colorful swap

Last night at the OKCMQG we swapped solid fabric!

I think I will just leave them out to enjoy for a while.....

They look so pretty together.....what a great addition to my stash : )

piece,

elizabeth

show off friday~~~leaves and petals

Show Off Friday

I am having fun with the Quiltsmart Printed Interfacing, making black and white

leaves and petals from my stash. (I have no connection with Quiltsmart, I am just

enjoying their product)

I am going to show you how easy it is to make these leaves  : )

You sew on the solid line and cut on the dotted line.

 You make a cut in the middle of the interfacing and turn and press.

Now you use your favorite appliqué technique... first the interfacing is 

ironed on to your fabric, and then it is ready for you to appliqué by machine or hand,

 whichever you prefer.

I decided to use my embroidery thread for this little project and

I like the way it is turning out.

Here is my helper, Tiger, sleeping in his tower while I stitch...

Now it is your turn to link up something~~~~what do you have for

Show Off Friday

There are no rules for this link up party....this is just the place to show off

projects you are working on!

piece,

elizabeth

black and white

I am playing with my black and white stash and some Quiltsmart Printed Interfacing.  I like the process and they are turning out to be pretty cute.  I will show you the process tomorrow on Show Off Friday, but here are a couple pics of some finished leaves.

piece,

elizabeth

scrappy trip along

I have joined the Scrappy Trip Along : )  I am using my Kaffee Fassett stash and throwing a solid into each block.  I think this is going to be a bright, happy quilt....don't you?

Here is a tutorial for the block, just in case you would like to join in on the fun!

http://quiltville.com/scrappytrips.shtml

piece,

elizabeth

Happy New Year

I haven't been around for a while, but I plan to get back to my blog on a regular basis this year : )  My sewing room is finally getting some attention, and I am making a few things that I will show you soon.  Moving to a new(old) house turned out to take more time than I expected.  And with Thanksgiving and Christmas to prepare for, I just decided not to put any pressure on myself to blog.  But I miss it, so here I am!!

I made a few quilted journals, but I am even out of the habit of taking pictures of my work : (
Here is one that I still have around to show you.

I see many more quilted journals in my future and I will explain how I made them and some great tutorials that are around for you to check out.   They are so easy to make and a great way to use orphan blocks and fabric scraps.   But until then....

piece,

elizabeth

granny square number 2

I made another Granny Square quilt block out of my vintage fabric stash.  These are so much fun to make : )   Another name for this block is Arbor Window.
Part of the fun is going through my fabrics, picking out the colors and looking at the different vintage designs.  It is playing with blocks...quilter style!

I think this is going to make a darling quilt.

piece,

elizabeth

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday.

wip~~~~new wave quilt

My WIP(one of them : ) is the New Wave Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson!  I have already cut out the waves, and I am now ironing the fabric that I will use for the sashing.   

 Once again, I am using fabric that is already in my stash, and that is a good thing!

I am linking this post to WIP Wednesday.

piece,

elizabeth

wip with my go! baby

I finally broke down and purchased a Go! Baby while visiting Colorado last week.  There is a fun, crafty store called Fringe in Salida, Colorado.  They sell a wonderful selection of fabrics, yarns, and gifts.  They also have a nice class schedule each month.  I always try to visit Fringe when I am in Colorado, and this time they were having a sale : )  I came home with a Go! Baby and the tumbler and 2.5 inch strip dies.  I am now deciding what new dies I need to add to my collection!

My fabric stash in Colorado is limited but this is what I came up with while I was there using the tumbler die:

I really like the wavy colorful design of this little mini quilt and I will probably end up hand stitching with more color.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

I pieced a circle with some of the leftover tumbler blocks so I need to decide what to do with it too : )

What an easy way to make a color wheel.

I wonder what die I should get next?

You didn't think we would go to Colorado without Tiger, did you?  He hates the long drive in the car, but he loves the destination!

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced blog.

piece,

elizabeth

Don't forget to add your mini/little quilts to Little Quilt Monday each week : )

de-stash 4malawi

I am joining Lilypad Quilting in a charity drive for fabric.  The Kropfs, a wonderful couple in Malawi(in southeastern Africa) work to educate, clothe, and house the many orphan children there.  They live and work among the very poor.  Mrs. Kropfs has over 900 children to sew for and this is where our de-stash of fabric can become a welcome donation that she will use to make their new clothes : )

Please go to Lilypad Quilting to find out how you can help by sending one yard(or more)pieces of fabric to  help in this effort in Malawi!  There will even be a giveaway from several sponsors.  I know it will be a great pleasure to share some of my unused fabric as well as freeing up some space on my shelves!

Here is my box of fabric ready to go to the post office:

I hope you will join me and other quilters as we De-stash 4Malawi.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

piece,
elizabeth

favorite fabric friday

Today is the day that Mary and Susan are having a linky party for showing off your favorite bits of fabric!

Here are a few fabrics from Erin Michael's Up Town that I am saving for something special:

I still have lots of scraps of Amy Butler's Gypsy Caravan that show up in my work, but these two pieces are my favorites and I will be sad when they are gone.

I also have some Liberty of London scraps that I have been hoarding for years, and I have them well hidden(I couldn't find them : ).

piece,

elizabeth

mini hexi

I finished my hexagon mini quilt that I started here.  I used several fabrics on the back for fun and I think it turned out well.   I may still add a few embroidery stitches, but I am happy to leave it alone for now.   I have it hanging in my sewing room : )   Don't you love Amy Butler's Gypsy Caravan fabric?  I have enjoyed using up all those pretty scraps to make the hexagons.

Hexagons are so much fun to make, I will always have more to play with and perhaps I will someday make a large quilt with them!   ( probably not : )

piece,
elizabeth

calling all wantobe quilters?

 What constitutes someone as a WANTOBE QUILTER..?

They do not have a machine, tools, notions, stash as in fabric...

They may have made a quilt with a MOM, sister, friend, niece, aunt, grandma,

but they DO NOT HAVE THEIR OWN TOOLS!

"Hello friends and followers, I would love to welcome you

to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over here. ( http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com)

 They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5 x a week for 12 weeks. 

Supplies that will have you quilting

before you know it...From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters,

to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles,

rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines...everything

you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter. 

Even if you are already part of this community you can win

quilting stuff too...Tuesday and Thursday are days for us..

All you have to do is give me your name and phone number 

and email sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win

anything I can win something too. 

All you have to do is be my follower and a follower

over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure....

(Please comment below that you want to be a quilter and would like to join in the fun.  Make sure that I

can e-mail you to get your name and phone number....I don't want you to put

your phone number in the comments below : )

That is all! There are over 49 Sponsors involved.

swap blocks

I heard from Linda today, and she received the block I made for her and she liked it : )  She ask for
a block with rose fabric and I had was so happy that I had some in my collection!

 I like the way this block turned out, so I may have to make a quilt using this pattern with the other rose fabric in my stash.  

piece,

elizabeth

checkerboard

I made this checkerboard in bright "french" inspired fabrics.  I have always liked the look of the checkerboard pattern, and it is easy to make in any size that you choose.  This quilt measures 30"X30".  I enjoy making small quilts because they give me a chance to do a little hand quilting.  I would never tackle a large quilt to hand quilt because it would probably never get finished!  I recommend making a checkerboard for the fun of it, and who knows, I may even play a game of checkers on it one day : )

These fabrics make me smile and I like the backing fabric too...I am glad I have enough of each of them left in my stash to play with another day!

~piece~
elizabeth

birdie stitches

I just finished my Block 1 of Birdie Stitches and I wanted to show you how I prepared my block for stitching, because each month I will prepare my block the same way.  I decided to use my stash of fabric in black and white, and I am happy with the result.

First I sewed my 2 1/2" strips in sets of 6 and 4(two sets of each).

Then I cut 2 1/2" strips off each set.

Then I sewed the pieced strips to the the 8 1/2" kona ash square.

Finally, I embroidered the cute pattern!

I will repeat these steps each month.  There is a flickr group with everyones blocks, and they are all different and oh, so cute!  Why not click the Birdie Stitches badge and join me in this cute stitchery adventure : )

piece,

elizabeth

christmas table runner

I am beginning to make a few things with my Christmas fabric stash.  The only new Christmas fabric I have purchased this year can be found here.   I haven't decided what to make with Aneela's darling holiday fabric, but I will show you as soon as I decide.

The  Christmas table runner was made from my stash(Thimbleberries), and I plan to make a few more table runners because they are so easy and fast.  I cut a 12 1/2 inch by 4 inch rectangle out of nine fabrics and in the photo you can see that I repeated some of the same fabrics to make mine symmetrical.  (Have I mentioned that I have an accounting degree and that I have always kind of liked math : )  The border is cut  1 1/2 inches and I sew using a seam allowance of 1/4 inch.  After adding binding the table runner finished at 15 inches x 36 inches.  You can easily make yours longer by adding a few more rectangles.

As you will see, I haven't learned my lesson yet, and I used green thread on the backing.  I am not pleased with the result, and I hope I remember next time to put a different thread in the bobbin : )  I could also use a darker fabric next time for my backing.  I machine quilted with straight line quilting and I think it was the right choice for this table runner.

I will have a few more Christmas projects to show you during the holidays!

piece,
elizabeth