Sabbath Songs: What Is Real?

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. –James 1:5

Friday Night Sew-In: The Official Report

The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum. –Frances E. Willard

I talked a little bit about what I worked on during Friday Night Sew-In in my Favourite Things Friday post. I started FNSI as soon as I got home from work yesterday afternoon. I got the binding on my Cosy Posies quilt and got it washed and dried and wrinkled and ready to give to a very special aunt.

I took a little break, had dinner with Mr. Bug and then got back to work. I pulled out a quilt top I've had finished since last July. It is made from the same fabric line as the Cozy Posies quilt {and Baby Frolic}, and it was so much fun to make. When Frolic came out last spring, I absolutely fell in love with it. And I bought my first Jelly Roll, along with a few coordinates. I used the Jelly Roll put together this quilt top {using this tutorial, which finally made a Jelly Roll make sense to me}, as well as a few other things. After finishing Cozy Posies, I decided it was time to finish Magic. I stayed up way too a bit late getting half of the straight line quilting finished. I'm happy with how it is coming out.

As today is National Quilting Day, I am going to ignore everything and everyone and quilt to my heart's content hope to squeeze in a little more quilting time.

Today's post brought to you by:

Civil War Reproduction Fabrics: Giveaway Winner

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.
–Dorothy Parker

Happy National Quilting Day!I am truly overwhelmed with your response to the Civil War Fabrics giveaway. I loved reading through all of your comments and hearing about your special friendships and all your fun plans for National Quilting Day. All told, there were 224 entries. That is simply amazing to me. I truly wish I had a little something for each and every one of you .

I must thank Wanda again for her generosity. She is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know. She helped me draw the winner and we are happy to announce that this fun bundle of fabrics goes to:

Susan
who said, What a great giveaway. I love reproduction fabrics and I would probably use these to make a quilt from the book. I have been wanting this book just haven't bought it yet. Happy Quilting Day.

Susan, please get me your address and I'll get your prize in the mail to you!

I hope you're all up to something fun today! I'm off to do a bit of quilting . It sounds like a spectacular way to spend a gloomy March afternoon.

Favourite Things Friday: Stripey Bias Binding

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. –Arnold H. Glasow

I am one of those people who like to do the binding on a quilt. It is hard to say, because I really love everything about quilting, but I think that it is my favorite part because it means that a quilt is about to be finished . And that is a fabulous thing.

My favorite kind of binding is stripey binding, cut on the bias. It just makes me happy. I do continuous bias binding {someday soon, I'm going to update that tutorial with better pictures and make a downloadable PDF version}, and it is way easier than cutting individual strips of binding and sewing them together one by one.

I am finding that another of my favorite things is free-motion quilting. After I quilted my first free-motion quilt about eight months ago, I remember really disliking it and thinking that I would probably never do it again. I just finished quilting my eighth quilt, Cozy Posies, last night . And I absolutely love how it came out. I tried feathers for the very first time. Can I get a whoop whoop ?

I'd originally planned to do an all over loops and flowers meander on this quilt. It was something a little different than quilting I've done previously, but still familiar enough to be safe. But Wednesday morning as I passed it laying on the living room floor up on my design wall, I had a flash of inspiration. I thought that feathers would be really great in the rows of coins. My motto is Go Big or Go Home, and after the last quilt I did, where I stuck with something I knew rather than branching out a bit and trying something different, I decided to go for it. I sketched out a few rows of feathers, but was anxious to move on. I stitched a few rows out on a practice quilt sandwich and then I just went for it.

For Friday Night Sew-In {which I started the minute I got home from work, just after 2:00 this afternoon}, I did the binding and then I threw this baby in the washer. I think I've been converted to the throw that quilt in the washer as soon as it is finished camp . I just pulled it out of the dryer a bit ago and there was still enough light outside to get a few good shots of it {thank you, Daylight Savings Time }. Isn't that stripey binding so much fun!?!

And here's the back. I'm really in the Frolic groove, so I think I'll spend the rest of my Friday Night Sew-In working on getting my other Frolic quilt finished. Then, I ABSOLUTELY PROMISE that I'll work on Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Quilt. Cross my heart and kiss my elbow .

Today's post brought to you by:

Too Busy Quilting to Blog . . .

To quilt or not to quilt, that is the question. –Variation of Shakespeare

I'm humming right along with the Cozy Posies quilt. I'd planned to do an all-over loops and flowers meander, but yesterday as I was getting ready for work, I had a flash of inspiration. Feathers! Michelle, over at The Prairie Quilter was my inspiration. She started out her FMQ career with feathers and has done some really beautiful things with them, so I decided to do feathers in the strips of coins. I bought my thread yesterday afternoon and got it all pin basted last night before bed. I started quilting when I got home from work this afternoon {don't ask me what we had for dinner because then I'd have to tell you that I fed the Little Bugs Ramen noodles so I could have more quilting time}. I really like how it is coming out. I have four of the five strips finished and I'm dashing off to do the last one now and see how much of the border I can get done before bed.

Oh, and I'm doing Friday Night Sew-In again this month. I'm looking forward to it. I hope to finish the Cozy Posies up. I'm torn between two projects after that. I know I PROMISED that Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Quilt would be the next thing I work on, but I'm kind of loving the Frolic {and the feathers} and have another Frolic quilt top that has been begging me to finish it since last July. I guess I'll have to see what kind of a mood I'm in tomorrow.

Today's post brought to you by:


P.S. If you haven't already, check out my Civil War Fabrics giveaway.