Modern improv quilt

Another small quilt project to practice my free motion quilting. I tried out some swirls using pink quilting thread. I like the charcoal grey Kona much better after quilting. My quilting leaves a lot to be desired but it is a lot of fun and my friend Susan doesn't mind. I love this kind of piecing, too. Lots of color, lots of fun!
The binding is large polka dots (it looks like stripes in this picture, though, doesn't it?).

I linked up to Lush Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict's TGIF! Head over to find more Friday finishes!

Bee Pillow

Here is a quick project I finished this week: a bee handprint pillow!The back is soft flannel covered in tiny bees.

Don't you love the pom poms?

Okay, so I have been trying to practice my free motion quilting by making some small projects. I found this block in my stash when I cleaned up a little. It is from four years ago, made by some of my Kindergarten students and not included in their quilt, I think, because it was the wrong number of bees. We remade the block for the quilt and I just could not throw it away. So now those kids are fourth graders. I quilted the block and made a cute pillow for my rocking chair at school.

I am linking to Quiltstory Fabric Finishes.  Go over and see all the sewing greatness!

Autism Speaks Donation

My friend Maggie asked if anyone would be willing to donate to a charity auction for Autism Speaks. I was happy to volunteer a quilt. I made it using a jelly roll and part of a layer cake. The back was harder to decide upon than the front. The auction is next weekend so I finished it just in time. I used wavy straight line machine quilting. I washed it and now it is all crinkly and lovely.

Jump over to Quiltstory and Trendy Treehouse to see more fabric finishes for the week!

Giveaway on Quiltstory

Head over to Quiltstory to win some gorgeous fabric! Ladybug Quilt Shop has patterns and fabric and a cute logo!

A free motion quiltalong!

I am so excited! Just as I am trying to learn how to machine quilt, here comes A Few Scraps with a fun quiltalong to help me out! I have now made three little quilts to practice but I am still not very good at meandering. I am hoping to get some tips. Jump over there for the quiltalong and a giveaway!

This is the little quilt that I gave my daughter for her birthday. I am still much better at the straight line quilting.

A week in review

This is one of my daughter's cats, Teddy, enjoying her new kitchen sink. She has been very busy with renovations of her townhouse this summer (taking nesting to the extreme!). You can see the transformation here at her blog, Cara's Catch All.

Well, I didn't get to all the things on my goal list this week but I did pretty well. Here are my new kitchen curtains.

The dress is done, the skirt is done, I have gifts made for the shower, I made a hostess gift for my sister in law, and started another gift for my daughter. I didn't get any of the bathroom project done (although I did enlist a helper!). Now all I need to do is pack! I will be in sewing withdrawal for a week!

Goals!

I keep getting distracted by all the ideas I find online. I have a pinterest page to save all the great ideas I find. Have you discovered Pinterest yet? Here is a link to my page if you want to check out what I am drooling over. I also love love love the 15 minutes of play from Victoria at Bumblebeans, Inc. I have been sewing all kinds of scraps together to make blocks. I have some of them up on my design wall and I adore them! I am currently making the little wonky star blocks to make a border for them.

Have you seen the posts where bloggers set goals for the month? Or Amy over at Amy's Creative Side asked people to decide on one thing and try to finish it this week. I seem incapable of doing only one project at a time! I have seemingly endless time this summer and yet many more ideas and projects than I can possibly get to before school begins! I have one week before we leave on our trip and this is what I want to get done:

1. Mini quilt hostess gift

2. Dress for Cara

3. Skirt for Cara

4. Baby shower surprises

5. Kitchen curtains (need new curtain rods and hardware but I bought the fabric today).

6. Order new kitchen/laundry room floors

7. Remove wallpaper, mirror, sink and toilet in powder room

hmmm... not sure this will all get done!