Month: March 2016

The fabric diet continues…

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As many of you already know, I am on a “fabric diet” this year, meaning that I promised myself that I would use UP the fabric I already own, rather than buying any NEW fabric. I thought that for sure I would be needing new fabric before too long, because my stash would dwindle down to nothing in no time at all.( I am being so very productive after all!) So here is the sad, sad truth…when I looked around my room this past weekend I couldn’t even see any tiny little place where a dent has been made in my fabric stash. Nope, not one hint that I have been restraining myself so remarkably since January. Very sad…I suppose I could just decide to give up on the diet, seeing as it’s not making any difference, but I am no quitter! I have even more resolve to make my diet show results by the end of the year 🙂 I guess I need to start making BIGGER quilts~ ha!

Even though I am not buying fabric this year, I do allow myself to buy other goodies, and this past week I bought this adorable pattern from Australian designer Antonie Alexander of Me & My Red Boots.022 I found her on Craftsy and I adore her patterns! They are so cute and cheerful. This pattern is called Woodland Bunnies and I thought when I started on Friday that for sure I could finish it by Sunday (Easter)….I am an eternal optimist :). Soooo, that of course did not happen. Not only were we busy baking cinnamon buns and painting Easter eggs, we were also in the midst of painting son’s bedroom, plus some furniture to go in said room. ( The room looks fantastic, by the way). The quilt did not even get close to finished. This is the progress on my bunnies so far….

Aren’t they so cute?? I just love them! I will add details with buttons and embroidery, but for now am just concentrating on the bunny outline. I thought about putting the project away until closer to next year’s Easter, but then I’m afraid it might disappear in the ” UFO” pile forever and ever. The bunnies are too cute for that fate! I will persevere, and please make sure to ask me about the bunny project once in a while, just to keep me on my toes!

Earlier this week a friend came over for her very first quilting lesson. I had recommended we start with something simple and she chose this potholder pattern. She did a great job on her very first project and got the entire thing done, except for the quilting.

Doesn’t it look great?! Hopefully she has caught the quilting bug too! Luckily there are so many resources available on the Internet to provide us with guidance, inspiration and free patterns that there really is no excuse to not dive into this amazing hobby/obsession wholeheartedly.

030Speaking of inspiration, a few weeks back I found this amazing book at the library. It is chock-full of information and inspiration and I just love it!

I am going to end with some pictures of Easter. My mom embroidered the tablecloth back in 1969 and gifted it to me last year. I am always on the lookout for wonderful pieces like this when I go antiquing, so to get something made by my own mother is extra special! Thanks, Mom!

 

I wish you all a great rest of the week!

Sunshine and stitching

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Spring has finally sprung for good this week! Although there were a few wet snowflakes around on the weekend, there is no holding back the buds on the trees and the bulbs in the ground ( although my tulips are being a bit stubborn about showing themselves!)

I love listening to the chirping birds and seeing all the nesting activity too. Spring might just be my favorite season! ( But I bet in the Fall I’ll be saying that it is my favorite…it all depends on what there is to look forward to!)

This week I was super productive in my quilt room! I finally got Continue reading →

quilts and temptations

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Hello,

This week the AQS quilt show is in town so I decided to brave the crazy , many-one-way-streets-so-it’s confusing, busy downtown this morning! I decided to start with the vendors because it was early and not busy so there was a chance to talk with the different booth operators about their products. I circumvented ALL booths with fabric so I wouldn’t be tempted to break my “fabric diet” and then found a very nice lady who supplies the yarn for Sue Spargo. If you are not familiar with Sue Spargo you MUST check out her work~ it is quite amazing! This particular vendor had soooo many choices, but I restrained myself and just bought a few skeins of perle cotton in the size that I like to “big- stitch- quilt” with.

Look at those colors! Aren’t they just yummy?

They are a little “Easter-y” maybe? But I think I will enjoy using all those colors. It was so nice to have so many colors to choose from, rather than the usual ( boring) selection at my local craft store! I also visited with a lovely lady from France, named Isabelle, who had the most adorable patterns on display! I bought two, one for me and one for a Christmas present for a special friend.032 Continue reading →

Spring!?

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Hello there!

We have had a fabulous couple of days here this past week! Yesterday the temperature rose to 76 degrees Fahrenheit, and today feels like more of the same. It was so nice to open the windows and listen to all the birds, while enjoying the sunshine streaming into the house! I think I’m ready for the nice weather! Don’t get me wrong: I love winter and snow and the coziness of the season, but it is almost mid-March and I think winter can go away now.

This past weekend I got started on a little table topper…it was so nice and Spring-like outside that I felt like making something new and fresh to display on my table. I found this cute little tulip template online ( I wish I could remember where so I can give credit!) and decided to use it.

I got to work with my scraps and made 4 cute, red, little tulips.

Of course they got quilted right away ( although with a project this small I could have waited!). I started looking for some fabric to use as sashing and borders. I wanted something fresh and “spring-y”, but try as I might, not one of the fabrics I auditioned looked just right. Except for this dark blue and green one….hmmm, not exactly the light, airy feeling I was going for, but I decided to go with my gut.

I even added some bright green piping! ( I love the way it looks, but let me tell you that it was a bit tricky to get that to behave!) Some more pictures of the work in progress:

my own design

And finally the finished table topper!016

Bloom block #8 came out on Monday, so yesterday I got to work on that one. It’s a little wacky and off to one side, but I am loving the color combination in this one! And I got really creative with my Bloom templates and actually traced around one of the shapes to give me a a quilting line. Smart, no?!

 

After working on the Bloom block I decided to get working on my sweet little Log Cabin quilt that I had made before Valentine’s Day. I simply stitched in the ditch around all the log cabin blocks and then decided to do a fancy swirly thing in the center. I always have to take a LOT of breaks when I’m free-motion quilting because I really tense up when I quilt! So, although the center is done, I still have to finish the outside borders, but I decided to go with a simple vine and that will be easy.

After all that activity in my room this week you would think it would be a GIANT mess again, wouldn’t you? Well, I thought so too, but I have been VERY good about cleaning up after myself and I think it still looks pretty awesome!

Next week the AQS quilt show is coming to town and I’m planning on taking lots of pictures and coming away very inspired ( maybe with a few NON-fabric purchases~ha!)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Spring cleaning

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Hello there!

This past week has been Spring cleaning time for me! But before you think “it’s too soon for Spring cleaning”, let me explain…Do you remember last week when I told you about the Craftsy class I’m taking on machine-quilting with your walking foot? Yes, well, while I was busy playing with my machine’s settings I noticed that my stitch width knob was acting funky. It would jump from o to 2. something and then back to 0 again. Very weird. So I did a bit of research and finally decided that I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but my machine was having issues ( not uncommon, I found out!). So I called the shop where I purchased it and brought it in. After extracting promises that it wouldn’t take too long to get it fixed I left it there. I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to clean my room ( and boy, was it necessary!)

But once I got started it just went from bad to worse and I really wished I could hit the “undo” button and just deal with a bit of a mess, rather than the HUGE one I was creating! Well, it took some perseverance on my part ( and a call from the shop saying that my machine was ready and all fixed~ yeah!) to finish the job. It looks so great and I’m so glad I did it…my husband pointed out that I might want to have my sewing machine ‘ break’ once a year or so……that’s not even funny ( but it would be useful!)

Doesn’t it look great? I just love having it looking so clean, but I know it won’t last long! One of my boys pointed out that maybe I should stay out of my room and not mess it up again….yeah, nope, that’s not going to happen! (Although I do have to admit that I have NOT plugged in my machine yet…maybe I am liking this cleanliness a little too much?!)

So apart from doing a major clean, I did get a chance to work on a few projects at the beginning of this week. I finished my latest BLOOM block and got a chance to quilt my Wash Day row from my row by row quilt.

The quilting is far from perfect, but it will look just fine as part of the bigger quilt!

No other new projects to share yet, although I did find some quilts/ quilt blocks that I really should finish and display….maybe I will get to work on some of those this coming week?!

Finally I would like to leave you with this quote that I found in one of my favorite recipe books ever. I thought it might be a great quote to write in a card, until I read the last line!

“May the light always find you on a dreary day. When you need to be home, may you find your way. May you always have courage to take a chance, and never find frogs in your underpants.”

Mmmm, maybe NOT the best quote to use in a card, but very funny nonetheless!

Have a great week everyone!