"Home Sweet Home" quilt block

I bought this magazine at JoAnn Fabrics, it has 100 really cute blocks.

The cutest of them all, is Lori Holt's "Home Sweet Home" block.

You can read about it on her blog, here.

This is the first little house I made.

The block finishes at 12", and I added a 2 l/2" border.

It finished at 16" square.

I made a mistake though.......the outside windows aren't centered.

I decided to leave it though, just because somehow, it didn't bother me.

I love the red and aqua combination.

I used my walking foot for the outline quilting, and the Bernina stitch regulator for the pebble quilting.  

I love a scrappy binding.

This is the back, red and white to match the red house :)

This is my second "Home Sweet Home" block.

I love the color combinations, with the swiss dot background.

I think the red and white gingham binding makes the house pop!

This is the very colorful back!

Both of these blocks can be used on a table, can be used in home decor, or as a piece of art on the wall.

I made both of them as a gift for some families in Brazil.

"There is beauty all around, when there's love at home."

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 15

This is the week for butterflies, one of my favorite blocks.

I have a board devoted to butterfly quilts on Pinterest, I love them so much!

You can see it here.

I placed my blocks in order on the floor, because I wanted to see what colors would look best for the butterflies.

The butterflies will go to the right of the houses.

The house on the right is pink with touches of red, including Little Red Riding Hood in the doorway.

I decided the first butterfly should be red, and since I like red so much, the third butterfly should be red also.

What goes perfectly with red?  Aqua!

I was in a hurry and made a mistake.

The middle butterfly should be going sideways for a scrappy look.

Do you think I should change it or leave it?

Leave me a comment and give me your opinion.

Dresden block

I wanted to make a pretty dresden table topper, a quilted, happy piece to brighten up a room.

I chose bright, sunshiny, scrappy pieces of fabric.

I sewed the dresden onto a white block.  I attached it with a small zig zag stitch, using invisible thread.

I have a lot of 1 l/2" squares, so I used them for a colorful border.

With my new sewing machine (Bernina 750 QE) that I got for Christmas, I quilted my dresden block and sewed on a scrappy border.

I can't tell you how much easier it is to machine quilt with!

I think the back of the block looks almost as pretty as the front :)

I used the free block template with video instructions from Riley Blake's mystery block of the month.  

The dresden was the month of August.

This link will take you to the video (August), along with a link to the pdf file for the pattern. 

The dresden looks so difficult, but really it isn't.

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 13

I'm out of order on my blocks, but better late than never!

I had an off day when I made these blocks yesterday :)

I cut and sewed these leaves but the stems weren't centered and the seam allowances must have been off.

The blocks wouldn't match up to the long piece of white sashing.

Notice how the blocks are so uneven on the bottom?

AAAAAgh!!!

I cut out more fabric and sewed the leaves together again.

Usually I don't do that, I just make things fit.

There was some water in the iron, and the seams are all puckery!

This time the seams were all matching but the leaves don't look very good with all the puckers!

I think it's time to take a little break from sewing for a few days :)

I sewed all the blocks together with sashing, on the left side of the quilt.  

It's starting to come together :)

I think I am going to have to change those puckery leaves again!!!

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 14

I made my house blocks for the Quilty Fun Sew Along.

I had some water in the iron so the fabric is a little "puckery".

My iron's not working very well right now so I think I'll exchange it for another one.

Here's my second house block, they are such fun to make!

I love Little Red Riding Hood.  

You can find more about the Quilty Fun Sew Along here, at Lori Holt's blog, Bee in My Bonnet.

Strip quilt, WIP

I posted about my fabric organization here.

One of my readers left this comment, "The hearts of string piecers are breaking!  Those scraps still have worth!"

It may me feel really badly, so I decided to save my scraps that were less than an inch and a half, and larger than half an inch!!!

I didn't know what a strip quilt was, so I researched and found out.

This is my first strip block, isn't it beautiful?

I made four more blocks, look how cute they are together!

Karen, I hope that you see that I took your comment to heart :)

I'll never throw away my little scraps again...

I'm going to sew these blocks as leaders and enders, and that way I will be sewing two quilts at once.

Paper Piecing Hugs & Kisses Blog Hop

I have been looking forward to this for a while....

Madame Samm is sponsoring a blog hop from sew we quilt.

We were given three paper pieced patterns and were given the task to design anything we wanted to with one or more of the patterns.

I wanted to use all 3, because they are so cute!
I posted the following photos so you could see all the little pieces of fabric that are added to give the "O" its shape.

Now it's time to square the "O" block.

Ta Da!!!  A beautiful "O" with a heart :)

I spy some feet too!

The letter "X" was piece in three different segments.

This is the completed "X" after I tore away all the paper.

My sewing isn't perfect, do you see the little missing piece in the bottom left corner?

Since this letter is all sewn in pieces, I just sewed another piece in the corner and squared it up.

No one will ever know :)

One of my favorite parts about designing a quilted project, is choosing the fabric.

The gray is the sashing, and the pink flowered is the binding.

It's all quilted and bound.

I shared this photo on instagram and everyone thought it was a quilt.

They would be beautiful colors for a Valentine quilt!

I made a table runner, it's 57" X 15".

I now have a beautiful Valentine table runner for my dining room table, yay!!!

Now to see what everyone else made!

Here are the other participating blogs for today and the rest of the blog hop.

Go and see the fun things they made with their "kisses & hugs"!

Today, February 12

Cynthia (me) @ Dream quilt create

Carol @ Just let me quilt

Sandy @ Upstairs hobby room

Pat @ Life in the scrap patch

Jolie @ Jolie Maxtin

Susan @ Desertsky quilting

February 13

Beth @ Words & Stitches

Jenny @ Squawk that

Britt-Inger @ Hill valley quilter

Carla @ Creatin in the sticks

Marian @ Seams to be sew

Lyndsey @ Sew many yarns

February 14

Soma @ Whims and fancies

Laura Ann @ The fuzzy hat quilter

Doris @ The quilting queen online blog

Rexie @ Crow calling woman - a crafting goddess

Sharie @ Living with purpose

Cherry @ Cherry blossoms quilting studio

February 17

Mary @ 1 piece 2 Mary

Vickie @ More stars in Comanche

Anne @ Seaside sewing

Selina @ Selina quilts

Theresa @ Bumbleberry Stitches

Jane @ Jane's quilting

February 18

Lana @ It seams to be sew...

Judy @ How art you?

Shanna @ Sparrow in flight

Amanda @ Amanda Murphy

Kay @ Sew golden a chance

February 19

Bente @ I like to quiltblog

Kristen @ Meadowbrook

Marcy @ Life, quilts and a cat too

Susie @ Susie's sunroom

Madame Samm @ Sew we quilt

If you are interested in a copy of the pattern, you can purchase it here on Etsy, or here at Craftsy.

Sweet Pouch Swap

I found "Sew Delicious" through Instagram, somebody I follow posted about her Sweet Pouch Swap.

Whoever wants to sign up can, Ros from Sew Delicious said that she'll have another swap sometime later this year.

The deal is to make a cute little zipper pouch and fill it with sweet treats for your partner on the other side of the world :)

My swap partner is Tracie Bailey, she lives in Australia!

She's a sweet young mother of an adorable little 2 year old girl.

We have become friends and we follow each other on Instagram.

I chose the "quilt as you go" method for my pouch.

I auditioned an orange and a blue zipper.  Hmmmmm.......

I chose the blue zipper, but now I have to decide which shade!

So many choices.....I like the darker one.

These are the backs of the quilted panels.

I like it!

Another angle....

....and the other side :)

This is the bottom of the pouch.

The orange lining is really happy :)

This is a representation of the most American candy I could think of.

I packed it in the smallest box I could find and took it to the post office.

The cost to mail the Sweet Pouch to Australia was $60!

I took the parcel home, opened it and took out the candy until it weighed 13 oz. 

I felt badly, having put so much thought into what to buy.

Tracie told me she really likes jellies.

I was able to keep the Jelly Bellies, Skittles and M&M's.

I also sewed a piece of Little Red Riding Hood ribbon onto the pouch and still paid $25 to send it off to Australia.

I was prepared to spend that much and am looking forward to Tracie's response to the pouch and the candy.