Take Two

Oh, what a wonderful weekend. First I cut squares...

Then I drew lines and pinned...

Stacked some nice neat piles of fabric sandwiches and sewed each one...twice

Then I chopped them in half (much fun!!!)

 And yay me - now to the design wall for some HST play.

I have had to put this quilt aside for the time being, as it is intended for a birthday in June and the above lovely must come to fruition by the end of March. This new lovely is my 'Take Two' Night of Hope quilt, as the first one was not coming together as I hoped it would. I was not entirely happy with the points and because it is such a special quilt, I really wanted to be proud of its construction. I have decided to scrap the pattern altogether and go free style with the above HST's, as I have really enjoyed this type of design lately. I may return to the original eventually and finish it up as a keeper for me.

Wishing you all a wonderful week! Looking forward to weeks end as I am heading to Vegas Friday eve. YAY!

Linking up with Anything Goes Quilt and Sew at Stitch by Stitch and Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link up Party Hosted by Owen's Olivia.


 ~Lisa

Nancy Drew is Coming to You...Giveaway Results

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every one of your Nancy Drew memories and project ideas that you shared in your comments on my last post. I am thrilled that so many of you have enjoyed reading Nancy as I have or have become intrigued to learn about this delightful character. Thank you, thank you for sharing with me xo.

The giveaway is now ready to be given away!!! I used one of the free random online number generators and the lucky number it produced was...


# 42 (Random numbers generated Mar 8 2013 at 21:47:19)


Comment #42 was made by Wren15 who wrote, "I remember snuggling up with a good Nancy Drew book and a cup of hot chocolate on snow days when I was a kid. It was the best way to spend an afternoon off school. I think if I got the charm pack, I would like to make some new cushions to add to that window seat, so that my niece can use those when she gets old enough to read Nancy Drew books on it."

Thank you Wren15 and congratulations!!!! Please email me (you are showing as a 'No Reply Blogger') and send me your specifics and then I can send this little package of fun on its way to you. Happy sewing!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the giveaway! I hope that you enjoy the rest of the Nancy Drew is a Clue Blog Hop and have a fantastic weekend.

~Lisa

Nancy Drew is a Clue Blog Hop and Giveaway!

OH WOW!!! Nostalgia. I am in my happy place for sure. Nancy Drew was an all time favourite friend and comrade when I was a young girl. I even started a Detective Club at one point, sleuthing out behind the elementary school, looking for clues! It has been great fun lately playing with the new colourful 'Get a Clue Nancy Drew' fabrics by Simon and Schuster for Moda - and I have some finishes to share  with you!

If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! It's good to have you here, on my stop of the 'Nancy Drew is a Clue' Blog Hop hosted by Carol at 'Just Let me Quilt'.  Be sure to visit over there and try to solve the mystery clues to win great prizes. Meanwhile, I have been having such a great old time, reacquainting myself with these...

Anyone else keep their Nancy Drew book collection??!! I still have mine and when I pulled them off the bookshelf recently to have a look at, my son became very interested. He instantly decided that he would like me to read one to him. Presently he is 7 years old, so we'll see how that goes - but I am certainly willing to give it a try. He has chosen 'Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk' which is interesting, as this book is showcased in the fabrics.

I knew when I recieved my Nancy Drew fabric that I wanted to make 2 particular items. First up  - a mini quilt - as I have been obsessed lately with filling up my sewing room wall with teeny tiny quilts. I find that I am drawn to the Nancy Drew silhouette, so I decided to start with a sketch. I sketched out my silhouette (I looked at silhouette pics on the internet for inspiration) and then traced my sketch onto tracing paper to make a pattern...

I used my self-made pattern to produce this mini - she is very tiny, measuring at 8.25 x 7 inches.

Next up was a purse - or if you will - a BOOK BAG, calling it this makes me feel as though it was meant to be made with this fabric - ha! I have made this patchwork 'Schlep Bag' before numerous times and simply modified the free pattern to use 5 inch squares (and added a cross-body strap rather than handles). I really wanted it to be the right size for a young girl to wear and pop a few books in at the library (Nancy Drew OF COURSE!).

It was nearly impossible to choose which fabrics to use because, lets face it, I love them all - but in the end I went with red on the outside and patchwork blue on the inside. I tried to showcase my favourite prints, the faces and the books, by using them at the top of the bag and on the strap. 

I love the D ring detail. I have never used one before, but I really wanted the strap to be adjustable. Did I mention I hijacked the rings from an old belt??? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as they say.

And now for the really fun part - my very first EVER giveaway -  because I love this fabric so much and truly enjoyed my trip down memory lane, I thought it only fair to share the love. I have put together a small charm pack from some of the fabric I have left over. There are 20 - 5 inch squares in the blue, yellow and white colour way.



If you would like a chance to play with these fabrics too, all you have to do is:

1. Leave me a comment telling me what your most favourite Nancy Drew memory is or what you might like to make with the charm pack.

2. Followers get 2 chances - let me know you are a follower in a second comment. New followers welcome of course!

3. Cross your fingers!  I will close this giveaway at 8 pm pacific time this Friday, March 8 and post the winner. EDIT: This giveaway is now closed, thank you to all who participated. The post to announce the winner can be found here.

Good luck all! Thanks for visiting my stop on the 'Nancy Drew is a Clue' Blog Hop.

Here are a list of the other Blog Hop stops for today:

Michelle’s Romantic Tangle
Life in the Scrapatch
Debby Kratovil Quilts
Selina Quilts
Meadowbrook
My Sister Made Me Do It
Whims and Fancies
Pieced Brain
Just Let Me Quilt


~Lisa

February Lucky Stars BOM

I was so excited for the Lucky Stars Block of the Month last month that I printed off the templates the morning that it was emailed. I printed off a couple of extra templates at a reduced size - used my pencil crayons to colour them, then I cut them up - moved them about - and decided on my favourite colour/fabric arrangement.

I proceeded to spend the morning sewing and ended up with 4 lovely squares - each a quarter of my star. I pinned them up on my design board together, to gaze at them, all pleased with my results AND promptly left them there all month.

When in my sewing room, I would admire them and think how fun this quilt would be upon completion. NEVER did it occur to me to sew them together - like actually COMPLETE the block! Until yesterday, when I realized that our new block would be emailed today. So, guess what I did last night...

YEP- I finished it. Wohoo me! And paired along with my block from last month, I am thinking this is going to be one heck of a colourful quilt. Maybe I should tone a few of the blocks down?! Likely not - this bright colour thing is waaaay to much fun.

Happy Friday all! Linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


~Lisa

Playing Around

I wanted to make a red, white, grey and black quilt for someone who loves red. This quilt included many many many HST's. I had an idea and I drew it out...

Then I made HST's and HST's and more HST's. I don't mind the repetitiveness of this activity as it is systematic and organized and produces a lovely pile of pretty little squares when complete. As I may have mentioned before, this type of activity fits well with my personality!

I used many different gorgeous print fabrics and did not plan for which went together. I was really trying to let myself go for the scrappiness of it all (Ha ha, I say now in retrospect).

I was super duper excited to begin playing with my squares. I popped them up onto my design wall into the pattern from my sketch and went 'ohhhhhh'. I went 'ohhhhhh', not in a good way. Boring. Messy - definitely not organized. I felt like my eyes had no where to rest. Man o man - I really have a hard time with scrappy. Why is it that I LOVE and ADORE so many scrappy quilts out there - yet I cannot feel it when it's mine??!!! I took it down so fast I actually did not even think to take a picture to share!

I did enjoy the play the ensued though. It's amazing how many designs these HST's can be rearranged into. I had no idea! I played and I played...

And I played...

I liked this diamond one, but felt it still did not offer enough rest for my eyes. I realized here, during this stage, that I liked the diamonds - especially with the backgrounds of each diamond using the same fabrics. I was getting somewhere.

Go bigger. I decided that bigger might help with the busyness of all the different patterns in the fabrics. I liked these new, bigger diamonds a lot.

Then I put my 2 ideas together, bigger diamonds - with fabrics in the center and backgrounds that match and YES! This makes my eyes and heart happy. This is the design I am going with. It has meant there has been some (MUCH!) stitch ripping and re-sewing to make enough HST's with the same fabrics for each block, but it is by far worth it as I see the design grow and I know it is the 'right' one.

I love how the design process is dynamic and flowing. It is interesting to me to see what I start with and what I end up with. I love that I can keep going when something doesn't please my eye - until I find just the design that does. These steps in the design of this quilt have been a great learning process for me. Now that I am settled on the design, I have begun to think about the quilting - always my fave part!


Hope you are all having a fabulous week in sewing and such! Linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

~Lisa

Duplicity

I really HAD to make another mini heart quilt. I enjoyed the process immensely. I pretty much stitched the last stitch on this binding and then picked up my rotary cutter and dug in my scrap bin - more 1.5 inch squares were on my agenda. Some of these wee squares were turned into teeny tiny HST's...

Some miniature HST's...so freakin' cute.

 For me, the layout stage is always a party...

As in my last mini heart, I found the task of transfering the squares to the grid quite satisfying - very neat and tidy - every little square in its own little home. For both my mini heart quilts I have used this fabulous tutorial to make the block.

And finishing up at a whopping 12 inch square...I have added this little one to the growing collection on my sewing room wall.

Have a wonderful week all! What sewing fun have you been up to? Linking up with 'Let's get Acquainted' Monday link up being hosted by Martha at Weekend Doings.


~Lisa

And She's Done!

I finished up this wee little heart last week. It sewed up as a 12 inch square mini quilt - complete with a toile (my fave!) binding. 

I mentioned in my previous post that I was going to use this tutorial to sew it together. Well, let me tell you....what fun I had! I loved this technique and it sewed up very easily. The funniest part was when my family saw it go from being laid out on my cutting table as 1.5 inch squares (18 inches across in total) to being sewed up as 1 inch squares (12 inches across) - they could not believe how much it SHRUNK.

I decided to quilt it with a free hand 'sketchy' type stitch, a heavy thread and my triple stitch function on my machine. I even 'coloured in' the corners, allowing myself to sketch with my needle and thread. Choosing to quilt in this free form way was VERY hard for me, as I am a 'a place for everything, and everything in it's place' kind of gal and letting myself 'freely' stitch feels foreign and disorganized to me. I far prefer the stream lined feeling of stitching from side to side in STRAIGHT lines. Even though I like the way it turned out, I still have the urge to rip it all out and do straight lines! HAHA!

Ooooh love the look of all these 'organized' and tidy seams. So pretty!

When making small quilts, I really enjoy the opportunity to practice my binding. For some time now, I have been narrowing down the binding steps/techniques that work/don't work for me, in an effort to come up with my 'works every time' binding that makes me feel happy with it EVERY time. So far, my bindings have been a little haphazard for my liking. For this reason, the last time I bound a quilt, I wrote a list of what worked and what to try for future. This is the list I used this time...I am definitely getting closer to my happy place!

When I pinned this little quilt up on the wall in my sewing room, the first thought I had was 'it needs a buddy'! I may or may not have already started cutting out more little squares...here's to a wonderful week of sewing! Have a great week all.


~Lisa