Something for Nothing

Look what my mailman delivered yesterday. I'm thrilled! I love this sweet little quilt made special for me by Cathy at Big Lake Quilter for Victoria's Something for Nothing Challenge. I love the sweet little house, the wonky tree and the sunshine. I love that she took time to hand quilt it for me. How cool is that?

Not only did she make me the cute quilt, I also got a new pincushion. (You can never have to many of those.) A fun mug rug, for me to set my cup of cocoa on. And a cute little card. Thank you Cathy for your generosity. Receiving this great little package was just the motivation I needed to finish finish my something for nothing quilt. I quilted waves in the ocean, sunbeams around the sun and clouds in the sky. Now it's headed to it's new home.

I hope it's new owner will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Sun and Sea

I joined Victoria's 12x12 challenge over at 15 minutes play. I had a great time with it. At first I did not know what direction I wanted to go in. But when I saw how overflowing my blue scrap bin was I knew it would have blue in it. Then it snowed yet again yesterday and I knew I needed something sunny and warm to brighten my day. So I grabbed strips of blue and pieced them into a wavy ocean and added a warm sunny sunshine and Wha La. Sun and Sea was born. I just need to quilt and bind it and send it off to it's new home.

Find the Good

Today's Find the Good is

By Little Red Hen
full of bold and beautiful

By Petit Design Co

Scrap happiness

By Needle and Thread

Sure to inspire

By Kim's Crafty Apple

and delight!

By Linseed2010

Hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget if you would like to see more by these talented people, click on the picture to go to their Flickr photostream or on their name to visit their blog.

Whoop, Whoop, Whoopie

Whoop, I finished my scrappy star quilt!Whoop I finished two more tea towel sets!
Whoopie, more quilts have been donated to Happy Chemo.

The Quiltometer is up to thirty. Let's keep it rising. For those of you who may not know what I'm trying to do. I'm collecting quilts to give to chemo patience. You can read about how it started here. If you want to know even more put Happy Chemo in the search at the top of my blog and read all my post concerning this great cause. You can also go to there sight to learn more about what they do and the resources they offer cancer patience.

Stuck On You Dishtowel tute

I have three bridal showers in the next 8 days. So I needed to come up with some cute/practical gifts. I had seen dishtowels that you tied to your oven door handle but the tute I found called for ribbon and I didn't have any that was wide enough. So I came up with my own rendition. I call it the Stuck On You Dishtowel. I'm making my own tute, in case like me, you are lacking in the ribbon department.

You will need:

2 dishtowels,

4- 18" x 4" strips for the ties

2- 30" x 4" strips for the ruffle.

Take one of the 30" strips and press the short edges 1/4" under as shown.
Stitch one end to finish edge.

Next fold in half with right sides together, stitch the short edge then turn and stitch down the long side. Next clip corners and turn the tube right side out.

Next set your stitch to a basting or gathering stitch and stitch 1/2" from the seam side of your ruffle. Now you will want to find the middle of your ruffle and the middle of the bottom of your dishtowel. Gather your ruffle, adjust as needed to fit dishtowel. Pin in place matching up ends and center. I placed mine just above the dishtowel's hem. This way you can kind of feel where you need to sew as you go. Sew the ruffle in place sewing on the gathering stitching. Repeat for the other dishtowel.

Next take one of tie pieces and press the short ends 1/4" in. Next press the long edges 1/4" in then stitch in place.Now fold the tie in half long ways as shown. Repeat with other ties.Fold your dishtowel back into thirds. From the center fold, where you would hang the dishtowel over the oven door handel measure 1 1/2" down and center one of the ties. Pin in place and sew all the way around the tie. Reinforcing where the towel and tie meet. Repeat with the other tie. Now your ready to put the ties on the other dishtowel. Place the dishtowel over your oven door handle and tie ties in square knots. This makes a cute little bow tie. Now enjoy Your Stuck on You Dishtowels or give them as gifts. I have one set done. Only two more sets to go.

Find the Good

Today I bring you a little Dresden love.

By Flossy Blossy

Colorful happy Dresden's to brighten your day.

By Upstate Lisa

They remind me of Dahlias and Daises

By Messy Goat

Two of my favorite flowers.

By Julie Antinucci

I've made a few of these blocks for bees and swaps.

By SarahQFD

Someday I'll make some for me.

Kaleidoscope

The advantage of having teenage children is you can bind a quilt while they do the driving. Well at least that is one advantage. One I was thankful for on our last trip to visit my parents. It enabled me to finish this quilt. J did all the driving while I stitched away. Thank you J.

The sun is out this morning so I took hurried to take a few pics before that changes. With this weird spring I didn't want to take any chances. Sorry for the morning shadows but I was afraid if I waited it might be rainy, windy or worse yet it might snow again.

But for now this quilt is basking in the sunshine.

I'm sharing this over at Sarah's with her whoop whoop fun. Go check out what others are sharing.

Color My World

I guess the good thing about still getting snow in April is that instead of having to do yard work I've been able to sew. Here is a look at my design wall right now. The spider web quilt needs 9 more blocks before I can start putting it together. I'm really looking forward to that.Here is one of my blocks for my Sew Be Wonky Bee. A couple ticker tape blocks for my Twice Is Nice Bee.

And four hour glass blocks for Twist on Tradition.

So all though the sun is having a hard time shining my design wall is bright and cheerful.

Find the Good

Todays find the is all about value.

By Linda Rotz Miller

Every color in the rainbow.

By Pbev

In every shade

By Wishes, true and kind

Lights, darks, mediums

By Jarobichaux

All playing together

By Linda Rotz Miller

to make beautiful quilts.

Lucy I'm Home

Three of my four children have had spring break this last week so we headed south to get a little sunshine. Leaving the snow behind, yes I still have snow at my house, and having a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids had a fun time canoeing, hiking, polishing rocks with Grandpa, a playing with clay in Grandma's studio. I enjoyed a lovely visit with my parents. I also made some new friends at the Happy Chemo Sew In that Wendy and Lynette were so kind to host in their fabulous shop, Main Street Quilt Cottage. They gathered their scraps, chose two simple blocks the ladies could make, had prizes, and yummy food. We worked in assembly line fashion. Some of the ladies cut fabric. This is where I spent most of my time. I wasn't thinking when I told Wendy and Lynette that I would supply the batting that I would also have to fit my kids and our luggage in the car. So after some creative packing I fit it all in but there was no room for my machine. Some of the ladies were nice enough to share so I did get to do a little sewing.

Lynette and Wendy had divided the day into sessions so you could come and go as you needed. Here is one group of lovely ladies helping to raise the Quiltometer with there great sewing skills.

And another set gearing up to go. We had a grand time sharing stories and just enjoying one an other's company. They had so much fun they decided to extend it for another day. I wish I could have stayed but I had other obligations. I'm looking forward to seeing all the quilts they make. Mary Lou, she's the one in blue is going to quilt them for me. And Carol said she would bind them and bring them up to the next Utah Quilt guild meeting for me.

Aren't these ladies wonderful. I so appreciate their generosity. I feel it deserves a Whoop Whoop so I'm linking up with Sarah.

Find the Good

These find the good favorites are here just because I love them.

I love the quilting on this one.

By Lolablueocean

The cute tea cups make me smile.

By Davenjilly

The scappy wonderfulness and the big quilting stitches in embroidery floss spoke to me.

By Brookins

This reminds me of a sweet little girl in my life.

By Hanies

And this one is here because I love wonky houses and stars and it has both.

By Ruthiequilts

Hope you find what you love today!