Thank You Gift

You know how great the quilting community is.  We all do.  Well, some of that greatness came to my aide a few weeks ago.  A wonderful quilter, Miss Kelly of Jeli Quilts, used her super skills to design paper piecing templates for my medallion quilt.  You see, I have decided that I want my next border to be flying geese, but I could not find a downloadable template that would let me string together geese so that they finished at the exact same length and width that I needed to coordinate with my medallion quilt top.

Kelly, the paper piecing pro, wasted no time in designing and sharing templates with me, letting me create the quilt top that I have floating in my head.  What wonderful generosity!

To say thank you, I made her a notebook cover using her flying goose templates and my notebook tutorial.  I combined Essex Linen in Navy as the background with Cotton & Steel basics (from my stash, not the shop).  There's a book mark ribbon to keep her place and a little button/ribbon closure so the contents are not damaged when it's tossed in a bag on the run.

The front.

The back.

Inside you'll see the ribbon book mark on graph paper pages.  Of course it's grid paper, right?  What else would a quilt block design genius need?

Wishing now that I did my nails before this photo shoot!  Yikes!

The pockets to hold the front and back cover are also Cotton & Steel basics with a Cotton & Steel lining to coordinate with the exterior.

I hope she likes it.  I hope she thinks it's fun, colorful and happy, inspiring her to design and create because she certainly gave that gift to me.  Its by sharing, inspiring, teaching and encouraging that this quilting community is as wonderful and kind as it is.  Its' people like my fairy template godmother who make this community such a special place.  Thank you.

Winter Stitching Wrap Up

I missed you guys!  I fell of the face of the planet for a week there, but I am hoping life gets back to normal this week.  How better to re-join blogging than by checking projects off the ever growing to-do list?  As you know, I was yet another list maker joining in with FairyFace Design’s Winter Stitching Goals List.  I find things like this to be completely helpful in giving me direction when I am overwhelmed.  To keep the list moving along, I also just joining in with Rhonda's Finish Along....and so far it's working!

Birdie Stitches: Finish the Quilt Top

Done!  I finished my Birdie Stitches top and sent it over to Elisa so she can layer, quilt and bind it for use in her house.  You can hear the whole story here, but in the end I'm super happy to have expanded my embroidery skills and thrilled that Elisa has a quilt she likes.  Win-win.

Brother’s Mixer Cover: Finish it as a Christmas Gift
Done!  I was lucky enough to visit this little mixer cover in my brother's pantry this past march and it's lookin' pretty cute there next to the ice cream maker!  

Sister-In-Law’s Bag: Finish it as a Christmas Gift
Well, I finished a bag, not THE bag.  This 241 Tote was her Christmas gift that was delayed until 2012 as the fabric took nearly 8 weeks to arrive from the states!  Eek!  So, I had to giver her an IOU under the tree.  Anyway, we're both thrilled with this finish.  My mom has already asked for one for herself!  

Blankets of Love: Finish Two Tops, Two Backs, Two Bindings

Done. I really like what Kat is doing with her local organization, so I tried to chip in.  I wanted to make two quilts for her, but the shipping would be nuts given the weight of the batting.  So, I made two tops, two backs and two bindings and Kat assembled and quilted our quilts.  It was my first time doing a DP, which then included a huge learning curve, but I got there eventually!

There was even a third quilt top made as part of our Do. Good Stitches CARE circle!

Bees: Contribute On Time

Done.  I'm in four bees now, a list that is quickly growing to six. I am still completely in love with them.  Let's be honest, though.  I think I've hit the maximum number of bees I can contribute to in any given month.  I won't bore you with all of the photos, of the blocks made, but if you hop over to my flickr page you can see them all!

Swaps: Finish Two Swaps

Done.  I finished my Modern Christmas Table Runner swap with Susan of Canadian Abroad.  Doing just this one project has kicked me off on the table runner path and there have been several more since: one for my Mom, one as a PIF, and one for my SIL!  Oh, Susan, the slippery slope you've put me on!

I also co-organized the Mouthy Stitches swap with Susan and Hadley, which was great fun.  It was my first pouch, first zip, first time organizing a HUGE number of lovely ladies.  We had a great time!  I made this pouch for my partner...and again several more since! 

Quilts: Finish Mod Logs, the Community Quilt and Start Chaos and Scrappy Stars

I fell down a bit in this category.  Mod logs is finished and used every day in our house.

The Community Quilt and Chaos are going no where fast.  They're now officially UFOs...I have to do something about that ASAP.

Scrappy Stars has morphed into Stargazing.  The top and back are finished and off with the lovely Trudi to get quilted.  I can't wait to see what she creates!

International Quilt Festival of Ireland: Finish Cúchulainn 

Done! I am quite happy to have Cúchulainn  finished it and handed it to the festival organizers.

Guest Post: Write One

Done!  I was super excited to contribute to Sarah's tutorial series by submitting a notebook tutorial.  It was my first tutorial...and it took WAY longer than I thought it would.  Still, I love these little cuties!

Off to link up with Sarah.  Hop on over and see what everyone else created this past winter!

Sew Get Started: Notebook Cover

I am happily stitching away with Sarah at Fairyface Designs today.  We're making notebook covers like these cuties....  Come over and give one a try!