TUMMY TIME IN CENTRAL PARK

At least, I hope that's what will happen with this blankie.  I made my second and probably last Ribbon Blankie for my friend Deana and her soon-to-be-born son, Eli.  Her baby shower was yesterday, and she absolutely loved the blankie.

It turned out really cute, but I have to say that although the minky on the back is cute and soft and fluffy, I really don't ever want to work with it ever again.  It stretches way too much for my patience, which I must say is lacking.

I said on Piece N Quilt the other day that even though it was a pain, I didn't mind working with it because of the result.  I take it back!

I used a multi-shade teal thread for the top-stitching and a loop-de-loop stitch.  I will definitely use both the thread and the stitch again.  Forgive the pictures -- it's a bit fuzzy!

RETRO MAMA'S EASTER EGGS

I have a rather retro momma, and I love Retro Mama's patterns as well.  I think the two go together!  Last night, the bus I ride broke down on the way home, so I didn't get anything sewn.  However, I did cut out enough fabric for these adorable Easter eggs from Retro Mama.

Not much left to work with after the cutting, but at least I got rid of some scraps!  Aren't the colors fun?  All kinds of yellow, blue, green, and brown dots!  Perfect for Spring/Easter, and even into the summer.  I cut enough to make eight eggs of four different colors.  I'm going to sift through my scrap tub tonight to see if I have enough to make a full dozen, because that would be perfect!

Now if only I hadn't thrown away that old egg carton . . .

BEING SICK REALLY CRAMPS MY SEWING STYLE

I have spent the better part of the last month and a half ill.  First with bronchitis.  Then I got a Migraine in the middle of last week.  And then last Friday, I got food poisoning so bad that . . . well, bad.  You don't need details.

What that has meant is that I've gotten very little sewing done since the beginning of March.  And frankly, I'm rather irritated.  I am two blocks behind on the Patchwork Squared Quilt Along, since I spent the entire weekend in bed.  And I never got any of these cute little things sewn, which I wanted to do before Easter.  Tonight is trash night -- as in make sure I've gathered it all for pick up tomorrow -- and once I'm done with that, I'm going to make some Easter eggs.  Patchworky ones that are kind of random.  As random as the Type A part of my personality will allow.  Wish me luck!

THE SOLIDS HAVE LANDED

Check out the P2 page for a picture of the Moda Bella Solids that I bought for the quilt along!  They are gorgeous, and while I've never worked with solids before, I can't wait!  Woo-hoo!

If you visit my blog, I would also really appreciate it if you click the Follow button on the sidebar.  It feels a little lonely here right now.  Thanks!

HOLY TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY, BATMAN!

I could resist.  I had to share what arrived in the mail today!

I've been dying to get this fabric: Tula Pink's Parisville in the Pomegranate colorway.  Alas, it was a pain to find in the Treasure Valley, so I ordered it online last Friday.  Last Friday, people, and it's already here!  Thank you, Cathy of Wondrous Woven Fabrics for getting my fat quarter bundle to me so very quickly!  So excited to create with it.  Decisions, decisions, decisions!

NICKI'S PRIZES

I spent the entire weekend sewing!  I was in class Saturday from 10:30 a.m., till 4:30 p.m.  Needless to say, I was pooped.  But I learned some cool tricks with Regina Bernina, so I'm really excited!

Sunday, I made Nicki's prizes from the blog giveaway.  Since she was the only person who signed up, I made coasters and my first mug rug.  Still not digging the name "mug rug."  Just sounds weird.  How about "snack coaster?"  Or "mug mat?"  Anyway, the giant coaster/mini placemat turned out REALLY cute.  Totally going to have to make more of those!

Here are the coasters, front and back.  I switched it up a little and used different fabrics for the backs.  Usually, you use one of the fabrics you make the coaster fronts out of, but I ended up with five coordinating fabrics, and I totally had to use them all!

I used gray thread to do the quilting, and this time I used a longer stitch.  It turned out really well!

The backs are so cute!  I love these stripes!  So fun!

And now to the mug mat.  Sorry, just can't do that rhyming thing.  At least not in this case.  Anyhow, I used the two stripes as backing and binding.  Nicki's initials are NH.

Now no one else can walk off with it and claim it's hers!  Nicki really likes the backing.  Love it!

I really enjoyed making this mini quilt.  So easy and so cute!  It was great.  I'm totally going to make more of these.  I think my momma would like one.  And Nicki absolutely loved it all.  She said the fabrics will coordinate PERFECTLY with her living room decor.  She goes, "I can't wait to take them home!"  Yay!

COASTER MADNESS -- 50th POST AND GIVEAWAY!

Holy crap!  It's my 50th post!  And I'm having my first giveaway!  So read to the bottom to find out how you can win a cute set of coasters!

Some friends from work, who are engaged to be married, bought a house together earlier this year.  Their house warming is this evening, and last night, I put together a set of coasters for them.

I've made about four or five sets of these coasters since I got Regina Bernina.  Needless to say, they are stinking easy to put together and look pretty darn cute when they're done.  The pattern is the Sidecar Coasters from Connecting Threads.  Very cute.

I have no idea how they've decorated their house, so I went for something that was sort of mod but still has some old-fashioned flair.  Their house is in an older part of Boise, so I didn't want something too modern.  Forgive the fuzzy pictures.  My camera had an encounter with a bottle of coffee creamer a while back.  Don't think it's recovered.

I like these because you just cut stacks -- almost a Stack-and-Whack -- and then simply shuffle pieces and put them back together.  My favorite fabric is the gray with the big yellow dots.  It's the backing because it's the biggest print.  Love it!

And yesterday, I received a present in the mail!  From Allison at Cluck.Cluck.Sew!  My layer cake of Swiss Chocolate.  Yay me!  I'm going to make all kinds of fun stuff with it!  Woo-hoo!

  

For the giveaway, I'll give you a few chances to win a set of six quilted coasters:

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite fabric collection.
2. Become a follower of the blog and leave another comment letting me know.
3. Follow me on Twitter @hattjam1008 and leave yet another comment letting me know.
4. Like Mad Hatter Quilts on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know.

I'll close the giveaway in five days, Feb. 16, and pick a winner by random number generator!  Thanks!

WHOLE LOTTA CUTTIN' GOIN' ON

Nearly a month ago, I said I was going to my first craft retreat.  Due to crappy Internet service, I've been unable to share everything I got accomplished at that retreat.

One of the big things I got done was my stitch sampler.  I'm in a class to learn all about my new machine, Regina Bernina.  One of our homework assignments, as it were, was to complete a stitch sampler.  I felt pretty lucky compared to most of the ladies in the class -- I only have 85 stitches.  There's one woman who has THE fanciest machine Bernina makes.  She has over 1000 stitches she has to sample.  Whew!  Glad I'm not her!  Anyway, here's the result:

It was a lot of fun to do, and one of my friends, whom I call Crazy, watched over my shoulder the whole time.  I asked her if she was bored at all.  She said no!  Too fun to watch!

And I did a TON of cutting.  I'm 5'10" and I own a very short table on which I cut.  That means I can't cut for long periods of time without getting major back pain.  The house we had the retreat in had a huge kitchen island that was nice and tall.  I set up cutting shop on the island and cut the fabric for an entire table runner for myself.

That's all of it!  It was so nice not to be in pain when I was done with cutting!

After the stitch sampler was finished, I worked on my mom's table runner, which is going to be bargello.  I love bargello, and I've made one before.  It turned out pretty darn good.  So I had a honey bun of Blessings that I'm turning into a runner for Mom.  I already have the tubes finished and ready to cut.

There's four different tubes that I'm going to use.  It's going to be a lot of fun to put together.  I'm even thinking about trying to cut really small strips, like 3/4" to see what happens!  Wish me luck!

And here's an action shot of Regina Bernina because it's awesome!

I'll post pictures of my table runner when it's done -- just have to add the borders and do the quilting and binding!  Woo-hoo!

THANKS, ALLISON!

I'm so excited!  I checked my email this morning and found I won a the Swiss Chocolate giveaway at Allison's blog, Cluck.Cluck.Sew!  How cool is that?!  I picked the layer cake.  Fun times!  Thanks again, Allison!