LOVE-ing the blogger's quilt festival!

I really wish I had been able to finish the quilt I had planned to share today, buuuuuut, it wasn't in the cards.  Too many sick people and too little sleep do not a happy sewer make.  So here's my latest quilt finish.

I love the Blogger's Quilt Festival and so I thought I only appropriate to share my recently completed LOVE baby quilt for my sweet new little girl.

This is the first quilt that I really did all by myself.  I feel like I finally have enough (even though it's still limited) experience to have made all the decisions and do all the work on this beauty.  Like doing the window pane quilting.

I fell more and more in love (pun sort of intended) with this line the more I worked with it.  I have a rather large stack of leftovers that I'm excited to use - I may or may not have bought more of some of my favorites.  And then used them to complete her bedding.

And I've learned to really enjoy hand stitching down a pretty binding. Polka dots in the case. When has Amy Butler NOT made a cute dot print? Never. That's right.

I loved working on this quilt. It was my major project during my last few months of pregnancy, and I was able to finish it up shortly after I had the baby and moved. It was really nice to work on it while dreaming of what my new little one would be like. And again, I love that the LOVE line was used for my newest love.

sew & tell - attending bloggers quilt festival

Hi all! Remember sew & tell is on hiatus this week so everyone can go participate in Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I'm getting ready to link up now!

See you next week for TWO weeks worth of finishes! xoxo

sew & tell - pin.sew.press.

I just got back from a little trip to go to my high school reunion.  I was able to spend a few extra days hanging out with friends I moved away from earlier this year and we had a blast!  I saw my generous sewing friend Kim and got to use her awesome Bernina to start quilting my BIRD QUILT.  I KNOW! Did you think I'd forgot about it?  I'm trying to finish it for next Friday!

Because of Amy's awesome Festival, we won't have our regular sew & tell next week.  I encourage all of you to pull out a quilt and blog about it to enter into the festival.  Click on the button above to read more about it.  Our regular sew & tell will resume on November 5th and you will be able to post 2 weeks worth of finishes!  Sound good?

Because I didn't actually finish anything this week, I asked a sew & teller to lend me a picture.  I think I'm going to be doing this more often.  I have some bigger projects I'm going to be working on and I'm feeling the stress of having to have something to post EVERY week.  I'm not superwoman, by any means.  Plus it's all of you who make this so fun!  I think it will be fun to feature you guys!  Let me know if you need some extra motivation to finish something and I can give you a Friday here on the 'front page'.

I'm sure if you've been following us here at sew & tell, you've seen the lovely work of Mary at Pin.Sew.Press.  She made that awesome ruffled bag for the Amy Butler Extravaganza.  Well just look at what she finished this week.

picture courtesy of Mary. Click on the pic to go to her Flickr.

I KNOW!!! And more Amy Butler.  I have this fabric in a different colorway, and now I need to get THAT project done too.

Mary will tell you more about this gorgeousness in her own post.  Please go leave her some comment love.

What did you finish this week?

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP!  :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.  This is not a tutorial party.  Please link to any tutorials you may have used, even your own, in the post.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

sew & tell - more quilting bee catch up!

I have been sorely lacking in my promptness of getting bee blocks back to their owners.  I have 3 more blocks to share today which brings me to only one more block on the list - and it's the one for October!  So really, I'm caught up!

I did these two Denyse-Schmidt-Drunk-Love-in-a-Log-Cabin-inspired blocks for the lovely Amy of Vintage Fern.

She has such a distinct eye for vintage sheets and fabric!  Personally, I think the pink and green one looks better, mostly because I did it 2nd and didn't make some of the same errors as I did on the first one.
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This next block was causing me some creative block in my brain.  Tara of Tiny Glutton sent us a couple inspiration links initially, but when I went back to find them I only found one - it was of a Union Jack pillow.  Super cute!  But I wasn't feeling the love for doing one of them.  The other link I remember was a dolled up vinatge-y caravan decorated a la Cath Kidston.  I found the link (really - you must go see it!  It's my dream house) again Wednesday morning as I was trying to figure out what to do - and then I saw it:

images via Happy Love Rosie

Buntings!

Flowers!

Windows!

 

I worked on it off and on all day because I was so excited and wanted it finished!  It's in my top 3 of favorite blocks I've done for my bee.  I really need to make an aqua and red quilt.  REALLY.  Must start collecting fabric.

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Thanks for a great link up party last week!  I think the new rules for linking will help us have a great time together!  I won't be around much this weekend, so pardon my absence from replying and commenting - I'll be checking in next week.  Can't wait to see what you accomplished this week!

PLEASE READ LAST WEEK'S POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP!  :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.  Link to any tutorials you may have used, even your own. 

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

sew & tell - a quilting bee?

Did you remember that I am part of an online quilting bee, A Notion or Two?  I know, it's been a while since I've updated anything on it.  Partly because I've been a little slacker-ly this summer.  But I've been a busy bee (hahaha - pun totally intended) getting some blocks finished up.

You all know lovely Nicole from her guests posts here this summer.  She is making a maple leaf quilt.  It's going to be SO cute!  Here's my block for her:

And Sarah, of A Flower for You, is starting her adventure in mommyhood in a few short months. These blocks will be for her little man. I just love the colors.

My month was May. I thought it would be a good month, I could send out fabric early before I had the baby and before moving got crazy... well, it didn't work out so well. I don't think I sent my fabrics out until mid-May - so I've given my dear quilting friends more time to get them back to me. Here's what I have so far. I'm in love with it!

The fabric is Swanky by Chez Moi (I think that's right). And the pinwheels come from Rachel's (from P.S. I Quilt) pattern.  Pinwheels are one of my favorite blocks.  I'm going to have 12 all together and I'm debating making more to make a bigger quilt....

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Now a few notes about Sew & Tell.  I've kind of agonized about writing this.  I've felt a little overwhelmed with how many linkers we've had over the last few months and I wanted to feel less overwhelmed.  I wrote that sew & tell survey post a while back to get some feedback and I've used some of that here.

Sew & Tell isn't just any linky party.    Since you can't come to my house every Friday to show what you've been sewing, we get together here!

It is...

• a time to get together each week to celebrate a finish of a sewing related project.
• a place to meet like-minded kindred sewing spirits.
• an opportunity to get feedback and encouragement to keep cutting up your favorite pieces of fabric!
• a place to be inspired by the lovely and creative friends you will inevitably make.

I LOVE the community we have built here at Sew & Tell.  I've made some great friends.  I so appreciate everyone's enthusiasm for our weekly accountability check!  It's so motivating for me to have a place to check in each week to make sure I'm keeping on track and not letting my UFO's collect dust!

I know we are all busy.  I know that we can't always visit every blog that links up each week.  I want every minute you spend here to be worth your while.  That's why I've changed some of the link up requirements.

I appreciate all of you regular linkers and I'm happy to welcome new-comers.  However, I'm into quality over quantity. I'm into blogging etiquette. Please participate using the guidelines.

Now I know some people are new.  Or you wrote about something earlier in the week.  Just add a little note about sew & tell to let your other friends know what we're up to.  Maybe they'll be inspired to get some of their projects finished too!

I have gotten some great ideas from projects you have done, as I'm sure you have!  If you used a tutorial to make something - link up to it, in case someone (ie: me) wants to add it to their to-do list.  If you have written a tutorial it would be awesome if you could link to that in a different post as well, sometimes the tutorials in the sew & tell posts are distracting.

And a finish can be whatever you deem a finish, like pieces of a bigger project - like a quilt top for instance.  And if you don't want to blog about a gift until the receiver has gotten it, that's totally fine!  I'm not a total party-pooper.  :)

When sew & tell was born - it really was a means to have a weekly goal.  Finishing up one sewing project a week.  Let's keep it in that spirit and continue enjoying everyone's talents!

I have seen some amazing work here!  You guys are awesome and I'm glad to know you!
Did you make it this far?  Thanks for listening reading.
So now, what did you finish this week?

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

2. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

3. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

i've got amazing friends

And you all fit in that category!

Thank you so much for your nice comments every week.  And for loving sew & tell so much.  You all certainly keep me going.  I have so many things on my to-do list and posting for sew & tell keeps me working instead getting overwhelmed by everything.  Well, maybe I still get overwhelmed, but I like the feeling when I finish something.

Do you want to see some cool stuff some other amazing friends have done for me?

Most of you sew&tellers know E. from pinksuedeshoes.  I've taken to just calling her pink.  She called me a few weeks ago from one of her favorite thrift stores and then texted me a picture of this:

Her question:  I just saw this for $10, do you want me to pick it up for you?
Turquoise? Sewing Machine?  I think you know my answer!  Now I owe her $10, in quarters.  Because yes, that's how she paid!  Love her!  Thanks Pink!

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And you may have seen Aunt Spicy's Scotty dogs from a Denyse Schmidt pattern!  I got a surprise in the mail from her a few weeks ago!  She said it was for babylouwho, but I may just have to keep her.

We had a terrier growing up and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for them.  I think these patchwork ones are just so cute!

Aunt Spicy and I were introduced by Amy of Diary of a Quilter (who I met last January).  Amy thought we would have fun together and we lived in the same area.  We emailed and commented on each others blogs and even spoke of the phone a few times.  Unfortunately, because of my crazy having a baby and then moving plan and her busy job we never had a chance to meet.  Until a couple weeks ago!  She blogged about it here.  It was a fun time spent at IKEA!!  Thanks for the pup and the IKEA trip and thanks Amy, for introducing a new friend!

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My friend Kim doesn't blog, but should (hint hint).  I talked about her a while ago when she gave me a lovely collection of Heather Ross in pink for my baby girl.  I need to figure out what to make her with it.  Kim and I met at Costco.  She's like a kindred sewing spirit and I was sad to move away before we could spend much time together.  I saw her a couple weeks ago too.  And she sent me home with this:

and this:

and this:

perfect for a quilt for my little guy named:

 

It's a good thing I didn't take a picture of her stash.  If I did, you would all be googling her to figure out where she lives so you could raid it.  She is a kind and generous friend.  I have enough of this to make a twin sized quilt!  I just love those goldfish - they are perfect!!  Thank you Kim!!

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I know this is getting lengthy.  I've got a couple more things to show... I'll save them for another day.  But let's just say, baby booties and Japanese fabric.

What's a favorite sewing related gift you have received?  Seriously, I want to know!

sew & tell - curtains revisted

I've been thinking about the idea that's discussed a lot that only the polished and perfect are what people show on their blogs.  I hope that by now you all now I am not always a perfectionist, but I still don't like to admit to the messes I inevitably make or ignore.  In a spirit of coming clean and keeping it real, I haven't cropped these pictures down. Now you can see what a house with 3 small children and a mom who would rather sew than pick-up every minute of the day looks like.

I had a pretty productive sewing week.  I've had projects laying around that just needed to be made so I wouldn't have to figure out where to store the materials anymore!

I whipped up another small tote for a neighbor's 3rd birthday party.  

I LOVE this Henna print. I *need* to buy it in every color!  Have you seen the new muted colors from Meadowsweet 2?

Please wear responsibly.

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Boy fabric is hard to come by and I finally had an excuse to make this into a blanket for my friend Shayna who had her baby this week!  I love minky and camo together.  Such drama!  Such contrast!

For the record, I am a total minky snob.  I won't buy the knock-offs that are, admittedly, cheaper.  It doesn't seem to hold up as well.  Fabric.com has a great selection of the real stuff and you can always get a coupon and free shipping.

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Ever since my friend and interior designer, Heidi, helped me with my collage wall, I've wanted to get the curtains up in my dining room.  The rods were laying around and bugging me.  One of the curtains was already made and I just needed to make the casing on the other one.  I made one of these last year (Sept. 3) for my very first sew & tell post!  I didn't realize that I was going to be able to share them again just one year later!  At the time I cut both curtains out but never used the other one.  I put the rod up and realized it they were long enough if I let out the hem.  So did.  And I serged the edges.  And they hang just like that.  And you are the only ones who know...

And yes, that is a tray hanging on the wall over there.  I'm going to show you what I did. I just have to get the post written.  It might be a while!

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  I'll explain more later.  Please read carefully.

1. One linky per person of a sewing project. 

2. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

3. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

I have a back-to-school post I'm writing about sew & tell.  Bottom line, I want to make sure every minute you spend here is worthwhile!  My teacher-self from a former life is coming back to crack down!  (No smiling until Christmas.  hehe)

My husband is getting promoted today!  So I will be pinning on his new ranks this morning, but I'll be around to visit you all later.  How about another Marine Corps 101 post?

What sewing project did you finish this week?