Over the Rainbow Finished!

Hello everyone! I've got my first finished quilt of 2013! I should have had this finished way before the end of March, but such is life! It feels like I've done so much more sewing that I have, so I'll have to shape up here in the second quarter of the year. :)

 Here it is on our queen-size bed at home. It's not meant to be for our bed. The pattern I was going off of was for a twin-size bed. But, to keep us from using my Mario quilt every day, we're using this one since it's not as cold outside now. Someday it will happily live on the right size of bed...

As some of you might know, I started this quilt back when I was in 8th grade. I learned how to quilt at summer camp in grade school and then started planning this quilt with my mom. Good intentions on finishing it up right away were put on hold with school work, summer plans, then high school and then into college. I think the pieces of this quilt have moved with me at least 5 times during all of those years. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't lose it!

So, this is my longest WiP ever, and I hope I don't have any other quilts that even come close to taking this long to complete! I had to buy the black fabric for the black squares and the outer border. I have no idea if I ever had the black fabric along with the others or not, but it all worked out. It's a little bit of a different shade, and the new fabric seems to attract cat hair more than the older type, but that's OK. It's a quilt just for us, which is unusual since I usually give my quilts away!


Here are some pictures of the quilting I did again. I used a rainbow variegated thread which I L.O.V.E. the look of on the black. I wish my stitches were more consistent, but I have plenty of room to grow! :)

My favorite part is the loopy quilting around the border of the quilt. It really stands out. Plus, the thick batting I used gives the quilt a really nice puffy texture that is lovely to touch. I have a lot of the colored fabrics left  over, so I'll need to figure out something to do with those. I used some for the scrappy binding. It worked out perfectly that I needed one strip from each color.

My mother and I are participating in the Hands2Help charity quilt challenge with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I think I'm going to use the left over bright colors along with some fabric from my mom's stash to make a bright and colorful kids quilt. There's a really cute fish pattern that I want to try out that I think would look awesome in all of the different colors. I think I'd use white as a background and then do a bubble/pebble quilting on the whole thing. Now that I've typed that, I really like the sound of it! :) There's still time to sign up if you click the link above! Both charities are such good causes to support!

In other news, my husband and I dyed Easter eggs today! I haven't done that in a few years, so it was fun to do it just the two of us. Right now they are happily in the refrigerator, but we'll see if I actually eat them or just use them for a decoration. Egg salad sandwiches do sound pretty good right now though - and with all the bright colors that seep through it's always fun to make.

 We're also planning on having a little Easter present off of our diet and got a Lindt chocolate bunny and a bottle of Petite Sirah wine (one of our favorites).

Lastly, I've also put together my March Package Pals craft package for another swap I'm in this month. I didn't make anything homemade (disappointing, I know!). The person that I am paired up with is new to quilting, so I thought it would be nice to pass along some of the simple patterns I've accumulated and also the grouping of block-of-the-month patterns I won the other month from a local quilt shop. To be honest I probably would never get around to making them anyway since I have so many other quilt projects going on! They have all of the pieces pre-cut in nice batik fabrics. I also included some candles and candle holders, some quilt marking pencils and some quilt labels. I hope she likes it!

The next thing I need to do and have shipped off by the end of the month is my Color Bee Shocked blocks. We have a theme of stars this month, so at least I know what I'm going to do for those. Another post when those are done will be coming up soon! Have a great rest of your week everyone and happy crafting!

June Package Pals

Last month I signed up for June Package Pals through C.R.A.F.T. We were given the name and email of another person who had signed up and were asked to send them a little crafty package by the end of the month. My partner and I got to know each other a little and then we were supposed to put together a little crafty package to send to them by the end of the month through emailing back and forth. I sent my package off a little over a week ago, so I think my partner should have received her package by now, and I should be safe to post about it.

My partner told me that she likes to paint and has done some cross stitch and that she's interested in trying just about everything. But she's also had some health complications which makes things hard for her. So, I tried to put together a little package that would include some things she could use as supplies and some things she could use in their final state. So, here's what I put together:

The pillow probably looks familiar to some of you since I used the block in the Red, White and Blue Blog Hop. (For that post and my giveaway, click here.)

The yellow fabric is actually a homemade heating pad. It can also double for a cooling pad, so you put it in the microwave or the freezer depending on how you want to use it. I filled it with rice so that it would keep the heat/cool but also mold around wherever you're using it.

Some supplies I included were 5 colors of embroidery thread and an embroidery hoop. I also gave her three ceramic heart-shaped buttons that I found at an estate sale.

The last 3 things all go together. I put together some blank coasters made from tiles and felt on the bottom. Since she likes to paint, the little note on the top says that she can decorate them however she wants and then to finish them off she just needs to cover them in a couple layers of Mod Podge with the sponge brushes. I hope she has fun with them!

So, I hope she enjoys what I put together. I think C.R.A.F.T. will be hosting another Package Pals sign up for August (to be announced some time in July I believe), so if you want to participate next time, sign up for that blog and keep an eye out for her post. She only takes the first 100 people to sign up, but it's a lot of fun! Happy crafting!