sewtakeahike

you're invited!

 

Happy Friday morning to you! 

It's a gorgeous day, the birds are singing their heads off (I really love this about mornings.  It makes my heart sing when I hear the birds starting at about 4:30. Usually the robins get going and then everyone else chimes in after.  Ahhhh!  And then, the other day I had the priveledge of seeing one of these guys!  My local bird expert says they are rare to see around here, so I feel very lucky!  It all started with me hearing him sing and since I had never heard his song before, I went searching and found him atop one of our cottonwoods.  And have you ever heard a meadowlark?  Well they sing my all time fav song (this link also has a creepy man breathing sound as well, sorry!  It was the best song link that included a great shot of the bird!).  I've even heard a couple of them lately here in the foothills.  It makes my heart melt everytime I hear one!!  How was that for a post interlude?)  and the sky is clear.

I wanted to invite you all to two things, so other than that long winded bird interruption, this should be a pretty quick post.

 

1.  I will be doing a wrap it up bag class at Mama Said Sew on June 22, so any of you who are in the area or plan on being here, please do sign up! 

 

2.  Today is the kickoff for Jacquie and Katie's Quilting Modern blog book tour and I'll be back tomorrow with a review and a few shots of a project I've been working on out of the book.  So please do come back tomorrow!

See you soon!

~Penny

Rooms of my heart, and a Joyful Soul

(Back of "Rooms of My Heart")

Happy Monday to you!  Did you have a nice weekend?  I hope so! 

I took some time this weekend to familiarize myself with Julika a bit more and did a little crazy fmq'ing to finish off my Rooms of My Heart quilt.  (I know it looks kind of interesting and crazy fun, so click on the link to read more about it!)

I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but there are swirls, checks, diamonds, loopdy loos, outlines, and everything else you can imagine in the quilting.

(Front of "Rooms of My Heart")

In celebration of my completion of this quilt (well, not really, but it just sounded more fun that way!), the fine people at A Joyful Soul Fabrics are offering sewtakeahike readers the chance to win a $25 gc to their store.  Leave a comment telling me about something that put a smile on your face this last weekend and you'll be entered in the drawing.  I'll choose a winner on Thursday!

Three more things: 

shop anytime with A Joyful Soul Fabrics from now through May 25th this week and use the discount code HIKE15 and enjoy 15% off your purchase!

visit the folks at A Joyful Soul blog to enter a giveaway for a Kitchen Classics pattern set from Kerry and I's Sew-Ichigo!!

And lastly, have a great Monday, that's an order!

~Penny

annular eclipse

 

Is finished!  (Thank you Jane and Carmen for helping me name it!) 

These blocks are all from a year (four quarter rounds) of the 3X6 bee.  I put a flea market fancy gray bouquet border on it and then bound it with the same. 

Thank you to Rita for this machine binding tutorial, it looks just like it was hand bound on the front and I only had to go over a couple areas on the back where I missed the binding edge. 

Now I only have 5 more quilt tops in the closet to sandwich and quilt!

Happy Friday to you all!

~Penny

Happy Mother's day from me and Southern Fabric!

Happy happy happy Mother's day to all you moms! 

Whether you've given birth or not, I believe every single woman out there is a mom to many, either spiritually, with the encouragement you give, and through the Wisdom you share. 

And as a little thank you to all you mom's (cause I know if you read my blog you're a mom (or dad!) that loves fabric), our new sponsor, Southern Fabric, is offering a discount to you!

Aubrey, the owner, has been in business for over 7
years and has sold over 75 thousand items to happy customers
worldwide.

She is offering 10% off of your whole order...
just enter newshopper10 at checkout!

 

And a little eye candy, another bag I made this weekend....

 

and the other side....

 

Once again, I wish you a mother's day filled with joy!

~Penny

mother's day 'paw paw'

 

Last year, when Laurie contacted me and asked if Robert Kaufman fabrics sent some of her upcoming line, Brrr! to me, if I would make something from it and post about it, I said "absolutely" without hesitation.

I've loved this quilt since I started cutting it out and I was really hoping to keep it, but once I had it pieced together, I knew it would end up in my mom's arms.  I don't really know that it's her style, but I do have an undeniable pull in my heart to send it to her for Mother's day.

 

 

So last Friday, I started quilting it with my Juki and I have to say, it was a rough start.  It was skipping stitches all over the place and the fmq'ing foot was too low and was not allowing me to move the quilt freely.  I changed the needle, I rethreaded, I rethreaded, I changed the needle, and after 3 hours and no improvement, I ended up taking my Juki back to the dealer for a look over. 

After 30ish minutes there and a few adjustments and oil, things started working a bit better and I took her home. 

To make a long story short, after a self imposed time out of camping on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I came home Sunday afternoon and finished quilting and binding paw paw in about 2 1/2 hours.  And not a single skipped stitch.

Wha???  Ok, I must lay this out for you.  It took 3 hours to quilt 1/4 of it on Friday and then 2 1/2 hours to finish quilting and bind on Sunday.  You heard me right.   

Now it's official, I LOVE MY JULIKA!!!  (Yes Effie, I chose your suggested name for her!  Email me your address and I'll get that pincushion in the mail to you as soon as I make it!) 

 

 

(Brr! and Kona for the front, Delhi for the backing, and some J. Paganelli "dance with me" for the binding)

And now to get a label made for paw paw and get it mailed to my ma ma!

Happy week everybody!

~Penny