MMMRR Reveal

At the last minute, back in January, I decided to join in the Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin hosted by the amazing Michele at Quilts From my Crayon Box.  I was going to pass, but couldn't quite do it :)

Here is my original center block.

I love the Joel Dewberry florals and the Courtyard Garden block.  I was super excited when I mailed it out and I was NOT disappointed!  While I waited for this beauty to come home, here are some pics of what I worked on to keep my mind distracted:

July Stash Bee

Today I decided to focus on my bee blocks this month.  Sandra asked for these super cute bird blocks (tutorial here.)  There were quite a few pieces to cut, but it came together quickly.  I like the color combos--hope she does, too.  If you try it, the beaks are a bit tricky--make sure to make it deeper than you think you need to--I didn't register that I'd lose that much in the seam allowance.

My 10 Things This Summer

My First Block for the Flower Patch QA
Formal Gardens String Block
One of my gardens
Tetris Quilt
One of Dad's Gardens

I'm going to jump on this bandwagon and perhaps have a more productive summer as a result.  I love this idea, but I can't limit it to just my sewing ...  There is always so much to do and it seems like the struggle to stay balanced is never ending.  My HS history teacher always said she wanted us to be well-rounded people and she threw little extras into her lessons that I will always remember.  I chose my college major--Humanities--thanks to her.  ANYWAY, here are my top ten things to work on this summer (in no particular order) :

It's a Sister Thing!

Heath Girls--Circa 1980??

Last month I signed up for my first swap and today I got my new sister.  SSssshhhh!  I was stoked to try this because I grew up in a family of all girls--there were five of us.  I love all my sisters and always look forward to spending time with them and their kids.  Even though we're spread all across the country, we're still close and try to keep up with each other.

Dear Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

You're ruining the fun for everyone.  I love comments as much as the next blogger

A Little MMMRR Catch-up ...

These days, if it weren't for MMMRR and my Stash Bee commitments, I don't think I'd get ANY sewing done.  I have several projects in various states of progress, but these two ongoing groups are my only "finishes"--and I'm sure that's just because it's just one block or a row at a time. 

I realized as I was finishing up my MMMRR for May that I never posted April's previews, so here they are.   I tried to pull the colors out from the original block.  My green/blue stash is looking much better these days, thank you :)  I believe this month I had Janet's block.

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 :) Linking up to the CSI project.

 

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.