Design Wall Monday and Destash Report

This morning it's 41 degrees (that's Fahrenheit) and windy windy windy. I am SO not going for a walk this morning, looks like I'll have to dust off the elliptical machine!

Design Wall

There's a new kid in town today. OK, not really new. And not really a kid. But there's something new on the design wall:

It's 24 blocks for my "Toes in the Sand." I started it last year with the BOM from Quilt Asylum. The fabric is Tula Pink's "Saltwater." I love this fabric so much, I accidentally bought the fat quarter bundle also. In a few years, it might make its way to my De-Stash offer!

Here are the blocks with the background fabrics. It's impossible to photograph this fabric, but it's a very pale lemon-green.

Even Tula Pink's website doesn't really show the true color, but you can see the design in this photo from her website, ihearattulapink.

I was lucky to be able to cut all the background pieces from this same fabric, even though the kit included a different fabric for the outside half-triangle setting pieces. I think it looks like the blocks are floating on the sand!

If the stars align and My Little Sailor comes home on leave in September, and if my friend's beach house is available, and if it doesn't snow (hey, that's a real possibility in September!): this quilt will be a hostess gift for the beach house!

Linking up to "Anything goes Monday" at Stitch by Stitch. 

Destash Report

I was amazed and pleased that more than one person was interested in my Vin du Jour destash! It will be on its way to the first taker as soon as the wind dies down.

And vaf, I'm sorry but I can't take a check. Not that I worry your check isn't good, it's just that I don't do the bank thing!

I have more, so I'm thinking each Sunday until I empty the "this needs to go" bin, I'll offer another destash bundle.

Since the wind is blowing and it's cold, I'm going to hide out in the upstairs sewing room and work on A Quilt Block a Day. As of Saturday, we should have 80 blocks finished. Oh, I have them finished, all right. And they're scattered all over the sewing room! That's what happens when the window is left open and a severe thunderstorm blows through Colorado!

I have a new product to test for the Sew Steady extension table. Come back tomorrow to see if it's worth the purchase price!

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Sunday Stash and De-Stash

Looking through my "new stash" basket, I see I've mostly bought books this summer.

I have one new little bundle of fat quarters: it's "Letter Writing for Sewists" from Sew Me a Song. It's all fabric with postcards or text on them. A great addition to my "low volume" stash.

Two of my book purchases are by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio. Weeks and Bill will be among the faculty at Quilt Colorado this July. The last I heard, there is still room in their classes. If you're in the Mountain West and like modern quilts, this is a rare chance to take a class with some icons of modern quilting.

My plan is to make their "Share and Share Alike" transparency quilt from pink and berry Peppered Cottons. Details to follow!

Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession is one of my favorite modern designers. One day I am determined to visit her shop in Sydney, Australia!

Pam and Nicky Lintott of The Quilt Room in Surrey, England design some of my favorite "strip club" quilts. Here's their newest book, not just for 2.5" strips. They've designed a new ruler for Creative Grids and this book features some great quilts using that ruler.

Quilting with a Modern Slant is chock-full of eye candy. It's a compendium of quilts by 70 modern quilt artists. If your "quilting mojo" is fading, this one is guaranteed to get you excited.

Remember "Stack the Desk" quilts? Karla Alexander has a new book:

Stack, Shuffle, and Slide looks to be a great use of my extensive "solids" stash.

A Colorado quilter, Pat Syta, has a new "sampler" quilt book, Red at Night. I promised a grey-and-yellow quilt to my daughter, Vanessa, maybe this will be the pattern?

I spent the better part of an afternoon this week searching for a particular fabric needed by a friend to finish her quilt. I soon realized I had never actually bought that fabric, it was blogged as part of a "virtual fat quarter stack" contest. But while digging, I found several quilt "kits" that I realize I will never, never, never use.  So I'm going to offer one each week to 52 Quilts readers.

Here's the deal: I'll give away the fabric, free. The recipient just has to pay postage. Anywhere in the world, just pre-pay the postage via PayPal, and the featured quilt kit is yours!

This week's kit is an almost-full jelly roll of Vin du Jour by Moda. I cut away part of two strips to finish my Jelly Roll Quilt for January:

It also includes 4+ yards of background fabric and 1+ yard of the dark purple print. Plus a Cozy Quilts pattern, "Yin Yang."

If you'd like to have this "kit," just comment with your PayPal address and zip code. I'll respond with an invoice for the postage, and Vin du Jour will be on its way to you!

I've a new BOM on the design wall -- come back tomorrow to see "Toes in the Sand!"


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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!


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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!


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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!

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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