Puzzle filler

We're settling back in from our trip. Celebrated J's birthday a bit late.

(More on both of those later.)

Trying to get back in a rhythm is hard, because hubby lets the boys stay up later during the summer, and I feel obligated to stay with them for family time, so I get less quilty time at night.

I've been frustrated to the point of crying with quilting the Swoon. Each block is a huge 24", so the quilt is big, heavy, and the areas to quilt are larger. I spend more time repositioning and dragging the quilt around and through my machine than actual stitching. I can't seem to quilt straight lines, especially longer lines, because of moving and dragging the quilt. And I have to stop halfway through a line to move my hands and the quilt, so it ends up wavy and jags happen when I start again. Even if I mark the lines.

I decided that instead of the large Starbursts in the corners, I would mark a 1-inch grid and try puzzle filler. I love the way it looks, and it's much easier to quilt.

The spaces seem smaller, and there's less large movement. And it's very forgiving if you accidentally go wonky.

Yay!

And it goes really well with the whole theme of the quilt.

Win win

May was a pretty awesome month.

Quiltmaker had the 100 Blocks Blog Tour.

I won 3 times! (Yes, I will be sharing the two extra copies!)

I won a gift certificate to Connecting Threads from Amy Smart (Diary of a Quilter).

And I won a layer cake of Nocturne for Moda during the Best Kid Quilts blog tour by Quilters Newsletter.

I feel pretty lucky and blessed.

Now I just need to stock up on tons of background fabrics and get to fun working!

Surprise from Quiltmaker

I opened up my new Quiltmaker and found a surprise!

My picture was featured in Quiltmaker's new July/August 2015 issue!

I submitted my picture by email. 

Here's my picture in the "Sew to Speak" feature! This is my "To the Rescue" quilt from Quiltmaker Sept/Oct 2009, that I submitted to the Peteetneet Quilt Show in 2013.