Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt - May 2011

Here is my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival - My modified Bento Box Quilt. I used Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms mixed with a few Kona solids. I also used a solid for the binding.

And here is the back. I think I like the back better, it's just so simple and clean looking. I need to make a quilt with a front like this. I love the 4 blocks together with the solids.

In case anyone has noticed that I haven't been blogging as much as before it's because I started a full time job in March. I am now the manager at the Viking Sewing Gallery inside JoAnn fabrics. It's a great job, selling sewing machines, a perfect fit for me. If you're in Greensburg stop by and say Hi.

Scrap Quilting Bee

My fabrics arrived a week or so ago for the Sew Fresh Fabrics Scrap Quilting Bee. I love opening packages with fabric, so fun.

And here is the 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" block that I put together. The block is going to be used to make a Quilt for the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS.

Sunday Stash - Shop Hop Finds

My quilt guild, the Greensburg Modern Quilt Guild had a shop hop yesterday. It was lot's of fun. Six of us toured 3 quilt shops around Pittsburgh - Quilter's Corner in Finleyville, Quilter's Depot in Pittsburgh and The Quilt Company in Allison Park. Here are my finds above. Lots of Amy Butler Daisy chain (at both Quilter's Corner and The Quilt Company), some charm packs of Moda Sugar Pop, I just love this new line, I found this cool alphabets and numbers print along with some Moda Bella grey solid at Quilter's Depot. The orange stripe Katie Jump Rope Jessica and I found in the 50% off section, wow what a find. I also found some of the Barbara Jones Summertime, another line I just Love!

Greensburg Modern Quilt Guild members - myself, Priscilla, Mary, Thea, Jessica and Corley. What a fun day.

Stylish Blogger Award

When I opened my email yesterday afternoon, there was an email from Jessica letting me know she had given me the Stylish blogger Award. Wow, thanks Jessica! Jessica and I met at the Greensburg Modern Quilt Guild, I love her blog, Sew Crafty Jess, she always has a fun project going on.

So here's the info about this blogging award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Award 6 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact the bloggers and let them know about the award.

Ok, here are 7 things about me:
1. I'm married to a great guy, Scott. We've been married 15 years, it will be 16 in September.
2. We have a son Troy who is 5, he brings lots of joy to our lives.
3. My favorite place to vacation is Maine. I love Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island.
4. My bachelor's degree is in Applied Mathematics, it's amazing how much math is involved in quilting.
5. I recently became President of our local chapter of Newborns in Need (Southwestern PA).
6. My favorite season is summer, I love to wear flip flops and shorts.
7. The best thing I've ever eaten is Lobster Crepes at Maggie's Restaurant in Bar Harbor.


And now, here are the 6 blogs that I choose for the Stylish Blogger Award:


1. Janice of Sew Girly - I just found her blog the other day, check out her doll quilt swap from August - I love the little house with the clothesline.






2. Lynne of Lily's Quilts - I found this blog the other day when she featured her Hexagon Park quilt on Moda Bake Shop.




3. Mary at Molly Flanders - I love Mary's hand quilting, she does awesome work.

4. Krista of Spotted Stones - I love her modern quilts, very eye catching.

5. Crystal at Sonnet of the Moon - I love the Bottled Rainbow blocks that Crystal has made, I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

6. Molly of Bailey Girl Five - She makes fun, bright quilts, and her hand quilting looks great too.


Thanks again to Jessica for passing this award along to me!

Back to Nicey Jane

I've pulled the Nicey Jane (Sand and Pebbles Pattern) quilt back out to work on. I'm trying to assembly line the pieces now to make a little faster progress.

Here's the 1st main block that I have done. Now it just making another 8 of these. I'm working on the pinwheels above. And below I have a few of the first section ready to go (I'm mixing up some of the patterns just to make it more interesting).

Quilt Donations - Early Head Start Baltimore

Did you see that Cherri over at Cherry House Quilts is asking for Quilt donations for the Early Head Start Progam in Baltimore, Maryland? She's looking for 55 quilts to start to donate to the babies there. I'm going to help out by sending my Jungle Babies quilt. If you would like to help, check out this post Calling All Quilters.

Batting, Basting and Swirly Circles

I wanted to share how to join batting together. I always have a lot of odd sized pieces left over, and this way I don't waste them. I use my stitch 11 above, a zig zag that stitches across the zig and the zag. Just place your pieces close together and zig zag join them.

The result looks like the picture above. This stitch joins them very smoothly.

And here's a look at my basted quilt.

I'm quilting my circles with swirls. I love making these swirls, it's so much fun. I'm also going to add wiggly lines on the diagonal. I hope to have the quilting finished this evening.