Molecules of Moda Places 3rd!

I'm beyond excited to share that my quilt - "Molecules of Moda: Bella Solids" - placed third in the Moda Bella Challenge!!!

Last Thursday afternoon I cautiously answered my cell phone because it displayed a number from Dallas, Texas. With my fingers crossed, I said 'hello' and who should be on the other end? None other than Mark Dunn, president and owner of Moda Fabrics! And then he told me my quilt placed 3rd! Of course, I wanted to do a happy jig but I refrained and tried to sound professional on the phone. I probably didn't succeed but, at least, I hope I didn't sound like a bumbling idiot.

The top three quilts will hang in Moda's booth at International Quilt Market in Houston this weekend. After that, they will reside in Mr. Dunn's personal quilt collection and may possibly travel for display at quilt shows around the country and world. The prize money awarded for the top three placing quilts also purchased the quilts.

There were a total of 19 quilts that were selected as finalists. Today Moda shared photos of all 19 quilts on their blog "Moda Cutting Table" (click on the name to see the post). All the finalists' quilts were so awesome!

I am so honored to have my quilt become a part of Mr. Dunn's collection and to have a piece of my work be seen by people literally around the world at Quilt Market this weekend. This quilt is my creation and will live on long after I'm gone - a part of my legacy. Maybe through this quilt, I'll leave a mark on the quilting world. (OK, now I'm getting a little too philosophical, LOL!)

Can't wait to show ya'll photos of it hanging at Quilt Market!

~Sharla

Leave A Comment

My Quick Crafternoon Projects

I didn't get the row for my challenge quilt done this week (maybe today), but I did get a couple of little afternoon craft projects completed this week. And, I made the realization this week that Christmas is just around the corner - Aaaccck!!! I've been trying to brainstorm gift ideas and that put me in the holiday mood so I dug out a little project I have been collecting items for.

If you follow this blog, you know I love, love, love vintage Christmas ornaments. I found an old bottle brush tree trimmed in gold while antiquing in Gruene, Texas last Christmas and have been wanting to do a gold arrangement with vintage ornaments. I had several gold vintage balls and I found an old 50's gold corsage, some plastic star Christmas light covers and vintage birds ornaments at estate sales. Then a week or so ago I found a little cream tea cup and saucer trimmed in gold and thought that would make the perfect base for my arrangement. A little hot glue later and Ta-Da - a vintage Christmas tabletop arrangement! I love it!

After our sew day last weekend, I was still in the vintage planter pincushion mode, so before I packed the leftover planters back in the box, I made one for a gift I was needing. I hand stitched the hexie flower then appliqued it to a 9" circle of fabric by machine. Then I hand sewed a gathering stitch around the edge of the circle, gathered and stuffed it. 

To hide the raw edges of the gathered poof, I hot glued a large button over the opening. Even though it will never be seen unless someone takes the pincushion out of the planter, I think it looks more finished with the raw edges hidden.

Then I just stuffed the poof in the opening of the planter to create this cute little vintage planter pincushion. These cuties are just so addictive!

What craft or sewing project have you been working on this week?

~Sharla

Leave A Comment

Sew Day: Vintage Planter Pincushions + A Yummy Recipe

Saturday was a Sew Day with a few of my quilty peeps - also known as the Dine 'n Dash Quilters - to make vintage planter pincushions. It was a day my mom and I had planned for more than 2 years. In other words, we picked up vintage planters here and there over the past two years saying 'one of these days, we're going to have everyone over and make them into pincushions". Well, we finally did it!

To say we went a little overboard on the vintage planters is an understatement! When we pulled out our boxes, we ended up with 45 planters for our guests to choose from. Unfortunately only a handful of our group was able to spend the afternoon with us, but we had lots of fun anyway. Sorry, the rest of you girls missed out!

I cut kits for each of the planters last week. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. Kits consisted of two pieces of fabric for the petals and center of a grandmothers garden hexie flower, seven 1/2" fusible hexagon EPP papers, and a wonder clip. For the circle of fabric to create the pincushion, each person chose a background fabric from my stash after they made their hexie flower.

I showed the group the basics of English paper piecing but since everyone has been a long-time sewist, it didn't take them long to catch on. Then it was an afternoon of chit-chattin' and whip-stitchin'.

Dianne was the first to finish her pincushion - a chicken pulling a cart.  It will be perfect for her sewing room on the farm.

Of course, I had a couple of finished samples for them to look at.

I made this one for my mom - who collects pigs, among many other things - for Christmas a couple of years ago.

And I finished this one at our sew day which I used to demo with.

As you can tell by our group's name, we don't get together unless there's food involved! Since we met for the afternoon, we ended the day at our locally famous Mexican restaurant that has been open for 56 years. But an afternoon of sewing can make a quilter hungry, so I made a new-to-me dessert recipe that was oh-so-yummy called Peanut Butter Lasagna. I have no idea what the name has to do with this dessert, but I thought I'd share the recipe with ya'll.

Peanut Butter Lasagna

Ingredients

For the Crust:

• 36 Oreo Cookies
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

For Peanut Butter Layer:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups cool whip

For Chocolate Layer:

• 2 boxes instant chocolate pudding
• 2 3/4 cups milk

For Topping:

• whipped topping
• 1 bag Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups
• peanut butter chips
• chocolate syrup

Directions

For the Crust:

• In a food processor, finely crush Oreo cookies. Stir in melted butter. Press into a 9" bx13" baking dish. Place in the freezer while preparing the next layer.

For Peanut Butter Layer:

• With mixer on medium, mix cream cheese, milk and peanut butter until fluffy. Gradually add in powdered sugar. Fold in whipped topping.
• Spread the peanut butter layer on the Oreo crust. Place in the freezer while preparing the next layer.

For Chocolate Layer:

• In a bowl, mix all the pudding mix and milk. Spread the pudding onto the peanut butter layer. Place in the fridge and allow to set for about 5 minutes.
• Top with remaining whipped topping, Reese's Mini Pieces, peanut butter chips and chocolate sauce. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Enjoy!!!

~Sharla

Leave A Comment

4th Quarter Finish-A-Long Goals

It's been a slow production year for me in the quilting department and I really don't expect a change as we head into the holidays, but a girl's gotta have goals, right? So here are my goals for the 4th Quarter of the 2017 Finish-A-Long.....

1. 2017 Quilt Guild Challenge Quilt: Our guild challenge this year was a row quilt. Each month a new block was drawn for a row in the quilt. I'm about 4 months behind but this is going to be one of my main focuses this year to finish on time (don't ask me about last year's challenge or the year before that or the year before that!).

2. Custom Order Recipe Tea Towel: I have another design client! WooHoo! To design a custom recipe tea towel and produce 6 tea towels from the design for Christmas presents. This is a have-to-get-done so I know I'll have at least one project completed this quarter - barring any disasters (I don't want to jinx myself!).

3. & 4. Mini Halloween Quilts: I finished the bat mini in time for the 3rd quarter link-up so I only have the haunted house and cat to do yet. Hopefully in time for Halloween?

5. Frivols Kindred Quilt: I started this one when we were wintering in Texas in February so I'll probably take this one with me again if we get to head south during November. I'm not hopeful - on both accounts of getting the quilt done and getting to go south in November.

6. Christmas Star Quilt: I made this quilt many years ago and did some basic line quilting on my DSM. The lines are few and far between so I decided I wanted to put this on my long arm and requilt it. I started in July, then broke my elbow and hands. I had to take it off the machine to quilt my Moda Bella Challenge quilt so I'm hoping to get this back on the frame and get it finished before Christmas.

7. Bella Solids Circle Quilt: Speaking of my Moda Bella Challenge quilt, I took all of my left over scraps and have cut it all up to make a 42" x 48" circle quilt with a pieced backing. I think I'm going to call it "Just the Atoms" since it will have the atom circles but not the woven molecule circles that were in my challenge quilt. 

There they are, in all their unfinished glory. Hoping to have a flurry of finishes to finish out the year strong! I'll be linking this post up with Capitola Quilter for the Finish-A-Long Quarter 4 Goals. 

~Sharla

Leave A Comment