April Showers: A Mug Rug Hop

Coming to you bright and early on Day 3.  Let me start by saying, "Thank you!" to Madame Samm and Erin for organizing and cheering us all through April Showers.

I've been so excited for this hop!  My little valley in Oregon is quite rainy throughout the year, so I'm definitely feeling the spirit of April Showers :)  I immediately knew what I wanted to do this time around, and I didn't wait 'till the last minute, either--I'm SO proud of myself.  Mug rugs are almost-instant gratification for me.  Plus, their size gives me the freedom to experiment without worrying about messing up.

This first mug rug is made from left-over squares from Samantha's memory quilt.  The greens remind me of a beautiful day in the woods.  I love that the rain bring such lush greens year-round to my little corner of Oregon.  I wanted to practice some orange peel FMQ and the 2" squares seemed like just the right size to do that on on my machine.  I'm quickly learning that the smaller scale designs work much better on my little machine.  Even with gloves, I have control issues moving the fabric in larger patterns.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

The second one I totally love!  I had a picture in my head that evolved as I looked at pictures online.  I knew I wanted to do a plumeria bloom, but had no idea how. 

Then, one day while skipping around on various blogs, I saw some gorgeous raw-edge applique--not flowers, but when I saw the effect, I knew that's what I wanted to try. (I wish I could find it again, but I have no idea how I got there ...)  I found a plumeria sketch online that I liked and adapted it.  Wonder-under held the pieces in place while I stitched.  After quite a bit of experimenting, I decided I liked the regular old sewing machine foot and straight stitch much better than the darning foot for the applique work.

I wasn't sure how to quilt it until I saw this trapunto tutorial.  I've never tried trapunto before, but I LOVE the effect.  It was surprisingly easy--time consuming--but easy.  I used some of Leah Day's suggestions for FMQ and did micro-stippling around the background.  I totally love this!  Don't know how practical it is to have the trapunto in the middle of a mug rug, but it makes me smile every time I see it and touch it.

Hope you enjoyed a little eye candy ... I certainly had fun playing with my new mug rugs and my camera :)
Be sure to stop by and share the love with the rest of these talented ladies today:

Hayley @ Mrs. Pickles

Karen @ Sew Much 2 Luv

Melanie @ Les Passions de Cliodana

Cincy @ Quilt Doodle Doodles

Jamie @ Busy Bee Quilts

Judy @ That Other Blog

Regena @ The Distracted Domestic

Amy @ Domesticity and Other Ponderous Things

Denise @ My Whittle Adventures

Heather @ A Reformed Heath'n (YAY, you're here!)

Marica @ ~Englating~

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to see you back soon :)

Testing, testing, 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

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Another day, another ...

These last couple of weeks were pretty busy.  I had all three kids home on multiple, different days.  Mercifully they didn't share it with me :)  All that time did give me a chance to work on a project I've had in mind for a few weeks now.  This is one of the blocks I'm doing for a strip quilt ... if all goes well, I should be able to share a finished product in a coupla weeks.

Last Saturday I got to be the coach for the Battle of the Books team from Guy Lee Elementary that went to the regional competition.  I was asked by their real coach to fill in because of other responsibilities and I was thrilled to do it!  I love those kids!  They are awesome readers and super nice kids to boot.  No pics, since none of mine were there, but they did a super-fantastic job!  They had a really strong team and did their school (and me, and their families) proud!

These are the Churn Dash blocks that I did for the Stash bee this month.  They were fast to put together and I LOVE how they turned out.  I used some of my own favorite recently-used combos.

Finally, last but not least ... here is the sneak peak for my March additions to the MMMRR.  This person wanted rows that were holiday or season related.  With spring coming on in march, I found inspiration here.

I've got a couple of other things in the works, but the weather here is beautiful, so I think I will be shifting my emphasis to out-of-doors projects.  I'll only be sewing on my evenings when I'm not working and playing catch-up on inside chores ...

A Quick Update

Things are moving along at the Karr home.  The hard drive on the computer that I use died quite suddenly the day before Valentine's day.  In fact, I was adding the final pics to my round robin post when it went belly-up.  Needless to say, I freaked.  Thankfully I'm married to an awesome computer dude who regularly backs things up and he restored everything to one of the kids' computers which I have now taken over ...

While in transition, I finished my bee block and round robin addition for February...

Isn't Pippi cute?  I Think of Sarah every time I see it now--she's into braids and bandannas right now.  I've been teasing her that she looks more like a pirate, though :)

Here is my sneak peak for the MMMRR block from Feb.  I just finished the one for March, I'll post that soon.

This-is-so-COOL: Meet Chantal

I saw this bag on a linky party sometime early last year.  I was immediately in love!  I went to the site of origin and started following Geta.  She is an amazing designer and quilter.  I waited months until she published the pattern for the bag, then once I had it, it sat in my to-do pile for another coupla months.  It took a birthday party invite for Sarah to get me off my duff and actually make it.  And, of course, everyone knows it's just as easy to make one more while you're at it :)  Aren't they cute?

The lines and curves of Chantal are fresh and modern and oh, so versatile!  There are two pockets inside and the zippered pocket on the outside.   It is so easy to keep things organized with all those pockets!  There is also a magnetic snap for keeping that top opening closed.

I chose to quilt both bags because it said in the pattern that I wouldn't have to press them again after I washed them.  It took quite a bit of extra time, but I not only love the quilted look, but I also appreciate the wash-n-go feature :)

This small bag is for me.  It will be my to go sewing kit.  The original pattern did not include a zippered pocket for the small version, so I winged it, but it turned out to be the perfect size to fit my embroidery scissors and a small bin of pins.  Inside, I customized pockets for my marking pen, small quilter's rule, needles and thread.  I keep my projects in individual plastic bags, so all I need to do is grab and go.

The bigger black bag is for Sarah's friend.  I've never been very good at visualizing finished sizes; this turned out larger than I expected, yet exactly what the pattern said it would be.  I figure she can use it for sleepovers or a school bag.  The pockets are big enough to fit my cell phone (Galaxy 2), or a small notepad.  It would be a great way to keep track of smaller items like nail clippers or lipstick or keys, too.  We put another small gift bag inside filled with individual spa-type items.

Quilt U Be Mine--I'm in LOVE!

... with mystery round robins, that is.

Welcome to everyone who is stopping by to see today's mystery round robin reveal!  So nice to visit with you.  For those of you who don't know me yet, I'm a mom of 3 wonderful kiddos, a wife, a volunteer, a crafter and much, much more.  I started my blog just over a year ago as a way to explore my creativity and expand my horizons.  I didn't find my love of quilting until several months later, and lately, that is my main focus.  I also post about other things from time to time, but that time is less often than I wish it were.

Yay, I finally get to show everyone my awesome round robin quilt.  It was with some trepidation that I set out on my first round robin experience back in October.  I remember wondering to myself why I was worrying about Valentine's Day before even Halloween--yikes!  I decided to start with this heart block.  I love the scrappy look and I hadn't attempted anything like that yet.  I was so pleased with how it turned out!

So, off it went into the mail and now my butterflies really began ... not just because I was sending off my project, but now I was being entrusted with someone else's ideas and hopes.  I was worried I wouldn't know what to do or know how to put my ideas into reality.  The first block I received was from Pippa in France.  I love her center block!  It was embroidered as a remembrance of her two kids.  I added the XOXO borders to share the love, then the ribbon border to tie it all together.

Next I got to work on Rachelle's block.  Her LOVE was so darling, but it already felt a little busy to me, so for my first border, I kept it simple.  The second one I added was a scrappy braid.  I like the symbolism of families and friends knit together in love and the braid seemed the perfect way to say that for this project.

Lastly, I worked on Sami's quilt.  Since mine were the last two borders, I knew I wanted a spectacular finish for her.  I really liked the tumbling hearts of the center block and tried to pull them out with the first border.  I made all those  hearts with 1" squares.  For her second border I used a scrappy rectangles to offset the first border that was added.  I think it turned out super cute!

**UPDATE**  I originally included only portions of my borders for Sam's quilt because I didn't want to trump her reveal on her blog.  I was reminded, however, that she intends to add to hers to make it full-sized and quilt it for her reveal.  Sorry, Sami!

Finally, I got my own back home--you can see all the fun that my group had with mine.  Didn't it turn out *AMAZING*?!  I love how the center block is not-so-centered and it reads all red-and white.  There are only small touches of pink here and there, but they are subtle.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful ladies of Group 2 and especially thank you to Michelle for co-ordinating this fun project.  I'm already on my second round robin (Thanks to Michelle's gentle nudge :) and I'll be posting the first sneak peak for that here in a couple of days.  I haven't quilted (or named) my topper yet, but I will ...  Thanks for stopping by--and Happy Valentine's Day!

My Ruffle Quilt Finish

I have been trying to get this posted in earnest for a week now ... yes, its been that kind of a week :)

I started this quilt last summer with a quilt along that kind of fizzled out.  But that's OK, because I knew who I was making this for; I just didn't have a deadline for it.  Until Letters to Santa.  Sarah decided she wanted a quilt of her very own.  She was tired of using everyone else's leftovers from the extra blanket fund to keep herself warm.  Now, she does not just have one or two of these on her bed--she has a pile.  I see this as an opportunity to pare down and reduce a little.  That has yet to actually happen, but I have hopes :)

Sarah is a bit of a tomboy, so I didn't want to make it too girly, but a little girly (the ruffles) is OK.  She just turned 10, so I wanted it to be able to grow with her for a while.  Samantha picked out the fabrics--a Malka Dubrawski line.  I wasn't that thrilled with it, but the more I used it, the more I liked it--and now I REALLY like it!  Notice the orange/lime backing.  Yes, that's a stretch for me, too.

I used a batting that I wouldn't have to quilt too closely--the instruction page said I could quilt up to 10 inches apart.  The squares are about 8-1/2 inches, so that worked out fine.  Because of the ruffling, there really wasn't any quilting per se.  I just stitched in the ditch between each block.  I was worried about catching the ruffles, but it really wasn't bad.  It did take a bit of muscle.  It's the largest quilt to date that I've put together and I was surprised at how tired my arms, got, but it was worth it!