Friday Progress

 

Sorry, no finishes today, just

practice, practice, practice.

I've watched Leah Day's videos everyday.

I had a goal to practice daily this week, and

I stuck with it. I attempted feathers today. 

Okay, I've never actually seen feathers that look 

like mine here, but I claim artistic interpretation.

This is a fat quarter sectioned off, and I used

the least expensive poly batting I could 

purchase. It was thicker than I was used to, 

but it was no problem. It did create extrodinary loft.

Two full days of stash busting to yield this palette.

 The squares were already matched up, and I took them 

along to Wednesday night sewing. While I 

sewed, both my mom and daughter helped me 

out by clipping, pressing, and starching HSTs.

By this afternoon, I had sewn half of them

into quartered squares, and could put some on 

the design wall. I LOVE this project! If you

missed the beginning, it's here.

Today I had a surprise in my mailbox. 

Darlene, a.k.a.Quilt Shop Gal, sent me a 'surprise' gift 

for linking up to her linky party a few weeks ago. 

Just a surprise thank you, and I wanted to share. 

I'm not usually a pattern follower, but there are 

several in here I'll be making. They ARE adorable!

What a kind gesture, and what a lovely gift. I

am sincerley grateful, Darlene. Thank you so much!

Quilt Shop Gal also has a 2015 Free Motion 

Quilting Challenge for any of you folks like me

who are working on your FMQ skills. I'll be linking

up something this month so see you there.

Head's Up also to those of you finishing projects

for 2015 Q-1 Finishes with Adrianne

On the Windy Side. Don't forget to link up

your finishes. Link ups for the second

quarter will begin soon. 

Another fun finish up party runs monthly at 

Fiber of All Sorts. 

I'm linking up today with~

Free Motion Mavericks
#CreativeGoodness Linky Party
Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
Planet Penny Happy Friday
I Quilt Thursdays

Fabric Frenzy Friday
Lily's Quilts
Sew She Can

Don't forget to check back late Friday night for 

the start of the Pet Project Show, and link up. 

I'll show some of the Doxie Girls and my favorite 

link ups from the month of March.

Until then--

Come on, Doxie Girls.

Let's go sew.

Wednesday Works in Progress

All the blocks from my Modern Traditions 

Charm Square Quilt Along are in place on my

design wall now. The current discussion here is 

what fabric to use for sashing, and which other

for the border. The prints are from the Amy Butler

line Hapi, and it's been interesting to see

pictures of the whole chunk of fabric versus

my little bits in the charm squares.

Any suggestions?

Next up is my picture I used for my landscape class

last weekend. It was taken in south eastern Sweden

on a trip 2 years ago. I chose it for the contrast

between the grey skies and the chartruese

rapeseed fields. Pressed rapeseed gives us 

canola oil. The blooms were neon in the 

overcast days, and almost iconic of our trip.

This is as far as I came with my prototype, but

I approached this purely as a learning project.

Some of the other projects done that day would

impress you while mine might be a concept only.

Carolyn Mann was an enthusiastic teacher, 

and her work was inspiring, but I found my 
heart is not in making landscapes. That's okay.

It was still a great class, and I learned
both technique, and things about myself 
while working among friends.

We don't have to love everything we do, but 
it's important we stretch ourselves often, 
and try new things. You want to pursue things 
that give you an emotional response. 
You want to be excited!

************

And now I need some advice from you. I'm 

struggling to get my quilt sandwiches together 

smoothly, and STAY TOGETHER! I'm experiencing

shifting and movement even before I start 

FMQ so imagine the complications when I'm 

sitting at my machine. I'm feeling less and less

in love with my 505 unless it's a small project.

I've found myself needing to pin to keep

alignment, and then angry that I have to both

spray AND pin! Are you feeling my dark cloud?

What do you do that WORKS?

I need to take the Aquiltic sandwich apart 

entirely now, and start over from scratch.

I'm not happy.

Jelly Beans and Chocolate is supposed to be

done before Easter, but it would be a tight finish.

The top was done back at the end of January!

Where did time go?

For those of you locals--sewing tonight at 

Joann's in New Philadelphia, Ohio. 

We'd love to see some new faces!

Linking up today with~
Sew Fresh Quilts
Freshly Pieced
Quilting Jet Girl
My Quilt Infatuation

So thankful for the link up opportunity!

Come on, Doxie Girls.

Let's go sew.

Monday Musings

 Last week I made the trip back to my favorite 

local quilt shop, Miller's Dry Goods. My mind and 

eyes were tuned into a different fabric selection, 

and I wasn't disappointed. I was looking for, and found, 

some highly patterned, and colorful floral pieces. 

My latest inspiration comes from a book I've

highlighted here several times, and is one

of my favorite go-to reads--

Quilting with a Modern Slant

This incredibly scrap-inspired quilt is the work

of Katie Pedersen, who blogs as Sew Katie Did.

I just love it!

I've been on a HST kick this year, and have written

about my frustration using pre-cuts when making 

them. The feedback I received was full of ideas, 

but two names kept coming up. One was Bloc-Loc 

for their squaring-up rulers. When I decided on this 

concept as my next project, and realized the extent 

of work, I contacted Bloc-Loc. We talked about my 

ideas,and they were gracious to send me a ruler 

to use as a demo here on Pink Doxies.

I was sent a 6.5" squaring up ruler. Bloc-Loc's suggestion

in their directions say to use one inch up, so a 7.5" 

square to start. I didn't have anything that large in

my scraps to use so I hit my stash--hard!

I have over 50 fabrics cut into squares or strips

at this point--

...and another 140 or so to go!

I went after pieces that I've never used 

before first, and filled in with others.

My trusty He-Man Ruler has been very helpful. My 

tendency with plastic rulers is to lose contact

with the edge right at the end, and it causes a 

swerve or divot in my strip. The heavier ruler

with the gripping foam underneath it helps

hold the fabric in place all the way to the end.

This is the idea of a finished block. I am already

willing to say I am notably impressed with the 

accuracy and ease of the Bloc-Loc ruler,

but floored by the increased speed I can work.

So far, SO Wonderful, Bloc-Loc!

 Also on my list of daily lessons to grow my skills is

to visit the Leah Day Free Motion Quilting Project.

Every single day I do something. There is a vast 

improvement in my skills even from the first 

video until now. It's FREE, and I'm so grateful

for all the resources packed in there.

I keep practicing so I can link up with

Lizzie Lenard's Vintage Sewing Blog on 

Thursday's when she hosts a link up party.

 My days are going in all directions, it seems,

but I feel I'm moving forward like the coming

of spring is. There are so many new things to

learn when you're trying to grow.

I'd love to hear what things you're working on

or how you're trying to grow your skills.

Please take a minute and let me know 

today in the comments.

I'm so honored to be 

featured today on~

and also at

I'm linking up today with~

Bambisyr med sin Quiltgladje!

Monday Makers

Hug-a-Bit Quilts

Cooking Up Quilts

Show and Tell Tuesdays
Sew Cute at Blossom Heart Quilts
Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
Freemotion by the River
Late Night Quilter

Thank you so much for your 
link-up opportunities!

Time for work!

Come on, Doxie Girls.

Let's go sew.

Pet Project Show #13

My Life Aquiltic

A very modern looking pieced back using my 

remnants. I envision a column of ocean water 

with a small wave swell on top.

I spent yesterday sewing alongside my mom. 

She worked on her Little Dresses for Africa, and 

I finished this quilt top. (Aren't we lucky?) 

This will be another Pie Quilt.

I had to snap these pictures late yesterday

afternoon before I lost the light. I wanted

you to have a realistic idea of how relaxed

I am when making a quilt sandwich. I've 

had some shifting in the back while moving

it around so I'll need to fix that before 

I actually start FMQ. I'm also adding 

just a little more length to the ends, 

 to ensure I don't run out of backing

while quilting. You will get shrinkage.

I'm off taking a class today in creating a 

landscape quilt. It's offered through my new

guild, Coshocton Canal Quilters,

and sounded too interesting to pass up.

Besides, I've made some good friends there

already, and they're coming. Quilting is a 

social hobby if you want it to be.

This was last Saturday at Heritage Arts Days.

How can you not smile when you're

sewing among friends?

It's Saturday, and time for the weekly 

Pink Doxies 


Pet Project Show. 

Add your link here every Saturday. 

Rules

Do we have to have rules? 

No worries! It's EASY.

1. Use the blue 'Add Your Link' button (below left) 
to upload a picture of something you've created 
in the past week. Any kind of handiwork--
share it now! It can be a work in progress, 
finally finished, or even your fab new fabric. 
Whatever it is that inspired you to create this 
week, we'd like to see it here. 

2. Please link to a specific post, and not just your 
blog address. It makes it easier for someone 
following your link to find the project.

3. Provide a backlink to Pink Doxies with a link in 
your post, or pick up our Pet Project Show 
button in the sidebar. Copy the code, then 
create a Pet Show widget with 'Add by HTML' 
on your Layout page.

-OR-

1. You can link up to your Instagram. 
Click on the Instagram icon at the bottom 
of the link up screen. The URL of your Instagram 
feed will be your link. 
Please hashtag #pinkdoxiespetproject

Either way you link up, remember it's a party 
here, so schmooze with the crowd! Visit others 
who've linked up. Leave a comment so they 
know what you like about their work. 

Don't miss a post! 

Follow me on Bloglovin' or by email. 

The Linky Party starts now, and runs until 
Monday, March 30th at midnight. 

Spread the word, and tell all your stitchy friends.

*The first Saturday party of each month will 
feature several of the Doxies and my 
favorite link ups.
By linking up, you are giving permission for me 
to post your picture with a link back to your 
blog or Instagram account. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up today with~

Show Off Saturday

Oh, Scrap!

So Darn Crafty Linky Party

Thank you for the linking opportunity!

Pie Quilts

My new Moo Cow baby quilt 
front and back.

 The backing is a actually a textured print, 
with a striped Moda binding.

I started this little quilt with some 
'Milk Cow Kitchen' fabrics by Moda
 I had on hand, and added to it some of 
my other favorites. I wanted a more
traditional-feeling quilt with a little boy
in mind after all the little girls quilts
I had made lately.

Lately I've been running crazy behind the scenes of 
Pink Doxies with half a dozen projects. So many 
new things happening--so much to tell you, but I 
won't overwhelm you. Spring is here with a 
few brave flowers and occasional overnight 
snow, but I have faith the sun will shine. 

Let's keep our sewing simple so we can enjoy 

the warmer weather.

One of my latest projects to tell you about is 

 Pie Quilts.

More on the name in a bit.

For many folks ready to learn all about sewing and 

quilting, it's a scary thing to pick out a project

that is past the Very Beginner level, but doesn't have too

many new things to tackle all at once. I hear over 

and over, "I can do pillowcases, and this-and-that, 

but where should I start with quilting?"

or...

"I used to sew quite a bit, but it's been a while."

First, there are so many places to learn the most 

basic skills of sewing and quilting. Take a class 

where you live, or do one online class. Many online 

sites have free lessons, and will walk you through 

all the basic steps of your first quilt.

You know my theory on free resources-- 

Free is Great!

Google it yourself or look here.

Sewing Lessons and Courses
Craftsy's Free Sewing Classes

There's almost 250 free classes there just
for sewing!

But then what?

What can I do next? 

How can you be sure a project is right for you now? 

Everyone wants to be successful and make sure 

they can get the project done they've chosen, but 

we should also be building skills as we sew. 

So, not too easy, but not too hard either. 

Now the name--Pie Quilts.

Did your mom ever tell you,

"It's Easy as Pie, honey!"

Folks, I used to be a big pie maker, and 
let me tell you, making one is not at 
all that easy. We ate a lot of flops.

My crust was always perfect, but depending on

what fruit I used, things could go south in a 
hurry. I learned that by making sure I had a good 
crust recipe from my mom, didn't mess with my 
oven temperature, and always used real butter, 

I could learn how to make all the different 
fillings one at a time.

This is a Pie Quilt.

We're only going to change one thing at a time.

A Pie Quilt has one serious stipulation for you. 
If you have basic skills, and have put together at 
least two basic quilts with straight lines, then 
it's a good choice. Why do I say you should have 
sewn two quilts before? Sewing is skill-based, and 
requires repetition and practice. You get better by 
doing it. Even the most skilled sewists I know 
are still working on their skill set. 

I know when I did my first quilt, I was completely 
amazed when I finally finished it. I struggled 
through it, and made a lot of corrections. I also 
had someone holding my hand when I got stuck. 
The second one I tried to do more on my own, 
and I had an idea what would come next. 
There was a big difference in my process, my skill, 
and my outcome even by the second quilt. 
By the third quilt, stand back because 
I was ready to take on anything! 
Not really, but it felt that way. 

This is the point when we struggle 
to pick out a project that causes us to 
stretch a little, but not break.

I want you to be successful, and I love to have 
people to sew with, so let's do this together.

Many of you readers already have gorgeous quilts 
stacked in your boudoir, but you have friends 
with quilt envy who would like to learn how to get 
started. This is a good place for you to refer them, 
or make it easier for you to get them safely started.

The Moo Cow baby quilt will be our first Pie
Quilt project coming very soon, and the Wave
quilt, or 'Aquiltic' as my daughter refers to the
one below, will be our second. Although they
might look complicated to a newer quilter,
they are not beyond your reach! 
We're working on one new skill at a time.

The Moo Cow quilt at the top is quilted, bound, and 
headed for my Etsy shop this weekend. I try to keep 
everything here free, but I also need to buy
fabric and other materials. I encourage you to
browse my Etsy shop if you're in quick need of
a handmade gift, and help me keep the lights on.

We can do this together. If you have a question
or run into a problem, we'll have a place for 
you to ask. Are you excited yet? I am!

Come back soon for Pie Quilts~

Come on, Doxie Girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up today with~
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
LAFF
WIPs Be Gone
TGIFF
Creative Goodness Linky Party
WIDTH
Thank you for the linking opportunity!