Blogger Block Of The Month Blog Hop

Here is the list of fabulous participants for the upcoming blogger block of the month. Grab the button for your blog, become a follower and start digging through your stash for fabrics. We will start Sept 15th with Margaret's Hope Chest! I'll be giving away prizes every month! Happy hopping!

Date	Name	Blog
Sept 15th 2012	Carin & Carol	Margarets Hope Chest
Oct 15th 2012	Jenny	Sew Kind Of Wonderful
Nov 15th 2012	Jennifer M	Ellison Lane Quilts
Dec 15th 2012	Natalie	Craftin Mechanic
Jan 15th 2013	Stefanie	Little Lady Patchwork
Feb 1st 2013	Jennifer I	Knotted Thread
Feb 15th 2013	Sandra	Sharp Quilts
Mar 15th 2013	Nicole K	Patchwork Duck Designs
April 1st 2013	Bree	Distant Pickles
Apr 15th 2013	Tracey	Itching 2 B Stitching
May 15th 2013	Felicity	Felicity Quilts
June 15th 2013	Erin	Billy Button Design
July 15th 2013	Nicole N	Mama Love Quilts
Aug 15th 2013	Dhia	Peach Patch Quilts

****The photo for the blog button was a quilt block made by Julie at Bed Sheet In The Kitchen, click the link to see her blog and visit her etsy shop.****

White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight

      Granted I am a little late posting this, but I have been recuperating from an awesome weekend of adventuring. Last Friday I flew in as usual to the Milwaukee airport, Papa Peach picked me up at the airport and we drove from the airport to the ferry terminal and shuffled off to Michigan. If you haven't had the opportunity to ride the ferry across lake Michigan add it to your bucket list. We took the Lake Express, which may not be the cheapest way to get to Michigan from Wisconsin but you don't have to drive through Chicago! (Twice). My husband is a former navy sailor and was greatly comforted by his return to the water. We took our car on the ferry since the rental car location at the ferry terminal is not open when the last ferry arrives (dumb dumb dumb). We were able to watch the sunset from the rear of the ship and try out our sea legs. The ride on the way there was a little rough but as long as you remained sitting it was pretty relaxing.

View from the back of the boat, Milwaukee off in the distance

     As an added bonus Papa Peach brought my new books that came in the mail. I am now the proud owner of Sewn Toy Tales and The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I can't wait to join the QAL for The Farmer's Wife at Fussy Cut. I look forward to becoming a Farmer's Wife soon!
       We got to Muskegon and drove to Grand Rapids late Friday night. Saturday morning we met up with a group of fellow quilters at Queen Bee Quilt Shop. Carin from Margaret's Hope Chest organized an end of summer work party to put together the amazing amount of blocks she had collected for quilts. We had 15+ ladies show up and over 1000 blocks donated. Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts was among the attendees and brought some quilts from her book. I was able to snag a copy of her book while we were there. We sewed and sewed and ended up with some pretty snazzy looking quilts if I do say myself. There was a reporter there from the paper, quilter's from all over, and lots of machines humming. Here are some of the charity quilts that we made, and I didn't just pick them because they were the ones that used the blocks I made. So many seams to snip. I was happy to have my Rag Scissors with me, worth every penny.

Carin peeking over the blue rag quilt

Pink Rag Quilt

        Upon arriving home I had lots of goodies in my mailbox. This box of fabric from Fat Quarter Shop (12 pounds of fabric for $56 bucks). It turns out to be 20-25 yards of fabric for 56 dollars which is less than three dollars a yard. I was really happy with the selection. Mostly all quilting cottons, well known designers (Tula Pink, Moda, Riley Blake, Michael Miller, Hoffmann). I liked it so much that I ordered a second box. Bad Bad Bad.....I keep telling myself I will use some of the goodies for charity quilts and not just become a tragic tale on an upcoming episode of hoarders.

Look what the fabric fairies left at my door

Some of my favorite fabrics from the mystery box

There were one or two fabrics that I didn't love. This one of possessed kittens takes the cake. Thank you Michael Miller, what were you thinking?????? Anyone want to swap for some cross eyed demon kittens???

     

You Can't Always Get What You Want...

       The weekends are never long enough, or more likely I try to cram twice as many projects into the weekend as it can hold. I got a lot accomplished this weekend but I still headed to the airport feeling like I had so much left to do. Papa Peach was working 6am-6pm and as usual I planned on getting up when he went to work. This didn't happen and I ended up playing snooze tag until the crack of noon.
       I was able to finish up the flannel rag quilt for baby Cameron. I snipped it last week while I was in Columbus and ran it through the washer when I got home. I love how they end up looking and its a great way to flush out your lint trap. I found two other flannel quilts in progress in the mess I call my office/studio. Here is a picture of the quilt going to baby Cameron this week. I also packed up 40 baby outfits for him and a stuffed camel that we had flea marketed on our trip.

Raggy Front

And the back

        I am also working on a rag quilt for Elizabeth's new foster baby. I got all the squares sewn and now just need to sew them together and snip the seams. I put together a bag of 30 outfits for her as well. I hope to have her quilt finished by next week since it is my last week in Columbus. I will post pictures as it comes along.
       I was able to make some headway on the blogger block of the month front. I have two of the three colors of fabric cut. I need to get the last color finished and the fabric in the mail to the participants. We will be starting up next month come hell or high water. I made a button which you can grab on the side bar and also made a flickr group for the project. More details to follow on this project.

      I finally got the package together for my mom. I have been gathering things for her since I saw her in Virginia for Ian's wedding. We went to a quilt shop in Richmond called Quilting Adventures. This place was awesome and still stands even after my mom and I blew through there. They had so many amazing display quilts I wanted to make them all. I showed great amounts of self restraint and only bought one fat quarter and not the 10 rulers and 20 patterns I wanted. My mom did not show as much restraint and got sucked into buying a pattern by Melly & Me called I come in peace. Here is a picture of the softie she will be making. She promised to send me a copy of the pattern if I would send her some "cosmic" fabrics from my stash. She held up her end of the deal and I have been slacking. So I put together the package of a lot of fabric I have been buying up that made me think of aliens. It just took along time to cut 9x13 pieces of all of them. Thankfully no one piece of the pattern is larger than that and I was able to add the rest to my stash. I also sent her a candle from Warm Glow in Indiana, a pair of Wedgwood Queen's Ware Teacups and a crazy parrot Hawaiian shirt I bought in West Palm Beach and some vintage lace napkins I found during our yard saleing.

I Come In Peace - Melly & Me

Wedgwood Queen's Ware

   



        I had buyers remorse after not buying the patterns in Virginia and bought a book by Melly & Me called Sewn Toy Tales. I got one for my mom too and a copy of the Farmer's Wife so I can join the quilt along. I am just chomping at the bit waiting for them to come in the mail.
        I ended the weekend on a bus to Chicago surrounded by a planes worth of angry travelers as my flight to Chicago was cancelled. I run into airline drama so often that it no longer phases me. I am truly blessed to have a job that pays me well to skip around the country and supports my very out of control quilting habit. I have a man who loves me in spite of being a quilting widow. He is coming with me next weekend on the ferry across lake Michigan so we can help out with the end of the summer work party with Margaret's Hope Chest and Crazy Mom Quilts (more details here). He was upset I was going for the weekend and didn't invite him (he must have been sleep deprived at the time). I have been so blessed in so many way and want to give back any way I can.

In conclusion, take it from Mick, you can't always get what you want. 

But if you try sometime, you just might find.....you get what you need.....

Happy Birthday Julia!

Now for something totally unrelated to quilting. While we were wandering on the yard sale across america we ended up spending the night in Greenville Ohio where the Kitchenaid factory & Store is located. We went to the Kitchenaid "experience" and were able to put our grubby little mitts on Julia Child's stand mixer! As today would have been her 100th birthday I thought I would share. Now go make something yummy in her honor.

The road is long with many a winding turn....

        It's been a while since I posted but in my defense I have been hella busy. The first couple days of August (2nd-5th) we went on the Route 127 Yard Sale. This is the second year we have gone on a yard sale road trip. Last year we did the Lincoln Buy-Way. This year since we were closer to the 127 yard sale we headed that way. On the way there from Wisconsin we hit up a number of quilt shops for me and bike shops for Papa Peach. Two of the quilt shops we hit were Erica's in South Bend, IN (it was AWESOME!) and Lolly's in Shipshewana, IN. Lolly's is having a back to school sale during the month of August and all fabrics in the store are $6 a yard. I almost hurt myself shopping this sale, and they have a rowboat full of fat quarters, what's not to love! Then we spent the next couple days yard saleing and bought a bunch of random treasures. On the way home we hit the Warm Glow Candle Outlet. They have this giant candle outside. It's not the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota but it was cool to see and I bought a bunch of candles. The last quilt shop we stopped at was Quilts Plus in Indianapolis. They have a pretty good selection I would definitely stop in if you are in the area.
        Last weekend I celebrated my 7 year anniversary with Papa Peach. I can't believe it has been 7 years since we met. Times flies when you are having fun.
        On the quilting front I have joined the Dots Blog Hop at Quilt Taffy. I will be post my block on Sept 12th and will be sponsoring a give away of dotty fabric. I have been cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room/office at home. I will post pictures when I get it all situated. If you have pictures of  your quilting space Moda is sponsoring a Show Off Your Stash link party.
       Things are coming together for my Bloggers Block of the Month. I have gathered a baker's dozen of blogger to join me in this adventure. I am finishing up the details and cutting of the fabric. More information to follow on that project. Here is the list of participants.

• Nicole                  http://www.patchworkduck.com/
• Carin & Carol      http://margaretshopechest.blogspot.com/
• Natalie                 http://craftinmechanic.blogspot.com/  
• Jennifer                http://www.knotted-thread.com/
• Jennifer                http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com/
• Tracey                 http://itching2bstitching.blogspot.com/
• Stephanie             http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com/
• Jenny                   http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/
• Natalie                 http://mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/
• Sandra                 http://sharpquilts.blogspot.com/
• Felicity                 http://felicityquilts.blogspot.com/
• Erin                      http://billybuttondesign.blogspot.com/
• Julie & Bree         http://distantpickles.blogspot.com/

When I was cleaning up my sewing room I came across this flannel baby rag quilt.

I had finished up the stitching but not the snipping of the seams. My husbands niece just had a baby boy so I am finishing up this quilt for the new baby. I almost had to have words with the TSA at the Milwaukee airport as they were trying to yank my rag scissors. It turns out that they were on high alert since Mitt Romney was in town with his new Vice President Paul Ryan. I ran into the motorcade going in the opposite direction when I was on my way on the airport. I am also hoping to put together a quilt for my friend Elizabeth's new foster baby girl. It will be the same pattern but different fabric. If you want to make one of your own check out the tutorial here. I am linking this up to WIP Wednesday At Freshly Pieced!
        My step daughter Gabby wants a red and blue quilt. I had been having trouble picking a pattern until I saw this picture at A Little Bit Biased. I love love love them.




Here's what I have been working up for her quilt. 8 point squares with mixed middles. Can you think of any I missed???