A Fresh-Squeezed Winner

My favorite giveaway prize, a $50 to certificate to my favorite etsy shop, Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics.

The Random Number Generator chose:

Which turns out to be Vicki, at "A Quilter's Mission," who said:

I know Vicki is a long-time follower, so I'm pleased you won. Congratulations!

I have some great "stash" photos to share tomorrow -- hope you'll come back to see them!


From the desk of your

Thursdays are for Knitting: My Year in Temperatures

I'm not as excited as I might be that I used a "new" color in my Year in Temperatures scarf this week.

Because it means our temperature reached 89 degrees!  See that single row of dark orange? That's for 86-90 degrees Fahrenheit. That would be 32 Celsius.

Right below the bright turquoise. That's for yesterday's low, which was 49. Why yes, yes, we often have 40 degree differences in temperatures within 24 hours. That's why I chose to represent the high, low, and average temperature for each day.

It's clear things are warming up, though. Only one blue stripe since the beginning of May! 

The scarf is getting so long, I had to have a "scarf holder" for today's photo. A sweaty, runner scarf holder! Eeeww! But his shirt does complement the scarf nicely, doesn't it?

I was going to cut him out of the photo, but I think it's more fun with the DH holding up the knitting!

I have three more colors as yet un-used. I hope I don't need the 100+ degrees color!

Only two more days to comment on Tuesday's post for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics!


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday: Sample This!

It must be June, because I'm falling behind on my Blocks of the Month projects!

Today is Block Party day at Ruth's Stitchery. And I have only one BOM up-to-date. It's an unusual sampler, Sample This! by Stephanie Prescott.

I'm making it twice: once in the same colors as those used in the pattern photo. And once in shades of green.

This month's section is the dark sort-of-a-triangle in the lower right corner:

This month's section called for the 30-Something Square Up ruler, but I used Deb Tucker's Corner Beam ruler. I'm surprised I haven't done a tutorial on this clever tool -- I promise one in the near future!

Here are the three sections I have completed on the brown quilt:

Now I know why my mother always dressed my next-older sister and me alike. She would say "It's so easy to make one dress, then turn around and make another just like it." It won't take nearly as long to finish the green section 3 as it took to figure out the brown one!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Ald also to the "I Quilt Party" at MsMidge.

Have you commented on yesterday's post for a chance to win the $50 gift certificate to Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics?  Go here to comment!

From the desk of your

500th Post -- a Giveaway

I started the "52 Quilts in 52 Weeks" blog two-and-a-half years ago in response to the Younger Son's nagging. 

It was November of 2011, and in July of that year I had mentioned that I had made 36 quilts so far that year. Elder Son said, "You've almost made a quilt a week!" I took up the challenge, and for the rest of that year, and the next, and the next --- I made one quilt (top) per week.

Younger Son insisted I should start a blog, so Thanksgiving week he set up a design on Blogger for me. Here's the photo from my very first post:

I remember how excited I was when my friend Amy became my very first follower! And Randi of Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics was the first person to comment.

As with most bloggers, it was slow going at first. What do I write? Will people care? If you build it, they will come!

Blogging became easier when I set up something of a schedule. Monday, Design Wall; Tuesday, tools; Wednesday, WIP; Thursday, knitting; Friday, TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finally Finished); Saturday, stash report; and Sunday is for Scraps. Now, of course, I don't blog every single day! But readers have told me they appreciate knowing there will be "new content" often. And that's what it's all about, right? (Or is it the Hokey Pokey?.)

My very first giveaway was for 50 Followers. I thought I'd really "made it" when 50 (!) people read my blog! Nearly 70 people commented on that post, and the winner was Lori of Lori H Designs. I'm sad to see that Lori hasn't posted anything new on her blog since last August.

52 Quilts reached the 500 Followers just a few weeks ago, and Barb in Michigan received a fat quarter bundle of Kona cottons to celebrate.

Now it's time for a really BIG! giveaway. 

And rather than shop for something and hope you like it, I've decided to let the winner choose. So the prize for the winning comment is a $50 gift certificate to Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics. Since the owner was the very first person to comment on 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks!

How to win?

1. Leave a comment on this post saying how you found 52 Quilts
2. International entries always welcome!
3. If you're a no-reply commenter, please include your contact information.
4. Giveaway ends Saturday, June 7 at noon MDT.

Thank you for making 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks so much fun!


From the desk of your

Monday Design Wall: And a Lesson

Know how lots of people advise "change the photo to black and white" to see if there is enough contrast in your quilt? 

Well, they're right. I just didn't know how to do that, until my boys got me an iPad for Mother's Day. And there is a black and white "filter" right there at the bottom of the screen.

So, I'm making a baby quilt for a my BFF's co-worker in Texas. She needs it fast, and I needed it to be easy. I've been seeing these "pixellated hearts" all over the internet, so I decided to whip up one. And really, it is fast and easy:

I'm thinking it looks pretty good, no?

Well, while photographing it with the iPad, I noticed the "filters" button, and clicked on the "Mono" option.

OH, NO! My "heart" is lop-sided!

Well, too late. The top is pieced and it needs to go in the mail tomorrow afternoon. So, lesson learned: Take the black and white photo before sewing all the pieces together! Luckily, Holly will think it's beautiful and the recipient isn't a quilter, so she won't notice!

Oh, look! I just noticed this is post #499. That means a giveaway with the next post!

From the desk of your

June UFO Parade

I know of no quilter who doesn't have at least one UFO -- Un-Finished Object. Those of use who have many are striving to finish 12 UFO in 2014. Click here to see how you can play along!

First, the UFO number for July:

My #10 UFO is another Thangles Buck-a-Block project. And I know it's not going to be finished this month, because the DH and I are going on vacation. Good thing those UFOs don't cost anything to keep, huh?

I did finish my May UFO, my Farmer's Wife quilt. I'm waiting to share a photo until it comes back from the long-arm quilter.

However, 52 Quilts followers sent in some incredible finishes for May!

Heather send in her May finish the first week, so she could go on to work on her garden -- "another UFO!"

Read all about it on Heather's blog, Peachy Pages.

One of our newer "finishers," Katie, is going great guns. She tells me this quilt was "started in 1996 by my quilt group the Winters Dam Quilters. I assembled the squares and appliquéd the leaves in each corner. It is all hand quilted. It took me 9 months to hand quilt, working an average of two hours per day."

I have to show you this close-up of Katie's hand quilting:

And look, she used Susie's Magic Binding!

Gorgeous, Katie! I'd love to see this one in person! Maybe while we're on vacation in Idaho?

Ohmygoodness, just look at this beauty by Debra B!

Here's a closeup:

And here is the "back story," in Deb's own words:

My UFO is entitled Dipped in Chocolate and it is by Button Stitch Designs. The blocks are made up of 1.25" strips and then made into 4-patches. The total 4-patch size is 2", if you can believe that. You then put four 4-patches together with a 1.25" sashing between the 4-patches. This then makes a 4.5" block. I have 840 4-patches in this quilt. It is 14 x 15 blocks in size. The total size of this quilt was to be 65 3/4 x 74 3/4 with borders. Mine turned out to be 75 x 84 - I was having such a good time I didn't know when to stop.

Wow! Debra says she has been making large quilts since the first of the year, and thinks it is time for some stitchery work or applique. I agree, Deb!

Donna gets the prize for the cutest photo this month -- here is her grandson with the pillow Donna made him for his birthday:

How fun is that?  Donna writes:

My grandson has been crawling up onto his pillow to go to sleep in his crib. But it was a normal sized bed pillow so he was pretty scrunched up. So for his 2^nd birthday this week, I made him a 24” x 24” pillow with monkey fabric and leftover batting/stuffing.

When he saw all his birthday gifts, he went right over to the pile and grabbed the pillow first saying ‘Pillow!” I refuse to believe he chose that one first because it was the only unwrapped one.

 Hey, Sandi, I think I have this same quilt in my UFO bin:

As you might remember, Sandi's quilt names begin with the letter "K." She had help naming this one:

My sister Karen came up with Koliding Krosses as a name.  Seems appropriate for this design by Cheryl Malkowski (www.cherylmalkowski.com) called Earth and Sea.  It was a free pattern provided by Timeless Treasures in 2009 to introduce new Tonga Batiks.
Here is a link for those who want to see more about Koliding Krosses: 
kwiltnkats: Sunday Stash Report, May 18, 2014

I'm going to look for that one, Sandi, the finished project is inspiring!

Oh man, here is another project that I've also started! Kerry finished her Scrappy Trip Around the World:

This quilt was started in a workshop with Bonnie Hunter a couple of years ago and your UFO challenge was the perfect opportunity to “get it done” The pattern is Scrappy Trip Around the World and is a free pattern on Bonnie’s website. It uses up a lot of 2.5” strips and was made from many leftovers from other projects. Red is my favorite color, so that became the border!

Here is the link to my blog: http://www.kerrysquilting.com/2014/05/sunday-stash-report_18.html

Kerry, I love it!

Doesn't Gill's finish just make you jealous? 

Here's the story, and why it makes me want to vacation with Gill:

This one feels great to finish! I started this wall hanging last year on holiday in France. It is for our hallway and is a picture of the lighthouse and beach huts/cafés/restaurants that are about 100 metres from the campsite we visit every year. There are some small appliqué embellishments to represent some of the different food outlets, and the bench we like to sit on to eat our ice creams! It is very densely hand quilted - every hut in a different design - I almost began to regret starting off on that road, feeling that I had bitten off more than I could chew! However, sitting in the French sunshine again this year on holiday, I finally finished it. I cleared the beach towels off the washing line behind our caravan to take the photo!

Gill, it's stunning -- and it just looks like the perfect holiday!

Here's a pattern I bet a lot of us have started -- but not yet finished!  It's "Twisting Twenty," made by Betsy:

It's from the "Turning Twenty" book. Betsy says the blocks are really fast to make, and great way to use up scraps. Something for "Sunday is for Scraps," Betsy!

Mary finished a charity quilt made from orphan "improv" blocks. So cute!

For charity quilts, I like Mary's machine-stitched binding:

More details on Mary's blog ZippyQuilts.

Noela is getting ready for the holiday season with her "Cabin in the Woods" table topper:

She writes:

I started this about 2 years ago when i joined an online shop for  Xmas in July. This was a pattern provided by one of the designers Janelle Wind. I have always loved log cabin blocks as my first foray into quilting was learning how to make a log cabin quilt. I’m really happy with the quilting and feel at last I am getting much better at it.

Your quilting looks great, Noela -- and I love this block design!

Donna slipped in a second finish at the last minute. She writes "A table runner using a small jelly roll I got on sale at JoAnn’s. All the fabric is of natural looking material resembling stone like marble and slate."

Donna, my DH would love the colors in this one!

We have a new finisher this month! Christine sent a photo of her "Shortcake" made with Fig Tree & Co.'s "California Girl." I love this fabric line -- in fact, I made the same quilt with the same fabric a few years ago!

Here's a "glamour shot" that shows off the fabric better:

Twelve finishes! Let's see who the Random Number Generator chooses to win the prize this month:

I love it! #12 is our newest finisher, Christine! I've sent you an email asking for your postal address, Christine, and your prize will be in the mail as soon as I receive your address.

Oops, here is a last-minute entry! Elisa writes:

I chose a smaller project since we were on vacation for 2 weeks. This came back from the long-arm quilter just in time for me to finish for this month's challenge. I ran out of binding fabric (I'd originally planned to bind it in the same orange as the front blocks), and had to "sub" in these cute fish. Sometimes mistakes are a good thing!  And because fish don't always go with the flow, one binding strip is attached so that group is swimming against the tide.

So cute, Elisa!

Happy Rabbit Rabbit Day!

From the desk of your