To the zoo!

A few highlights from our trip to the Philadelphia Zoo

My zoopass which we bought last year for my birthday expires at the end of the month so we made the most of our list trip there - including another camel ride for me, woo hoo :)

He looks so snuggly!



Baby Giraffe born last summer



Those crazy wild animals ;-)

Awww, even cheetahs groom and snuggle eachother

Awesome... what more can I say?

Riding off into the sunset on my camel

Playtime in the kitty pool for Mr. Tiger

Cute... but may bite... caution!

He's been working out ;-)

The Philadelphia Zoo - America's first zoo apparently!

T-rex love and the early morning giggles :)

Source: None via Tiffany on Pinterest

This makes me laugh, so much.

A little background story... I'm 5'11 and my husband is 5'10. Somehow my arms are either longer than his or I can just reach higher, because he is always asking me to get things off of the top shelf for him. So I always tease him and say "O sorry T-rex, are your little arms to short?"  I do the same to my mom, who is around 5'6" I believe... it's even funnier to say to her ;-) Hence why this cartoon is giving me a lovely early morning giggle... hee hee hee :)

Crazy blocks and lilly pads!

Wow - what a busy but fantastic weekend I had!

Harry Potter on Friday... fabulous, simply fabulous :)

A sunny trip to the Philadelphia Zoo on Saturday - complete with a camel ride!

And then ofcourse... we can't forget about the sewing! Are you ready for a weekly update? Here we go:

1. Kaleidescope QAL:


I was able to get all of my small and large triangles sewn together - or atleast 100 out of 120, still waiting on my FQs to come in the mail to make up for my cutting accident. I also started sewing on the grey triangles and completed around 40 of those - hoping to finish those tonight but the rest still need cut so it probably isn't going to happen.

I'm way behind on this QAL... I don't think I'll make the August 4th deadline. If I don't have my quilt top finished by the end of the week, its probably going in the "to be quilted" pile whenever it does get done and won't be a priority... sad, but that's life :-p So let's all hope I get the top done this week and stay motivated to finish this beauty!

2. We Can Do It! - Skill Builder Sampler:


Block #4 - I've named it "Lilly Pads" - because that is what my pinwheels remind me of :)

3. A Zig & A Zag QAL:

No update - it still looks all pretty in strips like this and is waiting for me to get those strips sewn together!

4. 4 x5 Modern Bee on Flikr

Here is my practice block for my Hive in my colors - Aqua, Orange, Grey
Crazy Block by Aneela Hoey

2 of my bee hive members have the same colors so one of them may get this block, but maybe not... look at that dorable hippo in the middle, how can I give him away? hehe

A few QAL's have been stalled or given up... still hoping to do the Farmer's Wife Sampler at some point but I need to finish a few more of these projects first.

Also waiting on my "For the love of solids" partner which should arrive in August - because I'm pathetic and could not resist signing up last week haha.

More to come later this week if I get some sewing time in, stay tuned!

Linking up with:      

Gift time!

There were some nice goodies in the mail when I got back from visiting my family in Indiana last week.

First off was my partner's gift from the gift exchange:

These are little felt flowers - I really like the first one with the pink and oranges and the sunflower style one next to it. These will look really cute on a bag or some other project I think. Time to start brainstorming :) Thanks Tara!

Second... and I must say WOW I'm so excited about this every day.... was the mini "swoon" quilt I wont from Deb at http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/ She had a giveaway for her 100th post and I was the lucky winner! The pictures looked lovely on her computer but wow, this quilt is even prettier in person! It is now gracing my table and makes me smile everytime I see it - thanks again Deb! :)

Recognize that fabric? It is Aviary 2 from Joel Dewberry, one of my favorite lines! I have SO much of this fabric and have yet to make anything out of it. Her fantastic fabric taste makes me love it all the more ;-) Green and eggplant purple happen to be my 2 favorite colors as well... seriously... its like it was made for me!

Speaking of giveaways... I am going to make something special for a lucky reader for my 100th post... 9 more after this one so stay tuned!

Weekend Sewing and QAL update

As you probably know, I am involved in way too many QALs, swaps, bees, charity projects, etc. Here is a small smattering of those I've worked on recently (this weekend) and those I've recently signed up for:

1. Kaleidescope QAL:

I finished up my cutting of everything except for the grey solid and 3 FQs which I am waiting to receive in the mail. Their predecessors  suffered an untimely death due to mis-cutting Friday night.

I also sewed together my first block. There is some puffing in the middle which will hopefully be fixed through more ironing and the final quilting. Hopefully my other 29 blocks turn out a little flatter, but all in all I love this little guy and can't wait to get the rest of his friends put together!

 

2. We Can Do It! - Skill Builder Sampler:

Block #3 - Churn Dash 

 

And just for fun - here are my June blocks 1-3 laid out together:

 

4. A Zig & A Zag QAL:

I finally bought Kona Coal for my solid and cut up my strips today. I realized that the fabric requirements on the QAL were wrong however, so I need to buy more solid. Fortunately I can still do the strip piecing step of the QAL this week without the extra solid so hopefully I can get that done. 

5. Rainbow Charm Swap: 

All of the charm sets were received and have been sent out to the participants. I can't wait to get my set! Here is a preview from the organizer:

6. 4 x5 Modern Bee on Flikr

Here is my inspiration collage for my bee members - my requested colors are Orange/Aqua/Grey with Coal or White as the background. I'm super excited to get this started! Blocks are due by Oct. 15 so stay tuned :)

7. For the Love of Solids - Swap on Flikr

Sign-ups start on the 13th... I have not 100% made up my mind yet but I am pretty sure I will join. 

We have to make one big item - like a mini quilt, table runner, etc. for our partner and then one little item - like a scrap bundle, pin cushion, etc. It is due by Sept. 15th tho so I just need to make sure I can get my bee blocks done and this and everything else haha. 

Here is my inspiration collage for my swap partner:

Linking up with:      

Handmade Gift Exchange

I participated in the latest round of the Handmade Gift Exchange last month - such a fun idea!

Here is what I made my partner:

She was moving into her own place at the end of the month so I made her this cute place mat with her name on it as a house warming gift.

I also added in this little zipper pouch just for fun - the lining matches the back of her placemat

I hope she received it and liked it. I will post pictures soon of the cuteness I got from her!

Accuquilt Go! Baby - Thoughts?

I've been reading a lot lately about these Accuquilt Go! cutters - and there have been a TON of giveaways for the Go! Baby cutter in bloggyland. I have yet to win one, unfortunately :( however I did find one on Amazon for only $68 which just blows my mind - especially as Joanns and Accuquilt sell them for $140 (no coupons allowed at Joanns for this item).

So... I'm thinking about buying one. It does not come with any dies or cutting mats, all of that is separate and kind of pricey itself. Questions for my lovely readers on this topic:
Do you have one?
Do you want one?
Do you think its worth the money? $68 seems great for the Baby cutter but the dies are 25-50$ each and you have to buy and replace cutting mats for the machine too - around 12$ a mat.

Just thought I'd take a random survey and see what your thoughts/recommendations are ... I'm in no rush, I have a million projects to work on that don't need cut by this fancy machine :)

I'm back!!

Wow - it feels like I've been away FOREVER and it has really only been a week.

I will have a quick re-cap of the past week on my personal blog soon with pictures but suffice it to say:

I went to visit my Dad and his 3 grandkids and my sister over 4th of July weekend. Attended a wedding, saw some awesome friends, spent a lot of time out doors playing and chatting and it was all in all a great week :)

As far as crafty stuff - nothing has happened since last week - sorry for the disappointment :-p

I am missing "Work in progress Wednesday" but hoping by the end of the week or at least weekend to start working on some fun things and getting caught up with all of my QAL's. So tune in later on for more on that and pictures, I promise!

Also, if you are wondering, my dad loved his quilt and it fit his king sized bed very well. I didn't take pictures of it on his bed or with him... I'm lame like that, but its happy in its new home, I promise you that :)

... til' next time, stay crafty my friends!
(If anyone knows what that altered line is from, I will be dumfounded!) **UPDATE - if you don't watch stupid teen dramas online on the CW, you are not going to know who said this quote, and if someone else said it first or somewhere else, I'm not going to know who you are talking about lol.***

The big reveal!

I have been working on this belated Father's Day present for the past 3 months and have not been able to share any pictures or progress reports with you, pure torture! haha I knew we would go visit my dad over 4th of July weekend and I wanted to surprise him with a big lovely "man quilt" for his king sized bed. So without further ado, I give you "The Blue Beast" :)

I absolutely love the top of this quilt. All of the blues and the pattern is very geometric and modern to me. The tutorial is from Melissa Cory - her coin quilt from Moda Bakeshop - which I then multiplied x's 4... and took an extra row off in the end.

This monster is about 90 x 100 - give or take a few inches. It didn't turn out as big as I hoped but with all the trouble I had sewing and quilting this beast, I'm glad it did not turn out bigger! My quilting leaves a bit to be desired... I wanted to do so much more with it but I had so many machine and human issues trying to fit this in my little domestic machine that I finally just went with a 1/4 inch border inside the strips and that was it. It turned out ok and I learned a lot and I'm sure my dad will love it inspite of all its flaws. You live and you learn I suppose... even tho its hard to let go and not worry about all the details :)

Happy Belated Father's Day Daddyman! You will already have this lovely monster on your bed by the time you are reading this :)


Linking up with: