Horses and Hippos and Dice...OH MY!

I've received one package in the mail every day since Friday with I-SPY fabric...how fun is that?

Katherine from Washington sent these...

Whitney from Ohio sent these...

and Natalie from DC sent these...

I know it's impossible to choose, but which ones are your favorites? I have a special place in my heart for chocolate chip cookies.

I Spy a Swap - Set #1

Shirley from Missouri sent these. Aren't they cute? My camera is dying, so the colors aren't totally accurate...the horseshoes & buttons are actually on green backgrounds.

I-Spy Swap Mailing Status

If you're participating in the I-SPY a Swap, please leave me a comment when you have mailed your fabrics. Also, please try to have your fabrics in the mail by August 1st. Thanks!

Here's a list of what has been received so far...

1. Shirley from MO
2. Natalie from DC
3. Whitney from OH
4. Katherine from WA
5. Andi from AZ
6. Mel from MO
7. Bethany from NE
8. Monica from TX (hey cuz!)
9. Wendy from TX (the best co-host ever)
10. Jenna from IL
11. Dianah from CA
12. Liz from CA
13. Gail from MO
14. Deanna from FL
15. Annie from TX
16. Donna from PA
17. Deb from New Zealand
18. Gina from TX
19. Anna from WA
20. Meredith from...my house!

I SPY a Swap!

My sister-in-law and I are co-hosting a swap called....

{drum roll}

I-SPY a swap!

The details:

• The first 18 people are in. Go to Wendy's blog to sign up...


• Each person will send (20) 4" squares from each of 10 novelty fabrics (a total of 200 squares) to me by August 1st.
  
• You will receive (200) 4" novelty squares (enough for 2 small I-SPY quilts or 1 large one). We’re hoping to send packages out by August 15th, but that depends on how long it takes everything to come to us.
  
• Live outside the U.S.? No problem! Just try to get your fabrics to us a little earlier.


• We'll post a list of participants' blogs on each of our blogs, so hopefully you'll go visit everyone's sites and leave some bloggy love, make some friends, and generally fill the world with peace and happiness.


• Just because we like you, we’ll even draw up and post some patterns you could use for arranging the squares in order to get a certain sized quilt.

A few thoughts & guidelines on the fabrics…

• Most fabric stores have a dedicated novelty fabric section. Generally these are fabrics with objects…animals, food, people, etc. It may help to think in terms of things you could use for the I-spy game. (I spy the letter G, I spy a sushi roll, I spy a monkey eating a banana, etc.)


• In order to avoid duplicate patterns, go on a mission for some really obscure, hard-to-find prints that aren’t available at the chain retailers.


• No team prints or licensed characters (SpongeBob, Dora, etc.) So, for example, a print with basketballs would be great, but a Dallas Mavericks print is not. Or a print with ducks wearing hats is great, but Donald Duck is not.


• The object in the fabric should be distinguishable in a 3.5x3.5 square (which will be its finished size). Keep this in mind when choosing fabrics. Either go with small prints or be ready to fussy-cut.


• You can get (20) 4" squares out of a 1/4 yard cut of fabric or out of a fat quarter. So you'll need to purchase at least 2-1/2 yards of fabric.

What is an I-Spy quilt? It's a quilt made with novelty fabrics. And it's a wonderful toy to play I-spy with. Great for traveling with kids or rest time or when you need something to occupy little ones. How to play? Take turns spotting something in the quilt, maybe "I spy, with my little eye, a frog in a tutu!" And then the first person to point out the tutu frog on the quilt goes next. And so on. Hours and hours of fun!

Win a watermelon! (quilt)

Well, it looks like I missed the deadline to get in on the giveaway action tomorrow. Darn! BUT...my very-creative sister-in-law is much more punctual than me! Head on over to her blog tomorrow to win this adorable watermelon quilt...

Inspired...

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted something on here, but I'm going to play the "I just bought my first house" card and not feel so bad about it! Anyhoo...I signed up for the Bee Inspired quilting bee hosted by Rachel, and so far, it has been great fun. I have made two blocks so far, one for Rachel and one for Dianah...


A Pinwheel for Rachel...

And a Vacation Home For Dianah...

AND, even more fun (for me), April was my month, so I have been getting all sorts of awesome blocks in the mail! This is my first quilting bee and I am definitely a fan! Here are the fabrics that I chose...

This is my inspiration quilt...

And as you can see from the Bee Inspired Flickr Pool, I am getting some awesome blocks! I even got a block from the famous Quilt Dad! This is so fun! Yahoo!

Back in the Saddle...

So part of the reason I had a huge lull in posting anything on here, is that I've had the quilt of death hanging over my head since mid-October. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, and it was supposed to be fabulous. This was my first major quilting disaster. It took way longer to get the top pieced than I thought it would, the colors did not come together like I had hoped, and when I began quilting it, I ended up with huge nasty wrinkles in the backing from not using enough safety pins. Since I had already missed the Christmas deadline, I decided this weekend to set it aside and allow myself to not care about it anymore. Perhaps I will fix it, perhaps I will rip it apart. Perhaps I will send it to my worst enemy. Either way, I have declared myself FREE!!!

In celebration I decided to try a little improv project tonight, and all of the sudden I remembered this whole quilting thing can be so satisfying. This is nothing like what I thought I was going to end up with, but I'm loving it.



I had a piece of embroidery that I did about 5 years ago that I decided to put at the center...

I used scraps for everything, and I think I'll make this into a pillow...since it matches our bed perfectly...which was not part of my plan. I guess that's why it's called improv...