Linking Up

Happy Friday to you all! I'm showing a quick picture here of my Hugs and Kisses quilt that I have been piecing from Christa's Quilt Along. It will be sent to be given to someone having to go through chemo therapy by way of  the Hands to Help Challenge (see side bar buttons).
I'm linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict to show some of what I have been up to.

We are still refinishing doors and woodwork around here so only a little bit of sewing going on. I hope you all have a joyful weekend! Thanks for stopping by! 

A Treat and a Finish

Michelle from The Raspberry Rabbits treated me to a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. I don't have adorable real bunnies like she does, but I gathered around some of the group I have here and we enjoyed looking through this fun edition of great quilt blocks.

Thank you, Michelle, Harrington and Hannah! I will enjoy sewing this special block of yours in here. What a sweet treasure to find in my mailbox!
 

And finally for a finish...I have a picture here of my sweet Sabra and the Church Windows table cloth quilt I've been working on.

 

loot from the Quilt show

Torn between wanting to support the vendors who carried all that stuff in for us to see...and not spending too much money and bringing yet more fabric into storage here...this is the shopping that prevailed. Wonderful checked flannel and little pieces of wool from Farmhouse Threads who had a simply charming booth set up for us. I actually wish I'd purchased more there! Some lovely wool pieces from Quilter's Paradise,and Reets, Rags To Stitches. These are hopefully going to go in this project from Primitive Quilts 2013 Spring issue.

 

When leaving the show, I viewed these beautiful creatures enjoying the fields around the Madonna Expo. I waited for the beautiful golden horse to lift her head...but she was too intent on eating.

Today, I'm putting on the binding to my church window tablecloth and will post pictures soon. I have 24 of the X blocks to sew together for the charity quilt and still need to do the quilting on the wool wallhangings. So hopefully I will have some finishes to show soon....after I work the weekend at the hospital :-)
We are having a beautiful start to May here. Hope you are too!

local quilt show

Seven Sisters Quilt Show was this past weekend here in San Luis Obispo, California. It was a gorgeous day and I really enjoyed the show. We have some talented quilters here. Lots of inspiration.
I'm sharing a few pictures though in my usual crooked unskilled photography style! Friends' quilts first... Darlene's Twist and Turn

Darlene's Bug Jar quilt with vinyl over the jars...very cute! and for a lucky grandchild.

 

Jan's "What's a Mother to do?"

 

Then just some favorites and quilts for inspiration. (not the best lighting!)

 

Ending here with a quilt from a challenge. This is a picture quilt of a local site, a cherished barn we see from the highway.

one new giveaway winner

I've been having a good time here with a friend that came to visit.

All but one of the giveaway winners have contacted me with mailing info....which I have not used yet :-/  Will get to mailing this week!

But I needed to select one new winner as I have not heard back from Judy. So I will be sending a book and pin to.... Mary of Quilt Hollow. 

Congrats to all of you and hope you enjoy these little treats!

Giveaway Winners

It's Tax Day,but no tax worries here! Only news of those receiving the gifts from Jennifer Chiaverini's publisher of The Giving Quilt.
I used a random number generator and came up with these winning quilters.
Joanne and Judy will each receive a copy of the book and the pin designed to go with it. Barbara W, JoEllen, Sandie, and Quiltgrammy will each receive one of the pins. I will send emails to the winners requesting mailing info but will need to hear back from you within the week or I will need to choose another recipient.
Thank you all for joining in this giveaway! I hope these quilters will enjoy their treats!
 

Pressing matters

This is not a fascinating subject, but here it is :-)

Awhile back as I was sewing the church window blocks together, it dawned on me that I would need to start ironing them. Funny how my stitching slowed down...I enjoy hand stitching but with the odd shape block like this or diamonds, pressing the seam has been a bit daunting for me.

I learned to hand stitch watching a video by Linda Franz but despite her instructions, I have not felt like I "got it". Half way through this task though, a light bulb in my mind brightened a bit and I think I finally understood a bit of what she was saying. I don't think I would 'blame her' for how these seams look :-) but I think I'm improving.

The first pic shows some pressed and some wrinkly from being squashed in my hand while stitching.

The second pic shows my first way of doing it.

 Then this pic shows how I started swirling the intersections a bit. It's all about the construction of the seams and getting them to lie smooth, flat and with the least amount of fabric smashed in there. I never was able to do the spinning or swirling of the fabric very well but I think I'm doing better with it.

 

 

The process wasn't as tedious as I dreaded. It actually went pretty fast.

Of course...then I put on a thin inner border, put it on the intended table where it will be used, and realized it still needed another row of blocks!  Couldn't be happy without fixing it so a bit of unstitching occurred and a new row was added. I'm back to adding the borders again and will get it ready for quilting.

 

Thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes! We will be headed this week to celebrate with some sushi, a trip to my favorite quilt store, and to the DMV...they want to see me in person this year. I think tomorrow will be a good day to announce the giveaway winners. If you haven't commented yet for a chance to win The Giving Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini or one of the art pins, please check out the April 4th post and leave a comment there. It's a lovely book to read!