Bloggers' Quilt Festival 2012

has been drooled over, pined over, "oohed" and "aahed" over, coveted and pinned to Pinterest!

Don't know what I'm talking about?

Go here and get your quiltey goodness fix for a loooong time!

I'm always amazed at how creative quilter's are!

I'm entering "The Wheels on the Bus" baby quilt.
My entry number is 417.
Voting begins soon!

How much fun!

This was completed in June of this year for a very sweet baby-to-be.

Little Miss Lula.

A miracle ten years in the making.

I started these blocks a long time ago to teach myself curved piecing, got a case of Quilter's ADD (a true condition, look it up! lol) and put them away to work on something else.

Little Miss Lula's mom grew up in our church and when I received the invitation (late because of the post office) for her baby shower, I went hunting through my orphan blocks to put something together quick because all babies need a quilt don't they!

I thought, "Such happy colors and fabrics will keep a tater tot busy just looking at them for a while."

White sashing always adds a crispness that sets off very colorful blocks.  Amy Butler, Jennifer Paganelli, Moda prints I had collected, Heather Bailey and even some of my beloved vintage sheets are in here.  It's a standard crib size with a super soft vintage sheet as backing. 

Moda's "Birdie" was a perfect pick for binding.  I liked the way the circle theme is echoed and who can resist putting so much pink into a quilt when my life is so blue and full of "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails." with three growing boys!

The Mom-To-Be received some very lovely handmade things and I'm so glad to have been able to send along a quilt to wrap a sweet lil' tater tot in this winter! 

I'm submitting this to Amy's

in the "Best" of categories of:

Favorite Baby Quilt

Favorite Scrap Quilt

Favorite Bed Quilt

"The Wheels on the Bus" is a standard crib size quilt that was machine pieced and quilted by me.

A special technique was the curved piecing I learned on these blocks.

If you never go to another link here again, this is definitely one you will not want to miss!

Good luck to all the entries...they're truly all treauses and worthy of recognition!



"Squeeze Your Own Bundle" Competition

 from Randi at i have to say and Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts.

Oh my!  What a fun way to mix and match fabric and also have a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of these fabrics!

You can find all the rules here if you'd like to play along.

I chose these for my fabric bundle,

and I've thought long and hard and decided to name it "Autumn Acoustic" in honor of my son, Chris.

Chris has been learning to play electric and acoustic guitar now for about two years.  We've been homeschooling him going on five years now and I couldn't have ever guessed how much I would enjoy teaching him and spending so much time with him!

Today, in between lessons, he helped me get flower beds ready for winter and rake and bag leaves.

We had a beautiful morning to share.

Thanks to Randi, Rita and Faith for being the judges and to Alyce for such an awesome way to put together some very cool fabrics!  I enjoyed looking through Randi's etsy shop and dreaming!

Stained Glass Epiphany Quilt Top

Is done!

I marked a 1/4" turn under seam and hand appliqued this to a white background. 

Onto the quilting!

Huzzah!

Linking up with Quilt Story and Freshly Pieced to get my quiltey fix this week!

See ya there!



Mandala Mini Quilt Top

Dang it!

I hate it when this happens!

I'm still working on a "new" WIP when along comes an epiphany.

I really need to stay off of flickr.

LOL

A new project.  Machine pieced hexies, squares and triangles.  This design is done and waiting to be hand appliqued onto white fabric for a mini quilt over the fireplace mantle.  I'm gradually decorating the den, "my" room, with things I love.

Oh yeah.

Feelin' the love!

Come out and play WIP Wednesday at Lee's Freshly Pieced!



A Pocket Full of Posies

Last time I posted, I had just finished up this scrappy, patchwork pillow inspired by Twin Fibers inpirational finish inspired by Camille Roskelley.

LOL

Well, I love the block so much, I made two more.

Only these are bigger and have a twist to them.

When finished, they will measure 20" x 20".

Whew!

That's a very big block. 

Dipping into my scrap baskets again, this time I cut my "petals" 3" x 3" and used 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" for the points.  I had a couple of hexagons lying around (I mean really, who doesn't?) and plopped one down in the middle of the yellow center.

Yeah.

I kinda liked that!

(purple center)

(pink center)

This size block was a lot easier on the fingers when pressing!

I'm having so much fun going through my scraps and taking trips down Memory Lane.

Do you do that?

See a piece of fabric and think, "I know what that is!  I know where I got it!  I LOVE that fabric!"

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for some Friday eye candy ala quiltey finishes for the week.

Won't you join us?

Pictures, Patterns and a Plump, Patchwork Pillow

Several people have asked about the Jack's Chain pattern.

My Jack's Chain is machine pieced, but there are EPP (English Paper Piecing) methods that work as well.

Below are pictures and links with pictures, patterns and tips for cutting and piecing this block.

Quilter's Cache

Carpe Lanem

Annika

Pinterest

And these two which had pictures I couldn't download.  It is a fun block to piece and join and I'm looking forward to continuing it through the Fall!  LOL

 mellicious

quilterkeri

One of the blogs I follow is Twin Fibers with Jennifer and Jessica.  A couple of weeks ago they had the sweetest, pinkest, girliest finish.

(Inspired by Camille Rosekelley)

I pinned this sweet mini quilt to my "Amazing Quilts" board on Pinterest and thought about it a long time.

While I'm still working on long term projects

(Summer Quilt)

(Tessellation)

(Jack's Chain)

and cranking out Useful Baskets,

I convinced myself I needed some instant gratification.

I increased the size of Jennifer and Jessica's photo of the finished mini quilt and started scheming.

I deconstructed the block into a basic Bow Tie block.

(A Bow Tie WIP for me)

I used an easy tute to help me determine sizes.

Using the instructions for the 3" finished block, I went to the scrap stash and started picking pinks, greens and a yellow for the center.

Here's where I was as of last Wednesday morning:

The "points" of yellow that jut out into the pink from the center are made using 1" square pieces!

Drawing a line from one corner to the opposite corner on the reverse side of each 1" yellow square, line up the 1" yellow square, rst, with one corner of a 3" pink square.

Sew a seam right on the drawn line, cutting the 1" yellow square into triangles.  Use a rotary cutter to cut a 1/4" seam allowance past the seam line.

Press the seam allowance towards the pink.

Ugh!

I hate pressing small things like that.  My fingers end up looking like overcooked broccoli!

 

I started this project a week ago and I'm finally happy to share my new pillow for the den.

This cutie measures 18" x 18".  I decided to sash the flower with some scrumptious blue fabric I found on one of our road trips and edged with a matching red.

Some hand quilting around the petals and a vintage sheet backing mean I've had my instant gratification, learned a new block and made a super sweet pillow for "my" room.  LOL

(lovin' the soft feel and fun aquaness of it all!)

Linking up with Quilt Story and Freshly Pieced.  You should go there too.  Really!  Who doesn't need a little eye candy through the week!

Soccer and Homeschooling

This is a "This is a lot of what I think the world needs to know about homeschooling" post.

LOL

Homeschoolers join together for sports teams. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, football, golf etc. We have somewhere between 25-50 families from 2-3 adjacent counties who cooperatively form, coach and support these teams. Most games are played between other homeschooling teams and small Christian schools. We have state and national tournaments we can participate in also. We operate much like a small, county or rural school in how they are organized and played.

My guys are on the junior and senior high teams for soccer. The elementary and junior high teams are co-ed and the senior high girls and boys each have a team.

Two myths of homeschooling are the lack of socialization for the kids and their isolation.

I'm sure there are some homeschooling families out there who are the reasons for the stereotypes, but I haven't met them yet! LOL

Homeschooling families form co-ops that meet 1, 2, sometimes 3 times a week for classes.

We have sports teams.

We go on field trips with our co-ops and other families.

Our kids take piano, violin, guitar, drum, singing and other lessons from professional teachers weekly.

They go out in public with their parents during the day and interact with adults in real world situations and settings.

They have jobs.

They take dual credit/AP classes at local universities and tech schools.

In short, we are homeschooled, but our activities take us out into the world and there are some days...we aren't even home!

Some facts about our homeschooling community are:

We have a Prom and in the spring, a graduation ceremony.

Last year we graduated more seniors than the private, Christian school our oldest son graduated from.

Homeschoolers almost always get through 100% of their course materials in 180 days. (some families have "school" all year long!)

Homeschoolers have an almost 100% graduation rate.

We have one on one and corporate teaching.

We don't have snow days (unless the electricity is down).

Our school year schedule can adapt to the needs and demands of our families: ie vacations, work, illnesses, family emergencies etc.

And the best part ever is that I'm spending all of this quality time with my kids! I have their best interests at heart. I love them and will work with them individually to succeed. I'm sharing their day, their growth and learning and watching them mature and grasp ideas and concepts that are important to being a success in life.

Homeschooling rocks!