Clean....er

Tonight I didn't get much done in the area of quilting, except for a bright owl pillowcase and a couple of bright coasters for my sewing desk and my office desk. And I also basted my moose applique to get ready for quilting. But I did get my studio cleaned up quite a bit! Before I was lucky if I could get the door open all the way, and then I had to hop, skip, and jump over piles of fabric and my rotary mats and random half created "things" to get to my sewing machine! It was time. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some photos of what I've been up to and post! :P TTFN!

Two more projects off my list!

I finally trimmed and bound my weird piece to put on my studio wall. What should I call it though? I have no idea. Do you have any ideas?

I love the backing fabric. I saw it in my quilt shop and knew I had to use it as the backing! :)




I've been working on this table runner for a while now. I made it a little bit larger than the pattern called for (I really like the fabric and wanted to cut it at strategic places!) and so I ran out of the white blocks in the border. I thought it'd be no problem matching the marble to it, but it ended up being more difficult than I thought! I eventually had to use the WRONG side of a fabric! But I can't even tell where one ends and the other begins it matches so well! That'll teach me to think there are "rules" with using fabric! Anything goes!

What does this remind you of?

Here's what I've been working on the last two days. What does it remind you of? I just wanted something to brighten up the wall in my quilting studio, everything in there is mostly dark and natural colors.

I left some negative space towards the bottom. I didn't want it to be too busy, and I think I'm going to use the same color thread as the background and make some more "leaf" shapes. I don't have the purple or teal matching thread, so I think there should be a trip to the quilt shop today! :)

Green with fabric envy...

Last night while I was working at the quilt shop a lady came in and purchased some solids that went fabulously together! I've been waiting for a while to get some solids because I've had an idea in mind that I'd like to do for a small wallhanging eventually. Well last night I found the perfect fabric for what I wanted to do and I couldn't decide if I should commit or just wait for a while. I'm going to jump in, feet first on this project! I just need a couple more solids and then I should be good to go! Wish me luck and I'll post photos later! :)

I love viewfinders!

The other day I was blog surfing and found a blog that had this viewfinder fabric on it! I knew I eventually had to find some of it, whether it was in a shop or (most likely) online somewhere. Everywhere I looked online the colorway (natural) I liked was out of stock, so I put that picture in the back of my mind for another day.

Well that afternoon, I went to a sewing shop that's a block from the quilt shop I work at and saw some Kokka fabric! The same manufacturer that makes the viewfinder fabric! So I asked if they had any of the Melody Miller Ruby Star Rising fabrics....they looked at me like I was a duck asking for a tub of water. Then I asked if they had any viewfinder fabric. OOHHHH! Why sure! And a yard and a half later I owned some! :) It's a thicker canvas, and at $19.00 a yard I could only buy about that much! But now I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. If you had a yard and a half of some fabric that you HAD TO HAVE, what would you do with it?

New beginnings!

2011 is THE year.

I AM going to use more fabric than I buy.

I AM going to finish more projects than I start.

I AM going to be more organized in my quilt studio....hopefully.

Those are my three big changes for this year. Will they happen...I'll find out in December!

On the other hand I did get a few projects finished! The jungle baby quilt was quilted, bound, and appliqued at 2 am on Monday/Sunday morning! :)


I made myself another (as if I needed it) lunch bag. I think I'll use this as my lunch bag, and one of my other lunch bags I'll probably use to store 1/8 yards or something.

Another thrifty thing I made was the rice bags for microwaving and using as heating pads! I also made a small one to put in the refrigerator or freezer that you can put over your eyes after a long day! :) These first two went to the momma to be of the jungle baby quilt....I have a feeling that she may need them eventually!

I'd eventually like to make some skinnier ones and use them as the padding on the base of your keyboards and mouse pads! Why not. It's worth a try!

Giveaway!

Who likes free stuff? Everyone should have their hand up.

You can have a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of Dilly Dally by Me and My Sister of Moda! To enter you must submit at least one (but up to five) entries on one of my favorite sites....Jaybird Quilts! Good luck everyone!

Everybody needs at least one....

I usually wear my hair down, or put it up in a ponytail. Something easy. To be a little bit more of a girl I've decided to dress up my hair ties. I've been wanting to try the fabric button makers for a while now, and I decided today was the day. So I bought a kit and immediately made one when I got home! The hardest part of the whole thing was trying to get the hair tie through the hole on the back of the button, but after using a pair of tweezers it made it through!

I love blueberries, and they were the perfect size to try and make my first button!




And I also stopped at my quilt shop and bought a couple more zippers....

I know. My friend asked if I wanted to share a table with her at a craft fair, and I thought the zipper flower would be a cute little knick knack to sell.

Flowers in January

Hi there! I have something a little bit outside of my "comfort" area. I'm just going to throw this out there, but I'm not a huge flower-y person. I love flowers, the real ones, but on clothing I usually get the seam ripper and get them off of there ASAP. However, the other day while I was cruising some blogs online I came across a zipper flower photo! Carla's Feathered Fibers has a blog about recycling fibers, zippers, scrap fabrics, and even tin cans into jewelry! It's pretty amazing stuff! Even if you're not going to make anything from her blog, you should at least look at it and get your creative juices going!

Well after seeing this post I went right out to my quilt shop where we have a great color selection of zippers and bought a couple! :) I tried to get a good idea of how I was going to make the petals by just holding them in the center, but then they just kept sliding around on me. Well....screw it. I'm going straight to stitching the sucker. I even left the zipper on the one side, just for kicks. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

These photos are of how the first flower turned out. One is with the flash, the other is without.

Wild Girl....yes please!

Have I mentioned that I love the Bigfork Bay Cotton Company applique kits? Well, I do! And as luck would have it, I ran into their booth when I was at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago last year. And among their new patterns was Wild Girl! Three days ago I felt restless and I needed something to do while Scott was watching TV, and I wanted to just sit on the couch with him, so I pulled out my Wild Girl kit and started tracing, ironing, cutting and ironing some more and this is what I came up with. Now to quilt it....

I still haven't quilted my moose Summer Serenity applique. I've been waiting to get an extension table for my sewing machine so that the quilt is supported while quilting, and I received it for Christmas, now it's just getting enough space to walk around to everything in my studio! :)