Swapping books and more with new friends . . .

Recently, I joined my first swap in ages. I confess I was a little nervous (having been burned in long ago swaps). But I had such fun planning what to swap, making my gifts, then packing, mailing and eagerly anticipating, then receiving my own package.

"Fall into Reading Book Swap 2022" was hosted on InstaGram by @wwarner27 (aka Wendy). She matched participants into one-to-one swap partners. Everyone in the swap filled out a questionnaire including favorite book genres and other interests. My partner and I were able to chat via emails while deciding what to send to each other. 

Here's a peek at the books I soon purchased for Mandi  ...  My puzzle now is which one (or two) to send to her .... or maybe send more?  

See any titles below that intrigue you? 

 

 

Wondering where I purchased this stack of books? Why, at one of my favorite independent book stores! I am lucky to have two located near me. If you're in Houston, be sure to visit "Murder By The Book" on Bissonnet and "Brazos Bookstore" a block away also on Bissonnet. While I frequent both, the books above are entirely from Murder By The Book. Now to decide which books to send to Mandi....hmmm....

Meanwhile, the swap includes sending small gifts. Mandi and I are makers and crafters, so I wanted to make something special for her. But time was short and I needed to whip something together quickly. What could I make for my new book-loving-&-crafting-friend? Inspired by the name "Fall into Reading", I looked through my unfinished blocks, pulling two made in fall colors. I decided to finish both.

 

The first block is a variation of the classic Jacob's Ladder quilt block. 

It was originally headed for a Sampler Quilt, a quilt never came together.

I confess, I enjoyed quilting this block into a little quilt.

 

The second block is called "Leaf Love Wreath." It is an original design and paper-piecing pattern by Kristy Lea (aka Quiet Play). 

The pattern is currently available on her Quiet Play website. For your ease, click Leaf Love Wreath pattern for a direct link to this pattern. Click Quiet Play patterns to see all of Kristy's wonderful patterns. To learn more of my creative quilty friend Kristy who lives in the Land-Down-Under (aka Australia), take a look at her website: https://quietplaydesigns.com/ 

I finished this sweet leaf wreath block into a small quilt too.

Both quilts are finished and ready to go to a new home .... as soon as I decide which to send or whether to  to splurge and send both quilts to my "Fall Into Reading Book Swap 2022" partner .... What would you do?

Send BOTH of course!

... along with three books and more gifts which filled the package nicely.

 

 

All have arrived safely and best of all,

Mandi is pleased! Yea!

 

I love my package that she sent to me too!!!

This was a fun swap & I look forward to swapping again.

Wendy mentioned hosting the next swap in February (possibly?)!

Have you joined any internet swaps lately?
If you have, I hope they were as delightful as this book swap was!

Just a little ....

💗Love 💗

It's what the world needs now

Please share a little now 

and

then, do it again.

 (can't possibly hurt!) 

💌  Thank-you  💌

Quiet Play

As the year draws to a close, I am speedily stitching up the letter "Z".

Why?  Because I am a pattern tester for Kristy of Quiet Play and her newest pattern is the Geometric Alphabet (upper case).  The letter Z is one of the letters I am testing for her.

Thus I am stitching up the last letter of the alphabet on the last day of the year of 2015.  I love ending the year sewing a new pattern.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2016!

By the way, I have tested other patterns for Kristy too.  My favorite one is this sitting kitty.

I made the first kitty in red-n-white so I could swap it in an international block swap between my Houston Modern Quilt Guild and the London Modern Quilt Guild. 

I added a border to make the block large enough for the swap.

Then I made a second one for me to keep.

 

Paper piecing can be quite fun especially when using fabulous patterns such as these by Quiet Play.

Click here to see more of Kristy's patterns.  

Her patterns (including some free ones) can also be found here, a direct link to her site on Craftsy.
Click here to see another post about some of Kristy's paper pieced patterns.

Scrappy Garden Trip-Alongs

My traditional quilting bee, the Block Builders Bee, holds a quilt block lottery 8 months of the year.  This past February, the lottery block was based on Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World, in a garden version created by Betty Rivers.  Lucky for Betty, she won all the blocks in the lottery that month and made this lovely quilt.

Admiring her lovely quilt, five of us in the Block Builders Bee, decided to do a side swap, so I busily began making blocks for this side trade.  We were using Betty's variation, although Bonnie Hunter's original free pattern can be found by clicking here or looking on her website: quiltville.com  under the free patterns section.  She calls this pattern "Scrappy Trips Around the World".

There is also a Flickr group called Scrappy Trip Along which can be found here.  Take a peek in this group to discover and enjoy many variations of this simple pattern.

Soon, I am conducting a "how-to" workshop for this block for my local Modern Quilt Guild.  This means that I am busily stitching up several samples.  The first two are now at my quilter's being quilted (Thank you Pamquiltaholic!).  Here is a photo of each before I added a final 1 1/2" border to them.  

I call the first quilt "Diagonal Garden Rows" and the quilt below I call "Scrappy Garden Strip Along"

I am now working on more samples and variations as I race to finish before my workshop!

mug rug swap potential

During our February meeting of the Houston Modern Quilt Guild, we held a Mug Rug swap.  Here are the two mug rugs that I entered into this fun trade.

This is the first mug rug that I've ever made.  The background is pieced from strips and squares in my scrap bag, then I appliqued two hearts on top for extra pizzazz.  This was finished with a stitch-and-flip version -- no binding was used (or harmed) during the making of this little quilt (tee-hee).

This mug rug uses hand-dyed sparkle charms that I cut a heart out of before applique'ing on top.  I explored some of the many funky stitch options that my machine is capable of (and rarely used) - such great fun!  By the way, I intended the funky shape of the mug rug too.  Next time I will exaggerate the off-kilter-y wonky shape.

I love the simplicity of this mug rug, from the clear graphic layout and colors to the hand-stitched quilting lines.  I do not know the maker (yet) but I do know that Sally, our fearless leader of the HMQG this year, received it in the swap.

These two spools make the perfect mug rug for one's sewing area (be it in a studio or the corner of one's living room).  This mug rug and the kitty mug rug below both ended up with Amy, another of our HMQG officers.  I do not know who made either of these sweet mug rugs. 

This cute kitty looks to be one of the patterns from the CatVent quilt along hosted by Elizabeth Hartman in December 2013 on her Oh Fransson blog.

Here's a view of Elizabeth's kitties on her finished Cat-Along quilt... or rather one of her finished cat-along quilts.

 

I must add this cute kitty quilt to my own personal Quilts-I-Wanna(gotta?)-Make Bucket List.

meow, meow, meow!

Red swap

My goal this month is to sew several sets of red/white blocks for my traditional quilt bee (the Block Builders)'s block swap in March.

As of today, I have only two blocks sewn together.  I have fabric cut for a set of eight more blocks - which gives me a total of ten blocks.  Ten blocks will not make a very big quilt and ideally I want to make at least a lap size quilt, or even a larger size....sigh... I haven't even pulled enough fabrics from my stash to cut the number of blocks that I want to end up with.  I have my work cut out for me - yes, pun intended!

To help me get going, I am linking this goal up to "The Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge hosted by

Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts

and

Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs

To play along, I need to post my goal in a linky party (I am # 148) and then post my finished success in a second linky party .... here I go ... and if you're interested, feel free to join the fun!

A second Snow Day

We had the rare occurrence of a second Snow-Day this year.  Even the city government closed down offices (and libraries and more).  What would you do with a bonus day off from work, and a winter storm approaching ....?

Well, I'm a quilter, so I making these two little quilts!

All the hearts are machine applique'd onto the pieced backgrounds.  Free-motion quilting finishes the work.  I'm glad they're finished as the larger one is for ALQS, Another Little Quilt Swap #8, whose deadline is less than a week away.

Another Little Quilt Swap, ALQS, is one entertaining way to collect new quilts made by quilters located around the world.  I've swapped several times in this group lead by Kate North.   If you are interested in joining, all you need is a finished quilt within the size of 12"x12" or  20"x20".  Click here for more details and then send your digital images to Kate by the posted deadline!

PS  The previous ALQS rounds I traded in were ALQS4, ALQS6 and ALQS7 (where I traded two quilts).

Update:  I've joined a new group, the 2014 NewFO Challenge.  Barbara of Cat Patches is the brainchild and moderator.  She challenges participants to start a new project each month and share that project at the end of the month (there is even a giveaway!).  Click here to see January linky party (I'm #61).  Click here to learn more about this challenge. 

Join the fun!

Another Little Quilt Swap #8

It's official....

Another Little Quilt Swap (ALQS8), hosted by Kate North in the UK, is open and recruiting interested quilters.  I've participated in Kate's swap a few times now -- I haven't always made it to the final deadline, but the times I succeeded in swapping, I have LOVED my new quilts!

For more information, check out the website: http://anotherlittlequiltswap.blogspot.com/

If you are interested, send Kate a note (her contact info is on the blogsite listed above).  Be sure to read through the rules first.  It is a no-obligation swap.  If you miss the deadline - you're out of the swap, but not penalized nor does it hurt the swap (other than we don't get to see your quilt or trade for it either!)

Come join the fun ... If you have any questions, ask me as I'm happy to recruit a few new ALQS#8 swappers.



Click here to see posts about this swap that took place earlier.

Tumbling

I love participating in Kate North's "Another Little Quilt Swap" as it challenges me to finish a cute quilt to send away and in return I get to treasure someone else's lovely work.  Yes, it really is a little quilt swap.  This year's swap, the seventh one, has a required size of 12" x 12".  Anyone can join in -- no pressure other than to finish your quilt and send digital photos to Kate by the announced deadline.  Everyone who gets their digital photos sent by the deadline is then eligible to make a "wish list" from the posted quilts.  Kate has the fun task - first of posting all of our photos and descriptions, then of sorting out all the wish-lists and figuring out who will get which quilt.  Of course she also must send us each the name and address of who our quilt is going to (we like to make it a surprise reveal!).  She monitors that all quilts are mailed and received (a few have taken very circuitous routes to their new homes - perhaps traveling around the world on a slow mail-boat), then posts the "grand reveal" on the ALQS blog.  That post won't be up for sometime as we are all busy wrapping and packing our little quilts to send off now.

Without further ado, here is "Tumbling" - my little quilt made specially for the ALQS7 swap this year.

Tumbling was made in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.  Think Pink campaigns are everywhere (in the USA) and I hope to encourage everyone to have annual mammograms as well as to do monthly self-breast exams.  Early detection (gulp) leads to a tumbling of emotions but also has a higher cure rate!  This piece began as a design exercise, inspired by directions given in Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust.  The addition of borders helped the piece grow to the required 12" x 12" size.

In the detail view, you can see that the quilting is very geometric and linear in the background, but gets funky and twisty in the tumbling blocks.  Additional twisting and turning ribbon-thread embellishment is couched on top, adding to the tumbling sensation of the entire piece.  Rather than binding it off in traditional quilt fashion, a slip-cover pocket was sewn to the back which converts the quilt into a pillow.

I am packaging up my little Tumbling quilt/pillow and will soon be mailing it to its new home .... to be revealed later!  Hopefully someone will be very pleased to discover this in their mailbox....

Click here to see the original post about Tumbling in the ALQS blog.

Nine Patch blocks

These are the Nine Patch blocks I received in my first block swap since rejoining the Block Builders Bee (one of many bees affiliated with the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston).

This bee meets once a month to share a lunch, show our latest quilts, stitch a little and visit a lot.  Four times a year we trade blocks where you can make as many (or as few) as you wish to trade.  The day of the trade, you get back the same number of blocks that you put in.  (Hint:  Be sure to hold back some of the ones you made as you won't necessarily get your own blocks back!)  With luck, you will not get many duplicate blocks, as the goal is to have a diversity of fabrics for a very scrappy looking quilt. 

The nine-patches above are just some of the ones I received at our June 2012 trade.  I did not make many blocks (only 32 of the "X" block and 32 of the "O" for a total of 64) yet I did receive a few duplicates.  If I had more time, I would have made many many more -- a few traded over 200 blocks!  Did I mention that these are 3" blocks? 

I'm tickled to be back in this bee -- I was a member about 10 years ago, long before I began this blog.  I am already stitching up blocks for the September and December trades.

Happy Summer!

It's official .... Summer is here!  

How do I know?

Is it because my two classes that I love teaching have ended and I have brought all my teaching left-overs home to sort, organize and pack away until I need them again in the fall?

No.

Is it because I have watched my niece cross the stage at her college graduation?

No.

Is it because my own kids have been promoted from 8th grade (another stage-crossing of sorts: walking under a balloon archway)  and are ready to embrace high school?

No.

It it because I've discovered Pinterest (what fun!) or have signed up for "Another Little Quilt Swap #7" or have plans to sew more (clothes, quilt blocks, finishing quilts, etc.)

No, no, and no.

It IS because our Air-Conditioning has decided to stop working effectively this morning!
It is summer in Texas, and fortunately I think the thermostat is not rising too far into the 90's today .... hopefully the AC Repairman is not swamped with calls and can pop over tomorrow!


Until then, please send cool thoughts this way!  Meanwhile, I think we will head to the movie theater tonight ... have you seen Men In Black 3?




By the way .... click here to learn more about Another Little Quilt Swap #7, hosted by the fabulous Kate North.

This will be my fourth time to sign-up, though only my third time to participate.

Click here to see "Early Evening", my ALQS#6 entry or here to see "Big Foot - Framed", my ALQS#4 entry.

Of course you probably wish to see the two quilts I received also, right?
Here's the link to see "Zinnia", the quilt made by Nickels in Germany that I own from ALQS#6, and click here to see "Blue Vase" by Sue McBratney in Australia for ALQS#4 that lives with me.

(I missed the all-important deadline for ALQS#5, so did not swap in that one, though I had intended too!  Sometimes life just intercedes with different plans ...)

Blue Vase

I realized that I have never posted photos of the first delightful quilt that I received through Kate North's Another Little Quilt Swap #4 (ALQS).  Click here to learn more about the ALQS swaps and click here to see my post about my quilt Big Foot, framed!, that I offered up for trade.  But enough about these details as this blog post is featuring the quilt I received!  Tell me what you think of this little detail view ....

This sweet quilt originally  came to life  in Victoria, Australia.  Sue McBratney is the quilter who pieced, stitched, embellished and quilted this little quilt which I adore.  Here is the full view:

Blue Vase

Thank you Sue, for swapping such a lovely quilt!  

I love the pieced neutral background as it adds such texture and interest without distracting from the focal point of the blue vase filled with flowers.  I love the embroidery details that enhance each flower's center (and how you covered the threads on the backside of the quilt with little circle appliques).

Sue, I am thrilled to be the owner of your art!

Zinnia

 I love love love my new quilt! 

I received this lovely blossom through the Another Little Quilt Swap #6 (ALQS6), hosted by my internet friend, Kate North.  My quilt, Zinnia, was created by Nickels Pickles (aka Nicole), who lives across the ocean from me (in Germany).

 

Click here to read Nicole's blog posting about making Zinnia which measures approximately 19" square.

(perhaps you recognize the border print - it's a Kaffe Fassett fabric)

 Here is a view of the back --the dark triangles are the hanging loops, in lieu of a sleeve.

Don't you enjoy getting to see the quilting from the back too?  Zinnia smiles on either side, front or back.

This is a great swap, Another Little Quilt Swap, too.   Anyone can sign up with no fear of failing to finish their swap quilt .... because Kate North, our fabulous hostess, will only swap the quilts that have been finished with two digital photos sent to her via email.  You can sign up, then life interrupts your progress on your quilt-to-swap, and that's OK, no one is let down (but you won't be eligible to swap).
If intrigued, join me when I sign up for ALQS #7 later in 2012 (or email me with questions).

Early Evening

This is my little quilt that I've made for Kate North's Sixth "Another Little Quilt Swap" (ALQS) which is taking place now (dare I admit that it is the size of a placemat?).  About my little quilt ... a few years ago, at the International Quilt Festival (IQF), I took a class with Jackie Robinson called "24 Batiks".   I love the colors of the batiks I used, so it was an easy decision to put the left-over cuts and blocks together, making a quilt for Kate's little quilt swap.  I call my little quilt "Early Evening" as the colors remind me of the slowly darkening sky at dusk.  Here it is:

"Early Evening"

Note:  I will be re-working the binding as I am not pleased with it's appearance in this photo (or in the actual quilt).

I had fun piecing this little top as I did not follow the original pattern layout of the "24 Batiks" pattern, but rotated my equilateral triangles in a variety of ways.  Quilting this was also a great exercise.  I did free motion quilting on my trusty old Bernina, changing the stitch for the different batik pieces.  Take a look at the following detail views.

And here is a second close-up view.

Later this month, Kate will send me the name and address of the lucky new owner of my quilt and I will mail it promptly to her.  At the same time, a new quilt will be on its way to my home.  I can hardly wait to see whose quilt I will soon own!

I swapped once before, in the Fourth ALQS, trading a remake of my "Big Foot, the Foot" quilt.  Follow the swaps made in ALQS4 to see more wonderful quilts.  The great thing about Kate's swaps is that they are "guilt-free" -- if you sign up, but are unable to finish your quilt by the deadline, no problem!  The swaps are all traded based on who ever does finish by the deadline, and no hard feelings if this doesn't include you.  I like this as I once signed up for ALQS #5, but was unable to finish.  I'm already percolating a few new ideas for the next trade ..... join the fun!

Kate has mentioned that she will host another swap, Another Little Quilt Swap #7.  So if you like sharing your quilt art with others and have no objections to mailing internationally, watch her blog, "Another Little Quilt Swap"at http://anotherlittlequiltswap.blogspot.com/  for the sign-up window and for other details.  The rules are really quite minimal and the joy is tremendous!

Another Little Quilt Swap 6

It's official...

I've signed up for Another Little Quilt Swap #6 and hope to finish one (or maybe two) quilts to trade.

This is a fun, no guilt, swapping group run by the gracious hostess, Kate North.  If you are interested in learning more about this swap, click here.  There is not a deadline for showing interest in the swap, but there is a deadline to get your digital photos sent to Kate (Oct. 3rd, 2011).  The swappers are scattered across the world, so before reading further, please be aware that you must be willing to ship internationally!

It is great fun and I hope you will join me in this swap ....

Big Foot, framed!

Here it is ... my quilt to trade in Another Little Quilt Swap #4  hosted by a friend in the United Kingdom, Kate North.

My original quilt to trade turned out to be too small as per the guidelines posted for this fun swap, so I got creative and built a frame around it ... using slices from another project.  May I present to you ....

Big Foot - Framed

The center of this quilt is "Big Foot, the Foot" from my "Big Foot" journal quilt series which began in April 2007.  Click here to read more about those beginnings.  The frame is made from pieces of "Sitting on Top of the World", whose story is here.  Both quilts are favorites of mine, but I am excited to be swapping this quilt, "Big Foot - Framed", for a new treasure!   This quilt measures just under 15" x 20".

a close-up shot

This detail photo shows the thread stitching and creative fabric piecing and overlays to create the tree and the background landscape.  The flower stalk is a three-dimensional embellishment of flower petals and leaves attached with Sulky threads.

Kate's ATC

I won!  I won!  I won one of Kate North's lovely ATCs!

Butterfly Pink

She offered five in a drawing open to all who signed up for her ALQS #4 (Another Little Quilt Swap, round 4).  Click here to learn more about it, though basically you sign up, make a quilt, send her digital images of it -- then select your top 10 favorites of the others posted -- and she arranges the swaps from everyone's top 10 wish lists.  For the specific guidelines, click here.

Thank you Kate for a lovely ATC and for hosting this swap again.  It is my first time to join ALQS and I look forward to this fun swap .... must go finish my quilt .... so I can possibly finish two to swap.

Another Little Quilt Swap #4

A new swap is getting started by one of my U.K. friends, Kate North.  Kate is an experienced hostess and has hosted Another Little Quilt Swap three times already.

If you are interested in more information, please look at the blog dedicated to the ALQS-4 swap:

http://anotherlittlequiltswap.blogspot.com/

On the blog you will find:
        a)  the rules and guidelines set forth clearly;
        b)  a list of International quilters interested in the 4th swap;
        c)  all the quilts from previous ALQS swaps, too. 

Intrigued?  If yes, simply send Kate an email (links on her blog and the ALQS blog).  Then create a special quilt (or two!) for this swap.
If life intercedes in an unexpected way, never fear, as only those that finish their quilts and send proof (ie digital photos of said quilt) to Kate by the deadline will be eligible to swap.

Plaid Cats

I've been finishing up UFO's lately.  This is my current favorite as it features blocks I made over 10 years  (possibly closer to 15 years) ago and traded through a quilt group with America Online (back when my AOL email was calicocath, I think?)  Without further ado, here are my Plaid Cats:

This swap was originally hosted by Ida Tyson from Odessa (did anyone else swap these cats?) using a pattern from The Cat's Meow: Purr-fect Quilts for Cat-Lovers by Janet Kime.  Originally published in 1994 by That Patchwork Place, a special 10th anniversary special edition came out in 2004.  We made the 5" x 8" plaid cats using homespun plaids, a current fad back in the mid 1990's though hard to find even in quilt shops.  Do you see the smaller kitten blocks?  We traded these blocks (which measure 2 1/2" x 4") in a swap hosted by Jan Leming, formerly from Slidell.

This quilt top measures 60.5" x  84.5"

Typically, when I trade blocks in a swap, I have not pre-determined a finished size, plus I make extras.  I used 35 leftover cats to make a 2nd Plaid Cat quilt top.  It will be given to my quilt guild, Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH), to donate to a local charity.

This Plaid Cats quilttop measures 35" x 40" although I may had a simple border before finishing it.

Now to decide how to quilt these two tops .... I must think up something delightfully purr-fect!  Any suggestions?