Not feeling 100%

So of course I have a three day weekend this weekend, due to the fact that Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Day, and last night I passed out around 7pm, woke up around 2, crawled into bed, slept until 9!! And then went to bed again around 12:30, woke up around 6:30 PM and now.. I feel a bit better.

Thank goodness I've got a great hubby who handled Bean for me. He heated up some of my turkey soup that I made right after Christmas, and I had 3 bowls of that, and I lost track of how many cups of tea I've had. But the fact is, I feel better. I'm still not 100%, but I do feel better.

But I'd be horrible if I didn't post pictures of my newest received quilty things, and quilty mades!

Received from Carla:
These were for my fabrics sent in the My First Quilting Swaps (And Bee!)




Aren't they going to work up so nicely into a quilt for Bean??

In the 6"-12" Mini Swap, I received this a few days ago from Needles-N-Notions:


Bean loves to cover her dolly (the one on the floor in the picture) with the mini!

And stuff I made:
I paper pieced.

For Ruthie in Bee Obsessed:

Ruthie wanted 6-9 inch blocks, and this one came out at 5, so I'm making her a second one, but I'm really happy with it.

And Here's the center of all my blocks for Aunt Pitty Pats swap.. just need to put the borders on them, and I can mail out that swap.
My Penguinos!!:)


Yes, they are paper pieced. I think I'm getting addicted to it.



For QBE: For Mary:


I made this with a left over block from JellyBeans quilt. Mary is planning on making preemie quilts with these blocks. Hope she likes it!

And for the Charming Robin.
Mary sent me her charm pack first, and then I send it on to Shannon. I had enough with my stash and 3 charms to make these two wonky star blocks. Mary sent along the black and white snowflake fabric. Hope she likes them!

All righty then...

And here it is, already Wednesday, and I haven't posted since Sunday. I know. Bad blogger!

But.. I do have things to show for my lack of posting.

First - Teresa received her fall mini quilt and she likes it! YAY!

Second - I made my mini for the 6-12" mini swap on Flikr, and mailed it out all in 2 days. This one wasn't my original quilt that I had in mind, but due to me being silly with the rotary cutter and cutting fabric without checking to see if a miniature block was under said fabric, we had block amputation. And then I had to make a new one because I had run out of one fabric and I want things uniform.

This is the sneak peek I posted:


But this is the whole quilt:


And Tina got it today! YAY! I only mailed it on Monday. It's times like these I'm proud of the USPS.

I got invited by Kimmie to join in a new Quilting Bee. This makes my 4th Bee. :) I'm so excited to have been invited - there are awesome quilters here.
Kimmie has the month of January - and her theme was Black, White and a little bit of Red. Then she posted some inspiration on her Flikr account and I had such a similar fabric to one of the photos for inspiration. And FYI the black fabric with the white swirls was the one that I had that was similar. So naturally I got to sewing and made her block.

I popped it into the mail yesterday.

And for another mini doll quilt swap for Carla. She doesn't like pink at all.. so I think this'll do her some good. No pink at all.


It's just the top right now, but tonight I'm planning on backing and quilting it. Then into the mail it goes on Saturday.

And.. hold on for this one..

I learned how to paper piece.
I went from this:


To:


This is the signature block I sent along with my Birdie Charm pack for the Charming Robin. The next time I see it, there will be 11 names on it, and the charm pack will be almost gone, if not completely gone. :)

Started on my 2010 Coffee Quilt-A-Long

Yep. I did it. I cut into the coffee fabric that I've been hoarding for quite a few years.

There's this Flikr group, 2010 Tea/Coffee Quilt - A - Long that I joined because I needed to do something with the 10+ yards of coffee themed fabric that I've had for a minimum of 4 years and just keep adding to. I'm totally addicted to coffee, so I figured that this would give me a chance to actually make a quilt for me. I've only kept 1 large quilt out of all the tons I've made for me. I've only kept 2 mini quilts for myself too - so I figure I deserve one.

These are my blocks so far:










And this one that I hate:


I'll probably put that one on the back, just because it has my favorite fabric on it.

I know I'm only supposed to get 1 block a month done, but I'd like to have 24 blocks done by June, then quilt this baby up by September.

I promised Pictures!

And here they are!

My new baby:


And what I've made on it:
Well, I finally quilted the fall mini quilt swap. This'll be mailed with 4 other swaps this coming week, either tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on when I can get out of the house for a bit after Christmas clean-up.



Close up of the quilting:

Finally quilted. I chose to use the new machine and do a leaf motif in the white parts of the quilt, and then do swirly lines on the diagonal through the yellowy/orange squares.

I am totally thrilled with how this one came out. I only hope my partner is as thrilled as I am.

I have just enough of the gold/yellow to make myself one.. this one hurts to part with.. it really does.

This one I did hand applique for the leaf and some new decorative stitching around it. It's for Raesha on Flikr, but I'm still waiting on her address to send it to her.


And the back:

This is the back of the mini for Raesha. I just loved the center fabric and it was gold and brown and just "fall-like" to me.

And I kept playing more with the new machine. I signed up for the January STUD quilt swap with the theme of Rainbows:


I actually made my mini's top.. can you guess what I did with these fabrics?? :D

More pictures of Christmas coming soon - gotta get the photos off of my mom's camera and then I'll pick some good ones to post here!

Snow Day = Sewing Fun

After helping the hubby shovel over 20 inches of snow (we took turns taking care of the bean) I got some quality sewing time in.

For Aunt Pitty Pats swap:
I've made 6 of these:


And 6 of these:


So now all 24 of my 9 patch blocks are done.
Here they are in all their glory:


I've also cut out all the light bulbs for the "Christmas Lights" blocks, and I'm in the process of appliqueing all the penguins. Those that I did have done I ripped apart because I thought they looked like crap.

And I've got 2 more mini's in the works.

School is closed tomorrow!! YAY!! So that means I can get more sewing time in before the holidays.. and who knows, maybe even more presents (and I still have to wrap a ton of gifts!)

I haven't abandoned anyone!

I've been so busy creating for Christmas, and having JellyBeans 1st birthday - I've been busy!

Here is the birthday girl eating her Elmo cupcake:


She got a little tired near the end, and just shoved her face right onto the cupcake.

This was the original cake I tried to make. It was from a Build-A-Bear mold, but the frosting was too heavy and it collapsed on itself. We did eat it anyway - and it was good!


A Christmas Gift for my grandmother:

Made for my grandmother for Christmas (Sorry the picture is a bit blurry) it's an eyeglass case at the top part, and a pen holder at the bottom. There are spaces for 2 pens/pencils. Nana keeps misplacing her pens and she almost always needs her glasses to write, so I figured why not get both in one!

A cute little fabric postcard for a swap on Flikr:

Here is my fabric postcard for the ORB postcard swap! :) I'm not sharing who it's going to. Because of the snow it's in the mail on Monday (hopefully!!) It's actually in an envelope to protect it from the snow, and it's waiting in our mailbox to be picked up!

And my re-send to Karol-Ann for the stitchers angel swap:

The only thing you can really see clearly (I want her to have a surprise or two!!) is the rose fabric bowl.

And just so anyone knows - my mother in law mailed us a painting on 19 October 2009 from England. We just got it on 18 December!! So maybe the first parcel is still winging its way to Karol-Ann.


And...
My gorgeous STUD mini quilt from chocolate_is_the_best_medicine on Flikr:

Look at this hand embroidery:

Improv Quilt Block - for Jo

This is my 12.5" quilt block for Jo from the UK. This is for the My First Quilting Bee and Block Swaps group on Flikr. She sent gorgeous blue fabrics for me to work with, and I had a great time. She requested an Improv style quilt block, and I went for it. Never made one before, but I had such fun.

Here are the fabrics she sent me:


And this is what I made from it:


The bottom has this gorgeous snowflake like print that I couldn't bear to cut apart, so I framed it and had to show it off.

The block isn't horrible, I will get better at it if I practice more.

I send my fabrics in February for the My First Quilting Bee/Block swap group.. now onto thinking of which fabrics I'll be sending.
My ideas for my fabrics:
Anchors and Blues
Puppy Paws and a solid
Greens
Coffee Prints/Colors

And I still don't really know what I'm asking everyone in the group to make.. it's a tough decision!

And more

Thanksgiving has been here and passed.. and I'm still no where near more ready for Christmas. Mom and I went out shopping on Black Friday, and did most of the shopping then (I was in Kohl's three times!!!) and got most of my gifts. Now they're all hidden all over the house (so Bean doesn't find them, or the hubby) and I have to get them wrapped. Now all I need is more time! :)

Here's more of what I've been working on (instead of wrapping!!)

For Dee, only a little sneak peak: Yours is in the mail on Monday. I finished part 2! :)


This was the mini quilt that I sent to Maya for the Four Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap. She did receive it (so now I can post it!), but was away for Thanksgiving so it took her a little bit to respond.



This is the beautiful Mini I received in the swap from the extremely talented Sara:



Would you believe she said this was her first time doing embroidery?? It's too perfect, and already hanging up on our walls.

This was one I was late on, it was for STUD October to Kathy: (She did receive it in November, I just got around to uploading it.



And...
I conquered Triangles!!
I'm still nervous about making them, but I'm no longer scared.

Show N Tell

Here are the other things that I've been working on lately.

This mini is going to a lovely lady in a personal swap:



It actually has been bound already, just need to label it.

Here's a close up of the hand quilting:


And this real mini quilt will be going in the package as well:


For Scale:


For Aunt Pitty Pat's Christmas Swap:
I'm in 2 groups, so I need to make 24 9-Patch blocks.
Here are 12 for Group 2.


This shows a truer color:


4 Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap:
This is it unbound, I just need to upload one of it that was bound.


Idea for the Inspired by the Fall swap:


I didn't sew anything for it yet - just playing with some placement.