Happy Fall Y'all!

This past weekend was my local quilt shop's annual Backyard Quilt show. This wonderful show is Doris's way of showing her customers appreciation of the many quilts we all make and is the premise of the whole show! We all get our favorite quilts out and submit them to Doris, she sets them up with numbers on them and we all vote on our favorites. The winner of viewers choice then gets a wonderful prize to spend in the shop! It seems like this year had many more quilts than last for sure! Also this year, since the shop had moved to their farm, she also had a nice selection of vendors for us to peruse. Our guild also had a booth to sell the tickets for our the raffle quilt that was made, there was a nice selection of pumpkins and Indian corn to purchase and of course she also had an awesome supply of munchies. It was a great show!

Here is a mosaic of some of my favorite customer quilts and the vendors at the show!

....and here is the Lil Country Shoppe in all it's finery! You can see why I love going there!

....and one of the other really awesome parts of the show is the trunk shows that Doris gets for us to view....well that brings me to my exciting news! I was very honored to be asked to show my patterns as a trunk show this year!! It was a wonderful feeling indeed! Here are the quilts I showcased and their respective patterns!

This one is the latest of my patterns, Bluebird's of Happiness, and is made with wonderful fabric from Lecien's Floral Collection- Pastels. It has blanket stitch applique (which can be done needle turn as well) and buttons added for embellishment.

The first one is Blooming Bouquets and I made this sample using Sweet by Urban Chicks for Moda. It is fat quarter friendly with large blocks. Then there is Rolling Pinwheels, which is a jelly roll friendly quilt made with Beach House by Blackbird Designs and Patisserie by Fig Tree Quilts. All of these will be available in my etsy soon and I will post when they are!

It definitely was a lot of fun to see them hanging there at the show! I am busy at work on a couple of new patterns at the moment that I will give sneaks of next time but I can tell you that one is using Lecien's fabric I got from Spring Market and the other is using a jelly roll of Simple Abundance!!! Can't wait to show them to you!

Until then....

Happy Fall Y'all!

Cara

Hexagon, hexagons....

A few weeks ago I had to have some minor knee surgery (I tore the meniscus in my right knee) and was laid up for a bit. This meant no sewing machine~ARRGG! So I cracked open my Hexagons that I have been working on....ahhh there is nothing like hand work to pass the time! I managed to finish every single one of these!!! Yippeee! I am finally starting to see some progress!

(9 hexagon flowers)

So now I am basting some background hexies to put around these and the bigger flower from before Shown here:

Once I have enough, then I will make more flowers! Although one again I am able to sit at Nina, so these have been put back in my car bag for long drives.

In other quilting news, I have also been designing up a storm! I actually am in the process of writing up 3 projects and making the samples for the new patterns, so keep an eye out here in the next few weeks as they hopefully will be finished soon! I am excited as a couple of these new patterns are using some of the fabulous Lecien and Moda fabrics I got at Spring Quilt Market!Well, I'd better get cracking~the quilting bug is calling my name! LOL!

Happy Quilting!

Cara

Blogoversary and a giveaway!

Wow! Hard to believe that it has been a year since I started blogging! What a year it has been! I have loved every minute of it! I have met some wonderful people and realized how small the world can be thanks to technology. I have learned a lot, been inspired a ton and most of all had my heart warmed by the generosity of bloggy quilters! In a thanks and celebration of my blogoversary, I have decided to have my first giveaway! So here it goes..... Leave me a comment and I will have a drawing for this wonderful pattern and fat quarter bundle!



The fat quarter bundle is from Urban Chicks latest line "Sweet" by Moda and the pattern is from Fig Tree Quilt's quarterly publication Fresh Vintage- which if you have not checked out- do! It is awesome!

And to make it fun, in your comment please tell me where you are from and how you got started blogging! I will start:

Hi my name is Cara and I am from Maryland- a small town just north of Baltimore. I got started blogging after reading an article in McCall's Quilting by Holly Holderman. I started surfing the quilt blogs and decided I wanted to be part of the fun!

So, please leave me a comment by Sunday and I will draw that next day! Oh and if you post a link to this giveaway on your blog let me know and I will give you 2 extra entries!
Have fun and I look forward to reading your comments!
Thanks for a great year! (*just in the nick of time!)
Cara

Candle Mat

Today I decided to finally make this cute little Valentines wool candle mat. This is one of the many projects that I picked up the pattern and the supplies for the last time I was in San Diego. It is a pattern by Bareroots and called "Hearts and Flowers". Not sure if it counts towards the OPAM challenge but it is something that has been in the queue for a while now. I replaced my house mat that I made for my kitchen island until Valentines day has gone then I will try to find an Easter one! Just a small finish but still something! I have a few of these patterns and they are a lot of fun to make. I did put buttons on the hearts though instead of felt just to make it a little different! Now I have to replenish my red button supply.

I am also continuing to work on my MODA Piece and Plenty blocks- 2 more appliques to finish and then I can finish the last 2 filler blocks! I have, however,started to put together the different sections that I have all of the blocks finished for. Hoping to have it finished this weekend to show at least the top! Otherwise, i have decided to go through my nook and make a list of my WISP's as well as other projects that are not necessarily started, but that I have the pattern and supplies for already. This way,I won't be at a loss for the OPAM challenge this month. So,back to work!

Happy WISPing!

Cara

Moda U - getting closer!

Yippee! I am getting closer to the end of these blocks! Here is the latest of my MODA U Piece and Plenty blocks. Below I finished these 2 blocks while watching the Ravens game and the inaugural coverage from the past couple of days.

Block # 9

Block # 11

It has been nice to pick this back up and the fact that it should have been finished last year makes me want to finish it more. I have now prepped all the remaining applique blocks and once I finish them, I will be working on the rest of the pieced filler blocks. Well, back to work- it is still cold here and stitching by the fire and continuing to watch the parade has been nice! We actually even had snow yesterday- the kids were ecstatic!

Happy stitching!

Cara

WISP's and a new group!

Do you remember this from before? My pile of hexagons I was working on last summer...

Well, this is what the result was.....

I have since been re inspired by at Lissa at Moda Lissa to pull these out. You see she has a very interesting way of piecing these that might help progress. Don't get me wrong, I love hand work but I find my time for doing some is fairly limited AND I have too many on the go...so I am going to attempt her tutorial and see if progress can be made toward a finish! Yeah! I will still hand piece them too as it is definitely an on-the-go project and they are fun! I also then found that Robyn from Daisy Quilts has started a Hexagon group to inspire, support and share our love of hexes! Here is the group:
I think I have several hexagon ideas now and am anxious to get some done!

On other notes, I have joined May Britt and Kris in their one-a-month WISP challenge. I have way too many of these and feel the need to finish some started projects! In the interest of this (oh and the fact that the new one has just arrived! :) )I pulled out my 2008 Moda U project. To refresh, this was a 12 month, 15 block (plus filler blocks) applique/piecing mystery quilt! I have seen our shops sample finished (by the wonderful and talented Susan!) and it is gorgeous! So I am piecing the remaining blocks and prepping the applique to finish those blocks. Here is the most recent one I have finished:

Block # 7

and here is my progress along with that:

Blocks #1-6

I have some of the fillers done but no pics yet. I stopped working on them because I wanted to see the finished blocks, then do them, as I was inserting some of my own color choices to make the quilt less of a carbon copy of Susan's. So I have blocks # 8, 10, 11 and 12 prepped and will be prepping the other 3 today. Once the applique is finished (hand work) then I will finish the fillers and put it together!

So I am off to continue on this project. Hop on over to see Robyn and the Great Hexagon Quilt- Along and join us! I will be back with more progress reports and of course a sneak peak of my new pattern set to come out in February. I also will be talking about the ornament swap Stefanie and I did and all the great BOM's out there in blog land that I have added to my list of must-do's!Until then....

Happy hexagon quilting!

Moda Fabricmatcher- are you a member?

Wow! I cannot believe this has been such a busy couple of months! I have been working on some last minute projects and getting them finished up so hopefully I can do a big post about the past couple of months! Today though I wanted to use my break from the Nook to tell you about the coolest new tool over at the Moda website. They have this program called Fabricmatcher that you can go in and design one of their quilts using a huge Moda library of fabrics! I have had fun using it and will continue to do so. Check out a couple of my faves from my projects:
http://moda.fabricmatcher.com/Stash/tabid/84/page/3/Default.aspx
http://moda.fabricmatcher.com/Stash/tabid/84/page/3/Default.aspx
Once you sign up you can save all of these! Check out some of the other stashes while you are there!
Now the best part...each month they have a giveaway based on your submitted quilt designs! So the whole thing is a win win...you can pick a pattern and audition fabrics before going to the quilt shop-WIN....you can check out the newest fabrics to come out-WIN and best of all you could win one of their giveaways- definitely WIN! I highly recommend popping over to the site and trying it out!
Well, off to get the little ones into their beds! More posts about some projects very soon!
Cara

Stitcher's Angel received her gift!

Well, I got a lovely comment/email from Cici letting me know that she received her parcel in Sweden safe and sound! If you remember , in my last post, I gave a sneak peak of what I was making....here are the finished products....

I used a tutorial over here for this awesome collapsible bucket that is made out of canvas. I did not want to use canvas so instead I lined it with Timtex. The pin cushion is from my Quilts and More mag and is by Heather Bailey. I pieced the top piece of fabric though for a matchy look. And last but not least the Stitching folder is from this pattern by Renee Plains. Instead of the wool I used an angel applique from Nancy Halvorsen's book Angels Among Us and added my own stitchery touches. Most of the fabric is Moda and some is from my long stashed away Robyn Pandolph fabs (from when she was with Moda). All in all I had a great time both finding these gifts and then making them. So.....

...I am glad that they arrived to you safely! I also must say thanks to my accomplice, Stina, who was gracious enough to answer some questions for me so that I could make sure I was choosing things that Cici would like! Of course I would like to extend a BIG thanks to Helen for hosting this really cool swap!

Also, I found a great giveaway the other day...if you have not been to Camille's blog lately, hop on over there quickly and enter to win-get this- a quilt made by Camille!!! Isn't she just awesome to do this?! There is not much time left for this though so get and move on! There are also some great ways to get extra entries if you want to increase your chances! Thanks Camille- you are the coolest!

Well, I am off to see if I can get some of my Etsy stocked up and of course to do some work on my numerous WIPS! I will hopefully have something to show soon and maybe a sneak peak of the pattern I am working on!

Cara

P.S. A while back our guild had a sew in day for ConKerr Cancer and I have learned recently that Cindy Kerr, the founder of this awesome charity, has been chosen as one of 10 women to receive the 2008 Women Of Worth award. This is a wonderful charity and this is our chance to help out once again. Please go to http://www.womenofworth.com/ and vote for Cindy and if she is selected, ConKerr Cancer will receive $25 000! Hurry on over and vote as it ends November 24th! You can also help by making these pillow cases and donating them. Thanks for supporting this cause.

At last some finishes!

Well, I have finished the first quilt(s) in the new Nook! All of my finishes this week are commissioned projects from The Quilt Nook. The first is a memory quilt for a graduation gift. The recipient was in awe of her mom for

getting this for her- I called it "Shabby Chic Memories". She said it matched her bedroom perfectly! I would have to say it was hard to give this one to them! I may have to make a quilt in this fabric line, Simplicity by Moda, for myself.

Here are some close-ups:

The next finishes were for going away presents. They are on their way to the customer as we speak and she will be presenting them on Wednesday I believe...I will find out then how their recipients liked them! : )

Otherwise I managed to clean up and reorganize (it gets crazy in my room when I am working LOL!) the Nook and it is ready today for me to get back at it. I took the class on my machine a couple of weeks ago and now I guess I need to schedule the embroidery class too so I actually am using my 440 with actual knowledge instead of winging it...I tell you though it was a dream working on that memory quilt with a good, scratch that, GREAT machine! Thanks Bernina! I have been trying to use it on my own but Vista is giving me grief!!! I think tomorrow I will call and schedule the class!

Well, since the Nook is cleaned up and ready for more creativeness, I think today will be a day to work on personal projects and see if I can whittle down my WIP's and TBQ's lists on the side. Hoping to get them completed before my Cinderberry Stitches patterns arrive (hopefully tomorrow: ) - more on those later!)

Happy Memorial day and God Bless our troops (and my Marine!)

T.T.F.N!