Sew Sisters Exchange Quilt Reveal!

This is the first year I participated in the Sew Sisters Quilt exchange, and it did not disappoint.  We gathered at a wonderful Spanish Cafe for a brunch followed by the exchange.  Lots of photos to share, so here I go:

SewSisters2014_1

If Donna’s quilt for Lynn looks familiar, it’s because I made one similar to it:

SewSisters2014_2

 

SewSisters2014_3

 

SewSisters2014_4

 

SewSisters2014_5

 

SewSisters2014_6

 

SewSisters2014_7

 

SewSisters2014_8

 

SewSisters2014_9

Here is my last focus fabric, “Vivienne” by Alexander Henry.  Can you see it in the beautiful quilt Dorre made for me? – Love my new quilt!

SewSisters2014_10

And Dani loved the quilt I made her too.  She has it hanging in her living room now 🙂

SewSisters2014_11

 

SewSisters2014_12

 

SewSisters2014_13

 

SewSisters2014_14

And here we all are, Sew Sisters, new members, and guests! We brought our focus fabric in envelopes and selected randomly for our next exchange – so much fun!

SewSisters2014_15

Sew Sisters Exchange Quilt

Last year when I started quilting, I was fortunate enough to be invited to join a quilt group, the Sew Sisters.  We meet regularly, and we also have an annual quilt exchange.  Each person picks a focal fabric, and someone else creates a quilt based on that fabric for them (this is all in secret).  I drew Dani, and these are the fabrics she had chosen, and I worked with:

Fabric

Dani’s fabrics were beautiful, but posed a bit of a challenge for me as I tend toward brighter, pinky colors.  I chose to go the modern route, and this is the quilt I created for Dani.  The big “reveal” is today, I hope she likes her quilt…

001mod

My friend Ellie thought it needed a pop of color, so she generously gifted me the coral colored fabric. And thanks again to dear younger son for holding up the quilt – I knew these kids would come in handy one day :).

 

Oh, and I had enough fabric left, so I made Dani a matching giant pin cushion:

011mod

A Custom Order!

I keep my Etsy shop open for various reasons… Justify my need to buy pretty glass, feeling legitimate in my lampwork pursuits,  and just plain fun having a little cyber shop.  Anyway, I actually got a request for some custom beads! So, off to my garage studio I went, dusted off my equipment, ran over to Lowes for a new propane tank, checked everything for safety, fired up my torch, and voila!

072mod

And as long as I opened up my studio, I made more beads:

BlogPic

I will eventually add them to my shop 🙂

Quilts for Moi!

Finally, I have made quilts for myself! They still need binding, but I decided to enlist the help of dear hubby and younger son (before he takes off) to hold up the quilts.  The first one is a 30’s style, and the second one is a Kaffe Fasset.  They are both queen size, and therefore held sideways:

010mod

 

018mod

 

August Garden 2014 & Soy Amado

I have been neglecting my blog lately.  It has been sooo hot around here, all I want to do is lay flat on the cool floor and do nothing… but I have been keeping busy.  Starting off with my garden; venturing out into the unbearable heat, I am rewarded with a bumper crop of American concord grapes – so yummy!

022mod

On the quilting front, I stumbled onto a very nice quilt blog Little Island Quilting, where there is a wonderful project going on –  Soy Amado.  I am participating, and here are some of the blocks I made:

010mod

 

011mod

 

012mod

 

013mod

 

014mod

 

016mod

 

Now, I just need to package them and put them in the mail.

July Garden 2014 & Row By Row

This month, I am featuring my vegetable garden.  For the amount of care I give, I am always pleasantly surprised with the results:

July2014_Garden

And for Vickie, I did two rows; the second and fourth from the top – both are paper pieced.  Here are the links to the two rows:  Flying Geese and Tippecanoe.

RowByRowVickie

Photomask Freebie #22

I needed a break from sewing/quilting, so I got on Photoshop and made this photomask to share – Enjoy!

LutkaAndCo_Mask22Preview

DownloadlLogoSmall

 

Commencement

I started this blog four years ago, when dear younger son went off to college and I was sad.  This weekend, he graduated from University.  Dear older son drove out from Arizona for the event.  So, it was a wonderful weekend – we were once again all together!  And finally, the Kings won, and younger son shaved off his playoff beard, but older son said he hadn’t had time to shave:

Quilty Friends Are The Best!

I have told myself no more buying fabric…

Well, leave it to my Quilty friends to surprise me with fabric! After we’ve been quilting together for a while, we know exactly what the others like.  And here are the cute, colorful vintage fabrics they got me.  Thanks Ellie & Donna – so sweet!

QuiltyFriends2014

And here we are at a Galaxy game:

QuiltyFriends2014_2

 

My Little Projects

I have actually  managed to finish a few little projects.  Dear hubby got a new tablet for his birthday from the kids.  He remembered the cover I made for dear daughter, and asked me to make one for him.  I had a block left from the quilt I made for my mom, and used it:

053mod

056mod

I finally made myself a pin cushion.  I used an extra block from the quilt I made for my mother-in-law.  It measures nearly 10″ in diameter!

065mod

I made my boys car steering wheel covers.  It gets very hot inside the car here in Southern California as well as in Arizona.  I found this wonderful fabric of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Alexander Henry.  It was the perfect design!  I appliqued and stippled:

077mod

And finally, this has been a long time in the making.  A blog friend gifted me with vintage fabric that she had held onto for 30 years! I wanted to make her something, and I finally did.  Quilted pot holders:

111mod

Whew! I am feeling very productive! 🙂

 

 

June Garden 2014 & Row By Row

So happy… Passion fruit vine is making a comeback:

JuneGarden2014And I finished another row by row.  This one is for Tina.  Her theme is “Fish & Sea”.  I didn’t piece, but appliqued an under the sea world filled with colorful tropical fish, bubbles, seaweed, & coral:

RowByRow_Tina_2014

 

May Garden In June 2014 & Darlene’s Quilt

Oops! I seem to have forgotten to post about my garden last month.  It has been so hot around here, I really haven’t been out in the garden much.

The Mexican primrose have been filling our garden – here are a few with the flamingos in the background:

089mod

I hosted a luncheon at my home for my quilt group. The group had been working on a quilt for our instructor Darlene, and finally presented it to her.  I came in at the end of the project, so I was tasked with making the label:

021mod

023mod