December Friendship X and + Swap

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season. Here in Central California, it has certainly been warm. Unseasonably warm. And I think we are nearing a record for no precipitation, certainly not a record that we had hoped to achieve.

Today is the Friendship X and + Swap reveal, the last Friday of each month. Each month we make two identical sets of four X and + blocks, keep one set, and send the other to our swap partner. My partner is the lovely Carla. I know--I'm really lucky to have her for a partner!

Here are my four blocks for December.

This is what is on my design wall right now. The top three rows are my blocks and the bottom two rows were made by Carla. I love how they all play together.

Just to refresh your memory, we are basing our fabric choices on this color palette.

I'm ready to get started on the blocks for January.

I didn't do anything in the way of sewing gifts for Christmas this year. But on Tuesday, I did whip out these four pillows. It was a simple sewing design, and yet I managed to make a bunch of math errors design decisions.

And I even did exposed-zipper backs! Now I need to stock upon some longer zippers at Zip-It, my favorite zipper supplier

Corey was my inspiration with the pillows she made from the "chalkboard" fabric she designed. She hasn't made it available for sale yet, but I found this panel on Spoonflower. I just love Corey's panel so I hope she makes it available for next Christmas because these pillows were great fun to make!

Do you ever watch The Quilt Show? Every year, Alex and  Ricky choose a Living Legend. Since the show started, Mark has made the plaque that they present to the recipient. He makes it out of fused glass, using the logo from The Quilt Show, but choosing colors based on the recipient, so no two have ever been the same. Past recipients who now own a piece of Mark's artistry include Jinny Beyer, Eleanor Burns, Yvonne Porcella, Libby Lehman, and of course Alex owns a few of his pieces too. This year's choice was Michael James. It's always fun to find out the name of the recipient ahead of time and help Mark choose just the right glass. This year he went with something understated and elegant, a really hard to glass to photograph, but kind of an iridescent black.

I hope Mr. James likes it. I'm always so proud that Mark makes these really beautiful pieces of art that in turn live in the homes or studios of quilters.

I'm linking up here today. Because it isn't very often that I have something to show on Fridays. :)

Whatever your plans for the weekend, hope it is a happy one.

WIP Wednesday: X and + blocks

Let's flash back and pretend that it is the last Friday in November. Why, you ask? Because that is when you should have seen these blocks.

I'm part of the friendship x and + block exchange. I have a very patient swap exchange partner (thanks, Carla). She is always on time. I am nearly always sometimes a little bit tardy.

We chose this color palette:

Each month, Carla and I make a double set of four blocks, one set to keep and an identical set to share. These are my blocks for November. You can see Carla's post here.

And here are our blocks enjoying each other's company (mine are the top two rows, Carla's are the bottom two rows).

Want to hear something shocking? December's blocks are already finished! So look for a totally on-time block reveal on Friday, December 27th. I know. I can hardly believe it myself...

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. That is something that hasn't happened for a long time either...

And it's not too late to enter the SMS giveaway for some patterns and a charm pack. I'm having such a good time reading about everyone's holiday traditions!

Patterns and Charm Pack--It's SMS Giveaway Day!

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

Welcome to Live a Colorful Life. It's Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day and I'm so happy you stopped by.

Included in the giveaway are two patterns designed by me, the latest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks (which includes one of my blocks), and a charm pack of California Girl by Joanna Figueroa for Fig Tree and Co. (because I'm a girl from California).

One of my favorite holiday traditions is "soup and cookie" day where our son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren come over for homemade soup. Then while Aaron and Christa are off shopping, or just having some quiet time at Starbucks, the grandchildren and I make homemade cookies. This year we made these:

For a chance to win the giveaway, leave a comment letting me know if you have a special holiday tradition. If you are follower, leave another comment for a second chance. All readers are welcome. The giveaway ends on Friday, December 13, at 5 p.m. PST.

Be sure to check out all the other fabulous giveaways (supplies) here (handmade items).

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will stop by again.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 8: The Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks (Volume 8) Blog Tour.   Each of these issues is such a wonderful resource of blocks, ranging from traditional to modern, pieced to applique. I'm so happy to be able to share my block, Ring Around the Posy, which is a little bit of both.

Although I have been quilting for nearly twenty years, I have never done much applique work, but this year I ventured into doing a little bit of machine applique, using a buttonhole stitch. It is easy and really fun.

Wouldn't this block make a great baby quilt?

Look what you can do with just five blocks. I can even imagine this block in holiday colors for a fun Christmas table runner. Changing the block orientation to being on point completely changes the look of it, doesn't it?

Or maybe you just need a new wall hanging.

I'm thrilled to offer a chance to win a copy of the latest issue so leave a comment here. I'd love to know if you have tried machine applique before, and if you have any special hints to share. I'll choose a winner on Saturday, November 16, at noon PST, so be sure I have a way to contact you. The latest issue should be hitting the newsstands some time next week.

For all the  blog tour stops and more giveaways, hop on over to Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasures blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Fat Quarterly: The Christmas Issue

A first for me--I have a project in the newest issue of Fat Quarterly, which is available today.

Subscribers need only to log into their accounts to find the links to this issue. Otherwise you can purchase it here.

When I made the project for Modern Patchwork (which reminds me--I haven't even shown you the quilt in that magazine yet, and it's one of my favorites!), I was in a braided herringbone kind of mode. My project in Fat Quarterly is a pillow called Holiday Herringbone. It requires only one small segment of braid, and it was such fun to work with Laurie Wisbrun's latest Christmas line, Holiday Sweet Tweets.

Here is the pillow, which has the easy-to-do look of a Christmas ornament. Since the colors of this fabric line are not the classic red and green, the pillow can be easily transformed for use all through the winter months by eliminating the half square triangles that give it the ornament look.

I used an exposed zipper technique for the back. It's my favorite way to make a pillow back and the tutorial is here.

Head on over to Fat Quarterly and get your issue today!

The Name Game: The Bored Zombie

And after a long absence....we're back. Since this is Halloween week, I thought it more than appropriate to feature Susan from The Bored Zombie.

(Susan's daughter's costume this year--so cute. And check out this post--the house on her bag lights up!)

How did you choose the name for your blog?

Some time ago I was learning Flash development to build websites and casual games. I love B-roll horror flicks and I love casual web games (think diner dash). I thought I loved web development too. I had grand plans marrying the three and creating a flash web site www.theboredzombie.com. The site featured a zombie that attempted to entertain himself by visiting old haunts from his human days and terrorizing the living. I had a vision of a cartoony zombie world full of goofy mayhem and competitive high scores. I then wrote lots of design docs, back stories for the characters, and thought hard about what my zombie’s world would be. I really came to love the little guy and his cast of characters even though I never gave him a name! Life happens. I got a job, found myself crazy busy then less and less interested in my bored zombie. 

When I started my blog, it didn’t have a custom URL. I used my nickname Suedre (pronounced sue-DRAY) and called it suedrescreations.blogspot. I didn’t love it right from the start, but I was still feeling out the blogosphere and trying to find my voice. It wasn’t too long and I was hooked. I love creating, I love writing, I love sharing, and I love this community. I decided to go ahead and switch to a custom URL and tinkered with a big long list of them. 

 

 No matter how hard I tried to squash him, my bored zombie kept creeping into my head. After a lot of reflection, I realized he was me. I had spent so much time and creative energy into crafting him and his world that he started to melt into my own world. What he really craved was to be a valuable part of his community and reach out to others like him and learn from those that weren't (and maybe chomp a brain or two).  

 

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?
 

I tinkered with a ton of other names. I won’t even list them because I don’t remember most of them and you wouldn't have either! TheBoredZombie just kept calling to me so I jotted down why I shouldn't use it.  Every single reason came back to fear of what people might think. I want to be part of this community and don’t want to turn people off because of a name they don’t understand. 
 

I went back to one of my only two blogging rules – Be myself, even when it doesn’t fit neatly into a polka-dot box. TheBoredZombie.com is part of my personal narrative. It tells a story in itself and it reminds me, at just the right times, that my voice is my own and it is OK to go my own way. I believe I have something to say and even people that don't love the name will value the content of the blog enough they will overlook it. 

 

Now that you are recognized by The Bored Zombie, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

 

Yes! I’m completely happy with it and absolutely would not change it. I have already received a sweet, well intentioned email suggesting I should change it to something more appropriate. I ask you – what is more appropriate for a total nerd girl that loves independent horror flicks,  art in all mediums, television, video games, 80’s pop culture, sci-fi cons, and technology? Come on by the blog and see from time to time. I promise you'll get a taste of all my passions and I hope, discover some new things along the way!
 

Susan, thanks so much for sharing with the Name Game this week.

Please stop by and say hi to Susan. You won't be bored, I promise.

Friendship x and + Swap

When I read what fellow Mid Century Modern members Carla and Susan had up their sleeves, I was ready to sign up. Granted, the holidays are around the corner. Granted, I already can't keep up with obligations. But there was no way I could turn down this opportunity.

The guidelines:

Friendship x and + Swap Guidelines:

1. Pick a friend to swap with: An invisible one (blogging friend that you have never met in real life)  even!

2. Pick a palette for your blocks (we used Design Seeds to find ours). Or decide to just go scrappy.

3. Check out Amy Badskirt's tutorial to learn how to make the block.

4. Add the Friendship x and + button to your blog sidebar.

5. Decide how many total blocks you want for your quilts. Suz and I are going with 64 blocks and will be dividing them out for 8 months, making 8 each month.

6. Every month you will make a set of blocks for yourself and an identical set for your swap partner. She will do the same for you. In my case, then, I will make 4 different  xand+ blocks and an identical set of 4 to mail to Suz. With the 4 she sends me that month, I will have 8 blocks for that month.

7. Blog about your blocks on the last Friday of each month. Also, feel free to use Instagram with the hashtag #friendshipxplusswap to show off your block and color palette.

I had barely finished reading this post when I sent an email to Carla, another MCM friend, to see if she would be my swap partner.  She agreed and we went to work on a color palette. Using the suggestion of Design Seeds, we quickly agreed on a color scheme. Now I would love to share the photo that actually inspired this color palette,

but it involved a creature of undetermined nature that neither of us really wanted to spend time trying to figure out (if you are curious, it was posted on 10/4/13).

See #7 above. So I'm a day late, which is actually pretty good for me.

I think this is going to be a fun swap.

Bloggers Quilt Festival, Fall 2013: Marcelle Goes to the Circus

Welcome to the fall 2013 edition of Bloggers Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy Ellis.

I'm pleased to introduce Marcelle Goes to the Circus.

In spring, having just finished a large quilt for an upcoming charity auction, I had a lot of leftover scraps of gorgeous Oakshott cottons. And then on Instagram I started seeing a lot of quilters making Alexia Marcelle Abegg's lovely Marcelle Medallion from her book, Liberty Love.

As is often the case, I did not NEED a new project, but was unable to resist this one. It seemed the perfect project to use up some scraps of precious and beautiful fabric.There is something about this fabric that just seems to make it glow from the inside out.

I don't know if you every do this, but along the way I made little challenges for myself: each non-pieced border had to be woven stripes by Kaffe Fassett, and each of the corner stones had to be from the "dots" line by Kaffe Fassett. For some reason, the combination of the stripes and dots made made me start thinking of a circus, and thus the name, "Marcelle Goes to the Circus."

The very amazing Krista Withers did all the quilting, which turned Marcelle into a true work of art.

And my equally amazing daughter-in-law, Christa, took all the photos.

The timing was just right to use the backdrop of the circus rides at the local pumpkin patch. Fun, right?

Stats:
Size: 56" square
Pattern: Marcelle Medallion by Alexia Abegg
Fabric: Shot cottons by Oakshott and Kaffe Fassett, dots and woven stripes by Kaffe Fassett
Made by: Cindy Wiens
Machine quilted by: Krista Withers
Photographed by: Christa Wiens
Category: scrappy quilt

Thanks so very much for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of the show.

And because I have that rare (for me) thing called a "finish," I'm also linking up to Finish It Friday at  crazy mom quilts and TGIFFF at quilter in the closet.

Modern Bee: My Quilt is in a Book!!

When I received an email from Elizabeth a couple of years ago, inviting me to join an online bee, who could have predicted that it would ultimately result in a book?!

Lindsay Conner was one of my bee mates (she blogs here at Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds). She suggested submitting a book proposal. And here is the result.

Lindsay did a wonderful job with this book. Whether you have wondered what bees are all about, would like to organize a bee, or just want to be a better bee member, the information is in this book.


I'm so happy to have been included in this group, and my quilt even made the cover--the second one from the bottom--it's called Neon Ninja Stars.

I might like the back nearly as much as the front.

Besides all the information on bees, there are beautiful quilts in this book, with something for every skill level.

If you want to pick up your own copy, here are the details:
Book Title: Modern Bee—13 Quilts to Make with Friends 
Author: Lindsay Conner (Lindsay Sews and Craft Buds)
Amazon short URL: http://amzn.to/16w7vSC
Book website: http://www.modernbeebook.com/

Want to see a cool video about the book? Go here.

Be sure to check out all the stops on the Modern Bee blog tour. Not only will you see some of the other quilts, you have a chance to win prizes at each stop!
Modern Bee Blog Tour
Monday, 10/7:  Sew Mama Sew + Stash Books
Tuesday, 10/8: SewCraftyJess + Sew Sweetness
Wednesday, 10/9: Ellison Lane + Diary of a Quilter
Thursday, 10/11: Katie's Korner + Pat Sloan
Friday, 10/12: Fat Quarter Shop + imagine gnats
Saturday, 10/12: Quilting is My Therapy + Hot Pink Stitches
Monday, 10/14: Live a Colorful Life + Craft Gossip
Tuesday, 10/15: SewCanShe + Maureen Cracknell Handmade
Wednesday, 10/16: Craftsy + Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores


Would you like to win a copy of Modern Bee? To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling us about your quilting bee, what you're currently sewing, or something you learned about the book!

We'll choose one random winner to receive a hard copy of the book! If winner lives outside the U.S., they'll receive a copy of the e-book. Giveaway ends October 18, 2013. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Miscellaneous Monday

Not to be confused with Really Random Thursday. Ha...

I had no sooner gotten my block tutorial posted as the last stop on Amy's Virtual Quilting Bee

than Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room posted this picture. Seriously. I love her version so much, and it was such fun to see the block in a different colorway. She used Kona Amber (dark), Butterscotch (medium) and Champagne (light) in her block.

This came in the mail and I can't tell you how much time I have spent just staring at it, examining it inch by inch. It is a masterpiece. I would love to give a full reveal now but I'm tempted to wait until Bloggers Quilt Festival. Unless I really can't stand it a minute longer and show you the whole thing first, and then again at the end of the month.

Please tell me why irons, which are so essential to our passion of quilting, cause us so many problems. I fell in love with this Hamilton Beach iron at the end of last year, so it's not even a year old.

And of course it started leaking the other day. I really like to press with steam, so the only choice is to keep the iron dry (which I know many of you do) and use a spray bottle, or purchase a new iron and start from scratch. I bought this one the other night based on the recommendation of my friend, Deborah.

I haven't opened up the box yet. I did a google search on how to clean steam irons and followed the directions of filling the tank with half and half white vinegar/water, draining, and refilling with water. Now the soleplate seems to drag and I can hardly move the dial--which seems like a really odd consequence of cleaning the inside of the iron!

So my question is: what iron do you use? What do you love/dislike about it? Are there any tricks for increasing the longevity of an iron, like draining the water each and every time you are done? Inquiring minds want to know.