A Happy Quilt

Are you sick of this quilt yet? :)

 I know you've heard lots about it before [like here and here] but it's finally done!!!  I was so happy to pull it out of the dryer the other day.  It's such a happy quilt.  One of my fav's at the moment...

I had fun giving it a little photo shoot this morning

[so bear with me for sharing about a gazillion pictures.]

This project has been in the works since about last April, when my dear, sweet SIL asked me if I wanted to make one with her.  We were inspired after seeing Allison's zig zag quilt over at Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  The main reason it took me so long to finish was because I got stuck figuring out what colors zig zags to make.  I started out with red, orange, yellow, green, and aqua.  Then I made the dark blue and brown zig zags, but was unsure about them because they weren't as happy as the other colors.  But I needed them to add length to my quilt AND I still needed two more zig zags.  Should I repeat a couple colors?  No.  I finally decided each zig zag should be different so I decided to break up the green into dark and light and then I also added in purple.

 I love the fabrics that I collected, both from my own stash and

from trading 5" squares with my SIL and a friend.

[Trading is so fun!  Fresh, new fabrics + no money spent = exciting!!!]

We cut our squares to 4-7/8", drew a line on the diagonal and sewed on both sides of that line with a 1/4" seam allowance ~ giving us our 4-1/2" QST blocks.  

For the binding I chose LH10017 Banana by Lakehouse Dry Goods. 

I actually didn't really love the fabric that much to begin with, but after trying out lots of possibilities, the yellow and orange dot won out.  While doing some "research" at work, my co-worker and I were able to narrow down the options for possible bindings.  Rainbow stripes competed too much, large red gingham made the quilt look off balance, aqua wasn't bright enough...Alas, the yellow and orange was just the right amount of cheerfulness and color, without taking away from the zig zags. 

A white back and perfect stippling by Kaylene Parry from My Little Quilting Shoppe in Lehi, UT. finished off the quilt nicely ~ all the while, keeping the focus on my darling little zig zags.

[These last two pictures are my fav's.]

O.K.  That's it.  Thanks for letting me share.  I'll stop talking about it now.

I Am...

of little words right now.

This past month has been VERY busy.

~ Home renovation projects.

~3 "just for fun quilts" have [or will] back from the quilter any second.

~ A pattern that's just about to make it's debut.

~ 2 more quilt tops finished,

including this little Valentine's Day throw:

And that little basket there, is my "market basket".  Isn't she cute?  I picked her up the other day at Finder's Keepers in American Fork, UT (love that store!) for $15.  It had a quilt all rolled up inside so maybe that's why I was drawn to it...

Sorry you haven't been hearing from me much.   I've been a busy girl.  Lots to show you in the next little while...

Have a good day!

A Lesson in Saving

No, not saving money.

Saving files ~ on the computer.

Last week, I finally got a day to focus on writing the instructions for my new pattern out of Central Park by Kate Spain.  6 hours - with no kids.  My little morning kindergartner was at school for a few hours and then straight to a friends house.  I sat down at my computer at 9 a.m and was making some really good headway until I looked at the clock at 2:56 p.m. and realized that I was going to be late in getting my daughter to gymnastics at 3!  I rushed off to get her there and when we got home I immediately started doing some dishes. 

While I was at the kitchen sink, I wondered what my little kiddos were up to.  It was a bit quiet so I figured they were probably on the computer playing games.  For a second, I worried about my instructions, but didn't think too much about it because my kids are pretty good not to close my documents and tabs (my older one knows to just minimize them and I guess I figured I had probably saved it anyways.) 

Well.  That was a bad mistake.

My little one had closed my document and apparently told the computer not to "save" it.  And guess what?  I had not saved any of what I had done that morning!  Not one single ounce!  I tried shutting down the computer to see if it would show up in "recovered documents" and searched everywhere for some sort of updated version of my instructions, but, to no avail!  All that work ~ down the drain. 

I wanted to cry (but couldn't because I was suppose to teach a class on my Candy Hearts quilt about 30 minutes after I found out that the file had been lost.)  So for the last few days I've been mourning that loss.  I had to regroup and get a "second wind".  Tonight I started again and made some good headway.   I'm hitting "save" every 5 minutes now.  It'll probably be about a week before the pattern is ready, but I'm really excited to show you.  I hope you like it.  And, I've got a little giveaway planned for it.

This is a little picture I found on the Internet.  Reminds me a little of the pattern.  You'll just have to wait to see my pictures though...coming soon.

Christmas Time Quilt Kit

So you know how I mentioned that there's been some exciting things going on around here?  Well, this is one of them!

The Fat Quarter Shop has decided to use my One, Two, Buckle My Shoe pattern for their Christmas Time Quilt Kit!

{insert whoops and hollers here!}

I was so thrilled, because

(a) how cute is it made up in Sweetwater's upcoming line of Christmas fabric, called Countdown to Christmas?  Here is some of the fabric:

(you can see more of this upcoming fabric collection HERE.)

and (b) it's kind of been a little dream of mine

to have my patterns in the Fat Quarter Shop! 

They were the first online store that I contacted when I started selling my patterns.  At first, they turned me down and said "they weren't accepting new designers at the time, but to check back later."  I was bummed, but a few months later a friend told me that she saw my patterns in the Fat Quarter Shop!  I was so excited and surprised [thanks Moda!]  But then, to see my pattern featured in a kit?  Well, it's just a fun little dream come true :)

Sherri McConnell, from the blog, A Quilting Life, made up the sample for the FQS.  She did a great job and said the pattern was a "fun one to sew and went together quickly!"  {Yay!  I'm glad to hear that!}

[If you're interested in this kit, click HERE.]

I'm going to Market.

{credit}

No, not on my bike. 

And, not to the little farmer's market down the road. 

This spring, I'm going to get in my little Honda CRV and drive to the

Salt Palace Convention Center

{just 45 minutes away from my house!}

for the 2011 International Quilt Market.

It's going to be in my neck of the woods this year,

so I just had to jump on this opportunity.

Me.

Going to have a booth.

I've never even been!

I really can't believe it!

{So, be prepared to watch me FREAK OUT over the next few months!  I'm really excited.  And in denial.  And freaking out.  And scared.  And freaking out.  And, I'm really excited.}

Blog Maintenance and No-Reply Bloggers

Just a couple of things~

First, thank you for your sweet comments today.  It's nice to know why some of you follow this blog.  Sometimes I wonder if people "get me" or if I come off weird?!?

I'm a pretty "straight-to-the-point" kind of gal, but I never want to come off rude.  You just never know how you're coming across through a computer screen... so thanks for sharing your nice thoughts!

 Anyways, I learned something today, from a reader named Heather.  She brought to my attention that my blog has been on a "short RSS feed".  I don't know much about it, other than the fact that only a snippet of each of my posts shows up instead of the full post with images.  What would this blog world be, without all of the amazing images?!?  So, I wanted to be the first to tell you that A Little Bit Biased is now offering the "FULL FEED".  One question I have about all of this though is ~ where are those feeds going to?  I just always get updates through my blog "Reading List".  If a post title looks interesting then I'll click on the link and check it out.  So if you have a blog "subscription" where is that at?

Although I have been blogging for quite a while now, I will be the first to admit, that I only know the basics.  So thank you, Heather, for teaching me something new and for the rest of you, if you have a suggestion on how I can make this blog more accessible, by all means, let me know! :)

One other thing I thought I would mention is regarding 

"no-reply" bloggers.  I have been wondering what the deal is with these "no-reply" addresses I see from some of my commenters...are they really NOT going to get my reply???  [I was in denial - can you believe that I would still send a response!  I'm such a dork!!!]  It's sad when you ask a question or leave a comment that I want to respond to and I can't!   In some cases, you may win a giveaway, but there is no way to get in touch with you!  If you are a no-reply blogger, you may want to check out this great post from Jodi @ Pleasant Home.  Some of you might not even know that you are...so go on!  Check it out!

Well, this was all business, wasn't it?!?  Sorry for the "no-photo post".  I think that is a first EVER.  I have been spray painting our banisters all day today and I think the fumes are getting to me.  Time to go take a bath...at 11 o'clock at night.

Weekend Sewing

Hello all 505 followers you!  It's kind of crazy, to think that 500 people think this blog is worth looking at on a semi-regular basis!?!  Thank you for all of your kind words and support along my creative journey these past few years.  I've been quilting for about 13 years, but my pattern biz, Gigi's Thimble, has been in full effect for just over a year now.  I love that I've actually made one of my dreams come true!  It's been a learning process and just keeps getting better all the time.  I've got some fun things in the works that I'm really excited about and a new pattern coming out any day.  [That's #7!!!]

On this blog, you will see my personal creations for Gigi's Thimble, as well as some quilts designed by other designers.  Sometimes, I have to take a little break from all of the note-taking, graph paper drawings,  design wall pondering, diagram designing and instruction writing, [as much as I love that whole left-brain, right-brain thing:)]

Here's one of those little "just for fun" projects I whipped up this weekend: 

It's for Just Sew [where I work a couple of days a week]. 

We gotta start getting our summer samples ready

and nothing is better for July, than a Buggy Barn star quilt.   

So, I'm wondering...

Why you have chosen to follow this blog? 

And, what makes you follow other blogs?

Do you look for daily posts?

New projects all the time?

Giveaways?

Thought provoking topics?

Tips?

Why do you follow? 

Just wondering...