Dec. OMG: Dotty Christmas Flimsy Finish

Welllll....I started the year and now ended the year joining all of you for:

I set out to make this quilt last December but it didn't get done:

But this year, this December, I enjoyed transforming that pile of fat quarters above into this 

Dotty Christmas Finish:

This finish measures 48"x 68".

I would like you input on the backing. I put these choices in my 

Fat Quarter "Cart" and of course, want to take advantage of the fact they are all on sale:

  

Which one do ya think? They are a little blurry, but the red has words and the green has little Scotties.

Please feel welcome to comment to let me know what you think. And....thanks ahead of time.

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Studio Reorganized & One Tip

While I should be working on my raw edged flowers and nine patches, I mean after all, they are my June OMG....but noooo instead: SQUIRREL!!! I got back from my retreat all inspired to rearrange my entire studio! (I have no idea why!) I created a larger cutting/quilting area:

Jackson was a great help! NOT! LOL!!Okay, see that big sectional in the background....

well I sold half of it (More...cash for fabric!! LOL!!) and...

... moved my little table and chairs over there (so cozy) :

My mom would call and after the third time of dropping the phone while she was talking, she asked: "What are you doing?" Reply: "Rearranging my fabric!" She laughed reminding me that I do that every summer...in reflection, I guess she's right. But I can't tell ya how rejuvenating it is. So I spent another day rearranging ALL my fabric. Truth be told, I was hoping to go through all my fabric in hopes of reopening my Etsy shop and getting rich selling my fabric stash...LOL!! NOT!...I found myself ooohhh and auughhhh way too much and only ended wishing I had more time to create.

I emptied my entire glass cabinets and here's how I always seem to end up organizing:

I organize my STASH in a RAINBOW spectrum.

My one tip: whether it be my thread or fabric organize them in a rainbow order. I start with green. 

Why haven't I finished this Metro-Rings quilt?? Until then, I 'll enjoy it here.

Here is my stash revamped: 

And now that I'm all reorganized...I got back to creating. I ending up backing my crazy jelly roll race classroom quilt with these pearl rings I found in my stash. I quilted it with a bubble pantograph.

Today I plan to sew a green binding on it and put it in my back-to-school pile.

Last thing I want to do is organize my WIP hand projects as inspired by Karen who blogs at Moose Bay Muses especially as our July will be a busy month filled with travels and family. She made these adorable vinyl bags and though I love their colored zippers, I'm pretty sure mine will be organized into gallon-size ziploc bags, put into a cute basket, of course. Thanks for the inspiration Karen.

So that's what I've been up to this week...no Etsy shop reopened...but never the less, reinspired am I.

Join us! Click picture to read about our Tuesday linky.

Recipe for a fun retreat!

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes on having a great retreat! I'd read your comments while at retreat and just smile at the wonderful virtual quilting guild we have here among us. So here's the recipe to a great four days away...sewing!

Ingredients:

One very nice hotel located in a small mountain community.

Rainy, windy weather outside.

A large room filled with quilters.

Your own little spot. 

Now mix in a little fun and laughter!

Yep! EVERY time you used your seam ripper you had to pay a nickel. I think I put $1.50 worth of nickels into that there little jar. But, darn didn't win the jackpot. Boy that would have totally bumped up my Piggy Bank Challenge contents huh! Bummer!

Using trader's dice, we played using fat quarters. I walked away with these six.

Lucky me, three that I can contribute to the I-Spy swap! This was a fun game.

Oh man, and what is quilter's retreat without a jelly roll race!

I would have never been able to do this without the help of my friend Lori.

Seriously this was kinda hard. I mean I was sweating and my machine was shacking!

But I finished this wonderful little masterpiece in 39 minutes and 36 seconds!

(I was trying to cross my eyes in this picture, but I obviously didn't accomplish that.)

I won a charm pack for coming in second place. YEAH!!

And soon after I received the nickname: "half inch" as my seams fluttered like ruffles as they were soooooo big!! LOL!! One participant even asked: "Don't you have a quarter inch foot." I responded: "Yep. and even an automated 1/4 inch setting." The room rolled in laughter and thus my nickname was created! (Go ahead look closer...so funny!)

It may have turned out smaller than everyone elses, but those seams aren't coming apart!  I'm going to add a black border, back it with some minky and it will make the perfect classroom reading quilt don't ya think. The kids will love it. Oh! Everyone's cracking up in this picture below because my neighbor in the white announced I should turn mine around so we could see all my pretty ruffles!

Fabrics used from left to right: Chipper by Tula Pink, Eden by Tula Pink, Polka Dot by Moda, Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille.

We both worked on our raw edged flowers/nine patch quilts. Lori layered her flowers in threes and used all pinks and browns.  Pretty huh!

My flowers have four layers and I used a lot of Kim Diehl fabrics and some wovens.

Both of these will be queen size quilts and I think we are both about half way done. Pre-cutting all our flowers and nine patch squares saved the day for sure!

We all went home very happy campers and now need to get unpacked and set up at home.

Thanks again for your well wishes and as you can see, my retreat experience was fun and productive! (Though I don't think we'll get a lot of empathy from our husbands as we now complain about be so tired. Seriously, we never went to bed before midnight!) Speaking of fun. Please do share your favorite retreat memory or/and if you have ever participated in a crazy jelly roll race. 

Tomorrow we'll be rejuvenating  Farmer's Wife posts.

My Snowman Finish and Happy Mail Winner

Yep! Your guys guessed it! This was a peek at the backing and quilting on my.... 

...student inspired snowmen quilt.
Aren't they just the happiest snowmen you've ever seen!

And a BIG congrats to Karen who blogs at Moose Bay Muses, as the random generator picked your #15 comment/guess as the winner of my Happy Mail Give-Away. HUGS to everyone who commented. I'm always grateful for the friendships we share here in our virtual, quilty community.

Altogether these happy snowmen ended up measuring 40"x 60" and

 will certainly keep me smiling for many winters to come. 

Thanks for stopping by once again. 

Wishing you a great start to your week.

Tomorrow's theme is: Butterflies.

A Happy Mail Give-Away!

Binding my way through the week in anticipation of sharing this cute, cute finish with you! 

Can you guess which quilt I've almost finished?

The quilted snowflakes are a good hint!

Leave a comment with your guess to be entered into my winter "pick-me-up" happy mail give-away.

(I haven't decided the happy mail package yet...but who doesn't like fun mail?!).

This Give-Away is closed. The winner and quilt were revealed here.

PS: Still not too late to share your "book" themed archives at this week's linky.

My Quilted Planner Cover

Any of you who got the Quilter's Planner, were also emailed a pattern to create a fabric cover for the planners. I had a lot of fun creating mine and am glad I made it as this little guy will be carried often between work and home. Just think, now I can doodle during staff meeting and look like I'm taking "real" notes! 

Here's the cover:

I enjoyed creating my little wonky butterfly and embellishing it with some creative stitching over the New Year's holiday.  I seriously can not remember the last time I put in a zipper, let alone a pocket!

I was beginning to feel like I was back in high school Home Ec class.

But I did it! Wahooo!!

Here's the inside flaps with pockets: 

This pocket will hold all my sticky notes and a few pencils.

Notice the large ric-rak I used to embellish the top of the pocket. Cute!

I really enjoyed all the Winter Sewing I got in during my break from school/teaching this past two weeks. Thanks for stopping by and keeping me motivated with your visits and comments.  The rest of the day will find me wrapping things up around here. You can bet that means scheduling some January projects that I can't wait to share with you...and of course, finishing up the laundry and getting the bills paid. Know i'm truly looking forward to a FABULOUS 2016 together!  

Stay-cation Day 7: My Rainbow Pinwheel Quilt is FINISHED!

My Rainbow Pinwheel Quilt is done!! YAH!!!!! There is so much I like about this quilt...yet, with that said, it's one I admittably wish I had a little girl to gift it to. As I finished the binding and flowers I found myself daydreaming of a future grand-daughter falling in love with it, begging me to take it home. (And of course, I'd say: " absolutely!") Until then, this quilt filled my love of polka-dots! It was so much fun to create....

This quilt measures 52"x72".

Like one reader previously commented, this quilt is like a bowl full of jellybeans!

I think she is right! So let me share some quilty treats with you. 

First, the flowers! I've always wanted to do this "flower technique" on a pinwheel quilt and it seemed perfected "fitted" for this quilt.The flowers are made using two layers of raw cut fabric rounds, then those are clipped along the edge every 1/2" or so. Finally, add a yoyo flower and button and you got it! This the what the flowers look like before they are washed: 

This is what the "flowers" look like after being washed...

Don't you just love how crinkly and a bit frayed they are!!

The next treat is the quilting.

I couldn't resist using my cupcake pantograph:

 Especially because this is what the back looks like:

I was disappointed to not have enough of the cupcake fabric for the backing. But this entire quilt was made from my stash, so I kept auditoning pieces from my stash until I found that white polka-dot fabric in the center. (Which corrdinates with the sprinkles on the cupcakes.)

The last treat is the "made fabric" that's in the pinwheels. The leftovers were used to create those fun circles I added to the back. I think both the front and back now have that  fun, whimsical "feel" that compliment eachother!

And if by chance you are wondering where Jackson was this whole "photo shot"...well, I geuss my being home has disrupted his nap schedule and he is not "into" morning photo shoots (As we usually take quilt pictures later in the day after school/work): (BTW, He is actually yawning and strethcing in this picture below. My husband thought he was barking...seriously, what a personality this guy has!!! )

 I can't wait to see what the future holds for it. Need less to say, my "stay-cation" has allowed for some great sewing time. Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing what I'm up to. (I still have three more days off!!) Hopefully I've inspired you to try some "out-of-the-box" techniques on your next quilt as well. Oh! And for a look at a completely different version of this pinwheel pattern, click over to Jasmine's who blogs at Quilt Kisses. I mailed her a copy of this pattern awhile back and am so inspired at how she used the background color in the pinwheels and added cornerstones! I love her clean, fresh look.