Snow Day = Sew Day

 This is what we woke up to this morning 18+ inches of snow! We received word last night that today would be a snow day. You would think we have snow days all the time in western Colorado, but we do NOT. This is the second snow day in 23 years. The last one was December 2013.

 Here is the same vantage point about noon on Sunday, so the accumulation was pretty quick.

 We need the snow, so we are not complaining especially since we did not have to venture out in it today. Well, my hubby did since he plowed enough of the driveway for us to get our cars out tomorrow. It took him a couple of hours with the snowplow on his riding mower.

 I made the most of the day as soon as my teenager woke up, I headed into my sewing room. I made my new block for the Charm Square Sampler Quilt. I was very tempted to start a new project, but I restrained myself and continued on with my scrap busting goal for 2015.

 I decided to make some red Medallion Log Cabin blocks.

 I got five made

 and then decided to make some purple blocks too!

 I made four purple blocks.

These are great 2.5 inch scrap busters! While I has digging in my scrap tubs for these blocks, I also cut 2.5 and 1.5 inch squares for more Carrie Nation blocks.

This is the quilt that inspired all these Medallion Log Cabin blocks. I think will have enough blocks to make several of these quilts. I know one will be a part of the Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2015 going to Happy Chemo. I am going to go throw some ravioli into the oven and spend some more time in my sewing room maybe I will dig into my orange scrap bin next. We are back to school tomorrow, but I am not complaining at least we got one snow day this winter! :0)

Sunday Stitching

 I finished my Block 2 of the Snapshots Quilt Along!

 I am hanging these mini quilts with the corner triangles and using one side as the label.

 The turtle was posted today for the Elephant Parade and I whipped him up in no time. Here is the link to the directions http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2015/02/elephant-parade-week-4-turtle.html

 I stitched together my frog yesterday and added the embroidery detail by machine this morning.

 I hung up my two Snapshots blocks with a couple other mini quilts above my cutting table.

Val over at http://myplvl.blogspot.com/2015/02/sewing-room-make-overlinky.html

has just finished a make over of her sewing room. Her room is fantastic and has a big sectional for the family to hang out in. She is having a linking party and looking for more ideas for her sewing room.

I figured I would share this picture of an old computer armoire I use for storage in my sewing room. It holds a ton of UFOs and tools. I can close it up, but I hardly ever do. I use the armoire door next to the window to hang blocks on and take pictures with the natural light. My TV is also on top of the armoire, so it is out of the way and easily seen throughout the room.

My cutting table is on bed risers which is a much better height for cutting. Then, I have five three-drawer rolling carts stored underneath. Each drawer is filled with scraps sorted by color. All this space under the cutting table is great for a roll of batting and my sewing machine cases.

Sorry I forgot to include my sewing station! So this is an addition...

This is a small upholstered chair I swiped from my guest room. This is a good place for the family to hang out with me or where I sit and hand stitch. I keep my hand sewing basket and supplies right beside it.  The lights also turn to give more illumination for handwork.

 Speaking of slow stitching, I am marking the borders of my Journey of a Quilter Quilt for the final stage of hand quilting. I am going to work on this today with the Daytona 500 on and tonight while watching the Oscars. It has been awhile since I have actually been able to join the stitchers over at Kathy's for Slow Sunday Stitching http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

It is finally snowing here, but the ground is so warm that not much is sticking. We desperately need some snow to avoid a bad drought this summer. Let it snow!!!

February 2015 FNSI

 Last night was Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) and I was determined to make Block 2 the sewing machine block for the Fat Quarter Shop's Snapshots Quilt Along. Their instructions are so detailed and easy to follow and I had this cut and sewn together in no time! 

I am using fabrics from my stash instead of the Day Sail line they are featuring. I am also making mini quilts of the blocks instead of the big quilt. 

Here was Block 1 Let them Eat Cake. I am going to quilt the sewing machine block the same way. Here is a link for information on this quilt along 

http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/p/snapshots-quilt-along.html

I am going to a baby shower for a work friend this afternoon. I am gifting my Little Letters Country Baby Quilt. When I asked her a couple of months ago how she was decorating the nursery, she showed me her Pinterest page and she was using navy and country colors. She is a first grade teacher, so I think the alphabet is perfect. It was pretty cool to already have a great quilt made in my stash and waiting!

I will be working on my frog block for the Elephant Parade and finishing the sewing machine mini quilt today.

Check out what everyone was up to for FNSI here 

http://sugarlanequilts.blogspot.com/2015/02/fnsi-sign-ups-and-brain-food-to-share.html

So Many Projects So Little Time

 I had a four day weekend, but only spent two days in my sewing room. I finished up the Diamond in a Diamond block for the Charm Square Quilt Along. Now, I am all caught up with that one!

 I made six more Carrie Nation blocks in blue. January's color for the RSC15 was blue and I had cut more blocks than I actually finished in January.

 I cut tons of 2.5 inch squares and 1.5 inch squares for my pink Carrie Nation blocks.

 Please excuse the lighting on my pictures, but I did not finish them until after dark tonight. So there is no natural light to help show off the colors.

 I made 23 pink blocks!

 I am trying to use low volumes for the backgrounds. The low volumes will help with dirt and staining on our bed.

We only have a queen sized bed, but I always buy king sized quilts and comforters because I  don't like to use a dust ruffle.

 This four patch quilt is featured in American Patchwork & Quilting April 2015 issue and I love the look! But I think I can achieve it with my Carrie Nation blocks especially since I want to make a king size quilt for our bed. I would also rather not set my blocks on point.

I did not make my frog block for the Elephant Parade yet, but I have until next Sunday. I also want to make the sewing machine block as part of the Fat Quarter Shop's Snapshots Quilt Along--I am not making a big quilt, but some mini quilts of the blocks. I am trying to finish up the hand quilting in the borders of my Journey of a Quilter quilt. I need more time, but I will take advice from my favorite fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady...

Giveaway Winner

I had this little paper piecing kit as part of the Grow Your Blog event and after several tries, I figured out how to use the True Random Number Generator to determine my winner who was comment 55, but I cannot figure out how to post it correctly...Ugghhh!

Congratulations Debby! I have already emailed her to get her mailing information. Here is her comment:

DebbyJanuary 29, 2015 at 7:45 AM

Absolute favorite dog breed is greyhound. I have had 2, one a rescue, one not. They were both awesome, lovable companions. Your quilts are beautiful.

Despite having Friday off of work, today is the first time all weekend I have been in my sewing room. Friday was spent prom dress shopping with my daughter--we found a stunning gown that was under budget! Yesterday was spent on a picnic and hike with my hubby to celebrate Valentine's Day. Our weather was gorgeous and it was nice to get out and enjoy it, but it kept me out of my sewing room.

Elephants

I am participating in the Elephant Parade quilt along with Lorna over at http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/p/elephant-parade.html

She posted the directions for the large elephant last Sunday, but I did not get them done until last night because I was busy at work and obsessed with quilting my Peppy Patches & Pinwheels whenever I had any spare time.

I am making my elephants scrappy from my very small stash of grays I have on hand. Unfortunately, I do not have "Fifty Shades of Grey" (PS I could not read that trashy stuff, romance/porn is not my thing!). The design calls for five mama elephants. There is more contrast with the last elephant, but the lighting was bad at 10pm in my sewing room...

 Today Lorna posted the directions for the baby elephants. The quilt calls for 14 of them 5 facing right and 9 facing left. Here are my right facing babies

 and my left facing baby elephants

 and more

 and more! I made all 14 today!!! I am not sure how I am going to do their eyes probably just some embroidery details. I can't wait until next week for the next block!

Have you seen this gorgeous scrappy four patch in the latest issue of American Patchwork and Quilting? I cancelled my subscription last year when I was getting Quiltmaker, but I borrowed my mom's copy yesterday when I was going through their mail. I want to make a quilt for my bed and I want it to be scrappy. This may be a possibility--they even have directions for a king sized version.

This is a very hectic week at work with parent/teacher conferences, so I probably won't get much sewing in until the weekend, but at least we have a four day weekend!

February FNwF

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 Last night was the first Friday of the month which means Friday Night with Friends, see what everyone was working on here http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com/2015/02/sign-up-time.html. I spent Thursday and Friday night finishing the quilting on my Peppy Patches and Pinwheels! This morning, I attached the binding and washed it all up. I made this as part of Sarah's Sweet 16 Quilt Along. It is 54 inches square after washing and made from my stash.

 Here is an up close of the quilting. I just quilted it on the diagonal about 3/4 of an inch apart. I used the walking foot on my Pfaff.

 Kelly over at My Quilt Infatuation has inspired me to label and name my quilts, so here is my label. Simple and informative!

The only thing I bought for this quilt was the backing. I made a scrappy binding and sewed it down with my machine. I plan on donating this to Happy Chemo as part of the Hands2Help 2015 Charity Quilt Challenge and it will more than likely be washed a bunch.

Here is a link for information about Hands2Help 2015 http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/p/hands2help_11.html

Super Bowl Sunday 2015

You can find my Grow Your Blog & Giveaway post here http://tanyaquiltsinco.blogspot.com/2015/01/grow-your-blog-2015-giveaway.html 

The giveaway is open until February 15.

 It rained all day yesterday, so I could not get outside to get a picture of this awesome top I finished this week! It is sunny and beautiful this morning, so I dashed out to my garden fence to get a picture. Our garden fence is tall to prevent the deer from getting in and can display my bigger quilts. There was still frost on the fence, but the quilt sure looks amazing! I think I am going to call it Peppy Patches and Pinwheels.

I am participating in the Sweet 16 Quilt Along 2015 and this design was featured a couple of weeks ago here 

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/01/sweet-sixteen-quilt-along-sixteens.html

I love love love this quilt. Sarah who is hosting this Sweet 16 Quilt Along also organizes charity quilts in the spring and I want to donate this one. I think it would be a perfect chemo quilt!

 I was thinking of a black print with white for the backing, but really did not find anything. I picked this up instead for the backing. It was less than $5 a yard on clearance at my LQS. I think the color is cheerful and will hide my ugly machine quilting.

I cut these strips to use as a scrappy binding. I hope to piece and label the backing and pin this today. I think I am just going to straight stitch along the diagonals with my Pfaff and walking foot. I don't want to wait to quilt it!

I worked on lots of projects this week and all day yesterday. Here is Block 2 for the Charm Square Sampler Quilt Along

and Block 3. Join this quilt along here http://moderntraditionquilts.blogspot.com

My quilt is going to be a tablecloth!

The color for the the January Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 was blue and here is my last blue Medallion Log Cabin block. I am thinking of putting all my Medallion Log Cabin blocks together for a quilt for our bed. I have been making quilts for 20 years, but have never made a quilt for my own bed! This is going to change this year...

February's RSC15 color is pink, so I dug into my pink scrap bin and made a bunch of Medallion Log Cabin blocks. Here is the link to that party http://superscrappy.blogspot.com

I am using Kona white for the background and picked up 12 more yards of it at Joann's with a 60% off coupon! It was a great buy, $3.60 a yard and will be put to use with all my scrap projects.

I have so many shades of pink in my scraps--petal pink, rosy pink, pastel pink, watermelon, etc!

These blocks are really good for the big print scraps too! You can find my tutorial for these blocks here http://tanyaquiltsinco.blogspot.com/2015/01/scrappy-2015.html

2 yards of the Kona white is going to be used for the background for this Elephant Parade quilt! I think my elephants are going to be more scrappy. This week, we are making the big elephants. You can find the  information and free pattern over here http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com Lorna just posted the directions for the big elephants late last night. I know what I will be working on before the Super Bowl today!

Here are some of grays and I grabbed the same print for my backing, but in green for the Elephant Parade quilt.

During the Super Bowl and for Slow Sunday Stitching, I am hand quilting the border of my Journey of a Quilter quilt. Here is the link to that party http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com
I am really looking forward to the big game and to seeing Katy Perry's halftime show! She puts on an amazing show--my daughter and I saw her in concert several years ago and we are all in for a treat with her performance!

I am making my fried chicken tenders for our Super Bowl feast, so I better get outside this afternoon for a walk in the sunshine! I will link this post to probably all the linking parties featured on my right side bar!!!