DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap 2 - Received

While Pinky-Swoon is winging her way to destinations not yet revealed, yesterday I received the doll quilt Debra/rosesrblu made for me!

In my favorite green, with accents of orange, there is so much going on in this little quilt. The combo of New York Beauty blocks with the Dresdan gives alot of movement and visual interest. It is sweetly hand-quilted, which is the perfect finishing touch!

Along with the mini came a coordinating Zakka-style pincushion that will be full of pins in no time.

With the sweet appliquéd birds, it felt like this mini should be photographed out in the garden - too bad it was a little breezy! Thanks so much, Debra!

{maybe}

It's about time to pack up my swap project for the DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap2. Things didn't start off well, as I was paired with a secret partner who loves pink. Now I confess to having a tall stack of DS fabrics, but very little pink!

Thankfully, Kirsten of gemini stitches was happy to swap DS fabrics, and before long I had plenty of pinkaliciousness for the scrappy project I was planning. (that was for you, Nicke!)

Apparently my Swoon phase had waned, but clearly wasn't over, because as you can plainly see, I made another.

Or as I like to think of her, "Pinky-Swoon".

Basically, I used Camille Roskelley's design, but snuck in even more squares and hsts, to make it scrappier yet. Kona Medium Gray served as the background, with Pinky-Swoon measuring in at 17" square. (I also down-sized the squares to 2" finished.)

Usually, the back of any project is a bit of a struggle, where I find myself asking, "Should I go easy and ho-hum, or harder (ie. longer) and more interesting?" In this case, it was an easy decision to go interesting. I mean, really, most of those pinks had traveled all the way from Australia to be a part of this project, so I might as well put them to good use. I admit, I really had fun with it.

When it came time to quilt, I was influenced by the criss-crossing straight-line I've done on recent projects {spiraled and the improv runner}. Adding to the feminine mood of the pink, I added some wavy quilting lines here and there. And to add even more interest (to me anyway), though quilted mostly with gray thread, I arbitrarily switched it out for pink. So when I mentioned wacko quilting and thread decisions last week, that's what I was referring to.

So now she's finished and it's time to say good-bye and safe travels. She's pretty much leaving me with a hankering to swoon again.

Linking up with little quilt monday, {sew} Modern Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Made By ME, and sew & tell friday.

W.i.P. Wednesday

W.i.P. Wednesday rolls around pretty quick, doesn't it? While Hopscotch is at the quilter, it's all about some small projects for me - a nice breather, actually.

Completed projects
Zakka Style Sew-Along project #4: Sewing Kit {full post here} - This was a very fun little project, and I loved incorporating the blue shot cotton, as well as the variegated Aurifil.

Hollywood Boulevard table runner - {full post here}

DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap project - A 17" scrappy DS Swoon one-block quilt. I went a little wacko with the thread and quilting decisions. A full post will be coming soon. I can't mail it for another week, so I'll enjoy it while it hangs out here at home.

Ongoing projects
Hopscotch - Now just waiting to get it back from the quilter.

Upcoming projects
* Quilt using my 4x5 blocks from rounds 1, 2, & 3
* Tutorial for pieced binding
* FAITH Circle Pouch Swap
* more Zakka - next up is a patchwork pencil case
* Solstice Stars quilt
* a quilt to coordinate with my Christmas tree skirt - On a Whim ??
* scrappy Metrolink
* Ohio Star blocks for FAITH circle's May quilt NEW
* Japanese x and + blocks Round 2 NEW
* QWERTY variation NEW
* Plus quilt for my sister-in-law - now waiting to see her palette NEW

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

Improv Winner!

Oh I love it when the win on one of my giveaways makes me laugh out loud! And the winner of Quilting Modern, chosen by random.org is:

#47 ~ Amy of Amy Made That! who I just 'met' last week when we did a little swap - my stamped linen for her key fobs, one of which I wore around my wrist half the day at work today, thank you very much! Well congrats to Amy! (Of course, I seem to have already deleted your address, so email me & I'll get the book out to you!)

Thank you all for playing along - there's so much y'all want to learn and do - truly inspiring! And do consider picking up a copy of Katie and Jacquie's book. I have no doubt you'll be inspired by it!

And for those of you who are now saying to yourselves, "darn, I didn't win," may I at least leave you with the mini quilt top I whipped up yesterday.

A super scrappy Swoon-ish sort of block, using every last DS pink I had (thanks, Kirsten!). I made a half-hearted promise way back when that I was done with my Swoon phase. Good thing I added {maybe}!

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.