And the winner is.....

Holy crap ya'll...427 entries! Blogger logged 417 comments and I got 10 emails from people who had trouble with blogger. I can't believe 427 people wanted my quilt. Ya'll sure do know how to make a girl feel wanted. I loved reading all your comments. They have really made my week. I'm slowly trying to visit everyone's blogs. For those of you that left comments about how generous I am...seriously, I'm really not. I don't like to share my chocolate or my Cheeze-its!


Anyways, the winner... I used the Random Integer Generator. I tried multiple ways to get a screenshot of it on my blog but I failed miserably. I ended up just taking a picture of my computer screen with my camera and uploading it . Yes, I'm Asian but when God was handing out the extra smart gene with computer & math skills, I must have been taking a nap because I so got the short end of the stick on that. So here's what RIG chose:

I blinked twice when I figured out who #55 was. I counted again to make sure. #55 is amandajean of Crazymomquilts! I love her blog. I've learned so much from her blog so I'm tinkled pink that she won. I hope she loves it as much as I do. I'll be sending Amandajean an email to get her snail mail address.

Thank you all for playing along. I hope some of you stop by again. I see more giveaways in the future. That was FUN!

It's done!!!!

If you're looking for the May giveaway post, go here.

My beautiful quilt top from Another Quilting Bee 2 is done! I am beyond excited!!! Look at this beauty...

It's much prettier in person. I tried but I just couldn't get a good picture. The colors are just much more vibrant in person. I had to clip the quilt top to my gutters in order to get a picture of it. It measures 80"x96" and is by far the largest quilt I've made. I added Kona white around each block I received so it would pop. I really wanted each block to stand out. They were all so beautiful. The sashing and borders is Kona cotton in Tarragon ( which I think is my new favorite green). My niece, who has been very "meh" about all my quilts, loves this one. I don't think I can explain the utter feelings of joy when I look at this quilt. You want to know the cool thing about this quilt top? Because everyone put their own spin on each block, I can tell you who made what block just by looking at it. I did not make a single block. They were all done by my fellow quilting bee participants. My real life friends call my blog friends my "imaginary friends". All I can say is I have the best "imaginary friends" a girl could ever ask for. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has contributed a block (or two , or three...)! Ya'll have made me quite a happy girl!

Like all great productions, here are the credits: (From left to right)
1st row: Sam, Stephanie, Julie, Stephanie
2nd row: Julie, Sarah G., Sarah C, Kat
3rd row: Rachael, Aimee, Mary, Sam
4th row: Sarah C, Kat, Sarah C, Sarah G
5th row: Stephanie, Michelle, Mary, Anna


P.S. Any suggestions on how to quilt this beauty?

It's May Giveaway Day

I am, I'm sure , one of hundreds participating in Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day. I found so many great blogs last time and it's so fun to see what everyone's giving away. I'm starting to accumulate quite a large collection of quilts and since I have a small addiction to joining swaps, quilting bees and quilt a longs, I'm pretty sure it's only going to get larger. So I'm giving away one of my favorite quilts. It's my String X quilt made with some of my favorite scraps. I took the quilt down to the beach today with my niece to get pictures but the wind was not cooperating. Since I dragged the poor girl down there to hold the quilt, I couldn't NOT use the pictures. Here's a close-up of the quilt.

The back of the quilt.

The finished quilt measures 46"x62". I promise it'll be sand free and freshly laundered before I send it off. Just promise me you'll love it!

I'll keep this giveaway open until May 31st at 9:00p.m.

Rainbow swap quilt top

Back in March, I joined JanesFabrics' rainbow swap. It was a centralized quilt block swap. You choose your color and the block you wanted to do and you made 9 blocks. In the end, you would get a small sampler quilt. I wanted a larger quilt so I ended up joining 2 sections. I made 9 yellow blocks called paper pinwheels and 9 maroon blocks called friendship star variation.

Jane is a wonderful swap hostess! She is so organized and very encouraging to all the swappers. She even sent me these beautiful coasters for joining the swap! I should be the one sending HER a gift for organizing the swap. What a sweetie!

I received my blocks on Saturday. I love getting random mail from all the bees. It was so weird to get all my blocks at the same time but also exciting at the same time. I had plans for Saturday night but I started putting my blocks together when I got home. Around 1:30 a.m. I realized I needed 2 more blocks so I made 2 blocks in pink because all quilts need a little pink :) I stayed up until 4:30a.m. working on my quilt top. Sunday was an overcast/ rainy day so I was able to finish it. I didn't get a picture until today. Here it is...my pretty Rainbow quilt top....

The finished quilt top measures 66"x80". Soooo pretty!

Jane will be hosting a Halloween swap mid June so make sure you visit her blog and keep an eye out for the post. I know I'm going to.

A sneak peek and a winner!

My quilt top for AQB2 is almost done. I'm waiting on one last block and then I can add the borders. I can't wait! It's so pretty!

I used the Random Number Generator to pick a winner for my giveaway. It picked #3. I tried to copy the image but it didn't work. The winner is Bumble Beans. Congrats. I'll send her an email but thank you everyone for playing along and for your sweet comments!

I'm off to go soak my feet. We went to the oceanfront last night to listen to some bands and I walked 60++ blocks in flip flops. I now have little blisters on the bottom of my feet. I've never had to put band aids on the BOTTOM of my feet before!!

Shells, coral and linen?

I had a basket liner laying around the house that was missing its mate. The basket had an unfortunate mishap with my dog Rocky's teeth. The liner was really cute and I didn't want to throw it out. I decided to cut it up into 5 inch squares. Since the liner is small, I only ended up with 14 squares so I paired it with some 5 inch linen squares. This was also the first time I've worked with linen and I really love it. I think I'm going to start cutting 5" squares out of my favorites so that I can make a large patchwork quilt. I'd forgotten how much I like simple patchwork quilts.

Here's a close up of the quilting details. I love my walking foot. This actually represents the true colors of the quilt. I've been playing with a photo editing software and I couldn't get the top picture right but this one I got in one try. I need to practice some more.

This finished quilt measures 34"x34" and is going to my friend Mali's mom. Her house is very beachy and she loves that seafoam green/blue color.

Thank you and a giveaway!

Aww, you guys are the best! Thanks for all the sweet comments about my quilting disaster. I'm surprisingly not that upset. It's still a beautiful quilt. I just don't know what to do with it. A lot of you suggested that I still give the quilt to my friend. The friend that I'm making the quilt for had her third baby a few months ago. Her oldest is six and is the sweetest boy. Three years ago, my friend gave birth to what appeared to be a healthy 9 pound baby girl. Shortly after her birth, she developed breathing problems and died after a few hours. It turned out she had inhaled meconium during the birthing process. My friend was devastated. When she made the decision to have a third, she made it very clear that this baby was not a replacement. This baby is very much wanted and my friend has enough love for all three of her children. This new baby is a perfect baby boy and very, very loved! I've been trying to make the perfect quilt for him. I've started a few but haven't been happy with any of them. I'm sure I'll find one soon. At least I hope so. I'd like to give him his quilt before he turns 15 :)!



Anyways......to thank ya'll for all your sweet comments, I'm having a little giveaway. I made a bunch of pillows for presents recently and I have two left. I'm keeping one but the other I'm giving away. The winner gets to choose the one she/he wants.


You have a choice between this one made with Heather Ross' Mendocino (it measures 18")
or this one, also made Heather Ross' Mendocino. This one measures 16". Can you tell I kinda like this line? :)

I'm sure there will be other goodies thrown in too. Just leave a comment and let me know which one you prefer. And if you blog about it, you get an extra entry. I'll leave this open until Sunday, May 24 at 9:00 p.m. I'll pick a winner and it'll be in the mail by Tuesday.

To end this post, I'll leave you with a funny picture. They say dog owners start to look like their dogs after a while. I think my Rocky is starting to look like me. Look, he's got my squinty eyes! Heh!

To pre-wash or not to pre-wash...

Remember my Look and Learn quilt? I made it to give to a friend who recently had a baby. After hand sewing the binding, I threw it in the wash and THE RED FABRICS RAN!!! I don't know what happened. I've used this charm pack before and never had a problem. I think I've made approximately 80 quilts and this is only the second time that it's happened to me. The last time it happened was when I made this quilt and while it did bleed a little, it was very faint. I'm not a big pre-washer but I may have to rethink this... at least the red fabrics. I hadn't thrown it in the dryer so I washed it again. It just made it worse... more of the red bled on the cream. I found this at the grocery store and thought I'd give it a try. The directions called for you to dissolve 3 packs in hot water. There's only one pack in the box so that's all I used. I was really nervous because I rarely wash in hot water and I didn't know if I was just going to create a bigger mess. By the way, holy heck, this stuff reeks!!

This is the result.... I now have a quilt in different shades of yellow and a little bit of brown. There are no reds, oranges, greens or blue. However, I really like the way it looks ( you might want to click on the picture to get a closer look).

The problem is this is what the back looked like before.

Now it looks like this.... I'm not sure what color to call this. Lets just say my quilt is now VERY vintage looking. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now. So sad :( All those prairie points.... My poor burned fingers ...

Speaking of burned fingers.... I hate cleaning my iron! I've tried multiple methods...this,
and this...and this...I even bought this... it was all a big pain.

I found a way to clean my iron in two minutes. Oh Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, how I love thee!!!! Seriously, two minutes!!!! And the iron doesn't need to be on so no burned fingers!!! I don't know why I never thought of it before. That Magic eraser works for EVERYTHING!!

See... nice, shiny, clean iron. Ahhh, at least SOMETHING in my life is working right...

May quilting bee blocks

I've been putting off making Mary's block for AQB2. She made me 2 awesome blocks and I wanted to make amazing blocks for her too. I looked through a ton of books and saw a bunch of great blocks and then reality set in and I realized I didn't have her mad sewing skillz . I've been making a lot of pinwheels lately so that was the center of my inspiration for this block... This block is the Grecian Square block. The fabric line that Mary sent us was Deb Strain's Bistro and she's calling her quilt "Time for a Coffee Break".

This block is for Colleen in PTQB.

I still need to make Allison's block for PTQB but it involves curved piecing and I get nauseous thinking about it. I've got the fabric cut so at least I'm one step closer. I may see if my friend Maribeth will walk me through it.

I also made a new purse for my sister's niece. I wanted to try a new pattern but I knew I wouldn't carry it . This is for a tween so I went with a hot pink canvas like fabric ...

and a pretty green for the lining.

The pattern is called The 2 hour Tulip purse. Very easy and yes, it only takes about 2 hours.

May Giveaway Day

Sew Mama Sew is hosting May Giveaway Day and I've decided to participate. It sounds like a fun event and I can't wait to see what everyone's giving away. I'm not sure what I'll be giving away. I have until May 27 to come up with something good. Hmmm....

AQB1 May blocks

I've received 6 blocks already from my fellow AQB1 participants. Barbara sent me FOUR blocks. FOUR!!! She even added some of her own Mendocino fabrics to complete them. Thank you Barbara. I LOVE them. Sara sent me this cute block. Love the circle applique in the corner. So flippin cute!!

And Kelsey sent me this lovely. I love the wonkiness of the strip on the right.

I have been really lucky with my quilting bee blocks. Everyone in both AQB1 ans AQB2 have gone above and beyond my expectations. Ya'll sure know how to make this chica feel good. I'm going to have 2 really pretty quilts soon. I can't wait!!

**** While I was adding links, I found one more block. Karen did this one. Go take a look. So cute!!!

1 charm pack= 2 purses

My friend, Maribeth showed me how to make a purse with 17 ~ 5 inch squares. Amy Butler's Midwest Modern charm packs come with 34 squares. So I made one with the blue colorway... and one with the pink colorway...

the other side of the blue...

the other side of the pink...

I chose to use a print for the lining and added a magnetic snap. It took about 2.5 hours to make each purse. It's a good size bag. The bottom of the bag is about 18". I've been carrying the pink one around for months now so it's slightly mis-shapen ( I'm hard on my bags). I made the blue one to replace the pink one but I think I'm giving it to a good friend instead. I'm thinking of making one with some of my Mendocino fabric. My friend Maribeth has made one with 6.5" blocks and it's a good beach size bag.

I also received 2 more blocks today from my AQB2 quilting bee. These are from Julie. See the little bit of ric rac in the middle of the block?

and the ric rac on the left side of this block... I love ric rac!

I'm waiting on a few more blocks and I can start putting this pretty quilt together. I can't wait!

Whirlygiggles Wednesday

My whirlygiggles quilt is done* and I . LOVE. IT!!!! A pieced back made with HB Pop Garden and Kona solids ( I need to start writing down the names of the Kona cottons. I buy the colors I like on sale but when I need more, I can never figure out which ones I have).

I had intended to use this for the binding but it blended in with the border too much. I ended up finding a piece of tiny pink polka dots from my stash that worked out much better. And who doesn't love pink polka dots??

LOVE. SO. MUCH!!!

* I still need to hand sew the binding but I'll do that in front of the T.V. tomorrow.

Spicy's 1st birthday quilt

Sugar and spice and everything nice... this little girl is definitely sweet but waaaay more SPICY!!!!! She's barely one and can already defend herself against her four year old brother. She's a biter this one and a slapper too. I think it's funny but then again, I haven't been bitten or slapped. I think it's great that she's already got the "I'm not taking any crap from you " attitude. She's a feisty little one and I love it! However, I feel for her mama when she hits her teens... I wanted to make her a quilt for her birthday and her mama says her favorite color is pink. Hmmmm, what a coincidence. Me thinks her mama's favorite color is pink... I made a girly version of this quilt. I probably shouldn't have used so much white for a baby quilt but my friend LOVES to do laundry . Heh!

A pieced pink and green backing. If you click on the picture for a close-up, you'll see the green fabric has little bitty hearts. The pink fabric has little ballet slippers on it. Her mama wants her to be a girly girl. We shall see.....

Bloggy friends are the best!

I got a surprise package in the mail from Stephanie. Just because. I love her not because she sends me cute things but because she's funny, sweet and has a heart of gold. Thanks again ,Stephanie. You're the best! (She also sent me cute socks but they were in the hamper so no pics)
And more nine patch goodness...

Addicted...

To quilting bees, I've joined another...

To swaps, I've joined another..

Making pillows, ummm, I've made a few...

Last addiction: Peanut M&M's, lime flavored Tostitos and Diet Coke w/ lime. It's all I've eaten the last two days.

My name is Mushyhed and I have no self control!

Psst... wanna new purse? Michelle's doing a giveaway for 2 cute bags. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!