Detroit Urban Craft Fair this weekend

I am really looking forward to going to this on Saturday! At the Fillmore Saturday 10-7, Sunday 11-6; Admission is a whopping dollar!!!!

Hoping for some great finds and good times with my friends! And maybe a spanish coffee at Atlas after :)

One week Challenge - Thanksgiving edition results

 I was able to complete all of my projects for the challenge this time, which is great considering that I had only had Friday to get stuff done (got called into work on Monday, regular shifts on Tuesday and Wednesday, in-laws for Turkey Day, Friday off, regular shifts on Saturday and Sunday!) But I succeeded and I'm thrilled with the results (well, cutting fabrics is just cutting fabrics, but I made a mug rug out of 1.5" squares and it turned out great!!)  

So onto the results: First were the fabrics for the 3 charity quilts I want to complete by year end. I'm planning on the Illinois Roads quilt pattern from the Quilts for Kids group.



Second, I wanted to try my hand at making a mug rug - Christmas style! So I sorted through my scraps and went for it - only a few of them are Christmas fabrics! I used a decorative stitch on my machine to add a line of snowflakes to the white section.

I love that they are quick to make and a great way to practice quilting techniques. Now off to try some zipper wristlets too! I'm hoping to make more gifts than I buy this year (and to keep this trend going!). I need to get the big Nikon back out too! My little Coolpix point and shoot is worthless for taking close ups and the color differences between flash and no flash are astounding (see the mug rug pictures above! The colors in the top picture are closer to real life)

**Addendum**Here's the link to the tutorial I used for my little 1" squares. Made it SO much easier!
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=1398

One week challenge - Thanksgiving week edition...

Amy is having another one week challenge on her blog.
My goals this week are to cut up the fabrics for the 3 charity quilts I want to finish this year and make 1 Christmas mug rug for a gift.

I have a meeting with my graduate school advisor this afternoon and then I am on call for work in the evening. Hopefully, I can get cracking on some of the stuff today!!

Giveaway at GenXQuilters!

GXQ has its first official sponsor (Sew Delightful Fabrics) and they are doing a giveaway to celebrate! You can win an It's A Hoot Layer Cake! You have until November 24th to enter!!

http://www.genxquilters.com/2010/11/gxqs-new-sponsor-sew-delightful-fabrics.html

All I want for Christmas are my Above All Fabric wishlist items!

Melanie @ Above All Fabric is having a great giveaway - gift certificates to her store!
The store has a great WishList feature - add all of your favorites in seconds flat!

What's on my Wish List? - just a few of my favorite things:

Laura Gunn Poppy prints:

Grunge Basics:

and some cute little birds to name a few!

Head over there now for a chance to win! Winners will be picked December 1st!!

Wednesday Woof!!

Sutton is growing by leaps and bounds! He did great in his puppy kindergarten class last Thursday and even managed a few nights of sleeping out of his crate without any accidents!! He has now conquered all the stairways in the house, so he loves to explore - but he still sleeps more than anything (growing boy!!) And Cooper loves to play with him and even lets him crawl on him when they are playing...so glad they are getting along!!

Sutton chewing on a rawhide stick!

 Trying to sleep next to Cooper (Coop loves to be under blankets!)

 Doggie WWF

 Dinnertime! (Unfortunately the stove is in focus, not the dogs - oops!)

 Sutton on the big dog bed last night

 Coopy all curled up in the little dog's crate last night too!!

Inspired Ideas - Christmas Edition

Has anyone else stumbled across this amazing e-mag? Filled with great ideas for gifts, decorations, and ornaments.... Check out Amy's fabulous site!!

Pillows are finished!

 They are finally done! It actually didn't take as long as I expected - Envelope closures are easier than I thought they would be....why haven't I done these earlier!?!?!

I quilted the "square" one in the ditch and the "X" pillow got straight line (well, my version anyway) quilting through the strips. I used the same Kona Ivory on the back as I did for the block center lines, with a decorative stitch on the edges (didn't have time to take pictures of those - the monsters were awake and playing WWF in the living room behind me, thus the not so stellar set-up in the picture below! 120# of wrestling dogs is a lot to contend with - but they haven't taken me out yet, I just know to grab my nook and jump on the couch!)

Even Mr. LazyDog thought they looked good! Here's a little taste of how WWF starts! :)

My First String Blocks!

When I first started quilting last year (I think it's been just about a year now - WOW - time really does fly!) I fell in love with the Arcadia line by Sanae (Moda fabrics). I bought a honey bun and 2 jelly rolls, even though I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. So, they sat in my closet and waited patiently.

Now that Sutton is sleeping in 3-4 hour blocks, last week was the perfect time to try out one of the many string block tutorials I have bookmarked. I'm not going to re-invent the wheel and post all of the steps, you can find them on many great quilting blogs - I'm new here, trust the professionals :)

So I finished 8 - 8.5" blocks. I'm thinking about making them into 2 pillows for the couch. I'm mulling over my options for the jelly rolls and am pretty close to a decision - most likely the Fat Quarterly quilt along to make a lap quilt to match the pillows....

Here are the blocks, still with the paper attached. I really like the look of these and will one day get around to making an entire quilt like this...