It Arrived!

The Mini Quilt I made for swap partner Janet arrived at her house yesterday, the same day hers arrived here!

So here it is:

The theme was Circles and Curves.  I took the double wedding ring and tweaked it to come up with the design.

And I knew Janet loved machine quilting, she’s amazing in that area.  So I tried to do more quilting on it than I would normally by matching the color on the front and having it show on the back….lots of different sized and colored circles.

You can check her post out here.

Circles and Curves

I participated in the Mini QT Swap on Flickr for April/May.  The theme was “circles and curves.”  I mailed my 12 inch quilt out to my swap partner over a week ago and I’m waiting patiently to hear that it has arrived in Canada.

I don’t want to spoil her fun, so I’m waiting to post pictures until I hear from her…just in case she visits my blog.

But her quilt for me arrived today!  I was so surprised…she sent it express, so it got here really fast! In keeping with the theme she wrapped it up in this very cool red/black/white fabric:

Wow, Janet is one talented quilter!  How did I get so lucky to be paired up with her?  Check out all the amazing movement in this quilt…and the detail in her quilting!

Here’s what was in the package:  a personal note, a little book, a quilt pattern, and some fabric.

Here are some close up pictures so you can see the detail:

So much goodness packed into such a small quilt!  I put it right up on my wall so I can see it every day.

Happy December

I missed almost the whole month of November and it’s already the middle of December, wow!  I’ve been gone a long time.  Things have been crazy and a bit stressful around here.  And now I’m sick.  But hopefully all that is in the past and we can move on.  I’m counting on 2011 being a better year than 2010.

I’ll try to catch you up by going through some pictures (in no particular order):

Miss K was an Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonka.  That same week my grandmother passed away and I left right away to spend the week with my parents to help with the plans and attend the funeral.  It was a special week to remember my grandma, to support my parents and spend time together as a family.

I sent off these house blocks to a couple special ladies who were putting together a couple house quilts for some other special ladies who were fighting cancer.  What a wonderful project to be involved in!

I made these little sewing kits for some friends. (Diane, see that pink one..it’s yours. Still need to get it to you along with that video I borrowed from you so long ago!)

I took the nine patches I had from the three by three swap on Flickr and made up this quilt for my grandma’s roommate from the nursing home.  This is the top, I never got a picture of the final quilt, darn.  It was her birthday over Thanksgiving so we hand delivered it to her and my son was able to play happy birthday on his sax for her.  I was so glad to find a great use for those nine patches and thank her for keeping a look out for my grandma!

My boys competed in the southern California band review and their band won sweepstakes for the 11th year in a row! So exciting and special because it is the only year both boys (senior and freshman) will be in it together.

I made 12 of these house blocks for the 3.5 inch bitty block swap for November.  (more about that later!)

And I made this shabby chic cottage for Dawn for the Oct/Nov Mini QT (6-12 inches) Swap.

And this is the fun quilt that arrived in my mailbox from my swap partner. Thanks Dawn!

Now hopefully I’m caught up and I’ll be able to be back here blogging and sewing !  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mini Coin and stuff...

Here's that little mini that was coming my way.   She put a little mini-me in the corner.  Isn't that clever? Love the colors and the fun quilting on it.

And check out the back!  An unexpected fun little surprise, hexagons all pieced!  Amazing.  Love it!  Thanks for making this little piece of art for me Lori!

On Saturday I snuck away with a friend to the Queen Bee Market, "a hip, modern, and fresh handmade art and gift show in the San Diego area."  I was just going to check it out, but I ended up purchasing some very cute items. 

Check out these cute "Baked Pins" from cremedelagems, and this fun necklace made from an original photograph and a scrabble tile from staceywinters.

I also picked up an adorable flower pin from thepleatedpoppy

which Miss K wore on Saturday and I wore on Sunday.  So it's already getting a lot of use!

It's really time to get going on Miss K's class quilt for their Open House Art Auction! 

That's coming up real soon.  I've been laying the blocks out on the floor in various configurations (who needs a design wall, psha!) and auditioning fabric for it. 

Now it's time to quit foolin' around and make something! (that was just a little pep talk for myself).

I'm off to cut fabric...and it's only 6:20am! Guess I should help get the kids off to school first!  

April Swaps

I've joined up with the Mini QT Swap on Flickr.  We are matched up with a partner (each month that we want to participate) and we send a quilt between 6 and 12 inches to each other.  Each month there is a theme and April's was a mini coin quilt.  (remember March?)

Here's my mini coin:

My partner lives close by again, but we weren't able to get together to swap.  I just heard from her and she says that she received it and loves it.  (yay!)

This is the sneak peek she showed me of my quilt...can't wait to see the whole thing!

There are also other options.  One is 3.5 inch blocks.  So I signed up for that too.  And the theme was "camping".  Here's my interpretation:  roasting marshmallows!

 

Nine of us signed up, so I made 9 blocks.  I've heard from a few recipients and they seem to be happy with them.  So I'd say it was a successful month :).

I signed up for May too, but just for the 3.5 inch blocks this time.  The theme is black and white plus one color, we were all assigned a color and I got green. I squeaked in as the 16th member of the group.  So I'll be making 16-3.5 inch blocks in May.

My other May project is getting Miss K's class fundraiser quilt put together.  I've got the blocks the kids made, so now I just need to figure out a layout and get started!

Mini QT Swap - In Person!!!

My latest swap partner just happens to live less than an hour away!  So we decided to get together and swap our mini quilts in person. 

Here's my little package all ready to drive up to the mall to meet for lunch!  The theme for this month was Spring.  I used a Hunky Dory charm pack for the quilt and a little bit of the left overs in the fabric basket.

We met for lunch and had such a great time chatting and getting to know one another.  It was so much fun!  After lunch we opened the packages that we brought for each other.

She opened her's first, and this is what I gave to her.  (I snatched this picture from her since I never really got a good picture of the finished quilt!)

And I opened mine and Wow!  What beautiful stitching she did for me!

   She included some other goodies too!  And as you can see she made me a needle case out of the same fabric I used for her quilt!  So fun!

I'm so glad we got matched up, now I have a new friend!  I just got my partner for April and she also lives in the area.  This is just too fun!

Revealed

Here's the Valentine mini I made for my partner.  I hope she liked it.  I know she has it...so it's safe to post.

I've been working on my cards for card swap coming up this month.  It's been fun to use my new Cricut.  All those cute cut outs that I wished I could do before are now possible.

And of course there's always a bit of stitching somewhere on my cards!

Swappin'

I've got some quilt swaps going again and it feels great.

I didn't do much sewing at the end of last year, I don't know if I was burned out on sewing, or life, or what.  But I've missed sewing and doing swaps so I joined in on the fun over at the 6"-12" mini quilt trading swap on flickr.

For January they were doing a valentine sampler mini swap.  My partner got started right away and had my quilt to me in the mail by the 6th!  Isn't it cute?

 

So I got busy working on hers this week and mailed it off today.  Since she hasn't received hers yet, I'll just show a little sneak peek:

As soon as I hear that she has received it I'll reveal the whole thing.

I'm also participating in Doll Quilt Swap 8 (DQS8).  This will be my 5th round participating in this swap.  It is such fun because partners are a secret.  You don't know who has your name until your little quilt arrives in the mail.  Right now we're just waiting to hear from our swap mamas to find out who we are matched up with.

Once I hear I'll stalk him/her to figure out what she/he likes and dislikes and try to make a quilt that he/she will love!  Last round the quilt I sent was never acknowledged, which was pretty disappointing.  I hope whoever gets my quilt this time will let me know it was received.

A little note to the person who gets matched up with me:

You can check out my favorites over on flickr to get an idea of what I like.  I just love little quilts, so have fun with it and I'm sure I'll love whatever you make for me.