It Ocean Time In The Salt And Sand Blog Hop

It is my day, along with some fabulous bloggers, to share my "Salt and Sand" project. After the amazing week of inspiring ocean quilts, bags, and other awesomeness, I'm more than ready to hit the beach!

A Little Bit Fishy

50" x 50"

I had some Laurel Burch fabric in my stash that was perfect for this hop. Plus, I combined the hop with using Crafter's Edge Drunkard's Path die cuts. I have NEVER sewn a curve so this was a huge leap for me. 

The dies come in two sizes and can cut up to six layers of fabric. I used the larger size die to make an unfinished 6 1/2" block.

The little notches on the dies made it so easy to sew them together. 

Fussy cutting is a breeze with these dies!

Just match the notches, pin, and sew. You can use more pins, but I used only three as I eased the fabric on the curve.

A quarter inch foot makes it easy to stay along the edge while sewing the curve.

Press the seam towards the curved section. I love my purple Oliso!

This was my plan using EQ8 to figure out what I was visualizing in my head. Sometimes what's in my head doesn't always turn out how I was thinking it would, but this time it did.

You can find a PDF pattern for "A Little Bit Fishy" HERE.

Sneak peek of Beach Boy Freddie who will be making an appearance next week on the ThermOWeb blog. He's so ready for the beach!

Long, long ago (1971) in Hawaii with my honey. My how time flies!

Check out the incredible blogs in this hop!

March 22

Creatin' in the Sticks

Selina Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

Days Filled With Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Karen's Korner

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Crafts and Math

 

March 23

MooseStashQuilting

Life in the Scrapatch

Food for Thought

For The Love Of Geese

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Karrin’s Crazy World

Sew Many Yarns

Kathy's Kwilts and More

 

March 24

Ms P Designs USA

DayBrook Designs

Vroomans Quilts

Kathleen McMusing

Quilt Schmilt

The Darling Dogwood

Daughters of Dorinda

Annie’s Musings

 

March 25

Quiltscapes

Beaquilter

Stitchin At Home

The Joyful Quilter

Scrapdash

Freckled Fox Quiltery

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Words & Stitches

 

March 26

Just Let Me Quilt

Websterquilt

Quilting Gail

Samelia's Mum

Quilt Fabrication

Little Penguin Quilts

Just Sew Quilter

Inflorescence

Check out the Pinterest page for Salt and Sand HERE.

Sign-ups are happening for Born to be Wild if you want to play along. 

Info for it can be found HERE.

Thank you for stopping by!

Fishy Fishy Baby Quilt With Crafter's Edge

It is so much fun creating with Crafter's Edge fabric dies and I love how easy they are to use! My "Fishy Fishy" quilt went together quickly using a variety of applique and fabric dies. 

"Fishy Fishy Baby Quilt" - 47" x 47"

Fabrics are from my stash of Laurel Burch fabrics. I love how bright they are!

The Crossover II has adjustable dials that help with the cutting pressure and allow for one to six layers of fabric to be cut. I used the "Fancy Fish" die, 1" circle from the Mini Circle Set 2, 5 1/2" and 7" squares from the Squares die set, and the 2 1/2" strip cutter for one of the borders.

The fish die can be cut in several ways. I chose to add extra fins and not use the scales. I love how my fish turned out! When appliqueing on any of my projects, I only use my favorite iron-on adhesive...HeatnBond Lite. It's easy to peel off from the fabric without having to score the paper.

The fish can face either way just by placing it on either the paper or fabric side.

The squares for the center of the quilt were cut using the 7" square die. I used my Accuquilt GO cutter and the Crafter's Edge adapter. Lay the die straight on the fabric and then slightly tilt both to run through the cutter. 

Using a heatproof applique acrylic sheet makes it easy to assemble any applique before adding it the fabric.

Cutting the 1" circles was a breeze with the Mini Circle Set 2. Just iron the applique adhesive to fabric and run the circle die through the machine. Perfect circles every time!

You can find the free downloadable PDF instructions for "Fishy Fishy Baby Quilt" using Crafter's Edge dies HERE. 

Gotta love my "crew" and all he does for me! 

Thanks for stopping by!

There Was A Little Hummingbird

I've been cleaning out my fabric stash and came across a quilt that I'd never finished

(I actually found quite a few I haven't finished...crazy!)
I sent this one to the quilters in April 2012, picked it up a few weeks later,
and then it went into the dreaded Not Lost But Forgotten Box.

Yesterday I pulled it from the Not Lost But Forgotten Box and realized it only needed to have the
binding attached. Seriously...that was all it needed? The binding is on now!

The fabric is by Laurel Burch.
It sparkles and shines...I love her fabric!

I love all the swirls in the quilting.

The back.


For some reason I hadn't noticed before that there were hummingbirds in the fabric.
Whenever I see a hummingbird I always think of Bryce, who left us too soon and is missed by many.

There was a little hummingbird that landed on the fingers of an angel.

He stayed a while and then left to do other hummingbird things.

Sadly, the angel left, too.
Sometimes that's just what angels have to do, even though we want them to stay.

"Well I have to say I am a blessed soul who gets a hummingbird to land on their hand...

that's once in a life time...and who gets a pic...I guess I'm that guy...what a blessing." ~Bryce

In MY Words...And A Giveaway, Of Course!

Thanks for stopping by to see my wordy creations!

JUST THE FACTS:

The Hostess: Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling
The Leader of the Blog Hops: Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt
They are both amazing and creative people so you know this is going to be a
  blog hop to remember!

I didn't hang out in Haight-Ashbury.

I didn't go to Woodstock.

I didn't participate in any anti-war protests.

But, I loved that HIPPIE era!

I painted our living room orange, had a couple lava lamps,

and always wore "hot pants" or bell bottom jeans 

(I didn't even own a pair of dress pants until after I was married!)

As I sewed this quilt with colors that reminded me of that era
and machine embroidered words that were common for me to use,
(minus a few words I don't want my kids or grandkids to know I used)
I couldn't help singing some of the words from "HAIR."

"Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, hair, shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddy...."

I also had the strongest urge to quilt it with yarn in the
corner of each square (like I did during those days) but
I didn't--I just topped stitched and ragged the edges on the peace sign.

 This is the label I ran through my inkjet printer using
Blumenthal Lansing Crafter's Images 100-Percent Cotton Poplin
Photo Fabric that I purchased by the roll from Amazon.
I love using it!

Here it is before washing:

Here it is after washing (lousy picture, but the label didn't fade.) 

My second and third project used Laurel Burch fabric,
"Fabulous Felines Metallic" line.
I love her fabric and feel so sad that she's no longer with us
to keep sharing her creative designs.

I did a little quilting on the fabric before beginning my project.
Using painter's tape helped keep those lines straight and equal.

I found this pattern by Susie D. Designs. It's called
Retro Style Large Handbag


Hopefully, Susie won't see this and wish I wasn't giving her credit for this bag.
I am really and truly pattern-following-challenged,
though I tried really, really hard to make it
come close to what she intended it to look like.

The little coin purse has a machine embroidered cat from Laurel Burch.