Lots of sewing, no finished products!

I really have been a busy little sewing bee. First of all, I'm working on costumes for our high school's production of Pride and Prejudice. I made all of the girls dresses and now, I'm working on altering the guys coats and pants to be somewhat period.





In the meantime I HAD to do some fun sewing. I finished up the top and back of the Mod Sampler Quilt Along from Oh, Fransson. Using these fabrics.



I also just purchased 5 charm packs of the gorgeous Wonderland fabric by MoMo. I fell in love with this fabric when I first spotted it at FatQuarterShop. I got busy right away and simply sewed the squares together. This is a quilt just for me to snuggle with. I'll show pics once it's quilted.




I LOVE my LQS and took a trip there on Tuesday and bought these fabrics for a simple table topper. I meet with a group of ladies on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month and we often will work on a project together. Most of them are quite new to quilting and so we choose really simple patterns, which is fine with me!



And finally, a GIVE AWAY! Blog land just loves these and I certainly do too!

Head on oer to A La Mode and check our her Coin Give-a Way. Look at those adorable fabrics!

A Nine-Patch A Day!

I'm so stoked to join this one a day quilt a long at crazymomquilts! It was inspired by a quilt that Amanda Jean had seen on Flickr. I, also, had this quilt marked as a favorite, on my to-do someday list. You know how that goes :)

Anyway, crazymomquilts is one of my top two favorite blogs. I LOVE what she does and want to go and directly copy her. (I usually don't, though) She mentions that swim notes (the creator of the inspiration quilt) is her quilting hero, well Amanda Jean is mine! It's just a quilty love fest all around and I'll be admiring here from the fringes :)

Oh, most importantly, I have two blocks already done!

Chicago Quilt Show

FQ's from the Chicago Quilt Show, originally uploaded by myittybittyquilts.

Last Friday I had the cool opportunity to take a bus trip to the Chicago Quilt Show. A bus full of us left our little town in northern Michigan and travelled for about 5 hours to downtown Chicago. It was a long but really fun day. My only complaint is that I would have liked at least three more hours at the show and I should have brought my camera. DOH!

I didn't do huge amounts of shopping due to the fact that I already suffer from SABLE (Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy) but of course there were a few things that HAD to come home with me :)

I just loved the way that those top fat quarters were bundled and they were displayed so beautifully. The FQ's were .$.10 more at that booth, but I got suckered in by the packaging. And actually, some are going to be stocking stuffers and that's a great reason to splurge, I think.

I also purchased some jumbo rickrack in turquoise and red, one pattern, and purse feet.

Even though I didn't have my camera, I did snap a few pictures of the gorgeous quilts on my cell phone. I knew that there was no way I could remember those details of the quilts I thought I *might* duplicate someday.

A Trio of Doll Quilts

Every season this past year, I hosted a doll quilt swap at Sewingmamas. We finished up our spring swap last month and I thought I'd share my creations.

First up, a simple little wonky nine patch. I used a charm pack for this but I can't remember the fabric line. I picked it up at Hancock's of Paducah a couple of years ago. Anyway, my swapping partner said it was for her little girls and they liked girly colors.



Next, a much more modern quilt. This was a bit of a stretch for me, but I love the results. I saw a quilt like this on Flickr a while ago and really wanted to re-create it. ETA: I thought I would add that the background is a chocolate brown, although it looks black in the photo. My thoughts on the color scheme of this quilt: I was inspired by a garden in early spring when the earth is dark and brown, then all of these wonderful colors just begin to peek through, the greens, yellows, oranges and reds.



And then finally, I thought one of the participants was going to be without a quilt so I whipped this one up. As it turns out, she got the quilt from her partner and now this one is either in my stash or ready for another swap.



Thanks for looking!

Stacked Coins Baby Quilt

011, originally uploaded by myittybittyquilts.

So, I have this friend, who I have known for about 17 years and we have been in and out of touch. As of two years ago, we now live in fairly close proximity and I had the awesome chance to go and see her at her baby shower! This is her first and long awaited little one. It was a privilege to make this quilt for her.
I used the free Stacked Coins pattern from the Moda Bake Shop blog. I think Amanda Jean from Crazymomquilts wrote this one. I used a Darla charm pack that I picked up on Ebay and some white tone on tone for the sashing. My only deviation from the pattern was to round the corners. I just used a regular old plate as my guide. I didn't even cut my binding on the bias, although I probably should have! It went together so quickly and I just love the bright yet soft colors. (They actually photographed much brighter than they are IRL.
As an aside, to have a really great blog, I know that really great photography is needed. Unfortunately, I have neither the equipment nor the desire to invest money and time into my photos right now. I'd rather be sewing :)

First Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival

006, originally uploaded by myittybittyquilts.

This is my current favorite quilt. Believe me, I change my mind often!
Check out the other blogs and favorite quilts at http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/
I blogged about this quilt a little while ago, so I'm sorry if you come across it twice!
I was a part of a 6 1/2" fabric square exchange on www.sewingmamas.com. Our theme was Amy Butler. That was probably obvious! Her fabrics are so dynamic and SO different, but I thought I would still put them together in the same quilt. It was an extremely simple top to piece. I merely cut my squares in half and then laid them out on the floor in a brick pattern until I was happy :) I knew that it needed a pretty calm border so I choose a solid light blue and a light green tone-on-tone check.
This quilt is going to be a gift for a long time friend. We don't get to see each other much anymore, but she still holds such a special place in my heart.
Thanks for taking the time to look!

A Comfort Quilt

002, originally uploaded by myittybittyquilts.

I made this quilt for a sweet friend who was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the second time. She has been through surgery and started chemo and I thought a quilt to snuggle up in just might offer a little bit of comfort during a rough time. I used the colors in her home as inspiration for the color scheme and threw in some soft and cuddly fabrics like Minky and Chenille.
I used the disappearing nine-patch pattern. How fun and easy. In case someone out there hasn't seen this pattern, I'll briefly explain what I did. First, you make a nine patch using whatever size squares you want to (I used 6 1/2"). I used a different fabric for each of the squares here. Then, you cut the nine patch in quarters, cutting right down the middle both horizontally and vertically. Then you arrange these new blocks in a way that makes you happy. I put all my large squares together.
Anyway, you are probably more confused now, so go ahead and search on Goodsearch for disappearing nine patch and you'll find a few tutorials.