A Mountain

I have been hard at work on some quilt tops.  I have three (!) that are waiting to be basted and quilted this weekend.  Two are queen sized and one is baby size.  I have my work cut out for me!

So, needless to say, I want to do a small, brainless project before I tackle all that quilting.  What better place to star than my scrap basket.  Now I have a scrap hoarding problem.  I save every little piece that I cut.  I stuff them into this canvas basket.  I haven't pulled it out in awhile and tonight I was going to play in the scraps to become inspired for my small project.  

Now this picture doesn't show the absurdity of these scraps.  The pile goes up to my knees and the container they are in is only about a foot tall and not wide at all.  I guess you can stuff a lot of fabric into a small space if you have to!

What Have I Been Doing?

It's been slow around here...I don't really have an answer as to why either.  I did finish a quilt top.  But unfortunately, I'm not ready to show it yet. I also FINALLY cut into my Tula Pink Nest layer cake!

 


This quilt is going to match my wall hanging perfectly.  I am making a wonky 9 patch quilt for my couch. I did get quite upset when I realized I somehow mixed the order up not once but twice!  Therefore, one of the prints is used twice in each block.  I'm hoping once it's done I won't notice.  Now I just need to figure out if I want to add sashing or not.  I might ask for your opinion later!

Images found at Tula Pink

*sorry for no pictures of my progress,  the blocks are ALL over my sewing table and I don't have time to organize it!  As soon as more progress is made I will get some pictures!*

Finished!!

Last year I made this quilt for a costumer's daughter.  ::Blogged here::  I only used half of the Sunbonnet Sue blocks that her grandmother had made but never did anything with.  She is expecting another little girl...well, a little girl and a little boy....so she wanted me to make another quilt with the remaining Sunbonnet Sue blocks.

 I used some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms.  I really love this fabric and have since bought some for me!  The six Sunbonnet Sues that I had were not big enough for a good sized quilt so I added the borders to the top and bottom.  It is the perfect size, but of course the quilt is delivered and I didn't take the measurements!  Just know it's good sized for snuggling up. 

I hope she likes it.  I tried to make the traditional blocks much more modern and current with the wonderful fabric!  I FMQ in my basic stippling.  However, I outlined the stars and girls and then I didn't quilt over those so they stand out.  When it washed it had that perfect amount of crinkle.  I think it turned out really good.  I hope she likes it!

FNSI #1

Last night was my first Friday Night Sew In. What a great excuse to sit and sew!   I kicked off my FNSI with a tasty meal from McDonalds (Yum!  and no dishes to clean!)  Little man was perfectly content and I was ready to go!

 I am pretty much in between projects and was ready to start something new.  I thought I better get started on my guild's solid challenge since it was the only thing that really had to be done in a timely fashion.  Robert Kaufman donated Kona Solids charm packs in the classic colorway  What beautiful, bright, cheery fabric.  My guild decided that we would add one other fabric plus an additional fabric for the binding.  I don't want to give away too much of what I'm going to do.

 

This is what I turned my charm pack into!  What a yummy rainbow!

Once done with this I settled on the couch and worked on some binding for a quilt I just need to hurry up and finish.  I don't want to share any pictures since it's not for me and I don't like to post quilts for others until they have been received!  Hopefully I can get the rest of the binding sewn down this weekend.

Also, today is National Quilting Day!  Two days in a row with good excuses to sew...not that an excuse is really necessary.  Maybe National Quilting Day should be a day that quilters are able to be waited on and do whatever they want...hmm...I think like that!

Blossom Bag

FINISHED!!!  I finally just sat down and made Amy Butler's Blossom Bag.  Sew Mama Sew has the free pattern on their site. Of course I had to make it when I saw it....I love Amy Butler and I love bags so I was sold.  I was a little afraid, the bag looked complex and it was classified as advanced.  But I just knew it couldn't be that hard!  The fancy handle brackets made me a little nervous, but they shouldn't have.  This bag wasn't all that difficult to put together at all.  The worst part was the interfacing and cutting out all the pieces.  It took a whole afternoon just to get the pieces all cut out.  I didn't use home dec weight fabric because this is what I had on hand and I tend to be impulsive and wanted to make it now!  I used a little extra interfacing.  The bag is a little floppy but not bad, plus the home dec weight one would be floppy too.  One thing I did do to save time was attach the cut pieces to the whole piece of interfacing and then cut.  I didn't trace and cut the  interfacing...that would take to long and like I said before I wanted it now.  I didn't run into any problems with constructing the bag...until I got to the dividers at the end.

 

Making the dividers was easy....when you get to the zippered one it's just like making a zippered pouch not a pocket.  Once I realized that it was smooth sailing!  To install the dividers you pinch and sew it to them to the bag sides creating a whole thick mess of fabric.  The pattern recommends hand tacking it down but I thought my machine could handle it.  WRONG!  I busted the needle in half (no big deal) but I also got the feed dogs stuck resulting in my machine getting disassembled into a million pieces and a sweet hubby fixing it for me late at night...And he was able to fix it!  YAY!!!  So aside from that minor setback it was a very easy, complex looking bag and I will definitely make it again!

I'm linking up to Sew Modern Monday...Go check out all the other wonderfullness there!

KMQG Mug Rug Swap

We had our KMQG meeting this morning....complete with record attendance!  We planned a whole bunch of wonderful events for the year, including possible retreat!  

Our activity for this month was a mug rug swap.  Silly me, being invincible and all, thought I should make a mug rug that says KMQG.  Designed a great design on my graph paper and was ready to go.  I figured to make it a good mug rug size my half square triangles needed to be 1 inch.  Ok, I thought, that's not too bad I can so make 1 inch hst.  Yeah, not fun!  Looking at it I see a million things I would have done differently, but I'm glad I challenged myself with something so ridiculously small...made me realize that I need to change my plans for Miss Mango's quilt!

This is the mug rug I got in return.  Jennifer made this beauty.  She was smart and made a simple ticker tape mug rug and it turned out great.  It's made from some of her scraps from a quilt that I absolutely adore.  I was very happy to receive this in the swap...purple is my favorite color and all!  Thanks Jennifer!!

Sad

My machine is in pieces on the table.  It broke when I was almost done with my bag...booo!  Hubby took it apart to try to fix it for me.  *fingers crossed* 

(would take pictures but I've got the baby in my arms...I'm not that talented!)

So Exciting!

I get so excited when I check my mail and see I have a new comment on my blog...sillly, I know, but it's nice to know people are reading and I'm not just writing to myself.  Even though that would be ok since the main purpose of my blog is to be my quilty/ crafty journal.

But anyway imagine my excitement when I opened my email to find not only a comment but an award! For my little blog!  Woo Hoo!!

The wonderful Mary Jo from All This For Them sent a Stylish Blogger Award over to me.  I found her blog recently and she does great work!  She just finished her first quilt and it looks like it's her hundredth one!  She seems ready to jump into any project with confidence and it shows.  Go over and check her out!  And while you're there look at the wonderful way she displays her little one's  art!  Too Cute!

Well onto the fine print of the award....
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Award 6 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers and tell them about the award.

Onto me....it's hard to think of things about yourself....but here goes:

1.  I graduated with my degree in Elementary Education and was a Pre-K teacher for 5 years, now I'm a stay at home mommy!

2.  I just had a little boy in December and life is so  much better with him!

3.  I love purple and green and use that combo all over my house.  Although since I started quilting my color palate has expanded greatly!

4.  I love Mexican food....I could eat it everyday...and I almost do!

5.  I am president of my local MQG.

6.  I love to read in my spare time....although spare time to read has turned into reading while rocking baby!  

7.  My dream is to have a very bright, modern and chic quilt store.

Well, that's me!  

And now the 6 blogs I choose to pass the award onto:

City House Studio

 Sew Crafty Jess 

A Blond Quilts

 

 The Girl Who Quilts

 Seaside Stitches

Rebel Homemaker

Go check out these lovely ladies!  As for me, I am off to work on my Blossom's Bag...results and pattern review hopefully this weekend!

Yipes

Made a mess of my sewing area.  Cut a million 1 inch squares (that's what it feels like).  Doing the tiniest piecing I've ever done.  I am crazy!

*pictures to follow*

FNSI!

Sign ups for the Friday Night Sew-In are going on now!



I signed up this go around...I have SOOO much I want to make.  With a little one always needing me it's hard to get some good, solid sewing time in.  I am going to make the most of my FNSI and have some quiet, me time.  Well, not so quiet since my "studio" is also my dining room that is connected to the living room.  But it will be time for me to ignore everything and sew!  Lets see if I can cross of some things on my to sew list....only to add on ten more things!

Finished!!!

I finally finished my wall hanging and got it hung!  I was a little unsure of it at first, but now I love it.  Sure beats staring at a plain brown wall all day!  This wall has been blank since we moved in years ago.  We just couldn't find anything that we liked that also didn't cost hundreds of dollars!  When I saw this quilt in the Dare to be Square book I knew it was going to be made into a wall hanging!  So glad it's done!   

 

 I used the Two Left Feet pattern from the Dare to be Square book.  It wasn't too bad, you just had to be sure to line up your seams or the lines would be interrupted.   That really dark color is a chocolate brown, it doesn't show up in a picture very well.  It is really hard to photograph something inside on a brown wall I found out.  So, this is what you get.  I really need to learn how to use my fancy camera to take great pictures...one day!

 I'll be linking this up to Sew Modern Monday over at Canoe Ridge.  If you get a chance you should hop over there and look at all the wonderful that is linked together!

Little Update

Not too much sewing has happened this week.  Well that's what I feel like at least.  I did get mt wall hanging done.  As soon as it's hung I'll share pictures!  I also got a quilt top done for a costumer.  Hopefully I can figure out how I want to quilt it and get it delivered so I can share pictures.  So the one thing I got done that I have a picture for is a bee block for a member in my MQG.  It was a super simple block but it looks great.  I can't wait to see what all of the blocks look like together!

 

 

I must get this house in order and a shower while the little one naps.  Hubby's grandparent's are coming to meet the little man tonight!

A little thrifting and a little fabric

Off to the thrift stores I went today armed with creative thoughts, treasure hunting eyes, a really adorable baby and a good friend.  Most things were overpriced.  $15 for ugly used picture frames...no thanks!  My wall of squares will just have to wait!  But after searching two stores I found a treasure.  I LOVE Longaberger stuff, always have.  I found this old blue soup and salad bowl for $0.50!  I don't really have much of the blue but come on, could you pass it up for $0.50?  I think not!

I think the puppy though he got a new dish...sorry puppy!

 I also love Amy Butler fabrics, like a lot!  I usually hoard them and not use them.  But I must say when I first saw Soul Blossoms I wasn't that crazy about the line.  Yeah, that was until I got some...I love this line. 

So excited for my new fabric...and I already have plans for most of it.  I will cut into this fabric and make something, I promise.  Now if only I can find the time...that should be easy...right?!