Elephant fun.

I am super stoked about this post!! I have been dabbling in paper piecing,Small projects here and there. So after I finished the Panda pillow, I asked my son...did he think his girlfriend would like one too for her birthday, which was on Friday. He said yes, then he said you know what would be better than a Panda...and elephant. His girlfriend likes elephants. I started the search, I knew there were patterns out there, but were they large enough for a pillow?

 Once I found about 5 patterns, I let him choose. He picked this elephant pattern by Juliet over at The Tartankiwi.  We printed the pattern and it had 18 pages! Okay....I got just a little nervous, but did not show this to my Son. I put my big girl quilter panties on and went to work!  I had my husband help me cut it out to keep me in the proper order...another set of eyes never hurt.

I just love the fabric for his ears.

I worked on it all weekend and surprisingly things were going way too easy! By Sunday I had this all put together and looking pretty good, just a few minor little fixes, which are not that minor when paper piecing a pattern. 

Look at his cute little tail!!

 I could not be happier or prouder that I finished this not so small pillow ( 24 x 24 inches). It does have another zipper closer in the back side and I used a  bright batik for the back fabric. 

 So those that do paper piece...how do you keep your fabrics and pattern in order. There are some tiny pieces that are next to impossible of labeling. Do you color them? Then use a colored code key to keep things in order? I used a pencil and wrote BG for the background  back leg for the back leg, ect,  but on the tiny pieces it did not work well. So any tips would be appreciated! 

Thanks for stopping by, until I see you again, wishing you Quilty Hugs~ Heide 

Links-
Sew fresh quilts- Lets be social
Finish up Fridays- Crazy mom Quilts.

Panda-modium panda pillow.

I have been one busy quilter and I am on a mini mania quilting spree! Here is just one of the quilt little minis that I made....I was going to keep it and put it up as a quilt in my quilting room. My daughter's friend has a birthday close to mine. So I asked Mia ( Daughter) if I could make a present for her friend, and my daughter said sure...when she saw the Panda she fell in love. 

Isn't this guy just the cutest! It  is a free pattern from last year over at Fat Quarter shop.  They are so good and giving you patterns for all different kinds of quilts. Here is a link to all their free patterns and some of them have videos for those like me that are visual learners. 

Here is my backing with my first....yes first zipper installment! Doing a happy dance, dance, dance!! This did cause me some anxiety but, after a few videos and the great tutorial over at S.O.T.A.K handmade by Svetlana. I was able to do it. Do you see those stripes lined up....LUCKY! That is all I have to say about that. 

Here is a peek that there really is a zipper there, LOL! Thanks for stopping by and until I see you again wishing you all Quilty Hugs~ Heide 

Linking_
Finish up Fridays 
Can I get a Whoop- Whoop. 

Quilted, binded and packed ....

Swoon is read to be shipped down to TX. I finished the binding last week gave it a wash and it is now packed  sitting on my kitchen table  ready to go to the Post office tomorrow.  

It is  heading down to Alba TX - Covered in Love. You can read more of why I chose Covered in Love here. 

Here is another view of the front, it is quilted with a meandering stipple and the back should make someone very happy because I used a Minky. 

I have a quilt that I use all the time while watching TV and it has minky as a backing and I LOVE it! It is super warm when I get a chill and so soft. 

Say a little prayer that this makes it down to TX with out the box popping open....I always get nervous about my quilts making it some where. I do have it in a bag with the address in the bag where it is going. So it should make it, I just get nervous. 
Thanks for stopping by, until I see you again, Wishing you Quilty Hugs! Heide

Linking to- Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Goody- Goody binding bag.

 

Hi Friends, and welcome to my blog. I love finishing quilts, binding them that is. It is one of my favorite things about quilting. ...I can take them with me when we go away and work on them in the car, hotel rooms, and at Soccer fields.  Two- it is fairly mindless...just stitching and I don't have to worry about the pattern and am I doing it correct. Third...I am getting better with each quit that I finish. So when I saw the tutorial months ago on the Goody- Goody Binding bag. I knew I wanted to make one, But it had a zipper and I was not sure about the directions. 

This weekend I gave it a try and in under a half a day I had the whole thing complete. 

 

The inside of the bag. 

 

Here is the center part of the binding bag. In the tutorial Lella of Lella Boutique  made a strawberry, I did no think that worked with my fabric, so I made a heart pocket for my scissors.

  

Above is the dreaded zipper pocket. You know what....it was not bad! The direction make it super easy.  It is a great spot to hold on to all your binding clips. 

 

This is a pocket on the right side that is great for holding stuff, snacks, patterns, extra needles.  

 

 

Tell me what you think...I love it and started using it right away, it was just what I needed for all my binding needs. 

Until I see you again, wishing you all Quilty Hugs~ Heide 

Links-

Sew fresh quilts- Lets bee social. 

Finish up Fridays-Crazy Mom quilts.  

A last minute quilt!

Have you ever made something that you were not very happy about.  I was super excited to make this quilt for our High schools Marching bands Silent auction. I saw the pattern/video over at MSQ and it look fairly easy.  The pattern is the sashed Half Hexi quilt. I bought the fabric ( You can click on photos to see the fabrics better) and started in on cutting and sewing this quilt. It was going super well...2-3 blocks a night. I stalled a bit with the W and the B in the center, I have never done applique work before. But I used my cricut to make the letters and ironed them on the black fabric and gave the stitching a try. Not bad but, also not perfect....remember this is not a gift of something for my family to use. Some one is going to spend money on this! So I was getting nervous.

 

I had enough fabric left over for the back and started to piece it together, which I was happy about. Forgot to get photo and now the quilt is gone.

Than I decided to quilt this my self....oh boy!! My machine started to act up and I ended up taking out about 5 rows of stitching I was  on the verge of tears. 

 

I trimmed this quilt up and added the binding, all went well with this step and the quilt started growing on me. If you don't look too close  and squint it looks pretty darn good! Hoping with more practice I will get better and better with the quilting. 

I think this will keep someone nice and warm during a Marching Band competition or during a Football game during the fall season and hope that it brings some extra money to the organization.  Thanks for stopping by and until I see you again wishing you Quilty Hugs~ Heide 

Links- Finish up Fridays- Crazy Mom Quilts. 

May is for Makers.

                                   
Hello Bloggers! I have been seeing a lot of post for the May is for Makes and Thought I would join in on the purchasing fun.  You can read about how this started over at  LR stitched aka Lindsey Rhodes.
To be honest I started before May So I am a little ahead of the game, LOL.
Though I am not a pattern writer I do appreciate all the hard work and skill that goes into the process and would love to help out a small business.
Today I fell in love with a pattern over on Craftsy.  The pattern is called Island Girl by Fresh Lemons 

                            

It has such fun colors and an interesting pattern I had to add it to my pattern collection. 
Thanks for stopping in and until I see you again...I am wishing you Quilty Hugs~ Heide 


                                                   

Little tweets.

Hello Bloggers, It is almost time for the weekend! I am stopping to to show you these little cuties that I have been working on. My family got me this book Sweet Tweets by Erin Cox for Christmas, well I ordered it and had them give it to me....LOL! I just love the cute little birds in the book.  I final got around to give some the projects a try.
. The larger wall hanging was my first project and then I whipped up the little mug rug the other night. 

These little one are fun and easy to do. 

 

This one is going to be hanging in my sewing room. 

These photos were taken early this morning, in my robe and PJ's and Crazy morning bed head. I thought the morning light was just right for some photos. I am glad the bushes are starting to bud, so my neighbors did not see me.

Thanks for stopping by and until I see you again ...wishing you Quilty Hugs~Heide 

Linking-
Finish it up Friday- Crazy Mom Quilts. 
Can I get a Whoop-Whoop