It is Thanksgiving week in the USA and I have so much to be thankful for.  I'm very thankful for my sewing friends.  And I'm very thankful that I have a talent, handed down by my mother, to sew and create quilts.  Making quilts brings me so much enjoyment in my life.

 This week I'm happy to participate in Lori Holt's Blog Tour with her fabulous book Quilty Fun.  You will need the book to participate.  This is a book for everyone.

This is the fun quilt that the blog tour will be making.  If you haven't started yet, don't fret. You can catch up in no time.  So click here for all the details.

Week 4 is baskets.  I was so happy to be presenting the baskets for my week.  If you  haven't made them, come on, they are so fun.

To play along with the blog tour, find and download instructions for cutting baskets here.  There are only 3 baskets in this quilt and they sew up in record time.  Sew cute, too.

I seriously could not stop cutting and making baskets. 

I want to make some other projects so I just kept on going.

And going..

And still going...

And going, using my favorite fabrics.  I wanted a good mix so it looked scrapy but pretty, too.

Finally I had to choose 3 blocks to sew together for the blog tour.  It was tough to pick some favorites.  

There is a giveaway, too, with this blog tour.  You need to post your blocks to the Quilty Fun Flickr Page here.  Fat Quarter Shop will be giving away 2 of these Gracie Girl Stackers...

along with one Alphabitties.  I know I need an Alphabitties.  Winners will be announced on the Jolly Jabber and here on my blog next Monday, Dec. 2.

Put up those Christmas decorations and take some sewing time out for baskets.

-nanette

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It is here everybody.  It has arrived. Of course I'm talking about Pam Kitty Picnic.  I am so excited for Pam and Holly.  The fabric is lovely.  Fat Quarter Shop has it all.  And it will be on Etsy and simply everywhere, too.

I had so much fun making this little baby quilt with Pam Kitty Picnic and a few bits from other PKM fabrics.  I think it turned out very sweet.

I love the vintage little kitties, doggies and tiny animals in the panel.  I knew I had to cut up that panel and put some of the cuteness in this quilt. I think fussy cutting the panel into smaller bits would be super fun.

I used the red gingham set on bias for the binding because after all, it is a picnic baby quilt. I don't have a new baby to give it to. But you never know.  I had such a fun time making this quilt.  The fabric line is vast and it was so hard deciding which pieces to use.  So that just means I have to start making a new quilt with the prints I didn't get to focus on.  

-nanette

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 It is week 3.  My week is next week.  So watch for my baskets.  But this week is the courthouse steps.  It's a block I really love making. Hop over to Rachel at PS I Quilt for all the deets. Yes.  I said deets. Fat Quarter Shop Blog has good info, too.  

Rachel said the blocks work up very fast and I totally agree.  Fun to use scraps from other projects.  The cutting can come directly from your scrap basket/bin.

And there I have 4 courthouse step blocks.  Lovely.

-nanette

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It is week 2 of Lori's Sew Along Blog Tour.  This week it is Twinkling Stars hosted by Nana and Company.  Amy has a sewing and fabric sense I've admired for a long time now.  Her creations are simply amazing.  She's pretty perfect if you ask me.  You really have to check out the fabrics she chose for her twinkling stars.  They are so dreamy.  Great job Amy.

I am making a quilt with my sisters for next year featuring Lori's apples.  So I spent some time working on my apples from last week's block hop.  I've made 80 apples so far.  I will probably have left over apples to share with my sisters, if they need them.

I had so much fun picking out fabric.  I made apples of lots of colors, even imaginary apple colors.  Like aqua.  

Some of the apples are whimsical.

Some of them are in my PKM fabrics.

There is even a couple brown apples.  Hey, a bad apple here or there won't spoil my quilt, right?

I was having too much fun to stop making the apples.

And the apple core apples are the most fun of all.

-nanette

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It is everywhere!  Lori's book Quilty Fun is hot off the presses and there is a new quilt and blog hop to celebrate.  You can catch the details here at FQS Jolly Jabber.  See the list of all the blogs and keep up with the sewing fun.

This is the new quilt to make on the blog hop.  

The first week is apples by Kerry.  Read about it here.  Visit Kerry's blog to see how cute they work up and get her details and help at her blog here.  My sisters and I are making apples for our family 2014 project.  So this will help me get a leg up on that project.

My turn is week 4 and I'll be making and showing the baskets.  Lori's book is great.  The photos are awesome.  If you don't have a book yet, it isn't too late.  You can get one here.  I've grabbed several to give as family gifts.

-nanette

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I really love to make a project before the general public gets their hands on a pattern or fabric.  I guess that shows my competitive nature.  This last week I really needed to destress with a fun project.  And looking at my lovely fabric from Pam on my cutting table surely tempted me.

I was glad to put on my headphones and just sew for a couple hours on Saturday and finish my baby quilt using Pam Kitty Picnic and Lynne and Kerry's pattern book 500 Quilt Blocks. Pam's fabric is just getting ready for shipping and 500 Quilt Blocks has just hit for distribution. 

The pattern was really easy and fun.  I'm not not known for my crisp points.  Don't look closely.

I love Pam's new line.  I want to get some navy yardage (among others!).  Navy is really speaking to me lately. 

I am very impressed with this book.  It is like a pocket reference.  Small and perfect.  

There were lots of blocks I wanted to try out but I decided to make this one first.  I really love all the fabrics Lynne and Kerry used in their book, too.  It helps so much to have a book with cute fabric.

Off to a busy week this week...yet again!  Cannot believe it is November.

-nanette

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