Do you know the feeling that you don't want to put your mistakes on your blog? I surely do! Katie hosted 100 quilts for kids at her blog Swim, Bike, Quilt. Her goal was to inspire others to make charity quilts for children in need. I really intended to participate and I made this butterfly quilt.
Before sending it off it was washed and this is how it turned out! It bearded so much. I guess the wool-cotton batting that was used came out and shows very much on the dark red. This picture was made after most of it had been taken off.
It just doesn't feel right to send it of to a charity for children. So I decided to keep it as a lap quilt. Oh well.. I really like the colors and the butterflies and he likes it too!
 
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Pinterest has some real interesting recipes. Today I tried out White vegetable lasagne 'cupcakes' by Emily on EmilyBites I didn't use a cupcake tray, but two mini cooking pots. It turned out great!

Something that didn't turn out the way I expected is, was Crockpot honey sesame chicken by Nikki, Chef in training. The meat was tasty, but a bit hard. I didn't quite stick to the recipe, since I don't own a crock pot. I would like to give it another try, because it sounds so great! Check out her other recipes. They sound and look amazing!

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I also got a little bit of handquilting and binding done on my butterfly charity quilt. Most of the quilting was done with my machine, but the butterflies are handquilted in a different color, so it shows on the back.

I only need to quilt two more butterflies and attach a label, then I can send it off to a local charity,  (And start something new...wink)

 
A lot has been going on here. I've been participating in a few swaps, worked on some old projects and tried not to start anything new! Here's my list of finishes:

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Swap:

Little ticker tape/dresden quilt
for the Little Quilt-Sew, Vote, Swap Group










I received this cute little one back.


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Quilt top

This quilt top is finally finished! It is a pattern by Camille Roskelley, Little Ones. I enlarged it a bit, so that it fits a Twin size bed.



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Butterfly charity quilt

It felt great to make an improv quilt with scraps from the quilt top above! No pattern, just cutting and sewing!!

I first finished the line with all the triangles. After that I used other scraps for the six blocks. Those six blocks were not big enough to make a little quilt, so I decided to use a neutral with it. That seemed a bit empty to me. The quilt feels girlie to me and what matches better with girlie than butterflies?! The butterflies are appliqued on it with raw edge applique.

I guess that I'm very pleased with the result. Do I really have to give this baby away to charity? Yes, I hope that it is finished in time for the 100 quilts for kids.

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Another swap

For the RATZ swap (Rapid And Tiny Zakka Swap) I made this needle book with a pincushion embroidery on the front.





This gorgeous needle book came my way from Norway. Raw edge applique and crochet, I love it!

Now I'm off to make a notebook cover for Super Swaps and I have to buy some batting for my charity quilt! But before I go, I'll link up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!
 
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A quick note from me. I don't have much time, because I fell in love. Not with a man, but with a machine!

Yes, yes, yes, I bought a new sewing machine! A Janome 4120QD. I'm so excited and can't wait to start quilting with this machine, instead of handquilting. It will save me so much time.

Now I'm off to try out all the options on this machine!

 
Time flies when you're handquilting!
In the meanwhile I made these little things. I couldn't just sit on the couch and quilt all the time. I'm not even half way yet, so there are more little projects to come. Maybe a bit more crocheting or I'll start a new quilttop. We'll see....
 
Yesterday I didn't get a chance to make pictures. My six cushions are finished!! I'm so pleased with the results. I finished some more projects and I worked some more on my big quilt. The hand quilting doesn't go as fast as I would like to.
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Completed projects:
- Side swap (for Wendy): Fall mug rug swap

- A small acorn to go with the two mug rugs
(I couldn't find a pattern for it, so I combined a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop and a picture of a fabric acorn that I found online)

- Six cushions for my dining room table

- Tilda pillow in brown and pink

Ongoing progress:
- Black white quilt

No progress:
- T-shirt quilt
- Restore an old quilt, made by my husbands grandmother

My last project were all brown, grey and black. I want some color now!! Maybe I'll start with a bag in blue and red or a pink quilt. Maybe a quilt in blue and green or some lovely pillows. I have more than enough ideas, if only I had more time to finish it all!
 
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The last few weeks I've been busy basting and hand quilting my big black and white quilt. It will take me a few weeks, maybe months, but I'm sure that it'll be worth all the work.

Yesterday I found this treasure at a second hand store. It is a book from 1976 with sewing and quilting patterns! Some of the patterns for skirts, dresses and tops are very cute, but this little outfit for a boy is very outdated!

 
Hello friends and followers, I would love to welcome you to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over here. They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5 x a week for 12 weeks.

Supplies that will have you quilting before you know it...From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters,to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles, rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines...everything you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter.  Even if you are already part of this community you can win quilting stuff too...Tuesday and Thursday are days for us..

All you have to do is give me your name and phone number and email sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win anything I can win something too. All you have to do is register with me and become a follower over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure....That is all! There are over 49 Sponsors involved. I am pretty excited to be part of this, sew should you. I love being a QUILTER!

( p.s you will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register with a blogger where you see this message)
 
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Remember this preview in January and this one in May? Finally this top is finished!!

I'm very pleased with it. I wanted to make something pretty for on our bed. I love flowers and different prints, but my husband doesn't and the main color of our bedroom is gray. I chose to go with a lot of different grays, blacks and beige. To spice it up a bit I used red strips.

It is not sandwiched yet and I'm not looking forward to that. Maybe I'll start a few other projects before I do that ;-)

My inspiration came from Ashley's String Quilts and Flee Market Fancy Quilt. Ashley makes the most beautiful quilts.

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Thanks to all the people participating in the sew mama sew giveaway! I received so many ideas for new quilts.