A Baker's Dozen

 Last night I just kept sewing.  I finished my tulip row!  It is really nice to have these rows pieced.  I feel pretty proud of myself.  

 Aren't those tulips so pretty?!

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

Row 4

Row 5

Row 6

Row 7

Row 8

Row 9

Row 10

Row 11

Row 12

Row 13

I'm looking forward to the borders!

I love following directions

Something in my personality really enjoys being given instructions.  I dig trying new recipes.... mix the amounts listed of certain foods and wham-bam a delicious meal!  Its the same way with quilts...... sew these sizes of squares together and you'll get a pretty quilt.  

That is why I love participating in quilt alongs! 

 The row along has been a really fun exercise.... And it has been a good practice for me. Sewing itty bitty tiny pieces isn't something I normally do.    

 I am working on the last row. Tulips!  They are so fun, but I am dragging my feet. Maybe because it is the last row so it's kinda a bummer.  I think there will be a pieced border... so the fun isn't totally over, but the rows are done now.  

Luckily....

I bought fabric today for another quilt along.  I decided to go with solids and I used a design-seed for the fabric inspiration.  I did pretty well finding just the right colors... the light green isn't quite right, but I think it still looks nice.  

I'm washing the fabrics now and then I can get started.  Block one came out yesterday!  

Beyond the quilt alongs... 

*I need to bind the two baby quilts soonish....atleast by the end of the month.    

* I want to get my log cabin basted and quilted this week.  

When it gets passed on....

I honestly think one of the best parts of quilting for me is when the skill gets passed on to someone new.  Or when a quilter learns a new skill that opens her quilting possibilities!  I have taught five women so far...plus one virtually.  I think it only 'took' in four of the six though.  Still I would say that is a decent success rate!   

Last night my friend Kristen taught her mom!  

 She was a great student.  What was better for me was that Kristen was really thorough in explaining things to her.  So either I taught her well, or she has googled in the gaps of my teachings...  Either way she did a fantastic job!  And she knows her stuff for sure!  

 She sewed together a charm pack and added a border (which is apparently the same color as my walls). The finished top is beautiful!  Kristen will teach her how to pin baste, quilt and bind it while her mom is visiting.  I cannot wait to see how far Kristen's quilt student goes! 

In other news...

After realizing it was lame I hadn't basted the baby quilts yet... I went ahead and took care of them yesterday and quilted them both.  I quilted one of them with loops, which was annoying since I need practice and some of my loops ended up looking like butt cracks.  

When I get my allowance I'll go find bindings :)

avoiding

I have been avoiding mopping the floor so I haven't basted these yet. They are secret projects of course so this is all I can show of them.  (Actually I mopped two days ago but it wasn't a good mop job you know what I mean?  Like.....I got the gross slobber marks and spots up and the floor looks nice, but its not clean enough to lay fabric on... you know what I mean?  I just don't want you to think I don't mop.....I do.... its just a quick mediocre job. )

I did however buy some pretty fabrics recently.  

I think I need to FINISH  quilt soon so I can get my quilt mojo back.  Maybe I should make the basket row... that might get me going!

I've been

 If you follow me on Instagram you know I've been IGing everything lately....

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 Since I gave up Facebook for Lent I've had quite a bit of time on my hands.  

 I've been checking Pioneer Woman's blog a lot lately.  

PW chicken quesadillas 

 The hubs is completely supportive of it though since it has led to lots of yummy new recipes lately.  

 I have been working on the secret baby quilts (with painted fingernails)

 Making flannel baby blankets-this one was for my dentist.  After a root canal/crown and the fillings I've needed I have been in her office eight times in the last four months.  Since she is about to pop I thought I'd celebrate my last visit with a gift for the baby.  (I promise to keep up on routine dental things though, I dont want to end up putting it off for seven years ever again)

 This week our sewing night was full of fun fabrics.  I'm so happy to sew weekly with Kristen who is a fellow Moda lover.  Isn't that table of fabrics just so dang pretty?!  I started working with my Marmalade charm packs using the charm pack quilt along pattern.

 ... And she and I will attend the Wynonna concert this weekend too!  I bought some boots and broke them in this week.  I cannot wait!  A Saturday night out with a friend at the casino!  Bahhhh.  

 Otherwise I've been sewing sewing sewing.  Since I'm not checking facebook and all.  

I've managed to get all of my HST units sewn!  It was a lot of chain piecing... But Dr. Phil was on and the two shows I watched this week while sewing were really good( a woman got bamboozled by a catfish out of over 180k!  And she still believes the guy and is desperate to gather 150k more so she can get the 6 million he put in a secret account for her!! Seriously?!)

Who knows how much more productive I will be as these weeks of no facebook continue!  

In Secret

I've been sewing steadily.  It just stinks that I can't share.  I want to keep the projects secret until they are gifted.  If you follow me on Instagram you have seen the baby quilt top I have finished.  I'm looking forward to blogging about it soon.  In the mean time I wanted to share this board I put up in my sewing room.  

 I saw an idea like this on Pinterest looooong ago.  I was thinking it would be hard to find a piece of sheet metal and get it cut... Well guess what!  I was at Lowe's and in the area of metal pieces for venting and dryer tube stuff there was a precut perfectly sized piece of sheet metal.  It measures 24 x 36 which meant I was able to find a premade frame at HoLo in the open frames section.  The sheet metal was 9.99!  The frame was 49 but I used a 40% coupon.  So not as expensive as I had worried it would be.    

 It hangs right near my cutting table.  I have IG photos I printed off on magnets of different parts of the quilt process, photos of friends and family, postcards...

 ... quilt ideas....

.... and a few little fun souvenirs and pretty magnets.    

I'm very happy with this fun addition to my sewing area!

Rowing Right Along

 I've been having a riot trying to catch up in the Row Along.  And I finally did!  Now I'm anxious for the next row!  

 Whenever I think to take photos, of course it's night-time.  I'll post a good photo after the next row!

Since the rows are set aside for now, I've started a baby quilt for my new due in June niece.  Actually we have two new nieces due in June.  I'll start the second one after this one is finished.  I'm going to keep it a secret until I mail it to my sister, but here is a sneak peak!  

Everything I'm working on lately is SUPER fun!  This is why I love quilting.