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.

Leaders and Enders

I first learned about Leaders and Enders here, on Lori's blog.

If you're interested, read the whole post and click her link as well.

She has lots of info....

Here is my leader, the block before the tulip block, under the presser foot.

I organized most of my scraps like Lori suggested, into strips and squares.

You can see my fabric bins here.

This is the little container I found in my office that I can use for the l l/2" scraps for some courthouse steps blocks.

The center square is 2 l/2", surrounded by 6 - 1 l/2" strips in varying lengths.

After I sewed part of the tulip block I would have cut the thread and pressed the block. 

Instead of cutting the thread, I sewed another strip to the courthouse block which will be the ender.  

Then I was able to cut the tulip block off of the chain and take it to the ironing board. 

Jodi from Pleasant Home also posted about how she has organized her scraps like Lori and is also sewing leaders and enders.

This method of sewing saves so much thread, I hope you try it :)

I still have more scraps to organize, I'll get it done eventually!

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 12

Week 12 is the tulip block on the Quilty Fun Sew Along.

When we lived in Utah, our house had a lot of tulips in the front yard, along the walkway.

Each spring, I would take my children's photo in front of the tulips.

It was amazing to see how much they grew each year :)

The tulips were red and yellow, so those are the colors I chose for my blocks.

I love the skinny stems, just like a real tulip!

Finished!

The tulips didn't take much time to make, especially since there were just two of them :)

Tee Shirt Quilt WIP

Sometimes I run out of ideas when I'm designing a quilt, it's almost like a stupor of thought.

I think about the quilt while I'm doing other things, like sleeping, 

ha ha!

The creative juices finally started to flow and I was able to draw the design on graph paper, 4 pages taped together.

I laid out the blocks in the order I wanted them, with some of the more meaningful tee shirt blocks in the center.

This is a more close up view.

I love the game day shirt, the principal tried to get it banned but it was too late, they were already printed and sold and the students were wearing them.

The girl who designed them was heartbroken so I'm glad they stayed :)

I was able to get the whole center section sashed.  Yeah!

I bought some BYU fabric at JoAnn fabrics in California.

There are a few sections in the quilt that I am adding the BYU fabric.

The navy and gray tee shirt is from Hollister.

One of Sean's girlfriends gave it to him, so it's appropriate that I include the logo :)

Remember this beanie from my last post here?

Look how wonderful the block looks!!!

The Cougar and the logo are satin stitch appliqued.

I cut along the outside of the satin stitch and simply top stitched on the inside of the satin stitch.

Super easy!

Now the soccer jersey, you know how silky and stretchy that fabric is.....and the number is rubber ironed on.

I traced the number and with a light box, traced it onto red fabric and I'm going to needle turn applique it.

I have a white number to applique onto navy as well.

That's it for now, stay tuned for more.....

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 11

This week I'm making the snowball block in the Quilty Fun Sew Along.
If you want to find out more about this quilt along, click the button to the right of my blog.

I've never made this block before, it's been on my list for a while.

One of the best parts of making a quilt is choosing a color scheme.

I cut out a lot of white squares!

This is my little snowball block before the edges are turned out and pressed.

These two blocks look so different, but one is just trimmed and the other one isn't.

A pile of trimmings, too little to use for anything.

This is my pile of freshly pressed snowball blocks.

My finished snowball blocks, all waiting to be organized into the Quiltty Fun Sampler.

See you next week :)