how many is too many?

I haven't really done tons of swaps. I'm super picky. So I'm always worried about what I might get. But that didn't stop me from joining a bunch of swaps in the last few months.

1. I already told you about Bee Tweet. I am SO glad I joined it too! Last night I met Amy of amy lou who and a bunch of her online quilty/sewing friends - and we had a blast! More to come when I get my hands on some of the photos she took.

2. I started a local bee within my modern quilt guild. It has 11 members (1 for each month of the year - skip December) and I have the first month! This month! The beauty of this swap is that we see each other once a month anyway - so no shipping (mostly.) Right now it's named La Beeda Loca, but we're accepting new names. Any ideas?

3. I just signed up for the new 4 x 5 modern quilt bee on flickr. I did the 3 x 6 bee on it's first quarter and didn't love it. I did love the people I met and I really did like most of the blocks I received. I think I don't really love sampler quilts. But I joined it anyway because my good friend Amy is running it. And everybody's modern. And it looks like it will be fun! I am sticking to it for a good year so I can have a nice sized quilt. I'll keep you updated.

4. I have started following Bek's blog since she won some Heather Ross fabrics from me. (I met a lot of great bloggers from that giveaway!) And she mentioned the pretty little pouch swap. I think it sounds fun, so I signed up!

5. On Jeni's blog and John's blog I've seen that they've been doing blocks for do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} and everything looked so great! All the blocks, all the quilts. And they're all for different charity groups. And you use your own stash. So I joined. And now I'm in charge of an entire group! (coming soon.)

6. This morning I signed up for For the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. It just looked too good to pass up. I thought - maybe I'm already in too many swaps . . . But my solid quilts are my favorite quilts. So I think it will be great too.

So - is that too many swaps? I figure it should be good, because, at least I'll get in some sewing time! Are you in any swaps?

Scrappy

I just came across these photos. I hadn't forgotten about them, just got too busy to blog about them!

This first one is from the scraps of the purple 9 patch quilt that I never really loved. There were tons of scraps that were 2.5 inches wide and different lengths. I really don't think I'll use that purple for anything else so I was trying to get all the remaining scraps into a quilt and then I'll give it away. I used this quilt as inspiration.







This next one was using scraps from a quilt I haven't finished yet! I do have all the blocks cut, just need to sew them together. (I also have extra fabric - just in case you're worried). This particular pattern creates a lot of extra little triangles. I hate throwing them away - so this quilt will also be given away when it is finished. It was fun to put them together in different arrangements and then decide how to sew them together. I will be adding some sort of border as well. I'll be sure to show you the finished products!

a new project

Here is one of the quilts I've been cutting out. I'm loving all the rainbow quilts I've seen all over the place. This one I'm planning is something a bit new. I don't think I've seen a pattern just like it anywhere! So I'm excited about that.

Bee Blocks for Darci

I'm having a great time in my first virtual quilting bee - Bee Tweet.

For June Darci asked for wonky stars. I've made an entire wonky star quilt before and I really love doing these blocks. They are a lot of fun! I had a hard time not making more than I did.

Sewing stuff

Not much quilting has been going on around here. Lots and lots of cutting, but not much sewing. I think I have started cutting out 5 quilts in the last month. Strange. Do you ever get on a cutting kick? I hope to show you those projects soon.

But in the meantime, I have been sewing a few little things.

Like these bibs for my sister-in-law's new baby. I love those little foxes! I used this tutorial but I didn't follow the instructions so I used a binding to fix it.

And these ties for my sister's upcoming wedding. All my boys will have a tie and I'm making more for cousins. There will be 12 when I'm all done. Thanks to Erin for her little boy tie tutorial roundup. I used this one and this one. And they were both great!

What are you working on today?

pin cushion swap

Our Modern Quilt Guild had a pin cushion swap last month. It was a lot of fun! And all the pincushions were really cute.

I made this as one long rainbow originally, but then I thought it was too long. So I cut it in half. I liked it so much I made one (2) for myself too.

I invited a friend to come to our meeting and since she didn't have time to make a pincushion - I offered to make one for her to bring. It's from Heather Bailey's turtle pattern.

Here is the one I got to keep! (LOVE IT)

And here are all of them in the group.

I have been doing something

Even though I haven't been blogging about it.

I made a quilt for my son's Kindergarten teacher. She put up with a lot this year (from my son and others in the class) so I thought I'd let her know how much I appreciate all she does!

Most of the squares are Amy Butler - Midwest Modern. They are 2 inches finished and so is the sashing. The quilting was done by me on my home machine. It is a lap quilt (around 60x60) - which I have never made before. I love how it turned out and am planning to make a bigger version for me.