A finished quilt top and its road trip + Eli

 Three cheers for a finished quilt top!  Yippee! Yippee! and Woohoooo!

Its twin size, measures about 66x85" and you can learn all about those 6" charm squares here.  Almost all of the prints are from my stash, save the Kona Solid in Cloud blue.

 This weekend I took a little road trip to my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio for my {best-friend-since-3rd-grade's} baby shower!  So excited for her!  (more on that below)

Anyhow, I took a little detour on the way home and stopped at one of the many shoreline parks along Lake Erie and the Sandusky Bay and snapped a few shots of this quilt top.

Over the next few days I'll baste and start quilting this guy, I'm looking forward to sending it off to its new home in Canada!

Halfway between Sandusky and Columbus is a little town called Bucyrus (pronounced bue-SIE-rus) and they have an amazingly beautiful mural on the side of one of their Uptown buildings.

I stood there a few minutes before deciding to risk getting arrested for defacing a work of art.  I figured masking tape and a quilt top was a fairly benign form of graffit.  

Back to the baby shower for a minute:

I wanted to contribute a little something to the decorations (although the sister/sister-inlaw/grandmas did an AMAZING job decorating!)  

This little bunting dressed up the gift table and will hopefully be hung in the nursery, too!

I used Ed Emberly's "Happy Drawing" fabric and added the red Pezzy Print for good measure.  Man I love baby showers!  ;-)

 Finally, here's Eli in all his cardboard block glory!

He's become quite the little builder.  Just call him Bob!

{Fabric Overload + A Quandary}

Happy Drawing collection from Hawthorne Threads

Fabric.

Its a quilters "bread and butter"... what we create with.  Without fabric no quilts, tank tops, baby bibs, or banners could emerge from our dining rooms, basements, or 3rd bedrooms turned sewing studio! 

But how much is really enough?  Obviously I don't know the answer because I can't seem to keep from acquiring more and more! Maybe if we didn't have so many amazing fabric designers out there - I could refrain from adding a few yards here and there every week!

Small and Medium Chevron by Riley Blake from Hawthorne Threads

Who can resist versatile, timeless, grey and navy chevron fabric?  Not me!

Plus I don't have much navy in my stash... check, justified that purchase!

Mama Said Sew by Moda for Sweetwater - from my LQS Sew to Speak

And whilst coerced by a friend to visit Sew to Speak last weekend I didn't plan on buying anything  - except 1.5yds of this delicious newsprint style "sewing guide" fabric!  I was tempted to buy the whole bolt, but decided against it since I just blew most of my money on a ticket to Quilt Camp coming up in December!  **Eeek!**  But that's a whole other post... (anyone else going?!)

From far away it just looks like newspaper print... close up, its me - and all my favorite things!

Last but not least: SUMMERSVILLE by Lu Summers! My good friend Jac sent me a text one day letting me know this collection was on (major!) sale... and we split the shipping cost so yeah, I couldn't say no!  Mini houses and hand drawn squiggles. Love.

So there are my unplanned, no-i-do-not-need-it fabric purchases, just in the last couple of weeks.

I probably shouldn't say "I swear I won't buy any more," because it might be a fib. 

 ------------

Help me out here.

Here's my quandary, I'd love your input if you've gone through this yourself:
I want to change the name of my blog (especially the URL) to a new, more hip, less long, easier to remember name.   
I'm really liking "Pear Tree Stitching" - don't worry, we actually have a pear tree in our front yard!  And the name is not taken anywhere else in the world wide web... that I could find.
So how did you go about moving to a new web address without losing the old content, followers, email subscribers, google reader people etc?  I've been trying to research it online... I just wish I was more tech savvy!  I have over 500 followers, and I'd love the transition to be smooth for all 500 of them!   
I do love Blogspot and will probably stay with them.
If you have done it, or know of a good resource for learning how to do it, please share!

Thank you!

~Cristin

Inspiration for Sew Sew Modern Swap!

1. retro flowers baby quilt, 2. Mini Quilt Monday!, 3. Prism, 4. qayg library tote, 5. modern drunkard's path - the all print version, 6. Cuz I needed some mermaids., 7. Supernova complete, 8. hst quilt top, 9. patchwork tote couch side, 10. Giant Vintage Star Quilt, 11. Summer's End, 12. Final fabric choice

Not sure what possessed me to join the Sew Sew Modern swap on Flickr... but hey, why not!
The "must mail by " dates are every 4 months - very do-able!  
For this first round, my hope is for a QAYG tote bag, a table runner, or a pillow.
I still don't own a table runner.  Mainly because I haven't had time to make one yet.
I have  stack of fabric set aside for a runner.  Of course.

For my birthday next month I think I'll ask for more hours in the day!
"Dear God, it's me, Cristin..."

Aurifil Thread Giveaway!

 If you've been sewing or quilting for any amount of time you'll know how important thread is to the process!  I've recently, in the last 9 months or so, come to LOVE Aurifil Thread! 

Here's a little background on Aurifil:

Established in 1983, they're based near Milano, Italy, and create a huge range of cotton and Wool threads for both professional and domestic quilters!  They're big on quality, style, and knowing what drives the modern quilter... if you haven't looked into these threads, you're missing out!

My personal experience with Aurifil is limited, but I'm a huge fan of what I've tried!

That being the 100% Cotton Mako' 50wt thread!  I bought a large spool, 1422 yards (!) of off white and I've been using it exclusively for piecing quilts!  Let me tell you, it gives me NO problems in my little Janome machine!  Virtually no lint, smooth stitches, and its a very fine thread so when you press your seams open, or to the side, it lays as flat as can be which makes for less bulky quilt tops, and easier quilting in the end!  
I bought mine form Pink Chalk Fabric but you can find it other places online and also check your LQS!

 So there's my two cents on the virtues of Aurifil, and now on the the GIVEAWAY and what all is up for grabs!  There's a lot! 

 Sampler packs containing 5 different small spools, 220yds, of their 5 most popular threads!

Each winner will receive one of these packs, fun!  That's right, there will be 5 winners!

 The Wool 12wt thread is perfect many types of stitching, especially:

Cross Stitch and Hand Embroidery

Hand Applique'

Long Arm quilting (bobbin work)

Machine Applique'

and Quilting wool fabrics

Aurifil also makes a 100% Cotton Mako' 12wt thread, two of the above are actually Cotton, and two are Wool. 

 100% Cotton Mako' 50wt thread is my go-to for quilt piecing but also fabulous for:

Hand Piecing

Lace

Longarm Quilting

Machine Applique'

Machine embroidery

Machine Quilting involving very fine details like feathers and heavy background fill

 The 100% Cotton Mako' 40wt thread is a great all-around thread and  does everything from serging to machine quilting to cross stitch! 

 If you love hand work, this thread is for you!  The 28wt a bit thicker than the 40wt and is ideal for:

Hand Quilting

Hand Piecing

Lace

Hand Applique'

Machine Embroidery and Applique'

 So how do win one of FIVE fabulous little Aurifil packages?

This giveaway is going to be simple!  Leave a comment on this post saying which Aurifil Thread you would love to try, or that you already love! 

I will draw 5 (five!) random winners - and I'll try to match up your answer to the Large spools you receive along with one of the Sampler Packs... fun eh?  If you love embroidery, let me know!  If you thrive on hand quilting (or just want to TRY hand quilting,) speak up!

This is not a guarantee you'll receive the thread you want, but I'll do my best!

Remember:

Please be sure you leave a way for me to contact you!  If you are a no-reply commenter, and don't leave an email address, you'll be out of luck and I'll draw another winner!  True story, and it has happened in the past.  

Giveaway is open until noon (EST) on Wednesday, Sept 26th.  

I will email the 5 winners and update this post after that time!

International entries welcome. 

Comments are now closed... and the winners are:

Renee G said...

I've been wanting to try this thread. I'm more of a stitcher than a quilter, but the 40 wt sounds like it would be good for everything. 

  emiliehamilton said...I would love to win the sampler pack ~ have read such wonderful comments/testimonials about Aurifil thread ~ will be working on 3 quilts this fall ~ a purple quilt for my granddaughter Cambrie, a red quilt for my grandson Connor, and a blue quilt for my grandson Zachary ~ so having the variety of colors is essential to what I will be working on. THANK YOU.

Michelle said...

I love Auriful 50 weight. It is my very favorite thread!

bee said...
i love the 50 wt thread for piecing & quilting - it's fabulous. i'd like to try the 40 wt for sure in machine quilting. :) who can resist thread?!

Ella said...

I've used the 50 wt in grey...LOVED it.

I've emailed each one of you!

Congrats to all and Happy sewing!

{all laid out}

And I can clearly see a few changes I want to make! 

I'm so OCD.

These 6" squares are already sewn into pairs so next step is to pile them up by row as sets of two and I'll slowly make bigger and bigger squares out of them.  At least that's my plan.
Its going to be a twin size quilt, and if I'm lucky, this top will be finished by Thursday evening!

What's on your design floor/wall?

{a handmade charm pack}

 I'm frugal.

I also own way too much fabric - which makes me question my frugality - and therefore 

decided to NOT buy pre-cut charm packs for a custom twin boy quilt in the works.

I made my own mega-charm pack consisting of 192 6" squares... all from my stash save the orange, yellow, and Kona Cloud blue.  I think it'll be a boy quilt to boot!

 The process of chain piecing till my fingers fall off has commenced.

My hope is a finished quilt top by next Thursday although, I'm feeling ambivalent.

Stay tuned.... a very yummy give-away is imminent!

Yummy being synonymous with Aurifil, of course!