Dead Simple Quilt

When Lynne of Lily's Quilts announced her Dead Simple Quilt Along, I thought it sounded like  interesting. The idea behind the QAL was to take the pressure away from choosing/piecing a complicated design for your quilt and instead pick a color palette first and go with a very simple design.

After many, many indecisive visits to Design Seeds, I opted for Neighborly Hues...

I chose Kona Cottons in the following colors to go with my chosen palette: Tangerine, Ash, Azure, Ochre, and Coal.  After that decision was made, I kind of went my own way with the rest of the QAL. I had seen a quilt by Esch House Quilts that I loved and decided that I would like one similar as a wall hanging for our house. The quilt uses the "Mosaic" block from the Summer Sampler QAL, which is made of 16 HSTs. I didn't actually use the QAL tutorial, but instead just did the math on my own once I decided how large I wanted the wall hanging to be.

For the quilting, I went with double lines 1/4" apart outlining the large and small diamond shapes in each quadrant, the one in the middle, and the half-diamonds on the middle of each side. 

Somehow, this is the only picture I took of the back. As you can see, nothing special here. I decided that since it was going to be hanging on the wall I would just go with a simple back, though it does show the quilting pretty well. Backing and binding are both Kona Coal. 

I went back and forth for quite a while on every aspect of this quilt...palette, design, quilting...but in the end I really love it and can't wait to see it hanging in our house. Now to just decide where to put it!

Happy to be linking up with {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. Thanks Ladies!

Fun Mail and the E.R.

Hmm, which should we talk about first?

I had to take one of my kids to the Emergency Room for the first time Thursday evening. With three boys, I am quite certain it won't be the last time, though. He is fine, just a little sore and swollen. I did however, learn that they won't put stitches in your mouth unless the cut is all the way through your lip. Good to know for the next time it happens, I guess! 

Wyatt was running through the house pushing a dump truck when he tripped and hit his face on the floor, leaving a pretty good gash in his top lip and a small one on the bottom. If that weren't bad enough, he got stung by a wasp Wednesday afternoon on the bridge of his nose. It really didn't swell too much until he got up from his nap on Thursday, but by that evening his eye was nearly swollen closed. So imagine the fun we had explaining to every person who saw us at the hospital that we really weren't there for his eye, could you please take a look in his mouth?!? I didn't take any pictures of him, but have you seen the Goonies? Just imagine a 4-year old Sloth...Poor kid had a rough week!

Now for the fun part! Look at all the fun things that came in the mail...

The crazy-talented Natalie from Greenleaf Goods had a giveaway for a Kona Color Card that she received at the Sewing Summit, and I was the lucky winner. This thing is so fun to look at, and I'm sure will be used all the time! 

And look at the fun package from Happy Zombie, Monica Solorio-Snow! I won the Week 3 giveaway during the Christmas Tree Pants Sew-Along she did for Sew, Mama, Sew. She sent a book and magazine in which she has featured patterns and a little bundle of her Holiday Happy fabric for Lecien.

Isn't it cute?

The final package to arrive this week:

I'm so excited to look through this book and start planning! I've barely glanced through it so far, but I've seen several interesting blocks I think I'd like to try.

Hope all of you have a safe hospital-free weekend!

FMQ Friday...The Guts Edition

Back again for Cindy's FMQ Friday. Let me begin by apologizing to all my fellow FMQers out there for voting for such an annoying pattern! I thought the name "Stomach Lining" was funny but didn't really expect Cindy to agree to it! Here's how it should look:

And here's reality:

Yikes. I have a problem with fluid motions and maneuvering my fabric around in a circle while still moving it up/down to make the pattern. My stomach lining is full of ulcers. Nasty, bloody ulcers.

On my second attempt, I tried to be a little less tight with my design, and felt like it was looking a little better. I still found that I had moments of "oh crap, where do I go?" but could not just stop sewing long enough to figure it out! See over there on the left side, where I crossed over my line and got all crazy? That's what I'm talking about. I couldn't just slow down and think ahead, I just plowed on through and made a mess. 

 After that downer, I decided to try something fun and simple, like a star....

Nailed it. 

(This is about the time I'm wishing there was a special font for sarcasm...)

Ugh. A whole smorgasbord of awful.

Since I seem to be better at the more linear patterns rather than curves, I'm hoping that next week's Pine Needles are a little more forgiving! 

Talk to Me

A little input, please. 

Tell me what you think of these fabric combinations. If you like them or hate them...If they make you smile or make you want to vomit. Just let me know, OK? I can take it. 

So what do you think?

WIP Wednesday, vol 12

Well, it was a busy week with soccer games both Saturday and Sunday, plus the Halloween festivities, but I did manage a bit of sewing. Just a bit, though!

Finishes:

I finished four stockings for Lyanna's Stockings for Kids campaign. Don't be too impressed, 3 of them were already started, so only the fourth one was a completely new project. The first three are not quilted, but the pink one is. I'm not sure that I'm in love with the wavy line quilting. Maybe if I had put the lines closer together, but as they are I'm not too sure. Hopefully they won't get rejected!

I finished the first block of the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler QAL. My first attempt at paper piecing, and I love it! Looks a little rough, but I don't care!

In progress:

I finished the top for my Dead Simple quilt, and am taking a break from quilting it to write this post. It is actually going to be a wall hanging. I kept going back and forth between loving it and wishing I had done something else. I had it up on my design wall over the weekend, but was so busy that I really never went into my sewing room. Monday morning I opened the door and saw it and realized that I really do like it.

 I have the Christmas Tree "Pants" backed and basted. Mostly just waiting to get some more white thread to quilt it. I plan to quilt it pretty densely and maybe add a little hand quilting around the stars. That's the plan anyway. We'll see if it actually gets done.

No Progress:

I'm supposed to be taking part in a Pouch-A-Long with Rebecca Lynne right now, but I haven't even started yet! A group of us are tackling the frame pouch together. I have all my supplies, but haven't gotten much past that. I have my little frame and graph paper next to me right now to draw up my template, so I have no excuse!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, so hop over there and see what everyone else is working on, too!

Tuesday at the Table, Round 3

Last Tuesday, the lovely Marci of Marci Girl Designs shared a few links to some recipes she has been craving, one of which was caramel apples.  While I haven't exactly been craving them, I did think they would be fun to make with the kids. 

When we were in Iowa, we stopped at the most fabulous Mennonite grocery/deli/fabric/shoe/toy store. It is called the Dutchman's Store and it is just so much fun. They have tons of products and excellent prices. For example, I got a half-bushel of local apples for $5.95.  What better thing to do with all those apples than caramelize them? 

I completely went the cheater route and used the little caramels from the bag. Wyatt thought he had a super important job when I dumped them out on the counter and said he was in charge of unwrapping them. Once he started bragging about it to Carson, I had two little boys working as fast as they could to get those babies unwrapped. Sibling rivalry is sometimes a useful tool.

While at the Dutchmans, I bought a package of these leafy sprinkles and decided they would be a great addition to our apples. 

Dipping apples requires concentration...

The finished product. Note the impatient boy in the back.

Wyatt has been nagging asking nicely to have a picnic for the last few days, so I decided to continue the festive afternoon and let the kids eat supper outside since it is likely one of the last times we'll be able to this year. Soup and crackers on the tables outside qualifies as a picnic, right?

They hadn't even finished their soup before deciding it was too cold and they would rather eat inside. Oh well, they can't say I didn't try!

As usual, I'm linking up with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for Tuesdays at the Table.

Fresh Sewing Day

Well, there will be no mosaic this month. 

That is really only effective if you actually have more than two finishes to show!

I scrolled back through October and while I'm pretty sure  I spent some time sewing, it sure doesn't look like much! Here's what I did accomplish:

 I crocheted something, and it looks almost like it is supposed to!

My first attempt at paper piecing. One block counts as a finish, right?

Halloween costumes were made, though minimal sewing was involved, especially for the older two...

And of course, I finished a quilt. I think you've seen it a few times...

Hopefully I'll have a few more things to share at our next little show-and-tell! To see what more prolific sewists can accomplish in a month, visit Lynne at Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day.