Glow in the Dark Universe

Today begins the linky party over at The Littlest Thistle, where we all show off what we have accomplished this quarter... well, what we have accomplished that we MEANT to accomplish, anyway!! 
In this post, I will feature my nephew's Glow in the Dark Universe quilt. Made especially squishy, especially warm, especially soft, and especially glowy... just for you, ne-phew!!

Glow in the Dark fabric is from
Northcott Studios

 Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, and so I had to stop by Michael's and pick up a glow in the dark fabric pen and write secret glow in the dark messages all over it!  Do you think he's found them all, yet??! Hehe! It is just possible one of the words is 'Smooches'. Now, I don't think that will embarrass an 11 year old, do you??!!

All said and done, I finished 3 items from my original FAL2 List, found here. 
HAHAHAHA! How many items did I originally think I would finish?? Ahem, well, a few more than that ;) I did not know until I joined the FAL, that I had quilter's ADD. Now I do! And so for this coming quarter, I have resolved to finish one item from my list before beginning any new project... at least, right after this next one...!

Here are the items I completed for the FAL2:

The Bee-Inspired triangle quilt (list here)
The Glow in the Dark Nephew quilt (this post, above)
The Pillow covers, which turned into two different pillow covers, and which didn't end up being made with the material that I had originally planned... you know?! So they don't count as part of the FAL2, but you can take a gander at them all in one place, below ;)

The items that I completed that weren't on the list and may have had to do with an interesting idea that caught my eye, or a passing need, or just because, are:
Well, those pillows!

Arrow Pillow from my own design, I'm working on a tutorial

Canvas pillow pattern by She Can Quilt. Blog link here. 

And then these scarves:

Hee Hee! Whos foxy now??!

And then this quilt:

This quilt is in memory of my fabulous friend, Sarah, who just passed away from brain cancer.
We miss you, Sarah! I will be embroidering birds and flowers and such that she loved, in each
of the pink blank spaces. Then it will go up for auction, or become a much beloved porch huggy.

Whew! Now none of this includes the two quilts on my design wall and the quilt I am designing (my first) or any of the bajillion things that are being plotted!! 

Tune in same bat time, same bat place, and see what's happening next!!

Please go and check out the FAL and see what everyone is linking up. They are all astounding!!!

Have a fun day!!
XX!
Lori

New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop!!! Come on by!!

Welcome to Sew Psyched!!!!! 

 I am so glad you have stopped by on your way around the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop :)

When you come to SewPsyched, you will find lots of Stories about Alaska, HoneyBees, Quilts, Gardening, and Travel.

Today is a Story Day. An Unexpected Story Day. Did you ever have one of those? Where you go to bed thinking that the next day is going to be ordinary, and you wake up having it be extraordinary??!

Image by greatbigcanvas.com

Here's what happened. No S**t, there I was, as we say here in AK...

The Time: 4:40 am

The Place: Bed. Warm. Toasty. Dreamy...

The Event: 

Noise!! Rocketing me out of sleep. 

I grip the hubster in the Grip of Death (usually reserved for a glass of wine at the end of a day with freshmen students or possibly, preteens). The Dawg is asleep.

The Hubster Yelps. I whisper, "There's someone in the Garage." the Hubster goes back to sleep. He is just not patriotic. 

I barefoot tiptoe into the kitchen to inspect the door to the garage. Which is shaking. There are slurping noises. 

"Not the Neighbors", I think. 

There is no window into the Garage. Just the door. Solid. Shaking. Mysteriously Huffing.

I very slowly, and very gently, craaaack open the door. 

I am sorry that I did.

On the other side of the door...

Is a Grizzly Bear! Licking the door!!!

I close the door. Quickly. You know.

I lock the door.

I have a brief convo with God. 

I get the airhorn.

I blow the airhorn.

Bears (2) saunter out of garage and down road. In absolutely no hurry at all...

Since I am now wide awake, I briefly ponder pie.

I go back to bed and plot applying cold feet to hubster... 

HAHAHA! and so it goes, a livelier beginning to the day than I had planned.

What stories do you have of things that can only happen to you??

Here is what I've been up to lately:

Please check out my Terrible Triangle Trauma Tutorial for tips on sewing Triangle quilts. You'll be glad you did! ;)

Fun!! Read all about This Bee-Inspired Quilt and Bees and Sunshine in Alaska,

All I have left is to BIND this quilt, at laaast!!!

Have you stopped by the Granny Squares Quilt Along?? you have ta check it out!!

This Seascapes quilt is a commission. Next, binding!!!

There are 80 participants in this blog hop, can you believe it??!! 

I always love supporting folks who are being courageous and trying new things, and I bet you do, too. So be sure to click the links at the end of this post, and give this group some love!! (just sos you know, all 80 bloggers aren't linking today).

I hope you read some of my other stories and join in some of my giveaways. I'd love to hear from you, come by and sit awhile :)

XXOO!

Lori

And here they are!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lovely! The Magnificent!

Jill @ Pie Lady Quilts

Chelsea @ Patch The Giraffe

Daisy @ Ants to Sugar

Rachael @ The Floral Suitcase

Elizabeth @ And Pins

Jennifer @ Never Just Jennifer

Alice @ Blossom Quilts

Megan @ Sew Stitching Cute

Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter

Kelsey @ Lovely and Enough

Also Linking up with:

and,
Fiber Tuesday at Quilt Story

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR SUMMER? A Winner, and a Blog Hop!!

What color is your Summer?
When I think of Early Summer, I think of wild sweet peas, growing in glorious profusion alongside country roads…

 I think of Johnny Jump Ups waving cheerily from secret nooks and crannies where they have grown from seed broadcast by their parents, the year before,

You never know quite where they will spring up, but it’s always a delight.

I think of Soft greeny greys of willow catkins cavorting in the breezes,

I dream of long green days punctuated with delight by dandelions,
     

And of the HEADY scent of wild roses spreading
Along sunny woodland paths,
                 

And I SHARE the joy of the new green shoots on Celery and once bare roots.
       

If you were making a quilt to celebrate Summer the Whole Year Round, what Colors would YOU use? What pattern? A Lattice? Improv? Grandma’s Flower Garden? I would love to see your quilts!!

Hope your Summer/Fall is going FABULOUSLY!!!

The Winner of the Canvas Pattern and two fat quarters is....

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:18Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Emily Carnes!!!! I have emailed you, Emily.

Please check out the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop
The participants are astounding!!!

XXOO!

LORI
linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday, 

'Canvas' Pillows and Pattern Giveaway!!

It's another giveaway!!! 
I know, right?

Woohoo!

Leanne's mod pop version soon to be a pillow 

Retired to Quilt's fabulous spiral quilted pillow

Canvas Pattern by Leanne at She Can Quilt

Don't you just love the pop that these pillows give to a room?!! Well, now you, too can add some zest to your decor by entering to win the Canvas Pattern, below.  The pattern is sized for everything from pincushions like Debbie from A Quilter's Table made (I can't get a picture of these adorable pincushions to load, but you can check them out thru the link, it's worth it).

To King size for Quilts or things in between like these delights:

Magnificent lap size quilt from Aylin Nilya, a blog well worth visiting

I wanted to make a pillow in Lori Holt's Vintage Happy as a part of the Finish Along over at The Littlest Thistle, but instead chose to make a pillow from the Canvas pattern to compliment the Bee Inspired Quilt that I made to celebrate Spring and Bees. You can read all about that, here :)

I'm a big fan of envelope backs on pillows as they make the pillow sturdier and seem to work out better for me in the wash. It has nothing to do with a fear of putting in zippers, really.  No, really. 

Ok, so it does, but I'll be over that soon! 

I began with this pile of scraps

See that package of fat quarters??? That's from my last Giveaway. Woot Woot!!

Then pieced them as per the pattern, with a little juggling of yellows along the way,

Then matchstick quilted the pillowtop and chose a golden yellow back to continue the summer sunshine theme. And to shop from the stash, which is just getting out of hand. But, that's not a bad problem to have, right??

Then Cut my backing, overlapped my sides to make the envelope (tutorial on how to do this), and sewed the whole shebang together.

Yippee!!!!

I'm pleased with these two every time I walk into the room. 

And now for the giveaway!!!!
Giveaway closed. But you can still get the pattern on Leanne's website, www.shecanquilt.ca

1. Leave a comment, below, telling Leanne and I what size of project you plan on making, and what colors you would use,
2. Tell us why you are inspired by these colors. We love stories!!
3. Winner will be chosen, randomly, for the Canvas Pattern
4. If you can't wait and want to get started right away, you can go to Leanne's etsy or craftsy shops today and get 50% off!!! Woot!!
5. I'm thinkin' I'm gonna have to add two fat quarters to the winner's loot pile. So give us a shout, below!!
6. Winner will be chosen 6/9/14 12 midnight AK time :) Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Mackerel!!! 50% off all Craftsy classes this weekend!!!

XXOO!

Lori

Linking up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet, Anything Goes Monday at The Quilt Yarn this week