Really Random Rant & a Small Finish

First, the finish:

 My May Sugar Club block.

My first attempt at taking a photo of all of the blocks was foiled.  But it's hard to get mad when he's so cute :)

This one is better!  I am now caught up on exactly ONE of my BOMs/QALs--about 11 more to go :)

There has also been lots of progress on the Scrappy Swoon.  So I may have a finish tomorrow if all goes as planned.  My brother has asked me in the past if I could make a Dr. Who quilt for him and since the new QAL started yesterday I figured this was as good of a time as any to get started on it (what's one more WIP added to my stack anyway?--well two actually since there are two versions he wants).  I'm thinking maybe after we go pick out his fabric this evening I can make him stay and watch Squeak for a minute while I get some work done. 

Speaking of fabric...when I went to pick up the goodies for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway my LQS was having a token sale and my token was for 40% off!!!  Let's just say I have plenty to show for Sunday Stash this week :).  The sale runs through the week so I'll go today and hope that I can get another good token so I can buy some backing fabric for the Swoon and Wedding quilts that I need to finish before the end of the month.  Speaking of finishing the Wedding quilt, I did finally order the fabric I need to finish it, yay!

I do have 5 earbuds pouches that I need to make before I can start the fun stuff tonight :(

If you thought all of that was the really random then you were really wrong :P

First off, I will start with my rant:  Why is it that anytime a pregnant woman cleans she must be nesting???  Maybe she's just fed up with her house being a chaotic mess due to having a one year old and a husband (not sure which is worse at this point).  Now if I start labeling things unnecessarily or rearranging the furniture we can revisit the nesting idea, but if I'm just doing normal stuff like laundry, dishes and bathrooms then leave it alone!

Alright I feel a little better :)  Now on to the second part and a serious question.  I am considering changing my Etsy shop name to Sewing With Squeak (the tags on my items would have SWS instead of SD) instead of Swallow Designs.  While I like the original name, I wonder if there is a little confusion when people first hear it.  Does it almost sound like porn or lingerie?  And it would just make things easier I think, especially when marketing.  People ask me where they can find my stuff online and I have to spout off several different things.  If I changed it, I could just say Google Sewing With Squeak and you will find me.  I would love to know your thoughts since you can only change your Etsy name once and I don't want to have to start all over :)

Have You Seen...

Sara from Sew Sweetness's new patterns??? 

They are absolutely wonderful and since we opened one of those bank accounts where if you make so many ____ $ purchases within a certain time period they will give you a $100 I figure I better do my part in getting that extra money by making a purchase immediately :)  I will be picking up the two newest patterns and waiting to see if by some miracle I win her pattern bundle giveaway before I purchase the rest. 

Be sure and check out all of the bags the testers made.  My favorite of the Lilium Laptop Bag is the one by Laura of Quokka Quilts.  She is already aware that I plan on blatantly copying her fabrics and their placement :)

BTW this is NOT a sponsored post.  I just happened to make an Aeroplane Bag using one of her patterns the other day and absolutely love it so I'm eager to try more!

Giveaway Day Response

The number of comments I have gotten on my Giveaway Day post are a bit overwhelming!  I've definitely got a few BOMs and QALs that I'll need to check into now :)  Would anyone be interested in a list of current ones?

I managed to finish up a couple of small projects last night.

I chose this as my first block in the Forest QAL.  I love paper piecing but this one had a lot of little sections.  Can you spot my three mistakes?  Oh well, I'm not ripping it apart :)

 Due to extreme exhaustion and lack of energy I missed out on March and April of the Threadbias Pretty in Patchwork Sew Along.  This month I'm on the ball and already have my project completed!  A cute little drawstring bag using a charm pack and fat quarter of Glamping and a bit of pink left over from the Kirby Pillow Cover.  The sparkly pink ribbon was in my stash and was the perfect drawstring for this project.  Who doesn't love a little extra sparkle!?

Since the photo above was from Instagram I thought I'd include this one too so you can see the true colors.  Plus isn't my helper cute :)  Look at the mess he created while I was finishing up this little bag!!!  Maybe it's time to weed out some of those toys...

And in case you were wondering how I keep track of all of my BOMs and QALs, here it is.  My magnificent system.  Each labeled and kept in a corner of the room.  This way I don't have to search for by fabrics and patterns each time I start working on them.  Now there are a few exceptions.  The Lucky Stars and And Sew On BOMs are being made from scraps every month so I pull those from my stash as needed but the finished blocks are kept in the bins.  I decided to pull them out last night and set them on my cutting mat as a kind of motivation.  I am behind on every one of these.  I can't put the bin back in the corner until I finish at least one bin/section.  Think it will work?

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!

Hi there!  I thought I would give all of those who are (hopefully) stopping by from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day a little overview of what I do here :).

I love anything crafty.  Mainly sewing and quilting, but I also embroider, cross stitch, crochet, knit, and I have been known to dabble with paper crafts on occasion.  I am also an avid reader, mother, animal enthusiast and wife.  Not so much on cooking or baking but that could always change :).  So to sum it up I write about a bit of everything!

There are some possible big changes in my near future that could allow me to focus more on my blog and projects (yay!) as well as a new little one in mid October :).

A few of my favorite projects so far:

Now on to the good stuff and the real reason your here ;)

I have a fat quarter set of some of the popular Architexture prints as well as a mini charm pack of Moda's Happy Go Lucky.  

So how do you enter?
Just leave a comment. If you need a topic, please let me know about any QALs, BOMs or Sew Alongs that your participating in.

Followers old and new get an additional entry.

If you are a no-response commenter, please leave your email in the comment.  Entries without an email address will be disqualified. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If the winner does not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by! It gets a bit chaotic on Giveaway Day and I can't always respond to every comment like I want, but I really appreciate your visit! Good luck and thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you again!

International entries welcome.  The giveaway will be open through May 10th at 6 p.m. CST. 

****Man it has been a strange week for me. I got my days of the week mixed up and ended the giveaway a day early. Since I've already sent an email to the winner I will be drawing a second place prize on FRIDAY 5/10 at 6 pm CST. I'm not sure what it will be exactly. Maybe another set of architecture FQs, maybe something entirely different :)*****

Custom Quilt Top Complete & Bit of a Dilemma

 I have to admit that this turned out much better than I had imagined.

I'm picking up the backing on my lunch break and hope to get started on quilting tonight.  I'm just using widely spaced straight lines so hopefully it won't take too long.  The binding is already cut and will be applied by  machine.

I managed to finish up this little guy on Friday.  There's one May project out of the way :).  I also got quite a bit accomplished on my Spring Sampler!  And I started one block of the Forest QAL.  Ugh, another WIP (why do I do this to myself?!)

And my dilemma...after searching through my stash this morning I couldn't find anything worthy of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway (of that I could part with) so I suppose I will probably pick up something while I'm getting my backing fabric at lunch.  I had the same problem with my homemade items :(  I may try to whip something up this afternoon so be sure and check back to see what I come up with!

Grrrr!

I absolutely hate this but there is no way around it...

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Back to Normal

I've finally gotten my energy back.  No more going home from work and laying on the couch waiting for the nausea to pass.  And Squeak has decided that he doesn't mind sitting in his playpen for a few minutes every now and then.  And it shows in the increase in production this last week.  Not only am I almost caught up on several BOMs but my bedroom has been cleaned and all of the dishes and laundry are done and put up (I'll just pretend like I don't' see that basket of Squeak's clothes over there).  Here's where I stand on most of my WIPs:

• And Sew On- Finished April's block on the 30th, May's pattern is printed and fabrics have been chosen

• Sugar Club- Finished April's block on the 30th, ready to start May's block

• OKC Modern Quilt Guild BOM-  Finished February's block yesterday, need to do March, April & May blocks.

• Woodland Sampler- Finished April's Block last night and already started on May's

• Riley Blake Mystery BOM-  Need to do March & April blocks
• Lucky Stars-  May's pattern is printed and fabrics have been chosen
• Springtime Sampler- Desperately far behind, will be put on hold until road trip time 
• Monsterz Triangle Quilt for Squeak- Pieces are cut, need to decide on a layout
• Riley Blake Halloween Quilt- just need to finish piecing the back then I can baste and quilt.
• Dancing Stars Quilt-  This one has been on hold for awhile.
• Scrappy Swoon-  I worked on this quite a bit the last week and managed to find all of the fabrics that I ran out of and only have 3 small blocks to finish before I can finishe piecing it all together.  
• Wedding Quilt-  Still haven't found the fabric I ran out of.
• Custom Quilt- This weekend will be dedicated to finishing up the piecing (and maybe even quilting).
• Custom Comforter- On the hunt for the perfect blender fabric to tie the other two together.
• Mystery Round Robin- Awaiting May's block
• Modern She Made Swap-  Main item and secondary item are ready; deciding what little extras to include.
• Winter Wonderland Sampler-  On hold until the road trip.  I've also decided to start replacing all of my DMC floss with Cosmo.  I've been told DMC can bleed and we can't have that!
• Brotherly Love items- the Kirby cushion is complete and Megaman has been started.  I've also started cutting the squares for the first block of the Mario Quilt.  No progress on picking fabrics for the Dr. Who quilt.
• Threadbias Sew Along-  I completely missed March and April but I've got a good start on this month with a little drawstring bag made out of a Glamping mini charm pack.
• Forest QAL-  All patterns are printed.  Need to go shopping :)

Let's see if I can make a dent in any of this before the end of the month!