No-Reply Commenters

I love replying to comments! It gives this whole blogging shenanigan a bit more personal. 

However, lately I've been getting more and more no-reply commenters. 

Now, what is a no-reply commenter, you ask???

Well, when I go to my inbox and read all your awesome comments, some have email addresses where I can reply directly (happy face!) and some don't (sad face!). 

Hop on over to Jodi's blog and read more up on this epidemic. 

I would really love to reply to all of my commenters directly through email! 

If you become a 'reply' blogger, this ensures that you know that I really did read your comment, and I really did reply :).

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! I have lots of pretty WIPS that I'm excited to show you this week, so stay tuned :).

Happy Quilting!

Classic Pinwheel Tutorial

I love Strawberry Fields :). 

It reminds me of summer, root beer floats, s'mores, and hot days at the beach.

So, here is a quick and easy tutorial to show you what you can do with a couple charm squares and this cute fabric :).

Materials

2 Charm squares of Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree and Co. for Moda

2 Charm squares of Bella Solids in Natural

Rotary Cutter and Mat

Ruler

Sewing Machine

1/4 inch seam foot

Matching thread - I used white cone thread that can be found on Connecting Threads.

Okay, so on your two Strawberry Fields charm squares, lay your ruler down and draw a line through the middle on both squares. 

Lay one Strawberry Fields square on top of one solid square. 

Sew on either side of your line, 1/4 inch away.

Lay your ruler with the line you drew and cut with your rotary cutter.

Press all your seams in one direction. 

Trim your points.

And lay your half-square-triangles out in the shape of a pinwheel.

Now, sew your top half-square-triangles to your bottom half-square-triangles.

Press your seams in opposite directions and sew your two halves together.

Press your seam.

And you're finished! 

This block is so versatile. If you use this tutorial for a project, I would love to see your finished work! 

I have created a Flickr group where you can show off projects you have created using my tutorials! Hop on over and show off here.

Happy Quilting!

Early Morning Sunrise

This quilt was an absolute blast to make! Hubby was looking at it today and said, "You know, these colors remind me of the sunrise." I couldn't have said it better myself. 

The quilting was something new for me. I had never done spirals before, so it was definitely a learning experience. I do love them, though. It gives the quilt a whimsical, airy feel. 

No shams yet! I will have those done on Tuesday. This weekend has been busy, busy, busy! Family get-togethers all weekend.

Tuesday is also my last day of classes, then it's summer break! Thank. Goodness! 

I would normally say I'm so happy to be able to relax and decompress, but I know the summer will be just as busy with quilty things. But I'd much rather be quilting :). 

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Happy Quilting!

Bag Lady

For the holiday weekend, I wanted a bag that was portable, something I could sling over my shoulder without any problems. We're going to Greenfield Village in Dearborne, Mich. and I'm so excited :). 

So this is what I came up with. 

It's H-U-G-E. I love it! 

It measures about 9" wide and 17" tall. 

The handles measure about 21" to the shoulder. I made them a lot longer than what the pattern called for, so I could sling it over my shoulder while we're at the Village. 

The pattern called for four different prints, but I chose eight because I found too many that I loved!

The fabric is Bliss by Bonnie and Camille. I know the stripe isn't from Bliss, but for the life of me, I can't remember which line it's from. Shame on me!

Speaking of patterns, this is the one I am referring to - 

So the pattern comes with two bag options, which I love. I'm sure I'll make the other one at some point, but I'm quit content with the larger one :).

I did alter it a bit, by making the handles longer and choosing more prints. The bag was so easy to put together, I was so surprised at myself! 

Because I used so many prints, I had enough scraps to make this cute pillow!

The center square is just a cute little label - 

Oh, and I have an update about the swap. June is turning out to be a little bit more than insane. If you remember the post where I last talked about it, I hadn't really committed to anything at that point, and I'm glad I didn't. Right up until June 26th, I am jam packed full of exams, deadlines, a wedding, and life. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Quilting!

Why I love to create

To experience moments like these.

My niece's birthday was this past Sunday, and she (I hope!) loved her quilt. 

Giving her the quilt was a very special moment for me, and I hope it will hold a special place in her heart for many years. 

Reminiscing about the day she was born makes me a little teary-eyed, but she is growing up to be an exceptionally bright, independent, strong, and beautiful young lady. 

I can't wait to see who she is years from now. 

What are your favorite memories with your family? This one will go down in the books as one of my favorite :).

Oh. My. Gosh.

Yes. Strawberry Fields. In my possession. Our LQS doesn't have it (yet), but the Moda man came today, and I just happened to be standing there looking pretty...

And this charm pack was a-callin' my name :). 

I said to the Moda man, "Is that what I think it is?!"

Moda man said, "Well, little lady, what do you think this is?"

"Uhh, Strawberry Fields, obviously! Only the hottest stuff next to a bagel with cream cheese and jam!" 

So, for even knowing what it was, and being able to name so many of the new collections he showed us, I got to keep it!!!

I think I'll just look at it for awhile :). It's so awesome. I had a blast looking at all the new stuff from Bonnie and Camille, Sandy Gervais, Kansas Troubles, 3 Sisters, Sweetwater, BasicGrey, and so much more! 

In case you weren't aware, Moda is my absolute favorite fabric company. The Moda man even told me I should squirm myself into a job with the company (OMG!!!) because I 'knew' what I was talking about!! 

Oh man, I'm totally on Cloud 9 :).

I also got this so cute bag he brought from Market! It's home to my dishcloths I'm knitting.

(more on those later!)

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Sneaky Peeky

Okay, firstly, I wanted to welcome any and all recent followers! And I also just wanted to throw out there that I've had almost 1,100 hits to my blog! Whhhaaatt!!! 

That's pretty cool :). 

Secondly, I wanted to show you guys a little itty-bitty sneaky peeky of this...

Oh man. 

It gives me gooseflesh just lookin' at it :).

I'm a little stumped on what thread to use :(. I thought...silver? Maybe? Who knows!

Now, a question for all you bloggers, readers, quilters, and lovely people of the world - 

How do you hang your wall-hangings???

This will be my (audible gasp) first wall-hanging, and I have no idea (another audible gasp) as to how to hang it!!! 

We've got a serious problem on our hands.

I'm kind-of a lazy bum when it comes to home decorating, so something that doesn't involve a drill would be preferred - hammer and nails, I can deal with. 

Suggestions? Pretty please? :)

On a totally un-related note, seeing all the pictures from Market has gotten me soo jealous that I didn't have the opportunity to go (small, glistening tear). Oh, well!

Happy Quilting!

Slacker

How was your weekend? I had a quite lovely weekend. We celebrated my mom's 21st (ummm yeah, right. hahaha) on Friday! She is the classiest, most beautiful, most amazing woman I know and I am so honored to have her as my mom :).

Other than that, I've been a total slacker. School and other non-sewing obligations have taken over my mind as of late, and I sat at my machine for the first time in three days. Whew, it felt nice to get back into my grove :). 

Does sewing relax you? I know that fore me, it just gives me that opportunity to focus on something else other than reality, and sometimes we just need that. 

So, since I've been a total slacker, I don't have anything quilty to show you :(. Butttt, hopefully in a couple days, I will have a couple fun things to share :). 

So, non-slackers, show yourselves! I want to know what everyone is working on!

Happy Quilting!

Color Wheel WIP

So I wanted to show you guys the progress on the color wheel wall hanging :). 

I think it's turning out really nicely!

The design is totally hubby's doing. I am so totally shocked at the design and how well it turned out, that he might be doing this more often :). 

Also, my dog Sam thought he might like to be a model with the quilt as the back round, LOL!

I think he'll be the next Tyra Banks. Sports Illustrated - Swimsuit Edition. 

What is everyone working on this week? I'd love to hear about some WIPS!

Happy Quilting!


**Edit - I'm so sorry I didn't post this earlier! Blogger has been down the past couple days and it has thrown off everyone's day! 

Quick tip - Using Cone thread

So, last weekend, like a total nerdo, I watched Tron: Legacy. And of course, like a nerdo, I loved it. I've heard bad things about it, but pashaw to that! 

In quilty things, I do have a little tip. 

I bought my first cone of thread about a month ago from Connecting Threads. I love it. It just makes my life a lot easier, somehow :). However, when it came in the mail, I had absolutely no idea how to put it on my machine. So I hopped on Google and found that you need a stand for cones. I then found one for like, $30. Uhhhh, I don't know about anyone else, but I'd much rather spend that $30 on fabric, rather than a stand that is going to be behind my machine, where no one will see. 

So, as I'm watching Tron with a nice cup of hot chocolate, I looked and thought, Oh my God, why didn't i think of this before. I got up in a flurry, got another coffee mug, ran into my sewing room, and plopped the cone in the mug :). 

It works exactly like a thread stand! One thing you will have to consider is this little metal doo-hicky

It helps guide the thread through the machine initially so it doesn't get all tangled and yucky. I have one on my machine already, but if you don't, you can just bend a wire hanger in the same general idea and attache it to the handle of the mug. 

I am a cheapo, and this is probably the best addition to my sewing room. Ever. 

Oh! I also snapped a picture of my new machine :) - a Janome Memory Craft 6300. It's really nice. And probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. The features are really nice, and the price was absolutely fantastic. 

So, do you use cone thread? How long does a cone last for you? What brand do you use? As always, I love hearing feedback!

Later this week, I'll be showing you the progress on the color wheel wall hanging! It is soo-ooo cool :) :). 

Happy Quilting!

Hand Quilting, Machine Quilting, and Longarm quilting - The Great Debate

What do you prefer when it comes to your quilts? 

I've dabbled in a bit of all three, and I've found that for anything larger than a table runner, I throw it on the longarm. I rent one for $25 an hour, and I much prefer this than having someone else do it. I'm a bit of a control freak, so I like knowing what is going on at every step during the quilting process. I've quilted all my quilts, and I can't imagine any other way :).

Machine quilting is alright, too. My LQS offers a class on honing your machine quilting skills, and I think I will be asking for this class for my birthday this year :). I guess what I don't like about machine quilting is it feels like I'm guiding the paper and not the pen (make sense?). On a longarm, you're guiding the pen (needle) while the paper (quilt) is stationary. It's the other way around on a machine. 

Hand quilting isn't bad, either. I just like being able to have big quilts done in a matter of hours. However, I am putting a toe in the hand quilting water with a table runner for my kitchen. Small projects like that are nice because they are so portable!

So, how do you quilt your quilts? Any special techniques? Any tips from you machine quilters? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

www.quilterblogs.com

I hope everyone had a fantastic Friday! My friend Lauren, who is getting married in a month, came over and we addressed her wedding invitations and had some seriously awesome girl time. I always have fun with her! 

A couple months ago, I submitted my blog to this website. If accepted, my blog would be in their regular roll, and they would promote my blog from time to time. 

Today, I got an email saying they accepted my blog! 

This is very exciting :) :).

To the right, you will see a link that will lead you to this website. 

I highly recommend you hop on over and check it out.

Not only are they a hub for quilting blogs, but they also have a giveaway radar, quilt shop locator, and online quilt store locator. 

It's pretty cool :). 

And I'm pretty excited that they accepted my blog. 

It makes me feel like the internet is starting to notice my little corner of blogland :) :).

In other, non-quilty news, our realtor is showing the house on Monday! I'm kinda hoping that whoever it is will absolutely love it and buy it immediately :). I'm liking the idea of moving more and more.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I am hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow. I have way too many WIP's and need to get this nonsense under control :o).

Have a blessed weekend, and Happy Quilting!

Sandy Gervais and Denyse Schmidt

I'm finally back in the swing of things. Everyone needs to decompress, and sometimes you just need to step back and just take a break.



We've decided to put our condominium up for sale.

I haven't decided if I'm happy or sad about it yet :o). 

We've totally outgrown this place. Crazy-sounding! How much space do two people need?!

Either way, it gives me an excuse to make pretty things to stage the house!

Our kitchen table is...bare to say the least :). 

So, to Moda Bakeshop, I went! They always seem to have something quick and easy when you're in a bind!

They had this tutorial for a table runner. It was an amazing solution for my ever-growing stash, and my bare-table dilemma. 

I didn't use Verna by Kate Spain, but I did use a Giddy by Sandy Gervais charm pack! I am also using a little of the Denyse Schmidt fabric I picked up several weeks ago for the inner border, backing, and binding. I think it's turning out nicely! The brown ties in with the colors on the wall, and the red compliments the color of the sofa! I think the bright blue gives the whole thing a nice punch :).

This will be my first go at hand quilting, and I feel that this is a good project to start with. It's small, manageable, portable, and any mistakes are easily hidden by the large prints and bright colors.

If you're interested in making this quilt top, I highly recommend it! The tutorial was very easy to follow, and it looks so cute when finished!

You can find the tutorial here.

Also, I made this block with the same line of Denyse Schmidt that can now be found at Jo-Ann Fabrics website!

I think this block is really perfect for this line. I've been struggling to find a suitable block to compliment the fabric, and I love the endless possibilities of this block.

The piecing isn't great, the lines of the checks slant, but that doesn't really bother me :). 

Now, with this line, I haven't decided if I should use all the prints in one quilt top, or just stick to 2 or three coordinating prints and colors.

I would love to hear your opinions, and I take everyone's comments to heart. You guys never fail to inspire me!

Oh! I think I will definitely be doing a scrap swap. However, I don't think it will be until June because I'm going into the second half of the quarter at school, and life just tends to get crazy during the second half :).

So, if you're interested in the swap, just send me an email directly at skippitydodahquilts@yahoo.com

I will be doing a post on the swap with more details once the time comes, but I want to make sure I have enough people who want to actually participate in the swap first :).  

Happy Quilting!

NQR

Not Quilt Related.

I am so sorry that I haven't posted in a couple days. 

I've had a rough week so far.

Sunday, a young woman I went to high school with was found dead in a house in a neighboring town. 

She was 19 years old. 

Way too young to die. 

I don't understand it. I'm not sure I want to understand it. 

She was beautiful, caring, nice, any man's dream girl. 

When I thought about how young she was, I thought how young I am, and how it could happen to anyone. 

In our small school community, we thought we were untouchable, nothing like this would happen to one of us. Things like this only happen in the big city. 

It wasn't supposed to happen to one of us. We were untouchable, invincible. I suppose that assumption has gone down the drain. 

Again, I'm so sorry for not posting. I promise I will get back in the swing of things. Please, keep quilting, keep sewing, keep making beautiful things, and please don't stop reading my blog. I promise I won't get so sappy.

I don't usually get all weepy and religious, but prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Her name was Emily. She will be missed forever.

I'm in the middle of a muddle

Nothing quilty to show today :(. I've been workin' hard for my money, though! Hopefully I will have something to show you early in the work-week :).

However!

I need some suggestions, readers. 

I want (very much!) to participate in some kind of swap.

But, I've been looking all over the place, and anything I can find, they have rules that require you to participate in a swap prior to their swap.

I have a (huge!) bag of Punctuation scraps that I feel should go to a new home, and I think a scrap swap would be something good to start with?

So, I thought I'd just do my own! 

I always love hearing your thoughts, so please put your two cents in on your experiences with swaps!

Who's game? 

Leave a comment if you're interested, and we'll see where this shin-dig goes! 

Happy Quilting!