Craftster Lap Quilt Swap 5

So I've been on a short blogging break. It's been real busy here at the Quilt Dad household and I haven't had too much time to work on anything, much less blog about it. I'm trying to finish up an embroidery piece for the Hoop Up swap as well as my Doll Quilt Swap quilt, and did finish my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap ... more on that in another post.

I did recently complete another round of the Lap Quilt Swap over on Craftster. Here's a rundown of the blocks I made for my swap partners:

For sloth003, a Kaleidoscope Variation block:



For SimplySandy, String Stars 2 from the Quilter's Cache site:



A Double Pinwheel block for ritapizza:



Practicing my curved piecing for chinarockfishakm:



For linnybelle:



For marmish:



Some improv piecing for 1boy1girl1kitty2:



More curved piecing, this time for shout4joy:



This block's called Frolic Variation and it's for gingerquilts:



Wonky curves for summertimerolls:



And finally, some raw edge applique (block pattern from the Quiltmaker Magazine "100 Blocks" issue) for malisha:

Craftster Blocks ... the grand finale

Blocks, blocks and more blocks ... that's what I've been up to lately! Driving the flurry of block-making has been the fast-approaching deadline for the Craftster Lap Quilt Swap. I had 22 blocks to make for this swap and, with the Christmas holidays falling right in the middle of the swap, I was starting to feel the pressure in the past few weeks.

No worries ... with a week to spare, I was able to finish up all of the blocks this past weekend. Here are the blocks I've made since my last update:

• First, a block for Ashley. She sent an inspired (and inspiring!) selection of browns, whites, and teal greens with lime accents. I decided to go kinda improv on this one, with intentionally wonky horizontal stripes. I had a lot of fun selecting some coordinating prints (mostly from the "Nest" line) from my stash. It's one of my favorites!!
  

• Next up, two blocks for whoopdedoo_5. I've been wanting to try making some string blocks, and I felt that this selection of Surf & Sand fabrics was the perfect place to start. I loved making this block and I love the end result even more. I'll be making more blocks like this, so don't be surprised when you see them!
  

• Here's a block for thatbluesea. I wanted to keep it simple and let the teal and red combo speak for itself. I love the look but, unfortunately, it's not quite finishing out at a nice, clean 12.5". I think I'll be making a second (replacement) block before sending this back, just in case.
  

• Next, a block for swap hostess (and SewConnected regular!) Audrey. I felt like the fun, vintage-y fabrics called for a more traditional block. The colors look so great together, don't they?! I tried to make Audrey a bonus block (below), but ran out of enough long strips of fabric to put a top and bottom border on it. I sent it anyway ... I thought Audrey could finish it up if she likes it, or use it for another purpose.
  

• The block below was made for libbyk. Her fabrics selection included a bunch of black and white prints (very much outside my usual comfort zone) and a splash of color. I hope she likes it!
  

• And finally, two batik beauties for 1b1g1k2. You know, I've never really been drawn to batiks. Of course, I've seen many of your beautiful quilts made from batiks on your blogs and Flickr streams, but for some reason I tend to always walk right by them in the store. But I started feeling a small itch when working with Kim's fabrics in the SewConnected 2 swap. The itch grew a lot when making these two blocks, and just the other day I found myself lingering on the batik pages of the latest Hancock's of Paducah catalog. I LOVE how these blocks came out ... especially the first one. The pictures really don't do the bright colors any justice. I think there will be a batik project in my future ...
  

Another fun Craftster swap under my belt! I'll be sure to post pictures the blocks I receive as they start to roll in ...

Craftster LQS4 Blocks thru 1.20.09

Craftster LQS4 Blocks through 1.20.09
Originally uploaded by j_q_adams

I've been keeping busy making blocks for my Craftster swap. With the deadline fast approaching (some time around Valentine's Day), I've tried to make this top priority and clear it out of the queue!

I'm really happy with many of these blocks so far ... and I think I've shown a lot of progression since the last swap. If nothing else, I'm able to make the blocks a lot more quickly!

12 down, 10 more to go.

When it rains ...

Wow, after complaining about not winning any giveaways, I just won my second in less than a week ... and it's a GOOD one!

I won a custom-made embroidered pillow from the insanely talented Rita of Free-Falling. I first met Rita during my first Craftster swap and we've become fast swap buddies. I even lured her into my SewConnected groups and have gotten her hooked on mini quilt swaps.

Want to hear the freakiest thing? I was the first comment. I mean, really ... when does comment #1 ever win these things?? Well, I did, and I can't be more excited about it. Thanks a ton, Rita!

In other news, I've been working hard to not only get my giveaway winners' packages out (they're both on their way, finally!), but trying to make progress on my still-growing Christmas gift list. THIS has been a major, major time suck. I sure hope it's worth it when I am done! Pictures soon, if I don't throw it out the window first ...

I'm also binding up my "words" mini-quilt for Sonja in the 6-12" Mini Quilt Swap group. Yeah, yeah ... I know it was November's quilt, but Sonja and I mutually agreed to lift any deadline pressures for this one. I think it will be worth the wait ... I can't wait to show you all what I made. Pictures of that soon, too.

About the only thing I have to show pictures of tonight is the few blocks that I've completed for the Lap Quilt Swap IV over on Craftster.

These first 3 blocks I made for myself, with some of the fabrics that I selected for my own quilt. I stuck with some basic 9-patch blocks, mostly because I was making sure that the fabrics were working well together. I really like them and I'm excited to see what everyone else does with my fabrics.



And here are the first 3 blocks I've made for others. 3 down, 19 to go!



Hope you're all having a great week.

Craftster LQS4 Fabrics

The Craftster Lap Quilt Swap 5 is now full, and we're all busy gathering and sending our fabrics to our new group members. I wanted to share a few photos of the fabrics I've selected for this round.


It started with a FQ bundle (and 2 matching charm square packs) that I got on super clearance. It's a line of fabric called "Kumo" by Sentimental Studions for Moda (the best pictures I could find online are here). The line is Asian-inspired, which isn't usually my thing but there was something about the colors that I really liked.


I got it about mid-way through the last swap with the intention of using it for round 5 but, over the last few months, I'd grown lukewarm about the selection. I started to consider using different fabrics for this round of the swap, but the guilt of having all of that fabric and not using it was nagging at me ... so I stuck with it.

I wanted to get a matching solid to stick in with all of the packets and wound up selecting a couple of different neutrals (khakis and greys), some coordinating small-scale prints, and even a homespun fabric that I thought matched the line really well. Suddenly, I started getting excited about the fabrics again.

It's pretty amazing to see how the additions really enhance the fabrics and, susequently, elevate my feelings about them!

I'm really excited to see what everyone comes up with. If the blocks I got in the last swap are any indication, I'll have another beautiful quilt on my hands!

Craftster Swap | Come join us!

Quick post tonight:
We have 8 spots left in our Lap Quilt Swap over at Craftster. Please consider joining us ... it's a really fun swap! All of the rules and details can be found at the link, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Signups end tomorrow, so don't sit on the fence! Hope to see you there.

I know this is my 100th post and it's kind of anticlimactic, but there is a giveaway in the works. I'm just not ready yet. Maybe a 105th post giveaway??

Craftster Block Swap Opening Monday

FYI -- the next round of the Craftster Lap Quilt block swap (which I blogged about here, here, and here) is opening up on Monday. I know several people have asked for a heads-up when it was starting up again. Be sure to check here on Monday for sign-ups. If you're not already a member of Craftster and want to participate, I'd suggest you sign up for an account ASAP and poke around a bit. I believe you have to have posted to Craftster 15 times before you can join a swap. It's pretty easy to do -- I just surfed the quilting boards and commented on other people's work. A lot of people ask for questions or advice and it's not hard to get to 15 posts pretty quickly. I'm still deciding whether I'm going to join it or not ...


And because I believe no post is complete without a picture, let me share a sneak peek of my Doll Quilt Swap 5 quilt, currently in progress:

My Craftster Quilt Blocks

Amy Butler Midwest Modern Quilt (Craftster LQS3)
Originally uploaded by j_q_adams

Well, the Lap Quilt Swap 3 over on Craftster has come to an end. I had such a great experience and met some really, really cool quilters. To boot, I am THRILLED with all of the blocks that I received as part of this quilt. I picked and sent all of the fabrics, but the other swapees were free to create whatever they wanted. The only stipulations were that the final blocks be 12" finished (swap rule), and that people use the white I sent as the background color to unify all of the blocks (my request).

Take a look at this mosaic that I made of all of the blocks I've received. Aren't they gorgeous? There were some paper-piecing superstars in this group. I only received one block that, unfortunately, I won't be able to use, and there's an MIA swapper that owes me two blocks but appears to have absconded with 22 people's fabrics ... and no one has heard from her!

Anyhow, I figure I'll make myself one block so that I'll have 20 blocks total, and I plan on using the white as sashing between the blocks. Any other creative ideas for finishing this?

In the meantime, I'm waiting patiently for the start of LQS4! I'll be sure to announce when sign-ups open, in case any of you want to join us.

Craftster Swap ... almost done!

I can hardly believe that my Craftster swap is almost complete! I only have two people left to make blocks for (2 blocks each, for a total of 4 blocks to complete before I'm done).

Here are the first two. They're both for athenamat:



Now I'm just down to 2 more. With a deadline of 10/1, I think I'm in good shape! This has been such a great swap ... and when I think about how many blocks I've made in the past 2 months, I'm amazed. What great practice! I sure hope there's a Lap Quilt Swap 4 in my future ...

More blocks for my Craftster gang ...

Labor Day weekend meant full speed ahead on making some more blocks for my Craftster group. Here are the 8 blocks I've made over the past few days. I think I'm down to the final few packs of fabric before I'm done with my blocks for this swap. It's been a ton of fun and I've met some great quilters, so I hope there's another round! There are really going to be some great quilts coming out of this swap -- I can't wait to see them.

More Craftster Blocks

I've kept busy making blocks for my new Craftster swap pals! Here are the latest:

For Jenicat:


The pattern is the one for the second month of the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Block of the month. It's called "Star Struck".

For klum78:

I picked this pattern, called "Indian's Mats", off of quilterscache.com because I thought it looked like Christmas ornaments.

Another block for Jenicat:

You might recognize this pattern as the first pattern from the aforementioned Designer Mystery Block of the Month. It's called "Cross Stitch".

For whoopdedoo_5:

Another "Cross Stitch" block. The muted colors didn't photograph too well, but it looks much better in person!

For audrey1999:

I used Jacquie's tutorial for this one. My first ever wonky log cabin! I really like how it came out, and I think I'll be making more.

For fishie:

This one's called "Box Quilt" and it's also from Quilter's Cache.

For CaroDIYnamite:

Another Quilter's Cache block. This one's called "Mother's Dream".

For glittergirl94:

Another "Mother's Dream".

For 1b1g1k2:

There's that "Cross Stitch" block again! Can you tell that I like it? : )

Another block for whoopdedoo_5:

For ritapizza:

This one's the "Flying Dutchman Variation" from Quilter's Cache.

A third block for Jenicat:

And here is a sampling of the blocks that have been made for me so far:

(Fabrics are Midwest Modern from Amy Butler, but they don't seem to photograph too well. The blocks are GORGEOUS in person! Everyone is doing such great work in this swap!)