a little free motion quilting

What are you up to during the holiday break? Hope you're getting some sewing in. I'm trying to.

Christmas via instagram

A little glimpse of my life the past couple of weeks via instagram shots on my iPod with a not so great camera.

{amylouwho} december cheer and a sew & tell vacation

I've been busy painting, decorating, organizing and getting ready for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure you are all in the same boat, so we'll just take a Christmas break from sew & tell and resume in January.

December cheer around our house includes birthdays!  Mine is right after Christmas so I guess I'm sensitive to the plight of my DD #1 and her birthday 10 days before the big day.  We had a little party for her today which was fun, but I had the house torn apart from the above mentioned projects and had to pull it all together today!

I've been sewing stuff - I'm just too limited on time and energy to do some worthy posts!  I finished some window treatments to go with my newly painted rooms.  I sort of love it all! I should have known a little turquoise on the walls would motivate me and make me happy. :)

So here's a few pictures of what we've been doing.

 Happy Christmas, Birthdays, and New Year's! 

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.12 - a Christmas quilt

*****There were some issues with the pictures! I think it's fixed now!*****

Happy Friday!

I'm really excited to have Rene' guest post sew & tell today!

She has been linking up to sew & tell since nearly the beginning!  She's always been so supportive, participating regularly and visiting/commenting everywhere and really catching the spirit of the linky party!

I'm going to let her take it from here!

*****

Hello and welcome to Sew and Tell Friday!  Rene' from Rene' Creates here, and I am so thrilled to be hosting this week's link party.  Thank you Amy for welcoming me as a guest blogger!  To commemorate my first guest blog post ever, I chose to make my first ever Christmas quilt!

I followed Malka's supersize shoofly quilt pattern which has precise cutting and sewing instructions.  This quilt came together much quicker than the No Worries shoofly quilt I recently made.  The four Christmas prints used are Michael Miller Tree Trimmers, Michael Miller Folk Art Trees, Robert Kaufman O' Tinsel Tree and Robert Kaufman Groove.  The neutral fabric used for the background is from a bolt of Moda I had in my stash.  

As you can see there are various quilting designs going on here.  I am determined to if not master, at least improve, my FMQ skills!  My plan was to quilt each quadrant densely yet differently.  However, when it came time to quilt, my machine had other ideas.

First, I stippled the center diamond area which worked fine.  

Feeling confident, I tried my hand at pebble quilting the Groove (dots fabric) quadrant.  That's when my machine rebelled.  Towards the end, my "pebbles" were getting larger and larger with more and more space in between just to finish and be done with it ;-)

I switched back to my walking foot and used that to quilt a spiral in the Tree Trimmers (peppermint fabric) section.  Let me tell you it was very difficult maneuvering (basically swirling) this size quilt on my machine.  I was very glad to finish the spiral.

For the O' Tinsel Tree (pink fabric) area, I again used my walking foot and echo quilted around the center of the block.  This looked boring so I randomly quilted lines and blocks in the center square.  

Getting tired of using my walking foot, I switched back to FMQing and quilted loops for the Folk Art Trees (green fabric).

Since I stippled the center diamond, I also chose to stipple the triangular neutral areas on the top and bottom, whereas a walking foot was used to quilt organic lines in the four neutral corners.

I chose to use two different neutrals for the backing because I wanted to keep it simple and highlight the quilting.  I did have a hard time photographing that neutral background though.  For the binding, I went with the Robert Kaufman Groove dot fabric and Amanda Jean's machine binding tutorial.

Well, thanks again Amy for letting visit and share my Christmas quilt with you and your readers!

*****
Such a fun quilt!  Thanks Rene'!  You've inspired me to get the lap quilt finished I want to make!

Now, join in the fun and show us what you accomplished this week!

Linky Rules.  Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

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 (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

{amylouwho} winners and other random stuff

Well, hello friends!

Melissa at the Polka Dot Chair was sweet enough to interview me for her blog today!  I met her in person at the Sewing Summit and we sat next to each other sewing on Saturday night!  It was really fun!  So if you are interested in an everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-amylouwho-but-were-afraid-to-ask type of post, you can read it HERE.

Things have been a little unorganized around my house lately. I don't talk about it a lot, for lots of reasons, but my husband is getting ready for a deployment and it means he is gone a lot for extended training trips. When he is gone I don't sleep enough and then pay for it the next day.  I'm not as motivated, productive, or as organized as I would like to be. So I'm finally getting around to posting the winners from last week's giveaways!!

With the help of Random.org..

The winner of Candy's Dyeing to Stitch is

#1
embquiltsaid...

1

This looks fun! I am actually working on my second ever Dresden plate but am going big lol loved my first one so much that I joined a snowflake Dresden plate swap - of course it uses a different template then my handy one AND oh yeah I've gotta make 12 sets! Then even though thanksgiving has passed I've caught the Dresden bug - gonna do the big turkey that is on the Missouri star quilting co YouTube page!

11:27 AM, November 30, 2011

The winner of a pair of earrings from Leedle Deedle Designs is

#10
tarasaid...

10

I like the dreamy double drop pearl earrings!

7:02 PM, December 01, 2011

Ladies - if you haven't heard from me yet, send me your contact info so I can pass it along!  Thank you!

And if you are interested in buying some really amazing earrings go to Leedle Deedle Designs, the coupon code AMYLOUW25 will give you 25% off your purchase!
*****
I have been doing some things around here, like painting my kitchen and an accent wall in my living room. I need to take some after pictures then show you!  I also managed to get my Christmas lights up on my house all by myself. I am woman, hear me roar! (or swear a lot).

I also picked out this fabric the other day to make this quilt.  I've always thought Amy Butler and Sandi Henderson's fabrics went well together.  Here's a perfect example!!

(L-R) Henna Garden, Full Moon Dots, Daisy Chain, Secret Garden, Daisy Chain, Daisy Chain, Henna Garden

I needed something quick and easy.  I'll let you know how it goes!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.11

Happy Friday everyone! 

I'm happy to have a long time sew & tell-er guest posting today!  KT has been linking along with sew & tell from the beginning!  She always has fun projects to share and was sweet enough to still do this today even though she's been sick!  So without further ado....

*****

Hi and welcome to Sew & Tell Friday.  I am KT from ktquilts4fun.  I was so excited when Amy asked little old me to guest post.  Truly I had planned to have a little something fun and Christmas-y to share with you.

They were all cut out and ready to roll, but my life since Thanksgiving would read like something out of "A Series of Unfortunate Events".  Nothing horrible mind you, just...unfortunate!  I have had a nasty sinus infection since Saturday.  No big deal, just spent my time in the recliner finishing the binding on Treasure's quilt.

I used Tula Pink's Neptune line that I had been hoarding and swapping.  The pattern is from the Kaleidoscope Quilt A Long that was over some time ago.  What a disappointment when they stretched and bulls-eyed when I sewed them together.  I kept moving on, because life is never perfect!

I have to say that the quilting stumped me for awhile.  One night, when I was up way past my bedtime, it just came to me.  I am really happy with it.  The walking foot was employed for the squares made where the corners of the blocks come together.  Then I just did some loopy FMQ in the background pieces.  It is far from perfect, but better than my FMQ used to be!

I just couldn't bear to part with scraps that I had hoarded so carefully.  The back is composed of the end cuts from cutting the front pieces.  They are terribly imperfect.  That works for me with this quilt!

Treasure knew all about the quilt, it was kinda hard to hide!  So I already gave it to him.  It has only had one wash and is still linty.  It needs several more to get that cool, soft quilt feel.  This scarf, however will be a complete surprise to him.  Being Merino wool it is sure to keep him toasty!

Well, That is all I have to share.  Oh, the last unfortunate event, stomach flu has come for a visit.  Aren't you all glad that germs can't be transmitted through the net!  I am!  That means we can visit all the other Friday Finishes risk free!! 

Thanks again Amy for letting me visit here!

Blessings,

KT

*****

Thank you so much KT! It really helps keep sew & tell rolling along to have others come and guest post!  I love your projects! That neptune fabric and your quilt pattern are gorgeous!

If you are interested in winning a couple of cool prizes I have not one, but TWO giveaways going on right now. They both end Sunday at midnight. 

Candy's DVD "Dyeing to Stitch"

A pair of earrings of your choice from Leedle Deedle!

Now, join in the fun and show us what you accomplished this week!

Linky Rules.  Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

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 (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

{amylouwho} happy december!!! (and another giveaway!)

I LOVE December!  Everything about it!  Christmas, Christmas music, salted caramel hot chocolate (ahem, Starbucks I love you!),  Gingerbread houses, lights on houses, christmas trees, presents, birthdays (2 in our family!), etc.  It's just a fun, though exhausting month.

I wanted to introduce you to someone who might be able to help you with some holiday shopping for gifts, or for yourself.  My friend Leigh asked me if I wouldn't mind giving away some of her jewelry to my readers! And offer them an exclusive discount in her etsy shop. Of course I said yes!

Meet Leigh of LeedleDeedle Quilts and Designs.

she's the kind of friend that will split a fat quarter set of Fandango with you and give you all the turquoise pieces.

I met Leigh this year in my virtual quilting bee, Bee Tweet.  When I went to Utah this summer we met in person for the first time and it was so fun!  You know how you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for a long time?  Totally that kind of friend.  We were also able to hang out again this fall at the Sewing Summit.  It was awesome.  We would totally hang out all the time if I lived there.

She's made some amazing quilts,

but the project she is working on that absolutely blows me away is her hand stitched hexagon project.  WOW! It's so awesome V. wanted to steal it.

Not only does she quilt, she creates jewelry!  Which is where you come in.  She is giving one of you a pair of earrings from her shop.  I'm pretty sure I know I'd pick these,

or maybe these,

or these!

They are all so pretty!

To enter, just go to her shop and come back here and tell me which earrings you would pick! Easy!  If you want to be really fun, tell me the best present you are giving to someone this year.

Giveaway will be open until through Sunday night, 4 December, midnight-ish. I will announce the winner early next week.

In case you can't wait to see if you win, Leigh is having a sale all month long, 20% off her whole shop!  For amylouwho readers she is offering a 25% discount through next Friday, December 9.  Just enter the code AMYLOUWHO25 during notes to seller during checkout.

Good luck!! See you tomorrow for sew & tell!!