Scrappy Days Are Here Again... and a Ton of Stuff!!!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks. I also still haven't announced the winners of my last two giveaways (here and here). They were contacted the next day and both have already received their respective prizes.

Barbara from Cat Patches won the fat quarter bundles:

Gabriele from Gabriele's Boutique won the Holly Jolly Christmas fabric assortment:

This also brings me to an important point. Gabriele was NOT a no reply blogger, but her email on her profile was out of date and kept bouncing back to me. I was able still to click through to her blog and find her Facebook page where I left a message on her wall. Sometimes it's really easy to find the person even if you do not have their email. I wanted her to get her prize and I wanted her to know that her email was bad! She did not realize it and was probably missing out on giveaways that she had previously won.

As a segue, I also wanted to point out that if you link Google+ to your blogger profile, it will make you automatically a no reply blogger!!!!! But... and most people don't realize this, your name in your profile and in the comment (if the blogger receives the no reply email) is linked to your Google+ page where the person having a giveaway can obviously contact you. It's just not by email.

Anyway, on with the show. First off, happy holidays to everyone!

I just wanted to let you know what I have been up to. Here we go:

Work in progress: I have been sewing these 320 hexagons on the train while I commute back and forth to work everyday. It's finally coming together, but I have quite a bit of whip stitching left to do. I did it in blocks and now I am just sewing the blocks together. Oh my, the people I get asking questions all the time!

90% of the fabric comes from my very first giveaway win from about a year ago. I haven't decided what to do with the charms yet. I have been working on it since about June of 2011, and I sew on it some everyday pretty much (every work day). And, if you can believe this, I have not blogged about these hexies at all. I know you all got tired of hearing about hexies the last time!!!

Work in Progress: I have started my first rag quilt. It is all owls mostly. They had a great sale on flannels at Joann's. I still have tons left over too. I am going to alternate the prints so they form diagonals (matching) across the quilt. I am coordinating the solids as shown in the picture. The solids will be on the back. 

Finished: This table runner is finished. I made a nice simple nine patch block with HSTs. I used scraps and leftover fabrics from my stash. This was the first one I had ever made :)

This is the back.

Here it is loaded an ready on the machine. I haven't decided yet if it was worth the trouble to load it on the long arm since I know I could have done it FMQ on my home machine. I did enjoy using the machine for the third time though.

Work in progress: This one is my first truly scrappy quilt. I literally hit the bucket to find anything that would make a 5.5 inch square. It's mostly random, but I still tried to make sure there were no similar squares too close to each other. It is really going together fast!!!

Well, if you made it this far, I wanted to let you all know that I have a new sponsor. I'm not doing a giveaway yet, but if you would like to stop by and see Nicole at 1 Choice 4 Quilting her button is at the end of this post and at the top of the right side bar. The store has an awesome selection and I am pleased with their shipping rates. $2.95 for orders under $10. $4.95 for orders $10-50 and anything over $50 ships free!!!

Also, my Facebook page has been really hopping since the last two giveaways. If you haven't liked The Amateur Quilter yet you should. I always try to share any useful or interesting blog posts I read as well as any giveaways I come across.

This week I am going to link up at Richard and Tanya Quilts Link a Finish Friday and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!

Enjoy your holidays!

Until next time!

Mike.

Cat Scrap Fever!

My tiny little scrap bin is starting to overflow. I had to take a picture of it while I was digging through it. I was looking for scraps to use for the Modern Mini Challenge. I blogged about it in my previous post.

I am making the mini for Mitch and he gets very excited about the scraps when I pull them out. The are like toys for him. He sits under my cutting table while I am cutting off selvage and grabs for the danglers :)

But most of the time, these are the places you will find him. He likes to meow at me while I am working. And of course, his motor is always running.

Anyway, I just can't believe that it has taken so little time for me to build up my first scrap bin. I must say there are some juicy nuggets in there!

Mike.

Modern Mini Challenge, Printable Fabric Labels, and a Simple Welcome!

I haven't written on my blog in awhile, so I thought it was time since I had a spare moment. What I thought I would do was share some of the things I've been working on since my Block of the Month post on the 12th.

The first thing I wanted to share relates to something I blogged about here. I wanted to know how you sign your quilt. Of course I always try to use some sort of fabric on the back that relates to The Wizard of Oz. But I really needed a way to put words on the back. I decided to purchase some printable fabric sheets from Avery:

In the photo you can see the box it came in, and the sheet on the right is my first printed label. I ended up putting it on the back of this quilt.

The fabric sheets are fusible, so after I cut it out with my rotary blade, I ironed it to the back (after I washed the quilt). It seemed to work out well, but I have asked my Aunt Carrie to let me know when she washes it if it held up. For the label design I used my digital scrapbooking software, My Memories Suite, to create it and then print it.

I have also been working on the Modern Mini Challenge at Ellison Lane Quilts. I decided to make a mini for our cat, Mitch. He really needed something to lounge on in the kitchen. I noticed that he really liked laying on my works in progress or my unused batting, so I am making him his own quilt.

Above is Mitch laying in the kitchen in his favorite spot on towels that we used to wipe our feet when it is wet outside. (The back door is in the kitchen.)



I decided to go with colors that match the kitchen. Three of the walls are painted Candied Yam (obviously not the wall in the picture with Mitch above). And, I thought slashing and sewing would be the most modern piecing technique I know how to do.



The back fabrics are pictured above.

Anyway, I will blog about that more when it's time to enter the contest.

I have also been working on a queen sized quilt for my mom. I am using a pattern that I found in the latest issue of Easy Quilts from McCall's. It's called "A Simple Welcome." 

Here are some pictures:

I suppose I will blog about that when I finish it.

Anyway, I should get busy!

Until next time,

Mike.