The Liebster

Some exciting news...

I've been selected for the Liebster Award! 

Cherilyn from A Farm Wife's Journal selected my blog and I'm so honored that she would choose my little blog, and so excited!

Thank you so much Cherilyn!

Cherilyn's blog is so interesting to browse through...she's got a little bit of everything on it.  Lots of posts about farm life, which is so fun to read.  She also has sewing projects and recipes on her blog...I'm personally going to be trying out her Sugar-Crusted Raspberry Muffins, which look divine.  Yum!  Take a minute to peek at her blog!

I've seen the Liebster Award around for a while and have always admired the blogs that are chosen.


The Liebster Award is presented to up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers.

Cherilyn did some research on this, and this is what she said about it, "no one is sure but people speculate that it started in Germany.  "Liebster" means darling or beloved in German.  I think it is always exciting to receive an award!"

Yes it is! 

The rules that I need to state:

1.  Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog. 
2.  Choose 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers to pass it on to. 
3.  Display the Liebster Award somewhere on your blog.


 It took me a couple of days longer than I expected it to, because there are so many wonderful, talented women out there writing blogs and I couldn't decide!

In the end, these are the blogs that I have chosen for the Liebster Award:

• Bryan House Quilts--Becca of Bryan House Quilts is so adorable!  I found her blog through a linky party and I've been reading her blog for a couple of months now.  I always enjoy stopping by to see what's going on in her neck of the woods.  When I picked out a name and started my blog I had no idea that there was already a {B.-House blog} out there!  Sorry Becca, I hope that you weren't offended in my choice of blog names!  Becca is really talented and most of the quilts that she's made are her own designs.  She's just finished up an amazing Blue Star Quilt.  I'm really hoping she creates a tutorial for it to add to the other great tutorials she has on her blog.  Stop by and say hi, she's been put on bedrest with her pregnancy and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to have some company!

• Dreaming in Patchwork--Allison's blog is a fun blog also.  She's got a cute, quirky way of writing that's very entertaining.  In fact, her writing style reminds me a lot of my daughter Rachel's.  She was one of my first 'non-family' followers on my blog, and I loved seeing her cute little red toenails on my sidebar!  Thanks Allison!  I love her Wizard of Oz Quilt that she's most recently posted about.  I wish I had one!  She designs her own quilts and makes lots of fun bags and coffee cozies as well as lots and lots of beautiful quilts.  My favorite project of hers is her Drunkard's Path Quilt that she made with Happy Mochi Yum Yum and some grey solid.  Amazing!  Go check it out!

• Having Fun Quilting--Julie from Having Fun Quilting is a relatively new quilter--which is hard to believe because she is so talented.  She's happy and fresh and her quilts are just adorable.  She made some really incredible Hawaiian quilts for her mom and dad from fat quarters that they had brought back from Hawaii.  Be sure to visit her because it looks like she has some really fun things planned for her blog; like guest bloggers and tutorials and even has a resources page of some tutorials that she's used.  Julie, I love your blog!

• Porch Swing Quilts--Jennie's blog is adorable as well.  She is amazingly talented and has lots of really beautiful quilts that she showcases on her blog.  She has a very sweet, quirky style of writing that just makes me laugh.  I find myself being able to relate to a lot of things that she writes about, maybe partly because she's got lots of kids, too.  She makes lots of adorable bags, most recently one with the coolest little orange VW beetles on it.  She's got some dresdens going on and I think she may be a little bit addicted to granny squares!  She started making them in Sunkissed, and she's moved on from there!  Go check out her blog, you won't be sorry!

• There and Back Again--This is not any kind of a sewing or crafty blog.  Okay, this is actually my daughter's blog.  I swear it's not Nepotism, though.  Rachel is in her first year of college and is an English major.  As soon as you start reading her blog, you'll see why she's majoring in English.  She's got an amazing talent for writing and expresses herself in the most beautiful way.  She can always see a great lesson in the simplest things around her...a movie, a song, or even a Kit Kat candy bar.  Go stop by and say hi to her!

All these ladies would be thrilled if you stop by and I'm sure would welcome any new followers.  

Again, thank you Cherilyn!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Strawberry Shortcake

I said yesterday that I had completed two quilt tops this week, but I only had room to talk about one.  That's probably because I'm too wordy and picture-crazy in my posts.  But, it gives me an excuse to write another blog post this week!

This quilt is called Strawberry Shortcake.

It's actually been in the planning stages for over a year, and then in the partially-made stage for at least three months.  I got the fabric for Christmas 2010 from my husband and kids.  2011 was a crazy year, and I never had a chance to get started on it.

My quilting obligations last year were: 
my daughter's college quilt, a wedding quilt for my friend's daughter, three commissioned quilts, and my husband's Boise State quilt for Christmas.  


Sadly, six quilts were all I could accomplish last year.  Major problems with my sewing machine that had it in the shop seven different times made all those quilts go really slow. 

Projects that I have planned for myself usually get put on the back burner anyway.  I think it's probably like that for most of us.

I finally did start it early this year because I got a major guilt-trip at Christmas by my kids when my husband gave me a fat quarter bundle of Ruby.  They said I didn't need more fabric because I still hadn't used the fabric they'd given me last year.  You fabric addicts out there know that theory just isn't correct! 

That motivated me though, because I didn't want my kids to feel bad about the gift they had pooled their money together to give to me.  I got to work pretty quickly after that.  I finished the 'stacked coins' and hung them over my cabinet doors.  There it sat until I finally caught the bug early this week and finished it.

I think it's beautiful.  I love Bliss and the way all the fabrics and colors just work together in such a magnificent way.  

My husband told me it's "Strawberry Shortcake-y."  I think he was talking about the character, not the dessert.  I'd say that's accurate.  The reds, pinks and greens especially make it seem like that.  So, in honor of my husband, I decided to name it Strawberry Shortcake.

I used the white-on-white dots in the Bliss line for the white space, instead of just a plain solid.  I love how it works in this quilt.  (wrinkles up there. yuck.)

 My little helper again.  She was getting pretty bored by this time, so I had to let her take some pictures to keep her helping!

This is one of the pictures she took with me holding the quilt.  Not bad, huh?

The pattern is a traditional stacked coins.  The coins measure 4 1/2 X 2 inches (finished).  The white strips are 3 inches across finished.  

The quilt measures 66 X 72 inches.

I plan to use it as a lap quilt in our living room.

I'm going to back it in Bliss Flannel--the red with white dots.  The binding will be the red print on the top right of the picture above.  I'm so excited to get it put together and quilt it.  It will be the first quilt I've ever made for myself in the 12 years that I've been quilting.

I'm linking up today!  I really appreciate these great ladies for hosting these fun linking parties!  Hop over and check out all the great projects out there.










and,
Crazy Mom Quilts

Spring break starts today.  I'm so excited!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Works in Progress

I haven't had a lot of time to sew in the last month!  The last time I was down in my sewing room I ended up cleaning it and not sewing at all.

This last weekend, I finally did find some sewing time and I've been working like crazy since!  I managed to finish two quilt tops.

First, Ten Little Things Baby Quilt

(Notice the cute little shoes peeking out from under the quilt)

My daughter Ari was gracious enough to help me with photography yesterday.  But first, she had to put her high heels on, because she said her feet were cold.  I think she just wanted to look pretty for the pictures!

"High" heels on a five year old are the cutest things!  She begged and begged for these adorable things.  They have a heel that's really chunky and only about 1 inch high.  Before she could commit to the purchase though, she had to test them out...to make sure they made a 'pretty noise' on the hard floor, like mom's.  They passed the test, and now she hardly ever takes them off!

Anyway, I digress...

This quilt has been sitting up on my design wall for a LONG time.  Actually, since February 20-ish.  I first blogged about it here.

I got a little ahead of myself in the process, though.  I put all of my half square triangles for this quilt up on my design wall and found a layout I liked before I'd even trimmed them.  So to sew it together, I had to take the blocks down, row by row, and trim them first.  Ugh.  It took longer than I wanted, so I trimmed and sewed half the rows together, then came back and finished them about two weeks later.  Next time, I'll remember to trim first, then work on layouts after!

This quilt is for a friend of mine that just had her first baby.  

Ari had a little help holding the quilt.
It measures about 40 inches square.

She needed it because it was really windy yesterday.  It was hard for her to control, and I was a little afraid the wind would yank it out of her hands and blow it away!

She managed to keep it under control, though.

The brown is Kona Chocolate, which I think is just a touch too dark.  It was in my stash, though, and I'm trying hard to use what I have if I can.

I just love the prints from this line.  Each one is so adorable!  There are owls, trucks, cars, pebbles, numbers, jacks....just perfect for a little boy.

I plan to use this adorable owl print in dark blue from the line to back it in.  I just realized the owls are upside down.  Oops!

I chose the yellow dots on blue to bind it in...you can just see it there on the edge.  I found the fabric at my local quilt shop, but now I have it home, I'm a little worried that it's going to be too much next to the 

busy-ness of the quilt.  There wasn't a big selection in this line there; in fact, only 5 bolts, and mostly different colors of the owl fabric.  It doesn't look so bad with just the quarter-inch strip.  I guess I'll just have to see once it's quilted and ready to bind.  Any thoughts?

Since this post has gotten way out of hand and much longer than I expected, I'll talk about my second quilt top tomorrow.

The weekend is coming up fast and I can't wait...our Spring Break is next week!  I'm looking forward to some down time with the kids.  It's finals week for my husband, so unfortunately we won't be seeing a lot of him next week.

Maybe I'll be able to sneak some sewing time in and get some of my Swoon blocks done!

We Have a Winner!

I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely LOVED participating in the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop! 

I had so much fun visiting all the blogs and getting to know so many new people.  

I also had a ton of fun hosting a giveaway in my little corner of the world.  

These two charm packs of Reunion and 1/3 yard each of two prints from the line.

I was entirely blown away by the comments and support that I received from all who visited my blog.  So many sweet comments were given about my blog, and I really appreciate them.  I also appreciate all those that offered some constructive suggestions.  It's not always easy to say things that are constructive.

One of the first comments I received warned me that I had word verification turned on.  I was thankful for that so I could get it turned off and not annoy everyone all week.

I do try to answer each and every comment.  If I didn't reply to yours, I apologize.  If you're a no-reply blogger, I couldn't reply back.  In the midst of the highest traffic, my email was malfunctioning, and it wouldn't register when I had sent replies.  So I might have even replied to some of you twice!

Anyway, on to the winner, which is what everyone is waiting for anyway!

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I used Mr. Randomizer from random.org.  He came up with #93.

Judy from Sew Rip Repeat!

Congratulations Judy!!

 I'm sending you an email and I'll also post a comment on your blog to tell you the good news!

Thanks again to everyone who entered my giveaway.  I had so much fun that I just may do it again really soon!

Hope everyone has a great weekend...it looks like it's going to be a nice one up here in Idaho.

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge

If you're looking for the Blog Hop Giveaway, go here.

As I was browsing around through my blogroll last night, I came across Sarah's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  If you don't know Sarah or haven't visited her blog, DO IT.  She's an amazing lady with some great talent.  Best of all, she's so willing to share her talent by helping others.  She quilts for her church's quilt ministry, and she creates some amazing quilts to give away to others in need.

Right now, she's hosting an amazing Charity Quilt Challenge. 

  It's a challenge to engage participants to create charity quilts for two amazingly worthy charities: The NOLA project; which is a program to distribute quilts to grade-school children living in St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans.  This area was hit very hard from Hurricane Katrina, and there is a lot of need there.   And Happy Chemo; which is a program to distribute quilts to those going through Chemotherapy.  This is an effort from Emily at Em's Scrapbag; she's looking to distribute 1500 quilts and is now up to almost 400. Both are wonderful, worthy charities for quilters to get involved with.   The deadline to have the quilts finished and sent is May 27th.  That's two months from now.  I know that most quilters can easily start and finish at least one quilt in two months' time.  Most can make a full quilt in less than a weeks' time. I committed to make at least one quilt, and I'm going to try to make two.  It's a great cause and it feels so good to help out with a good cause. Click on the button above to go to Sarah's blog and read her post with all the details about this quilt challenge. (There's even giveaways!  She has the details on her blog) Sarah is taking names for signups now. Can YOU help out?  

Quilter's Blog Hop Party and my First Giveaway!

I went down to my sewing room this week for the first time in two weeks to spend some quality time in my favorite space.  I haven't been in there for so long because of sickness that's been raging through our family.

I was very discouraged to realize that my sewing space has gotten to be quite a mess!  I just can't seem to concentrate and get anything accomplished when my sewing room's a mess.  But it seems like it's always a mess.  I get it clean, start on a new project, and before I know it, it's a mess again.  *sigh*  It's a vicious circle. 

Does anyone have this problem?

So instead of sewing this week, I decided to spend my time cleaning up and organizing my sewing room. 

These were my little helpers during my cleanup.  My daughter Ari and our 7-month old Golden Retriever, Bronco.

During my hours of cleanup, I've managed to unearth some goodies that I'm going to put into my very first giveaway!

Two Charm Packs of Reunion by Sweetwater and 1/3 yard each of two of my favorite coordinating prints from that line.

I love this fabric!  It's just pretty.  I love Sweetwater also.  I made a quilt for my daughter from their Pure line last year.  There's just something classic and fun about their fabric lines.

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To enter my giveaway, all you have to do is leave me a comment with some feedback about my blog!

I've only been blogging for about four months, and I just changed the look of my blog, now that I've had some time to collect some pictures of my quilts and things for the banner. 

So take a quick look around and tell me what you think...good or not so good.  But please be nice!  Constructive criticism is always good to hear, but nothing mean, okay?

And, if you do like my blog, I'd love to welcome some new followers to my blog!  But becoming a follower is not a requirement for the giveaway.


I'm participating in the Quilter's Blog Hop Party this week with the Quilting Gallery. It looks like it's going to be lots of fun with lots of fun blogs to visit and lots of fun giveaways, like mine!

                                                                
                                       Click the button to check out the list of blogs participating.


Anyway, to sum it up, to enter my giveaway to win two charm packs of Reunion plus two 1/3 yards of prints from the line, leave me a comment with some feedback about my blog.  I would be honored for you to follow me as well.

I'll keep my giveaway open until March 23rd, at that point I'll randomly draw a winner and contact you, so be sure to leave contact information if you're a no-reply blogger!

Good luck, and have fun checking out all the fun blogs out there!  I know I will!

P.S.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

On my Design Wall

I've been working on another baby quilt for the last couple of days.  I love baby quilts because I just feel like what better way is there to celebrate a new baby than with a quilt?  It is always a joy to me to make a baby quilt for someone special.  This quilt is for a friend of mine who just had a little boy, Logan. 

I bought a charm pack of Ten Little Things by Moda for this quilt.  Don't you just love this line?

 I think it's so adorable.  In fact, I just may get some for a monster truck quilt that I want to make for my little guy.

Anyway, I sewed up all the charm squares into half-square triangles, along with the addition of a few other fabrics.  The brown is Kona Chocolate.  I've been playing around with some placement ideas. 

This is what I think I've decided on.  Any thoughts? 

Any suggestions or comments would certainly be welcome!  I have only ever done pinwheels with my HSTs before, and I thought I needed to branch out.

During my time at my design wall, which is actually over a table so I have to stand on a chair to put my blocks up on it, I had a slight catastrophe.

My ruler was laying half on a stack of fabric and half off.  As I was leaning on the table to grab some more blocks to put up on my wall, I heard a *crack* and discovered my ruler was broken!  I had leaned over and placed my weight right in the middle of my ruler.  Good thing I have another one, but it's never a happy thing to lose one.

I think it's time to move my design wall from over the table, or move the table from under my design wall!

This was my little design helper.  He just kept saying to me, "thanks mom for making it!"  I think he thinks it's for him...

And to end on a super exciting note...I won!!

This adorable bundle of fat eighths.  I've honestly never won anything before...and I'm sooo excited!

Thank so much to Kimberly of my brown bag studio and Judi at Green Fairy Quilts for the giveaway!

I was thinking that a fun, springy, picnic-ish kind of quilt would be fun to make with this bundle of fabric.  Any ideas for patterns?

Hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend!