Gorgeous Eye Candy For You!

Yummy!  Just arrived in my mailbox - three super happy Kona Roll-Ups in New Bright, along with some Kona White strips.  These delicious fabrics are for a custom order in the 30s Barn Raising pattern.  It's a queen size, and I am so excited to make a big quilt in this pattern with these colors!  The Kona White strips are precuts from an eBay shop, saving me lots of time over cutting them myself.  I'll let you know how accurately they are cut, 'cause you might like to get some for yourself as they are cheaper than a manufacturer-cut roll up, and they come in lots of colors, too!

☺  And ... did you know it is sew fun to buy fabric when someone is paying you to do so???  ☺

Every strip is different!!

Even Kona New Bright Roll lint is awesome!  It reminds me of sprinkles on a doughnut at the grocery store - you know, those ones that never taste as good as they look!

And here's a tip I learned from a quilting book, Jelly Roll Quilt Magic.  Use a lint roller on the jelly roll to get the tiny pieces off before giving your sewing room a nice dusting of them.  It takes about three changes of the brush's sticky paper to get it all.  Great idea!

I will keep you posted on the progress of this quilt.  I've already begun sewing strips together, because I simply ... couldn't ... wait to get my hands on it!

Dream On Quilt, a.k.a. "Fit For a Princess" Finished!

Introducing "Dream On", a retro, funky quilt full of life!  Mrs.Singer, happily quilting away again, made quick work of my "Fit For a Princess" quilt, which upon completion received a new name, "Dream On."  She is a very sparkly, pretty quilt!

I also made two coordinating standard sized pillow shams out of the scraps.  I have a pile of half-square triangles left over from the block corners, and there are enough to make a lap quilt when I sash them with white!  To whittle my stash, I am doing my best to not put ANY pieces of a fabric collection back on the shelves, so I am committed to whipping up the coordinating lap quilt very soon!  I find I very rarely don't go back to little pieces of scraps and make anything with them, and they just sit around moping and feeling sorry for themselves.  I'm working hard to keep the grumbling down in the fabric closet!

My eyes really need a place to rest on a quilt, and the white strips provide the perfect balance for the super funky fabrics!

Solid white backing and binding - she's reversible!!

Quilt Stats:

• Name:  Dream On
• Pattern:  My own, strips of squares with a triangle in one corner
• Size:  86" wide x 88" long, perfect queen size!
• Fabric:  High-quality fabrics from my LQS, the wildest FQs I could find, and Moda Bella White
• Quilting:  All over large meandering stipple on Mrs. Singer, my vintage 1896 industrial machine set up on a quilting frame
• Backing and Binding:  Kona Premium Muslin in White, 200 thread count, 118" wide {my favorite backing fabric!}  Binding double fold and attached by machine for durability.
• Batting:  Warm and Natural 100% cotton
• Value:  Dreamy!

For Sale at Busy Hands Quilts!!

Linking to:

Richard and Tanya Quilts

The Restoration of My "Fit For a Princess" Quilt

"Fit For a Princess" has been resurrected from the stash closet and restored!  Waaaay back in June of 2011 I posted about these quilt blocks and how they looked like total chaos to me, and not knowing what to do with them, I put them aside.  Blech!  Double blech!

A year-and-a-half later, out they come with a new look!  I ripped out one seam on each block and put the pieces end to end and added white sashing between the rows.  I LOVE the result!  I am realizing more and more that the eye has to have a place to rest.  There is nothing restful about the original design, but the white strips give the eye a resting spot!  She is a queen size at approximately 90" square.  I just might get her on Mrs.Singer's rails tonight!!  Tomorrow at the latest!  Yeah!

Oh Happy Day! Girls Twin Quilt

Introducing Oh Happy Day!

A super fun, happy quilt!  I love working with these colors!  

{though quilting doesn't feel like "working!"}

Ric Rac is just CUTE!

I posted about this quilt here in July.  It began as a jumbled mess and took shape with adding white sashing.  Then she spent many lonely months on Mrs.Singer's rails because Mrs.Singer was not cooperating.  After missing having a long-arm quilting machine for so long, I had Mr.Hearts take a look at her, and he quickly determined I had ordered the wrong size of belt.  After a thorough oiling, a new belt, and a needle adjustment, she is singing away again!!!  She was so happy to be quilting again that she did a lovely job quilting this sweet quilt!  Oh Happy Day! came to life when I added the ric rac and finished it off with a bright pink binding.

Quilt Stats:

• Name:  Oh Happy Day!
• Pattern:  Disappearing 9-patch blocks with white sashing trimmed in ric rac.
• Size:  62" wide x 83" long, perfect twin size!
• Fabric:  High-quality fabrics including Flower Sugar by Lecien, Pam Kitty by Lakehouse Goods, Queen Street by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit, and Moda Bella White
• Embellishments:  Turquoise ric rac
• Quilting:  All over loopy meandering on Mrs. Singer, my vintage 1896 industrial machine set up on a quilting frame
• Backing and Binding:  Connecting Threads aqua turquoise daisy on bright pink
• Batting:  Hobbs 100% cotton
• Value:  Super Happy!

For Sale at Busy Hands Quilts!!

Linking to:
Richard and Tanya Quilts

Crazy Mom Quilts

Did You Win the Good Fortune and Domestic Bliss Charm Packs?

... The Winner of Good Fortune and Domestic Bliss Charm Packs is ...

Comment 83 is jmniffer who said:

"Hello from snowy Minnesota. I love the charms you are so generously giving away. Thanks for the chance to win them."

It is snowing at my house today!!

Introducing "Little Bits O' Joy" - My Daughter's Etsy Shop

Today I am tickled to share with you my daughter's new Etsy shop, Little Bits O' Joy!  She is 11 years old and spends much of her free time crafting.  One of my friends taught her how to knit with her arms, and she has taken off with this idea.  She has sold a number of  these scarves in a local shop and wishes to reach a broader market with an Etsy shop.

Here are some of the scarves that she has made.  She also made a deep eggplant purple one that has already sold.  This yarn also comes in a mix of tans and browns and a really gorgeous denim blue, and these colors are available by custom order.  For more information, please send her a convo through her shop!

The tag line of her shop is "Scattering Joy Bit By Bit!" and this is what she wishes to do - to share a little of what gives her joy with other people.  Please stop by Little Bits O' Joy today!

A Fun Skirt For My Sister

Just finished today is another knit skirt for my sister!  As I mentioned in this post, skirts that fit, are modest, and cute are so hard to find, so when my sister found a really cute knit skirt that fit her well, I offered to make her more like it.  This is a knit fabric, but I do not know what kind of knit it is since I was not with my sisters when they bought it.  

Once again, knit proved it self to be fairly simple to sew.  With this type of knit fabric, I had to stretch the waist seam while I serged it in order to preserve the stretchiness of the fabric.  Otherwise the serged seam would tear when being stretched out to put it on.  Usually it is taboo to stretch knit while sewing it.  I did not have to do this to the previous knit skirt I made.  The hem had me tripped up for a bit, until it dawned on me to just fold the serged edge over and make a narrow 1/4" hem rather than the typical 5/8" hem I usually make.  This worked like a charm with no puckering at all.

Enjoy, sis!  I can't wait to see you with it on!

Please Vote For "A Pretty Package"!!

I entered this quilt in The Quilting Gallery's Christmas Quilt Contest.  You can go here to see all of the quilts entered and vote for your favorites.  I hope it's mine!!

This adorable HUGE bow helped build my applique confidence and made me wonder why I ever thought applique was so hard!  It is really quite simple, at least when the pieces are this big!!

This pattern is actually written as a quilt-as-you-go, but seriously I wasn't very confident that I could get the strips to end up straight using that method, so I did quilted it the regular ol' way.

Quilt Stats:

• Fabric:  Technicolor Tidings by Connecting Threads, quilt top, backing, and binding.
• Pattern:  A Pretty Package by Susan Martin, modified to not use the quilt-as-you-go method.
• Size:  42" wide x 66" long
• Batting:  Hobbs 100% cotton
• Quilting:  Straight-line on the diagonal in green and blue variegated thread.
• Method:  Patchwork and applique.
• Value:  A Perfect Gift!!

For sale at Busy Hands Quilts!!

Handknit Scarflette Neck Warmers!

I have so been enjoying knitting on these short, cold days!  My latest creations have been neck warmers, otherwise known as "scarflettes".  A neck warmer keeps you warm without adding the bulk of a scarf to the layers of your coat.  It also adds a nice touch to complete your outfit. Slip one end of the scarf into the knitted keyhole at the other end, and it will not fall off no matter how windy the weather or how much you move about throwing snowballs and making snow angels!

 ♥  Smooth Chocolate Brown  ♥

The keyhole opening is trimmed with a lovely crocheted rose. If you want to take the rose off, the yarn that is attaching it underneath can be carefully snipped off. If you wanted to reattach the rose, you'd have to sew it back on yourself.

♥  Silver Blue Gray  ♥

I use a very soft acrylic yarn to knit all of my scarves.  Nothing scratchy here!

♥  Deep Navy Blue  ♥

I can make this scarf in most any color you would like.  I have ♥  Army Green and Black ♥ scarflettes already made and for sale in a local shop.  If you'd like one of those colors, I can slip on over and get it and ship it to you ASAP!  Contact me for details!

These three are for sale in my Etsy shop, Busy Hands Quilts!!

Blog Hop Party Giveaway - Two Charm Packs - Good Fortune and Domestic Bliss!

Welcome to the Blog Hop Party!  Go HERE to see around 150 participating blogs!  Meet new friends along the way!

Today's giveaway here at Busy Hands Quilts is two charm packs, one Good Fortune by Kate Spain and one Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott.  These have been cut by me and include one 5x5 square of each fabric in the line.  That is 36 fabrics for Good Fortune and 27 fabrics for Domestic Bliss.

Short and sweet here!  To enter this Giveaway, leave a comment telling me anything you want to share.  One entry per person, please.

♥  Join in the fun and become a follower of Busy Hands Quilts by Feedburner. 

Then you won't miss any of the quilty goodness here!

♥  Why not take a peek at my Etsy shop, Busy Hands Quilts.  

You really don't have to make everything yourself, you know!!

♥  Maybe your blog needs a new cute graphic?!  Grab My Button for your blog!  It's new, it's cute!  

<a border="0" href="http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/hearts4homeschooling/2-button-1.jpg" /></a>

Don't forget to join the fun at other Quilting blogs along the way!

This giveaway ends on December 15th at 5:00 p.m.  Winner will be chose at random and posted by Monday, December 17th.

The "What Was I Thinking?" Quilt Top

Bear with me, this is a blech-y project.  I really didn't want to put the Technicolor Tidings scraps leftover from this quilt back into my stash closet.  Sew, I whipped the various width strips together and got this.  {Pretend you can't see that it is already cut up again in this picture.}

Before I cut it into equal 7" wide strips, I seriously though it would look awesome to just flip the center strip.  Not so much.  I think I made the first quilt top too balanced, so when I flipped the center strip, it looks BLECH!!

So, figuring I could easily remedy this, I started thinking and remembered the Amazing Jelly Roll Quilt Pattern by 3 Dudes tutorial that the Missouri Star Quilt Company has on YouTube.  I began cutting and sewing and cutting some more and came up with this.  {I do love my spinning cutting mat and can't believe I didn't buy one sooner!}

And came up with this.  Yes, more BLECH!!  Simply BLECH-Y chaos!!

{And, this is no fault of the tutorial.  It makes a gorgeous quilt, but you have to use equal width strips!!  Oh, duh!!}

Quilting has taught me this about myself - I like order much more than chaos, and I find it nearly impossible to make quilts that do not have a semblance of order.  I still haven't finished the "Fit For a Princess" quilt from July of 2011 for this very reason.  You can see that I have tried to make order by positioning the same fabrics in a diamond on each block.

I am going to try to salvage this mess with white sashing.  Maybe make a few pillow covers or pot holders.  Surely there is beauty in this for someone?  Any other ideas?  Or would you TOSS IT?

A Pretty Package Lap Quilt

I am heavily involved in stash busting!  This quilt kit from Connecting Threads, which has been in the closet since last year's Black Friday sales, appealed on a day when I didn't want to coordinate fabric to a pattern; I wanted it already done for me!  

This adorable HUGE bow helped build my applique confidence and made me wonder why I ever thought applique was so hard!  It is really quite simple, at least when the pieces are this big!!

This pattern is actually written as a quilt-as-you-go, but seriously I wasn't very confident that I could get the strips to end up straight using that method, so I did quilted it the regular ol' way.

Quilt Stats:

• Fabric:  Technicolor Tidings by Connecting Threads, quilt top, backing, and binding.
• Pattern:  A Pretty Package by Susan Martin, modified to not use the quilt-as-you-go method.
• Size:  42" wide x 66" long
• Batting:  Hobbs 100% cotton
• Quilting:  Straight-line on the diagonal in green and blue variegated thread.
• Method:  Patchwork and applique.
• Value:  A Perfect Gift!!

For sale at Busy Hands Quilts!!

Linking to: