Spelling Bee Sew Along December Update & DREAMi

Are you participating in the Spelling Bee Sew Along? I have been, but got a little behind because of my Xmas sewing. I got all caught up again with these precious picture blocks--the cake and the camera. I plan on making the quilt pictured on Spelling Bee by Lori Holt. The blocks are all in the six inch range. More information is located on my right hand side bar.

Aside from purchasing more of the background fabric (I already had a yard), I think I will be able to make this quilt from my stash. 

We have been sewing two blocks a week.

I found some perfect little bits of pink in my pink scrap drawer to make the letter I blocks.

This morning, the last Spelling Bee Blocks of December were posted---the letters J and the Mason jar. They went together very quickly!

I have the J theme going this week with the piecing of the backing for my Denver Broncos Quilt--I tweaked the jersey design in the book to make an Elway and a Manning jersey. Between them, I embroidered my label.

I got my Denver Broncos Quilt pinned and quilted! I got about a third of the binding done too--I will spend the last regular season Sunday getting the binding done and squeezing in one last finish of 2017.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/12/slow-sunday-stitching-new-years-eve.html

 Since I had this last week off, I wanted to make a little treat for myself. I made a 24 inch Swoon block for a spot in my sewing room. You can see my go to cross hatch quilting in this picture and I bound it last night.

It goes perfectly above my new glass door cabinet in my sewing room. It is nice to end 2017 with a little goodie for me. This was a Drop Everything And Make It for sure. Check out other DREAMi projects here:

http://www.mmmquilts.com/2017/12/dreami-linky-11.html

I know most of the country is experiencing frigid temperatures, but it is lovely here. I just walked out in my pajamas to take a picture of my Swoon Quilt and it is lovely in the sunshine. Stay warm and cozy wherever you are and have a safe New Year!

Xmas Patchwork Swoon

Merry Xmas everyone! I hope you have had a lovely time with your families. My daughter arrived home from college on Thursday and it was my last day of work. Of course, it was the only day we have had snow--an adventure with school children and traveling.

Unfortunately, I have not done much quilting the last couple of weeks. I did manage to get the binding done on my Xmas Patchwork Swoon Quilt. I got it back from the machine quilter on Monday and spent all the evenings this week stitching it down.

I had the quilter use a snowflake motif. Even though the fabric is Xmas themed, it is not overwhelmingly Xmas and I think the snowflake quilting makes it more winter themed which means it will be used in my house all winter--plus the milky backing makes it heavy and soft.

I got a couple of quilty gifts for Xmas including these dachshund pillow shams. My sister @mommytoirishtwins made them for me. They remind me of my dachshund, Beau, and with the amazing Bonnie & Camille sweaters they are precious.

I made these Pocket Pillows for most of my family, but of course I forgot to take pictures of all of them. This one was for my niece, Bailey, in aqua and red to match her bedroom.

I think the backs of these are as cute as the pocket front. These with a gift card were perfect for everyone. I made one that was Star Wars theme, another one was Game of Thrones, and a couple with wine bottles, corks, and wineglasses. The pattern is a free tutorial, you can find here:

https://www.polkadotchair.com/2015/05/pocket-pillow-sewing-pattern.html/#_a5y_p=3808734

Now that Xmas is over and my sewing room is no longer the wrapping room, I hope to get in there and make a few goodies for myself!

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Supernova Finish

This is my version of Supernova! It was a baby gift for one of the secretaries at one of my schools. She does not know the baby's gender, but she is decorating the nursery in gray and mint. She loved it so much she cried! Unfortunately, my finished picture is darker than it really was. I quilted it with straight lines radiating out from the dark star shape.

Here is a better picture for light. This is a free pattern you can find here:

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2017/02/stunning-stars-4-supernova.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ConfessionsOfAFabricAddict+(Confessions+of+a+Fabric+Addict)

I made mine slightly smaller with the half square triangle blocks finishing four inches.

I have finished my football quilt top, so now I am working on the backing. I really wanted to put minky for the backing, but my hubby wanted Broncos fabric. I decided to make a Manning jersey

and an Elway jersey for the backing label. I sewed the two jerseys together and I am stitching the label information between them. This is my Slow Sunday Stitching today. https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/12/slow-sunday-stitching_10.html

I will use orange Bronco fabric above the jerseys and blue Bronco fabric below.

I sent my daughter a finals care package this week. Care packages are a great way to spoil your kids when they are away from home. I like to pick a theme and decorate the inside of the box with five pieces of scrapbooking paper. You have to trim them down slightly to fit into the large Priority Mail Box. Since the theme of this one was studying and taking finals, I put in some studying goodies like: highlighters, mechanical pencils, Post-It tabs, cozy socks with wise owls, nuts, Nutella snacks, Poppa's Corn (a local gourmet caramel corn), homemade blondies, Skittles, K-cups, Starbucks Espresso shots, relax and calm face masks, dried fruit, an instant noodle bowl, etc. It is fun for me to locate goodies and put it together. I already have my theme selected for the next one and have already started gathering goodies. I usually send a package every other month.

I bought myself an early Christmas present. This glass door cabinet for quilt storage. It is from Target and I had been pining for it for awhile and when all Target's furniture was 30% off a couple of weeks ago--I had to order it! Between the sale and my Target card it was $125 delivered to my door. My handy hubby put it together. I am quite pleased with the cabinet and it comes in a bunch of colors. You can check it out here:

https://www.target.com/p/windham-library-cabinet-threshold-153/-/A-50860906#lnk=sametab&preselect=16507998

But wait to buy it on sale!

I want to make a small quilt to hang above it with some of my Bonnie and Camille fabric. Hopefully, I will tackle that over winter vacation...

I have been keeping up with the Spelling Bee Sew Along and I am making some letters for a little holiday decorating, but I will save those for another post.

Have a great week!

Supernova & More

 My week of sewing has continued. This beauty is Supernova! I need a baby quilt for a coworker and her colors are gray and mint green--she does not know if it is a boy or girl. I had the gray in my stash-it is beautifully mottled with small sparkly dots--very celestial looking. I picked up a few quarter yards of mints/aquas and shopped in my stash for 10 different greens. I have added a four inch border since this picture was taken and I quilted it yesterday. Unfortunately, the quilt shop was closed all weekend, so I could not pick up some more of the darker green that is the off-center focus which I want to use for binding. I will get some on Tuesday after work. The Supernova pattern is a freebie you can find here:

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2017/02/stunning-stars-4-supernova.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ConfessionsOfAFabricAddict+(Confessions+of+a+Fabric+Addict)

Please note, I made my half-square triangles smaller to finish at four inches.

This has definitely been my Drop Everything and Make project this month! Check out everyone else's here: http://www.mmmquilts.com/2017/11/dreami-linky-10.html

For Spelling Bee Saturday, we did not go on to the letter G, but went back and made some picture blocks the bird and the butterfly.

I also made my Bella block. I need to embroider the details on all of these picture blocks.

I also finished a new Christmas pillow for my house. The red VW Beetle is special for me because my first car was a 1970 one. The pillow is 18 inches square.

The only place I ventured out to on Black Friday was Joann's. I wanted to pick up my minky backings for the Supernova Quilt and my Patchwork Swoon and use my 25% off their sale price. I also checked out the Christmas fabrics at 70% off and found this buffalo check for $1.79 per yard. Yes, I will take all six yards please! 

I made three of this style Christmas pillows this week. I am planning on gifting them for some of my work friends. Here is the link the the free tutorial:

http://nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/2015/11/merry-and-bright-cushion-cover-free-pdf-pattern-.html

I have one more to embroider this evening for Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/11/slow-sunday-stitching_26.html

I am back to work tomorrow, but I hope to get Supernova finished up this week. Stay tuned for pictures...

Untraditional Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving Week! I have the whole week off and it started on Friday afternoon with a stop by the fabric store to find a border for my Bee Happy Quilt. I auditioned a couple of dozen possibilities and settled on a green very similar to the one Lori Holt used in hers. I have a teal backing from my stash and they will definitely work together. This is so big--my thoughts of hand quilting have disappeared. I would really like to have this one quilted with a honeycomb design, so I think I will send it to https://quiltingbydavid.com He has posted a few pictures on Instagram of some quilts done that way. It will probably have to wait until February with my budget tapped out for Christmas.

I also grabbed the red border for my Patchwork Swoon Quilt. I made this quilt with a combination of Kate Spain's North Woods fabrics and some Bonnie & Camille scraps. This one is about 70 inches square. I am going to hit the Joann's sale and buy a minky backing and I made an appointment with my local quilter for a snowflake design all over this one. I want this one done in time for our Christmas break on December 21st! I also need to get the football quilt done in time for the playoffs even though the Broncos will not be in them this year!

I am keeping up with the Spelling Bee Sew Along. E was the letter last week

and F is the letter this week. I splurged on the letter board from Joann's with a 60% off coupon--it was going to be on my Christmas wish list, but for $8 I could not resist! 

My Christmas Gift Making groove is already on! I made four gifts for my sister's family a week and a half ago--in time to journey with my parents to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving and save me on the shipping costs. I used a Cozy Christmas charm pack to make four Christmas pillow tops. One is done and the other three are awaiting the embroidery. I think they will be sweet gifts for some work friends. Here is the link to that free and easy pattern:

http://nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/2015/11/merry-and-bright-cushion-cover-free-pdf-pattern-.html

As I titled this post, "Untraditional Thanksgiving" let me explain. My parents left for Las Vegas to see my sister's family on Sunday and our daughter went to Scotland for the week--it was more than $500 cheaper for her to fly to Scotland instead of coming home. With everyone gone, that leaves my hubby and me alone! I offered to make a small scale Thanksgiving dinner with a turkey breast and the trimmings, but he requested chicken wontons. Excellent choice--much less labor and delicious! I probably will make a decadent dessert, but that means the whole day for football, quilting, and the National Dog Show. It sounds like a dream--low key and some of my favorite things...I doubt I will get out of my pajamas! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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FQS Mini Charm Chocolates Quilt

 Welcome! It is the big reveal--my first project I made for the Fat Quarter Shop--the Mini Charm Chocolates Quilt! This is a free pattern offered in three quilt sizes and a table runner. You can find the  pattern here:

https://static.fatquartershop.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/MCchocolates-CompletePattern.pdf

I made the 30 1/2" x 38 1/2", but then I added an extra border to make it a bigger baby quilt. I cut my floral borders 6 1/2", so my finished size is 42 1/2" x 50 1/2".

I quilted it every 2 inches both vertically and horizontally with the built in wavy stitch on my Pfaff. This is the perfect quick baby quilt with the help of the three mini charm packs and wide borders, there is very minimal cutting and it sews together quickly!

Since I used the floral fabric as an extra border instead of my backing, I opted for a bright red minky for the backing. I used minky for the first time about a year ago--it is challenging because of the stretching, but it is so soft it is worth it. The key is pinning every 1 to 2 inches, quilting gloves, and a walking foot.

Thank you Fat Quarter Shop for allowing me to play with these beautiful fabrics and fun pattern!

Spelling Bee D Week

Welcome to D Week! I made my sweet little red D blocks and I think I need to make the dog block next.

Bella is my dog inspiration! Her coloring is so unique, so I need to do some stash digging. The vet referred to her as a merle with chocolate, we just say she looks like desert camo.

 I also made the last two blocks for the Bee Happy Sew Along--this is my orange flowers block

 and my watering can black. My machine really disliked my dark gray thread--so the stitching had lots of skips and was kind of messy, but it is on there and not going anywhere!

 Here are all of my rows together! I have already been enjoying the morning and our extra hour with some slow stitching and adding embroidery details to it. 

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2017/11/slow-sunday-stitching.html

This week we are scheduled to be adding borders to this--the borders are also appliquéd with honeycombs, so I have already been cutting those out since there are 68 of them! Of course, I want mine extra scrappy. I think I will be hand quilting this with perle cotton all winter...

I also finished my other side of my Welcome sign--Go Away as my hubby requested! 

I need to do some Xmas sewing this week, but I won't be able to share it! I also have a spy trying to find out what colors or theme is going to be used for one of my colleague's baby nursery. It is a good thing I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off in a couple of weeks!

Reveal Postponed

I received an email on Tuesday from the Fat Quarter Shop that they were postponing the reveal of our secret project to Friday, 11/10. Mine is complete and I am anxious to share, but we have to wait. Here is a picture of the back--

Stay tuned!

Sew Alongs & October OMG

Three blocks were posted this week for Lori Holt's Bee Happy Sew Along and I have them done. This is a close up of the Coral Flower Block--I went with pinks for mine.

http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-fabrics-and-bee-happy-sew-along.html

 Here is my top with the fourth row added.

My fifth row is awaiting the last two blocks that should post tomorrow.

I am also keeping up with the Spelling Bee Sew Along brought to us by Lori Holt and the Fat Quarter Shop.

http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-school-bus-pattern-spelling-bee.html

https://blog.fatquartershop.com/2017/10/spelling-bee-sew-along-week-4.html

The last three weeks, we have sewn letters, but this week we ventured into making some of the picture blocks. I whipped up this deliciously red apple

and this cute bee. My blocks will finish six inches.

I got the best new recipe from my friend Amber. It is for Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili--it is so good, I am going to share it here for your enjoyment and so I can easily find it the next time I want to make it.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili Recipe

Serves: 4

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion--diced
• 5 jalapeños--diced with the seeds removed
• 3 cloves garlic--minced
• salt & pepper
• 1 1/4 lbs chicen breasts cut bite-sized
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• pinch of crushed red pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis
• 1 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1 can of corn--drained
• 1 can of white beans--drained
• 1 lb bacon--cooked & crumbled
• 8 oz cream cheese

1. In a large saucepan heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat, saute onions, jalapeños, and garlic until tender.
2. Season chicken with salt & pepper and add to the pan. Add 1 tbsp olive oil with chili powder, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Toss chicken in spices and brown on all sides.
3. Stir in tomatoes, broth, corn, and beans. Increase heat and bring it to a simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Stir in cream cheese and half of the bacon and remove from heat.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve with cheddar cheese and bacon.

Trust me, this is incredible and super easy to make!

 I made this Pumpkin Block way back at the beginning of September, but I just got around to turning it into a pillow. This is a 12 inch pumpkin block from Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt. Pillows are a quick way to use up leftover and/or random blocks.

I completed my October OMG! I can only show you the back of the quilt. It will be unveiled on the Fat Quarter Shop blog and my blog on Friday! The bright red minky backing is so soft--it was so cozy to bind it. 

I will be binding another project this evening while watching some football.