1 Week Down!

This past week has been a very long week.

Today I went to the doctors for a 1 week check up after my gallbladder surgery. He said I am healing well and said I only have to wait 1 more week before I can get back to normal activities!

Can you guess which activity I miss the most? Here's a hint

All week long I have been sitting in the same room as my machine. She looks so sad, like she misses me as much as I miss her. I tried covering her with stuff to hide her, but I still knew she was there. I don't think I am up for doing much cutting and pressing, but I thought I could at least do some sewing.

I had just won a jelly roll of Veranda from FatQuarterly during Talkin Tuesday a few weeks ago and have been wanting to use that gorgeous fabric.

Earlier this year I made a Jelly Race Quilt and have been wanting to make another. It's my favorite quilt to cuddle with. I also knew that I could do the sewing with very little standing at all. Here's what I have done so far.

So far the only standing I had to do was to press the seams to one side to make the long strip. As soon as I am done with this post I will start sewing the big strip together.

So with only 1 week left I am feeling much better, especially now that I can spend some time with my machine. Both of us are much happier now.

I don't know what to work on next, I have a bunch of charm packs that I could possibly use to make a quilt with little cutting. Plus I have a bunch of adorable mini charm packs from Market that I might be able to use too. I guess I will have to put on my thinking cap. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Terrain Giveaway!

The latest Designer Select FQ kit I received is the Kate Spain one so Kate Spain is the designer of the month here at Craizee Corners! This FQ kit is filled with some great fabric from the Terrain line. I love the blues in this kit and they contrast very good with the greens. Its perfect for a quilt to snuggle under this fall. The Fat Quarter Shop has decided to give away 4 yards of Terrain fabric of your choice! Isn't that wonderful? Can you imagine what you can make with 4 yards of this fabric? It's plenty to make an entire quilt top or to use as backing and binding for a quilt you made with this FQ kit.


I have a great line up of guest bloggers who will be sharing their projects made with Kate Spain fabric. Here's the list. be sure to visit their blogs and tell them Sha sent you.

Monday 10/10 - Laura from Quokka Quilts
Tuesday 10/11 - Tiffany from Another Pie in the Sky
Wednesday 10/12 - Angie from Stitching By Starlight
Thursday 10/13 - Laine from Just Plain Laine 
Friday 10/14 - Heather from Fiberosity

Monday 10/24 - Melanie from Above All Fabric
Tuesday - 10/25 - Nikki from Nikki's Quilting Projects
Wednesday 10/26 - Kate from Needle and Spatula

And there will be a special visit from Kate Spain herself at the end of the month with a special giveaway of her own.

Now for the giveaway...

Note - you must be a follower of Craizee Corners (but you do not get an entry for that, it's just a pre-requisite)

Chance #1 go to The Fat Quarter Shops Terrain page and tell me which of the Terrain patterns you would like to make. There's some great patterns to choose from.

Chance #2 Stay on that same page and tell me what fabric you think I chose for the backing of the Terrain quilt I am making with my Kate Spain Designer Select FQ kit. I am using just 1 fabric and it is from the Terrain line.

There you go...2 ways to enter, easy peasy!

Of course if you would like to help spread the word to your friends I'd love if you tweeted, Facebooked, blogged or Google+ this giveaway...just because you are a nice person :)

As always thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for being the BEST sponsor!

Sha :)

My Plans For The Week.....

Happy Monday everyone! I have plans, lots of plans for the week. The beginning is busy, but the second half is almost empty (so far) which will leave me plenty of time to play! I have  surprise for you and me coming (do I hear the G word again?) so stay tuned!

I am so excited about Tuesday, I am part of the Accuquilt Fall Blog Hop! All week long we will be hopping from one blog to another to share Fall ideas. Today Darlene of SewCalGal starts the hop with an adorable quilt made from tumblers (and I heard the G word on her blog today too!). I hope you join me for this fun hop and make sure to check here tomorrow for my special Fall project. If you can't wait that long here's a hint...It has to do with the color pink. Those of you that know me might be able to guess it, but please don't tell anyone.



As for today, I am guest blogging at Sally's Quilting Corner. She has a series on how to organize your sewing/quilting space, no matter how big or small. Go to her blog to see how I fold and store yardage and while your there it would be great if you left her a comment with your organizing hints :)...oh and don't forget to tell her hi for me.




Have you been to Talkin Tuesday's (#Talknt) yet? It's a tweetchat room hosted by the awesome Cara of Cara Quilts. From 9 - 11 EST we all get together and answer questions about quilting. It's a great way to learn new things about your favorite addiction. Tomorrows (September 27, 2011) Talkin' Tuesday is being sponsored by my friend Sally of Sally's Quilting Corner...yup that's the same Sally that I am guest blogging on. I hope you join us, but here's a hint...don't access it thru twitter search, use tweetchat instead. It will make it so much easier. And if you are not on twitter yet, there's still time to join. Once you get on twitter you can find me at @shapernes. 

And to make my life even busier I have 2 classes at The Berry Patch planned, 1 on Tuesday and 1 on Wednesday.

Plus I have to make 2 blocks for 2 special friends of mine that I have to get in the mail by Wednesday morning.

And to end the week I want to finish the quilt I am making for my oldest son by Friday. He's coming to visit this weekend and I want to give it to him.

I'd love to hear what you are up to this week...are you as busy as me? Are you busier than me? If you let me know I will be your biggest cheerleader!

Sha :)

My Sweetwater Goodness

If you are looking for the Fat Quarter Shop Hometown giveaway click here. The winner will be picked tomorrow when I wake up so get your entries in today.

Dont you just love all the great projects that my guest bloggers shared with you this week? I know I am even more inspired now...my to do list has grown this week.

I thought that I would share some of my Sweetwater projects too.

Did I mention that I absolutely love table runners? Did I mention that I absolutely love any fabric with words on it?

These projects meet both of those loves, so it was a win/win all around for me. Here's 2 table runners that are made with the same pattern but with 2 different lines. I used Make Life and Pure for these. The pattern is The August Fresh and Fancy Table Runner pattern by Cotton Way. I got this as a kit from last years table runner club at The Fat Quarter Shop. The Make Life one was the first thing I ever made with Sweetwater fabric and I was hooked after this project. I hadn't been quilting for too long at this point. Then I decided to do the same one in Pure. My living/dining room is blue and brown so this matched perfectly. I think I am going to give my oldest son, Bryan the Pure one, he needs something for his new apartment and these are his colors too.

Make Life...

Pure

I also decked out my living room in Pure...I just love the colors and all the writing of course. Here the pillows I made.I finished these pillow in less than 30 minutes.

And here's the quilt made with Pure. This one my son Bryan stole for his apartment, but I made a new quilt for him so I am taking it back next time I see him :)

Then I got my hands on some Sunkissed. I did the Spring Quilt Along with Above All Fabric. I love how this came out. You can't tell but the center square is fussy cut to say life.

That's all I have finished so far. I am hard at work on the Home Sweet Home quilt right now. * arrow pieces done and 40 to go, which I will finish today. Here's a peak at what I have done so far...

I hope you have been enjoying Sweetwater Month here at Craizee Corners. I'd love to know which is your favorite projects from the week. Here's a link to all the guest blogger posts...

Monday - All Things Belle
Tuesday - Cara Quilts
Wednesday - Little Treasurers by Amanda
Friday - Quilt Dad

A special thanks to Fat Quarter Shop for making this series even more special! Be sure to visit them. It's a great way to do some retail therapy in your PJs!

Sha :)

Welcome Cara of Cara Quilts to Sweetwater week!

If you are looking for the Sweetwater giveaway click here.

Today's guest blogger is Cara from Cara Quilts. I met Cara when I stumbled into a quilting tweet chat room on a Tuesday in the spring. And it has since become one of my favorite quilty things to do on twitter. It's called Talkin' Tuesday and is from 9 - 11 pm EST, it's also known as #talknt on twitter. We chat about all things quilting by answering questions, which always leads to some fun side discussions. Why not join us tonight?

When it comes to fabric contemporary quilters are a spoiled bunch. We have so many choices, and new fabric and designers are coming out all the time. One of my top 3 favorites are the gals at Sweetwater.

When it comes to fun, comforting, and chic Sweetwater has it all. Their lines are always different, even the tone is different, but each line has instantly, and continued to be, a favorite for me.

I have used each line and every time I think I want to keep this!

Each line has at least one print with inspirational words that really spoke to me, and I’ve continued to love them and look to them. I also adore using them for anyone I love because they can look at those prints and remember all the good things in life.

The colours are all so clear and strong, without being overpowering, and I really love both the blues and greys they keeping coming  out with. The greys are so wonderful for bringing everything together.

When I told my husband I was writing a post about Sweetwater his first question was “who?” but when I started through the list of projects I’d used their fabrics for he responded “oh I guess I like them too because I like all of those ones!”

I think one of my favorite things about Sweetwater fabrics is the versatility. They work with pretty much every pattern, and work well both for men and women, kids or adults.

How much do I use Sweetwater?

I’ve made carry bags from Authentic, and I get the most comments on these then any of the other fabric bags I’ve made.

Well here’s my main notebook, and it does Make Life…easier! Always have a notebook going to write down new ideas, measurements, improvements and all those things that DON’T end up working in the end, and those that did.

My favorite shape to use when I really want to show off a line is the tumblers…

This is my own quilted wrap, a free pattern available on Moda Bake Shop http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/08/pure-comfort.html#more , and I’ve made 4-5 more with the line for other people.

 

I may have stashed all this Pure for future projects, one for me and one just because I know it will be absolutely perfect for someone someday in the future.

This is a pattern I made that never got written out, but hopefully still will one day soon.

There may be an immense amount of Sunkissed hiding in this box but we won’t tell my husband that.

 

One of my patterns, available at Fat Quarter Shop, it's called Cheers To You. I used Countdown to Christmas and I really love the fun yet classic feel of this line.

I haven’t managed to get my hands on Hometown yet but you know I’m just biding my time! I have big plans for it, and because of the great gender neutrality in colours and patterns, I know even my husband will love it!

Oh and what other Sweetwater things do I love? Labels!! We all need to get better about labelling our quilts and Sweetwater is helping out with their awesome Label Club! I’ve been stashing mine, and using some too, and they just make every project more fun, and easy to at least include my name on a quilt, or add a personal touch to a project.

What should be included in a label? Your name for sure, the recipient if there is one, and the date. After that it’s more what you want but I’d also suggest the fabric line, pattern, or any special reason for making the quilt.

Thanks Cara for showing us your wonderful Sweetwater projects. I want to come play in your stash someday! I think my favorite project is the Sunkissed quilt, I can't wait for that pattern :)
What was your favorite?

Come back tomorrow for some more Sweetwater fun!

Sha :)