Summa Time

We spent last week visiting family in California...just what the doctor order for this 32 week preggers Momma.  It was such a great trip...we loved every minute of it. In April I found an amazing steal on airfare so for the first time in about 5 years we were able to fly. I with confidence can say that it will probably never happen again. With H. turning 2 in the fall and eventually having a fourth child to buy a ticket for we won't be flying as a family anytime soon. Which just made the flights all the sweeter.

It usually takes us 11 hours to drive from my doorstep to to my sisters ~ including the time change, traffic and usual stops. It was incredible that in 1 and 22 minutes we were saying goodbye to Utah and Helllllllooooo SoCal.

As usual we are totally spoiled whenever we visit my sister. The sunny, perfect weather, the pool and spa {right in the backyard}, Magic Mountain, the beach, the home cooked food and local restaurants. Ah, heaven. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

The Getty Museum

The Original Farmers Market

Zuma Beach ~ Malibu CA

Backyard Pool Shenanigans

....more Shenanigans

The Best Strawberries evah!!!

Granny's a Go-Go!

Summer is here. Finally! The kids are out of school ~ no more lunches, homework and finding socks for school. I don't know about you, but every morning I heard "Mom,. where are some socks!" Hooray, for flip flops. Swimming lessons and soccer camps are in full swing this week and I am finishing up last minute details for our big family vacation.

Before we leave for our vacation, I have one pressing issue to finishing up: GrAnNy SqUaReS.  Some girlfriends and I are doing a granny square swap, we each have to make 24 GS, the only requirements were to use: Kona white, any 30's prints and don't trim the squares. 


I want to make 2 quilts with my GS blocks and 24 would only make 2 very small quilts...so I'm adding a few of my own blocks to the mix. I've got one of the quilts in mind for a sweet friend who just loves feed sack prints. I've been working on a few color combos that I knew the other ladies weren't using: peach, mint green, purple. I'm just infatuated with these blocks!

The block below is really special, I found the fabrics at a friends yard sale and I got some awesome "vintagey" 30's prints. I think they are from the 80's.


Happy Summer Quilting.

Busy, Busy

Happy Tuesday! I have been swamped this past week or so: end of school projects and programs, soccer, quilting getaway, swimming, gardening and vacation planning. Luckily I get to include quilting in my busy schedule. The last week or so I quilted 2 quilts on my machine (at home) Double Yikes!! It was challenging and fun. I bought my machine 6 years ago with the premise to quilt my own quilts, and finally I am just going for it. It feels great.

I tried my hand at stippling (below) on my improv quilt and straight line stitching on my 9-patch on point I had basted at the begining of the month. I had a few hiccups on my 9-patch because of a feed dog issue which I was very discouraged about....but once I figured that out it was smooth sailing.
 

I got to "escape" here and there last weekend to attending a scrapbook/quilting getaway my friend Ella hosts. I worked on BINDINGS,something I always procrastinate doing, one quilt hadn't been bound from 2 years ago! Oi!! I bound 4 quilts over the weekend. Feels like a weighs has seriously been lifted. I also started work on a block swap: Granny Squares in 30's prints. I love how they are turning out: red/yellow/peach. I am using a strip piece tutorial so things are moving along quickily. Most of the ladies at the getaway are participating so it was fun to see their fabrics and progress.

I can't wait for summer to officially start, school to be finished and to really enjoy the last 10 weeks before this baby arrives. Happy Quilting.

Weekend Catch-up

My husband was out of town all last week and I had a laundry list of things I wanted to get done. On the top of that list was basting 2 quilts that I had finished at the end of last year. Since getting pregnant I've had only baby and baby quilts on the brain, but with the weather warming and hubby out of town I pulled out my frames and got to work.

I basted my improve quilt  (above) as well as my 9-patch on point. Basting for me is the easy part, the hard part is "tacking" down the quilt. I have really good frames, its just making the quilt taunt enough and working with three layers of material that's tricky. Just handing it over to Ella's for quilting is sooooo much easier but in the same breathe I am learning to love machine quilting and as we all know, practice makes perfect.

I borrow my SIL's kwik klips for basting and they are a life saver. I didn't even know these existed until I helped her baste a quilt last summer and wallah: kwik klips ~ soooo genius!!

The Best Kind of Quilt

{I am really having a hard time writing this post, because its hard putting into words how much this gift means to me.} Some dear friends surprised me yesterday with a BABY QUILT, for baby #4. I wasn't expecting it at all! {Which is always the best surprise} These "friends" I met through the quilt retreat I held last fall and we were visiting yesterday and all of a sudden they placed this amazing gift in my hands {see above}.

I was just sitting there looking dumbfounded. It was taking me a minute to register what was happening, because lets face it...my pregnancy brain is really bad this 4th time. {It takes me a whille to catch on.} I know how much effort, love, time, resources, and energy it takes to make a quilt let alone a quilt for someone else. These sweet friends got together {without me even knowing} and spent the day piecing, quilting, binding etc. a BEAUTIFUL quilt for me. I just couldn't really express my appreciating and love at the time. I was just staring and stumbling over my words ~ it was the oddest feeling.

Look how adorable this rememberance tag is: that doggie is just the sweetest thing! April's impressive handiwork.

Thank you April, Ella, Emily, Sue, Maggie and Kristen. XOXOXO

Just when you think it can't get any better, you turn the quilt over! Ahhh, just as perfect as the front. The back is from Emily's Going Coastal line from MMF. Love it!!

Granny Squares + Friends

The whole quilting world is just crazy about granny squares right now. Can you blame us?! You can find granny squares all over flickr, pinterest and instagram, even Dana at Old Red Barn Co. is doing a granny-square-quilt-along, so FUN!!!. A few weeks back my quilty friend Jeanette (who really should have a blog!) and I got together on her day off and made ourselves some Granny Squares. As  Jeanette puts it "What's not to love, its almost like a nine-patch but better".

Jeanette and I became friends after I got married (Dec. 2000) and moved into her neighborhood. She was already a big time quilter and I was just getting started. This was back when scrapbooking was HUGE and I didn't really know anyone else who was quilting. She was a great mentor for me and really helped me learn how to pick fabric, work on techniques and the always helpful quilting tips and tricks. We quilted once a week for about a year and then I moved an hour a away and she moved to Spokane for Law School. She moved back in (Dec) 2006 and we've gotten together to quilt consistently (not as often as once a week) for the last 6 years. Our conversations always revolve around work, kids, family and of course our latest quilt project.

She sent me a picture of her finished blocks and I am insane over them. (To see what I worked on click here) When she pulled out her fabrics last week I knew this quilt was going to be fantastic: the cool aquas, bright fuchsias, butter yellows, tantalizing tangerines, luscious lavenders and more. I Swoon! Now that she has all 16 blocks laid out it couldn't look better.

A day of Quilting

Before I knew "what" I was having, I was planning to make the baby a granny square quilt. These blocks are so hot right now and so dang cute. Blue Elephant Stitches has a great tutorial I referenced when starting my quilt,  so check it out before beginning. By the looks of it; can you guess "what" I am having.

The quilt will be a 3 by 3 and I am planning to use this Reunion fabric as by border from Moda. I was at my LQS and noticed they only had a yard left and snatched it up. I had been eyeing it for sometime and I think it will be just perfect. Because the border fabric has so much color I coordinated my granny squares with the pendants: yellow, red, green and grey.

We are experiencing full fledged spring here in Utah: daffodils, soccer, and of course spring cleaning. Happy Tuesday.