M.I.A

Life has had me Missing In Action in blog land recently. With my 9-year old starting at a new school and an unexpected move to a new house, my blog has definitely been silent lately. Let's recap, starting with some recent craftiness:

This is the amazing Doll Quilt Swap 9 quilt that I received! Isn't it amazing?! It now has pride of place in my new sewing room. I absolutely adore the birds, it's just perfect :)

Next, we have the DQS9 quilt and goodies (camera strapcover & scrappy mug rug) that I made. They went all the way to the East Coast and I am pleased to report that my partner loved her package of goodies. Yay!

This is definitely one of the BEST swap packages that I have ever received. This was for the Urban Home Goods Swap on Flickr and when she posted pics of it (before I knew it was for me) I loved it and knew that it had to be for me! When I opened up the box I was so excited. It had been a rough week for me and this package eally put a smile on my face and brightened my day. The pillow is amazing and made with some of my fave Heather Bailey. I absolutely adore the embroidered gnome and pieced fabric wall hanging, it is also now adorning my sewing room wall. It's so funny that she made one of those little baskets for me because I had just made two for myself before I received hers. Can you tell that i love it?!

These little lovelies were my submission for the UHG Swap. This was a big deal for me as it was my first time making a pillow cover, making a dresden plate, making hexies, using the aqua/red combo and trying my hand at applique! I have to say that I was very pleased with the results and my partner was too!

Please welcome Henrietta! This gorgeous pincushion was what I recieved in the Pincushion Pass Swap on Flickr. I absolutely adore her and cannot bear the thought of piercing her with pins (although that's what she's for!) so for now she decorates my sewing table.

And last but certainly not least is a peek of the pincushion that I made for the swap. It is made of wool felt and hand sewn/embroidered. I did not use a pattern, just made it on the fly and I love how it came together. I don't have much experience with embroidery stitches and techniques so it was a really fun project.

Yummy!

Happy Monday to you. Look at what I came home with today!

In an effort to save $$ I have avoided shopping at Joann's for quite a while now. Typically I don't have much luck there but today I hit the motherlode! The Alexander Henry mushroom fabric was a real find and at only $5.59/yd I may have to go back for more. The apple and pear fabric also caught my eye so a yard of that came home too. Of course, I could not pass up a yard or Kona white and chocolate for just $4/yd.

I received my Fat Quarter Fabric Swap from my Flickr partner who lives in Canada! I love the Amy Butler FQ's and notecards, thanks so much!

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Yikes!

Having only made three small quilts so far and then quilting them simply by hand, last night I decided to try my hand at machine quilting. I purchased my Bernina 1020 for a steal on Craigslist last year and it came with several feet. One as it turns out was a Bernina Walking foot! Initially I found the walking foot and the act of machine quilting very intimidating but by the end, I began to get the hang of it.

I wanted to start simply, here is my first try

For a first try I think that it came out quite well. How long should the stitch length be? I have looked online and not found a solid answer. I suppose that stitch length may just be a personal preference. I recently finished the top for my DQS8 and will need to consider quilting the top soon. Hopefully after a lot more practice I'll be ready to machine quilt it!

DQS8 Progressing

Yay! I have finally made progress on the mini quilt that I am working on for the Doll Quilt Swap 8. Here's what I have so far. We're going to Tahoe on Friday, if I can put the quilt together by then, maybe I can do some hand quilting while relaxing in the snow!

I made this wonky log cabin block thinking that I would add it to the back of the quilt, not sure....................

Project Doll Quilt

I have checked out my partners blog and so far these are the fabrics that I have come up with.

While trawling her blog I saw that she had recently used the orange and white checked fabric in a project so that seems a good place to start. The mushrooms definitely add some whimsy and fun and the bee fabrics are a favourite of mine. The flickr group for the Doll Quilt Swap is a wonderful way to find inspiration and receive some excellent advice/support. Being new to this swap I can use all of the help that I can get. I posted this pic of my fabric choices and possible quilt sketch - the feedback was great so I think that this may be it!

The back would just be a simple off white Kona Cotton -but a wonky log cabin square (tutorial found here) added in may be a fun surprise ..................

Doll Quilt Swap 8

I was looking through SwapDex the other day and saw the announcement for Doll Quilt Swap 8. Quilt making is still pretty new to me but I decided to go for it. As luck would have it they managed to squeeze me in so now the work/fun begins! Typically I just make what I like but now that I have been assigned a recipient I have to do my best to make quilt that fits her style and aesthetic too! I have already looked at her blog and seen a few of the doll quilts that she has made. I am really excited to get movin' and have even started a few sketches and picked out some fabric possibilities.

So I suppose that since I have been given a recipient, I myself have been assigned to someone as well. What do I like? I enjoy simple quilts in bold colours, japanese fabrics, kokka fabrics, mushrooms, not a big fan of 'traditional' quilting prints.

Here are some kokka fabrics at Purl Soho that I like.....

also loving these quilts over at Mr. Monkeysuit..............

Have a wonderful weekend!

In Gratitude,

What next?

I finally sat down to catch up on all of my favourite blogs and was totally inspired by this quilt over at Mr. Monkeysuit. Voila! I have found my first big project for 2010!

I have amassed quite a fabric stash but I think that some new fat quarters are called for. A trip to Peapod Fabrics in SF should do the trick. I found Peapod a few months back and it is such a gem. Located on 18th Avenue near Golden Gate Park,parking can be a pain but it is well worth the effort. A trip to the fabric shop can be really inspiring. Admiring the beautifully organised bolts of fabric and thumbing through the colourful fat quarter selection really gets my colour wheel spinning!

This should be an exciting project as it will be my first time trying my hand at free motion quilting - maybe I should start with a large doll quilt first :)

Wish me Luck!