Terrain Stepping Stones Quilt, My First Finish Of The Year!

If you are looking for the Nifty Notions Ruler giveaway click here. Hurry the giveaway ends today!

This week was very exciting for me, not only did I work on 4 Valentines Day projects but I finished my first quilt on my 2012 Finish-A-Long list! It's my Terrain Stepping stones Quilt.

I finished the quilt top in November before Thanksgiving, so I guess technically it didn't take that long to make since I don't stop piecing until the quilt top is done. That keeps me from being confused. Besides it was a fairly easy pattern. If you want the pattern its available here for FREE!

I knew that I wanted to make a small lap size quilt to put over my legs when I am using the computer. We have hard wood floors and my feet get cold. I also knew I didn't want it to be too heavy and bulky so I decided to just back it in flannel with no batting. And its the perfect weight, its over my lap right now keeping me cozy :)

Like many of my projects this one had lots of HSTs, which you know I am craizee about! I know I am weird, but I like the challenge of matching them all up.

I decided to just quilt in the ditch around the different shapes, big squares, little squares, diagonals and diamonds.

The hardest part for some reason was hand sewing the back of the binding on. It was only 2 thin layers and my needle kept going thru the front so it took forever to hand sew. I think I need to learn to machine sew binding on.

Today is another big quilting day. I need to put the borders on Tyler's quilt and quilt and bind my Valentines quilt.

Speaking of Valentines Day, next week I have decided is V week here at Craizee Corners. I have a bunch of V-day projects to show you and maybe a great giveaway too! If you have a V-day project you would like to share let me know and I would be happy to show it here.

Come back tomorrow to see who the 2 winners of the Nifty Notions rulers are!  

2012 Finish-A-Long

Do you have too many UFOs? I didn't think I did, but I was soooooo wrong. I found this great event that Rhonda from Quilter in The Gap is hosting called a Finish-A-Long. How it works is that participants post a goal list once a quarter and then post when they finish each project. There will be a linky party to show off your finished quilts and other things. And there's a bunch of prizes! You get an entry for each item you cross off on your list.


I know I posted my January goal list yesterday, I am just adding to it to make it a 3 month goal. I am still sticking with basting, quilting and binding 2 UFOs and making a new quilt from beginning to end for each month. So here goes:

1. Finish the following UFOs: Terrain Stepping Stone quilt, Red White and Blue quilt, Terrain Flower quilt, Broken Broken Dishes quilt, Rachael's quilt (I am only showing you 1 block since it's a new pattern I am working on) and Quilt in a Day star quilt.





2. Start and finish Tyler's quilt (Brown, orange and cream, an original pattern), Spaceship quilt (made with Launch fabric and an original pattern) and Mom's quilt (Urban Cabin pattern).

3. Make the following table runners: Valentines (made with Always and Forever) and the Batik table runner for The Berry Patch.

4. Tutorials for 3 quilts: Bowtie Rainbow, Spaceship and Falling Squares.

I think that's enough to keep me busy, what do you think?
Speaking of busy it's time to start working on Tyler's quilt.

Will you be joining me in the Finish-A-Long?

Surprises!

This month is shaping up to be a month full of fun and surprises for the followers of Craizee Corners!

Today's blog post is brought to you with limited commercial interruption by

Yup that right! Fat Quarter Shop has agreed to be a sponsor of Craizee Corners!

The next surprise will be announced on Friday August 12th, but I may give little hints throughout the week! It's a big announcement so stay tuned and please spread the word about Craizee Corners to your friends!

Sha :)

Embroidery Stitch and Quilt-along

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.

Since I have recently fell in love with hand embroidery I have decided to join Clover and Violet's Embroidery 101 Stitch and Quilt-along. Their patterns are right up my alley. I like how they have tutorials on the specific stitches and start with the easy stitches and add more as they go along.  A few months ago I won a wonderful FQ bundle of Just Dandy and thought that would be great fabric for this project.

At first I decided to only do the embroidery part so this block is not in a fabric frame. I am going to start the blocks this week and just redo this embroidery. Lucky it was the first one so it's pretty easy. But for my first embroidery pattern I am happy with the outcome.

I'd love to see your current projects. And why not join me for this fun stitch and quilt-along.

Sha :)

Jelly Race Quilt Done!

In May Shawna at 1 Choice for Quilting hosted a Jelly Roll Race Quilt-a-long. I had a jelly roll of Daisies and Dots that I had been saving and this was the perfect opportunity to use the entire jelly roll. It was such an easy quilt, its a definite go to for those last minute quilts.

Here's my finished quilt. I decided to hand quilt rows of running stitches using pearl cotton in different colors. It was a great learning experience on hand quilting. I plan on hand quilting more quilts in the future.

So that's 1 more finished, only 5 more to go. I'm not going to finish anymore quilts until I get my Bernina 440QE, which should be within the next week are so. 

Sha :)

1 Choice 4 Quilting

Shawna over at 1 Choice 4 Quilting has some great things going on!

She has a tutorial on how to square up HSTs.
And am awesome giveaway of some Amelia and Hometown fabric.
She also has the Online Quilting Book Club Quilt-along that's doing a cute quilt by Amy Ellis this month.

So check out her blogs and while your there check out her store. She has great prices, fast shipping and usually puts goodies in her packages, which makes getting a package from her even more fun.

Sha :)

Fire!

Fire! That's what happened to my iron during the week. This was not a fancy iron and I had it for a long time with no problems. It had an automatic shut off and worked great. I had been using it and was done so I unplugged it. Then I remembered I had 1 more seem to press so I plugged the iron back in and walked away to get a drink while it was warming up. I picked up the iron and pressed it to my nice newly made Farmers Wife QAL block. When I removed the iron from the fabric I saw black soot on the block (cry). That's when I realized that something was wrong. It was at that moment that black smoke started coming out thru the top of the iron. I immediately unplugged the iron and took the block to the sink to try to get the soot off. I don't know what I was more upset about the; iron breaking or the block being stained. Luckily the block was OK, but my iron and ironing board cover need to be replaced, which I will be doing later today. Here's the block, not pressed since it was wet, but it looks OK just the same. There is just a little soot on this pic, but I was able to get it out after I took the pic.
The moral of the story is to keep an eye on your iron, even those with automatic shut off, you never know when danger might strike.

Are you a Farmers Wife?

This Farmers Wife Quilt Quilt-a-long is very popular right now among quilters in twitterville and blogland. I decided to join the QAL over a month ago, then missed 4 weeks so I am playing catch up a bit. Here's the 6 blocks I have done so far:

I know I skipped Birds in the Air, yes I admit it, I am a big ole chicken afraid of some birds (and since chickens are bird then I am really afraid), but I promise I will persevere soon. Meanwhile if anyone has any hints for this block please tell me before the hair pulling begins :)

Project Linus update:
I have 4 volunteer Blanketeers so far. I just need 11 more so please give this great cause 1 hour of your time and a few scraps to help a child who needs some quilt love. All the info is here.

Happy Quilting today!
Sha :)

Quilt Borders

Last month, while at Sit and Sew at The Berry Patch in Fort Worth, I was lucky enough to get a new book called Nickel Quilts and Borders by Pat Speth. It's devoted entirely to 5" squares that make different borders (260 different ones to be exact). There are also 7 quilt patterns in this book, but the main event is the borders. If you have ever wanted a special border and didn't know what to make this is the book for you. I even plan on making a quilt with some of the border strips, kinda like a border sampler quilt. This book is a wonderful addition to any quilters library. Keep an eye on my blog for a possible Quilt-a-long using this book. If you would be interested in that leave me a comment, I love comments!

Also dont forget to follow me and enter the 100 follower giveaway, I want to give these charm packs away this week.

Sha :)

Quilting & Reading = Quilting Book Club

If you love quilting and reading then I have an adventure for you!
Shawna at 1 choice 4 quilting is starting an online book club for quilters. Every month we will be making a new quilt from a pattern in a quilt book. Here's the link for all the info http://www.thequiltingbookclub.com/.
I just got my fabric for the first project starting in May. I can't wait to start. Why not join me on this fun adventure?

Sha :)

Using a half square triangle ruler

After attending a quilter’s weekend event at Berry Patch Fabrics I realized how much I truly had to learn about quilting and went back to the basics. So I started last week with a simple 4 patch quilt, it’s amazing how a new machine and taking my time helped make my corners much better. Then I moved onto a 9 patch design (Tossed Nine Patch by Eleanor Burns), again doing much better.

4 patch quilt

Then the Patchwork Squared Quilt-a-long started and I was brave enough to foray into half square triangles, which luckily is what I learned at the quilt weekend. I had made squares like this before using the ‘draw a line on the back of 1 square’ method. At the class I learned how much easier these are to make using a ruler. And my finished block came out better than ever before. For those of you that haven’t tried this method here’s a tutorial.

I find the nifty notions ruler the best.

1. Cut 2 strips of fabric, right sides together, 1/2” bigger than what you want the finished square size to be. I needed 3 1/2” squares so I cut my strip 4”. It is important to place them right sides together for this method to work. You will be cutting both strips at the same time so it's important that the strips be even.

2. Trim the edges of the strips to even them up and remove any selvage. Then place the ruler on the fabric, face up (so you can read the writing) with the 4” mark lined up at the top of your strip and the left edge of the strip. Cut along the diagonal line.

3. Holding the pointed edge of the ruler, flip it over so that the diagonal edge lines up with the cut edge and the top edge lines up with the 4” mark. You will have a ¼” point hanging over the bottom, this is normal. Cut along the straight edge of the ruler.

.

4.  Now you will both parts of the square cut together perfect. Sew along the diagonal edge using a ¼” seam. Press and trim to 3 1/2". There you go 2 perfect easy squares.

Quilt-A-Longs

I am super excited about 2 quilt-a-longs that I am participating in this month. One is the Spring Quilt-a-long hosted by Chris of Frecklemama at Above All Fabric. We'll be making an adorable quilt and a bag. Heres the fabric I am going to use



The second quilt-a-long is Patchwork Squared Modern Soldis Quilt-a-long. This is my first foray into the world of modern quilting and I am very excited about it. I chose browns, rose and slate blue for this quilt.

If you are participating in either of these quilt-a-longs or if you are in other ones, I would love to hear from you. You can leave me a comment below.