Pet Project Show #14

I can't give a million excuses why I didn't get the 
post up late last night. I sewed all day, cooked 
dinner, and had a glass of wine. I dozed off before 
8 p.m., and once that happened, who knows what I 
would have written! I'm up early, though, and 
ready to party with you this weekend.

 Cassandra at The Not So Dramatic Life: 
There are so many aspects to comment on--
graphic background, striped binding, etc. This is 
so well done. I think I am especially drawn 
to the FMQ echoing of her motif, and her use of 
color. Notice the thread color changes 

 made to highlight the outline.

Mary at Strip Quilts, Pass It On: Beautifully

orchestrated with your low-volume and high

contrast prints. I get exasperated when someone

says to me, "Oh, a scrappy quilt." That doesn't

mean it all comes together and just works. There

was a lot of decision making that went into this

piece to balance the colors, the prints, and the 

overall feel. I really enjoy it.

Sarah at  Confessions of a Fabric Addicit: I think I 

could sail away on this quilt. It has such simple

lines, and the background quilting is intense. The 

'sails' just pop. I think I am drawn to the story 

and love in it, too.

Thank you to everyone who linked up in March! 

I sincerely love seeing your projects, and best of all, 

I think I've gotten to know many of you from our 

many email exchanges. That's the real gift!

Now lets' link up your next round of projects!

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 easy for anyone 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, April 6th 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

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!