WOW! I can NOT believe it's been over a year since I've written a blog post! That is just beyond crazy! What's even more crazy to me is that it is 2018 already!!!!! Where has the time went? I know 2017 flew by and I couldn't be happier about it.

    I've got a couple post coming up for you this week, this one is the my last 2 finishes of 2017. I did not sew half as much as I wanted to last year, but thankfully I am starting to feel like me again and am LOVING being back at my machine! I do have a lot of plans for 2018, my word for the year is action! I'm tired of talking about wanting to do this and wanting to do that and never doing it....so this is my year to put my words into ACTION!

    And yes, that does include sewing! Oh and by the way (you can blame my sister for this) but I have gotten into the Traveler's Notebook rabbit hole! I have so many ideas of cool things to make for them as well as the actual traveler's notebooks themselves. So you may see a post sneak in here and there about that too!

   Ok, now onto my last finishes of 2017....

As we all know Elizabeth Hartman from Oh Fransson is one of my biggest idols. So, when I found out she had a new craftsy class, I was all over it! I decided to make just one (the purple and pink) just to see how cute it would look as a mini, which I'm obsessed with. (P.S. I started a new job and I absolutely LOVE it, minus the hours I work) I cut and pieced the first mini late at night after work....and I will say, I was very proud of my points considering it was literally around 3-4 a.m. when I pieced this!

Of course my mouth is a little wonky, but I think it gives my bear some character, don't you?

I did a quick stipple for the quitting (I need to branch out on my FMQ, but stippling is just soon fast! lol)
 I decided to go outside of my comfort zone with the binding and chose pink, which I actually really like because it makes the ears pop just a little more.

Here is a close up of my quilting, and no it's not perfect, but it's DONE! lol

I used some Ikea Numbers Fabric for the backing (yes I still have tons hoarded)

And I had to use one of my gorgeous labels from Ananemone

The labels are just perfect.....although I thought about trying to find someone to help me with a new logo......anyone know anyone good with that kind of thing? I totally suck at computer graphics. But these labels from Ananemone are amazing...not only are they a fantastic price point, they last for a really really long time too!!!! And her customer service is awesome (yes this is just my opinion, I purchased my own labels)

   The blue Bjorn Bear came about because it was very close to my son's birthday and he LOVED my bear...so I had him pick out what fabrics he wanted and made him his own! This block, yes it has very small pieces, goes together super fast! It looks a lot more complicated then what it actually is.

He was so happy with the way it turned out! Which of course made Mommy happy! I love that my kids want things made by me! I love the way his turned out too, using Modern Background by Zen Chick for Moda for the background of course, and Kona by Robert Kaufman for the everything else except for the scraps in the ears.

Of course I went for my normal quick stipple for the quilting, but I really love how it blends in with the background so well.

Here is an up close of the quilting, of course it's not perfect but it's finished! lol

I used the Ikea Numbers for the backing of this one too! And my favorite black and white striped binding. (He's got it hanging above his bed and it just makes me smile every time I see it!)

Another gorgeous label from Ananemone added onto his too!

It took me forever to figure out where I was going to put my Bjorn Bear Mini quilt but I finally decided on a place, right above my bed below the Mini Wonky Love quilt I made. It looks awesome there!

I would say I can't wait to fill all these walls up with minis but I am hoping to be moving before too long, so I'll be able to have my own place again....long story, stressful couple years. Thankfully it seems like everything is falling into place now and I feel like ME again!!!!

I'll give you a hint at my next blog post, I'm hoping to have up by Friday or Saturday......it's rainbow, and it's by Kelly Liddle of Jeli Quilts....I AM IN LOVE!!!! I can't wait to share it with y'all!

Anyhow, I have missed this so much! OOOOOOHHHH yeah! I FINALLY finished my Pixel Heart quilt too! I just have to get pics of it! I will be making a list very soon of all my WIP's and Quilts I want to make this year.....like I said I have goals! lol

Make sure you are keeping up with me over on Instagram right here, to get sneak peaks and see what I'm up to when I don't have time to sit down and blog. And yes, youtube videos will be back soon too! I'm making 2018 MY YEAR!!!!!!!!



PS: How do I change this signature??????? Any recommendations of good tutorials would be greatly appreciated! I am so bad with computers, so I am making it a mission to learn more about blogging and editing you tube videos in the very near future! Any tips y'all have would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!

I'll talk to y'all VERY soon!!!

Owl Mini and Monthly Challenge

              Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and Day! I had a pretty good one myself.  I have been so ready for 2016 to be over! I've had a really good start to 2017 and hope it'll continue that way.
          I'm not big on the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing because it just never works out for me. So this year I thought I would do something different, I'm sure that this is not a new by any means but it's something I thought might work for me. And I'm telling you all so you can help hold me accountable. I am going to do monthly goals, each month a new goal based on the previous one. Kind of looking at it as challenging myself to do the things I already want to do or should be doing.
        So my goal/challenge for January is to SEW EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! Whether it be just 5 minutes or hours, I want to be at my machine EVERY DAY! And I will document my sewing through pictures here on my blog and also on my Instagram and probably on my Facebook, so make sure you are following me on IG and "like" my Facebook page!!!! I would really appreciate it! I'm going to start a hashtag incase any of you would like to challenge yourselves as well or would just like to follow my progress. Since this is an effort to get my "sew-jo" back, I'm going to use the hashtag "#mysewjoback"

    And I've sewn the past few days and actually have my first FINISH of the New Year!!! I'm so happy with the way it turned out too! I decided since Elizabeth Hartman is one of my quilting Idols, I would make something from her Fancy Forest pattern. I chose to make the owl!!!!


Here is a progress picture of me quilting it. I chose to do an allover random square design. I really love the way it turned out!

   I'll show you a close up of the quilting from the front and back too.

The quilting lines are not straight by any means but I'm super happy with the result. I am tired of just stippling all of my projects just because it's easy which is why I chose to do this design.

Here is the finished owl, of course this picture was taken at night in the sewing room so the lighting isn't great. But don't worry, I have daylight pictures too!!!

My daughter helped me with holding it up. The fabrics I used are from Leah Duncan's Arizona line for Art Gallery fabrics. I LOOOOVE this line! And I just had to use Essex Linen in black for the background. It's one of my favorites! I love the texture!

I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. But to be honest, I like the back just as much as I do the front.

This is right before I finished sewing the binding on. Again, at night in the sewing room.

Here is the back with better light. I used the same fabric line for the back and for the borders/background I wanted to use something different than the front so I chose Essex Linen in Ivory.

Here it is a little closer. Don't you love it?!?!?

And I had to get an up close of the quilting and of my little tag too!!! You can really see the details of the quilting in this picture.

  Again, I am really happy with the way this owl turned out. Not sure what my next project will be....I think maybe use some more of this fabric and make a cute drawstring bag tonight...hmmmm....make sure u follow me on Instagram to find out!!!!

And I would love for you guys to sew along with me....challenge yourself as well, sew EVERY SINGLE DAY, even if its just for 5 minutes. Let's see what we can make!!! If you do remember to use to hashtag #mysewjoback

Linking up for Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts
I will talk to y'all soon!

Make It Modern is here!!!! (And so is my block)

I am so excited!!! It's the first of the 2013 and MY QUILTING BEE HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!!! YAY!!! *jumps up and down*
So, I thought about what block I wanted LONG AND HARD, and I decided I wanted to go simple but modern. So what's better than a wonky log cabin? Truth be told, I'm a little obsessed with Elizabeth Hartman *blush* and I ABSOLUTELY L-O-V-E her class on Craftsy it's called Inspired Modern Quilts and it is really just amazing!!! (If you are reading this the day I posted it the class is on sale RIGHT NOW for only $19.99 from $39.99 and I HIGHLY RECCOMEND IT to anyone who wants to learn ANYTHING about modern quilts, improv piecing, and quilting!!!! Seriously, I'm not getting paid for this, I was just going there for the link and saw it was on sale, and for real, it's a killer class!!!!)
But okay, I told you all that to tell you this, I took "inspiration" from her Wonky Log Cabin class! She has serious talent and style!!! But if you don't know how to make a Wonky Log Cabin there are tons and I do mean TONS of tutorials out there for them! Here's a few links:
Tallgrass Prairie Studio's can be found here
Quilt Dad's can be found here
Ellison Lane Quilts' can be found here
Hopefully you can take something from each of those, and what I'm about to tell you and make a FANTASTIC BLOCK!!!!
Want to see mine? I know you do!

I LOVE the way this turned out! Just like I had pictured!!!!
I didn't do up a tutorial since there are already so many great ones out there, so I'll just tell ya a little about what I did!!!!
I first selected my print fabrics (I had a color scheme in mind!)

Then I selected my solids, although I don't have a pic of all the solids with the prints, here is what I took! (I really need to start thinking ahead!)

So, my color choices (and it'll be okay if you just have "close enough") Are orange, mustard to a gold yellow, and blue (the blue can be as dark as this print to an aqua I love a good variety!!!!) I added Kona Snow (but any white, or off white will do) for a little frame to make it pop and the one color I really would love if everyone could use (because it's my sashing color) is Kona Steel. If you can't get your hands on some, just let me know!
Then I cut a "center" square. It can be anywhere from 3.5"-5.5" and went from there.

As you can see, I went for the WONKY angles! And I didn't technically do the "rings" and you don't have to either. I'd really love for you guys to get as creative as you'd like with this block! I'd like more solid than print if you have it, it doesn't have to be different colors of blue, it can be a mix of yellows, oranges, and blues, or one of them or all of them!!! I'm not hard to please!!!! I promise!

This is my block before I added my "sashing". As you can see, if you just have little bits of a print you can easily add it into the block for a fun look! (I got this all from Elizabeth's class!)

Here is another close up. I'd also like it if you can off center your "middle", it can be like mine in the bottom left of the block or the bottom right, top right, top left, however you want to do it! Seriously, let you imagination run wild with this one! If you have any questions what-so-ever do not hesitate to e-mail me or call me or post it on the Flickr thread!

I can NOT WAIT to see what you guys come up with!! I know these blocks will be FANTASTIC! As will be the quilt! I'm so excited!!!!
Oh, btw did I mention we are going to be having some giveaways for our Bee???? There will be one SPONSORED giveaway a month!!!!! And maybe at the end of this thing, we may be having a rather large giveaway(s), ya know, just saying!!!!
This month's sponsor will be the wonderful Southern Fabric! All you have to do to be eligible is send your block on time (or before) the deadline!!!!! Which is the last day of the month! I will have another blog post all about our sponsor probably halfway through the month, or maybe when we announce the winner (the first day of next month) not sure yet!

So, are you guys as excited as me? I can't wait to get crackin' on Samantha's (my co- Queen's) block!!!!