Giveaway begins!!!

Fall into Fall giveaway winners!!

And the grand prize winner is #130-Marie!  Yeah!!!

And the bonus prize winner is #77 Jenni!!


Today starts my first blog giveaway!!  Yeah!!!

It will continue until I pick the winner on October 15.

I am linked with the Fall into Fall Quilter Bloggers Giveaway and I will be giving away :

~a great pair of Gingher Shears-left or right handed(shown)

~3 Ginger quilt rulers 6.5x12.5, 3.5x18.5, and 6.5x6.5

~plus two fabulous fat quarters I found at my local quilt store Sewingly Yours!

To be eligible you must become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me what project you are working on right now.

If you share my blog on your website I will enter you twice, just let me know in your comment with your blogs address.

That's it!  Simple! 

I can't wait to visit every one's blogs! 

I learned to quilt on the Internet in the 90's when all we had were newsgroups and list serves and ASCII drawings. 

 I love all the pictures and projects in today's Internet quilting world!

Keep dreaming...Colleen...aka 'butterflygirl'

PS. I forgot to tell you what I am working on right now.  A Butterfly girl quilt that I give you a sneak peek of on the left.  Also a circles table runner from the Moda Bake shop as a wedding present for next Sat!  I have to get it finished!

added 10/4-Wow!! I never imagined so many people would participate!  When my followers hit 100 I am adding an additional giveaway!! Not sure what but I'm perusing my goodies-more scissors?, fat quarters?,???. 

 BTW  I can be so generous with the Gingher scissors and rulers because we had an unusual once in a lifetime warehouse sale a few weeks ago.  I wont even tell you the prices as they would make you ill-it does everyone who missed it!

added 10/7- Ok so I have reached over 125 followers and have more than 140 comments on my blog!!!  I feel so blessed!! I have enjoyed reading all of the comments and I have tried to answer as many as I can  but... I mean 140!! And to think I originally hoped to have 41.  So I said I would add a 2nd giveaway and I have looked through my goodies come up with this:

A small handmade basket by me! I love this pattern it is so quick and easy to make.

Inside I have included 4 of my favorite fat quarters,
a Thimbleberries pattern-Midnight Star, som wool yarn for embellisment, and muslin stamped paper piecing designs -2 each of cat and courthouse steps.  Who knows I may add a few extras more.

One Thing, One Week challenge

So I had been dragging my feet on finishing my blocks for the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along. 

Then Amy's Creative Side made the challenge to finish one UFO project by this past Sunday. 

So I thought why not and I pulled out the pieces and finished all of the blocks.

I then laid out the blocks on my bed and figured out how I wanted them to be arranged. 

I really need a large blank wall to make a design wall. 

I miss the black felt one I had in my first studio.

I used the black blocks to add interest to the pattern. 

The greens were all from a jelly roll and the purple was from my stash.

Finally I pinned and labeled all of my rows ( or columns). 

The quilt is 10 rows by 8 columns.

Then with only one or two mix ups I sewed the top completely together.

It looks great! 

I just am not sure if I want to sash it and make it bigger or just finish it as is. 

I'm just happy I completed it before the FQ sent out the last set of instructions to finish the quilt.  I might baste it at the church Snack and Craft tomorrow night. I don't really have room to baste in my house.

Keep dreaming...Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

PS Don't forget the Fall quilters Bloggers Giveway starts soon!  I'll being giving away some cool quilter's things!

Give Away!!

As I hinted in the previous post I will have a giveaway to celebrate my blog!  It will start on October 1st and continue until I pick the winner on October 15.  I am linking with the Fall into Fall Quilter Bloggers Giveaway.  I will be giving away a great pair of Gingher Shears, 3 quilt rulers,  plus a fabric bonus!  To be eligible you must be a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me what project you are working on right now.  If you share my blog on your website I will enter you twice, just let me know in your comment!!

a challenge

Doesn't every quilter love a challenge?  Challenges motivate me to stretch my creative brain muscles and see fabric in a new way.  I have been exploring the world of quilt embellishment and art quilts.  I started using fleece to embellish anything - like the dinosaur scene on this baby quilt.  I was working my way up to wool. 

So I joined a felting forum to learn more about wool embellishment techniques and guess what? 

Wool people have challenges too!

Their September challenge was to create a mostly wool piece using one of the four elements as a theme. 

I decided to use some beautiful green hand dyed wool as a base. 

I bought it from fiber artist Karen Poetzinger at our last guild meeting. 

I used my new felting tools and Singer Embellishment machine and dry felted a butterfly with swirls.

I added some fancy yarns and beads to the border and the butterfly.

That was going to be it.  A felted wool wall hanging.  But with quilters never is anything so simple...more later.

keep dreaming....Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

PS I'm trying to up my blog followers...pass this on to your crafty quilting friends I'm giving away a great gift soon!  More to come!

colorful cats galore

So I was reading Beginner's Guide to Art Quilts and took idea of the first project and challenged myself to run with it. 

 

I found 4 inch brightly dyed charm squares in my stash. 

 I picked out 12 different colors creating the 4 by 4 grid. 

Then I found the 3 inch high stack of 2 inch cat squares I bought years ago on ebay. 

BTW in case you did not know ebay is a great pace to buy precut squares. 

I matched up squares by colors and fused the cats to the dyed fabric. 

Then I assembled the cat quilt and practiced some more machine quilting. 

 I think it turned out so cute!

 I need to turn off my brain this weekend so I can finish my quilt along top and baste it at the snack and craft at the church on Tuesday.

keep dreaming...Colleen...aka 'butterflygirl'

charming pumpkin

So I haven't written for a while because I spend too much time reading every one else's blogs.  If you are looking for some good one to follow check out my list on the right hand side.  Warning:  reading blogs is addictive!  I am also working on two large quilts, two three small wall hangings and one table runner with coasters set.  I keep finding more things that I want make!  I wish it was summer already!  So let me post about the one project I made and finished in two days. 

I saw a quilt that had a jack-o-lantern made out of charm squares.  I sorted through my 4" square stash and began cutting green and yellow squares in half and laying out the pumpkin with borders.  I sewed it together and machine appliqued a green stem on top. 

I then decided that it would be a fall quilt so I decided to add a red border.  Mmmm...thinking leaves here.  Then because I had so many orange squares and orange is a fall leaf color too... I halved the squares and sewed a binding.  

I told someone today that I was reteaching myself quilting (see New Directions )and learning new techniques.  So this quilt also became an experiment in machine quilting.  I had recently learned that my old Kenmore has a pressure setting for the presser foot from this great video by Marguerita -Quilting Tutorials CrazyShortcutQuilts's Channel.  Here is a close up of my experiment.

 I quilted ridges in the pumpkin in orange and then echo quilted the borders in matching thread colors.

Well I'm falling asleep at the computer.  I'll share on of my other two 'experiemnts' in a day or two.

Keep dreaming....Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'

All American Dad

Have I told you that I have an All American Dad?  He is the best Dab in the world!  I know I put a 'b' in Dad.  Its an old endearment going back to an error in a 4th grade art project.  So why is Dad an All American Dad?  Partly because he was born on the 5th of July, partly because he throws a huge picnic on the 4th each year, and partly because he loves flags especiall large ones.  He has a great collection that we have to display on the 4th.  Oh yeah he owns a firetruck too.  Wierd huh?


So way back when I was an active quilter in the 90's I spent three years creating a series of quilts for my Dad's almost patriotic birthday.  I called it the All American Dad series of course.

First was a pieced and appliqued wall quilt (have I told you I hate applique?)  I even did decorative stiching around the pieces.  It is supposed to represent my Dad's love of fireworks and his love of creating things for his family.  I embroidered the words "To the Best Dab, his hands create wonders for those he loves."  Of course the appliqued figure was to represent my Dad, salt and pepper hair and all.

I even did fancy handmade labels back then.  As you can see it was 1993 and dad was turning 50!  Love those Pigma pens.








The next year I was thinking about family and the Westinghouse legacy.  My Dad was a third generation Westinghouse employee.  So I made a quilt that reflected that as well as family.  Did I mention the 4th picnic started out as mostly Westinghouse families?

I used some wonderful reproduction fabrics in this from the Smithsonian line.  I also made my first stars which I fell in love with.  I appliques the circle W for Westinghouse. 

Then I quilted my Dad's, Grandfather's and Great Grandfather's names on the border.

A tag of course.

The third in the series is in the previous post.

:o) keep dreaming...Colleen

Remembering 9-11

As a preview for the post I'm working on and as a tribute to the victims of 9-11 and their families, I'd like to share quilt #3 in the All American Dad series.  Quilted are the words :

" Freedom to be free, Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all people are created equal, the great melting pot, we hold these truths to be self evident, and the greatest of these is love."

Keep dreaming...:o)Colleen

the sand box

     Do you remember when you were a kid and nothing was more fun then the sandbox?  The feel of the sand running through your fingers,  pushing that shovel into the sand, throwing the sand at your friend,  filling up a bucket, and then dumping it out.  Life in a sandbox was about exploring and seeing what you could create.  Since I have set up my studio I have been playing in the sandbox.  Alot.  Except fabric is my sand . 

I am inspired to try many new things and one day I started making stuffies.  I saw them everywhere -  in small gift stores, magazines, and online. 

So I suddenly had a great desire to make one or six.  Of course the challenge of thinking about fabric both texture and pattern led me to explore and evaluate my stash.  Don't you love a challenge?  It molds your thinking and allows you to to create in ways you never dreamed of. 

I kept thinking about the cat and dog blocks my grandmother Myers had made.  I like the simple yet graphic design.  They would make great stuffies!

So I started with a combination cat or dog like shape.  I like hand drawing the pattern on ordinary scraps of printer paper.  I save all those extra pages that always print with junk on them.  I pulled this ugly green floral stripe flannel from my stash for the body. 

Then  I found a scrap of floral upholstry fabric for the face. 

I cut out two bodies and faces.  After zig zag stitching the faces on I embellished them with buttons and embroidery floss.

I went back to my stash and found other fabrics of different textures and prints and colors. 

And drew some more patterns - like these bunnies.

And so a gang of stuffies is born from the scraps of my stash. 

Keep dreaming...and playing in your sandboxes...Colleen