Welcome to Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop hosted by Marian at Seams to Be Sew. You’ll find the list of other participants at the end of my post who are also offering daily giveaways. Thank you, Marian, and thank you to our sponsors listed below.
There’s a new book on the shelf – Modern Plus Quilts by Cheryl Brickey and Paige Alexander.
Marian at Seams to Be Sew is hosting the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop this week. The topic is UFOs — the project variety not the alien kind.
Tu-Na Helper asked, “How are you coming along with your one monthly goal?” I sighed as I knew he knew the answer. For the second month in a row, I did not complete my one monthly goal. Some of you may think that’s not bad. However, it was the very same goal for both months.
Tu-Na Helper and I spent a long weekend in Austin, Texas returning late on Monday. While there, we browsed through several thrift shops. Why? Because I love a good deal and one never knows what they might find.
I found 5 3/4 yards of this beautiful elephant fabric.
The colors are vibrant. It felt lovely and soft. Although it hadn’t been washed, it still smelled good telling me that whoever had it took good care of it.
The price tag read $5.00. But it wasn’t 50% off day.
The fabric is “Elephants” designed for Exclusively Quilters. Exclusively Quilters is known for producing fabric with realistic looking animals. Look at all those color dots on the selvedge!
Did I buy it? Need you ask.
5 3/4 yards is a lot of fabric but it still fit in my personal bag for the flight home.
What will I make with it? Not sure yet. What would you make with it?
What I Learned Today:
Question: Would you have purchased it?
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Earlier today I posted here about all the Valentine things I made this year from fabric and flour. I ended my post saying that I gave Tu-Na Helper (my husband) the mug rug and he gave me flowers. I did not know that there was still more Valentine surprises coming my way.
Tu-Na Helper drove me to the Sew and Chat Evening Session of my quilting group. I was the first to arrive and the room was still locked and dark. I could hear voices in the courtyard but didn’t really pay attention. I unlocked the room and turned on the lights. Tu-Na Helper brought in my sewing machine and supplies.
Soon the room was overrun with a dozen people carrying sheet music. I was thinking that the office had made a mistake and accidently scheduled the room for another group besides us quilters. Our quilting group’s President had now arrived and explained that they couldn’t stay because we would be using the room. The explanation came, “We’re here to sing a song to Karen.” They turned towards me and started singing, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
After another love song, they handed me a box of very delicious chocolates and a bright red rose.
What I Learned Today:
Question: What would you choose: chocolate truffle, raspberry cream, caramel, maple nut butter, or coconut cluster? I shared the chocolates with my quilting friends who came to sew and chat. The raspberry cream was delicious! And so was the chocolate truffle.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
I finished the Valentine’s Day wall-hanging I made for the Put a Little Love in Your Quilt Blog Hop last week. You can read more about it here. This wall-hanging was one of my goals for the 2018 Finish-A-Long and was posted here.
I hung it outside and it’s been greeting our guests ever since.
I wanted something that says “A Quilter Lives Here.”
I used a darker scrappy pink binding to frame out the hanging. It’s under a nice covered patio and is out of the sun. Hopefully, it’ll be protected enough to last a few seasons. Now, I will have to think of the next holiday and get something made to replace it, maybe something for St. Patrick’s Day or Easter or spring.
Last week I also baked a batch of cookies—heart shaped ones.
And decorated them all fancy. It was a large batch so we took them to a couple of community dinners to share. They were a hit and I should have made more.
I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe found here and decorator frosting to pipe the borders and some sayings from conversation heart candies. I only have 5 decorating tips and should look for more or bring my extras down with me next year.
This week, I finished Tu-Na Helper’s Mug Rug. You can read more about his mug rug and find the link to the free pattern here.
I chose some Chocolate Love by Audrey Jeanne Roberts for Studio e fabrics.
I also made a mug rug for me using the free paper pieced rose pattern found here. I reduced the size and then trimmed it to 5.5″ so it would be the same size as the cup one. The rose sewed up easily.
I quilted a diagonal crosshatch about 1/4″ apart. I used painter’s tape to mark my first diagonal lines in each direction and then my seam guide for the rest of the lines.
I made the center of the rose darker. The next couple of rows of petals were a bit lighter, and the last couple or rows of petals were the lightest.
I used three different fabrics for the rose but could have used more as the petals are lost by all the quilting.
I used a 1 1/8″ strip to bind them. It didn’t need a bulky double binding. Each mug rug finishes at 5.5 inches.
I gave Tu-Na Helper his Mug Rug this morning for Valentine’s Day
and he gave me…
a dozen long-stemmed roses!
* Update: That’s not all he gave me! I posted Tu-Na Quilts: The Rest of the Story here.*
What I Learned Today:
Question: What do you do special for Valentine’s Day? When the kids were little, I would make and decorate each of them a giant heart-shape cookie.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She
As quilters, we put a lot of love in our quilts we make. When Carol from Just Let Me Quilt offered this blog hop, I jumped at the chance. The only requirement was to put a heart somewhere in the quilt.
I’ve been wanting to make a wall hanging for the front door area of our house for awhile.
This quilt will finish at 21.5″ x 33.5.” Read on to find out why it’s missing it’s binding.
Something that says a quilter lives here. Something that says welcome. Something that I could leave up for awhile and replace with something else as the season calls. I found a free heart pattern here and began to cut some scraps. I wasn’t going to go scrappy but once I started cutting, I dug deeper into the scrap bin.
I put a binding clip in the end of each row to show which direction I should press the seams toward. This keeps me from running back and forth from the ironing board. Although, I could use the exercise.
I changed the pattern by cutting the blocks 3.5″ so that my finished block would be larger than what the pattern called thus making my wall hanging larger.
I used this recent purchase of #love designed by Sandy Gervais for Moda that I found in the clearance bin at a local quilt shop for some of the background pieces.
This fabric has hearts too as well as the words live laugh love.
At this point I realized it needed something more and so I searched for a pattern of a bouquet of flowers. I settled on these paper pieced rose buds that I found in the May/June 2015 issue of Quiltmaker magazine.
I remove the inner papers leaving the outer ones intact until the seams are sewn together.
They sewed up quickly or maybe I’m just getting better at paper piecing.
I started searching the internet for some free patterns for roses, just in case you wanted to make one of these wall hangings for yourself and didn’t have access to that particular magazine. You probably won’t believe me when I say that a funny thing happened on my way to find that free pattern. I found a “squirrel” project. So I dropped everything and made this cute little mug.
You can find the free paper-pieced pattern here.
I’m planning on quilting this mug rug and giving it to my husband for Valentine’s Day. He likes his morning coffee all day long. Now he’ll have a fun mug rug to set his cup on.
If you want to sew up some roses. You’ll find a free paper pieced pattern of a rose here. I downloaded it and will make it as soon as I am finished writing this.
I quilted the heart with straight lines
My husband bought these gloves at Menards, a department-type hardware store in the Midwest. We were sad to find there isn’t a Menards in AZ. The gloves have silicone on the underside of the fingers (you can see some of the dots) which really helps grip the fabric and makes quilting so much easier on the hands, arms, shoulders, and back.
and did some free motion loopy hearts all over everything else.
I couldn’t resist adding some ric rac stems. After all, I am the Queen of Ric Rac (self-proclaimed).
So that’s why this outdoor wall hanging still needs the binding. (Update: This wall hanging is now finished and hanging outside my front door. You can read all about it and Tu-Na Helper’s finished mug rug and other 2018 Valentine projects I made out of fabric and flour here.)
I chose these fabrics for a scrappy binding.
To help you spread the love or at least get you in the mood to sew up something fun for Valentine’s Day, hop on over to these blogs.
February 5
February 6
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats You are here. Thanks for stopping by.
February 7
February 8
Just Let Me Quilt Thanks, Carol, for hosting another wonderful blog hop.
What I Learned Today:
Question: How will you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Will you sew something special?
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter on Feb 14th
Midweek Makers at QuiltFabrication
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt
Can I Get a Whop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She
DREAMi at Musings of a Menopausal Melon on the last Saturday in Feb. (Hopefully, I won’t forget)
Free Motion Mavericks at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
I didn’t do too well last month so let’s try again this month. January’s One Monthly Goal was to finish and mail the elephant quilt.
I laid the elephant quilt on the guest bed and figured out what needed to be done to make the rows the same size. (They were sewn on two different machines and are not equal in length.) But that’s as far as it got as we were getting overnight company. So I gathered up the rows and they’ve been hanging over the ironing board ever since.
And then I got distracted making some pine trees for my Bee Inspired Bee Mate
You can find the free pattern here.
and this super cute mixer which I wrote about here. Now you can read my post on the Bee Inspired Blog here and why I needed to sew one and who gets it.
You can find the free pattern here.
I also spent a couple of all day sewing sessions working on a mystery quilt hosted by my Arizona quilting group.
I picked up this tip to keep organized with the steps by putting the pieces into labeled zip lock bags..
I completed these pieces for day one of the mystery quilt. I must admit that I spent a lot of time checking out the fabric choices of the other class members as well as just chatting.
Here’s a wonderful batik quilt. Even Tu-Na Helper likes this one.
I did lots of volunteering in my AZ community in January: making popcorn for Monday Movie Days, clearing and resetting tables for the Sloppy Joe Lunch, being in charge of ticket sales for the shuffleboard club, and chairing the membership committee for the quilting group. That brings me to this month wondering what happened to the rest of January.
I’ve got several projects needing to be finished this month that I could list here but I want to keep this elephant quilt as my One Monthly Goal. After all it really needs to get done!
So February’s goal is to finish this cute elephant quilt top, quilt it on the longarm, bind it, and put it in the mail.
What I Learned Today:
Question: What do you do help with time management?
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
WIPs at Silly Mama Quilts
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 