Frugal Friday is Back!

You all probably noticed I didn't do Frugal Friday last week.  I was having so much fun spending time with mom and Gene I forgot it was Frugal Friday!  And today I'm running a little late because mom and I have been working on projects most of the morning.  I barely have time to think these days.  I have a feeling things are going to be crazy until after Christmas. 

Here's a quick look at something I started yesterday.  I'm not sure what I was thinking.  I have a million things to finish but I started something new.  It's a sickness...

I don't even know what it's going to be.  I used mom's Accuquilt GO! Baby to cut out the little petals.  I might have cut over 300 petals ~ mom was cracking up.  Not sure what I was thinking...  Who's going to applique all these things down???  I nominate mom.  

Enough babbling let's get to Frugal Friday.  Here's how it works.  I'll post pictures and details of what's available.  If you see something you like just leave a comment.  I'll need email addresses for invoicing purposes ~ so if you're a no reply blogger you might miss out.  There's only one available item for each picture so first person to comment gets it.  Each item is numbered so you can reference that in the comments.  That should eliminate any confusion on which item you would like.   

Shipping...this is a little tricky.  I will not ever charge you all more than actual shipping.  It's hard for me to give actual costs here without knowing if you will purchase more than one tidbit.  Therefore here are some basic guidelines (US customers only):

1. In order to ship First Class the order has to weigh less than 13 ounces {that's about 2 yards of fabric}
2. First Class Shipping is based on location but usually costs less than $3.50
3. A Flat Rate Priority Envelope is $4.95 and I can fit up to 7 yards, mix & match, in there.
4. If you should pay more than the actual shipping I will refund the difference.    

If you have any questions you can email me anytime at QuiltingLodge@gmail.com.

Please note...international shipping charges are much higher.  Please email me if you are outside the US and you would like a shipping quote.

Please note the batiks {except first batik pictured} and black & white fabrics are BRAND NEW ~ not even on the website yet.  That's why they are priced a little higher than normal FF items.  It's just a little peek of our new fabrics.}

Let's take a look at today's goodies...

(1) $4.00 Hoffman Batik (not new) 1 yard  SOLD	(2)$7.75 Moda Kapalua Batik 1 yard
(3) $7.75 Moda Over the Rainbow Batik 1 yard	(4) $7.75 Moda Over the Rainbow Batik 1 yard
(5) $7.50 Riley Blake Mystique 1 yard	(6) $7.50 Riley Blake Mystique 1 yard
(7) $5.50 Moda Juggling Summer charm pack 2 available	(8) $5.50 Moda Simply Color charm pack 2 available

Final quantities of the charm packs.  Get them before they're gone!  I do have more than 1 yard of the new batiks and black & whites.  Just email me if you are interested in more yardage.   

Please, please leave your email address in the comment if there's any chance you are a no-reply blogger.  Otherwise, I have no way of contacting you and I would hate for you all to think I'm not responding when, in fact, I can't.

 
Have a great weekend!  I know I'll be soaking up mom and Gene before they have to head home on Tuesday.  I wish they could stay longer.  :O(

 

 

Papa's Garden All Finished!

I've been working my tail off the last two days trying to get a king size quilt quilted.  I finally finished it tonight and if I could climb up on my roof I would shout "I'M DONE!  I'M DONE!  I'M DONE!" as loud as possible.  It was so huge I almost gave up on finishing it today.  I pushed myself to finish because I really didn't want to wake up tomorrow and have to look at it.  I'm pretty much over it.  
 
I don't know about anyone else but when I work on a super huge quilt I usually hate it by the time I finish.  Then a day later I fall back in love with it.  I think it takes time for me to forget what a pain in the rear it was.  Pictures of this one are top secret for now.  It's a present and I know the recipient is eagerly watching for some pictures.  No such luck...  
 
I was able to finally get some better pictures of Papa's Garden.  That's two finishes in a week and a half.  Not too bad if I do say so myself.

       

Each corner has the flower appliques.  The top two corners are just hidden as it hangs over the fence.  We're still having crazy Texas winds which inhibits my outdoor pictures.  

  

A few close ups of the quilting.  I think my freehand flowers are looking pretty good. I'm just proud they look like flowers.  I wish I could quilt flowers on everything.  That would make my life easier. 

I'm not sure what my next project will be but I know I'm taking a break from quilting...at least a day or two.  I might work on some quilt designs or the Texas Teardrop pattern.  I haven't decided yet.  

Have a great night!   

Rainbow Pillow

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving!  I know I did.  I'm so glad that we got to spend the Holiday with friends and family.  Not to mention all the food we ate...fried turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, fried corn, dressing & gravy, pumpkin pie, apple pie and birthday cake!  Thursday was Gene's birthday so Hannah made him an awesome cake.  She loves to bake and decorate cakes.

  

Papa and Hannah posing for a quick picture.  I really should have used my camera and not my cell phone. 

A close up of the cake.  She covered it with flowers in varying shades of teal.  It turned out great!

Mom and I have been busy little bees getting lots of sewing done!  That's a good thing because before she got here I was suffering severe creative block.  I could not figure out what I wanted to do.  I sat down one day and just starting doodling on graph paper hoping an idea would pop in my head.  I drafted a pattern on paper and then put it in EQ.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but then I saw a contest on Threadbias using only solids.  I decided to turn my design into a pillow.  

First I had to dig through my stash to find some solids.  I discovered I don't have much for blue fabric.  I guess I need to fix that.

I really wanted a brighter blue but I couldn't find any in my stash.

I quilted this on my regular machine.  I decided to quilt it with 1/4" grid lines.  It took me about 2 days to get finished.  Boy, I don't miss quilting on a small machine.  Here's a closer look.

And a look at the back for a little surprise...

I added some jumbo ric rac to the edge of the pink.  Now I need to find a place to put this ginormous pillow.

All of the rainbow pieces are 1" finished strips and they were a little tricky to sew.  It's very easy for skinny strips to go wonky.  I used quite a few pins and pressed each seam.  I love how they look but I sure wish they were easier to sew. 

I also finished quilting my Papa's Garden Quilt.  I will post pictures tomorrow of the finished quilt.  I'm hoping for no wind tomorrow so I can take a few more outside pictures.  I have another quilt loaded and started but I can't show pictures yet.  I'm taking pictures so I can share after Christmas.  I will say it's huge.  Super huge. It's the biggest quilt I've quilted to date.  

I guess that's it for now.  It's almost bedtime.  I need lots of rest so I can finish quilting tomorrow. 

Papa's Garden Quilt

Hello hello....I hope you all are getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I kind of am {I bought a turkey today} but mostly I'm just excited because mom and Gene came for a visit.  They will be here for a couple weeks and we have lots of sewing planned. 

We have another visitor, Rick's mom has been here for a couple weeks.  I just love having family.  My dad and step mom were also here the end of October...we've had a blast getting to see everyone!  We don't get to see our families much since the Air Force never moves us close to family.   One of downfalls of being a military family. 

Today I loaded a quilt that mom and I designed about a year ago.  We decided it would make the perfect birthday gift for one of the granddaughters.  I had trouble deciding on how I would quilt it but I think I finally figured it out.  I am doing an all over swirly flower design.  I like how it's looking.

We added some appliqued flowers in the borders.  I tried to echo the flowers and add swirly things.  My echos aren't the greatest but this is my first time doing echos.

We named this quilt Papa's Garden because it is one of Gene's favorites.  We designed it before he had his stroke.  It wasn't named until after the stroke and we thought it had to be named after him in some way.  Papa's Garden seemed perfect.  I can't wait to get it finished and pull it off the racks.  Maybe tomorrow...

Hex N More Ruler Review

Good Friday morning everyone!  Today I have a fun surprise....we have a guest on the blog.  Melissa, from Sew BitterSweet Designs, is sharing a review of the Hex N More Ruler.  Melissa is such an awesome person!  I'm so glad our blogging worlds collided and we met.  I hope you enjoy!

For those of you dropping by for Frugal Friday I decided to do things a little different today.  I'm going to direct you to our website where I have marked down all remaining Flea Market Fancy fabrics to $6.50 a yard!!!  Get it before it's all gone!   

Hex N More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts 

Thank you so much Vicki and Judy for having me here today! I am so excited to share my review of the Hex N More Ruler! Judy and Vicki were kind enough to send me one to play with and I have fallen in love.

The Hex N More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts, available at Quilting Lodge is a fantastic tool! It gives you the opportunity to cut 4 different shapes in 4 different sizes with one tool.

  

What I love most about it is that it makes it so easy to go hexagon shapes.

The only shape I haven’t tried sewing with yet is the Jewel, but I have seen the quilts that Julie from Jaybird Quilts has designed and I cannot wait to experiment with that shape. Check out the Wonton Quilt that Julie designed to see the Jewel Shape in action. One of the nice benefits of this ruler is that in some ways it replaces the need for a 60⁰ ruler because the Hex N More has one built in, so if you do not have one you would not need to purchase it unless you plan on doing 60⁰ triangles larger than 4” finished. Another feature that I appreciate is that you can cut every shape from strips, this saves you time and fabric. For the block above I cut a 6.5” strip of fabric for the center hexagon and then fussy cut the center, I used 3.5” strips for the top & bottom white sections and for the 60⁰ triangles, and another 6.5” strip for the white side pieces. (I will have a tutorial for this block on my blog Monday.)

Things I Like:

• The included instructions demonstrate how to cut all four shapes in all four sizes. They are well written and easy to understand.
• The instructions also show you different ways you could combine the shapes.
• The ruler is very versatile and includes the Jewel shape, which I have never seen before.
• Each shape can be cut from strips, this saves time because you can stack your fabrics and cut them faster, it also saves you fabric, meaning less waste.
• Julie from Jaybird Quilts has 8 patterns available for this ruler which would allow you to start creating immediately.

Areas for Improvement:

• The only area that I struggled with was shape construction – I understood how to cut everything out but there were no instructions on how to sew the different shapes together. There was a bit of experimentation on my side to construct my first block (see below) before I got the construction method correct – check out my tutorial on Monday and I will show you how I ended up doing it.

 
Final Thoughts: The Hex N More Ruler is worth the investment. It is highly versatile, giving you 4 different shapes and sizes. As with any new ruler the most important thing is to experiment. It is a fun tool and I see myself using it in my future quilting projects. Thank you again Judy and Vicki for having me here today!


I am so grateful to Melissa for sharing her review of the ruler.  I haven't gotten a chance to play with one yet but I think I need to!

Have a great weekend!
  

A Huge Thank You

I'm a little late posting this but that's because I spent all day cheering Jake on in his soccer tournament.  We had 4 games all of which were played in monsoon winds.  Seriously, I couldn't see because my hair kept whizzing around my head.  

Jake's team placed third and he suffered a small boo boo.  He was tripped and then kicked in the eye.  My poor baby has a bit of a shiner.

Now for the big big huge thank you to all of you who voted for me.  I am so honored that my quilt actually won for my category, applique.  I honestly didn't think I had a chance with all the great quilts that entered.  I didn't even expect to make the finals, much less win.  I know I only won because so many of you voted for me.  You all rock!  

Texas Teardrops 

I really can't thank you all enough for all the support and encouragement.  This was my first time entering and I can't wait to do it again.  All of the quilts are so amazing and offer such inspiration!

I know I want to draft the pattern for this one but I was also throwing around the idea of a quilt along.  What do you all think?  Would anyone be interested in a Texas Teardrops Quilt Along?

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!  I know mine has been great so far.  Hugs...

Frugal Friday

I want to say thank you to everyone that voted for my quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I really am honored that my quilt made it to the finals and I'm a bit shocked at the same time.  There were so many outstanding quilts!  So much inspiration for all of us.  I can't wait to find out how it all turns out {biting my nails with anticipation}!

It's time once again for Fugal Friday.  Here's how it works.  I'll post pictures and details of what's available.  If you see something you like just leave a comment.  I'll need email addresses for invoicing purposes ~ so if you're a no reply blogger you might miss out.  There's only one available item for each picture so first person to comment gets it.  Each item is numbered so you can reference that in the comments.  That should eliminate any confusion on which item you would like.   

Shipping...this is a little tricky.  I will not ever charge you all more than actual shipping.  It's hard for me to give actual costs here without knowing if you will purchase more than one tidbit.  Therefore here are some basic guidelines (US customers only):

1. In order to ship First Class the order has to weigh less than 13 ounces {that's about 2 yards of fabric}
2. First Class Shipping is based on location but usually costs less than $3.50
3. A Flat Rate Priority Envelope is $4.95 and I can fit up to 7 yards, mix & match, in there.
4. If you should pay more than the actual shipping I will refund the difference.    

If you have any questions you can email me anytime at QuiltingLodge@gmail.com.

Please note...international shipping charges are much higher.  Please email me if you are outside the US and you would like a shipping quote.
 

Let's take a look at today's goodies...

(1) $2.50 Free Spirit 14" x WOF	(2) $2.00 Timeless Treasures Botanica fat quarter
(3) $3.00 Timeless Treasures Newspaper print 1/2 yard  SOLD	(4) $3.00 Moda Summer House 18" x 40" (I cut off one selvage) SOLD
(5) $14.00 Benartex City Block 7 fat quarters  SOLD	(6) $14.00 Benartex City Block 7 fat quarters  SOLD
(7) 5.00 Moda The Caroler Turnover 80 triangles  SOLD	(8) $3.75 Riley Blake Shades {16} 5" squares SOLD

Please, please leave your email address in the comment if there's any chance you are a no-reply blogger.  Otherwise, I have no way of contacting you and I would hate for you all to think I'm not responding when, in fact, I can't.

I'm so excited my pattern is finished ~ minus a cover photo because craptastic Texas is having some crazy monsoon windy days and I need an outside picture.  This wind is killing me...doesn't it know I need a picture???  Boo.

Have a great weekend!

Some Lessons are Hard to Learn

Good morning!  I have to start out by saying I'm so sorry I forgot to post the winner of the Ghastlie fabric.  You will understand why in just a moment.  The lucky winner of the is number 51. 

51. Lisa said...

The mini KitKats are my favorite! I bought two bags for Halloween and they were all gone 2 days before the date. Had to buy some more for the trick-or-treaters. Sweet sixteen is such a special day in a girls life, I am glad she enjoyed hers. The Ghastlies are the weirdest and fun would love to have some!

Congrats Lisa!  I've sent you an email regarding the prize.

I know I haven't been around much lately. Unfortunately, that's because I have nothing to share other than a little whining and complaining.  I try to keep the whining to a minimum so I just didn't post.  After all, who wants to listen to a whiner?  

Today I want to share a little advice that might be helpful to some of you.  Have you ever spent days and days working on a project and when you finally finish it you are soooo excited?  You might even do a little happy dance.  Then you discover it's not really right and you have to redo it?  And you are instantly deflated.  That was me yesterday.

I've been working on writing a pattern and I finally finished it yesterday morning.  I went to email it to mom so she could proofread it for me and guess what?  Gmail said "no, no, no, your file is too big.  You can't attach it."  Turns out I had created a 29.8MB file and apparently that is HUGE.  Uh oh....what now.  

I tweaked it and cut out 7 pages just by making the pictures smaller and rearranging some things.  This took almost 3 hours.  I was feeling good!  I knew I had cut it in half.  Saved it.  Tried, yes tried, to send it.  It was still 28MB!  Say what?  I spent 3 hours tweaking and rearranging and it only cut the size by 1MB?!?!?!  I was close to tears ~ one might have even leaked out.

Turns out the pictures I used in the document were huge!  Like. Super. Huge.  Even though I was shrinking the pictures in the file as I went, Word saved everything as the original size.  Guess what that means?  Yep, I had to re-size all my pictures.  Twice.  The first time I made them too small.  Had to do it again.  I was really irritated by that point.  Not only did I have to re-size them I had to delete and insert all new pictures in my pattern.  

It was a nightmare, but I think I finally have it right!  I swear I've been working on this pattern for 3 weeks and I promised myself not to start anything new until it was finished.  

The moral of this story...if you are going to write a pattern and use pictures make sure they aren't super huge.  Especially if you plan on selling the pattern on Craftsy because they have a 10MB file limit.  It's really not fun re-doing your work over and over and over and over and over.  It kind of makes a girl crazy and temperamental.  Maybe even a little psychotic.  

Here's a quick look at what's coming up.  I have three tops that need to be quilted but I can't decide which one I want to do next.

I'm leaning toward the pinwheel quilt but I can't decide.  What do you all think?

I hope everyone has a great day!  I know mine has to be less stressful than yesterday.