FW: Friendship Siggy Stars

I was in a block swap a few years ago with my online quilting friends. Since then I've met some of these people in real life at a quilting retreat in Manchester, NH and hope to one day meet more.  I posted last week a few of my Christmas whist list items starting with this Bingo fabric that I had seen on eBay.

Well there were two sellers on ebay with this fabric for sale and the one with the cheaper price only had 3 yards left. Not enough.  :( The other seller was asking too much per half yard so I asked her if she'd match the other sellers price and she replied back with no can do.  :/

Thanks to the HGTV Quilters on facebook, my friend Karen posted a link to where she had found it online and I looked it up and the price is right!  I can buy my 6 yards from there and pay only $35.88 and they have free shipping on orders over $35.  Still dear hubby doesn't understand why/how that this would make an excellent Christmas gift from him to me... and keeps asking are you sure?  

Yes honey, I want the fabric that is hard to find and the seam guide for my machine. I will be so happy with these gifts. Really! :) 

So far, as you see from the top photo, I have 6x6 blocks sewn together -and I was hoping to grow my quilt some more to make it a 7x9 setting before borders.  BUT after trying to acurately figure up how many yards needed for backing, I realized that would be way tooo big!

Actually I only need to grow it to be a setting of 6x7 rows.  I need it to be a good sofa size -you know, long enough to tuck under my feet and come up to my chiny-chin-chin while watchin TV. :)

So a few people have already said they wouldn't mind making me a block - and thanks to my recaculations, I only need 6 more blocks please! :) 

     

These closeup photos are for them to look at as a guide. As you can see *ANYTHING* goes ugly, bright, old or fungly...  as long as the fabrics are dark/light they'll work! Sorry they're not centered, I was focusing on zooming in on the siggy parts.

     

I've found it to be a lot of fun to participate in a swap where you make # of the same block and mail to a hostess... then she divides them all up and you get back that many different ones. :) Very fun to look at your new blocks.... and get a wide variety of colors and fabrics, plus have reminders of your online friends when you see their names in your quilt! :)

   

My husband was looking at my quilt top and was impressed to notice that I have blocks from New Zealand and Australia as well as many states here in USA :)

   

Can you believe that I never signed my own block??? and for everyone else I traced the state of Texas around my name and put an "Orange" dot where I lived.... no telling where or WHEN I'll find that ornament to trace around for my own stinkin block. :P  Look and see, I'm not too ashamed to admit that I used some old uglies in my blocks! :P or as Bonnie Hunter would call them, "Funglies" ;)

 

Showing you the EQ draft again so you can visualize that white thin outter border is reserved for some siggy strips that I collected the year I was in the FQ Bday swap and we all sent along 2.5" X 6.5" siggy strips. I'll have those all around the border - and that's not all.... there are more snowball siggys planned to use on the back separating my "bingo fabric" pieces... 

I've also found it to be helpful to have a strip of leftover blocks separating the 2 panels on the backing so that when you pick up a quilt to wrap up with, you can easily tell which way is the long ways... :)

I've been asked, so what do I write in the center?  HGTV board name, city state and real name. last name optional. some swappers only listed their state. some put both city and state... it's up to you.

   

TIP - I found it to be a little hard to sign the center if you use a WOW or COC. I'd recommend a solid white or cream... so that your pen's ink will show up evenly. 

 

I'm already planning to use 2.5x6.5 strips of siggys I got a few years ago in the FQ Bday swap in my light outter border... and also some more 6.5 snowball siggys on the back...

   

So thankful that I noticed the size dementions at the bottom of the screen in my EQ7 program... this will finish plenty large enough with a setting of 6x7 blocks + borders it will finish at 86"x95" which is slightly larger than a twin size. ;)

I'm so looking forward to finishing this quilt.  Now if I can only convince the family members who are asking me "Which store would you most like a gift card from?" to just simply gift me cash to use for paying my longarmer.  It really would be helpful and I'd love it all the same if not more than a shopping card to a clothing store. I can only imagine the looks they'd give me... b/c if you are not a quilter, you just don't get it.

Love from Indiana!

Siggy Block Directions for Nichole

This is a quick special post for Nichole :c)

I tried to reply to your comment but your email is not set up... when I hit reply I noticed the email address was noreply-comment@blogger.com and so I really don't know if you will ever check back in the comments or not... I decided to make a quick post about your request on how to make me a siggy block and the requirements.

Of course I'd love to have a siggy from you! Especially since you have been in both my noodle swap last year and this year's minis!! ;)

You can choose which ever you type of block would like to do and that is a great idea to include it in your next mini mailing to me! :) What fun it will be to open a swap package and get a nice hostess surprise inside!!!

First type: 6.5" Snowball Block easy peasy!

• use a 6.5" white or beige fabric for the center. This is where you will sign the center. I'd prefer your HGTV name, real name, city and state, using a pegma pen. ;)
• (be careful with WOW white on whites or TOT tan on tan as if it's a printed on design the fabric then your siggy pen won't absorb the ink in those areas.)
• then you cut four 2.5" squares (all the same or each different doesn't matter) and draw a diagonal on the back and put them in each corner and sew on that line and press. Don't worry about trimming, I'll do that later.

Second type: 12.5" Friendship Star Block also easy but a little more planning.

• the best way to give directions is to refer you to Monica Hohn's website where she has written directions for the Friendship Star Block.
• Where she has used blue as her background, please make yours scrappy - each a different medium to dark tone of fabric.
• Where she has used yellow as the star, please use either a white or cream fabric. And if you'd like for the light to all be the same or each piece different that is up to you :)
• In the center square of the star sign your HGTV name, real name and city and state with a pigma pen. Thanks!

Which ever you choose to do will be great. oh, and one last tip - if you have never signed fabric... I learned during my swap that you can use freezer paper and press to the backside of the fabric you are gonna sign and it makes it easier to write on - more stable. Then when you are done peel off and can reuse over and over. :)

Gotta run for now - 3:00 nap time here! Hope this was helpful.

Love from Texas! ~bonnie

Sewing on Sunday!!!

Sunday 5/11/08

Well, lookie at what I did today ;) I got my Friendship Star Siggy blocks into a top! :) ...or rather almost a top - as i think I will be much happier with it for snuggling on the sofa if it were at least one or two rows longer. What good is a quilt for the sofa if you can't tuck your feet in and also bring it up to your chin?

Actually, last Tuesday (5/6) by some unknown MIRACLE I got bot twins to sleep at the SAME time for their afternoon naps and Nora insisted on watching TV downstairs "all by myself" so I got some ALONE TIME all to myself in the sewing room!!! That is when I got all the blocks into rows and then rows sewn into sets of 2 rows each.

So today all that was left was pinning the sets of two rows - didn't take long and good thing b/c i didn't get "long" in the sewing room. You'd think that for Mother's Day I could get a full 2-3 hours in the sewing room but guess who can't stay awake to watch them play! Seems if dh's hinny is on the sofa his eyes soon shut and then he is snoring... urgh!

Anyway, I am happy with what little time I did have - I am not one step closer. I just now need to figure out how to get some more siggys. I think I will send 3.5" squares in the mail with a SASE and have some other HGTV friends sign them and then make up more scrappy star blocks. The hardest part will be figuring out who to send to - there are a few that come to mind that I don't have in this already - as not everyone participated in this swap.

Some past hostesses that I have swapped with or HGTV members that have swapped with my noodles or mini 9 patches... or even the past FQ Bingo winners... that should be a good start in another 12 or so blocks ;)

and I have a plan for my snowball blocks too - I wanted to do a boarder - but I don't' have near enough.. and plus I think these snowballs look their best when chunked up to one another and so I am thinking I will include them in the backing...? I'll have to wait and see what works as I get closer to that point. :) The photo of snowballs are from a snowball block swap I hosted on the HGTV board way back in May 2006! eek that was TWO YEARS AGO!!!

Did I mention how I use to be a swap-a-holic... when I first found the HGTV board? LOL I also have some more stray snowballs that are signed from various HGTV friends - they sent to me as hostess gifts b/c they knew I was collecting them.. I will have to hunt for them and take a count of how many and from who. ;) and take a photo...

Well that is about it for now. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Love from Texas!! ~bonnie

I love Friday!

OK, it's a week late but I still want to report in and show you what I got to spend the day doing last Friday!!! I loooooove Friday's!!! It's my "I don't have to leave the house day!"



After the morning breathing treatments both babies napped at the same time!!! Boy did I ever feel like the super mom! LOL During that time, Nora and I quietly spent some time in the sewing room!!!



This pink block was first on the agenda. :) My friend "ithinksew" from the HGTV quilters message board put out a call for donation blocks to be used to make quilts for 3 sisters who lost their mom to cancer...... and since I had used this pattern the week before for Quiltaholic's children's charity project and liked the pattern I decided to use it again. :)





All the fabric used, was from my FQ Stash - funny how you have to make due with what you have and end up using fabrics that you never thought would go together but in the end they do! :) I am very pleased with how the block turned out... and am very happy to make a contribution to the donation quilts. I even cut out for a 2nd block and may even get a third made before mailing in before the due date... but the 3rd will have to have different fabric as I used up every bit of the "Quilt for a Cure" fabric.




ok, WARNING, I am about to show you my quilting/guest room... which is totally UGLY compared to all the fantastic sewing areas I have seen on the internet...



Next I pulled out my Friendship Star Siggy Blocks from "Brandyquilter" swap she hosted back last fall. The board members are having their 2nd annual Circle of Friends Retreat next month and this year it is in HOUSTON!!! my own back yard basically!!! :c) I was so psyched when I found out last year where the 2008 location was going to be held! I even began prepping David that the babies would be 9 months old by then... and easier to handle... hint hint :)



Well, he more than agreed to make it our long weekend vacation so that I could go to the retreat... while he and the kids explored the zoo and other Houston happenings...but in December we had to make a very important decision concerning the health of the babies... therefore I was not able to send in my money by the deadline... too long to go into here... but let's just say that GOD plan is always best and we later found out that after a special review committee meeting with the insurance company, the twins got approved for their RSV monthly shots!!! That saves us nearly THREE GRAND!!! Yeahhhh!!!



So now without the high costs of the shots... (yeah) can "afford" to go... but the deadline has passed... however there is a waiting list for anyone who drops out between now and retreat... but where David works they are preparing for a union strike in MARCH of all times! and since he is salary, if the workers strike he will have to work mandatory 12 hour shifts 7 days a week... so I wouldn't be available to go to a retreat in March if they are on strike :( Another reason I dislike TX - the standby babysitters, uham, I mean grandparents, are toooo far away in KY! :P



so enough about all that - sorry so long winded...((roll eyes))

To cheer myself up I got out my blocks and put them on my design wall aka GUEST BED :P LOL. It is making me a little bit happier to see my HGTV board friends names on the blocks :)



and does anyone out there have one of these??? I found it on clearance at Joann's last year... for under $2.


Here is an example of how it works! Boy my mother sure could have used one of these when she was living! I don't know how many times we made fun of her for stretching out her arm and holding things out as far as she could so she could read them. Something we kids totally didn't understand - hold it out farther??? what!??? LOL
isn't it cool??? makes it look like I have a mini ironing board by my big one and there is only one in the room.....OK well that isn't true... there is a 2nd behind that chest folded up between the chest and the wall. I have a feeling this might have been my FIRST and LAST time to use it... Nora claimed it as "her looking glass" :P but it was so useful to make sure those gold squares were evenly placed about.

See, I WARNED you that my room was a mess... even when it is neat it still look like a mess. I so wish I had one of these portable design walls like Mary J bought last year... but honestly I don't know where I would stand it up.. and the twins are crawling and pulling up these days so it would be bound to get knocked over. So for now I guess the design wall/guest bed is the safest place. ;)

I don't know how long it will take me as it's been a week since I was in the sewing room... but as soon as I get these sewn together I am gonna order "the perfect" backing fabric for it!!! Look at this Bingo fabric I found on line!!! Perfect, b/c over on the HGTV board I am known as bingo~bonnie :c)

and speaking of bingo... yep, it's that time of year again!!! I am in the middle of hosting the 3rd annual HGTV Fat Quarter Bingo and hot dog, I am LOVIN' it!!!

We currently have over 1800 FQs pledged for this year's jackpot!!! I am so amazed!!!#@! 1st year we had 770, last year I threw in a handful of my own to make it an even 1600 and this year we are over 1800 and still g-r-o-w-i-n-g each and every week! Whoo knows how many we will have come game day on April 1st! ?? amazing hua? and the best part is - is that I get to receive it all here at my home package by package!!! Oh happy day!!! Going to the mail box becomes the highlight of my day and seeing and feeling all of this fabric is sew much fun!! Not to mention how I so enjoy the nerdyness of keeping a spreadsheet and tracking and organizing it all!!! I guess it takes me back to my working days, when I could see the progress I had made at the end of the day... where as now, as a stay@home mom, I feel like I take one step forward and 10 steps back at the end of the day...

The big question pending is, Where to store it all... last year I used the dining room table but this year it's off limits, b/c that is my perpetual laundry folding center and baby stuff catch all... you can bet i am saving all of my diaper boxes for shipping to the winners!

and to wrap this post up... since I'm in a reveal all mode... why not show you a quick pic of me and the twins! :P This was taken in front of Nora's bathroom mirror last Friday (my PJ/no makeup day)

While I am embarrassed at the clutter on the counter top.....I am most impressed that the mirror didn't show any fingerprints or smudges as it usually does! :P I'm guessng Clara (stepmom) windexed it while she was here last month :) b/c I know I didn't and I highly doubt David did either!

Paul Thomas to your left, Olivia on the right.

Well, I will close for now! Hope tomorrow I get to have another Fun Friday at home and will get some time in the sewing room if the kids cooperate!

Love from Texas!! ~bonnie

Friendship Stars!

Ok, it's a week late but I still want to report in and show you what I got to spend the day doing last Friday!!! I loooooove Friday's!!! It's my "I don't have to leave the house day!"