Anybody Want a Peanut?

There are only a few characters left to go in the Fandom in Stiches "As You Wish" quilt-and-stitch-along!

I had the awesome pleasure of designing this week's gentle giant, Fezzik!

You can find the pattern for him here along with an embroidered quote pattern designed by Kim.

Inconceivable!

Over at Fandom in Stitches there is a pretty awesome quilt-and-stitch-along going on... it's Princess Bride themed!

I had the wonderful pleasure of designing a couple of paper-pieced blocks for this adventure, the first of which is everyone's favorite Sicilian, Vizzini!

I couldn't decide which expression was better, so I designed two patterns!  You can find them here along with a lovely embroidery design by Amber Lowery.  

I am slowly but surely working on my projects... so eventually you'll get to see all of the Princess Bride characters as I piece them.  The winter blues hit me hard this year and our family's free time has been stretched a little thin these past few months.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 7

It's time for the seventh installment of the Fandom in Stitches "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt!

Here are my finished blocks:

"Treebeard" designed by Lilja Björk Sigurdórsdóttir

"The Ring"  designed by Breanne Cremean

"Shard of Narsil"  designed by Lilja Björk Sigurdórsdóttir

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 6

I'm a little behind on my Fandom in Stitches "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt!  The blocks for month seven were revealed last week...

But here is my finished block for month six:

"Isengard" designed by Lilja Björk Sigurdórsóttir

We're already halfway through the year, and halfway done with these quilt blocks!

Where Dwell the Brave at Heart

I had so much fun making the Ravenclaw messenger bag for my sister, that I decided to make another bag for my cousin, who is also a Harry Potter fan!  I used the same tutorial by Jennifer over on Fandom in Stitches, but I changed the dimensions to make a smaller purse.

And since my cousin enjoys more of the daring qualities of Gryffindor, I paper-pieced a Gryffindor crest for the front.

And again, I had fun using some specialty stitches on my machine to embellish the straps and front of the purse.  It used up all of my red thread, but it turned out really nice!

Wit Beyond Measure

I finally finished a birthday present for my youngest sister who is a huge Harry Potter fan.  She's a bit of a bookworm and is convinced that she would be sorted into the Ravenclaw house if she was accepted to Hogwarts.  So I made her a Ravenclaw messenger bag!

I followed Jennifer's messenger bag tutorial over on Fandom in Stitches and used the Ravenclaw Crest from their pattern collection for the front flap.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out!  

I just did some simple outline quilting around the eagle, but I dressed up the strap with some fancy stitching!  

 

I used various blue fabrics for the underside of the strap too.

I think my sister should be able to fit a couple days worth of books into this bag.  :)

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 5

It's the fifth installment of Fandom in Stitches "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt!

Here are my finished blocks:

"The White Tree of Gondor" designed by Jennifer Ofenstein

This was by far the most difficult paper-pieced block of the series, to date.  All of those tiny little branches drove me crazy!  The final block is only 7.5 inches square, so you can imagine how tricky it was!

"Gandalf"  designed by Michelle Thompson

"Helm's Deep"  designed by Regina Grewe

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 4

I know, I know... I'm behind with month four's blocks for the Fandom in Stitches "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt!  Life happens.  But now they are finished and here they are!

"Galadriel's Mirror" designed by Regina Grewe

I couldn't decide which background I liked best... or which one looked more "Lothlorien"...so I made two blocks!  I'm sure I'll find something to do with the extra one.

"Boromir"  designed by Michelle Thompson

"Crest of Rohan"  designed by Jennifer Ofenstein

Doom, Doom, Doomy-Doom, Doooooooom!

Today I mailed off some paper-pieced blocks that I finished for the Fandom in Stitches "Project of Doom Charity Quilt!"

The "Project of Doom" is a Harry Potter themed quilt that was designed by the extremely talented Jennifer Ofenstein.  It is made to look like a bookcase full of wizarding books and magical knick-knacks!

In order to support "The Linus Connection," a charity that makes and donates blankets to children in crisis, Jennifer asked everyone to make a block or two for a "Project of Doom" quilt.

Here are my blocks:

The first two go together to create the Sorting Hat next to a couple of books.

The last one shows Trevor the Toad and a couple more books.

Lots of other people have submitted blocks and posted pictures up on the Flickr group.  I'm excited to see what the final quilt looks like!

...it all started with a Big Bang!

I was a nerd in high school.  I really enjoyed math and science and was pretty good at solving physics equations and balancing chemical formulas.  I don't do too much of that nowadays as a stay-at-home mom...

But that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the clever nerdiness of shows like The Big Bang Theory!  It's one of our favorite shows!  It inspired me to design a paper-pieced quilt block that celebrates science at the atomic level.

This atom has three electrons, which means that it's a lithium atom.  Now, a real lithium atom is 4.1 angstroms wide, but this pattern is precisely 619,512,195 times larger and measures 10 inches square.

And the best part?  This pattern is FREE!! You can download it from my Craftsy shop here.  It's also available on Fandom in Stitches.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 3

This month there was only one block to piece for the "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt, but it was a little bigger than the others!  Here we have the great hall of Khazad Dûm from the Fellowship's journey through the Mines of Moria.

"Halls of Khazad Dûm"  designed by Soma Acharya

Seuss Hat Pattern

This Saturday (March 2nd) is Dr. Seuss' birthday!

To celebrate, I designed a new paper-pieced pattern of the Cat in the Hat's iconic hat.

"And then something went BUMP!

How that bump made us jump!

We looked!  Then we saw him step in on the mat!

We looked! And we saw him!

The Cat in the Hat!"

This was also my first design submission to Fandom in Stitches!  I am honored to have my pattern available alongside so many other wonderful designs!  Since this is a "fandom" pattern, it is available for free.   

The Fabulous Fandom Mashup

This month the folks at Fandom in Stitches gave us a challenge:  The Fabulous Fandom Mashup!

Basically, we had to take one of their hundreds of fandom patterns and use it to create a project that represented a different fandom.  At the end of the month, everyone who is a part of the Fandom in Stitches community on Facebook gets to vote on their favorite!

I completed 3 entries, and here they are:

I used Jennifer Ofenstein's "1967 Impala SC" pattern (the car from Supernatural), gave it a paint job and turned it into "The General Lee" from Dukes of Hazzard.

Liljab's "Lightning McQueen" got some tech upgrades and became "KITT" from Knight Rider.

And last but not least, the Connie Tessier's "Hogwarts Express" became "Thomas the Tank Engine!"

And yes, I realize that there is a theme among my mash-up designs... I stay at home all day with a toddler boy who is obsessed with cars and trucks and trains and things with wheels, okay?

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 2

It's the second month of Fandom in Stitches "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt!

Here are my finished blocks:

"Rivendell"  designed by Regina Grewe

"Elvish Tengwar for '9'"  designed by Breanne Cremean

"Nazgul"  designed by Michelle Thompson

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 1

I have finished the first three blocks for my "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt from Fandom in Stitches!  Here they are:

"Bag End" designed by Breanne Cremean

"Bree" designed by Regina Grewe

"Weathertop"  designed by by Soma Acharya