We have a winner!

And the winner is Sandy! Sandy, please email me (my email is in my about on the right hand side) your address and I will send you your new pattern and charm pack off to you. :) 

I will be participating in SewMamaSew's giveaway day so there will be no giveaway next week.

But, check back on May 21st!  In the meantime I look forward to sharing more story blocks and farmer's Wife blocks!  I wish I could do more than a few blocks here and there, but there just isn't anymore time in my day.  In a few months though I am sure things will pick up. :)

Right now I am enjoying taking my 4 children for walks and shedding more baby weight.  I am so glad that all of the snow is finally gone!  My yard is starting to look green.  It has been overcast and a little damp the last few days but it just means more green right?  How is the weather where you are?

Giveaway

Before I get to the giveaway I am going to quickly share 3 blocks I finished up for a friend's Storybook quilt:

The first is from the book "Someday"by Alison McGhee illustrations by Peter Reynolds (I love his stuff).

The second is "Down By the Bay" - a whale with a polka dot tail.

And here is the giving tree block all finished up.  My friend and I think 4 more blocks would balance the quilt out nicely...now I am trying to figure out if I have enough time to whip up a few more by Thursday.  I have visions of "Madeline", "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", "The Box Car Children", and many more floating through my head.  I might just have to make one of these for my children.

Now on to the giveaway:

I am giving away one "Square Dance" pattern by Gigi's Thimble away along with "A Walk in The Woods" Charm pack.  Next week I will give away a second of Amber's patterns along with different fabric so be sure to check back and enter then too.

To enter just leave a comment telling me what your favorite children's book was.   I will leave this giveaway open until Friday May 11 and announce the winners on Saturday.  Good luck!

And What Have I Been Stitching?

I finished hand stitching this block and am going to add the green leaf border all around.  This one is for a friend of mine who is putting together a story book quilt for her niece.  She ran short on blocks and I offered to make one up for her.  I thought embroidery would work well for "The Giving Tree", since all of the illustrations look pencil drawn.  What do you think?

I also managed to stitch up 4 more Farmer's Wife blocks bringing my total to 10.  10 seems pretty good...that's only 101 more to sew right?  What have you been making?  

Some Fun Mail

I have received tons of fun mail lately!  First up the rainbow charms from the swap hosted by sweet diesel designs.

Next up I got my order of books!  Among the large stack of children's books was this one:

I would love to buy a copy of this one for everyone I know!  It has so many fun projects in it.  I can't wait to show some of them to you all. So many unique ideas and fun ideas!  I might be making some cards this year.  The kids have been getting postcards for a geography project we are doing and they have more on the way:

I also got a really wonderful surprise!!  Remember how I won a pattern from Amber over at A Little Bit Biased?  Well she didn't just send me one pattern she sent me three!!!

So all of this fun mail got me to thinking...it is time for a giveaway!  So check back here next week and I will have my first giveaway!

I won!!

I am super excited!  Amber, from A Little Bit Biased had a contest to name her new pattern.

I named the pattern "Square Dance" along with 2 other people.  Amber is sending us each a copy of her new pattern!  I can't wait to make it.  It is a great excuse to buy some charm packs!  Now to decide which charm pack to buy? I will be back soon to share more blocks and a fun challenge I put together for our local modern quilt guild.

April Block + a few others

I finished my April block for the Half Square Triangle Quilt Along!  I sewed the first one backwards.  I actually know better with the number of pinwheel quilts I have made.  However, I was trying to work quickly and not paying close enough attention.  You may know how it is when you try to catch a few minutes here and there during brief naps or brief moments when my little guy lets me put him down. :)

I also finished 2 more of my farmer's wife blocks.  I just need to trim them a bit.  I was a little scared of trying to put together the "Birds in Air" block but I decided just to go for it.  I highly recommend this book for practice and for stretching your skills.

My daughter even completed her second one.  They look so cute together.  I think her scrappy different colored approach is going to look so much better than mine.

Farmer's Wife Progress

I have made a little progress on the Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks.  I have two more cut and partially pieced but I need to put it aside and get my April block done for the Half Square Triangle Quilt along.  Finding time these days is getting harder.  My sweet little boy is one that wants to be held all day.  I am soaking it up since I am sure he is my last baby.

The best thing is that I have a little partner for the quilt along.  My daughter has decided she wants to make a twin sized Farmer's Wife quilt. I have tried to convince her to do a doll quilt or a lap size but she is sure she wants to do one that fits her bed (she is about 7).  So over the next year we will be partners in crime.  She selects all of the colors, irons the fabric, and then sews them together.  I iron the seems open for her.  I am excited for her!  It is fun to see her working on these.  She is hand-stitching some and machine sewing others.  She is definitely better at hand-stitching right now (I just draw on the seam for her and she sews across it) but this will be great practice for her and really allow her to learn a ton!