Sunday Thoughts

Sew A Modern Home Quilt Book

 As I have mentioned in previous posts,

I have had an opportunity to get to know

Melissa Lunden 

this last year 

through working with her on a few quilt projects.

Melissa just published her first book

Sew A Modern Home

Quilts and More for Every Room

and asked me to participate in her Blog Tour

and Give Away

(which I was very happy to do)

Yesterday as I opened my mail

I received my very own copy

of  Sew A Modern Home

as a gift.

Thank You Melissa!

 There are so many fun projects in this book

I almost don't know which one I would like to make first.

But, probably my favorite,

which was chosen for the cover 

is

Dancing Chevrons

It looks fairly easy to construct

and could be made in any color pallet

to match a room.

Now on my To-Do list.

Kitschy Scissors

"Kitschy Scissors"

as opposed to 

"Kitchen Scissors"

*Austin, Texas

Definition of Kitschy (noun)

"Things (such as movies or works of art)

that are of low quality

and that many people

find amusing and enjoyable."

Well, If the scissors fit, 

wear them :)

Those Mesa Ladies/ August

 Yesterday was my favorite day of the month

A day to quilt 

with 

Those Mesa Ladies

Amanda brought her latest Work In Progress

This month we met in the cultural hall of the church

while electrical work was being done

through out the building.

We each bring our own projects to work on.

Most bring

Show and Tell

Peg just got her Block of The Month quilt

back from the quilter.

Right away she threw it into the washer and dryer

making it nice and soft and cuddly.

Peg also just finished her

Quilty Fun Sampler

designed by Lori Holt/ Bee In My Bonnet

The back is as cute as the front.

Christine worked on binding her latest.

 The back is a soft Minky

Peg and Christine

I feel so honored to be part of this Mesa Quilt group.

The ladies are very generous and giving.

Peg brought us each a gift

of homemade 

"Blessing Bread"

 The message was so sweet

that it brought tears to our eyes.

We all have our challenges

and could use an extra Blessing.

A lot more than quilting 

goes on when we meet together.

 Each year on this day

As a family tradition,

Peg makes bread in honor of her mother's birthday.

A gift to offer

comfort, peace, love and hope 

to those who receive it.

Thank you Peg for always knowing how to 

be a friend.

And, as always

the luncheon was absolutely delicious.

Steph and Karen

provided

Hawaiian sliders * recipe HERE

Veggies and Dip

Watermelon

Homemade Salsa and Chips

Carmelitas (dessert)

and Lemonade.

The 11 (yes 11!) Electricians in the building came by

and mentioned how good the kitchen smelled.

Stephanie in her generosity

fed them all Hawaiian Sliders.

Can you see why I admire these ladies so much?

Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild/ August

 It's been over a week since our

Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild 

meeting for August

and I just realized I haven't shown 

pictures from the event.

As a relatively new guild,

we are growing and 

our gatherings are 

becoming more and more fun.

Each month everyone is invited to participate in a swap.

For August the theme was

Mini Quilts

 Everyone seemed pleased with what they were

"gifted"

 Center photo is this years President

Michelle Hart

She and her staff really put a lot of effort into our guild,

and I for one, am very grateful.

 We often meet at 

ETC 

a local quilt store in Mesa

 For August we 

had a pot luck luncheon

followed by 

several mini-classes taught by very talented guild members

• Johnie – fabric embellishment
• Lisa – paper piecing
• Alyssa – FMQ
• Terry – faux piped binding
• Ana – double flip hst method
• Lora – EPP
• Jen – Hawaiian appliqué
• Becca – Bloc-locs 

I spent most of my time

learning Free Motion Quilting 

by the ever amazing

Alyssa Lichner (Pile O' Fabric)
She has the same Juki 2010Q machine
I recently purchased and it was
inspirational to see what Alyssa can do
on a domestic machine.
I came home with supplies
to start practicing
and to learn more about the capabilities of my machine.

I also really enjoyed learning
how easy it is to do a
Faux Piped Binding
taught by Terry
I can hardly wait to give this technique
a try on my next mini quilt.

Cut, Press, Sew by Lori Holt

 Last June 

when I went home to Utah

I had a chance to meet up with my girlfriend

Lori Holt

of Bee In My Bonnet

 Lori is always so kind to 

"gift"

something she knows I will love.

I was so happy to receive

her latest patterns

Cut, Press, Sew

that was launched as a 

Sew Along on Lori's blog

in May

 Along with the pattern,

Lori included her own fabric lines

to complete the projects.

How lucky am I?

These little Mini's will be perfect for my sewing room wall  :)

I have had a few other quilt commitments

in the line up,

but plan to get started on these very soon :)

 I was especially happy to 

walk into my local quilt store

ETC in Mesa

and see their display of 

Cut, Press, Sew

 I love their choice of  fussy cut Novelty fabrics.

As soon as I finish my daughter's 

wedding quilt,

Cut, Press, Sew

goes to the top of the list!

Sunday Thoughts

Sew A Modern Home Give Away Winner !!

 We have a winner for the

Sew A Modern Home e-book

Give Away!!

by Melissa Lunden

 Random Number Generator

picked #3

Congratulations Jennie  !

I am especially happy to see Jennie win.

She has been a dear friend to my daughter

for many years.

In fact, Jennie is a fantastic photographer

and will be coming here to Arizona

to photograph Aubrey's wedding in October.

Jennie, your name has been sent to 

Martingale Publishers

and they will be e-mailing you soon

with your book  !

**

Thank you to Melissa Lunden

for creating this wonderful quilt book

and for allowing me to 

share a copy with my readers.

Reminder of Give Away!!

Just wanted to remind you 

that today is the last day 

to place your name in the 

Give Away

for an

e-book copy of

Sew A Modern Home  !

Make sure to go over to my post on Monday 8/18

HERE

and leave a comment by midnight tonight.

Winner will be drawn tomorrow.

Mini Nail Polish Quilt

 I just finished my

Mini Nail Polish Quilt

Size 19 1/2" X 21 1/2"

 So easy to do.

This little Mini worked up fast.

The original quilt was presented  recently as a 

free tutorial on Fat Quarter Shop

My friend Lori Holt (Bee In My Bonnet)

scrunched it down to Mini Size

and provided a Free Tutorial 

on her web site too.

 It was fun to pick out scraps of fabric

that I thought would 

 "read"

as a nail polish color or image.

 Lori had a great suggestion:

For the accent on the lid,

simply use the backside of the fabric.

 I also followed the straight line stitching

Lori and the Fat Quarter shop show on their samples.

I used some inexpensive masking tape

from the dollar store.

Perfect because it's exactly 

one inch wide 

and

 has very little stick

which made it easy to move from spot to spot

on the fabric.

This is Lori's version in pink.

Know someone who loves nail polish?

This would make a fun little gift.

Sweet and Simple Table Runner

 My friend Lori Holt (Bee In My Bonnet)

has been designing the most fun

quilty type projects for summer.

She calls it her

Scrappy Summer Sew Along

and she has provided quite a few

Free Tutorials

Today I finished her

Sweet and Simple Table Runner

This was a fun way to use up some

leftover scrap fabrics.

 I have a lot of orange in my dining room

and wanted to accent with some aqua's and teal blues.

 I sure have loved my new Juki 2010Q

and have been practicing with some of the features.

This table runner was a perfect place to start.

I was able to do some simple straight stitches for the

machine quilting.

 This table runner can be adapted to any length.

I opted to make mine to fit the length of 

my dining room table.

Lori made her 

Sweet and Simple Table Runner

to fit the top of her piano.

For the free tutorial

you can visit

Bee In My Bonnet

HERE