great technique!

I joined a swap and it is called the Bitchesgotstitchesswap.  

I am in the Profanity Party group.  

It is a swap where we make something using a swear word, or innuendo or something a little "racey".  We were pretty much given the go ahead to make whatever we wanted. 

 My partner has not posted one single thing that shows me her tastes.  

No color choices, no words or statements, no idea of the kind of project she would like

 (ie a bag, mini quilt, wall hanging or whatever).  

We are supposed to make 2 things to send.  

I have decided that I want to make a bag for one of the items.  

I have never made a bag in my life!  

HAHAHA, 

so I found an "easy" pattern on the web and went for it, making a practice bag this weekend.  

Notice the fish, so of course it is for my daughter.  

I used this tutorial to make this Dumpling bag and it really was quite easy!

Now my zip is not perfect but it was my first bag! 

 I will be making some of these for Christmas gifts I think. 

 Here is the inside of the pouch.  

I thought it looked like fish skin (scales) so used this for the lining.

I found this fabric at Spoonflower and though it would work for the pouch. 

 Kama Sutra bunnies, LOL.  

I bought this when they were having their BOGO sale a few weeks ago.  

The bunnies are quite large so maybe something else.  

I have a few things in mind.  

I would like to try making a boxy pouch next.  

I have seen a couple of tutorials online and one in a book that I have. 

 I like the one that has all the seams enclosed so might give that one a try. 

 I also found a great pattern for a trivet (in a book) and 

may use the bunnies as a center in the trivet (could also be a mug rug). 

 More on these things later once I have time to make them.  

I can see that I will be making some of these things for Christmas presents.  

That dumpling bag made up super quick so 

that will be one of the things I make several of for Christmas.  

What are you making for Christmas gifts?  

I am always looking for new ideas!  

~XOP~