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.

Ruby Table Runner

If you are looking for the Ruby giveaway please click here.

Today Tracey from The Peony Teacup has an adorable table runner made with Ruby. It uses one of my favorite patterns.

Hi, I'm Tracey from The Peony Teacup and I'm super excited to be blogging with you here on Sha's Craizee Corners! This is my first time guest posting, so be gentle with me ;)

Just like Melissa did on Monday, I will be showcasing a project that I made using Bonnie & Camille's Ruby. How gorgeous is that fabric? I love the aqua/red combination, it's just so happy.. you know?

I'd originally planned a different project with my Ruby fabric, but a girlfriend managed to convince me that she *really needed* my other Ruby charm pack to make some dresden plate cushions, so I had to come up with a new idea.

Fortunately for me, Sha's Bonnie & Camille week coincides with another girlfriend's 30th birthday. What better gift to give than.... a Ruby table runner?!

Do you think my friend will like it? I sure hope so!

I used a "Disappearing 9 Patch" pattern to make the table runner, and will post a tutorial on my blog in case anyone is interested. It only used 27 charm squares (3 x 9 patch blocks), so while I decided to "turn & top stitch" my table runner, you could easily bind it with the remaining charm squares. I used some white/blue dot fabric from my stash to back my table runner, but I also think it would look gorgeous if you used 2x charm packs and made it reversible - perhaps an aqua side and a red side? Or maybe Ruby on one side and Kate Spain's Good Fortune on the other.. (I plan to make a Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt with that combo!)

The problem is that now I've made my table runner, I'm even more in love with Ruby and I wish I hadn't declared a fabric buying ban for the rest of 2011 because I *really* want to make my girlfriends some Ruby mug rugs as a part of their Christmas gifts! Fabric buying bans don't include Christmas presents do they?

Thanks for sticking with me through to the end of the post, and thank you to Sha for having me. :) I really enjoyed making my Ruby table runner (and it was super-fast too!) and being able to share it with you! I'll be showcasing it at my local quilting friendship day later today, and then I'll wrap it up and gift it to my girlfriend at her Mad Hatter's Tea Party on Sunday!

What a great table runner! I say to get some more for your other friends' gifts. You have to get something for them so buying the fabric to make something for them is no different than buying them fabric for a gift.

Don't forget to check out Tracey's blog The Peony Teacup. She just did a tutorial on sashing tumblers that I can not wait to try.

The Friendly Quilt Along Blog Hop

It's time for another Friendly Quilt Along! Last month Carolyn of ...Just One More Stitch and Tiffany of Another Pie in The Sky and I made the Key to my Heart pattern.  If you missed the blog hop you can catch up by clicking on the blog names above and here's my quilt. I love to see how the same pattern looks so different with each fabric line. And they all look fabulous!

This time The Friendly Quilt Along is open to everyone! The pattern we will be using is Snake Charmer by Little Louise Designs, it's available in both PDF and hard copy format from The Fat Quarter Shop.

Isn't this a cute quilt? And it is so easy, I promise. It calls for 2 charm packs and some yardage, but can also be made with 8 FQs instead of the charm packs. Since it's only a crib size I plan on making it a little bigger, it's such an easy pattern that shouldn't be a problem. Although it could be a nice throw for the winter. I like to have a small quilt on my lap when at the computer and when watching tv and this is the perfect size.

On Saturday, October 8th I will be showing you a very easy way to sew the connector squares on with out pinning or drawing on the back of the small square or even just guessing where the diagonal really is. Its a fool proof way that will make this quilt go fast.

You have between now and November 12th to finish the quilt. I wanted to give those of us going to Quilt Market/Festival or Sewing Summit some time to recover before working on the quilt. On the 12th we will all post our quilts on our blogs and will have links to each others blogs too. Dont worry if you don't have a blog or don't want to hop with us, you can always send me the pics and I'll post it for you. Or you can remain anonymous and just make the quilt, it's totally up to you.  

I have made a flickr page so we can show off all our great quilts too.

Tiffany at Another Pie In The Sky is working on a button for us. Speaking of that, make sure you check out her design services. If you are in the market for a new design for you blog or even just a button or signature she's the one to go to.

I hope you will join us. Last months quilt along was a lot of fun, this one promises to be also.

Sha :)

The winner of the Summer House Charm Pack is...

Ding! It's 8 p.m. here, do you know what that means? It's time for a giveaway!

I loved reading all your comments, it seems like I am not the only one who loves this line! I am almost done with my table runner, I can't wait to show it to you later on in the week.

Without further ado....
The winner is

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:
 Result:42

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Jeanne who said
Me? Sure I will enter. I do follow your blog, do you follow mine? Thanks for a chance to win a great charm pack, I love them.
Jeanne email me your address and I will send you this adorable charm pack!

Thanks for playing everyone...watch here tomorrow for some exciting news!

Sha :)

Note for some reason the max number says 100, but I did enter 48 as the number of entries as of 8 p.m.

The Great Green Race

If you are looking for my current giveaway click here. Make sure to scroll to the bottom for it, and remember to enter Shawna's giveaway as well.

Have you heard about the swap a rainbow that's going on?
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1692888@N24/

My color for this swap is green. I have to cut 56 green charms (5" x 5") of each of 2 different fabrics. I found some really cute fabric at the Cabbage Rose Shop around the corner. Since I have an Accuquilt Go! I decided to do a little race to see which method was faster, using the Accuquilt Go! or rotary cutting.  

I started each race the same way, the same amount of fabric (I got 1.25 yards of each) with the fabric pressed, my cutting area clean and ready to go with the tools I would be using and took my time (I didn't rush one way or another).

First up was the rotary cutting method. Pretty straight forward and fast. My time was 5:32:83. I did have 1/4 yard left over with this method so there was a bit less waste.

Next was the accuquilt method. I didn't plan ahead on how to lay out the fabric, I wanted this to be a true race. Even with that little bit of planning time the accuquilt method was faster coming in at 4:23:13. I didn't have any fabric left over, which I am OK with.

So there you have it. The Accuquilt Go! won the race by 1 minute 9.7 seconds! I know this was a very simple race, I can tell you from experience that cutting other geometrics is much faster with the Accuquilt Go!. I have been cutting 2.5" equilateral triangles, something I would never even attempt with a ruler (I need 2816 of them cut). That die alone is saving me so much time and energy. I definitely recommend getting a Accuquilt Go! or Go! Baby. You won't be sorry you did.

Sha :)

100 follower giveaway!

I have some awesome blog posts coming up including several giveaways, new tutorials, yummy recipes and more. So with the help and generosity of Shawna from
1 Choice 4 Quilting I am offering this giveaway:

When I reach 50 followers I will giveaway a charm pack to 2 lucky followers!
AND
When I reach 100 followers I will giveaway a charm pack to 3 lucky followers!

Entering is easy 

1. Follow me and leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite quilting pattern or what your go to for quick dinners recipe is.

2. For a second chance tweet about this giveaway "Craizee Corners http://craizeecorner.blogspot.com/2011/05/100-follower-giveaway.html is giving away 5 charm packs! @shapernes" then leave me a second comment.

3. For a third chance visit 1 Choice 4 Quilting! Let me know what your favorite charm pack is that Shawna carries. She has a great selection of the most popular fabric and she sends little goodies in her packages, which make getting the order all the more fun. I think you'll find her prices and shipping costs very reasonable.

So there you have it, 3 chances to win! The drawings will be held using a random number generator as soon as I have 50 followers and again when I have 100! Good luck!

Sha :)
 
I know there were 2 comments from yesterday, not only did blogger delete the post, but it also deleted the comments. Please re-comment so I make sure you are in the drawing.