hello and welcome home! (Blog hop & Giveaway!!)

Welcome to my stop on the blog hop for the fabulous book Text It! - Quilts and Pillows with Something to Say by Sheri Noel.

(Make sure you visit Sheri's blog for the overall blog hop schedule and her post for today!)

I was lucky to get an early digital copy of the book.  If you want to express yourself through your quilts and projects with words, this book is for you!  The projects are fun and colorful and the book offers all different techniques for adding text to your projects including 7 different fonts of letters, numbers and symbols.

I had so much fun that I made two projects!!

Welcome Home is a wall-hanging, 18'' x 13'', which will be placed on the wall in our mud room so I'll see it everyday when I get home!

I used up scraps from my collection of Alison Glass fabric for the houses an then choose to stitch the words "welcome home".  I quilted with straight lines roughly 1/4'' apart and applied a facing instead of a binding.  I really love how this turned out!

Once that was done, I really wanted to play with applying a word from bias tape so I made a pillow for Mom as a gift.  She loves it!

While 1/4'' bias tape is a bit finicky to apply, I really, really love the way it looks and will be using this technique to add text to my projects in the future.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to offer a giveaway - two prizes and two lucky winners.

The first lucky winner will receive a copy of Sherri's wonderful book!  (US only).
The second lucky winner will receive 2 large spools of Aurifil thread - colors may vary.  (Open worldwide).

To enter, please comment on this post with the word or phrase you might add to your next project and tell me the country that you live in.  If you are a no-reply blogger, please make sure you leave your email address. 

Winners will be chosen on Saturday, March 16 at 8pm ET and winners will have 48 hours to reply to an email with their mailing address otherwise another winner will be chosen.

Giveaway is closed - congrats to our winners: Isis & Diane!!  (updated 3/18)

Several other makers are sharing their take on the Home Pillow today - go check them out!

Joanne @ Quilts By Joanne  

Andy @ A Bright Corner 

Sandra @ Utah Quilt Appraiser 

Cindy @ Stitchin At Home 

Get an autographed copy directly from Sherri or find a copy here on Amazon (affiliate link).

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words are - quilt top is finished!!!

Ta da!!!

I am excited to have this quit top done and thrilled because my daughter loves it!!   (Twas a little difficult to get a photo of and I was worried my DH was going to step on the bottom if we tried any longer!)

It is a big quilt - 70 x 100 inches - and I intend on quilting it myself on my home machine using organic wavy lines.  The backing fabric will be flannel - my daughter loves how soft her current quilt feels backed with flannel.

The process to create this was a fun and interesting journey.  I started out without a plan other than to paper piece a favorite quote from Harry Potter.

I played with all different options for setting but when I thought about the idea to use the geese as an unorganized border, the rest of the quilt clicked.   Along the way, there was far more seam ripping than I'd like as I changed where I was going and altered the dimensions of the blocks.

I really like these large blocks that allow these fun prints to really shine.

I'll be linking up with OMG here at Red Letter Quilts. 

Also linking up with Fort Worth Studio, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Sew She Can, Finish Up Friday, Thank Goodness It is Finished Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop, and Off the Wall Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

We've got commas!!

The top half of my daughter's dorm quilt is now all assembled!

This quilt will measure 70'' by 100'' when complete and will be the largest quilt I will attempt - and hopefully successfully complete - to quilt on my home machine.

Early on, I had tried paper piecing the commas but had not been happy with the results.  These are appliqued on and I think they fit the font of the letters quite nicely.

Each of the four corners will look like the photo below.  I used this tool to calculate the measurements for the square in a square setting triangles.

The side borders and bottom border are all completed and sewn together.  I need to trim the rows and then onto the final quilt top assembly.

You can read more about the process of this quilt here and  here. 

I've one geese (goose?) left over that I will use for the quilt label.

My daughter wants the backing fabric to be soft - perhaps flannel.  I am also going to look into brushed cotton.

Linking with Blossom Heart Quilts, Freemotion by the River.  Quiltfabrication, Quilt Story, and Sew Fresh Quilts .

And congratulations to Caroline for winning the embroidery kit from Snuggly Monkey.  I sent you an email asking for your address.

Congrats!




Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words are progress update

Back in March, I assembled all the words for my daughter's quilt for her freshman year at school.  At the time when I started, she hadn't yet chosen the university she was going to attend and her going off to college seemed so very far away.

Once the words were assembled, I put the quilt aside.  I needed more fabric (you can read about that journey here. )

 Also, I couldn't figure out how to finish it - how to make it the right size and how best to bring in some more fun and interest.

(I also think a part of me deep inside thought that by putting it aside, maybe I could delay her leaving.  But now she has made a college choice.  And her high school graduation is less than three weeks away! )

Over the last week or so, I've made some decisions and am so excited by my border.  This is not your typical quilt border but will be filled with geese, somewhat randomly placed.

The geese serve as a great frame for the quote.  They also symbolize the opportunities in front of her - so many to choose from as she plots her own path forward.

(I sure am proud of that girl!)

Finishing all the geese and assembling the quilt top will be my goal for May.  (You'll be seeing a lot of this quilt because I will set a goal for June to get it all quilted!)

The fabric for the quilt itself is the low volume prints from the Dear Stella Palladium line from several years ago.   The letters and my geese are  Happy Hour Square Dot Blender in Charcoal - fun square polka 'dots' which offers great contrast.  

Having fun!

I've got a great giveaway under way right now - head to this Elm Street Quilts post for a chance to win a Embroidery Kit from Snuggly Monkey!

I'll be linking up with OMG here at Red Letter Quilts. 

Also linking with Blossom Heart Quilts, Freemotion by the River.  Quiltfabrication, Quilt Story, and Sew Fresh Quilts .

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Update on Word's Are quilt

Remember this quilt?

For a few weeks, I've made very little progress on my daughter's quilt for her freshman dorm.   Once the words were assembled and rows created, I got stuck on how to finish off the quilt.

I laid it out of the floor and started auditioning fabric.  (Thanks to Mary Ann (see this post), I've no shortage of fabric from the Dear Stella line to play with!)

The fabric that surrounds each of the words brings big blocks of a single fabric so the goal was to continue that look (as opposed to smaller squares of the prints) but to do so in a way that adds interest.

I also wanted to use more of the awesome print used with the letters.

And maybe room for my favorite block - the flying geese!

This is what I've come up with!  I'm making variations on these geese units and they will frame the words.  The geese offer both interest and a neat transition to the edge of the quilt.

I've now a pile of fabric ready to be made into geese.  Can't wait to share the results!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words are!!

Happy dance!

What do you think?

The quote is a favorite of my daughter's from Harry Potter by Dumbledore. .

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

Great quote for a writer, isn't it?

I've managed to create all the words for my daughter's dorm quilt for the fall.  (Her freshman year!)  I am going to applique on the two commas because I wasn't happy with the paper pieced commas.

This is laying on the floor of my sewing room.  I need to start building out the rest of the quilt.  The words with their borders are 7'' high and a twin XL (standard fare for dorm rooms) means a quilt that is at least 65 x 93''.

Photo Credit: Hawthorne Threads

Didn't take too much math to realize that I needed more fabric.   I was making this quilt from a FQ bundle I'd won several years ago in a blog contest and using primarily just the low volume prints.   The selvage told me it was a Dear Stella line but not the name of the line or the year.

A bit of detective work with google and I figured out that I was using the Dear Stella Palladium line and with that info, I even found the blog post from Jaybird quilts announcing the winners of the blog contest.

Guess what?

There were two winners from Jaybird Quilts contest and I emailed the other winner, Mary Ann, to see if by chance she had any of the fabric left.

She did!  And she generously (extremely generously) sent it all to me!

Thank you Mary Ann!!!

Time to get the rest of the quilt top together!

This was my OMG goal for March (goal post).  I'll be linking up with a finish post here.

Linking with Blossom Heart Quilts, Freemotion by the River.  Quiltfabrication, Quilt Story, Ladybug Blessings,  and Sew Fresh Quilts .

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Inexhaustible

I made it through inexhaustible!!!!

That word alone is about 40'' wide.   I'll be building out the other strips to be the same width.

I think this will make a great dorm quilt for my daughter when she travels off for her freshman year of college in the fall (sniff).

The quote is a favorite of my daughter's from Harry Potter.

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

I've got source of magic left.  I think magic will be in all caps.

I'll be linking at  Blossom Heart Quilts,  Sew Fresh Quilts and Freemotion by the River.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words are, in my not so humble opinion

Progress continues on the quilt for my daughter when she travels off for her freshman year of college in the fall (sniff).

The quote is a favorite of my daughter's from Harry Potter.

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

Inexhaustible is up next and it will likely turn out to be exhausting!

I am just loving the contrast between this great fabric I found at my LQS and the low volume fat quarter stack I had in my stash.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words are, in my not .....

I first blogged about this quilt last week.  I've continued to make progress working my way through a favorite quote of my daughter's from Harry Potter.

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

I am just loving the contrast between this great fabric I found at my LQS and the low volume fat quarter stack I had in my stash.


Finishing all the letters for the quilt is my OMG goal for March. I will be linking up here for OMG.  

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Words

"Words are,

in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

Albus Dumbledore

My youngest is 17 and off to college in the fall. (sniff)

She is a big fan of the Harry Potter books.  And she wants to major in Creative Writing.

I've been trying to come up with a plan for her quilt for months.

Until now.

This fat quarter pack of low volume fabric that has been living in my stash for awhile will form the background.

It will be paired with this yummy fabric from my local quilt store called Happy Hour Square Dot Blender in Charcoal - fun square polka 'dots' which offers great contrast.

And one of her favorite quotes will be the centerpiece in the quilt.

I'm paper piecing these - having fun!

Only 58 letters to go!

"Words are, in my not so humble opinion, 

our most inexhaustible source of magic."

Have a wonderful day! Patty