Summer swapping

I joined a couple of swaps through flickr, and I have been picking away a little at a time on the blocks. 

Here are my bow tie blocks for the Scrappy Bowtie Block Swap - Round 5. Looks like I am up to about 30 so far. Good for using up some fabric I've had hanging around for a while! I have most of the summer to work on these, but I know July will only get busier, so I'm taking the opportunity to crank some out now.

Yesterday, I got word that my nephew's quilt is on it's way back to me! Yes! I can't wait to see it and get it finished up. So, yesterday I got the binding all ready for it. I used this polka dot from the same line as some of the fabrics - Michael Miller's Backyard Baby. I hope it will look good like I expect when I get it back. But, if not, I know this is something I could use for another project since I love these colors anyway.

I've been trying to get myself moving on my niece's "big sister" quilt but for some reason I'm not being very successful. I guess it's because I'm not sure where I'm headed next with it. I'll need to add to what I have to make it bigger and I haven't decided how I want to do that. But I need to get the pieces off of my living room floor! Note to self: make a design wall!

Summer Adjustments

Its not that I haven't been sewing. It's just that there's nothing very interesting to show! The boys have been on summer vacation for one week and moms know that that in itself calls for a lot of schedule adjustments!

I got my nephew's quilt ready to send off to be machine quilted. My first time with that, so I am anxious to see how everything works out. I will be glad to get it back in my hot little hands to finish it up! It went off in the mail today.

I spent one quiet day/night at our home in the Poconos doing exciting things like spring laundry and shortening curtains. That has needed to get done for a long time and it felt good to be able to do it there without the family needing my attention. Just the dog and I. While I was there, I saw this cool Luna moth attached to the side of our house.

Now I am doing a few quick things to prepare for more summer sewing... gathering scraps to make blocks for the The Crafty Blackbird's Siggy Quilt Block Swap - Round 2, which I am excited to have joined!

  Join Here   This will be my first swap/bee in many many years.

Then, for good measure, I had to join another swap! The Scrappy BowTie Block Swap - Round 5. I have a bit more time for those blocks, but I am starting to gather fabrics that I want to use for that swap as well.

Finally, I have been gathering very light colors for a quilt I have in my head based on this one -
by Rachel at Stitched in Color which was inspired by a quilt made by Cassandra Ellis. See the blog post here.  My vision is for a quilt with all VERY light colors - mostly colors, not so much neutrals. And then use small pops of brights throughout. It is pretty difficult to find fabrics with the really light value I am going for.

This may take me a while!

My favorite color

For me, comfort is a lot about color. For whatever reason, the cool tones are what I am drawn to, what I like to wear, and what I like to have around me. Periwinkle and lavender - love it!

Today is a really lovely cool spring day here, but the hydrangea in the front yard is absolutely bursting with summer blooms. I decided to bring some in to enjoy in the house.

Don't they just match my kitchen perfectly?

Simple is good. Very, very good.

I started on this top over the weekend and finished by adding the top and bottom strips of small squares last night. It went as I had planned it - simple and easy. I wanted to focus on the prints by leaving them in large pieces since they are very cute. As soon as I saw the bugs in the jars - I just had to have them! 

As usual, I wanted to add a bit of fabric that was not from the Michael Miller Backyard Baby line by Patty Sloniger. This will be given to my new nephew when he arrives in the US from India (fingers crossed - sometime this summer!). He is not an infant, so I pumped up the color with some bright blender fabrics that I thought looked more like toddler than infant. Also added a bit of contrast with thin 1" strips of Kona Coal that I had left over from the red and black quilt backing I finished a few weeks ago. 6 inch squares and a few 4-patch blocks make for a quick assembly! 

 

I don't have much fabric left from the brights, so it will be interesting to see what I can scrap together for a back. I do have some of the dot fabric from the line that I did not use in the top. Perhaps that will be a good binding.  Now to go about finding a longarm quilter.... Do I just risk it and pick someone off the internet? Seems smarter to visit a local shop and ask for recommendations, doesn't it? Better get on it, since school is about to let out and I really do not look forward to taking three boys on a quilt shop outing.