ORBC = Happy Mail Day

You may remember reading about all of my adventures with the United States postal service and a certain package that was bound for Marguerite back around the Christmas Holidays. Well the ladies over at the ORBC decided it was time for round two and chose a "may we always be friends" theme for the swap. My package came today and Molly, really outdid herself. Here's a look at the box just because I got a giggle out of it.


Inside were all kinds of goodies. Molly even sent along some special treats for Rusty and Ali. I don't talk a lot about the dogs here so I don't know how Molly knew I was a bit of a snob about their treats but she pegged me right. I assume it is because she takes such good care of her own "assistant." Early on my husband was a bit fanatical about what the dogs ate and we decided then not to give them things like raw hide and beggin strips. Sorry I know a lot of people give these treats to their pets we just decided it wasn't for us. I had never seen the treats Molly sent along but the dogs loved them and I can pronounce all of the ingredients so I was happy as well.



Molly pegged me as a toffee fan which by the way is my favorite. And would you check out those super cute coasters she made from the new frolic line. And yes, I see you over there drooling over that jolly pack of Wonderland but this ones mine. And just because I can't let you think I got all the good stuff, here is a sneak peak at what is on it's way to my partner. A little Anna Marie Horner, Tina Givens, and even some Heather Bailey.

Lesly's Flower Garden

In March for my Modern Tradition Bee Lesly sent along a lovely linen and fabrics in two colors. She asked for monochromatic blocks using grandma's flower garden. Lucky for me I got pink and orange as my two colors. Not sure if Lesly knew those were my favorite colors and that I have been collecting fabrics for an orange and pink quilt or not but it made pulling in some of my own really easy. I had a lot of fun with these blocks. At first I was really intimidated because Lesly did such a great job on her example blocks. I wasn't sure what I could do to make mine different.



Amazing right, so how do you really change that up? Well there are some really creative girls in my group and they did amazing things with this block. Here's what I learned in making these blocks. Linen is a bit more slippery then my quilting cotton. It took some getting use to to make sure the seams were nice and straight. Ironing required a lot of patience, I'm not sure I really ever got all of the wrinkles out of my blocks. See I like steam and a lot of it, I don't iron (one chore I have made the hubs do since we got married) but I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way my mom taught me steam and linen are not a good match so I kept the iron on super low.


Looks like there is a huge difference in Lesly's snowy backdrop up there in Canada and the nice spring green grass here in Virginia.

Pinwheels for a Cause

Recently as I was browsing through blogland one of the blogs I read had a link to a project that Kathy and Amber are working on. Together they are making quilts to donate to the children of a local children's hospital. They asked for pinwheel blocks so that they would all match and could easily be sewn into quilts for these children. You can read about the inspiration for this project here. I recently asked my friends on flickr to help me out by making No no arm bands to send on a mission with the nonprofit that I work for and once again I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my online friends. So when I saw this project I new I needed to make a couple of blocks. So I whipped up two blocks in pink for a little girls quilt and two more in green for a boys quilt. I am mailing them off to Amber in the morning and I hope they will make it into a quilt for a couple of very special kids.

Not Sure It's Love

I made a sample block with the changes I had made to the All Hallows Eve Block pattern and the fabric that I had selected for the block. My plan was to get all of the fabrics cut and mailed by Saturday. But now after making this block I'm just not sure I LOVE it. I'm not committed.



I have been hoarding this fabric since October when I bought it as a treat for myself. I justified finally using it because Camilla has another line coming out soon that I already know I am going to love. What do you guys think? Do you like this block or hate it? Should I try something else? I have to figure it out pretty quick so I can get my fabrics out to my bee members but I just don't know if this is the right one. I'm not sure it has the "it" factor.

Stalking the Mail Carrier?

I'm with Ruth, there is something magical about a visit home. I usually talk to my mother everyday as I drive home from work. Sometimes it is about important stuff and sometimes about nothing at all. And while my parents only live about an hour away I really don't get to see them all that often. Well this last week I have missed my daily conversations with my mom because she has been down in TX on her own magical visit home. But my mom called me today for the airport just to let me know I hadn't updated my blog and she needed something to read while she waits for the plane. Sorry mom while you've been gone, I've been busy stalking the mail carrier. See March was my month to send out fabrics for the Bee-Stitched bee and the Fussy Cut bee and everyday I've been fighting with my husband over checking the mail so I can see if I have any new bee blocks.



These are the blocks that I have gotten back for the fussy cut bee so far. My original plan with this quilt was to randomly place the log cabin squares in a sea of white. Inspired by this quilt of Ashley's I thought it would look nice with this type of block as well. Now seeing how many blocks I have and how widely they vary I am thinking about just sewing them all together with no sashing or anything and just letting them run one into the next so you can't tell where one stops and the next one starts. I still have more of these blocks coming so either way it is going to be a pretty big quilt.


Of course these pretty little numbers from the Bee Stitched Bee can't get here fast enough. After seeing these pictures of Rita's and Corey's I knew I wanted one of my own. It's looks like a lot of you feel the same way because I have seen this block popping up as inspiration and the requested block all over the Bee Block page. I have recently found a love of gray though and I thought this would be the perfect quilt to showcase that. I am so happy with the results so far. Every time a bee member post one of these to the group pool I have to fight the urge to jump up and down like a two year old. Well I am off to attempt something new that I just can't seem to get out of my head. I'll tell you about that project after I figure out if it is going to be a success or a total disaster. Also up on the sewing table are Spider Web bee blocks, paper pieced blocks for Kristian (guess I can't put those off any longer) and I need to make a sample block and lock in my choice for April in the Modern Tradition Bee. Seeing as how fabric needs to go out next week it should be a good challenge. Hope you enjoy your weekend and have fun creating.

Things I'm Glad I Learned From My Daddy (Part 1)

Happy National Quilter's Day! I thought I would start my day by going to some new local quilt stores I had never explored before. Don't get to excited I didn't buy a single thing and with the exception of one store they only further solidified my opinion that the locals do not believe in more modern quilting or that anyone under the age of 50 should participate in the craft. On my way home from the quilt stores since I hadn't bought any fabric I thought I would treat myself to a grilled portabella mushroom sandwich. It is amazing though today I didn't get to enjoy it. After standing in line for over an hour for a sandwich, yes I know I'm crazy and I should have left but after 20 minutes in I was committed. I went out to the car and programed in my next stop on the mini tour of quilt shops backed out of the parking space and hear this strange noise. Immediately I knew I was in trouble. Scuff Scuff, oh no you have got to be kidding me right. Sure enough my tire was flat as a pancake. Now might be a good time to mention the road in front of the previous store was closed for construction and I had to make a minor detour and park in the parking lot next door. So I did what any sane person would do. Pulled over into the flattest part of the parking lot and called my husband. Nope he was fishing so no answer there onto step two. I looked around to see if anyone was going to help me. Did I mention the sandwich shop where I was at was slam full of people and the front lawn was covered with people having picnics and enjoying the weather. Nope no one. So I went to the trunk got out my spare tire and jack and started jacking up my car. I thought for sure at this point someone would realize what I was doing and would offer to help. Nope, one guy even sat in his car right beside me and I'm not sure but I think he was taking notes so he would know what to do if he ever got a flat tire. Needless to say I had the spare tire on and I was putting the lug nuts back on before anyone offered help. Thanks to that guy though because he did put the lug nuts on and jack the car back down. After all of that my spare was flat too so I had to creep down the road about two blocks to get air in the spare. Of course I made it home safe and sound and when my husband came home he took my tire to have it plugged but all in all it made for an eventful day. I was so thankful that my dad had taken the time a long time ago to teach me how to change a spare tire. I never actually had to use that knowledge until today but I was glad to have it. Who knows if I had to wait on the kindness of a stranger I might still be sitting in the parking lot. So ladies if you have never changed a tire and don't know how have a dad, husband, boyfriend, friend, sister, or someone show you how to do it soon. You just never know when you might need that knowledge.

What Does a 1/2 Yard Look Like

I'm just going to go on and say it. I am not a Heather Ross fabric junkie. I know a lot of people who spend endless hours online looking for these hard to find Munki Munki prints. I know how they feel because it took me forever to find the small bits of Flea Market Fancy that I have. Well earlier this week I saw that fabric.com had the Mendocino collection on sale for $3.95 a yard. Well I had been thinking about ordering some of the bright pink seahorses anyway to go into my spider web quilt but I hadn't been 100% on it. I figured at this price I would order 1/2 a yard of a couple of prints and give it a try. So I got my package and here is what I got:





My first disappointment was in finding the strips I ordered weren't in the bad. Instead I had 1/2 a yard of Kelp Forrest. It's that dark brown one. Okay not big deal I think and I call them. Unfortunately they are sold out of the strips but I got a store credit and I get to keep the Kelp Forrest. I know from a group that at least three other people received this same substitution. I didn't originally order the kelp Forrest because I didn't see it listed on the website.

I read some dialog throughout the week on how great fabric.com is along with a few negatives. This is only the second order I have placed with them and the first time I didn't really notice a lot of the things that were pointed out to me because it was an order that my mom and I placed together and it was shipped to her house. (Mom I remembered it was the pink City Girls fabric) This time I noticed. The website boast of a minimum of an extra inch in every yard cut. Well when the ends are crazy crooked I would expect them to do something like this. The plus is they know it is a problem and they plan ahead of time to fix it. The bags look like they just threw it all in there. Well I haven't ironed these fabrics yet so, yes you can see from the photos they are pretty wrinkled and they were quite disheveled in the bag. But really what does a 1/2 yard cut of fabric look like? I have order 1/2 yards in the past and that is exactly what I got. In this case I was only charged for 1/2 yards in all of these prints but you can see I received much more. The ruler in this photo is a 23 inch ruler for reference. The smallest piece at the top measure 20 inches. AMH has a few prints that have now made it to the 50% off select over on fabric.com so I am already planning my next order.