Moda love in a Box

I was putting some small people down for a nap today, when I heard a rumbly sound. I peeked out the window with fingers crossed hoping, hoping… and there it was. The UPS truck. Quickly, quickly down the stairs I ran and waited for the bell, which he did not ring, he simply placed the box and off he went. As soon as he was down the walk, I pulled that front door open. A little excited? Yes, for sure. I tore that box wide open and dumped it upside down.  A big, big pile of moda love was inside, moda love just for me. Jelly rolls, charm packs, a yard of this, a few of that, and yards and yards of jumbo rick rack (3 colors!!) to boot. Yes, more fun and exciting projects are in the works, and soon, so very soon, I will share them with you.

In other exciting news, My Matty worked very hard ALL day, touching up my website and blog. What do you think of the new banner? Matt does all the webworks here, and he really does a fantastic job. I am so happy, I’m clapping right now. So hard to type when I do that.

I will leave you with one little peek of a project I am working on. This Snowflake Table Runner will be donated to the school where my younger kids go. It is made of Moda’s Holly Taylor Frosted Memories line. What do you think of the snowflakes?

Snowflake Table Runner

Remember to enter A Quilty Kind of GIveaway while you’re here, time is running out, contest closes Wednesday!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

Round Robin Quilt Reveal

Doreen's Round Robin Quilt

Joan's Mystery Round Robin Quilt

Retreat Mystery Round Robin by Brenda

Nancy's Round Robin Quilt

My Mommy's Round Robin Quilt

Bradie's 2010 Mystery Round Robin Quilt

Since it is really late, and I am really tired, I am taking the easy way out. Today’s post is about the retreat I went to last weekend, and the round robin quilts we worked on while we were there. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and please let me know what you think!  Don’t forget to enter the Quilty Kind of Giveaway while you are here to win a super cute moda Wee Play Quilt Kit including a Ziggy’s Pinwheel pattern.

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

Whoo hoo! A Giveaway!!

A Quilty Kind of Giveaway!!

Whoo hoo! A Giveaway!!

I am really very excited about today’s post!!  I have decided to host a GIVEAWAY!! As you all know, last week ages ago, I asked you all to vote on your favorite block in the Wee Play Pinwheels Quilt. My secret plan was to take this winning block, and make up a quilt kit of those most popular fabrics.  Now this is the exciting part…this quilt kit would not be for myself. Oh no no no no!! It will be for one lucky winner of A Quilty Kind of Giveaway!

So here’s the deal. First, become a subscriber by using the link on the top right hand side of the page. Next, leave a comment telling me the answer to the following questions:

1) What is your favorite quilting technique? Anything at all! (Myself? I love binding, especially the mitered corners! Crazy, I know….)

2) What is or has been your biggest challenge in quilting? (Had to be curved piecing,,, how many times can a person unpick those stitches before the fabric falls apart?!! ARGH!)

This will get you ONE chance to win.

Would you like more chances? Here’s what you can do….

Tweet it, Twitter it or whatever you want to call it! Just talk about this giveaway and get one more chance to win!

Share or update your staus with this on Facebook for another chance to win!

Blog about A Quilty Kind of Giveaway and get TWO more chances to win!! (Be sure to take a badge and link back to this post.)

DON”T FORGET to mention all your entries in your comment!! Plus you must leave your email addy so I can contact you with the good news.

You can potentially earn FIVE chances to WIN!

Now what are the prizes?

First prize is a Wee Play Pinwheels Quilt Kit. Winner gets the fabric to make their choice of the four block options plus Ziggy’s Pinwheels pattern from A Quilty Kind of Girl Designs!!

There will also be 3 additional prizes ( Whoo hoo!) of a Ziggy’s Pinwheels pattern.

Contest will run until midnight MST on  Wednesday, February 10,2010. Randomly drawn winners to be announced Thursday, February 11.

Here’s a little peek…

THE WINNER….. block #1!

BLOCK ONE

The Fabulous Twitter Knit Along

I am so in over my head. What was I thinking? Trying to be one of the cool kids maybe? I don’t know but I’m committed so here it goes. I’ve joined the first ever Twitter Knit Along. Hosted by Spazzy Amber, ( on etsy too )this group of knitters will work together on a beautiful lacy knitted shawl. The challenge began on Wednesday and wraps up February 17. 3 weeks. LOL THREE WEEKS? I must be crazy.

Hope fully this weekend, I will get a few minutes to spend on this. I’ll have a few experienced knitters around, so hopefully one of them will do it for me, help me because I am a total knitting rookie.

Yarn choices for TwitKAL

This shawl pattern is called Traveling Woman and it can be found on Ravelry.com. What do you think of the colors? Would you go with grape? or cherry red? I may just have to make two!

Quilty, Knitty Hugs,

Bradie

Just to get you through

Yes, it’s true. I am away on retreat this weekend.  But since I’m away, and I know you are missing my riveting Facebook and Twitter updates, I decided to schedule a few posts to get you all through the looooooong weekend without me. LOL OK maybe that isn’t the truth but just play along k?

Today I am going to show you the projects that I have brought with me for my weekend away. One is a biggie that I hope to make fantastical progress on, and the rest are small and pretty mindless. We’ll call these small projects distractions from the biggie in case of any frustrations.While I was packing, my Tashy came into the studio and said, “Where is the robot fabric Mom? You promised you would make me a robot quilt when you were gone!” I couldn’t believe it! We had that discussion about a month ago, and had not talked about it since. What a memory!

Tashy’s robot fabrics

Any guesses? What will I manage to finish?

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

Be back Soon!!!

Very soon, I will be happily sewing away at a retreat camp an hour away from the city. I plan to thoroughly enjoy myself during this weekend of family abandonment, and I shall return with all kinds of funny stories to share along with lots of pics!

When the kids came to say goodnight, they saw this mountain of luggage. The smallest ones all looked with tears in their eyes, hugging so tight. My 6 year old held on the longest, then asked

” Mommy, Are you coming back?”

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything! LOL

Make sure you come back on Monday, because I will also be launching this….

Whoo hoo! A Giveaway!!

See you then!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

Modern Siggy Blocks

As you can see, I’ve done all the cutting and marking for my Modern Siggy Block Swap fabrics. Now when I run away head off to retreat this weekend, I just have to stitch them, sign them and post them when I get home. The fabrics are Posh and Boutique, both by Chez Moi

( yes, of course they are moda. Funny you should ask!)

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

Shop Hop Purchases 2010!!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

A Mystery Round Robin Quilt for Retreat

I am literally counting down the hours days until I leave for uninterrupted me time retreat this weekend! I haven’t gone for a couple of years, so I’m really looking forward to going this time around. There are all kinds of fun things planned, like a secret sister gift exchange(oops! I better get shopping….), a shop hop, games, and a round robin mystery challenge. I’ve been chipping away at the mystery quilt, doing a bit of cutting, and a bit of marking, then a little sewing, and FINALLY some pressing. Here’s what I’ve got so far….

I have got to admit, I am totally in love with my NO MATH flying geese ruler. I made 64 of these little guys, with no wasted fabric AT ALL! The ruler is from Joan Hawley, of Lazy Girl Designs. Seriously. You need one. Just take my word for it.

So the Mystery Round Robin works like this. Make your quilt with the mysterious instructions and bring it to retreat. It then gets passed along to 3 other people who will add a border of their choice to your quilt. Then you get it back to finish as desired! I’m really interested to see how it turns out. Have you ever participated in a round robin? This is a first for me! I’ll be sure to share pics on Sunday when I return from retreat!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie

And now for something completely different

Five years ago, when I was preggers with Tashy, I picked up crocheting and knitting. With the pending arrival of a new babe, I whipped up a sweet little crib blanket in greens and yellows. Then I went on to knit a small newborn size hat, a couple pairs of mitts, and some matching winter caps with cute little kitty ears. Then suddenly, the yarn bug left me as suddenly as it had arrived. This was also about the time I discovered quilting, so now that I think about it…. it’s all making sense.

Flash forward to this past Christmas. I spot the newest Crochet today magazine at the grocery store with the CUTEST little monkeys on the front. Since my Tashy is a big fan of monkeys, the magazine came home with me. I haven’t gotten to the monkeys just yet as I don’t have the right colors, but I do have loads of a bright fuschia pink. So I jumped into making a mini sweater wrap for Sophie. I thought I would make it big, a size 4, as she is 2 and who knows when I’ll actually finish! Surprisingly though, I’ve been kicking butt and here I am about half way through it. ( It really is a simple pattern. )

Since I’ve been making such speedy progress, I thought I’d better try it on her and see how the size is. Anybody see where this is going yet? You guessed it! Mommy made a mini sweater wrap for Sophie’s dolly! LOL My stitches are so small and tight, it is about half the size it should be!! So kids, my advice to you is don’t take shortcuts! Make the little swatch they recommend at the beginning of the pattern. For if you don’t, you’ll wish you had!

Quilty Hugs,

Bradie