Marcia's Crafty Sewing and Quilting Scrappy Quilt Challenge

You may remember that I wrote about Marcia's Scrappy Quilt Challenge on January 6th.  I showed you the scraps I planned to use.

Now it is time to see the finished top.

I love it.  My daughter said, "That's a great quilt!  Some little child is going to love that."  Two minutes later she burst my bubble saying, "Do you realize that none of those blocks are the same?"  I tried explaining about using the pattern from the Scrappy Challenge, but she wasn't buying it.  She decided that she prefers quilts that use the same blocks throughout.  Boring!
I didn't cut into any yardage for this quilt.  The strips for the borders were cut for another quilt and misplaced.  There they were waiting in the fabric closet.  At 33 x 41, this will be a good donation quilt for a small child.  Thanks Marcia.  Whether I win the long arm quilting or not, this was a fun quilt to make.  I've already cut some focus fabric to make another one.

Somebody's Got to Win This. Why Not Me or You?

I was visiting a blog this morning and noticed something interesting on the side bar.  The Quilter's Club of America Fabric for Life Sweepstakes is offering 50 prizes.  I think one of them should go to me.  If not me, than one of my web friends.  Let's face it.  It's a clever way to add thousands of quilters to their mailing list, but suppose one of us wonderful quilters wins.  I was sucked into the Greedy Zone and entered.  If I win, I promise I'll share.

On My Weigh with Annie

Annie of  Annie's Ruby Slipperz has started a program to encourage everyone to get healthy in the New Year.  Annie's posting some great tips on nutrition and ways to keep yourself motivated.  There will be an opportunity to check in and report how you are doing every Saturday.  I don't know about anyone else, but being part of a group helps to keep me honest and motivated about my goals.
Annie is so nice.  I wanted to post her button for the On My Weigh project here on my blog, but I didn't see any html code.  I left a comment asking for help and within a few minutes she got back to me and offered her help.  Of course, it was right there staring me in the face.  I think the fat cells are affecting my thinking.  I really need to join On My Weigh

More to do in 2012

Sorry this is text heavy.  There are pictures at the end.

In 2011, I actually managed to finish some UFOs that were languishing in my sewing closet for years.  This was due in no small part to the UFO Challenge held on the off shoot of my favorite online quilting group.  CQ-4-CBee is a subgroup of Cyber Quilters set up for special projects and challenges.  I only finished 3 of the 9 quilts I posted in the beginning of the challenge.  I also gave away one of the tops I listed and took apart a top that wasn't working the way I planned.  That left me with 4 of the listed UFOs on my challenge list.  I also participated in the 100 Quilts for Kids Challenge and the Hands 2 Help Challenge.

I've learned that having a goal with an end date really kept me focused and I was able to bust lots of stash and finish a few more UFOs.  For 2012, in addition to the 3 challenges I posted about yesterday, I have joined a few more to keep me on target.  Although most of these Quilt-Alongs and Challenges have end dates, there is no pressure involved.  If I am unable or unwilling to continue, it is not a problem for me or other participants.

I plan on participating in 3 monthly challenges:

The 2012 NewFO Challenge at Cat Patches  invites participants to start 1 new project per month.  The term NewFO was  coined in response to the UFOs all of us claim to be working on.  It encourages everyone to start something new without feeling guilty about finishing.  I definitely like that.

The Monthly Make It Group 2012 hosted by the Felt Fairy  is committed to making at least 1 new item every month.  The item does not have to be quilty to participate.

In addition to these challenges, I also plan on an additional scrap challenge.  The Scrap Attack  over at Stitched in Color encourages quilters to finish a quilt made mostly from scraps by the end of March.

I will also be trying to complete One Crazy Quilt Block per month.  The finished block will be at least 6 inches.

The last challenge I plan on taking part in is the Building Houses from Scraps project.  This group is making one tiny house from scraps each day.  At the end of the year, each quilter should have 365 tiny house blocks plus a larger house block for the center of the finished quilt.  I absolutely love this idea, but have not completed a block yet.  The blocks finish at 3 inches and I am really struggling with the size.  I cannot keep the seams straight and the blocks will not lie flat.   I will either have to enlarge the block or expend my energies elsewhere.  I am pretty much resigned to the fact that tiny is not my thing.

When I first read through the list of  groups I have signed up with, I felt it might be overwhelming.  After examining my goals for next year, I realized that  challenges are a good fit with my goals and that many of them overlap.  For me, that is an excellent reinforcement.

I worked on a new Disappearing 9 Patch quilt yesterday made from 5 inch floral charms that have been sitting in my closet for years.  The floral charms as well as the tone on tone solids were cut from scraps.     This quilt is designated for the local women's shelter.

The buttons for all of these groups (with the exception of the Crazy Quilt Blocks which is no longer accepting members) are on the sidebar.

Fabulous Temptations for the New Year

There are so many fabulous things happening on quilting blogs right now it's hard to choose which ones to participate in.  There aren't enough hours in the day for me to try all of them so I've narrowed it down to a few I can't resist.   


When Mary of the Curious Quilter announced her 2012 Postage Stamp Quilt Challenge and Swap, I knew it had to be on my "Must Do" list.  Mary has plans for monthly posts, swaps, giveaways and a year-long Postage Stamp Quilt challenge.  Click the button on my side bar for all the juicy details.


Marcia over at  Marcia's Crafty Sewing and Quilting is having a Scrappy Quilt Challenge.  She is offering free quilting to one lucky quilter who finishes a top using her scrappy tutorial.  I started mine today.  Pictures of  the fabrics  I 'm using  are  below .    The top needs to be completed by January 17th.  You can get further details by clicking her button over on my side bar.

Over at Pleasant Home there is a  month long Scrap Along.   There will be:  articles on scrap organization,  ideas for scrappy quilts, tutorials, scrappy tutorials, and even a Scrappy Board on Pinterest.  There's lots more info to see.  That button is also on my side bar.


There are a few more that I will be participating in .  I will post about them tomorrow .

Winners of the Birthday Giveaway

Sorry for the delay in posting the winners.  Blogger does not like my new computer and athough it allowed me to create a draft, it would not allow me to publish the post.

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration with their family. We had a lovely, if quiet celebration.  The day after Christmas is always a bit of a let down.  Luckily, today is the day to choose the winners of my Birthday Giveaway. 

There are 77 names in the bowl.  57 are followers of the blog with an additional 20 names of  people who left comments.  The first winner is:  

Tonya's name was chosen first.  Tonya is a follower and also left a comment;  "They are not the only ones that read your whining post. LOL. I just don't always comment when I am so busy and behind. My son's birthday is tomorrow. I know how it is. Well, happy birthday. So kind of you to have such a big giveaway! Notice how comments come out of the woodwork when you host a giveaway?"

Sheila's name was chosen second.  Sheila is a follower and also left a comment:  "Happy Birthday! Very generous give away.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."

 Sharon V's name was chosen third.  Sharon left this comment:  "Happy Birthday KatieQ!!! Hopefully in spring we can arrange a meet up - got wheels now."

PattiLou's name was chosen fourth.  PattiLou is a follower.  I will contact the winners so that they can make their choices.

Funghi for the Fun Guy

If you are someone that doesn't like mushrooms, read no further.  My mother's parents were from Poland and mushrooms were an important part of my grandmothers's recipes.  This recipe is not one of my Babcia's, but it is wonderful.  I found this recipe for Hungarian Mushroom Soup at the For the Love of Cooking blog.   All of the recipes at this site are delicious.  The only changes I made were substituting Smoked Spanish Paprika for the regular paprika listed and Greek yogurt for the sour cream.  I didn't have time to go to the store for the sour cream so we had to make do.  We have made the soup twice and when I make it again, I will definitely plan ahead so I can use sour cream.  The taste was fabulous, but Greek yogurt is thick so it didn't blend as well as I would have liked.
A salad with shavings of Romano or Parmasean, some crusty bread or the Pillsbury crescent roll in the picture, and a glass of wine makes a heavenly dinner.
One more sleep until Christmas.