summer's here

It's been warmer and so we've been outside mowing the lawn, making some improvements... 

I've been busy in the house too.  

This was the peek I gave to Laura for our Traveling Quilts group. 

This was the second quilt I worked on and the second that I think I love!  I now have Gina's quilt in my hands and it's definitely a different style than mine, so I hope I can make something she will love. 

I was also invited to join a group called Warm Wishes for a summer swap between some wonderful swappers.  I was given Samantha for my partner, and I couldn't have asked for a better fit!  Our mosaics even match.

I pulled these fabrics to make a special something for her.  

The special something is almost done, but I can't show it off because it's a surprise. Here are some tiny little peeks of some fussy cut bits I included.

I also made a set of nesting bowls for Samantha - this was something she asked for and I said I would make for her, so at least I can show them off. I used a tutorial from Spoonful of Sugar.

I love these bowls because they are not so deep as baskets, perfect for holding clips , washi tape and thread.

Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts put out a call for pattern testers a little while ago and I signed up to help.  Lorna is coming out with a new pattern, well 2 actually, the Ombre Sewing Studio mini quilts.  I chose to do the I LOVE 2 SEW pattern.  I swapped out the green for yellow because I didn't have enough matching shades of green.

I also swapped out solids for prints in the heart.  

I love how unfinished quilts look hanging in windows.  The light gives such a neat effect.

I bound the mini in some leftover strips I had, so because the strips were only 1.5" wide, I did single fold binding.  A little different than double, but it worked out okay.

The heart.

The spool.

I quilted with straight lines an inch apart across the width and used Kona Deep Blue (I think) for the backing.

I was planning to give it away, but now I'm not sure because a) I kinda like it myself, and b) I noticed some skipped stitches in the quilting (after a needle change, it all turned out good), and I'm always worried about giving away less than perfect gifts...  We'll see.