February - Year of Lovely Finishes

February already?! I did well with my January goals, so i'm back for some more this month in my Year of Lovely Finishes!

It's a short month, but i've got 3 things I want to finish..

1. Mod Pop quilt - needs backing, basting, quilting and binding

2. Postage Stamp Quilt- finish backing, baste, quilt and bind

3. Hexie Snowflakes - I finished a few more than the 15 I wanted to in January, 15 was the goal though, so 15 more for February :)

That should keep me busy along with the numerous other projects i'll throw in i'm sure -  I'm linking up with the rest of the group to see how much we can accomplish, one month at a time!

Happy Saturday/Sunday!

Follower Friday - Annabella

As i'm sure most of you have noticed it's taken me some time to get back into the groove in 2013. I had put out an all call for volunteers for Follower Friday and then... didn't post. Annabella has been SUPER patient with me, my slacker tendencies shined in January, so it seemed fitting that she start us off with a new round of Follower Fridays in 2013, starting fresh on February 1.

Without further ado, I present...

Annabella!

Specs:
Name: Annabella
Family: My husband Youssef and our cheeky but adorable nearly 5 year old, Zaki

 

Location: Marrakech, Morocco, North Africa
Blog: www.kechquilts.blogspot.com
Flickr: Life’srichpattern

Twitter: I don’t tweet but I do Instagram @lifesrichpattern.  Instagram is great as you get to see slices of people’s lives from around the world in real time.
Etsy: I don’t have a shop but perhaps one day...

Day job: SAHM
Dream job: Best selling novelist or making more quilts on commission

What are you working on now? I’m working on clearing up some old WiPs.  I just finished a quilt for my husband using Curious Nature, and am currently quilting an x and plus quilt, which was made by the Care Circle of do.Good Stitches. Then I plan to start something new using my beautiful Field Study FQs.

Favorites:
Place: Florence, Italy - my husband and I spent a few days there shortly after we married and I have very happy memories of our time there.  Everything about it is  just beautiful and very romantic!
Movie: I don’t really have a favourite movie although I’m really looking forward to seeing Les Mis, Lincoln and Django Unchained.
Food: I love most foods but my favourite is anything Asian - a good curry or a Chinese.
Way to spend a Friday night: A relaxing dinner with good friends.

Fabric line: Parisville by Tula Pink - the saturated colours are very me and I love the quirkiness of the designs!
Color: This really depends on what mood I’m in but I always love blue and green.
Designer: Anna Maria Horner - she can do no wrong in my eyes!

Project completed by you: This is really tricky as I love each project for different reasons but I am really pleased with a quilt I recently made for my mum.  She chose some Kaffe Fasset prints and asked me to surprise her.  I ummed and ahhed for quite some months about what I was going to do; she doesn’t like anything too traditional and I wanted to do something different for her.  In the end I plumped for Film in the Fridge's Converging Corners block. The blocks work really well with the Kaffe Fasset prints and the quilt is just very pretty.  I love the blue binding, which is Cameo by Amy Butler as is the backing.  My mum is delighted with it and recently showed it off to her friends at her stitching group - now that’s the best compliment!

Project when you need a quick finish: A tote bag -  I discovered totes last year when I made one for the Mouthy Stitches 2 swap.  They are easy yet look great and are very practical...and no zips!

Least Favorites:
Color: I love saturated colours so anything wishy washy really like peach or beige.
Fabric line: I say I don’t like a particular line then I see something someone has made using it and they convert me.  I’m not keen on anything cutesy or dreary and definitely no batiks!
Project completed by you: I like most of my projects but I’m not keen on the colours I had to use for a mini I made in the For the Love of Solids swap.  Luckily my partner seemed pleased!

BIG plans for 2013??
I don’t really have any big plans for this year other than clearing up old WiPs so that I can start some new projects.  I would like to improve my quilting skills as this is the part of the process I struggle with the most.  I also want to learn something new like paper piecing which I have never tried and make some bags!

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Thank you Annabella!!

I think that was the best way to start off a new round of Follower Fridays!

If you'd like a chance to be featured

please email me at

knot.threads@gmail.com

Happy Friday/Saturday! :)

Blogger Block of the Month

A while back Dhia asked me to participate in her Blogger Block of the Month Series - I decided to pick one of my favorite blocks. I believe its an older block, but i've been modifying it a bit to make it my own. I'm not sure the real name of it, but i've been calling it "WhirlWind"

Materials
- (2) 6" squares - yellow
- (4) 3" squares - pink
- (4) 3 3/8" squares - green

 Cut the 6" squares (yellow) diagonally and the 3 3/8" squares (green) the same way

Put your larger triangle pieces off to the side

Match up one of your small triangle pieces with one of your squares like this and stitch all 4 on one side

There will be a little overlap, this is expected! Don't trim it!

Press your seams open for all of them

Take your other triangle piece and line it up like this

When you open it, it should look like this

Press your seams open again, your pieces should look like this

You may need to trim your triangle pieces to match the other pieces, do this now

Once your pieces are trimmed, 

sew them together on the longer side and press the seams open

Your pieces should measure 5" squared at this point

Sew the top pieces together, then the bottom pieces

Be sure to match up the seams when you're sewing to create crisp points

Press your seams open

line up the center seam when you sew the final piece

Press your block and trim to 9.5" if necessary!

Step back and admire your work! 

If you'd like to donate any blocks you make during the blog hop 

they will be used for Margaret's Hope Chest

Mail the blocks to:

Peach Patch Quilts

P.O. Box 0012

Sullivan, WI 53178