Late to the Party!! (Giveaway)

Ever heard the saying "better late than never" ?  Well that saying applies to the following post!  Have you ever wished you could have a quilt top professionally quilted by a Long Armer?  Well,here is your chance!!!

                                                                 Run,Don't walk  Or in this case
                                                                         CLICK!!!
Chelsea over at  pins & bobbins is going to quilt a project AKA Quilt for two Lucky peeps!!  One smaller than 60 x 60,one larger.  How cool is that?!  But you better hurry,because you need to post about the quilt by the end of June,Yikes!

So in the words of my daughter,you better "chop chop it" :+)

The Quilt that I "Really Need" to have Long Armed.......

Is my Rainbow of Knotted Squares quilt from ahem,Last summer.  If you are a regular follower you will probably remember this top.  It has been in my WIP Pile for close to a year now,high time for me to get it finished!  The only thing holding me back is the size of the quilt top,and the size of my lil Janome.

I really love how this quilt top turned out and want the quilting to add to,not detract from the overall appearance of the finished quilt.  Ergo the only reason it is still in the WIP stack and not displayed on my bed.

As far as a pattern/design,not really sure about that?  My thought was maybe to quilt squares going out from each square,or maybe alternating squares,anyone have a better idea/suggestion,I am open :)

Linking up this week with...

Freshly Pieced WIP

Thanks for stopping in today!  Enjoy the rest of your week,and if you enter the giveaway,Good Luck!

Finished Abby bag and quilt progress

My Abby bag is finished,which means that my
summer projects list is complete!
I had thought about making an amended
or updated summer project list.  However
since my mom & dad are coming next week
and staying for 2 weeks I decided not to.

Here is a better photo of the main part of the
bag.
I am also going to be making a apron with
the same fabrics,as I had enough to make
both projects :)
Love how this turned out.

This is a much better picture of the top/pincushion part of
the bag.
The pattern calls for a button in the center,which I used.
But I covered it up with a silk flower,my own little touch
to this bag :)

The pattern instructions were great for the first part of the bag.
There were illustrations along with the the written instructions,
but about half way through its like the person writing it just
got in a rush to finish.
No illustrations for the second half of the bag,and the
written instructions were confusing to boot!
Had to look online for a tutorial so that I could finish!

This is the block placement that I decided on for  my Knotted
Squares quilt.
I had to move the kitchen table into the living room so that I
could use my kitchen design floor  :)

The lighting outside was Way to bright and it
was windy too.  So I had to snap a quick pic
while it was calm.

A close up of my blocks.

EEk! I ran out of White Thread!!!

So the plan was to get All of my blocks sewed together
this evening.  That is until I suddenly realized that I am Totally
out of white thread!  Grrr!
This is how far I got this evening,2 blocks finished and one more
half way done.

So I thought about making some of the things from Stashtactular
since I haven't made anything from the tutorials yet!

But......

Decided that first I should finish up my summer projects list,
as this is the last project on it!

This is how far I was able to get this evening.
(sorry about the shadow)
I added my own touch by putting a silk flower in the middle
of the pincushion,on top of the button!

Workin on the Chain Gang

Pressed all the white pieces and sewed on the 1 1/2 x 4 1/2"
pieces.

Here they are all pressed.

Next, sewed on the 1 1/2 x 5 1/2' pieces

And here they are all pressed and ready for the next step.

Decided to change it up a bit and show you a photo of the
pieces all chained together :)  These are the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2"
pieces sewed together. 
The two stacks at the bottom of the picture have already been
cut apart.

Next the 2 1/2 x 8 1/2" pieces all chained together.

Here they all are pressed!
I am quite surprised at how fast it has been coming together.
As I was thinking that it was going to take me forever to
sew all those  pieces together!
Of course the chain piecing really speeded  up the process :)
I am hoping to start making the blocks tomorrow!

Knotted Squares progress

Today I had some time to work on the next quilt from the Modern
Ease quilt book.

First set of strips sewn together (25)

Above strips cut into 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch strips (100)

The above strips sewed to another white 4 1/2 " strip (also 100)
The next step will be to press all these strips.
This quilt is a whole lot more involved than the first two we have
made.
Surprisingly I am not nervous about this one (yet)!
The only thing that I am nervous about is when the time
to quilt it arrives.