Neptune winner!

Well now I have to plan several other island trips after those fun guesses! But for this one we are going to Kauai and Maui. I can't wait!

Mr. Random chose Chen as my winner! Hurray for more fun mail.

One more Hawaii picture - I still can't believe that an ocean can be so clear and blue.

Whirlygiggles!

Poor picnic quilt kept getting put to the side! Now the top is done.

I love these whirlygiggles. I used the dimensions AmandaJean gave on her blog. I really liked the proportions of her pieces as well as the large size.

I knew the blocks would not be square - even with the seam, one edge is longer than the other.

You end up with extra on all four sides. Which is perfect for me! I lined my ruler up on the mid lines and trimmed 5 3/8" out from the center all around. Happy, square blocks!

I tried to outsmart myself, though and cut a couple of long, folded strips to piece. That works great for the white that doesn't have a right side. But all the prints ended up 'whirling' the wrong way.

I have a nice bag of these for another time now. I was careful not to flip my template upside down, but forgot about the fabric! So beware.

I also finished up my nine patch blocks with a super random group. Now it is onto the dreaded sashing - my least favorite thing.

Keep guessing on my trip! I'll pick the Neptune winner tomorrow.

Guess where I'm going...

..and win some Neptune fabric! I thought I would celebrate my finished quilt and getting all 5 of us to our tropical destination on points (and hopefully earn some good karma so I can get all of us back on points when I make those reservations!) by giving away some oceany fabric.

six layer cake pieces - two of each print

Go back a couple of days to my 'Speed Binding' post and try to figure out where I'm going. Those three pictures represent two different locations. Last time we went, Caleb helped some locals dam a stream...

Leave a comment with your guess and I'll let Sir. Random pick a winner when I get up on Friday. Follow me for an extra entry! Good luck.

My First Quilt (and Laura's finished quilt!)....

You will remember my first quilt from a few months ago....I like this picture of it hanging the best.

And now all the pictures of Laura's quilt that you asked for! Thank you for all the nice comments on it, especially to those of you who have no-reply emails in blogger, since I couldn't thank you personally.

I learned from other bloggers that you can tack your quilts to fences and such outside for great pictures that don't include feet sprouting out the bottom!

Interestingly, this quilt is nearly the same colors as my first! That blue linen IS the same fabric - I learned that I love the texture of linen in a quilt. Blues and greens have always been my colors.

And I love striped binding! I have learned to carefully follow the stitching on the back as I tack down the binding, so it is a nice, even width all the way around. On the first quilt I just kind of squashed it over!

Here are Laura and I right after she opened her gift. She really liked the top, but loved those Harry Potter blocks! That mail owl is still my favorite. Here he is all quilty looking.

And a nice picture of Laura with the quilt. I love to keep them, but it was fun to gift a quilt, too!

I certainly had a great time learning how to paper piece! I was so worried about trying it, but it is just like doing a puzzle. And I love puzzles!

My biggest lesson learned was regarding dye lots. As a knitter, I am well aware of the pitfalls of dye lot mixing. But bleached muslin - how different could that be?! (Laura, don't look!)

In the summer sun, very different! You can't really tell inside. I didn't notice until I was nearly done quilting. So it became a design element :)

I love making stuff and I love learning new things - I can't wait to discover more in my next projects! As a reward for making it all the way to the end of this long post, come back tomorrow for a fun contest I have planned!

I made it!

The binding is done....

The label is on.....

I washed and crinkled - wrapped - they just drove up! Have a fun 4th of July weekend!

Speed binding!

I have to speed bind....what is the fastest that one can hand stitch the binding down on a 65" square quilt? Laura arrives tomorrow morning, and the binding looks like this right now.....

....because I spent the day securing 5 free airline tickets to here...

and here...

and here - the first time back since Becket came along.

Oh, how I miss my nine patch blocks....

{or: Paper piecing with 35 bazillion bits}

Cute little Hedwig had about 50 pieces.

I learned to keep my fingers all away from the edge of the ruler, even when cutting tiny bits, after slicing the tip of my finger. Although this is one thing that I loved about paper piecing. No precise shapes to cut, and if you leave a large enough piece on the edge, you have plenty of room to square up!

Here's a general look at the floor behind me - I pieced, sewed, ironed, cut - then just pushed all the mess right off the edge.

Another sewing machine invention I really want, is a laser light. Does anybody do that yet? I would love a pin point in the spot the needle will come down, then a nice laser line that extends from there to the edge of your table to help feed. Wouldn't that be helpful?

The thing I like least about paper piecing is this at the end. It seemed to take forever getting all those little paper bits off.

Now it looks like a cool, drizzly day. Perfect for getting this quilting done!

Harry Potter

I have been making my first paper pieced blocks. And they are all Harry Potter. They are for my sister in-law's birthday quilt. Laura will be here Friday and I'm still working on getting this back pieced!

Hogwarts crest

I was going to try some simple paper pieced blocks first, but here I am, totally out of time! So in I jumped. These are all FREE from Jennifer Ofenstein at her web site sewhoooked. She has a ton of patterns - not just Harry Potter.

Hedwig

We all love Harry Potter and have been going to the midnight parties since 2003, when Naperville had their first one. The whole downtown area streets are closed and most of the shops turn into Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley.

Caleb in 2003

Caleb and Kenton in 2005

Laura in 2007

For the last book in 2007, it was a little nuts, as things are prone to get here in Naperville. But we had a fun time getting sorted and hanging out all afternoon until the midnight release.

Golden Snitch

She and I even went out the next night, just the two of us, to my favorite local Italian place - with our books - and silently read all through dinner! The waiters totally understood.

Mail Owl (he still needs his eyes at those purple spots)

Just last month we went to the Museum of Science and Industry - they have the traveling Harry Potter exhibit. It is filled with props and sets from all the movies. No pictures allowed!

Scroll

I almost died when they had all the Weasley knits and I couldn't snap a picture! The detail in all the props is just amazing. Go see it if you have a chance.

Quill

I hope she enjoys these Harry Potter blocks on the back of her quilt.