Nothing Better than a New Friend

This past weekend I got to meet up with my first ever blogger friend.  It's funny how life happens sometimes.  I saw Jenny over at Sew Wonderful quilting this beautiful bright bold quilt and thought it was one of her curved ruler quilts but it turned out to be somebody else's and I clicked on the link  that led me to Fabrics and Flowers. There were already a bunch of comments asking Sharon, the author of the blog, for the pattern and it turned out to be an original and she was working on the pattern for it.  A month past and she completed the pattern and was planning a QAL for it.  I commented telling her how awesome that was and from my email address which is a osu.edu,  she contacted me telling me she lived very close and that she would love to have me over to sew.  I was super excited, jumping up and down and couldn't wait.  The hubby was less enthusiastic being a worry wart with the whole stranger danger lecture.  I told him she has a blog which is completely different from Craig's List.  I got up the nerve and I decided I was going for it and couldn't be more happier.  We had so much fun together and we're already planning lots of road trips together.  It's so much fun to have a new friend and its even better when it's a quilty friend.  Sharon is super talented and has quite a few of her own patterns.  She also teaches at a local quilt shop.  I can't wait to do lots more sewing with her and I know I can learn so much from her. 


I did get some sewing done in between all the chatting we did.  I made my 6th block for the APQ Quilt Along. 

I was also able to get this beauty done over the weekend.  It's my Stash Bee January Block.

For today I need to work on the items for the Sew and Heart Swap and a secret project using some of Aneela Hoey's new line Hello Petals.  Thanks for stopping by, I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced.

Second WIP of the Week

I didn't want to share my first post with anything else so I decided I would just write a second post for everything else. Actually there is only a couple of something else to share. 

First off I'm still chugging away at these blocks:

I have 5 now and I really like how they look.  My only concern is when you look on Instagram,  I want to say a good half of all the blocks look alike.  Not that it's a bad thing but I'm just not use to accidentally looking at someone else's block and thinking that it's mine lol!  I just realized that I need to do something for sashing, which means more low volume and more tiny 9 patch piecing waiting for me.

My second WIP right now is my first Stash Bee block.  Jo asked for a pieced neutral back and an applique flower on top of it.  Well I got the easy part done.  I have a flower in mind thanks to a mosaic from my partner in the Sewing Room Swap so I'll keep working on that. 

I have recently joined in more swaps than I probably should have.  It's always mind boggling until its all done and sent out and then you just sit back and enjoy the sweetness of opening the package your partner has sent you.  I know that packages should always be sent out on time but I sometimes enjoy the late ones because its like a little surprise you had forgot about.  I think that's why I sign up for so many then it's like getting a birthday gift every month.  I love to sew anyway so I might as well have a person I'm sewing for is the way I look at it.  My girls are always reminding me to let my partner know that I have two little ones so they might get a surprise too!  Too cute!


So far I'm in:
Sweet Pouch Swap
Heart & Sew Swap
Sewing Room Swap
Triple Zipper Pouch Swap


Thanks for checking out my blog today and hope you are having a great day.  Linking up over at Freshly Pieced.

My Life's a WIP with some Finishes

I finally did it, I opened an Etsy Shop! It is called BeYouTiful Stitches.  I'm listing bags and quilts I've made to sell.  My wonderful hubby took the most beautiful pictures of my products over the weekend and I've got most of it listed.  He took a bunch of group pictures too so I could share it here on my blog. Please do stop by and take a look, any advice/comments are appreciated.  What I don't know is how anyone is ever going to see my things when the search pulls up a bagillion things. Right now I'm just on cloud 9 and feel like I've accomplish a life goal.  I'm really proud of everything I have listed and the way they look in photograph, just having such great pictures taken of my things makes my cup full.

 

 

I was also able to list a couple of quilts as well

I really love this quilt and wouldn't mind keeping it.  This is the second one I've made but this one is so me. 

 

I got this one finished just in time for some pictures for the shop.  This one was given away as a gift but I have enough to make a second one to sell.
I have struggle my whole adult life with figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.  I graduated from OSU with a degree in Sociology, and while I enjoy the subject dearly I don't see a career in it.   I've love sewing for a while now and only this past year did I find my passion for quilting and the wonderful online community that goes with it.  I finally found my dream career and even though I am still very green I want to grow up to do this.




Thank for stopping be today to celebrate Etsy Shop with me. 

First WIP of 2014

I don't know if the title is absolutely true or not since I have my "Tone It Down" quilt going to but that's just in the cutting phase still.  I finally finished cutting all the low volume pieces.  I think I'll cut the bright color fabric as I go.  I'm going with the scrappy version which 1. took way longer to cut and 2. will take a lot longer to piece together but overall this will be my first ever really scrappy quilt.  It's scrappy but not too in your face and I love that with scrappy quilts you see something different every time you look at it. 

 

I put my first block together last night and this is honestly not a block for the faint of hearts.  Piecing it together is as rough as piecing a complete quilt.  I think there was about 96 pieces and they're mostly 1 1/2" pieces.  Luckily I got some practice with Tula Pink's City Sampler.  Here's the beauty:

Still kind of getting use to it with all of it scrappiness.

I definitely like it from farther away.

Onto the real WIP for today.  This baby girl quilt is for a coworkers daughter who is due in April.  Her baby shower is this Sunday so cross your finger I finish it by Saturday.  She requested it to be modern prints and the ideas she sent me were all simple big square patch.  I asked her about colors and she was against pink and brown.  She wanted it to be more gender neutral with yellow and gray.  I sent her pictures of what I had available to work with and she goes and picks a pink and gray print.  This is what I came up with:

I hope it doesn't scream pink even though there is quite a bit of it. I'll definitely put on a non-pink back and binding. I used a pattern by Camille Roskelley in her book Simply Retro called Framed.  This is a smaller version with only 16 blocks versus the 25 blocks.  I did cut enough for the full size quilt but decided that would be too big for a baby so I'm using the remainder blocks for a charity quilt to send to.  I hope she likes it. 

Thanks for checking out my first WIP of the year.  Linking up at Freshly Pieced. 

Will you be my "invisible friend"?

Have you seen this?  It's a X and Plus Swap with a friend from the online sewing community.  Someone that shares your interest and could be your friend in real life but you live miles apart and have never met.  I have admired many blogs this past year and participated in many swaps but I haven't really made a one on one connection with anybody yet and I feel like this is a great opportunity to share an on going friendship with someone that shares the same interest as me. 

I guess I should probably introduce myself first.  My name is Linh and I live in Columbus Ohio USA.  I have two daughters that love to craft too.  I started sewing about 5 years back but as a seamstress.  I only got into quilting this past year in March about the same time I started this blog.  From then I have learned quite a bit, I love to try new things all the time.  When I first started I was so bummed when I found Linky parties or swaps that already started and felt like I was missing out but then I realized that new ones were always starting so I became hooked.  I also thought that there would be a lack to blogs to follow and boy was I wrong.  I currently 172 blogs on Bloglovin.  I am a huge fan of the quilting blog world and find most of my inspiration from it. 

Here's a finish from this week:







I think that this is a great reflection of my journey this past year.  Most of the trees were from my ladies in the We Bee New group and the quilt was inspired by the Christa's Quilt Tree Along. Some of them are one piece of fabric and others are improve.  The method I used to make my trees was paper piecing.   I don't think the pictures really show it but the trunk in embroidered with "Schilling 2013" even if it won't be finished until this year.  The top finishes at 80" X 108".  I am currently working on the back which involves some mosaic blocks.  I am not sure about the quilting on it yet. 

Hope that you see what you like and would want to be my friend enough to be in the swap with me.