My Block Is In The 2017 Quilter's Planner!

I'm so excited for my latest happy mail to arrive! I couldn't wait to tear off the tissue paper and pour over all the quilty goodness packed into Late Night Quilter Stephanie Palmer's new 2017 Quilter's Planner.

I'm not much of a 'planner person' (which may be why I don't seem to get everything done that I'd like), but this planner is the bomb! And not just because one of the blocks I designed is featured in the planner - but that's pretty awesome too!

Stephanie has included tons of ways to keep the areas of your life - personal, work and quilting - organized. I love the different sections, like this quilt project planning sheet.

Besides the usual calendars, the Quilter's Planner also includes lots of new block patterns, free motion quilting designs and tips, bee blocks and swap project planner, quilting reference section, and 14 quilt patterns by some of my favorite bloggers and Instagrammers, just to name a few.

It also includes some beautiful photography of each of the quilts.

And it's wrapped up in a laminated cover and spiral binding!

I'm so happy for my quilty friend Stephanie and her new 2017 Quilter's Planner. I hope you'll go check out her website for all the details about the planner and how to order, then we can get organized together in 2017!

~Sharla

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Decking The Halls In Fall

Wow! Summer flew by for me and I'm frantically trying to catch up with fall. I love to decorate with the changing of each season and I'm especially excited to decorate for fall this year as my kids and grandkids are coming home for Thanksgiving. Yipee!!!

Although my two grandsons are too young to even notice my efforts (and as boys, probably wouldn't care anyway), I want them to remember holidays at Nana's as magical times and a beautiful backdrop is the first step. I started with the dinner table, creating a festive tablescape. As you can tell, I have never believed in the 'less is more' mantra!

I've been trying to decide what dinnerware to use this year and finally dug out the old Canonsburg Brown Drip Carefree Ironstone that were the dishes my hubby took to college. I decided to dress up the ironstone with these cute pumpkin pottery plates I found at Hobby Lobby. I love the warm and rustic feel of these dishes.

Then, of course, I had to deck out my vintage door with a wreath and quilt.

The latest spot to get decked out was this antique wardrobe in the entry way. I love decorating this spot and sometimes I get pretty wild and eclectic in my décor choices for the wardrobe. It always seems to end up with some rusty metal junk!

I still have to decorate the outside entrance to the house and am hoping to get a few things made. Wish me luck as time is ticking away!

Happy Fall Y'all!

~Sharla

P.S. This is my one 'less is more' fall décor attempt. A simple hand embroidered towel tucked in the drawer of a china hutch.

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One For The Win!

The power of one. I may have only finished one project to enter in the 3rd quarter Finish-A-Long but that was all that was needed. To my amazement, my project was randomly selected to win an Aurora BOM pattern from Alyce Blyth of Blossom Heart Quilts!!!

I have never won a quilting/sewing giveaway before. Not through a blog hop, or through Facebook, or through Instagram (although I've liked posts and tagged people to no end!). I am so excited! Thank you Alyce!

I also want to thank all the hosts and sponsors of the 2016 Finish-A-Long that make it possible for all of us quilters and sewists to participate. What a fun way to be inspired to finish our WIPs and UFOs!

~Sharla

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2016 Finish-A-Long: Q4 Goals

Since the countdown to the holidays has already started, I've decided to post a smaller list of goals for the 4th quarter of the Finish-A-Long. Maybe a smaller list won't be so overwhelming and I'll actually get something accomplished!

The first project I'm anxious to finish is my Spell It With Moda quilt. During harvest in June and July, I finished the top and made a pieced back. I even managed to get it loaded on the longarm before our girls Row x Row road trip. But, then the accident happened and that's where it sits. Once mom is released to go home, I'm hoping to be able to get it quilted since our longarm is in her basement.

The second project I'd like to get finished is this holiday table runner I made as a test for a quilt block I designed for a blog hop. As you can see by the wrinkles, it's been folded and stashed since I whipped it up several months ago.

I'm still needing to make my grandson the Lego Batman quilt he asked for earlier this year. Maybe for Christmas? Let's hope I can get it done this quarter!

And lastly, there's the test project I cut from this fabric for the most recent quilt block I designed for the New Block Blog Hop. I have everything cut to make a mini quilt so I really don't think it would take that long to sew up, but we'll see if I get that far.

I'll be linking this post up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long 4th Quarter Goals link-up.

~Sharla

P.S. For those following my mom's progress, we're almost home! She moved from the Kansas City rehab facility to our local hospital a few days ago to continue her physical therapy. Hoping in a few more weeks she'll be up walking and ready to enjoy the holidays. Thank you for all your prayers!

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One & Done for FAL Q3

Well, the 3rd quarter of the 2016 Finish-A-Long didn't go as planned for me. I started off the first 3 weeks of July in the combine for the marathon wheat harvest and ended the last six weeks in the hospital/rehab with mom after her accident. Needless to say, not much sewing happened for me and I only have one small finish to show for it - these two zipper totes.

These were a quick project I made for my grandsons and you can click on the link for all the details on these Zipper Totes.

I'm linking this post up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long: Q3 Finishes Link-up. Go check out all the projects for some great quilting and sewing inspiration! And you can see my lofty Q3 goals here.

We're hoping that mom will be able to go home in the next few weeks, so let's hope my Q4 goes better!

~Sharla

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Whirl & Twirl Quilt: BQF Mini Quilt

Yesterday, I posted about the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side. Bloggers can enter a total of two quilts in the festival and there are several different categories from which to choose. For my second entry, I'm entering my Whirl & Twirl Quilt in the Mini Quilt division.

I designed this quilt for the Pat Bravo Minis Blog Tour this spring. It featured fabrics from Pat's latest collections, Dare and Essentials II. We were given a selection of fat 1/8's to work with.

I have been exploring blocks that create a secondary design for the last few blog hops I've participated in, and this quilt showcases one of those designs. When multiple blocks of this 3" x 3" design are set together, it creates the whirling and twirling design in the finished quilt. 

The blue pinwheels in the final design reminds me of the many windmills that have dotted the western Kansas landscape for 100+ years, while the pink blades reminds me of the wind turbines that have graced that same landscape in more recent years. I love this photo with the wind turbines in the background and the shadows that highlight the quilting.

For the backing of this quilt, I pieced together some of the extra fat 1/8's that I didn't use in the design.

Be sure to stop by the Blogger's Quilt Festival to see all the quilty inspiration shared there, and vote for your favorites (voting starts next week)!

Thanks for letting me share this quilt again and for stopping by to visit!

~Sharla

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Robots All In A Row: BQF Original Design

This week I've seen lots of posts about the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy over at Amy's Creative Side, so I decided to check it out. Amy started the BQF 8 years ago as a way for bloggers to share their work and to inspire each other. Although all the eye candy is a gift in itself, Amy has a slew of sponsors for giveaways and prizes as an added bonus to participate, either as a blogger or a blog visitor! So, I decided to join in the fun today! (what else do I have to do while sitting around at the rehab center with my mom?;)

One of my favorite quilts I've completed this year is this Robots All In A Row quilt. I designed and made this quilt for grandson #2 when he graduated from his baby crib into his big boy bed. With the change of beds came new décor with a robot theme.

 

The idea for this quilt design started with this robot fabric I found on our girls Row by Row road trip last year called "Little Monsters Robots" by The Henley Studio for Makower UK. I sketched out each of the robots onto graph paper, then I just started sewing robots with no particular plan in mind. As the quilt developed, the robot fabric moved from the focal print of the quilt to the backing of the quilt.

I decided to set the robots in a row surrounded by a field of chevrons. Once the sewing process started, this quilt went quickly, from start to finish it only took me 3 weekends to make. Of course, I did have a deadline of finishing it before my grandson's second birthday.

I decided to use straight lines for the quilting, adding to the modern feel of the quilt. I followed the chevron's zigzag for the chevron part of the quilt and quilted horizontal lines across the robots.

With the left over fabric from the quilt, I made a pillowcase to coordinate.

This was such a rewarding quilt for me to make. I really enjoyed the creative process of designing the robots and seeing it go from a sketch to a quilt. It was also my first solids quilt and I hope it won't be my last! I have always considered myself a traditional quilter, but this quilt has definitely expanded my horizons and I find myself gravitating to more modern fabric each time I go shopping for new projects. Of course, the greatest reward was making this quilt for such a special little guy in my life!

Be sure to check out the Blogger's Quilt Festival and vote for your favorite quilts (hopefully it's mine!) and enter the giveaways!

If you enjoyed your visit here, I hope you'll stop by again!

~Sharla

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