Pincushion Swap - April

Hi hi!  Last month I joined up with Bea's Pincushion Swap and was super excited when she sent out our assigned swap partners. She has been doing this since about 2012 and keeps pictures of all the swapped pincushions on her blog here and here.  How fun are they?!

My partner to make a pincushion for was Laura this month and she mentioned she loves to garden and grow vegetables and flowers.  I knew I had a paper pieced pattern bouncing around in my sewing room somewhere from Regina Grewe that would be just right.  Paired with some fun butterfly fabric for the focus fabric and voila!  

Out came this watering can for Laura.  I picked up a little set of botanical notecards and a little Oregon pin from a store downtown and sent it off to NC.

My partner to receive a pincushion from in April was Nancy and I was really hoping she had one of her bunnies left for me - they are too stinking cute.  When I opened my package, I did the happy dance with Oakleigh!  She sent me my very own bunny - woo hoo!!!

Out in the garden it went...and was immediately eyed by Annie as a new toy to carry around.  That was immediately stopped by a cookie tossed in the other direction and the bunny was forgotten for the moment.  Nancy also included a great FQ of lime green batik - yummy :o)

I haven't been sewing much this week - it is my Mom's Spring Break and she has been up from California visiting.  We've still got the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in Portland and Easter to celebrate, so there is still a lot to do!!!  In the meantime, here is what I got to see while the bunny was having its photo shoot.

woof woof meow

Spring is here!

Hi hi!  I hope all has been well for everyone :o)  I took a very much needed break from the blog during the winter - there was so much going on!  I didn't stop sewing though and I hope to get you all caught up soon :o)

I'll start off with a little mosaic of what I did right before the holidays ramped up - tested blocks for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8.  I started testing for them on Volume 7 and had a great time so when they asked for volunteers for 8, I jumped at the chance!  Here's what I tested with my group of testers:

Aren't these blocks fun?!  So many of them evoked different memories when I did them.  The top center, the ukelele and flowers, reminded me of our trip to Hawaii last Christmas and New Years - just me and Josh.  The one next to it, the hive, it reminded me of spending a couple of summers in high school at BYU's Provo campus going to Education Week with my best friend and her family.  The sunflower - my favorite flower.  The block right below it, the up and down arrows, reminds me of a horse blanket and riding a horse named Grouse bare back for hours on end as a little kid in the Northern California foothills.

Too much fun I tell ya!  The Tree of Love, I quilted up and sent off to Karin in Norway as a mug rug for a Valentine's Day mug rug swap over on iPernity and the red and black block was made twice because I think I know everything and refused to use the templates the first time around.  The first block got ripped up and sewn back together into another mug rug for a swap at my guild and is now happily in a black and red kitchen!

I've since tested for Volume 9 and will post those after the magazine comes out - can't wait, there are some great patterns in there!!!  I've got two customer quilts under my belt and two other baby/baby momma quilts finished since my last post, as well as a couple swaps and other fun things.  I'll be posting again!  

But until then, here is what I get to look at every morning.  A little pup love!

woof woof meow!!!