Sewing Summit

Sewing Summit was a blast. I knew it would be. I met a few new friends and some online friends in real life. There were so many amazing people there and I didn't get to hang out with everyone, but there's always next year!

The first day I went shopping with Amy, Amy, Amy, and Dana. We also got the best pizza ever for lunch.

While shopping we ran into Anne Marie and Shannon (who I think was buying fabric while we took this photo).

Then later in the day we ran into Samantha and Kristie at Art Market.

On Saturday I was Vanessa's assistant. I wish her class could have been all day! I felt like she has so much to teach about setting up a photo shoot.

Here is one of the bags I made which I think will now be my purse.

This was sewing Saturday night - which was great fun. I met Melissa and Alison and we had a great time!

Saturday night the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild hosted a dinner for other MQG members and quilters. This was only about half of us (I forgot to take a photo of everyone). We had a few sponsors (Riley Blake, Kona, and Marcia Derse) so everyone was able to take some fabric home with them! Fun!

I also got to hang out with Emily (here are Amy, me, Emily, Amy, and Amanda).

Anyway - to recap - it was fun. You should come next year.

I also forgot that I got to meet most of my Bee Tweet buddies in person! Here is a photo of some of us.

check it

So I finished the Wildwood (by Erin McMorris) coin quilt top the other day. Now I just need to figure out a back and I'll be sending it to Emily very very soon. I love how it turned out. It is twin sized, so when it's done I'll show you a photo of the whole thing. This is one of those fabric lines where I loved most of the prints. I found someone on etsy selling charm packs of it (2 years ago) and bought 4 or 5. I took out the fabrics I really didn't love and added in a few extras that I love and some white and there you have it!

Since finishing the Wildwood top Monday, I've been working on my double hourglass quilt using Hello Betty fabrics. I used this tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew - which was fabulous. I would recommend it. But I will also tell you that those little guys are a lot of work! They turn out to be a 6 inch square and you can't believe how long it takes to make them! Well - longer than I usually spend on a block.

I started with a big pile of quarter triangles that needed to be sewn into squares. (I think the last time I worked on this quilt was about 6 or 8 months ago).

Here are the squares.

Then they all needed to be trimmed (117 of them).

Next I'll show you the quilt top - which is probably 1/2 sewn together. Borders still need to be cut, but they shouldn't be too time consuming.

If you're wondering about my progress on my 5 quilts I've got 2 done. I worked on some charity quilts this summer where I used only my stash to put together 4 quilts - front and back. My aunt took the quilts to finish, so I'll count them as 2 done (since the point really was to use up some of my stash.) These 2 quilts I've worked on this week will make 4 completed quilts and then I think I'll work on a baby quilt. I'm thinking I'll do a good giveaway once I'm done with these!

good news!

I got my sewing machine back last night and it's good as new!

Also last night I got out a project I started at least 2 years ago. I checked to make sure I had everything, cut a few pieces I was missing, and started sewing this morning!

Can you tell what it's going to be?

blerg!

Well, I'm sitting here, I've seen everything there is to see on Pinterest (not really, but stay with me), I don't want to do any laundry, I don't feel like sanding or painting my living room trim - I want to sew! But my sewing machine's been in the shop for 2 weeks now. I called them this morning to see when I might be able to pick it up and they said at least another week!

I'm not sure if I told you about my fabric diet. But I haven't bought any fabric for 3 months! I told myself a while back that if I want to buy more fabric I have to start using it up. So I committed to make 5 quilts before buying any fabric. Angela and I made a deal. If either of us buys fabric - we have to make something for the other one. With all the swaps I entered this summer and the kids home, I didn't really make it happen. And now my sewing machine it broken.

I know - boo hoo and poor me.

And after reading all my whining and complaining - here's a photo.

It's Amy's block from Bee Tweet. She asked for all types of Christmas blocks and I wanted to make this one. So here's what I came up with. I'm really loving wonky stars - especially tiny ones.

What are you all up to? What are you sewing?

ps - I updated this post to include box bag tutorial links. Sorry that took me so long!

Mug Rug Madness!

Welcome to my blog! Thanks to all my regular readers and thanks to any new readers for coming over for Mug Rug Madness Round 2: Holiday Edition hosted by Erin of Two More Seconds! There will be some great prizes this time so make sure to enter to win at Two More Seconds.

This time around The Fat Quarter Shop sent us some really fun fabric to work with. I got to use the Countdown to Christmas fabric by Sweetwater. I love the little reindeer and the snowflakes most of all, but there are also some great stripes and dots and a lot of other fun Christmas fabrics in that line.

And now onto my mug rug! I know this isn't a new design - but I've been wanting to try it out for some time now. I figured a this would be the perfect test size. I whipped it up in no time at all.

To make this mug rug:

Cut 2 inch squares of each fabric in the quantity shown in the photo below.

Arrange them as they are in the photo below.

Sew together in strips and then sew strips together. Quilt and bind. Finished mug rug measures 10.5 inches by 7.5 inches.

This was a sponsored post by Fat Quarter Shop. They gave me the fabric to make this mug rug, but I chose how to make it and which fabrics in the line I used. Click the button below to take you over to Fat Quarter Shop or visit their blog or their facebook page.

MQG Kona Challenge

This summer my Modern Quilt Guild did the Kona Challenge. Each of us got a brights charm pack and had 2 months to complete something at least the size of a pillow. Our rules were that we could only use other solids with our charms.

Here is the quilt I was madly trying to complete at the last minute.

I didn't use a pattern on this one - although I know that Vanessa of V and Co. has one (here). I had seen this dishtowel on etsy before her pattern came out and bookmarked it. So I figured this was the perfect project to try it out.

For me it is not a challenge to work with all solids. My favorite quilts are always my solids quilts. What was challenging for me was using a charm pack. I've never used one and being limited with the shape and size was hard for me. I do love the variety of a charm pack, so I'll probably use one again.

Also challenging for me was the fact that I do not have a design wall. I laid everything out on my table, but that wasn't big enough so I had to move to the floor. I'd like to add to this quilt and I will be getting a design wall before that.

I just noticed that I made one little mistake - can you see it?

Are you in a modern quilt guild?

Did you participate in the Kona challenge?

I'll be doing a post for Robert Kaufman's blog soon about all the other quilts. I'll let you know when it's up so you can see them all!

A few things

I can hardly believe it's been a month since I last blogged! This summer has been much busier than I anticipated. I haven't had much time to sew and I've mostly worked on smaller projects.

So here's a little update on the sewing I've done this summer.

John's spiderweb blocks for Bee Tweet. I should have done a practice block or two before using his fabric. I'll do that next time I sew a block I've never done before. I used this tutorial - which was awesome. I just didn't follow the directions exactly and then had to spend some time fixing my mistakes.

Pretty {little} Pouch Swap - I got Erin - who I already know - so that was fun. Here's what I made her. Other photos here and here.

post edit: I used a combination of these tutorials for box bags - here and here.

Darci got me - she's in Bee Tweet with me - so that was funny too. Here's the pouch she made me - which I love!

And last - 2 blocks for do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}.

I'm the designer on this one and I had everyone make a block inspired by this lovely quilt. I have received almost half of the blocks and I think I'll make 2 baby blankets with them. I think they're going to turn out really great!

Hope you all had a great summer! I'm so excited that school has started here. I'm planning on getting a lot of sewing done.