Explosive Stitching!

Or . . . .  Supernova Friendship Swap Update!  It's now July and we're into our third month of the swap.  (Just in case you're not familiar with the swap it's being hosted by One million stitches and is based on the Supernova block created by Lee at Freshly Pieced.)  My wonderful and terribly patient partner is Sarah at Berry Barn Designs.  She has done well with my inability to follow a pattern correctly or respond to emails in timely manners!!!  Probably because she is a former teacher and has littles.  (Not sure what that says about me since I am a teacher and definitely not a little . . )

I love getting real mail so much.  I told my husband I was expecting this when he went to get the mail.  He came in with the package tucked into his shirt just so he could see my sad (no package) to happy (package) to mad (who hides mail) face when he pulled it out.

Okay onto the EXCITING part!!  I received my blocks in the mail yesterday and they are beautiful!  I'm going through a serious solids/tone on tone phase right now in my color choices and am so pleased that we chose to stick with a warm pallette and choose different hues of four colors - orange, yellow, pink, and coral.  I sent Sarah my light yellow block last month, and she sent me TWO blocks - light and dark coral.

Light Coral

Dark Coral

Sarah's blocks were also nice and starched . . . mine were NOT.  We also included 25 things about ourselves that our partner may or may not know/wanted to know.   I loved receiving this list in the mail instead of email.  Here are some things about Sarah:

She was born and raised in Cape Cod. (Since I love watching storms roll in this is very cool to me!)

She wants not one, but two cats.

Her favorite color is purple and she likes stripes.  (I love that this is the opposite of me - I gravitate to gray and polka dots.  Is she a secret Kaffe Fassett fan??)

This quilt is going to be beautiful when it is done.   The next block for me goes out on July 15th, so it's time to start cutting!  Thanks Sarah - these are perfect!

xoxo,

Emily

#makeaquiltmakeafriend

Today I'm sharing one of the positive aspects of my IG addiction - my mini-quilt for the swap I participated in!  Kristi over at Schnitzel and Boo  is the lead organizer and I was able to jump in on the second round sign ups when one of my bee mates posted she had joined!!    I diligently filled out the form and crossed my fingers - luckily, I received  Katie over at Choo Choo Skadoo Quilts!  (seriously, someone must have known how much I like funny sounding names - it only drove my husband slightly crazy when I would use both in a sentence)  She enjoys Bonnie and Camille just as much as I do, so it was easy for me to pull from my stash and hit the LQS.  I was really tempted to make her one of Thimbleblossom's mini quilts, but i felt like she might already have some since she is a sewing machine

Adorn - from "Simply Retro" by Camille Roskelley

Although this quilt is on 24 by 24, it still challenged me in a BIG way!!  This was my first attempt at cutting triangles (note to self - invest in the ruler) sewing triangles (LOVE) and attaching binding by . . . hand!  Thanks sewing buddy for showing me that trick.  

I spent the most time quilting - my favorite part!

Shot of the back - still don't understand the whole "bury the threads" so I just used the knot tying feature on my machine - try not to cringe!

I posted a few photos to IG in hopes of her liking one, but alas . . .  she was pretty quiet!  Of course I'm super nervous that she won't like what I made (or what I sent - lots of extra goodies to make up for the wonky label) but more than her pleasure its nice to know that someone appreciates a handmade item!  

A quick inspection before it headed to the post office Wednesday.

If you're on instagram and not participating in this swap (there are over 600 quilters of awesomeness) you can use these hashtags to follow some amazing and inspiring work: #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap or #makeaquiltmakeafriend

I may have to make one for me!

Happy Sewing!

Em