Let's Get Acquainted! Monday Link Up Party

I am honored to be hosting the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link Up Party this week! Beth from Plum & June started the Let's Get Acquainted series last year and I have met so many great friends through the blog hop and the link parties!

I didn't have a ton sewing time this past week, since my husband was home. I did manage to complete the Spool Mini-Quilt from the Liberty Love, while he was working on homework!


I felt really inspired after reading the comments in last week's Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop post. After reading everyone's suggestions for personalizing work spaces, I decided that I needed to spruce up the beige walls in my sewing room. I think the Spool Mini-Quilt will make a great addition to the empty space above my ironing board. I fell in love with this pattern when I saw the measuring tape borders in the book photo!

It took me a few hours to find measuring tape fabric that was a color scheme that I liked and that was still available for purchase! I followed the pattern almost exactly. I did add a little 1.5" border on the top and bottom. It was fun picking out colors for the spools of thread. "Tangled Stripe in Red" from Rendevous is my favorite! It looks very thread-like.

I appliqued a spool on the back with Heat 'n Bond and then stitched the applique down with the blanket stitch on my Simplicity Quilter's Classic. I embroidered a needle and thread on top of the spool. The embroidery didn't turn out quite how I imagined, but it will do! When adding the hanging pockets, I used the How to Hang a Mini Tutorial at Mama Love Quilts. As soon as I get a dowel rod, I will be hanging this colorful mini above my ironing board!

What have you been up to?

Here are the rules for the link-up party:

1. Link up any recent sewing/quilting post. 
2. In your post or on your blog, please include either a text link or a button letting people know about this link up. 
3. Visit at least the two bloggers who link up before you and everyone who visits you from this post. 
4. When the link asks for your name, tell me your favorite candy. My current favorite is Cadbury Eggs. I made Cadbury Egg Cupcakes this weekend and I am pretty sure I have met my sweets quota for the year!

>>>>>Had to remove link-up because of technical difficulties! 2/1/2016 10:36AM<<<<<

I hope everyone had a great day! Thank you for linking up! Be sure to check out Plum & June for future Let's Get Acquainted Link Ups & to see her beautiful work!

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Fabrics Used: Border: Tape Measure (Tailor Made) Background:  Crosshatch in White (Architextures) Spool Ends: Crosshatch in Black (Architextures), Haystack in Brown (Madrona Road), Tonal Dot Black (Gallery Fiori) Spool Centers: Tangled Stripe in Red (Rendezvous), Dots in Yellow (Juicy Blossoms), Running Stitch Turquoise (Lush), Chevron Medium Tonal Green, Tangled Stripe in White (Rendezvous) Backing: Alphabet in Yellow (Type) Binding: Foulard Fabric in Charcoal (Washi)

Mother's Day Table Runner

I made my mom a 44"x13" table runner for Mother's Day, because I didn't think I could finish a quilt in time. Well...this took me about as long as making a quilt and thanks to the tiny 1" HST border, had almost as many pieces!

My mom's favorite flower is the tulip, so that is my theme! In my search for tulip patterns, I found this gorgeous potted tulip paper-piecing pattern at Charise Creates. I left off the pot because I wanted them in grass, but I just loved her design. For the layout: I own EQ7 (Thank you Amazon.com credit card points!), but I was experiencing designing-in-Microsoft-Word levels of frustration, so I ended up using Adobe Photoshop to lay this table runner out, figure out measurements and test out fabrics. I will save my EQ7 learning for another day, when I am not so pressed for time!

The big flower is secured with some very amateur needleturn applique! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but I would definitely love to get more practice with this technique, especially on points.

I attempted FMQ loops on this one and I was doing OK on my practice quilt sandwich, but the moment I started quilting the actual project I had trouble with jerky movements and therefore, jerky loops. Maybe a glass of wine would have helped with that! I ended up unpicking all that and went with diagonals.

This project went pretty smoothly, but I always come down with a Mid-Project Crisis, where the I suddenly become convinced that "I have created the ugliest thing in the history of mankind!!!" I wish I could find some way to keep that mini-breakdown from happening each time! I ended up loving it and all the bright colors especially the Ta Dot apple border!

Changes I would make if I did this again: 

• The yellow tulips fade in to the background a bit, so I would substitute either a darker yellow (like the Juicy Blossoms print) or yellow-orange.
• I would have pre-washed my fabrics! 

Fabric Used:
Sky: Lizzy House / Hello Pilgrim / Dusty Blue Stripe
Red Tulips: Karen Tusinski / Gallery Fiori / Tonel Poppies in Red & Minick & Simpson / Prairie Paisley II /  Red Textured Solid
Yellow Tulips: Riley Blake / Farm Fresh / Haybale in Yellow & Kona Cotton Buttercup
Leaves & Grass: My Google-Fu has failed me on this one!
HST Border: Simon and Kabuki / Juicy Blossoms / Dots Yellow & Kate Spain /  Terrain / Lichen Bloom
Outer Border: Michael Miller / Ta Dot / Ta Dot in Apple
Binding: Karen Tusinski / Gallery Fiori / Dots in Orange
Backing: Ellen Luckett Baker / Quilt Blocks / Shade Grey Hexagon Dots

Some things I am excited about:


I'm participating in Beth @ Plum and June's Let's Get Acquainted Blog hop! More details at the link! | Handstitched Class at Stitched in Color. Let's hope this works miracles with my hand stitches, or at least makes them more even! | I have won so much great supplies over the last few months, I am excited to participate in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day this time around!

Something I am not excited about:
Wisdom Tooth Surgery! I am getting all four of my wisdom tooth removed soon and will be on soft foods for a week. I am slightly terrified, because I have never been put under sedation before!

Linking Up With
    

Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

Colorwheel Geese Vase Rug

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This weekend was awesome, because we saw The Hunger Games. I have been obsessing about that for over a year now, so I am sure my husband is glad that it finally came out and he doesn't have to hear about it anymore! This weekend was kind of a bummer also, because the new Mad Men season started and I don't have cable! Now the long wait for it to hit Netflix begins!

Last week was such a slow week for sewing. My house becomes a complete disaster after a major project, so a majority of last week was spent spring cleaning and getting my lawn to look a little more respectable. I am so behind on my blocks of the week, but I did manage to get the Foundation Piecing for the Terrified Week 4 Block (from The Littlest Thistle) done. I am seriously excited about this one! I can remember admiring this block on Pinterest, wishing I could sew something like it! I used my remnants from the owl quilt, plus Bella Solids Stone & Charcoal. I had bought the Stone for another project, but it ended up blending in more than I wanted, so I am glad I found another use for it. I quilted and binded it and it is currently serving as a vase rug. I love the look of the geese circling the vase.

I've done most of my sectional pieces for the NY Beauty QAL, so putting those together is the plan for the rest of the week. I have three quilt tops taking up valuable floor space right now, so I am hoping to get one of those done as well. Good thing I have a lot of extra time on my hands this week!

Linking to: Manic Monday at SewHappyGeek, Little Quilt Monday at Pieceful Life, and Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations.

 Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.