the bee's knees quilting bee

One of the things I've been working on lately is some bee blocks.  I'm a part of The Bee's Knees Quilting Bee and we have a blog and everything.

I think I already posted about some of these, but I thought I would share better pictures of them along with some others that I hadn't shared yet.

Nedra sent us fabric and the pattern for Alison's Cluck Cluck Sew Spin Cycle block. I love the color combo and this pattern went together easily.

Amy E., Amy's Creative Side, sent us some gorgeous Echino and crossweaves for some log cabins.

I love the bright floral on this one.

And fussy cutting the cheetah was fun here.  I need more Echino in my life.

Amy S. sent some lovely prints and color choices!  I think you all know about my obsession with aqua/turquoise.  She asked for 12.5" or 6.5" log cabins.

I started with this 12.5" block. Love that aqua and red Flea Market Fancy.

Then I had enough scraps for this bitty 6.5 incher.  Add that to the list of things that are cute when tiny.

Here's a photo for scale.

I really love being in a bee and getting to use fabrics not in my stash and do blocks I might not otherwise do.  I've been getting a lot of my string blocks back too.  I need to get a photo of them together!

tap, tap, is this thing on? anyone there?

Hey friends!! Sorry I have been so MIA. Remember how I told you I had some exciting news? Well here it is: 

YES! He's home! We're all back together again!

I didn't really talk about it much here, even though I know a lot of you knew he was deployed.  I took a security class shortly after he left and then got paranoid about how much information I put online about him and his work.  I figured it was safer to err on the side of caution.  So it was a long 7 months and I am so glad he's back.  I'm starting to feel more normal again due mostly to the fact that I am getting some sleep now!

So I have been sewing.  Quite a bit actually. I'm going to try and get some more posts up here soon.

I've seriously slacked on sew & tell.  I'm not sure I have it in me to do it anymore.  I'm trying to reinvent it a little to make it fun for me again.  Maybe less often.  Maybe more constest driven? I don't know, I'm mulling it over.

How are you?  Anyone still there? Thanks for always being awesome and so supportive!  Blogging friends rock!!

giveaway winner!!

Hey Friends! I'm a little late on the announcing but our winner is...

Thanks for playing along! I loved reading your comments!! I have something exciting happening soon that I can tell you about next week. No, it has nothing to do with sewing or blogging, but a lot to do with why I'm so disorganized!! And no, I'm not having another baby. See you soon!

Instagram round up from yesterday

I've been documenting on Instagram what I've been doing since I'm #notgoingtosewingsummit ! I thought I'd share here in the virtual sewing room! It's super fun to check out the #sewingsummit feed too! There is so much fun going on over there!!

I love seeing what all of you are working on this weekend! Keep linking up! I've put the same linky at the end of this post too, so you only have to link up on one post, it will just carry thought the weekend!
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Instaclass of the weekend.  If you are working with something slippery or stretchy, pin the heck out of it!

baby blanket for a soon to be niece!

botched hem job getting fixed

And here is the finished hem.  It looks way better than when I got it.  The mom was happy too.

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My quilt partner is crime came over to sew and she worked on some snowballs...

 

And I spray basted this quilt (that she pieced).  Quilting to happen shortly.

Keep calm, and sew on! (and get a drink!)

And party on!!

the (virtual) sewing room is now open!! {linky party}

Welcome to the #notgoingtosewingsummit pity party!  I kid, I kid! Not a pity party. But a way to connect even though we couldn't all make it there!  

I've been super busy today and just acquired another sewing project for the night!  I've become the homecoming dress rescuer!  I took in my neighbor's dress (the dance is on Saturday) and a new friend tonight asked if I could repair a HORRIBLE hem job that a shop did on her daughter's dress!  So that's what's going on in my sewing room tonight.

I'm hoping to get to work on my stars (that I showed in the last post) and a quilt top that needs to be quilted.

I won't bore you with too much, but feel free to link up and show us what you are working on in your sewing room this weekend!  Since we're #notgoingtosewingsummit.  I'll have a link up in each post I put up this weekend and leave it open until Sunday night.  Feel free to link up any sew & tell finishes you might have too! Remember you can use the #notgoing.... on Twitter and Instagram.  If you don't have those then that's what this link up is for! Or you can do both!  Let's have some fun!!

Join the party!

#notgoingtosewingsummit

I was so lucky to attend sewing summit last year. What an awesome weekend to meet up with all of my blogging sewing friends and make new ones!

Last spring when quilt market was going on I got a little envious of all the market posts on Instagram. So a little tongue in cheek I started a little #notgoingtomarket party! Hehehe all in good fun.

Sooooooo, why not have a #notgoingtosewingsummit party this weekend!? (There's another tag started on twitter: #sortasummit)

If you aren't able to go either, join me for a virtual sewing fest! Pick a few projects to work on this weekend. We'll have our own virtual sewing room! The sewing room was the happening place during last year's event.

Share your photos on Instagram and twitter and tag them #notgoingtosewingsummit. I'll open up sew & tell on Thursday night for our opening night mixer! Edited to add: If you don't have instagram or twitter the link up will be up all weekend where you can share what you are doing!! Link up as often as you want!


I need some motivation to get back to some sewing! Who's in!? And of course I'll be checking in on all the real #sewingsummit posts too!

Maybe I'll finish up this little lovely.

book review: beginner's guide to free motion quilting = {a giveaway}

I was so happy that Natalia asked me to be a part of her blog book tour! (all photos courtesy C&T publishing)

If you have followed her blog at all then you know that she does some amazing work.  Between the quilt designs (many with amazing applique) and the actual quilting, she is one talented mama!

Natalia has written her first book for the beginner home machine quilter!

As Natalia said in her kick off post, quilting does seem to be a family affair! I learned to sew and quilt from my mother.  We didn't have formal lessons, I just learned as we worked on projects and as questions arose.  I love that at the beginning of the book she lays out simple instruction with photos of the different aspects of quilting: the type of feet you might need, thread selection, basics of basting, etc.  I love having all of that information so handy in one place!  I'm always learning something new!

Lately my littleslouwho are my reason for quilting.



I've made and am working on many quilts for them and me and the mrlouwho.  I wish I had Natalia's book when I free motion quilted my first quilt!  It's a good thing no one inspects each little stitch!!

The book has great step-by-step photo instructions to achieve many basic quilted patterns!

There is also valuable information on achieving something more than just an all-over pattern of stipples or loop-de-loops.  Which as a beginner is mostly what I do these days!

I am finding that I really love doing the actual quilting part, but I need more practice.  I can't wait to dive a little deeper into the book and try out some of the techniques!  I have some more placemats to make, they are the perfect size on which to practice! I'll show you when I finish them.

Natalia, thanks for including me!  There will be a giveaway on each post during the tour and a grand prize on her blog at the end of the tour!! All winners will be announced 18 March!

Would you like to win a copy of Natalia's book?  Just leave me a comment here telling me who or what inspired you to start a current project you are working on!