Blogger's Quilt Festival: my second entry is....

So, I spent all weekend deciding which quilt I wanted to enter as my second entry in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side and.....

I decided to enter my Pretty Little Giant Star Surround quilt because the colors were completely out of my comfort zone and right now it is my all time favorite quilt. It's been on my bed since the moment it came out of the dryer...I LOVE IT! I also really loved how the pictures came out and decided to enter it in the Quilt Photographer Category. If you want to read more about this quilt and a funny story about my encounter while taking these pictures, please check out my original post here.







Finished size: 64 x 64 inches
Quilt pattern: Star Surround by Melissa Corry at Happy Quilting (I enlarged it a bit and those instructions can be found here.)
Pieced and machine quilted by me.

You can nominate me simply by going here and linking up this post! If you would also like to read or nominate my other entry, check out my post here.

Thanks so much for reading (again) about my Pretty Little Giant Star Surround!

Melissa

Blogger's Quilt Festival - mini quilt entry

Happy Friday!

Today kicks off Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side and decided to link up my two favorite finishes from the summer.

Starting with my Warsaw Mermaid quilted pillow...





I am entering this one in the Doll/Mini category.

You can read the original post about her here, but in short this was made for my darling little girl for her 3rd birthday. Pattern is free and you can get it here at Sewing Under Rainbow. Finished size: 20 x 20 inches and I pieced and quilted this on my machine.

Still deciding which other quilt I will link up and which catergory...so stay tuned!

Melissa

why I smell so good....

Hey Y'all!

It's Thursday and although I've been chugging away with the rotary cutter, sewing machine, AND iron...I have nothing finished to share. I felt like I had a lot of fabric (collections mostly) that had been sitting idle for too long, those including Piper from Dear Stella, Lush Uptown, and Nordika. So ALL three have been chopped and stitched and I am working on piecing the 3rd quilt top. I felt that I couldn't respectfully purchase any more fabric bundles until I worked through several of mine and mission accomplished. Does anyone else do this?

Here is a sneak peek of my Nordika that I pressed on during nap time watching Breaking Bad on Netflix.



Loving my new scent of Best Press, Cherry Blossom. I might have "accidently" sprayed my shirt just so I could let the smell linger...on me. Don't judge.

Oh, and I got me some happy free mail the other day from the sparkling Joshua, AKA Molli, over at Molli Sparkles via Intrepid Thread. I won 1/2 yard for making 18 blocks but since he is such a doll (and quilting rock star) he bumped me up to the 20 block category! Here is what I picked and I just can't wait to fussy cut these into something fun!



Thanks so much, Molli Sparkles, for making my week so awesome!

And lastly, while perusing Facebook just a bit ago, Fat Quarter Shop posted a 50% off sale on Lush Uptown fabrics. And I recently won a $50 gift card for linking up my Zakka 2.0 projects. And I need backing for my Lush Uptown quilt. Serendipity? Checkout code UPTOWN! There isn't much yardage left but I love the pebbles. Maybe it can work for both the Lush Uptown and Nordika quilts. Hmmmmm...

Thanks for visiting and hope to share something finished soon!

Melissa

ferris wheel epp...

Great News! My dad went home from the hospital Thursday and is doing great! I think some of the nurses were glad to see me go. There were some really great ones, but then there were some that I had to remind to give medicine or at least write his pain medicine info on the board so he knew when his next dose was. One night no one gave him his medicine at all. Seriously?! Oh well. More good news....



I was able to finish another EPP project and I think this one is my favorite EPP project so far...



I love the bright colors of Summerville with the black Essex linen.



For the back I used the remaining charm squares and then a folded piece of the linen in 1/2 and added button holes. Totally makes it a double sided pillow, eh?! I didn't layer or quilt the patchwork back, but now I kinda wished I did. Dang. Because the squares are from a charm pack, the edges are finished with pinking sheers so hopefully they won't unravel too much. I always use my serger to finish the seams on the inside of the pillow if I'm not binding it, so I think it will wash up okay.



I machine quilted the Ferris wheel part to the linen then I hand quilted around the wheel using embroidery floss in four different colors. I used 1 1/2 inch hexagons, 1 1/2 squares, and 1 1/12 inch equilateral triangles. I cut all my shapes on my silhouette using cardstock. I really need to get some perle cotton so I don't have to separate the threads. I HATE that part!



There is a ferris wheel Flickr group, too! It was fun to look at all the pictures to find some inspiration. I hope you give this one a try!

Linking up with all my favorite link parties on the right along with Crazy Mom Quilts and...

virtual quilting bee blocks...ALL 16!

Yay! My Virtual Quilting Bee blocks are finished and I got some pictures of them today. I had an unexpected day at home because little relish is sick.

Here are all the blocks together!


I think I am going to set them using my other layer cake in this fabric and make it scrappy-ish.

If you want to see all the blocks, check out my headquarters post.

Have a great weekend!

Melissa

A little sunshine on a cloudy week...

Howdy!

I just want to check in and say thank you so much for all the prayers, well wishes and positive vibes for my dad. He had surgery last week and is doing great! He's should be going home this week!

I hope to share some finished projects this week including all my Virtual Quilting Bee blocks (woot woot) and a new EPP finish. Since I'm at the hospital during my free time, I've done a lot of EPP stuff. So relaxing. It's been cloudy and rainy here so no pictures yet.

We did go to the Dallas Arboretum this past weekend and I have to include pictures in the post, so you are forced to look at pictures of the relishes instead.





Aren't they cute?!? Big relish wasn't into having her picture taken but little relish was the perfect model.

Onto super exciting news for me....I won! First, I won a gift card to Fat Quarter Shop over at A Quilters Table for the Zakka 2.0 4th quarter link up! Oh man, I was so delighted! I finally won for all my hard Zakka work! Thanks to everyone that kept their fingers crossed for me each week! OH, and then, THIS morning, I got an email from Molli Sparkles to check his blog this morning....and I won there, too! Fabric from Intrepid Thread, my pick! He is such a doll! Thanks again to everyone for making my week so much brighter. I hope to be back to full swing next week!

Melissa

Zakka 2.0 Finale!

Well, friends, Zakka 2.0 is over and I'm kinda sad and excited. I loved making all the projects in the book and even though I didn't get to make them all, I think I did pretty good! I am excited to now have extra sewing time on my hands. There are a few awesome projects that I will definitely make again and would recommend this book solely for those projects, starting with the Market Tote. I just love this bag and am currently carrying it everywhere! I love all the compliments I get as well. Also, the Swedish Bloom quilt is adorable and I hope to make the full quilt one day. I only made one block into a pillow but I can't stop thinking about those flowers. The pincushion will be my go to for a long time and hope to incorporate some of the other lovely paper piecing patterns in future projects. Oh, and the Piece of Cake tote...it's been great bag to carry all my breads and chips from the store to keep them safe.



Thanks so much to those that followed along with me and all my new Zakka friends that cheered me on!

Melissa

PS - If you are interested in finding any of these projects, just do a quick search for Zakka 2.0 on the side search toolbar. I would rather sew than list each of the links. That takes a lot of work! haha!

EPP WIP

Short and practically wordless....

What I've been working on at the hospital hanging out with my dad. 

Summerville fabrics on 1 1/2 inch hexagons, squares and equalateral triangles. Not sure what they will become, but open to suggestions! 

Melissa

EPP hexagon pillow...a finish, finally

I finally finished my epp hexagon pillow! I first showed you some of the 2 inch hexies pieced together here. Well, that was two months ago! I probably wouldn't have finished it except that my dad has been in the hospital for two weeks and I've had a little free time (while the relishes are at pre-school) sitting up there keeping him company. He is feeling better, but will likely have heart surgery later this week. With that said, I have had very little time/energy to sew.



Really not much to say about this pillow other than I used charms from Simply Color by V and Co. for Moda. Two inch hexagons are the perfect size for 5 inch charms, FYI. I used my Silhouette to make the paper templates. I keep telling Mr. Relish it will pay for itself! lol





I also started a new EPP project today while sitting at the hospital. I am excited about this one! It has hexagons, squares, and triangles, oh my! I didn't take a picture today, but maybe I will tomorrow and blog real quick from my ipad.

I did finish Mr. Relish's anniversary quilt but I'm saving that post for next month for Sew We Quilt's blog hop, For the Boys! Wooohooo...my first blog hop! Stay tuned for that, but just so you know, he LOVED it!


I am also liking up over at Hydee Ann's (<--love her name!) new monthly EPP linky party at Splish Splash Stash! You must go check it out this Saturday! Hi, Hydee Ann!

Lastly, while I was taking pictures of my hexagon pillow early this morning (see the dew?), I also snapped a picture of little relish sporting her first pony ever! Isn't she adorable?



That's all I got for you this week. Thanks for visiting!

Melissa

Linking up with all my linky friends to the right,  Crazy Mom Quilts and over at Quilt Matters for TGIFF! 

September is over? Already?

The cooler weather has arrived! Sort of...it was only 90 degrees today. Guess that's what I get for living in Texas. Well, September was very busy sewing and life wise. The relishes have been in school a whole month now and I have lots to show for it...



I joined in all the fun over at Molli Sparkles and made some Broken Herringbone pillows and a quilt. I also kept trucking along with Zakka 2.0 and made a cute little triangle patchwork pouch and vintage pencil pouch. I hosted my first link party where I shared my first two (very terrible) quilts and asked others to join in. I finished up my demo quilt for my quilting class and listed it in my ETSY store. Lastly, we celebrated big relish's birthday and I made her a mermaid pillow that promoted me from beginner to advanced paper piecer (<---not a word). HOLLER! Linking up with Lily's Quilts!

Melissa