I Won!

 I am so lucky for many reasons. But I was especially lucky in this season's SewMamaSew Giveaway Day, which has morphed into giveaway week with so many fantastic giveaways. I love finding new shops and blogs.

This year, I was fortunate to win 10 fat quarters of my choosing from Ella's Cottage. Leigh Ann writes a blog and runs an etsy shop from Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Here's the loot:

Bag of Chips Jelly Red

Bag of Chips Picnic Blue

Scallops, white on red

Scallops, white on orange

Scallops, white on lime

Scallops, navy on white

Raspberry Jam Jelly Red

Raspberry Jam Picnic blue

Happy Go Lucky dots white/aqua

Hip Fab Fluffer Nutter
[This is the list of fabrics on the left, but in reverse order. Too lazy to switch it around or re-order the list :)]

And if that weren't enough, I was also lucky enough to win Rachel's giveaway at Snippets of Sweetness. She was giving away a copy of Ayumi's book, Patchwork Please!

She was also giving away a collection of snippets (see what I did there!) in the form of a charm pack with lots of goodies in there.

Not a ton of sewing happening here. I finally got the binding sewn on the front side of my churn dash quilt and I attempted a fully-machine sewn binding, but I am terrible at that. It takes so long and I always manage to miss the back so many times. So I'm ripping it out and will do it by hand. Pretty soon my little one will be able to actually use it! 

I'm also going to sew a couple more Mendocino sundresses, as they seem to be pretty good for nursing. I'm always on the lookout for nursing-friendly tops. I'm so glad it's finally warmer so I don't have to be bundled up so much.

Looking forward to sewing some more or at least getting some more pieces cut for my WIPs.

Kate Spain Apple Core Destash/Swap

Just posted this on Flickr, but I thought I'd add it here. Last year, I thought I would be ambitious and try to make an apple core quilt for my mom's birthday in October. I got a good start with cutting all of the blocks out, but when it came time to piece them, I dropped the ball. And now, I just don't think I will ever get to it. Maybe someone else would like to take up the challenge.

Here are the details:


Includes over 290 4.5" apple cores cut from Kate Spain fabrics and 42 2.5"x10" Good Fortune leftover strips

Fabrics:
1-Good Fortune layer cake (= 4 charm packs)
2-Cuzco charm packs
1-Terrain charm pack
Cut using rotary cutter and Missouri Star Quilt Co acrylic template.  (Tutorial here, using similar template: youtu.be/WeNuwv0-SLc)

Template NOT included :)

I was thinking about maybe 5-7 yards fabric swap (depending on rarity)? Maybe $70+shipping for destash? I'm open to different offers or ideas. 

I just don't want them to go to waste!

Haven't done much lately, but I did manage to cut out about 170 triangles of Joel Dewberry Heirloom for a quilt down the line. Hopefully those pieces won't go the way of my apple cores :)!

I'm Down with OPP!

OPP - that's Other People's Projects :) I haven't been able to do much - no surprise, I'm sure. At about three and half weeks, I sewed three seams together to finish up my second Boppy cover and I had rip one out and re-do it. I also managed to get in a little fabric shopping and snagged some much sought-after Comma and I've been dreaming and scheming about what to do with it, but that's about the extent of my creative endeavors. I guess that's how it will be for a while, anyway.

The baby received a couple of amazing handmade gifts that I'd like to share. First, my aunt out in the DC area made this amazing toy/ball:

I've seen tutorials and patterns like this, but I have not been brave enough to try it out. My aunt is a very experienced quilter and she made two of these - one for my daughter and one for my new nephew - and even she said, "next time, I'm making a quilt!" So, I know they are pretty challenging.

The baby really loves it. She's starting to track things with her eyes and of course she really responds to things with high contrast. I'm sure she's going to love it even more, as she gets older. Maybe I can find a way to hang it over her bed or changing table...

Next, my cousin made this incredible elephant quilt:

The picture of the whole quilt doesn't show the ears very well, but the are 3-dimensional - they come out of the quilt blocks, like flaps.

 

It's adorable! I'm thinking about sewing a sleeve on it to hang it up. That will look much better than the painters tape!

Oh, I also received my FQs from the Text Me Swap:

Very excited to play around with these someday soon (maybe!).

The Reason I'm Not Sewing

An adorable, amazing, delightful, life-changing reason.

My baby girl has arrived and I am in a haze of late night feedings and diaper changes.

And I wouldn't have it any other way!