June Stash & Bee Crash

Just sneaking in this post before June is over. The blocks are currently traveling to their rightful owners! This month I participated in a little hive crashing, like wedding crashing just with blocks! **Not to worry there were no hives damaged in my crashing ;) ** Summer in Hive 6 got some blocks, but also  Diana in Hive 4, and Yvonne in Hive 2. 

HIVE 6: Summer @ The Easy Quilter

Summer requested a combination of saturated prints, well hello stash meet Summer, you're going to get along just alright! Having difficulty settling on one saturated double star, I compromised at two. Can't hurt to have extras :). 

Question: Have you ever participated in a quilt along?  Yes, last year I participated in the Sugar BOM club, it was so much fun! I have yet to put all the blocks together, that is on the to do list this summer! I say try it out, usually you gain some friendships and it's nice to post to Instagram and see what others are doing. 

HIVE 4: Diana @ Red Delicious Life

I hope Diana is making this quilt for me, teal and grey, it's almost like she knows me too well! We do have similar color tastes, so I am envious that I didn't think of this pattern first!

Question: What do you like to listen to when sewing? The podcasts 'How Stuff Works' or 'Stuff you Missed in History Class'

HIVE 2: Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl 

Yvonne chose big mail letters, so to be a pain I made got addicted to making small mail letters.  She wasn't counting on my block in her final number so I took some liberties :).  Hopefully, she likes them just as much. If not they will be good for the backing! She always sends me nice blog mail/comments, its only nice to return the favor! 

Question: What is your favorite season? I love fall in New England. The crisp cool days, the changing of the leaves, the apples (and apple pie), the pumpkins, and going back to school. There is nothing about fall I dislike. Now winter, that's a whole different story ... 

Whew, I hope all these ladies enjoy their new blocks.  It was fun to branch out and go beyond! 

-Patch & Chels

{Fat Quarter Shop} Joyful Jelly Roll Tree Skirt Love

If you're coming over from the Fat Quarter Shop WELCOME! If not, glad to have you back :). 

When I was asked to be apart of this tree skirt project I, of course, said yes! If you would like to get your hands on this beautiful pattern you can purchase it at the Fat Quarter Shop! They are also offering a kit and a video tutorial to help you through the pattern. In the whole process, the only part I was concerned about was binding around the circle, and that ended up being very easy. So, give it a try! 

Disregard my lack of Christmas tree, they are not in season!! 

Last fall I made a quilt top using some of my favorite Christmas fabrics I had collected and had a bunch of scraps left over.  This skirt pattern was too cute to pass up! I ended up using the same fabrics so it would match. The background is Essex Linen in Natural. I wanted something that would make the white prints pop and add texture.  The linen was a great choice. 

Knowing the quilt top wouldn't get heavy use, I went with some light hand quilting in red.  The quilt ended up having a nice drape to it, which will look great around a tree. The big stitching was just enough to add detail but not take away from the fabrics. 

If anyone is looking for Christmas fabric, in my search I found the Fat Quarter Shop has a Christmas Cloth Store.  Pretty spectacular! Some people are probably laughing at me, but for those of you who didn't know, it's awesome. Also, if you haven't already, head to the Jolly Jabber to see other versions of this tree skirt. 

-Patch & Chels

Sea Star: Pattern Testing + Giveaway

Back in April Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs put out the call for pattern testers for her new Sea Star Pattern. Last Fall I pattern tested her Looking Glass quilt and LOVED how the quilt turned out. So, of course, I signed up for another. Sea Star is a great combination of a plus block and a star block. Following Cheryl's lead I also chose cool colors in a sea theme. I don't have many baby boy quilts on hand, so this one was perfect. 

Just like last time, this quilt was super quick and fun to make. I got in a couple fights with my ailing iron, but overall it was painless. The quilt consists of squares and HST, nothing difficult but a new design anyone can try out! I was able to get the whole top done in one day of sewing. The backing, quilting, and binding was another day. To me her quilts are great projects that offer more pizzaz than basic squares, but are equally as easy and have have such design flair. I really have enjoyed each and every quilt I have made using Meadow Mist patterns.

In the pattern the baby quilt is square, but I went with a 3 by 4 block arrangement to make the quilt rectangular. I like the final size of the quilt.

Check back to Cheryl's blog to see what the other pattern testers chose for colors and the link to purchase this pattern. She has also offered up a pattern giveaway! To enter, answer the question:  What colors would you made this pattern in? Good luck everyone! I will draw and post the winner June 30, 2015.

Looks like this summer has started off with at least one quilting success, I hope to get a couple more projects completed before beginning summer school in the beginning of July.  Enjoy your summer everyone :) 

-Patch & Chels 

Sunday Stash

Another school year is finally over! The group of students I had this year was just short of fantastic, seriously they just might be my favorite class of students, ever. The end of the year was filled with activities and events that pulled me away from sewing but was well worth it! It was hard to watch them go, at least I can still see them next year in the building.

Now, its time to bring on summer vacation and dust off the computer and get back to blogging. Well really, time to dust off the sewing machine and get sewing! Today was spent coming up with my summer to do list including writing down all the WIP's I have going on. Let's just say it's quite the list. Looks like I will not be short of things to work on with all my new free time. At our last guild meeting I picked up these four lovely fats, they would make such a cute girl quilt. 

One of my students this year also loves to sew, but actually has talent making clothing. I was always in envy that she was able to make such great fitting clothes. As my end of the year gift she got me this set of six fats, and a gift card to our LQS. Such a great and thoughtful gift. Love these polka dots, and crosshatch in all colors! Like I said already, this group is going to missed so much. 

Hope everyone is enjoy the first bits of summer!

-Patch & Chels

One Lovely Blog

THE NOMINATORS: 

Talk about quilty love out there, I actually got nominated by two different bloggers! After what a felt like an impossible month at school, it was nice to be recognized for my blog work. Thank you ladies for your kind words, this is exactly what keeps me blogging :) 

Anne @ Hudson Valley Quilts 

Beth @ Cooking up Quilts 

Check out their One Lovely Blog Awards posts linked above, then stay a while and check out the rest of their blogs! These two don't disappoint. 

Project from 2014

FUN FACTOIDS: 
the other stuff I don't blog about ... 

1.  Glacier National Park or the Taj Mahal would be my ideal vacation spots.  Both are beautiful for different reasons.  Now to decide where to go first.

2.  Bridges have always been a fascination to me, even the boring ones that go over the highway.  If I wasn't teaching crazy middle schoolers I might be designing bridges.

3.  Growing up I always hated coffee and carrots, now I love them.  Although I still don't touch ketchup. Yuck.

4.  One of my cousins and I have an inventoried box of junk (yep, we clean out the junk drawers) that we pass back and forth. It started with her cleaning out her junk drawer into my oversized bag in high school and me not noticing until I pulled out some cat food in a baggy.  Since then it has gone back and forth. Last year I gave it to her as a surprise present in her car, wrapped and everything. It will be interesting to see how it gets returned. Usually when we least expect it.

5.  If cake is offered to me, I cannot resist. Or pie, I cannot resist that either.

6.  Fall is my favorite season. It's cool and crisp, the leaves change colors, and I get to wear my sweater collection.

7.  When I am not blogging or sewing, I love to bake (see fact #5).  Baking could easily be my second favorite hobby.

Recent Projects & Posts

LOVELY BLOGS: 

Here is my list of go to blogs, these are my kind of blogs.  The kind where I can just kick back with a glass of wine and enjoy. I would highly recommend giving them a try. 

Amy @ 13 Spools

Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl

Diana @ Red Delicious Life 

Jennifer @ Never Just Jennifer 

Jo @ Riddle and Whimsy 

Kelsey @ Lovely and Enough 

Kim @ Leland Ave Studios

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty 

Terri Ann @ Childlike Fascination 

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl 

THE RULES: 

Nominated, here are the rules to play along! 

1. Give a shout out to the person who nominated you.

2. Tell us seven random facts your followers probably don't know.

3. Send along the Lovely Award to ten blogs you enjoy following.

That's it :)

- Patch & Chels

Update on Hive 6

Last month I was late mailing out my block (ok, really late). This month I will not be the slacker! (still sorry Nicole). Nancy is working on a quilt for her father, she wanted white, light grey, dark grey, and black with a red stick. Here is the final product.

Once again this month got away from me. For weeks these blocks laid out and waited to be photographed, so long they got misplaced. A couple days ago I finally found them again to photograph and send out. Although I wasn't crazy late, but still late.

Nancy's questions this month are; three favorites:
Flower - Lillies
Color - Aqua
Non-Quilts Activity - Baking

So I am going to turn it out to you all, what are your favorite things?

-Patch & Chels