Men Quilt Too!!! and LAFF (Link a Finish Friday)!!!

Well, I was saving this for the Men Quilt Too competition, but it was cancelled this year :( Although, they are having a linky party for the guys who still want to participate (also a button on the right at the top). The rules were that it had to be new and "unshared." So, I had been holding it in all this time!!!

I won the fabric from Cotton Blossom Farm on the Quilt Story Blog (Heather & Megan). It was a Bungle Jungle 12 fat quarter pack. I decided to make a baby quilt out of it. I know of a few babies coming up in the family :) I just fired up my EQ5 (I know the un-user-friendly version), and put a basic block together then just randomly placed the fabrics where I thought they should go ;)

There were so many medium to large prints, that I thought it would be a shame to cut them up into small pieces. I also wanted to make the Elephants look like they were travelling across :) I did a little fussy cut on those.

 Working on the back (on the right).

Spray basting.

I used some Timeless Treasures bumble bee fabric that I had in my stash. There were not enough leftovers to make the entire back.

I also had to add a border for which I used a Kona Cotton Solid (Avocado???). I can never remember what the color names are after I wash the fabric and put away the receipt :(

The finished back. (Dresdens on the left for Craftsy BOM. Marbled Fabric that I won on the right.)

The grey fabric had loopy lines in it, so I used a loopy FMQ all over with a Gutermann light yellow polyester thread.

It finished out at 36" x 48". I finished it a couple of weeks ago, all in a weekend. I still have to put a name and a date for the baby on there, but I don't know that yet!

So I just want to say thank you to Cotton Blossom Farm for the bundle, Quilt Story for hosting and Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts for hosting Men Quilt Too!!!

I will be linking up at LAFF (Link a Finish Friday) and Richard and Tanya Quilts (this week) and, on October 15, 2012 when the linky party starts for Men Quilt Too!!!



Until next time,

Mike.

BOMs Away!!! & Link a Finish Friday!

Well, it's been a couple a weeks but I finished a few more of the Block of the Months. Maybe eventually I will be making the blocks during the month in which they were intended to be made :)

The theme for the Craftsy Block of the Month in July was Dresdens, so here you go:

 First time I've ever made a Dresden plate. Left is traditional, right is modern version.

 Me appliqueing with a zigzag stitch for the first time. Good thing you can't see the closeup. It's pretty bad.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for zigzag stitch on applique.

Chain piecing the Dresdens and thought it looked cool! I won the EZ Dresden tool from Barbie and the Quilting Mill awhile back. It really saves you time and is EZ to use :) especially with my rotating cutting mat!

And now on to the Quilt Story Block of the Month for which the theme was simply "rounded."

So I said, let's just make another Dresden plate!!! It's round, why not? Then on the right, you can see I got little play happy with the EZ Drezden ruler and just started randomly sewing them together. For the applique on that one, I did a really tight zigzag so it looks shiny (and uses lots of thread). It was a raw edge, so I wanted it covered. No one ever really taught me the best way to applique, so I will take tips or tricks. I have been using my 505 spray to stabilize. I noticed though that the tighter the stitch it seems to kind of "shrink" your block, like it is slightly puckering up the background fabric as you stitch. Is there a way to avoid that? I suppose I would have made the purple background a bit bigger had I known, then squared off the block to 12.5" Now I will have to remember on that block to do less than 1/4 inch on the seam when I sew the blocks together. Oh well.

I also wanted to mention that the purple thread on the applique I won from Craft Nurse Quilt as part of Kelie's giveaway package.

I am linking up at Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts.

Happy Friday everyone!

Until next time,

Mike.

I dropped a few more BOMs this week & Quilt Show

Well, I've been working on a super secret project this past couple of weeks, but I have also finished a couple of more BOMs of which I can share with you.

Lower left is the Octagon from Craftsy (June 2 of 2). Upper left is the one I posted about last time, the Greek Cross (June 1 of 2). Upper right and lower right are Quilt Story (June 2 versions). They were supposed to be anything with Flying Geese. I made one more traditional and the other a little crazy. I realized once I finished that I could not get them to come out to a 12.5 inch block, so I added borders and then squared off the blocks :)

Next month (July!!!...I know. Don't say anything!) it will be Dresden blocks and Rounded blocks. I think rounded doesn't necessarily mean it will have curves, as long as it appears rounded, sort of like the Octagon block above.

Hope you enjoy! I am linking up at Richard and Tanya's Link a Finish Friday.

I also wanted to mention that I will be in Philadelphia, PA next Saturday to visit the Quilt Show!!! Anyone else going? Would love to meet up and say Hi :)

Until next time,

Mike.

The BOM is back!!!

Okay, I had a few moments the other day so I decided to try to catch up on my BOMs. I've been busy with the Hexy quilt and the Buzz Lightyear quilt but now that they have been given to my loved ones, it's time for some "me" sewing. Technically this is a work in progress and a block "finish" so I will be linking up at WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and Richard & Tanya's Link a Finish Friday.

Here is the block:

This is one of the June (I know, it's almost September) blocks for the Craftsy Block of the Month. It's called a Greek Cross. The cross was supposed to be all the same fabric, but I have been using only scraps and I thought these scraps would work even if they are not the same color. While doing it, I also learned about the ever popular "scant" 1/4 inch seam. It basically means that you sew the seams just a little bit under the 1/4 inch mark to make up for the area taken up by the stitch itself. It helps to keep highly pieced blocks from shrinking in size the more you sew pieces together. It worked nicely. There is another June block called the Octagon, which looks easy, but I have not got to that one yet. I am also doing the Quilt Story BOM, for which I am still on June as well :(

I also wanted to mention some of my useful tools that I used:

This is the first time I've used a rotating cutting mat. Wow, it's quite handy! I don't have to move the ruler or my body anymore!!! Great for half square triangles and trimming down blocks with a square. Also, my bloc-loc is always dandy! It makes perfect HSTs because it grabs the folded seam and lines up all the edges to trim them down to perfect squares (and gets rid of the dog ears). I love it! Also, I used the draw the line method for making HSTs so you can see my water soluble blue marker in the picture too. This method really saves you time.

I also wanted to mention that I am doing the Shades of Grey charm swap (from my last post) and I finally got all the fabric squares cut out and ready to mail off:

I found myself trying really hard to be exact. These will be used by others, so I could not just settle for close enough like I normally would.

Again, I am linking up at WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced, and Link a Finish Fridays at Richard & Tanya Quilts.


Also, if you got this far and feel like commenting, I am currently looking for quilting ideas for quilting a quilt made entirely of hexagons. :) Right now, I am thinking of going with straight lines corner to corner, or maybe some sort design to make them pop, like just outside the ditch. Thoughts?

Until next time,
Mike.

Swap-portunity

I've decided to join a charm swap called Shades of Grey. Has something to do with a dirty book, I heard, but I'm doing it anyway :)

I don't know if it's full yet, but go here if you want to join. I've added the button in my sidebar as well.

Until next time,

Mike.

LAFF (Link A Finish Friday) My Buzz Is Gone!!!

Well, I'm sad :( I've finished two quilts in two weeks and I had to send them off :(
Here are the pics:

 I used glow in the dark thread (that kept breaking thanks to Coats & Clark)

 Easy blocks to make.

 I will have to make a pattern for this one.

 Nice label from DisneyWorld trip.

Practicing on the quilt sandwich :)

Xaiden is my grandson. He is 4 on Monday. I hope he likes it. He always has much to say!

Linking up at Richard and Tanya's Quilts LAFF (Link a Finish Friday).

Until next time,

Mike.

I've got a Buzz, checking my blog stats and Richard and Tanya's Link a Finish Friday

***ALERT*** Before proceeding to the awesome story I have to tell you below. I need Facebook "likes"/followers/fans. Go here and click like. Then, enjoy this awesome story I have to tell you :)

So, it's Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya's Quilts. They're very lenient with the rules which is excellent considering I do not finish full quilts everyday. It just has to be something you finished! :) A block, a quilt top, a project, whatever! So, I have an almost completed project, but tonight I finished the quilt top. Tomorrow I back piece it and Sunday I quilt it. It has to be in the mail by Thursday. It's for our grandson who turns 4 real soon. He likes Buzz Lightyear, so I went with that theme :) Here are some pictures:

 Piecing.

 Mitch giving moral support.

 The blocks up close.

 Seams going the wrong way, which I left and did not fix because it goes with my mantra.

Adding the sashing.

Quilt top finished with the border.

Tomorrow I will back piece the back. I have picked out some things that he likes. Cars from Disney. Monkeys, Space Monkeys, robots, space men, stars, etc.

I have decided to quilt it with glow in the dark thread in a stippling with 5 point stars (bobbin and top). I can't wait to find out his reaction from his mom. I told her about it and to record it and upload to youtube so I can see his reaction. They do not live near us. I know he will love it. He knows more about space and astronomy than I do. That would be the flash cards we got him :)

I also wanted to mention a recent discovery. I was checking my stats for the blog and it said I had over 200 hits referred by craftgossip last week. Well, it turns out, the editor from craftgossip posted my Hexy finish on craftgossip (and did not let me know) but now I have added the "featured on" button to the right hand side bar. It's pretty awesome. I signed up for their newsletter. Awesome! Don't forget to follow me on Facebook. I'm lacking there. I'm also on Twitter, but doing good there. Sign up for both if you have not already.

Anyway, I am linking up at Richard and Tanya's blog.

Until next time,

Mike.

The Hexy Quilt is Finished!!!

Just wanted to let you know, you will not have to hear about this one any more :) I started it in March and probably spent a total of 60-70 hours if you add up all the hours hand sewing on the train. So, here are the pics:

Since it was a birthday present for my daughter, I put some of her favorite things on the back!

Until next time,

Mike.

Ellie at Color My World is having a giveaway...

Become a follower of Ellie's and mention that I sent you so I get an extra entry :)

Click here to enter: Color My World: Hooray for 50 Posts Giveaway!: "I realized while on vacation last week that I had written my 50th post. In my mind, that calls for a celebration, otherwise known as a give..."

Giveaway ends Friday July 27, at 5pm EST.

Who says you can't quilt a big ass quilt on a home machine?

Just a quick post to let you all know what I am up to today! I'm finally quilting the hexie quilt!!!!!

And, I finally have 3 likes on my Facebook page! Woohoo!

I'm using an orange thread and a stippling pattern with little flower designs every now and then. I still haven't decided how to quilt the hexagon flowers yet. Let me know if you have suggestions.

Until next time,

Mike.