Butterfly Quilt

In March, my friends Ben and Melody got married and as a gift, I wanted to make them a quilt. I had been dying to make this butterfly quilt for someone (I was thinking I would make it for ME, but I know Mel loves butterflies as much as I do). So I set about making my first applique quilt.

I learned a TON from making this quilt (which is an oversized queen)! I quilted it by check book though since I was in the midst of major sewing machine meltdowns with Vera right around the time I needed to quilt this bad boy. (I got a new machine! I'll share about that soon.)

Anyway, I picked it up from the long-arm quilter and just happened to be running other errands near Mel's work so I decided to just give it to her straight away. The only bad thing: I couldn't do a proper photo shoot. These are just shots I was able to snap around the bridal shop where she works. I also didn't have my trusty quilt display man, so I used a dress rack. Turns out it was a little too short, but you get the idea.





See? Didn't even have time to get the pen off...













This quilt is HUGE. I couldn't even fold it up on my own. It's actually already been living with Ben and Mel for a couple months, but I've only just realized I never shared the pictures with you. This one makes me so happy that the other wedding quilts I've promised people will be pieced!!

Stash Bee Blocks

How pretty are these? I have the best bee-mates! Can't wait to see the rest of them!

PLEASE PIN!!!

I only need 20 more re-pins! Please re-pin this for me!

http://pinterest.com/pin/3940718395250764/

Thanks guys!!

Shop Hop Swag

Yesterday I went shop hopping with a friend of mine from Comfort Quilters. Every year, our county quilt shops come together to throw a shop hop. For $5 you get a passport (and a little charm for a bracelet or something) that you get stamped at each of the participating shops. This year there are 13 shops across the Valley, and in order to get a stamp, you must watch a demonstration at the shop. This was especially neat to me because I've seen a bunch of quilt tools out there, but I didn't always know how to use them (or what I would use them for!) And along with the demonstration, we got to see how each shop used this year's theme block. The theme block this year is the Arizona, in honor of our state centennial.

Some shops used it as a potholder. Others, pincushions. A few others went ALL out and made entire quilts featuring the block!

Anyway, here's my swag.




I was SO excited to find Tula Pink AND those amazing feather prints at an LQS I'd never been to! One of the great things about this hop is it gives me the opportunity to see places I wouldn't normally go to, and now I know, I WANT TO GO TO THERE!

The tools I got are the binding tool, which is fabulous. I'm not really sure what my problem is. No matter the number of quilts I've made, I still ALWAYS screw up the binding. {fail} This tool will help with that and I'm excited to put it to use. The other tool there is a cutting ruler for piping. PIPING! I mean, seriously. Brilliant people out there. I just assumed I would always have to balance my ruler on top of the piping and pray I didn't take out a finger when trying to cut it down.

I also picked up some solids for use in SS goodies.



At some of the other shops, I found these pretties. A yard of Chocolate Lollipop in the clearance bin!! What?! So happy.

This shop hop runs all week and I only got to 8 of the shops yesterday, so I've got some more shopping to do tomorrow. If you get all the stamps on your passport, you get entered to win one of 14 prizes. There are $100 gift cards to each shop in the hop up for grabs, and the grand prize is a brand new Bernina 330!

Now you see why I HAD to do this? Um, yeah.

SS Classes: Guru Style

Two weeks ago, we saw the registration for classes at Sewing Summit, and then a whole new movement set up for those that didn't make it into classes they wanted linking up to learn new things.  This is not an opportunity the ASS Gurus could pass up, so here's what we've come up with for the free sewing times... (here's our pictures so you can find us easily)

Free-motioning on the Edge with Laura

Bit bored with free-motion quilting? Want to take it to the next level and really improve your hand eye coordination for free-motion quilting? Have you seen that game people (usually the male variety of people) play where they use a knife or a screwdriver and jab it between their fingers? Like this:



Well imagine doing this with the sewing machine needle going between your fingers instead! Much more edgy, much more daring, and the next hot thing in FMQ! Plus, if you don't like your room mate, you can ask them to let you practice on them instead! When you've free-motioned a net around their fingers, they're not going to be able to get into your stash of Echino (not without leaving blood specks and their traceable DNA on it at least), and if their fingers get infected, you can get into that booked-out class they were lucky enough to snag!

Pimp Your Pillow with Danny
Now staying in a hotel can be a wonderful experience, no cleaning, no dishes, no laundry, but have you ever noticed how boring the bed clothes usually are?  All that expanse of white just begging for a splash of colour.  Never fear, Danny is here to help you pimp your pillow to brighten up your room, and your days at Sewing Summit.

Courtesy of Mighty Crumble on Flickr

*Please note that the ASS Gurus assume no responsibility for the wrath of the hotel if you ruin their best linens...

Paper Piece Your Pals with Katy

One of the main themes of Sewing Summit is about all the friends you'll make, so what better way to honour all your new pals than by paper piecing a picture of them, you could even get them to sign it afterwards for you to embroider at a later date!  I will show you how to create a paper piecing pattern for your pal, make sure to bring plenty of peach fabric, along with the colours to match their hair and clothes.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!



The ASS Gurus

Guest Post

Hello all!

I am over at Sew Delicious today talking about all kinds of fabric for the Back to Sewing Basics series. Come stop by! I've posted lots of picture of my pretty fabrics!

Update on Maze

I've had a slight oversight and I must apologize. I posted about our California trip and forgot to tell you all how Clara Mae's hospital visit went today!

For those of you who are in the dark, Clara's pediatrician sent us to see a Pediatric Endocrinologist after some weird body issues and unhealthy blood work.

So, today we made the trek into Phoenix to go see our doctor at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Can I just say, that place is amazing! The inside is bright and cheerful and the whole place is just... happy. Everyone who worked there was super nice and the place really catered to the children being treated there. Awesome experience. But anyway, our doctor was extremely knowledgeable and told us all about puberty and why some children go through puberty early. After her check up and reviewing her blood work, he told us it could be one of two things:

1. We just happen to have caught her when her hormones were high and it's something she'll grow out of on her own.

2. It is a problem with the central endocrine system, likely a pituitary adenoma (brain tumor).

He explained how estrogen ages the bones and aides in closing growth plates and assured us that with a few x-rays, he could decipher whether or not we needed to continue testing for a brain tumor, or if she just had high hormones for the moment.

We went downstairs to radiology where they got us in immediately. Three people holding her down and a dozen or so x-rays later, we were on our way to ice cream; our humble apology for waking her up early so strangers could poke and prod her all morning!

The doctor called us later this evening to let us know he had the test results and things look great! Her bone age is about 15 months, and since she's 13 months, that's pretty darn close. He told us there is no exact science to aging the bones, just comparing one sample to a binder full of others, but he doesn't think there was any need for us to think she had anything terrible going on. We have a follow-up appointment in December, but she has a clean bill of health! Praise God!

Thank you to all of you who prayed, sent well wishes, happy thoughts, and who cared. I appreciate you more than words can express.

Now you can go look at our California pictures. :)

Beach Firsts

A couple weekends ago, we decided to randomly up and go to Oceanside, CA. My in-laws have a place there that they usually rent out, but as luck would have it, they had a couple weekends free and invited us along to join them! We were super excited because we had never taken Miss Maze to the beach before (last time we were able to visit, she was only a couple weeks old!) Clara had a blast and the experience was everything I hoped it would be. She touched. She played. She ate. She chased seagulls and screamed at people. Even though she was due for her nap, she made the most of her beach trip and this mama couldn't be happier!!

This is going to be a photo heavy post. Enjoy!


View from condo







First touch
































And for Jess, who is interested in what MY world looks like, here's my desert:


Dirt

More dirt

Train and dirt

Dirt with a mountain

Dirt with shrubs

Fast dirt

Another mountain and more fast dirt
So there you go Jess. My desert. Taken from a moving vehicle because it is STILL way too hot to go outside!