WIP Wednesday

It's my husband's birthday today!!  We stayed up late last night (he helped someone move last minute and I watched Twin Peaks of course) so I'm letting him sleep in while I wake up with the kids.  I'm not sure yet what we'll do but I know there will be an Ice Cream Cake because that's the only thing I could pry out of him that he wanted...

Anyway, since I watched Twin Peaks mostly alone last night I didn't finish my 2nd Swoon block and am finishing it up this morning. 

And here's the first one. I really need to get in order and get some these done or I'm not going to make it!!! In my opinion trimming the HST's is the worst part.  After you've made those it's pretty easy and a fun block to put together. 

I also started a pillow cover for Bee A {Modern} Swapper's June pillow cover swap.  I don't want to show to much.  You'll see more of this in hopefully a more finished form on Friday for the Handmade Parade at Katie's blog.  I have my fingers crossed that my partner will like it. 

And...though I did get charms cut and mailed for 2 more swaps yesterday, I haven't done much else yet this week!!  Sigh...tomorrow I'll be more productive.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

TGIF again?

I honestly can't believe how fast this week has gone by.  It's been odd as we haven't been extremely busy...it just went...too fast.


I didn't get much handwork done this week but I do want to show off someone else's, and show you what I DID get done this week (I'll do better next week, promise!!).

I got my key fobs made for my partner in the RATZ swap (Rapid And Tiny Zakka) and I was surprised that these also weren't as scary as I thought.  I hope my partner likes them!

Then wait 'till you see the key fobs I got in this swap!  These are from Marika (check out her blog here) and they showed up yesterday.  They're pretty amazing.  She really did wonderfully and I had a hard time keeping my kids away from this elephant!! Yes, it has a button eye on BOTH sides and can you see the handstitched flower on it too?!!  Kill me.  It's too great isn't it!

I finished up my project for the Modern She Made swap and got it mailed yesterday!  Here's a couple peeks.  I did do some hand stitching on this that I think turned out pretty well.  This was my first time using embroidery floss to hand quilt something so it was also a chance to learn some things-thanks for all your helpful needle advice too!!

 I love this ribbon.  I got it in another swap and have been keeping my eyes open to try to find more like it and haven't yet.  If anyone knows where I could find more of this let me know!! So cute. It might just be my favorite part!

And there's the whole thing!  It's a mini-quilt and a set of 10 napkins... I included some extras that I hope my partner will like and be able to use in future projects :)

And finally I was able to do a little bit of hand sewing for myself (sorry, didn't get a picture).  My husband and I have been getting the TV show "Twin Peaks" on Netflix and so we stayed up way too late watching it last night.  The show was too crazy to look away from so I only got a few hexagons made, but every little bit helps right?!

Has anyone else watched that show before?  If you like Psych, you'll probably find it funny and ridiculous and maybe a tiny bit awesome.  Maybe.  It also creeps me out a bit so we had to catch up on Modern Family after it was over so I wouldn't have nightmares...don't tell anyone...I am easily creeped out...

Be sure to head over to Katie at There and Back to see what everyone is working on in the Handmade Parade!!!

WIP Wednesday

Wow what a week.  Just to catch up a bit (Hi to the grandparents - these pictures are for you!)

We're back to a better schedule here, with the little lady taking her naps again.  Husband is taking finals this week and then it's summer jobs for him.  We had a pretty fun weekend though - we went bowling and pitched a new tent in the living room!  We had smores (minus the fire part) and slept in the tent!  The kids thought it was awesome.  And who would have known that they'd both be great at bowling?! I did win the game though :)

I still need to post pictures from Matthew's birthday but we'll save that for later this week.

I got some great mail this week! Along with the wonderful Parisian Star blocks I've been getting from hosting two bee's with the same block in April, plus the lovely house blocks from the ladies of the Bliss circle of do. Good Stitches, I also got my lovely goodies from the ALFALC swap (A Little Fabric A Little Chocolate) all the way from accross the pond!

Oh man that Galaxy bar didn't last long!  Thank you Linda!  This was a fun swap and I'd be doing it again if I didn't have too much already on the list for May.

Ok.  Here's what I got done this week (that I have pictures of).

1 - Made In Cherry Quilt is Quilted!
I received a wonderful new free motion quilting foot from my sister in law, Anna, and put it to good use practicing on my Made in Cherry quilt!  Now I just have to bind it.  I have to say, FMQ-ing is really fun!  It's not as scary as I thought it'd be at all.

I doodled around the solid purple background with loops and stuff.  I like it and am excited to get it finished

2. Zooey goes to the beach! Top finished!
This is a quilt from the Zooey pattern by Lu of For The Love Designs.  I LOVED making this.  It was super easy to put together and I love the way it looks.  The colors didn't quite translate though...the orange parts are actually greens in real life.  I'm calling the quilt Zooey Goes to the Beach because all the colors are sort of sea-foamy greens and remind me of the beach.  I highly recommend this pattern if you're looking for something like this.  You can find all of Lu's pattern's here.

3) I picked and started cutting fabric for the Patchwork Prism QAL (details can be found here)


So...that's what I did!

I also made a list of all the things I have on my WIP list for now.  It's a list of almost 40 things and over half of them have deadlines for this month!  Several swaps for handmade items and bee blocks...lots of bee blocks...so you'll be seeing lots of those from me this month...but they all look fun to make so it will just be another busy month!

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Head over and see what everyone's doing!!  And thanks for getting this far too :)

Maybe the cutest thing I've ever made...

...besides these monkeys of course... ($20 pool and 80 degrees?  yes please!)

...would have to be this little turtle and snail block...

Of course the colors aren't 100% but I love how it looks like the turtle and the snail

are having a VERY important conversation.  I just know

they're bestest friends!

I am participating in a potholder swap this month and the end of this month is coming up soon...

So, last night I grabbed some supplies and started "messing around" with them.  That means I had no plan but just did something because I had to...deadline approaching...and this block is what I came up with!  This morning I finished it off and made another one as a mismatched "set" for my swap partner.

I added some hand stitching around the star of the turtle one and then in the middle of two of the borders in the second one instead of machine quilting it (I am without a walking foot you see...)

And the back...not as exciting...

I used binding I'd already made that was leftover from other projects and I like the colors together.  The turtle and the snail is a 7" square and the wildflowers one is about 7.5" square.

I just hope my partner likes them! I let my 3 year old put them in the mailbox today so hopefully they'll be arriving next week!

Thank goodness it's finally warm!!!

WIP Wednesday

Today I'm determined to get my post finished before it's Thursday and the title and link up no longer apply.  Here we go!

I got 4 blocks done for Bee Simple (I got to fill a spot so I had two blocks from March to catch up on).  These went together really easily, and turned out pretty well!  I think they will turn into great quilts. It's not great lighting but there is a white border on the bottom and left sides as well. 

 I also got one of my Hoop Up! Stitch and Send projects on it's way today!

 It's a quote from Modern Family that says, 

"If you want to fly I'm not gonna hold your feet to the ground, 

I'm gonna be the one to push you off the cliff." 

-Phil Dunphy

Here's what's up next:
Learn to make Hexies for a swap
2 potholders for Bee a [modern] swapper potholder swap (excited to start on these designs)
Modern She Made swap

This is my jumping off point for the MSM swap.  I don't want to give too much away (it's a secret swap) but I want to make a couple i-spy placemats for my partner's kids (hopefully in this color combo) to include with the other goodies.  Stay tuned partner!  More sneak peaks to come!

For now that's all I've got.

I appreciate the tips for the allergies and have been on the lookout for some locally made honey, as many of you said that helps, but haven't found any yet.  I've been hitting the Claritin pretty well in the mean time.

Linked up to Lee's WIP Wednesday!

Oh, and while I was perusing the other posts linked up to Lee's WIP Wednesday I came accross Kelsey Sews and saw the awesome quilt she made with i-spy charms.  I've got sooo many of those, I'm going to try to whip up a quilt with her tutorial soon to get some of them used.  I think it'd be pretty great to use rainbow charms in the quilt also.  Have a look!

For swaps?

Guess who had an awesome idea that I'm a little late getting in on?  Lucy at Charm About You!

She's doing a stale stash swap which is genius. Absolute genius.  So here's what I've got to swap.  Let me know if you see something you like in the comments or in an email!  I'll update this post as things change.

I have a bunch of fabric I'd love to swap.  The stale stash swap is dealing in FQ's.  I've listed how man FQ's of each fabric I'm willing to swap but some of these are less than an FQ so if you see something you like anyway, let me know and we can work something out.  I've just grown tired of these fabrics, or have more than I'll use.  Hope you find something you like!

 Except for the pink polka dots the rest are a bit less than 1 FQ Polka dots and birds have been swapped!

 Also a smidge less than 1 FQ each-Green on the right swapped

 1 FQ of each of these - HELICOPTER and construction print have been SWAPPED

This is a Michael Miller print, 2 FQ available

Erin McMorris, 2 FQ available Swapped

London 2 FQ available

Canning Day from Connecting Threads 4 FQ available  Swapped

 Wonderland by MoMo 3 FQ's available

 Play Dot by Michael Miller 3 FQ's available Swapped

 Don't know the names of these but all are quilt shop quality.  Less than 1 FQ of the far right, 1 FQ of other two.

 This is actually a dark blue print called Itsy Bits for Andover Fabrics 3 FQ's

 1 FQ of the far left swapped, a little less than 1 FQ of the other three

 1 FQ available  swapped

 These three are from Connecting Threads, 1 FQ of each available

 1 FQ of each  Pink on the left has been swapped

 Pooches and Pickups from Robert Kaufman 2 FQ of each color available
Swapped

Tula Pink Dandelion 2 FQ available Swapped

This is a little darker blue than in the picture.  3 FQ's available.  Called Housework Whenever for In The Beginning 

Thanks for looking!!