Peas In A Pod

Two's Company Quilting Bee and Sweater Vest Knitting

Over the weekend, I did some sewing and knitting.  Here's an update.

Earlier in the month, I had received this from Bonnie, for the Two's Company Quilt Bee.  She asked us sto use the red/white block for the center and to add a fabric that "reads" as red for the other pieces.  I thought this looked very traditional and almost "civil-war-like."

So, I added this fabric and made up the block.  I hope she likes it.  This was a really fun block to make, and it went together very quickly.  It is 9" square.  I bet this is going to make a terrific quilt.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

In hindsight (now that I see the photo), I think I should have picked a fabric that had a different pattern than this one.  This one seems to compete a little with such a very similar fabric in the center.  But when you back away from it, you really don't see all the pattern, so I think it will be okay.

If you want to see what the others are doing with this block, hop on over to the Two's Company Quilt Bee page.  There are some that are very different from mine!

I bought this yarn when I was at the Michigan Fiber Arts Festival a few weeks back.  It was actually a hank that I rolled into a ball.  I just LOVE the colors.  I got it from Briar Rose Fibers.  She hand paints the yarn.  Very cool.  I could not resist this.  It's called Legend.  If you want to see it, click here.  They don't seem to have this color right now, but the other colors are scrumptious, too.  It was hard to choose one.  And if you really want this and referred her to my yarn, she will probably hand paint some for you.  (She did that for me on another hank of yarn.)

I'm knitting a sweater vest with it--it's called the Summer Wave Tank.  Click here if you want to see the pattern. It's also from Briar Rose.  (I have another of her patterns, too, and another couple hanks of yarn for that as well.)  They had this made up at their booth, and I loved it.  It is knitted in the round (yay!  very little finishing work to do when it's done).  This is the bottom edge of the vest.  It will have one more section of this lacy pattern (hard to see right now, because it's all bunched up on the needles), and then stockinette stitch the rest of the way up.

Here's another shot.  It's such delectible yarn to work with.  A really nice, soft wool.  I love feeling it in my hands and watching the colors change.  I want to get it done so I can wear it this fall.

These are most of what I did this weekend.  I was pretty lazy, to be honest with you.  I was just plain tired.  I have some other stuff I can show you from last weekend, which I never had time to post.  So, I'll do some catching up this week.

Hope you're all having a happy Monday.  I'm glad 9/11/11 is over.  I thought it was terribly emotional.  I hope that we are stronger, as a nation, because of the past events.  I hope our nation continues to draw together...though sometimes it feels like we're coming apart at the seams.  I guess that statement gives you a feeling of my mood today...

Until next time,

Mama Pea

P.S.  On the bright side...I'm down 36.6 pounds now, and I ran 2.3 miles today.  I'm working on building my endurance.  It wasn't all at once.  I'm doing Couch to 5K, so it's in small bouts of running, interspersed with walking.

Winner of Week 1 Little Forest Quilt Along Giveaway

Hi Everyone,

Have you been following our Little Forest Quilt Along?  People are posting some great fabric photos on our Flickr group.  There are going to be some really cute and fantastic quilts coming out of this....all the way from table runners to bed-sized quilts!

You may recall that I had a giveaway.  People were to post on the Flickr group photos of the fabrics they plan to use by midnight on Friday, September 9 to be eligible.

I went through all the submissions and wrote them down on little strips of paper.

I put them in a bowl and had Papa Pea close his eyes and mix them up.  Then, he pulled out a name.

Here's the name he pulled out.  Congratulations Sunny12607.  I'll drop you an e-mail to get your mailing address.

I'm going to be sending you this little fat quarter pack.  I think these would be totally fun for making a little cosmetic bag or some other zipper pouch!  These were provided by my sister, Aunt Pea, and her shop, Jane's Candy Store! (Go like her on Facebook to see all the fun stuff she puts up for sale, including candygrams!)  Thanks, Aunt Pea!

There's still time to get in on this week's giveaway.  Remember, you have to cut out all your pieces and sew up at least half of the trees you need to complete your project.  Post your pictures by midnight this Friday, September 16 to get in on another surprise giveaway.  For more details, see this post:

http://peasinapod.typepad.com/peas-in-a-pod/2011/09/little-forest-quilt-along-week-2-and-giveaway-information.html

And if you haven't started yet, not to worry!  Jump in!  The water's fine!  Here is Week 1 information if you need it to get started:

http://peasinapod.typepad.com/peas-in-a-pod/2011/09/little-forest-quilt-quilt-along-week-1-and-giveaway-information.html

And if you missed out on the information on all the social networking opportunities with this quilt along, here's the link to that:

http://peasinapod.typepad.com/peas-in-a-pod/2011/09/little-forest-quilt-along-social-networking-tools-.html

I hope you're enjoying the quilt along as much as I am.  I got some sewing done this weekend and can't wait to show you!  I'll be back soon with another post to update you on some of that.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Little Forest Quilt-Along: Week 2 (and giveaway information)

Hello Little Forest Quilt Along Friends!

How are you coming with your fabric selection?  Remember to get your fabrics posted before midnight tonight on our Flickr Group to be in on my giveaway!  Many of you have posted your progress, and I am totally loving the fabrics you are picking out!  We are going to have so many cute, cute, cute versions of this quilt!

Are you ready for your instructions for Week 2?  I knew you were!

The instructions are easy for this week....

1. Get all your fabrics cut out.
2. Sew up at least 1/2 of the trees you'll need to complete your project.

That's it!  (Next week, we'll finish the trees and assemble the top.)  See?  We're breaking this down into really small, manageable steps to finish this in a few weeks.

My co-hostess, Linda, is paper piecing her trees.  If you want to check that out, hop on over to her blog and see.

I thought I'd give you a few tips I learned when I was sewing up my trees.  I know a couple of you are somewhat new to sewing/quilting, so I thought some tips might be useful.

First, sew one of your colored triangles to your white triangle.  Press your seam toward the dark (tree) fabric. 

When you press, press...don't iron.  Don't slide your iron around.  These are bias edges, so it's a good idea not to tug and pull on them.

After you open up this seam, you'll see a dog ear at the top.  (There's one at the bottom, too, but don't worry about it for now).

 
I found it easier to sew the next step if I trimmed these off.

See how much easier it is to line up the two edges if you've trimmed those dog ears off?

Now, I tried to line these up by matching up my seam lines.  I stuck a pin in the seam line, about 1/4" from the edge.  This will help keep the top of your tree together so that when you sew, the seam won't shft around on you.  This will help you keep your point at the top of the tree nice and pointy.

Can you see how the pin just kisses the top of the green fabric on each piece?  Don't worry about how the rest of the white fabric lines up or even the bottom of the tree.  You're going to be trimming it off anyway.  I think the point is the most important part to match.

I put another pin in, just for good measure, and I liked sewing it from the bottom of the tree up.

Sorry this is a little blurry.  The camera seemed to focus on my hand rather than on my sewing foot.  But what I want you to see here is that I leave that pin in at the point and sew almost right to it.  I don't remove that pin until my needle is almost right on top of it.  I want to hold it together as long as I can.

Because there was so much bulk up at that point, I decided to press this seam open.  Since my other seams were going down, I started pressing at the top and moved down.  It just makes pressing easier.

So, it looks like this after pressing.

I'm planning to make all my tree trunks the same color, so I sewed one really long strip of tree trunks.  (One person in our quilt along is making her trunks all different widths.  I really like that idea!)

I pressed my seams here toward my tree trunk.  It makes for a little bulk.  Not sure if that's the best way to do it, but I was trying to avoid having the seam allowances show through the white later.

Center that on your tree and sew.  Notice my pressed seam is away from the foot as I sew.  That just makes it easier.

I pressed this seam allowance toward the tree.  I thought that would reduce bulk at the seam allowance best.

Here's how I approached trimming.  The block will be 3.5" wide.  So, I put the 1.75" mark of my ruler right on that center tree seam and trimmed off the right side.

Next, I spun my tree around and put that rigght side (the one I just cut) on the 3.5" mark (and the 1.75" mark should be right on that center seam again).  I trimmed off the left side.

Next, I straightened the bottom, taking off as little as possible. 

Next, I lined up my 4" line along that freshly-cut bottom edge (because it is supposed to be 4" tall), and trimmed off the top.

And here it is!

Below are some of the other ones I practiced on....

I love this polka dotted one.  Didn't quite get my point to match at the top, but it's okay.

And I love this blue swirly one.  This is the one that is on our logo!

I hope these tips are helpful to you.  I'm sure there are other good ways to do this.  This is just how I did it. If you have other tips, I'd love to hear them.

HOW ABOUT ANOTHER GIVEAWAY?

Post photos of the trees you've completed (remember, at least half of them!) on our Flickr Group before Friday, September 16 at midnight.  I'll pick a winner by drawing names from a hat for another secret surprise prize!  Trying to keep you guys motivated to stay on track and finish!

Okay, I better go get sewing now.  I got these done early and got cocky.  I was thinking, "Oh, yeah!  I'm ahead!"  Well, I'm not anymore, so I better get on the stick!

Thanks for posting all your great photos so far!  I love seeing them!

Have a great weekend.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Alamosa Quilter: Third Giveaway and Winner of the First Giveaway

via alamosaquilter.blogspot.com

My friend Lynn, Alamosa Quilter, is also having an Intrepid Thread giveaway today...a $20 gift certificate to Julie's shop! Hop on over to Lynn's blog and get in on that action, too!

Until next time,
Mama Pea

AWESOME Taza Giveaway from The Intrepid Thread

My friend, Julie, is SO AWESOME! 

Check out what she gave me to give away to one lucky person who reads my blog!

Can you believe it?!  Six juicy fat quarters of Taza fabric in the red/pink colorways!  She calls it the Hostess Half Dozen!  Rock on!  Thank you SOOOO much, Julie!

You really need to go check out Julie's shop, The Intrepid Thread, if you haven't done so already.  She has really great modern fabrics.  What a fantastic selection she has.  And her prices are just outstanding!  You can't find fabric many places for her prices.  And service....well, let me tell you, she ships it out fast and will even put together a custom order for you if you cant find the fabrics listed on her website in the specific quantites that you need.  She is great.

To get in on this giveaway, just do the following:

1. Leave me a comment to let me know how much you appreciate Julie's generosity.
2. Follow Julie's blog.  Come back and tell me you did.  (While you're there, leave her a nice note to give her some love for sharing this fabric with us.)
3. Like her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Intrepid-Thread/187646207951326?ref=ts)  Come back here and tell me you did.

There you have it!  You can get three separate entries if you leave three separate comments on these things.  I'll leave the giveaway open until Friday, September 16 at 5:00 pm.  Then, I'll draw a name and pick a winner!

Good luck, and thank you, Julie!

Until next time,

Mama Pea