Updates with pictures

Here is the promised picture of the Giant Granny Block. I think it turned out well. It calls for a sashing border, but I think I am going to leave it as is. I think I may quilt it myself.

I finished my mug rug for the quilt guild swap. I am really nervous. I am a beginner quilter and so I veered off on a couple occasions. I also hope I interpreted my partner's likes appropriately.

Yesterday Emily and I hung out and did some cross stitching again. She has made progress on her project. I never knew I was filled with wisdom, but my tip about stitching the borders of a solid section and then stitching in the 'filling'. The last picture I have is from September 2011. It is fun to see the progress that has been made and more importantly, to be made.

I have tomorrow off again so I may have more pictures at the end of the day. I need to try the paper piecing again.

No pictures, but randomness

I hadn't blogged, but I have been keeping up with sewing hobbies. Emily has come over one evening for the last two weeks to work on her cross stitch. We both work crazy hard during the summer so we are milking the cooler, less busy fall. I worked on my Last Supper cross stitch. Last weekend was the AQS show and I went to that with a fellow quilter. That made for a fun (EXHAUSTING) day. I picked up some dupioni silk and Fassett fabrics. The tide is starting to turn in the main stream quilting community in my opinion. I noticed a few more modern fabric vendors and a couple more negative space/minimalist quilts.

I took today off and had a 'Karen Day'. Lounged and did some sewing. I finished up the Giant Granny Square Quilt Along top. I ordered the kit using Flea Market Fancy. I wasn't sold on the line when it was re-released and when my kit arrived I wasn't sure. It grows on you and I like the way the top turned out. I will take pictures tomorrow and post.

This evening I worked on some paper piecing. I took a class last fall, but had never worked on anything. It took some trial and error, but my block was coming along nicely until I had to tear away the paper. I hadn't shortened my stitch length so the stitching came apart. Oops. Tomorrow I will try again.

I was catching up on my blog reading and caught this. Robert Kaufman is coming out with precut hexies. Last month at the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild meeting, Emily V presented about English Paper Piecing. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

One more thing- Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery is having a winter themed calendar of sorts. I haven't decided if I am going to or not. It may be too cutesy for my liking.

Road trip

I went to Indiana this weekend and hit up two quilt shops along the way. Quilt shops should really advertise on the interstate. I found one just by seeing a sign on I-80. I stopped at Expressions in Thread in Le Claire, IA. It is a really nice store. While browsing the shelves I saw this tshirt. I laughed and laughed. I am sure they thought I was crazy.

I picked up a Cotton Way pattern because I will beat flying geese. I'd go back. It is nicely located too- not too far from the interstate and a nice view of the river.

I then hit up Always in Stitches in Noblesville, IN. This store was huge! They had yarn and cross stitch supplies in addition to fabrics. They had the new Moda Candy so I picked up one in Tapestry. If you're in the area of either shops, I would recommend a visit.

Here are a couple pictures of the quilt I sent Becky. I didn't take any before I mailed it out, so I took some this weekend.

Cross stitch taking over the world

First needlepoint shows up on the runway and now cross stitch has shown up on a royal. I am a HUGE fan of the Royal family. Emily came over to watch the Will and Kate's wedding at one in the morning. I even baked scones and we had a champagne toast. I've been following the Royal Tour of Southeast Asia, especially to see what Kate has been wearing. That lead me to the perfect side called, What Kate Wore! This is a really wonderful site. There is brand information and cost, as well as substitution ideas.

I am a cross stitcher at heart and I love this idea of cross stitch in fashion.

I won! I won!

This is me:

Karen said-
This would be the next step in improving my piecing skills. Working with smaller starting pieces and best part? No cutting of the starting pieces! They are 'real' quilt patterns. Carrie doesn't short change.

Moda has come out with 2.5 inch squares called Candy and Carrie Nelson from Miss Rosie has patterns to go along. I won a give away on the Moda Blog of the new patterns called Little Bites. 

Now to go buy some candy!

My heart aches

Wednesday I found out my college roommate has cancer. Her name is Rebekah, but we call her Becky. She is 34 years old and she is scheduled for surgery on Friday. My heart aches.

I felt so helpless to be there for her because of distance. I did the first thing that popped into my heart. I made a quilt. I ran to the quilt store on Wednesday night and picked up a layer cake. I needed to get this done quickly so I went with a pre-cut. I wish I lived near the Fabric Shack which has a large selection of pre-cuts. There were 3 layer cakes to choose from, so I went with Serenade by Kate Spain. It had a lot of repeats so I did a bit of 'symmetry' in fabric layout with the Quartered Nines pattern. I put it together in 4 hours.

Quilters are the nicest people! I can't say that enough. I went to quilt guild on Thursday evening and mentioned I wanted a quilter to do an emergency weekend quilt job. Veronica called a friend and left a message to see if she could do it and Janorah offered to do it herself. I dropped the quilt off with Janorah last night and she said she would have it done this weekend.

Please pray for my friend.

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:13-18

I didn't realize people actually read this!

I've actually had a couple people 'complain' that I haven't posted in a while.Summers always get REALLY crazy with work and this year has been no exception. I love my job, but I don't have a life during the summer. The drought has added to that because that has meant more hours to work outside without a reprieve of rain days.

Things have slowed down considerably so I was able to take a day off and go to the Iowa State Fair. I love the fair! When I first moved to Iowa I thought I was too good for the fair, but I went and I was hooked. There is so much to see and so much to eat. I ate a lot on Friday and on Friday night I did not feel good.

I went with my friends Emily and Brian. We stopped at the State Fair Sew In and for an hour I worked in a sweatshop while I had two bosses telling me to hurry! We had to pick out 12 strips and sew them together. They picked the fabrics and I sewed. It is an UGLY quilt. So very, very ugly. I feel for the poor child who gets this. Ladybugs, spiders, corn and fish. Brian said it was for a child who has an interest in entomology and marine biology. We are science nerds. The cool thing about the system is you can do just one thing and walk away. I love to piece so I pieced and I left. Piece out! I couldn't resist. I am so funny.

So here are a couple pictures of us. They are cell phone pics so they are terrible. I am not sure why I am blurry but the other two look OK. Those two had way too much fun. I was sure we were going to get kicked out. We were loud. Emily dropped her lemonade on the floor. And all we had to show for in the end was a very ugly quilt top.