Yay for Leap Day!

Well it's the day that only comes around once every four years....leap day. Yay!

What are you going to do with your "extra" day today?

Sew?


Read The Hunger Games series?


Buy fabric?


Quilt those unfinished projects?


Go to the movies?


If only I could say I was doing one of the above mentioned things. Instead, I will be filling out applications for grad school. You see my wonderful husband and I made a deal. If I fill out all my grad school applications by a certain date then he will send me to Sewing Summit.

So obviously I will be working like a mad woman to get those applications finished. So please excuse my absence from the blog for awhile...and just think we can meet for real and party it up in SLC at the Sewing Summit!

Snow Day

It is finally snowing. Therefore, I will be taking a much anticipated snow day, thank you very much.

Mail Love!

As many of you are aware, my third love (behind my husband and quilting) is reading. So obviously I was over the moon when I discovered the Quilting Book Club over on Flickr. Combining two of my favorite things? Sign me up!

To make a long story short, I won a giveaway as part of being a member of the Quilting Book Club. Look at all the awesome goodies that were waiting for me in my mailbox:

Why yes, that's a copy of the pattern On a Whim by Thimble Blossoms, fat quarters of Moraccan Mirage by Anthology, some super cute scissors and a tape measure that even is magnetic! 

Wahoo! I now will go dance a jig. 

Quilts for Cancer: Octagonal Orb Block

I may or may not have over booked myself quilting wise this month. Does anyone else ever have this problem?

Anyway, during a few free moments this week I decided to work on my first ever block for the Quilts for Cancer Bee I'm a part of. I love the idea of making quilts for people affected by cancer...sadly it's such a widespread disease in the world, that almost everyone knows someone who is fighting (or fought) a battle with cancer.

Marta (who just started up her own blog by the way -- From Marta with Love -- be sure to go leave her some love!)  kicked the bee off with an excellent choice -- Elizabeth Hartmen's octagonal orb block. I've been itching to try this block out, so to say I was excited might be an understatement.

I've noticed that people sure are loving the spring green/aqua/gray color combo these days (we all know how I feel about gray!) and Marta is no exception. I especially like how she wanted to use quilter's linen in place of a traditional solid. I think linen adds so much texture to a quilt, and am planning on using it extensively in a future project.

Elizabeth's instructions were easy to understand (as always), and I love that it made such a large block - finished at 16.75 inches by 16.75 inches. The blocks were a bit time consuming to make but are an excellent use of scraps and I imagine an entire quilt with these might be in my somewhat distant future.  If you want to make your own Octagonal Orb (and you know you do) check out the instructions here.

Modern Heart Mini

I'm super excited to be guest posting today over at Sew BitterSweet Designs as part of the Valentine's Day Showcase.

What's the Valentine's Day Showcase you ask?

Wellll from Feb 1- 14 a variety of bloggers (including me today yay!) will post a tutorial for a Valentine's Day themed project.

And did I mention that on Feb 15 there is a chance for you to link up your own projects inspired by Cupid's favorite day of the year?

Oh, and did I also tell you that you can win prizes...including free fabric?

You best check it out...and head on over to find all the 411 on how to make my awesome Modern Heart Mini Quilt.

For the Love of Solids

I'm participating in the For the Love of Solids Swap going on over at Flickr. It is great fun - everyone is assigned a partner for whom you have to make one large item (think mini quilt, sewing machine cover, placemats, laptop case, etc.) and one small item -- using only solids. I adore solids so this is perfect for me. Also, our partners remain a secret until you get the package in the mail. What fun!

I've been fiddling around in Illustrator coming up with some designs for my super awesome secret partner and so far this is what I've come up with.

Ideas/suggestions?

Quilting Journey

I've been thinking about my quilting journey over the past few days. It seems like it was just yesterday that I first got my lovely sewing machine, Nina.

Back in the beginning of 2008, I casually mentioned to my husband that I'd like a sewing machine. This seemed to be a rather unusual request coming from me, but I said that I wanted to learn how to quilt. For some reason I was intrigued by the idea of designing with fabric. I love working with color and designing projects, and my dashing husband knew it, so it wasn't long before I came home one day with this lovely box! 

The first night I had Nina, I ran out to the local fabric shop and bought some fabric to make a quilt. This is what I "whipped up" over the next few hours:

We affectionally call it the swastika quilt. Apparently I didn't see the swastika in the design when I put it together. Oops. I guess I was too excited to be sewing to pay attention to details like that.

I've come a long way since then.

I love the entire quilting process - choosing fabrics, playing with shapes, colors, lines, and scale to create something unique and eye catching. And boy do I love turning the ideas in my head into realities. 

How did you start your quilting journey? I'd love to know!

Curves, Curves, Curves

This year one of my sewing goals is to master the curve. I like to create my own patterns and not being able to successfully sew a curve has put a major damper on my pattern/quilt making. The ideas are in my head but are unable to be realized on fabric. Luckily for me, Rachel over at Stitched in Color is hosting a month long Curves Class.

It starts this week and I'm super excited!

Just look at a few of the projects Rachel has put together for us to try:

I can't wait to get started.

You bet I'm going to try to master those curves!

I had big plans to blog about the awesome curves class earlier, but due to Sam's demise I had to wait. I'm sure you can still check it out and register today here. It is a super great deal when you think about all the hard work she has put into it -- it's a month long and you're bound to learn a few things!

Stay tuned to see my curve sewing in action within the next few weeks! =)


**All pictures are via Rachel's awesome blog...you know to keep it real around here.**