{Sew} Modern Monday #28

Hey, hey, hey….

 It’s MONDAY! 

Are you all ready for another edition of
{Sew} Modern Monday?

Every summer, our family heads to Northern Wisconsin for a week away at the lake.  again, apologies for last week’s interruption.

We love to just get away.  No work.  No day-to-day obligations. 

Just family time.

And the best part…

You can eat when you want to.

You can drink (you know the good stuff—like margaritas and wine) when you want to.

You can go fishing, lay out, hot tub, and take the boat out when you want to.

You can do what ever the heck you want to.  All day.  Everyday.

Not to mention the fact that you can live in sweat pants and a messy pony tail and sew till the cows come home.  And ladies and gents that is exactly what I did.

Sewed, sewed, and sewed!

LOTS.  oh man was it heaven.

Like this tumbler quilt top made with Kona goodness.
 

My GO! Baby worked perfectly to cut all those little pieces out in no time at all.

Oh, hey wait.  Did I mention a GO! Baby cutter showed up on my doorstep right before I left for vacation??  Perfect timing if you ask me.
 

So rather than spill all the quilty details now—plus, I really want to finish quilting this puppy before I share the entire thing—you all are just going to have to wait.

But, I promise it will be worth the wait.  Because you all know what comes after every good GO! Baby tutorial, right?!?!

wink, wink. :]

Alright enough about that, it’s your turn to link up.  I can’t wait to see what you have all been up to!  But please remember, this linky party is for modern sewing finishes only.

pardon the interruption...

We are taking a much needed vacation at 

the lake this week...

There will be lots of sewing, fishing, eating, 
drinking :), and just plain old relaxing.

Come back next week for

{Sew} Modern Monday!

xo, Megan

{Sew} Modern Monday #27

It's that time again!

{Sew} Modern Monday!

June was my month to serve as Quilter for the BLISS circle of do.Good Stitches {a charity bee}.  I asked the talented ladies to make two bow tie blocks using my tutorial using fresh, summery fabrics paired with white. As the blocks came rolling in, I really started to get more and more excited to put this quilt together.  I just love the idea of so many people, living in all parts of the US, coming together to make one special quilt for charity.  It is seriously something special.

Once all the blocks were in, I sewed the top together and waited.  Waited for some quilty inspiration/motivation to FMQ and finish it up.  Surprising that inspiration came this past weekend in a little Google chat with Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy.  On a whim, I asked her how she bastes her quilts and she guided me to this tute from Kristie from OCD: obsessive crafting disorder.  spray basting + dumbbells = brilliant!

Not only did she share the tute, but she also gave me the courage to just do it!  When it comes to quilting and especially basting a quilt, I tend to stress to the max.  The OCD kicks into overdrive and it really makes for a bummer of a sewing experience.  But, taking her words in stride, I just went with it.  And in less than 2 hours I had this quilt basted and quilted!  Spray basting rocks my world!  (thanks Elizabeth!)

I finished it up with a bit of bright blue Kona cotton (sorry, the name is escaping my memory at the moment). I love it!  Now all I have to do is ship it off to our charity, Wrap Them In Love.

Quilt Stats

Size: 50" x 50"

Pieced by: myself, Don't Call Me Betsy, sasikirana, 

My Fabric Obsession, i like orange, too!, linda beth,

Orangebird242, weezie lou, chloeandme,

and WendyLouP.

Quilted by: Me

Now it's your turn.  What have you been sewing on this past week?  psst...rules are over here.

busy as a bee.

Phew, it's hard to believe it's already the middle of July.  Where the heck does the time go?!?!  One minute we are in a snow storm and the next we are trying to stay cool in the summer heat (alright, maybe not that drastic. but you get the picture).  There have been lots of fun and exciting things going on over here--sewing and not sewing related--that my actual "sewing time" seems to be dwindling. Boo!  But, I did manage to squeeze some bee block sewing in this past week...


{Sew} Beautiful [June]
Alright, I was actually behind (it was due in June!) with this block but thankfully Cara granted me a bee extension (thanks Cara!). For Cara's month, she asked us each to make a creative pieced house block using some fun scraps from her stash.  Gah, talk about nerve wrecking! I seriously spent a lot of hours thinking about this block before I actually had enough courage to get down to the sewing part.  I think it was the combination of having free reign and wanting produce a rocking block.  Anyway, it had me a little out of sorts until I finally reached a breaking point, and just went with it.
 

And wouldn't you know when it's all said and done, I seriously loved making this block.  Especially when it all came together in the end. :)  phew.  Talk about pushing outside the comfort zone.


Cara is putting our blocks together and then donating them to a NICU family (see where the "home" theme fits in?).  How awesome is that!


do.Good Stitches [July]

Becky from My Fabric Obsession, this month's quilter from our do.Good Stitches BLISS circle, asked each of use to make 3 blocks using this Jaybird Quilts' tutorial.  She asked for us to use grays and yellows (an emerging trend according to Sew, Mama, Sew!).  Again, way outside my comfort zone!

But in the end--it really was easy peasy!  I think I might be using this technique for a little pouch in the near future.  It's a great way to use up scraps--or any jelly rolls you may have stashed away. :)

And there you have it--a month of bee blocks.  This month definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone and stretched my quilty horizons.  Yay for learning something new!

xo, Megan

pretty {little} pouch swap. round 2.

mmmm, i love me some pouches.

which is why i've signed up for another round of 

the pretty {little} pouch swap. 

so...

here's a bit of pouch inspiration. 

:)

1. paper airplane pouch, 2. Ring of stitches, 3. purple bird patchwork large pouch, 4. Hexie pouch, 5. Innocent Crush Triangle Quilt, 6. such a star., 7. pretty petal clutch - Explored, 8. the peaceful pincushion, 9. Kaleidescope table topper , 10. Umbrella Prints Trimmings2011, 11. pouch for pretty {little} pouch swap, 12. 8 line zip, 13. QAYG Log Cabin 2011, 14. Little Pouch, 15. Oh 1, 16. wristlet bluebird

xo, Megan