Sunday Stash - Memorial Day Weekend Edition

It's been a while since I've shown off some of my recent fabric purchases. Hoping to get some inexpensive decor fabric remnants, I decided to brave JoAnn Fabrics on a Saturday on a holiday weekend. There's not much more that I loathe than that, but boy did I luck out. Didn't find any decor remnants that I liked but they had all of their clearance fabric bolts an additional 50% off. Add in a 20% off coupon that I had and I was like a kid in a candy store. Here's what I scored:

These are all Cloud 9 fabrics, specifically from the Backyard Garden and House and Garden lines. I got a full yard of the 2 bottom prints, and the rest are half yard cuts. They are normally priced at $14.99 per yard but I got them for $4 per yard and that was before the additional 20% off coupon.

These 2 fabrics are from Susan Winget. The bottom one is Owl Blossom Owl Floral and the top one is Kitchen Love Baking Words. I got a yard and a half of the owls and a yard of the green print. These are normally priced at $12.99 per yard but I got them for $3 per yard, again before the additional 20% discount was applied. 

When it was all said and done, I walked out of the store with 6 yards of fabric for $18. Now that's what I call a bargain! I plan on using some of these fabrics to make either these 1 hour baskets or these Easter style baskets for my son's teachers and a baby shower gift.

The 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop Is Coming!

Last year I participated in the 2014 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop that was hosted by Beth  at Plum and June. Beth was such an amazing facilitator to those of us who were just starting out on our blogging journey. I learned so much about being a part of an online community and many of the amazing online women that I met through this experience are people I consider friends and hope to meet in person someday.

If you are a new blogger, I highly encourage you to sign up to participate. You won't regret it, I promise. There are a few requirements that you must meet: that you've been blogging for less than 2 years, writing at least 4 posts per month; are willing to be actively involved in the blog hop by visiting all the other bloggers and commenting; and you must have a facebook account in order to participate in group discussions.

For more information and a direct link to the participation sign-up form you can visit any of the co-hosts for this year's hop:

Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl
Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter
Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs
Terri Ann @ Childlike Fascination

There will also be a wonderful resource on Yvonne's blog for Advice and Tech Help for New Quilt Bloggers that you won't want to miss so check it out!

Friday Finish - Compass Quilters Bee Quilt

I've not had many finishes so far in 2015, in fact, now that I think about it, this is my first quilt finish for 2015. Good thing I don't have a quota to meet!

Thanks to Yvonne from Quilting Jet Girl for the great tip on how she hangs her quilts for photos.

I really enjoyed the Compass Quilters Bee. I've met some wonderful quilters from many different places, I've learned some new skills like paper piecing, and I've also learned a lot about myself and what makes a good bee block. 

When it came to this particular quilt, I had a LOT of issues quilting it. I chose an overall meandering double loop pattern with a light apple green poly thread but I my machine just didn't like this thread. I typically use Isacord thread for quilting since I like the slight sheen that it gives and it's really easy to work with. I picked up some thread at a quilt show last year that wasn't Isacord, but it looked similar and it was on sale so I decided to try it. It kept breaking despite my efforts to rethread, replace the needle, and change out the bobbin. I had to go at a much slower speed and as a result, my loops aren't as smooth. I find that loops and curves look much better when I can go a little faster and have a fluid motion. Needless to say, I was relieved when I was done quilting. 

This green & pink print is my favorite! I don't know who used it or what fabric it is, but I'm glad it's in the center of the quilt. I just love it!

Then came the issues with the binding. I do all of my binding by machine since I'm not a fan of hand sewing. I put the binding on the back, used my binding tool for the first time which I loved, and then wrapped it around the front to sew it on. I was more than half way around when I realized that my machine was skipping stitches every inch or so. VERY FRUSTRATING! So I had to rip out the entire thing and start over. I found a stray thread stuck in the bobbin case, so a thorough cleaning of it seemed to fix the issue. So while I didn't really enjoy finishing this quilt, I do like the end result even if it's rather small (41 inches square). 

Linking up to any of these link parties. 

Fun with Half Square Triangles

I'm happy that I finally got to spend a little time in my sewing room this morning. Not only did I finish my Compass Quilter's Bee quilt (post coming soon, once I've taken some photos), but I also made this month's bee block for Stash Bee.

Barb from Mountain Quiltworks wanted some half square triangle blocks. I really like making HSTs, especially since they're so easy to square up using June Tailor's ruler. This was doubly fun since we got to choose the layout. You can check out my Stash Bee post here if you're interested.