This week a Blog Hop Book Tour is starting for Marie Bostwick’s new book ‘ties that bind’.  I’m excited to be one of the reviewers that Michelle of the Quilting Gallery picked.  When you come back to see what I think on Saturday, April 28th (aka the day Pip turns ONE!  Can you believe it!?  My beautiful little babe is going to be ONE!) – you’ll be able to enter for a chance to win you’re very own copy!

Not only can you enter for a chance to win a copy on my blog on Saturday but there are 10 other bloggers that are reviewing the book for you all and giving you a chance to win your own copy as well.  Below I’ve listed the schedule of the review and giveaway.  Have fun and hop along with us!

 

Blog Hop Schedule:

Tuesday, April 24

Michele - Quilting Gallery

Jackie - Canton Village Quilt Works

Wendy - Ivory Spring

Wednesday, April 25

Jennifer - SewHooked

Erin - One Piece at a Time

Thursday, April 26

Victoria - Bumble Beans Inc.

Sandi - A Legacy of Stitches

Friday, April 27

Michele - With Heart and Hands

Melissa - Lilac Lane

Saturday, April 28

Melissa - Sew Bitter Sweet Designs

Kim – Kim’s Crafty Apple

Have you discovered the Craftsy Block of the Month by Amy Gibson yet?  If you are a quilter or ever dreamed of quilting this is the prefect block of the month for everyone!  Each month Amy goes over a different quilt technique with a video.  It’s really easy to understand and follow and I’ve already learned quite a few new techniques.

Something I’ve tried before was English Paper Piecing.  I’ll admit I was not excited to do the English Paper Piecing blocks – it just wasn’t my thing.  BUT I’m not a quitter and I had to do it.  I watched Amy’s tutorial and she didn’t differently than I had before so I did it her way.  What a difference it made!  I am now in love with making these fabulous Hexagons.  So far, I’ve made up one sashing tutorial using the hexagons with plan for a second using slightly bigger ones. 

It’s free to sign up to be a Craftsy Member and the Block of the Month Program is also free.  I’m going to recommend that you watch Amy’s tutorial to see how to make these hexagon’s.  (PS. when you become a member be sure to follow me so you can see my projects and blocks as I go!)

Cutting Instructions:

1 – 12.5” x 3.5” Strip

5 – 2.5” Squares (Tree tops)

5 – 2” x .5” ‘trunks’ that will be fused to your main fabric (I put the fusible on my fabric before I cut it – seems to be easier). 

5 – 3/4-inch hexagon templates

You can see above that I have my five fabrics and my five templates.  I used Amy’s Instructions to created five hexagons and I sewed them all together in a row.    Once they were starched and ironed I cut my basting stitches out And pulled the templates out as well.  (You can save these for future projects if you’d like…who knows…there may be more sashing’s with them) Next, I used a washable glue stick to put my hexagons where I want them on my fabric.  Before I sewed them down, I fused my tree trunks so they overlapped under them.  As you can see I cut mine at a wonky 1/2-inch x 2-inches.  I thought it added a bit more dimension to the trees.   I blanket stitched the outer edge of the hexagon strip and the right side of the trunks.  I used a straight line stitch to stitch the left side of the trunks.  I’m really happy with this fun and whimsical sashing!Here it is finished with Block 4 – My Tilted House above it and Block 8 - A Wonky Modern House below it.  (Wonky Modern House was actually inspired by the February blocks of the Craftsy Block of the Month)

 

I hope you have fun with this sashing!

It’s been almost four months since the ‘tree and house’ quilt wouldn’t leave my dreams and turned itself into the Home Sweet Home Quilt Along.  With today’s block tutorial we’ll have enough blocks to make a 20 block quilt – or a 16 block quilt or a 12 block quilt or a pillowcase – whatever you desire!  I’ve learned a few things along the way of my first quilt along but mostly I’ve been inspired by the collaboration of all the different designers.  I just love that we have a wonderful mix of people from not only all over the US but in actuality – all over the world.  I have a all of my blocks (well – 19 of them so far… I should have 20 up by the end of the day if I utilize my time during Pip’s nap well) on my design wall and every time I walk by them I smile. 

Okay – enough gushing, let’s get on with it!

I have another fabulous designer today – Love Affair with My Brother.  I’ll admit – when I first saw the name of her blog I HAD to find out what was going on with her – Love Affair with my BROTHER!?  Who would blog about that!?  I’ll admit – I tend to be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.  If you’re like me – be sure to check out her ‘About Me’ page to see what’s really going on. 

Keep an eye on Sunni and her Brother by following her online endeavors:

• Website/Blog: http://www.loveaffairwithmybrother.com/ and http://stashbee.blogspot.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoveAffairWithMyBrother
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SunniLoveAffair
• Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sunniloveaffair/
• Email: sunniloveaffair {at} aol {dot} com

And now I won’t make you wait any longer…time for the final block of the quilt along…

Acid Cottage

Click HERE to go to Sunni’s blog to see the entire block and for instructions on how to create the next fabulous block in our quilt!

Don’t forget to add your picture to the flickr group once it’s complete:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/1850682@N20/

Previous Home Sweet Home Blocks:

• Block 1: My Home
• Block 2: Lapacek’s Orchard
• Block 3: House by the Bay
• Block 4: My Tilted House
• Block 5: Two Trees
• Block 6:  Tree of Life
• Block 7:  Under the Moreton Bay Fig
• Block 8:  A Wonky Modern House
• Block 9:  Scrappy Trees
• Block 10: A Home For the Birds
• Block 11:  The Happy Tree
• Block 12:  little house
• Block 13:  Three Trees
• Block 14: Under the Apple Tree
• Block 15: A Home for Hoot
• Block 16:  Branch Sweet Branch
• BONUS Block – accuquilt home
• BONUS Block – Marcia’s Crazee Patch House
• BONUS Block – Rippling Pond

I’m sure once I get this final block made my butt will really get into gear making up sashings for the quilt.  I’m really not good at leaving projects unfinished – they’re always nagging at my dreams which doesn’t leave room for new ideas to emerge.  So be sure to keep watching for sashing ideas!  I can’t wait to see what everyone’s quilts end up like!

Thankfully Diane has been working diligently to put together some sashing tutorials for the Home Sweet Home Quilt Along.  I drew out my quilt layout with 20 main blocks (16 scheduled and 4 bonus) and I need to come up with 29 different sashing designs!  Ahhh!  I came up with about 6 more yesterday afternoon but I still have to write them all up.  This is going to be an interesting challenge!

Shoo Fly Sashing by Diane Lapacek

WARNING: These are those teeny tiny pieces that drive Kim crazy.

I had some unused half square triangles stuffed in a drawer, so I just squared them up to size. This is a great place to use them.

Cutting instructions:

Dark fabrics:

· Cut 8 2” squares

· Cut 4 1½“ squares

Light Fabrics:

· Cut 8 2” squares

· Cut 16 1½” squares

First, we’ll use the 2” squares to make half square triangles.

Draw a diagonal line on the back side of each light square.

Place two squares right sides together and stitch ¼” on each side of the drawn line.

Cut on the drawn line.

Press seams toward the darker fabric.

Square up to 1½” square.

o

Sew a 1½” light square to each end of a 1½” dark square. Make 4 units.

Sew a 1 ½” light square between 2 half square triangle. Make 8 units.

Sew rows together to make 4 shoo fly blocks.

Sew the blocks together in a row to complete your sashing.

I’m really excited to be sharing with you the video that was made when I was a featured artist at last months’ RAW Madison Stimulus Show:

I would love to hear what you think!

The show was an amazing event and there’s another one tomorrow night – Menagerie.  It looks to be another fabulous time so if you can make it you should head on down! 

Also – I did a guest post for Quilting Blogger today on making ATC's from Orphan Quilt Blocks.  Be sure to head on over to see what I had to say!

Continuing on in the sashing tutorials for the Home Sweet Home Quilt Along – Diane has come up with a few really fun additions.  Here’s the first one from her:

String a Flower Garden Sashing

from Diane Lapacek

I chose a wide variety of bright fabric strings to make this Flower Garden sashing.

Cutting Instructions:

· An assortment of fabric strings. They should be at least ¾” wide and no wider than 2”. These are small pieces, so narrow strips will work best. They do not need to be straight.

· 4 paper foundations 3½” x 3½”. Any paper will work, but something lightweight like newspaper will be easier to remove.

Lay one of your strings diagonally across the first foundation paper.

Lay another strip right sides together with the first, linig up one edge.

Stitch and press.

Continue to add strips to each side until the paper is covered. Make sure each strip goes past the edge of the paper.

Yes, I know this is not the same block. I seem to have a hard time remembering to take pictures.

Remove the paper. My 4 year old granddaughter, Capri, did this for me. She loves this job and is very good at it and I don’t think it’s all that fun so it works out great for both of us.

Spray starch the piece lightly and press it flat.

Square it up to 3½”.

Make 3 more squares.

Join the squares together to form a row and you’re done.

Happy Monday everyone!  Today is going to be my ‘Monday Birthday Celebration’ and I plan on quilting all day!  The girls are heading to the sitter and I’ll be in my room playing away and I can’t wait!!!  One of the things I’ll be working on is this fabulous new bonus block from Marcia’s Crafty Sewing & Quilting.  She pointed out that we really needed a pond in our Home Sweet Home Quilt Along – and of course – she was right on!

Be sure to head over to Marcia's blog and browse through all the fun going on.  It's time to link up your 'May For Me' BINGO Cards:  I made one - super fun and easy.  I'm sure there's still time for you to join in the fun!

Rippling Pond

Click HERE to go to Marcia’s blog to see the entire block and for instructions on how to create the next fabulous block in our quilt!

Don’t forget to add your picture to the flickr group once it’s complete:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/1850682@N20/

Previous Home Sweet Home Blocks:

• Block 1: My Home
• Block 2: Lapacek’s Orchard
• Block 3: House by the Bay
• Block 4: My Tilted House
• Block 5: Two Trees
• Block 6:  Tree of Life
• Block 7:  Under the Moreton Bay Fig
• Block 8:  A Wonky Modern House
• Block 9:  Scrappy Trees
• Block 10: A Home For the Birds
• Block 11:  The Happy Tree
• Block 12:  little house
• Block 13:  Three Trees
• Block 14: Under the Apple Tree
• Block 15: A Home for Hoot
• Block 16:  Branch Sweet Branch
• BONUS Block – accuquilt home
• BONUS Block – Marcia’s Crazee Patch House

LOTS of bonus sashing tutorials will be going up this week.  Diane made one up for this and I have quite a few I’m finishing the write-up’s on.  So be sure to stop by again soon!

I know some people dread the big milestone birthday’s but I have to say – I pretty much LOVE all birthdays!  It’s a great way to celebrate and a wonderful excuse to spend time with friends and family you may not get to see as much as you would like.  And that’s exactly what I did this year! 

I put on my birthday crown (from whichgoose – I’ve been DROOLING over these for YEARS but since I already was married by the time I discovered her shop I didn’t really ‘need’ a crown.  BUT a friend of mine pointed out that I could have a ‘Birthday Crown.’  And that’s all the excuse I needed!  I must admit I got a few weird looks at the local Pick N Save – but who cares!?) and we had a big ole party.  We started around 2 in the afternoon yesterday – had lots of games set up, nacho bar, cake, and beer.  I would say 40 to 50 people showed up and enjoyed the night with us!  My parents were kind enough to whisk the girls away around 4:30 and take them to a hotel swimming for the night.  I managed to stay awake until midnight (which is way harder now that I’m 30!) and toasted my birthday minute!  If anyone that came to the party reads this – THANK YOU so much for celebrating with me.  It really made the night!

Today the girls came home later in the morning and right away were excited to work on their gift for me.  I took a lovely nap while they worked with their Papa.

The first gift I opened was a stool for me to sit on at my craft sales.  The girls did a lovely job painting the legs of the stool so I am sitting in style! My next gift was from Capri.  She decided she wanted to paint me a plaque that said “MOM” for my new craft area! And finally – Cedi decided to give me a garden gnome!  I’ve been talking and dreaming of creating a ‘gnome garden’ in the orchard but hadn’t found the perfect one to start the fun and collection.  I’m so happy with the one Cedi chose to start the garden out!  

I hope you enjoyed the 15th day of April too!  It really is a good day to be born on!

From Wikipedia:

Boho-chic is a style of female fashion drawing on various bohemian and hippie influences… “Boho” is an abbreviation of bohemian. 

This is personally one of my favorite styles and if I only had smaller hips I would completely be a Boho Chick. 

'What's Your Style: Boho' by KimsCraftyApple

Boho Ruffles Floral Print Bl... SunshineintheC... $22.00	Handknit Spring Scarf Strawb... Engelfelt $40.00
Indiana - Boho chic long ass... DivinaLocura $41.00	Pearl Earrings Brass Filigre... lindesigns $15.00
Brown and Blue Glass and See... BrisCraftyShop $40.00	Maxi Dress Long Sweetie Boho... Nuichan $52.00
70s oversized sunglasses in ... badgrammar $12.00	The Boho Band, Double Strand... adelitakelly $15.00
100 Percent Cotton Yellow wi... Continual $10.00	Woven Wishing Pouch Necklace... PurpleToedGyps... $28.00
Vintage Peasant Skirt Calico... bytheway $17.50	Boho Hippie Gypsy Patchwork ... siam2u $37.00
Vintage 1980's Leather P... rockvintagesou... $28.00	Long Golden Feather Boho Nec... lunarbelle $23.50
Tribal Jersey Infinity Scarf... thimbledoodle $16.00	Purple Glass Bead Earrings, ... GlassRiverJewe... $42.00

Past Styles:

• Abstract
• African
• Art Deco
• Art Nouveau
• Asian
• Avant Garde
• Athletic
• Beach