Sweet Baby!

Oh my goodness, I just had to post this picture as soon as I saw it. This is an updated picture of Leah, my friend Miranda's baby. I'm in process of making quilts for Leah and big sis Jacqueline.

Isn't she the sweetest baby, in her cute lil Pooh outfit?? She's laying on the 4th quilt I ever made (and technically, it was my first finished quilt), given to Jacqueline for Christmas 2007. We had used Miranda's house in Denver as a hotel for a night, as we drove home for Christmas that year. So I had to bring something with me as a thank you. Now I do have to confess...I didn't actually piece the top. It was a remnant of a cheater cloth I found @ my local fabric store for $1. Yep, $1...coupled with some yardage from Joann's bought on sale, I think I spent less than $10 to provide protection for babies laying on the carpet!

Now the first quilt I ever made is still sitting in a box, waiting for the quilting to be completed on it. I should finish it, because I'm proud of my effort...but the thing is, it's sort of ugly (at least in my head). I bought some interesting fat quarters @ Joann's (because I had NO IDEA what I was doing at that point, including fabric buying), and took a beginner quilting class.

My 2nd quilt is the purple quilt you see if you look @ my Blogger profile. It went to my mom for Christmas...she loves purple (her garage door on her house is purple), and it's my favorite that I've made so far. I curl up under it every time I'm there to visit. :) That quilt was hard work, triangles attached to 1" strips...lots and lots of ironing and trimming. I spent one whole quilt class @ Joann's just figuring out my layout for those squares.

Ah, memories!

Monday Mail Scramble

As Monday was President's Day, and a no-mail day, I knew I needed to use Monday night to get some items ready to post today.

Up first, Katie's block for Pieced Together. This free-piecing business is a little crazy...but fun! I had to add in a few little bits from my own stash, I wasn't keen on using every last bit of red Katie sent.

As you may know by now, I spend a lot of time in my car, driving to work & back. And on these drives, I think about a bunch of random things. While driving, I came up with the plan to make a similar block to each block I do for Pieced Together. So here is my version of Katie's block:

Now all this free piecing business leads to a lot of starts & stops, so you can press your seams. So I was doing a lot of the leader/ender business, including piecing the borders of Steve's Rocket Scientist whirlygiggles quilt:

Seriously, those giant rockets are fantastic!

I also put a baggie full of selvedges in the mail for Sonya in Australia. My first time mailing international, so of course I didn't realize I needed to fill out a customs form! But now I know, which is a good thing, since I will be sending some FQs to Katy in the UK, as part of Darci's FQ swap.

And speaking of FQ swaps, Sew Mama Sew hosted another FQ swap. I signed up for 2 groups, so I'm sending 8 FQs. I got my swap partners today, and will mail in a couple of days. Here's a copy of the card I'm including in each package:

I made the card in Publisher using postcards I still had from save the dates from our wedding (so they are at least 5 years old @ this point, I sent the save the dates super early).

(Top to bottom, left to right) Flutterby, AMH Good Folks, Hoffman's Mercer St., AH Spotted Owl (x2), Valerie Wells Olive Rose, Heather Ross Lightning Bugs, and AMH Good Folks again.

Brushfire Quilt Project Blocks

So when I heard Tia was going to put together some quilts for the victims of the brushfires in Australia, I signed up right away, and worked on some blocks this weekend:


Unfortunately, none of my blocks managed to finish at the requisite 12.5", so I need to add a little border to each one to get them to size up. I may fudge it a little, and just do borders on 2 sides. The blocks are supposed to be wonky stars, so I guess it's OK if they're wonky blocks all over. And yes, the top middle block has both unbleached muslin & kona white floating around the star, but I don't really care!

Flurry of Finishes

So after not completing ANY projects in the month of January, I'm finally on my way to getting some of these things off my plate.


First up, the B&W couch quillow. This is how it looks all pillowed-up; it's very small (11x12, I think), which makes sense, since the quilt is only a yard of fabric (approx. 36"x44"). Next time I do one of these, I think I need to attach the quillow part so that it's not perfectly flat, and allow some wiggle room to convert it into pillow. Seriously, I love the cheater cloth print - looks like I did so much work, when I really did nothing at all!

Second... I finished up the sling bags for friends Miranda & Carrie, using some of the Cotton Blossoms charms, along with some extra CB fabric I bought to coordinate. These suckers are pretty big, so they'll function quite nicely I think. Miranda's straps seem long, but she is a bit taller than me, and maybe her torso is longer than mine. I'll send Mir's with the baby quilts (more below), hopefully it works for her. I'll see Carrie in a couple of weeks; she's flying down to San Diego from Seattle for the weekend right before my birthday, so we'll head down to spend Sunday with her & boyfriend Dave (zoo or Sea World, not sure yet).

Third... I pieced most of the top for Steve's rocket scientist whirly giggles quilt. I don't know what it is, but these whirly giggles mess with my head. I used Michelle's post as a guideline, but things fell apart in my brain. First, she says that the blocks finish to 9"...so I knew I needed 4 to get the size I wanted for the wall-hanging. Except my brain forgot to factor in that I was working with 5" squares, so I wouldn't actually need very many to complete one of the blocks. I think I ended up cutting enough to make 16 blocks - plus I cut double the amount required for the lime green solid. So I have a ton of extra pieces. These pieces came in handy, because then I thought I would be OK cutting a ton of fabric @ once, with the fabric folded up, so the pieces weren't all going the same direction. So I had too many pieces, some with the whirlys going the wrong way.

Any guesses as to what's wrong with the blocks above? If so, you did better than I did when looking @ it for the first time. I didn't even realize until I came back later that I still managed to get the wrong pieces in the quilt - the bottom right corner is all messed up. But I'm not going to take that mess apart, and try to put it back together again. It will stay how it is. You know how they say the Amish intentionally put an error in each quilt to demonstrate humility and how God alone is perfect? Yep, I'm definitely humble, without even trying! I don't why this has been such a brain teaser, but it has been. I think I'll use some of the extra blocks in a pieced back. I did iron everything, so it's all ready to go.

And now for the good stuff... A quilt for Baby Leah:

Most of the pieces are Tula's full-moon forest cut into 5" squares. I mixed some things up, and there are 2 four-patch squares in there, along with 2 5" squares from the Flutterby line. I'm totally in love with this quilt top, the colors in that line play so well with each other. I know I could have done better with the layout, but I just sewed a bunch of squares together, then a bunch more to form 4-block strips before I laid them out to figure out placement. 120 squares is a lot to work with!

Steve thinks the random owl (which is from the same line) is sort of scary-looking...do you agree? I personally love it (but I'm obsessed with owls, so what do I know?)...

And finally...it's Katie's month for Pieced Together, and here are the fabrics she sent. Basically, she wants something ala-Denyse Schmidt / Project Improv. The white is not to be used in the outside of the block. The red & blue are also incorporated to make the quilt cohesive. A lot of people already have their blocks done, so I'm feeling some pressure to work on this. I think I may make a sample block from some of my scraps, just to get the feel for what I'm doing, since I've never done improvisational piecing before.

On the homefront, 2 days without cable & counting. It's been mostly OK; the rain in LA has caused the HD signal to come in a bit fuzzy at points. And I'm going to miss watching Big Love on HBO. But some oldies-but-goodies (at least, to me) got me thru my crafting weekend: Notting Hill & Moulin Rouge. Thank goodness for the portable DVD player, which I can set on the dresser in from of my sewing machine (and that little thing can pump out the sound).

A Follow-Up

...to my post earlier today - I downloaded some photos to share...

This is what the back of the new receiver looks like:
See, even Steve looks a little intimidated:
He got it all hooked up while I took a nap on Saturday afternoon.


This is what avoiding homework looks like tonight:

...xbox controller in hand.

And this is what my new B&W lap quillow is going to look like:

It's all quilted, I just need to put together the pillow part & attach, and then bind the quilt. But first, I need to wash the crunchy pillow/binding fabric to soften it up a little. I think this little quilt might qualify as my first stash-buster quilt - I'm using fabrics I bought with no specific purpose in mind (although I knew they would probably end up in the living room).

The front cheater cloth is this print from Marcus fabrics.

Ok, two things I need to vent about:

• I hate blogger's spacing issues in most of my posts - even if you look @ the HTML code, and that looks OK, doesn't mean it will publish OK. Maybe at some point, I can convince Steve to help me figure out how to use my own host for a Word Press blog.
• Second, I really don't understand the people who buy vowels on Wheel of Fortune when they know the puzzle. I end up yelling in frustration at the TV at least once each show for this very reason. Seriously people - $150 per vowel can knock a lot of your total!

The Curious Case of the Foxy Weekend

The working title of this post is "Did I ever tell you I was struck by lightning seven times? "

We FINALLY went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this weekend for date night - I've been wanting to see this for a while now. Partly because of the strangeness of the story, partly because of the Oscar buzz, and mostly because Brad Pitt is one of the guys who lives on my island (my fantasy hot guy island). Plus, I LOVE Cate Blanchett - she's such a cameleon (she sort of freaks Steve out though - he says it's the eyes, I say it's just the crazy eyes in LOTR - see below).

But whatever, I always think she is great. And designer extraordinaire Heather Bailey had mentioned the scene with the red dress, and I sort of gasped in recognition when it came on!

I really enjoyed this movie, although based on the other movies in contention for honors this awards season, I can't say I'm surprised CCoBB hasn't won a whole lot - those awards tend to go to the movies without the large-scale mass appeal (except for Titanic & LOTR: Return of the King).

We also helped Circuit City liquidate some inventory this weekend. Steve bought a new receiver in anticipation of receiving his bonus from work at the end of this week. And I decided we should get a really inexpensive 19" LCD TV with HD Tuner. We're in the process of getting rid of our cable TV, and just watching network TV via HD antennae streaming from the desktop. The bedroom TV was originally going to be left out of this plan, since we had a small 13" one we bought with wedding gift money 4 years ago that had no such HD tuner. But now, this problem is going to be rectified with the additional purchase of another $40 HD antennae. I think we'll end up saving almost $1000 per year without cable, so we make up the cost of all these purchases in a very short amount of time. I hope I survive - I don't think I've EVER not had cable, so this will be tough on me. But we mostly watch the major networks, and we'll still be able to get those, so I think I'll be OK. Plus, the xbox interface with Netflix is amazing, so I can always find something to watch in my queue there.

On the crafty front, I have half of a new quilt quilted (wow, that seems poorly worded - "have half" and "quilt quilted"). I figured I better run with my mojo while it's still around. But...that doesn't mean I actually pieced together a new top...I took a cute yard of cheater cloth fabric I got a while back (and I can't remember what it is @ the moment, I need to look @ the selvedge again - but I definitely saw it in the newest Hancocks Paducah catalog) and used a white/black yard of Deb Strain's Daydream fabric for the backing. I'm going to practice making a quillow for our living room, in prep for the baby girlie quilts that are ready to be pieced.

Ok, time to go back to work - boo hoo me!

Cute Quilty Font

...can be found here. :)

It's Baaacccckkkk!

My quilting mojo, that is...

Well, at least for these 11" squares, I was able to stipple without too many hang-ups. No weird tension/thread issues, skipping stitches, etc. I still have a tendency toward the tiny stitches, but as long as I remember to slow it down a bit, it seems to work OK.

*sighing with relief*

These blocks are destined to become a cute little sling bag...but whether I decide to make one or two bags is up in the air at this point.

Oh! And the answer to the question from the other day? What do rockets, owls, and mermaids all have in common?? They are all fabrics that I couldn't refuse from Fabricworm. I love ordering from Cynthia, because she's also in Cali, so I get my fabric next day. :) The rocket scientist fabric is going to become a wall-hanging (using Whirly giggles, perhaps?) for Steve's office, as he is truly a rocket scientist (aka - aerospace engineer). He told me that he thought that was a good idea - he can tell people his wife made it. I like that idea too!

And one more thing...Happy Inauguration Day!

Me + Rotary Cutter = Hot Date Sunday

The rotary cutter & I had a hot date with each other yesterday:

Yep, that's 99 5" squares, 99 5.5" squares, and 99 66 8.5" squares. And as I'm typing this, I'm realizing I didn't cut enough of the smaller squares. A problem I think I can correct...I kept aside 3 fat quarters, so I think I can cut into some of those...plus I know I have too many of the 8.5" squares, so I'll cut those down too... The fabric line is Tula's Full Moon Forest...barely over a year old, but I had to find the FQ set on ebay and put together a pathetic presentation to Steve before I could bid on it. I sort of didn't know what I would use it for, but 3 quilts for my fav girly babes will be the result.


Plus, I finished cutting pretty much all of my pieces (backing & binding need to be cut and pieced) for the giganto Flutterby quilt. (I do love me some Tula Pink).

I'm still in the middle of ironing & cutting the strips I had sewed together to make 4-patches. I really dislike ironing...my least favorite part of the process.

Anyway, here's my dilemma... This is the original design I had planned out for the Flutterby quilt:

Which looks sort of like this when it gets laid out:

The white squares in the pattern translate into the nearly solid teal pieces.

BUT...is the inverse of the layout better???

What do you think? The original...or the revision??

On a side note, we went hiking with Sammy yesterday morning, and were accosted by 3 dogs off their leash...with an oblivious owner not aware her dogs were harassing poor Sammy. So Sammy, being the stinker he is, gave one of the dogs a kick to the chest when the dog got all up in his business. The movement was so subtle, I didn't realize he had done it until I heard the dog yelp behind me. And still, clueless owner didn't attempt to reign in the dogs. That situation made me nervous!

Ok, Mir...time for your opinion...

So I decided to venture over to Santa Monica's Sewing Arts Center because I needed thread during Thursday's lunch break. While there, I had a chat with a lady about the disaster quilt, and she seemed pretty convinced the thrifted sheet was a BAD idea for the backing.

dimensions approximately 37" x 44"

Since I don't think I can rip out my stitches, I'm going to have to start all over again. Fortunately, I bought the quilt kit on sale, so dollars-wise, I'm not out very much at all.

So there are several options for you Mir.

I can salvage most of the blocks from the original quilt (all except 3)...

So...
1) I can rework the original blocks into a smaller, more squarish quilt (more like 37" x 37")

OR, I can completely start over and make something new. I happen to have the perfect fabrics to use...but they shall remain a surprise ;) Although, I will tell you that they are more subdued than the ones above!

So...

2) I can re-do the original quilt in new fabrics

OR - we can do a new pattern - below are some ideas...

3) Disappearing Nine-Patch (this is way easier than it looks, BTW):From Krom Mama

4) Happy Hour quilt:

from CrazyMomQuilts

5) Patchwork Charm squares:

Also CrazyMomQuilts

6) Finn's Quilt:

So those are some choices - none of which is at all complicated, and totally doable.

Mir, your assignment is to pick 2 of the above (or 2 of your own idea, as long as it's relatively simple - squares & rectangles are good for me)...and let me know...

Then I'll pick what I want to do! ;)

Love this!

I don't think I can afford this ebay auction, but I might try my hand someday at making a little wall quilt like this.

Recent Finishes - Photos Finally!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a thing for bags...in particular, tote bags. I'm totally buying into this whole BYOB (bring your own bag) to the grocery store, Target, etc. Because I get to have bags. :) So when I saw the Day in the Park Backpack Tote somewhere on someone's blog, I knew I had to make it. So I jumped onto Purl's website, which is also where I found the magical pinky girlie airplane/rocket/helicopter fabric. Anywho, I LOVE this bag! The pattern was actually on tissue paper, like clothing patterns. But I just took my handy acrylic rulers, took measurements, and cut w/out the patterns using the good 'ol rotary cutter. The bag does have curved bottom corners, so I made a corner template from an index card, which worked very well for these purposes.

See, it's a tote...

...it's a backpack...
There's only a few things I would do differently from the instructions. First, when making the straps, I would use my preferred method of making straps (which I hate doing, BTW), as taught by the fabulous Nancy Greene of Pink Sand Beach Designs. Basically, Nancy's method involves ironing the strap fabric in half, then fusing a strip of DecorBond on one side, and Pellon Fusible Fleece 987F on the other side, plus a strip of twill tape snuck inside the folded over strap. This combo gives a really sturdy strap, and it is soooo much easier to edgestitch the open side. Now I know just to go with what I trust and know how to do. The other thing that I would do differently is the inside zipper pouch, also using Nancy's fab techiniques. She has taught me to create an inside zipper pouch in a manner which completely disguises all raw edges of the zipper. Plus, my metholodogy of just measuring the pieces to rotary cut worked out so well! One other tip: pin the pieces together and label when cutting. I would have gotten confused, and spent a lot of time figuring out what was what if I hadn't.

Did you notice my recent obsession with owls heavily influenced my choice of fabric?? Apparently, the love of owls is a quilter thing, but since I'm relatively new to fabrics that aren't sold just by Joanns, that's fine by me. I was super-excited a couple of weeks ago to score an entire fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Full Moon Forest on ebay - the line is impossible to find, and I adore the owl paisley print in this line. I think some of the line will be part of my 5" squares to swap - I just have to work up the courage to cut into those awesome fat quarters.


Here is the Christmas tree skirt, which I talked about here. The backing fabric is just cream stars on navy from Joanns.

The "neck" of the tree skirt - oh, this was not fun to sew with all of the layers in such a tight little circle with bulky fabric/batting seams to go thru (even with the seams pressed open). I made the ties with leftover scraps of the fabric used - mostly because I didn't have the backing fabric at that time, and didn't want to sit around idly. So I just randomly strip pieced onto muslin. The conclusion here is that I need to go buy a fabric turner - it was hard to turn the tubes of the ties (wow, that sounds weird, huh??) inside out using my poly-carbonate straws, which are my normal turning tools (no chopsticks in this house, we eat Chinese food with forks).

The finished product - I love it!

Yes, I'm 26, and completely adore the country shabby look. Don't get me wrong, I like bright modern colors, but the country look makes my heart beat a little faster. Now that I'm working at a company that imports furniture, I'm trying to define my decorating style. For the living room, I would say the style if Modern French Country (modern because of the relatively clean, non-ornate lines of my furniture).

OK, enough babbling for today... I don't really enjoy reading long blog posts, so if you suffered through this one to the end, I commend you!

My first swap!

Yeeks! I signed up for my first swap! But this one should be easy - 5" squares of fabric. I just need to cut 24 of them... Better get on it!

It's done!

It's done...my couch quilt is done! It measures approximately 40"x60" and really didn't involve any significant piecing, but it's done! Fabrics include some cream colored black toille print, black & white gingham, and polka dot binding. The back is all gingham. My stippling is pretty bad, herky-jerky, and probably too small/tight. And I cheated on the binding - i just sewed it all on, but it's done. :) And here is my living room in humble little apartment. All photos on the back wall are mine, except for 2 hubby took (which are smaller). But I think it looks pretty good, and the new pillow covers for the pillows are awesome too!

PS - the quilt is perfect to sit under right now - its a fairly cool night (67), and great for curling up to watch TV and admire my craftiness. :)

Crafty Update

I've been busy with these:Stuff for Baby Girl Rademacher (clockwise from top left):
1) shaggy quilt (which I didn't really have fun making, I may not do this again);
2) girly tote w/helicopters, airplanes, rockets (Branden is getting his PhD in Aerospace engineering, and complains its hard to find girly things w/airplanes on them - so I think I succeeded in meeting his challenge with fabric from Purl);
3) gift package - tote, blanket, and the requisite copy of Fox in Socks; and
4) inside fabric of tote (red w/cream stars) and shaggy quilt.

Hopefully I will also get a bib made with the fun fabric the tote is made of.

I'm also trying to free-motion quilt Miranda's Baby #2 quilt...

...with limited success... I can't get the needle to stop breaking - or its skipping too much. Hmmm... I think I need to take a class...

And this was pretty fun to make (about an hour) - now I just need to find some more cute dish towels:The pattern was in the August 2008 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

Bit 'o Craftiness

Some photos to post...


Hobo Bags
Clockwise from top left: Karissa, Liz, Mom, Me!
**I'm missing photos of Kristina's & Donna's bags - will post later

Liz's quilt - patriotic goodness :)