A Quilter Is Born and A Giveaway

This is one of my most favorite stories ever.  It's about how David became a quilt builder and gained two quilting "moms."  I have been quilting now for at least 10 years off and on.  Over the years, David, my husband, had started to show an interest in my quilts by helping me pick out fabrics and even doodling around on graph paper.  I've been telling him for years now to give it a try and a few weeks ago he finally decided to jump right in.

It started during an impromptu lunch date.  Sandra (mmmquilts) had just finished her Blue Skies and Sunny Days quilts.

After showing him a picture of the quilts he remarked at how pretty they were and that he really loved her design.  He ask how hard it would be to make the quilt and I said probably not very hard.  It's mostly strip piecing.  I followed up with, "Why? Do you want to make it?"  To my surprise he said yes.  I quickly texted her and asked if he could pattern test it for her.  I truly think at first she thought I was pulling her leg, but said of course he could.

The next day I texted her this picture.

 He already had a color palette picked out in his head before we ever got to the store.  Quilting lesson #1 was picking fabrics and getting them cut.  Which he handled like a pro.

After sending Sandra these pictures, she went to work writing her pattern for him to sew.  We both knew he was serious.

Quilting lesson #2 would be prepping fabric and cutting it.

It is also where I learned the difference between "piecing" a quilt and "building" a quilt.

Quilting lesson #3 consisted of piecing the blue and orange strips with the background strips.

Quilting lesson #4 attaching strips together.

Here's where the story sort of takes a surprising turn.  Quilting lessons #5-some higher number he figured out on his own.  I took our daughter to a family Memorial Day get together and he opted to stay home and finish up some things around the house.  When he was done he decided to work on his quilt.  While I was gone I received the following text.

There may have been a moment of slight panic on my part.  I hadn't thought about him sewing while I was gone, or running out of bobbin or him trying to fix it.  But he did and got everything working once again.  It wasn't long after I got home he had all of his blocks together and was ready to figure out his layout.

After narrowing it down to two he liked best, he even asked for help on Facebook.

A decision was made, rows were pieced and David's first quilt flimsy was finished.

Presenting to you, David's version of Sunny Days he is calling Hawaiian Stepping Stones.

I'm pretty sure this is a look of, "Yup, I built a quilt.  Don't mess with me. I am a bad ass."

Now, how about that giveaway?  Sandra and I are just so dag gone proud of him!  Just as proud as two quilty parents could be.  So that you can join in and share in our excitement, Sandra has very graciously offered a copy of her pattern as a giveaway on my blog.  It's kind of like when dads hand out cigars when babies are born.  So today through June 10th you can win a pdf copy of Blue Skies and Sunny Days.  The pattern is available in her Craftsy store today as of today and will be on sale till June 10th.  You can check out her Craftsy Pattern store here.  Also if you win the give away but have already purchased the pattern, Sandra will refund your money.  Isn't she the best??  

You have two chances to enter:

1) Leave a comment any comment really.  Maybe tell me if you have ever taught someone to quilt and how it went.  Or maybe you have some quilting advice for Dave, the quilt builder.

2)  Tell me how you follow Tish's Adventures In Wonderland.

Make sure you leave a separate comment for each.  On Saturday, June 11th I will pick a winner using a random number generator and announce the winner.  If you are a no-reply blogger (or even think there is a chance you might be) please leave your email in your comment so that I can reach you.  I know I'm pretty excited...this is TishNWonderland's first give away!

How about one more picture before we go?

This is our budding new quilter worrying inspecting seams that he feared didn't quite match up.  If they were off it was by like 1/8" or less.  He strives for perfection and I love him for it.  Congrats on your first quilt, quilt builder!  I promise it will not become your first UFO :)

Today I'm linking up with Whoomp! There It Is, Finish It Up Friday,  TGIFF, and Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

Tish vs Pixie Baskets

In this corner, weighing in at no pounds and barely a few ounces and standing at a few inches tall, we have a tag team duo that may look small but produce big results...introducing...Pixie Baskets by Fabric Mutt.  And in this corner, weighing in at 130 lbs (and that has to be true because it's what her driver's license says) and standing tall at 4' 11" we have a quilter that likes to run with scissors and stitch outside the lines, TishNWonderland.

At the beginning of April, I decided to link up with Julie at Pink Doxies and join her band of quilters all trying to be a #BraveQuilter.  The goal of Julie's linky, is to pick something you haven't tried and challenge yourself to rise above your fears and meet that gaol head on.  It's time to cross things off that bucket list.

For me that challenge was to make something 3D.  Up to this point in the game, really the only things I have made are quilts of all different sizes.  No bags, boxes, purses or even clothing.  After seeing Jayne over at Twiggy and Opal's adorable verion of this small basket, I wanted to give it a try.  So I printed out the instructions to study them thoroughly and went to work.  Since my goal was to make items for an upcoming guild event, I went with strawberry colors.

I carefully cut the pieces according to the directions.

Started what would be some very simple sewing.

Commenced to basting.

And really in no time had the outer shell of my basket.

I have to say at this point, old Tisher was feeling pretty good about herself.  The only thing left to do was construct the lining and put this baby together.  Making the lining was super simple.  Attaching the two, not so simple for me.  I didn't get any pictures of the process because I was concentrating so hard.  

For my first attempt, I didn't think it was that bad.  Although, there were some small issues.  The lining almost felt like it was too big for the inside of the basket and kind of poofed up over the top.

And as you can see on the far left, when I tried sewing the inside seam together I didn't get it all the way, so I had a small hole that I needed to finish closing.  So not horrible, but not quite right either.  After consulting with Sandra (mmmquilts.com) and Jayne (Twiggy and Opal)  I took a deep breath, regrouped and tried again.

This time I chose some leftover squares from my Psychedelic Cat Lady Quilt.  

And the construction process I chose was a bit different as well.  Since I feared my poofy lining was due to a cutting error, I cut everything slightly larger than it needed to be.

Then I trimmed it down to the size the pattern called for, so that the batting and outside cover where 100% the same size.

Then because I feared all that bulk, I left out the pieces of muslin to back the lining.  I also followed Jayne's advice and sewed about and 1/8" around the top after the lining was in place.  

Sewing this seemed so awkward to me.  The types of circles I normally sew in are nothing like this.

Stitching around the top really did help keep things from wanting to poof up.  As for my adjustments to the pattern...you really do need that muslin to help add to the stiffness of the basket.  Had I not skipped that step, I think I would have been happier with the results.  Live and learn.  Not sure what's going on with the inside closing seam.  It's like this basket is stuck in a constant state of a funny smile.  

All in all, after everything is said and done, I'm pretty happy with my first attempts.  The dust has settled and my mind has cleared.  I didn't end up making any for the guild's boutique, but I'm not quite done trying to make more of these little babies yet.  The one on the left is currently be used for a thread catcher and it's just the perfect size.  So for the month of April I can say with pride I was a #BraveQuilter.

You can join Julie and the gang right now over at Pink Doxies for a wrap up linky party to see how everyone fared in their goals last month and maybe be inspired to try something.  And if you too would like to join all the #BraveQuilters hop back over to Pink Doxies on May 5th and link up with your own bucket list item for the month.  Unfortunately for me, with all the craziness coming up with our guild's quilt show, I think I'm going to set May out as far as trying something new.  Surviving the show its self seems like a logical goal and one that will be new to me, since this is my first year being active within the group.  So set a goal and go join!

Also if you hadn't heard Lindsey over at LR Stitched as declared May 2016, May is for Makers.  This is an amazing idea.

The idea is to support those designers, bloggers and teachers for all the amazing things they do for us to help us along our quilting journey.  There is so much they make available to us for free and the amount of work that goes into all of their projects is incredible.  I don't know how they do it.  I myself have only written a few tutorials, so my mind is blown every time Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts releases one of her amazing patterns or Yvonne at Quilting JetGirl and Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs publish a new information series to help us grow.  And lets not forget their patterns.  So for each week in the month of May (that's 4 weeks) consider joining in and supporting one of the quilty/crafy individual that has made a difference in your world.  I'm happy to say that one of my first May is for Makers purchases was a copy of Lara's at Buzzin Bumble's new book Crafted Applique.  

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social, Linky Tuesday, #BraveQuilter Wrap Up and Main Crush Monday.

Quilting Confessions

This month I decided to try something a bit new for me, conquering a fear, learning a new skill, or possibly providing you with many laughs (depending on how this turns out).  My dear friend, Julie over at Pink Doxies, recently started hosting a new monthly linky party called #BraveQuilter encouraging us to mark things off our quilting bucket list and challenge ourselves to try something new.  

So this leads me to my Quilting Confession; Tish, has never really tried to sew something that is 3D.  GASP!  So what exactly does this mean?

I consider myself to be a 2D quilter...I've only made quilts.  No bags.  No totes.  No pin cushions.  Not even a doll.  Just flat.  Nothing with dimensions (unless you count a folded or rolled quilt).  I read about all my other quilty friends making beautiful bags with nifty pouches.  Drawstring wonders to hold all of your little valuables.  Cute baskets to catch and hold your unwanted threads.  

My quilting partner in crime, Sandra at mmm! quilts, even designed and wrote a pattern for Moda Bake Shop for her Pyramid Pouch.

Click on the picture to check out this awesome tutorial

 I'm sitting over here in wonderland hoping no one notices that my sewing forte doesn't include these skills.  I'll be honest zippers seem scary.

Picture from FunnyRush.com

AHHHHHH!!!  Oh, sorry, it's just a coat zipper.  But you do see what I mean, right?

So I have decided this month, with big girl panties on, to try to make a Pixie Basket.  I first learned about this cute little basket when Jayne over at Twiggy and Opal made one last month.

Photo courtesy of Jayne at Twiggy and Opal.  Click on the picture to read more about it.

The pattern is called Pixie Basket by Fabric Mutt.  It seems like a quick little project, though I have only skimmed the directions at this point.  With our community's up coming Strawberry Festival in May, it seems like a perfect little item to sell at the guild's boutique.

Things might be a bit quiet over here in wonderland this month.  I have a few silent projects going on, but hopefully, I can show you my finished Labyrinth quilt next week and show you my finished Pixie Basket (or maybe two) before April May sneaks up on us.  

Also, are you a new quilt blogger?  Have you been blogging for less than two years?  Do you want to make new quilting friends?  Good news!

Sign ups for the 2016 New Bloggers Blog Hop are open now till April 30th.  This year's hop is being hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie at Late Night Quilter.  I participated last year and it was the best blogging decision I ever made.  I have made so many friends, learned blogging advice and technical aspects of blogging I didn't even know existed and was encouraged to try so many new quilty things.  I can say with 100% certainty, this hop helped me grow as a quilter.  So much so, I am debating on signing up again...technically my blog is only a year old.  But if you are new to blogging, do not waist time.  Click on any of the links above to head over to the hosts' pages to read more and change the way you blog forever.

Today I'm linking up with Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop! Let's Bee Social and #BraveQuilter.