Baby update!

Hello everyone! 

First of all..thank you for all the support and wonderful comments about the baby! He is doing great. As of right now, he's still in the NICU because of jaundice and poor feeding but he's starting to come out of it and getting hungry. He's just a sleepy little thing. Everything is going well and we hope to bring him home soon.

4/4 Update: He's finally home and doing great! We're all adjusting wonderfully. I'm going to step away from the blog for few weeks to enjoy this time with my family. Don't go anywhere, I'll be back soon :)

Here's my little guy...just the perfect baby.

Here's an awesome pic my mom shot right after I gave birth to him...

And for those of you wondering about his name...

Now...about the Two Sisters Traveling Stash! The next recipient is Deb @ A Simple Life Quilts. Thanks for all the comments showing interest!

Taking a baby break! See you soon!

Ok peeps. It's time. Time to say adieu for a little while. I have to be induced TONIGHT due to a pregnancy diagnosis which could be fatal to the baby. So instead of having another 4 weeks to prepare for baby I'm trying to get things done and out of my hair today!

If you're waiting on something from me...I'll get to it later when I can. Gotta go!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers :)

Update: The Baby and I are doing great! Thank you for all the support and comments!

Blogiversary Giveaway Winner!

A huge thank you to all those who entered into my Blogiversary giveaway! There were all sorts of amazing things that you guys have learned! I wasn't able to respond to all the comments that kept coming in BUT I did read them all. Here's what a lot of you said you learned...

• Paper Piecing
• Installing Zippers
• Free Motion Quilting
• Accurate 1/4" Seams
• Applique
• Curves
• Binding
• Trying new things
• Not to be perfect
• It's ok to say No

Those are some great things to you've all learned! Such a progressive year for you all!

Now for our winner! The rafflecopter picked entry #570 out of 988 entries which was a blog comment...

Congratulations Jill! I've sent you an email. 

A big thank you to Aurifil for providing great thread packs as well!

Zakka Along 2.0 Patchwork, Please - Embroidery Pouch

Well I finished every project in the Patchwork Please Book except the Market Tote. I didn't need to add another tote to the collection I already have. I'm considering this book DONE!

Here's my Embroidery Pouch. I just love the way it turned out. The points were a little bit of a challenge due to being pretty small and using templates. Next time I'll paper piece everything to get nice and crisp points. All in all I think it's really cute and fun!

I've mailed this little cutie off to Julie for the Birthday Bash Swap we're in together. She's received it by now so it's finally time to share with all of you!

The front cover is SO Julie and SO me actually. I wanted something fun and cheery for the inside liner and thought the blue bunting fabric was a perfect fit. Who doesn't like bunting?

Design Challenge: Embroidered Baby Blocks Tutorial

Happy St. Paddy's Day! I have a fun tutorial for you but it's not green!

With a baby on the way, choosing a project for my Design Challenge for Sew Lux Fabric wasn't too difficult. Since I'm having a boy I thought some Red, White & Blue blocks would be fun. When I spotted the Sailboat print in their inventory, I knew that was the theme and pulled other fabrics to match. 

To read my fun Q&A's for the Challenge Click here!

If you're interested in purchasing these prints, please visit Sew Lux Fabric to grab the bundle here! The red prints pictured above are substitutes for what I used but still really fun!



Here's what you need to get started:

• 6 Fat Quarters (There will be plenty of fabric left over)
• Pins
• Polyfil
• Hand Sewing Needle
• Hand Quilting Thread
• Perle Cotton (optional)
• Regular Writing Pen for drawing pattern on paper
• Water-Soluble Fabric Pen or Frixion Pen for drawing embroidery design on block

Let's get started!

Blogiversary Giveaway!

I can't believe I've been blogging here a whole year! Yowza! It's been fun peeps, it really has. Here are a few things I've learned over the past year...

• I'm apparently obsessed with swapping (Thanks Amanda for pointing this out to me)
• I've bought more fabric in the past year than in my whole life before blogging
• I like sewing/quilting books I suppose. I somehow ended up with 26 new books on my shelf
• I've found my quilting/sewing/fabric style is modern. (I only really knew Civil before because that's what my Mom likes and uses/buys)
• I don't like quilt kits or BOM kits. I like picking my own fabrics out for projects
• The online quilting community is AMAZING and SO supportive! I've made so many friends and love reading comments from readers!
• I've learned how to use Flickr, Instagram, Facebook Fan Page, Gmail, Google Docs & Blogger like nobody's business...BAM!
• My life motto is "Google it"....seriously people for reals. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is on Google. Someone has seriously taken the time to blog or video about whatever it is that you need or have a question on. Yep! Why your eye twitches, What type of needle to use for what, When the next comet is coming, How to fix your broken xbox, Who invented lint rollers. It's pretty amazing...in more ways than one. I would not have this blog if Google wasn't around to answer all the stupid blogger codes issues/questions I had.
• I've stepped outside my "comfort zone" or quilty narrow-mindedness and made many many non-quilt items. I really enjoy making something I've never tried before. I think the quick finish is something I like too.

Anyways, enough about me and blah blah blah. It's time to celebrate! I love you guys so much that I'm willing to throw a giveaway! Since it's my 1 year Blogiversary AND for going over 500 Bloglovin followers AND to celebrate 200 blog posts! Yay!!!

This weeks Sponsor Spotlight is Aurifil! They sent me some goodies to share with you guys a little while ago and I was saving them for this very occasion!

I'll even throw in these extra bits of awesomeness to celebrate!

• 5 Fat Eighths of Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets in colors: Orange, Frosting, Grape, Cosmonaut & Medium Grey
• Pretty Little Patchwork Book by Lark Books
• Rainbow Washi Tape Set of 10
• Little Drawstring Pouch made by yours truly
• A few extra little goodies not pictured

The giveaway is open to everyone! Use the Rafflecopter below to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Two Sisters Traveling Stash!

I guess it's my turn with a traveling stash! Yay! I received this box from Leona who was generous enough to replace most of the contents due to traveling weariness. She donated most of the items to a church group for hospice quilts. How sweet is she?! So I was lucky enough to get a fresh new box of fabric! Well, she had some really good ones to choose from and it was stuffed full! Thanks for being so thoughtful Leona! She's seriously the best :)

Here's what the box looked like when I received it:

A large assortment of fabrics to choose from (sorry for my shadow in the pic!)

A grip of great patterns

 And an awesome selection of notions and charm packs!

This is what I snagged:

And this is what I replaced them with:

Colorful goodies! 4 great fabric prints, some vintage buttons, washi tape, a Salt Air charm pack and a sewing garment applique adornment. I know washi tape isn't really a sewing notion but it's something everyone wants and loves!

Okay Rules:

The rules to receive this box are fairly simple. You must be an active blogger to receive this box.

• The definition of a Stash is a secret store of valuables. For quilters it is a collection of usable quality products. The stash contains fabric, patterns and notions. ALL FABRIC IN THE BOX IS AND MUST CONTINUE ON AS QUILT SHOP QUALITY. THE FABRIC SHOULD BE NEW AND UNWASHED. 
• PATTERNS/BOOKS should be new or in a gently used condition. (No free patterns from the Internet) Books take up a lot of space and the box is limited, so please include fabric instead of a big book.
• Other items such as tools or notions should be packaged and in new or gently used condition. Nothing should be old or tattered.
• WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE BOX, feel free to take whatever you like and replace it with the same quantity and QUILT SHOP QUALITY THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED. REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE PAYING IT FORWARD TO THE NEXT QUILTER TO RECEIVE THE BOX. 

The Giveaway for this box will remain open for two weeks. YOU MUST BE AN ACTIVE BLOGGER to receive The Two Sisters Travelling Stash. This box is limited to travel within the United States only. Please leave a comment and the winner will be announced on March 23, 2014. Thanks for stopping by!

WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced!

I'm guest hosting with Lee at Freshly Pieced today! Head on over to link up!

Zakka Along 2.0 Patchwork, Please - iPad Cover & Prettified Pincushion

I'm finally finishing up the last few projects in the Patchwork, Please Book by Ayumi Takahashi. Phew! Pregnancy really put me behind didn't it? The sew along ended forever ago it seems. Well I had a few swaps and birthdays come up where the last few items were just too perfect for the occasion.

Originally I wasn't going to make the iPad Cover because well...I don't own an iPad. Say it isn't so! Yep! I'm lame and haven't joined the iPad craze. I do have a tablet, just not the iPad. I don't use it as much as I probably should so I don't feel left out. I could always adjust the pattern to fit my tablet but ehh...whatever.

Anyways, I ended up making one anyhow because of a birthday and I needed to make a gift. I thought the Clipboard fabric from Type would be fun paired with Pink Pearl Bracelets. The other fabrics were fun to throw in too. I opted to machine bind because I haven't been in the mood to hand bind anything lately...no thank you.

I also managed to make the Prettified Pincushion. I used natural linen and some fun colorful scraps that would really pop against the tan. The bottom is some hot pink corduroy fabric I had on hand. I filled it up with crushed walnut shells for weight. The button really makes the pincushion doesn't it? It's so....well...pretty! Like sprinkles on a cupcake. I was really tempted to keep this for myself but was strong. I wrapped it up with my swap items as a little extra and sadly packaged everything up. Ready to mail out to my partner this week. Sniff...I'm jealous that my partner gets to keep it and not me.

That's it for now. Better get on with the next thing on my list!

Triple-Zip Pouch Swap 2 Sent!!

We're at the closing part of the Triple-Zip Pouch Swap: Round 2. It's time to start mailing pouches out. I was so excited to mail my partner her pouch! As soon as I finished it, I packaged it up and sent it out! My partner has received it so I can share it with you now.

Here's what I sent. Eeep! I decided to make the pouch a little larger by about 2" all the way around. It's a great size for any everyday items you may need to carry. I added a removable strap and turned it into a little purse by adding flap with pearl snap. 

My partner requested the colors Blue, Purple & Green and said she liked Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Oh...I was in swap heaven! It took me a little while to pick the right Kaffe prints but after 3 fabric pull options...she chose this combo. I must say...I love it! I was secretly hoping she didn't want it because I would totally carry this around with me! The colors are so pretty!

Here is a better pic of the mini quilt I sent along with the pouch full of goodies. A Kaffe heart for a Kaffe lover like me. I funky little backing made from scraps :)

We have a winner!

A big thank you to everyone that entered the giveaway sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop! Thanks for supporting my sponsors and being such loyal shoppers and followers!

Thank you to Fat Quarter Shop for offering a great giveaway to my readers! 

And now the winner of the Charm Pack of your choice is.....

Congratulations Wendy! I've sent you an email! Email me your address and which charm pack you would like!

Thanks to everyone that entered!