February 2015 Finishes

I decided this year that I am going to blog all of my finishes for each month. I did blog January's finishes HERE. But then.... I didn't upload my photos for February's finishes until, well, this morning. But anyway, here are my finishes during the month of February!! There are only two, but I do have quite a few more for March, so I'll post those next. :)

But who cares about quantity right?! I love these!!


First up, I made this Celestial Star Mini for Sarah of Pheasantpress.com. You definitely should go check out her site! She is has some amazing paper product goodies!! 

Celestial Star QAL: The End & Winners!

I want to say a HUGE thank you for everyone who participated in the Celestial Star QAL with me!! I loved your comments, kind words, seeing your blocks and projects come together and especially the finishes!! It was a blast!! {{Mwah}}!! :)


I also can't pass up giving a huge shout out to the amazing sponsors!! I hope you will continue to visit their shops and support them!! They are great! :)

 

   

 

 

I was going to push to finish my quilt, but the quilt back I made, I ended up being very unhappy with it. So I scratched it. I decided to go with a one print back and if the color is what it is on my screen, I will be so excited with it!! I'm growing to really be a pink kind of girl. Weird - for me. But I like it. :) Of course, another Anna Maria Horner print for the back:

Pretty Potent Flannel Banner Day Icing. 

I purchased this at Fabric.com, and was so happy it was even on sale! PLUS going through Ebates.com I got an extra 3% back. Not much, but it adds up. :) AND I'm so happy I wasn't at all tempted to add other things to my cart. Wahoo for shopping progress. ;)

I'm hoping to still get the quilt finished quickly. I can't wait to use it! Plus get some awesome photos of it!! :) You can see the best photos I've taken so far in this post. 

Alright, now to the part you've all been waiting for!! The winners!! Drum roll please...

For the 1 Block category, the winner of the $20 Westwood Acre gift card is Amy Morhan

For the 2-4 Block category, the winner of the $50 Fat Quarter Shop gift card is Cindy

For the 5+ Blocks Category, the winner of the $50 I Don't Do Dishes gift card and the Mochi Dots Bundle from Knotted-Thread is Kate

The winner of the Butterfly Dance bundle from Llama Fabrics is Kirsten

 

The winner of the Liberty scrap pack bundle from Queen Bee Fabrics is Lori

And the winner of the Birch charm pack from I Don't Do Dishes is Bria

Congrats everyone!! I will contact you about your prizes! :)

I hope you will keep linking up your blocks and your projects as you finish them!! I love to see all your beautiful creations! You are amazing! :) For those of you on Instagram, be sure to tag your photos with #fbpPatterns!! I'll be catching up on those spotlights and prizes soon. ;)


Thanks again everyone! It's like a bitter-sweet farewell being done with the QAL. It was such an intense part of my life for the last few months, I don't know what I'm going to do with all of this free time now. ;) lol. :)

Have a great week!!

Made It: Swappers Anonymous

A year and a half ago (early 2013) two friends and I decided to do a little private swap! I was so excited! It is always fun making things for people you know and love!  Well, we started last spring, and decided to set the deadline for May or June... Tommy was born the end of April, so it was kind of busy, but definitely doable. Well, then there were some delays for other people and we decided to push it back, and back some more. Then I was teaching at the Sewing Summit last year, and that was REALLY busy, and right after that we moved to Florida... so anyway, our deadline became a bit fleeting on my end and it became a slow project amidst everything else going on. I think it was last December or maybe January of this year (?) that I finally finished up one project. Then we moved from Florida to Idaho and there goes more delays... I finally finished the other package this summer... but I don't think I really shared much of it. Anyway... I shared one picture on Instagram yesterday, and decided I should share everything because I received some amazing gifts that I just LOVE! :)


I'll start with the goodies I received. :)

Marika made me some amazing placemats and napkins (she did make me 6 of each - some must be in the wash). As well as a cute clutch. I love these placemats! They really are the most perfect colors!! We use them all the time, and I've probably washed them a bajillion times. Which means maybe I should have ironed them before photographing them, oh well. I think they are awesome in all their crinkly goodness! ;)

Tiffany made me the best pillow ever! Again, my favorite colors! I LOVE it! It lives on our couch and is one of my favorites! I ended up making my own insert from it from some other pillows that exploded in our dryer when I washed them. oops. :) But it works perfectly!

 

She also made me some cute fabric baskets that are perfect in my cubbies by my sewing area. love!

Here is what I made.

First I made this super cute fox hoop for Tiffany! I used the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery pattern from the Woodland Sampler, and simply enlarged it and added a few more dandelions.

I can't remember how large the hoop is, maybe 6 inches? So this is way bigger than the pattern.

A also made her this sewing machine cover. I love how it turned out. The color scheme is not one I have made much in, but I really love it! It is paper pieced, and some of those strips are super thin. It took for.ever. But I think it was definitely worth it! I love the design! I'd love to scale it up and do a quilt with this! Or it would be cute for a mini or mug rug or something. Anyway, it was really fun!

 I didn't get any really good pictures of the entire thing, but here's the best one.

 modeling over my smaller sewing machine. ;)

 Here's a shot of the back, showing off the quilting. I did really close wavy lines, but went around the x's.

I also sent some Lizzy House charms that she had mentioned earlier that she loved.

For Marika I made a Celestial Star Pillow. I really love the bold colors and the how the border pattern wraps around the pillow. This is definitely a favorite! and all of my family was SO sad when I sent it away (my son and my hubby were heart broken that it wasn't for them. lol.) :)

and how it looks on a pillow form. I like how the border wraps around.

I hand stitched the top, and I really like how subtle it is.

Here's a good shot of the border pattern.

I lucked out with the back - the pattern matches up so close on each side of the zipper!

I also made a tissue cover from some Anna Maria Horner Good Folks prints (the inside print is from the Pretty Potent collection), and included some more goodies, as well as some Erin McMorris charms and scraps.

I know I was super delayed with so much going on in life, but it was fun! I hope my gifts are loved and used as much as the gifts I received! It really is special to have some home made goodies around the house. :) Thanks Tiffany and Marika!!!


Ps. Don't forget to link up your finished Celestial Star projects on THIS POST! Winners will be picked and announced Monday morning!

Celestial Star QAL: Link Up Your Final Projects HERE!!!

Wahoo!! It's time to link up your final Celestial Star projects!! Can you believe it?! It got a little quiet there towards the end, but this has been such a fun QAL! I can't wait to see everyone's projects all together!!

PLEASE read the link up guidelines carefully!!!!!

There are different categories for linking up your projects. Please read through each category description before picking the category you want to enter in, as there are different options for how you can link up your projects. YOU CAN ONLY ENTER EACH PROJECT ONCE! Do not link up the same project in more than one category... see details for more info.


Before we get into all that, I want to go over the awesome prizes!!

First, I want to give a HUGE shout out to our sponsors who gave out prizes earlier in the QAL.

Pink Castle Fabrics for two beautiful fat eight bundles!

Fat Quarter Shop for giving away two $25 gift certificates!

  

I Don't Do Dishes AND Material Girl Quilts for their amazing FQ bundles!

For the Grand Prizes:

1 Block projects: 1 - $20 Gift Certificate donated by Westwood Acres 

2-4 Block projects: $50 Gift Certificate donated by the Fat Quarter Shop

5+ Block quilts: $50 Gift Certificate donated by I don't do dishes AND 1 - fat eight bundle of Mochi Linen dots donated by Knotted-Threads

More Grand Prizes: Winners will be picked at random from all entries.

Fat quarter bundle of Butterfly Dance by Cinderberries donated by Llama Fabrics

 

Liberty Scrap Pack bundle donated by Queen Bee Fabrics

Birch by Joel Dewberry Charm Pack donated by I don't do dishes

How to Win!!

The categories are:

• 1 Block
• 2-4 Blocks
• 5+ Blocks

The simple rules:

If you only made 1 block. Enter your project in the "1 Block" category.
If you made a quilt top with 2-4 Blocks, enter it in the "2-4 Blocks" category.
If you made a quilt top with 5 or more blocks, enter it in the "5+ Blocks" category.

pretty basic right?!


The Complex rules:

If you made 2 or more blocks that are in separate projects, say 3 pillows, you can enter them each individually in the "1 Block" category (creating 3 different entries), OR you can enter them all together in the "2-4 Blocks" category (1 entry), or a combination of the two (1 block entered in the 1 block category, and the other two blocks entered in the 2-4 Block category = 2 total entries). YOU MAY NOT ENTER THE SAME BLOCK IN TWO CATEGORIES! (if you enter 3 blocks in the second category, you can't enter one of those three blocks in the 1 block category. Got it?!) Same goes for the 5+ Blocks category.

Here are two of my finished pillows.

 (a pillow I made for a friend, I used the included border pattern with this one)

Say I was going to enter these two pillows. I could have two entries in the "1 Block" category, or one entry in the "2-4 Blocks" category.

IF your multiple blocks are sewn together in one project, like a quilt top, you may NOT break up the blocks individually and enter in separate entries. A single project counts as one entry only. Only separate projects may be combined into a single entry.

 Does that make sense??? I am not sure how many people made projects with 2-4 blocks, but I do know that a few people made more than one single item. SO this way I know there can be at least one entry in each category, if that ends up to be how it is... anyway.


More guidelines:
In this blog post I said I thought I remembered saying that a quilt top with 5+ blocks does not have to be quilted and bound, but the top does need to be finished to count. I tried to find which post I said that in, but I couldn't. But if I did, I'll stick to my word. A large quilt with this pattern is a lot of work, (trust me! I know!) so I think if you've finished an entire quilt top of blocks, it should still be eligible for a prize. SO for the "5+ Blocks" category, if it's a complete quilt top (NOT five or more individual blocks) it does NOT have to be a finished quilt. 

Sound good?!!



Alright, ready, Set, LINK UP!! :)


1 Block Projects

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   



2-4 Blocks Projects

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   



5+ Blocks Projects

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Winners will be announced in a week from today, on Monday October 6th!

Good luck!! and thanks for joining me!!

I'll be sure to share the rest of my progress shots this week and my finished quilt by Monday!! :)