WIP Wednesday - big crushes

The kids got to go see their grandma last weekend, and I was all by myself for most of Friday.

I woke up, knew Jay would be going to work, and thought to myself, "I can do whatever I want today."

That "whatever I want," turned in to turning those low volume squares I cut previously in to some background blocks, and getting started on what would become these. (All while watching a Harry Potter marathon -- not sure what it says about me that all I wanted to do for my free time was some scrappy sewing and HP watching).

There are twenty-five of them.
The colors, from the top left and snaking through the rows (and yes, I had fun naming them):
wine, red, cerise, hot pink, candy pink, pink, peachy coral (x2), tangerine, orange, goldenrod, sunshine yellow, mustard yellow, lime green, kelly green, mint green, ice blue, aqua, teal, blue, periwinkle, lavender, mauve, grape, and plum.

Oh I have such a crush on them.  They will be combined with some low volume prints and make me happy.

Though you should see the mess of stash I have to fold and organize now!  Ufta! (Not to mention the big pile of laundry that was neglected, but that's fairly normal around here unfortunately).

You can see up close pictures of most of them in my flickr set.

____________________

I also got a little more fabric.
I have a big crush on this new line, The Sweet Life, from Cori Dantini (for Blend fabrics.)  I got my prints from Theresa at The Meandering Thread. (There's also a Collage print that snuck in at the bottom of the stack).



They're so artsy and pretty.  And have great panels. (You can find them here.)

I need to think of something to do with them. :)

_______________________

Winner of the Roundhouse template and magazine is Diane!  (I'll need your address)

And linking to Lee's!

(And one more cute picture, just for fun.  The little man and little miss were watching Scooby Doo together) ♥

Big crushes I tell you.

WIP Wednesday - Scrappy Sprouts

(link to flick group here)



A call for blocks... if you feel so inclined...

This is my friend Chelsa.

We went to college together.  She is a sweetheart of sweethearts.  And sassy, and kind, and genuine...

She lives in another state, so I rarely see her.  A few months ago, I was heartbroken to learn that she was diagnosed with bone cancer.  They told her it was incurable.  You can read her story here, but bring tissue with you.

Every time I thought about her, I got anxious and sad.  And I wanted to do something. 

I can't really give her money.

I can't see her easily.

But I CAN make her a kick a** amazing quilt.  One that is so beautiful it pains me to give it away.  And I can pour in to it all my prayers and love and blessings.

I thought, and thought -- and one morning, I decided her quilt was going to be made of scrappy sprouts.  Ones inspired by the famous Orla Kiely motif.  Ones that look like my favorite time of a garden (when those little sprouts are just popping up).  And ones that are made of perfect, beautiful little pieces of fabric.  (With mixed neutrals for the background of course.)

So I made a couple blocks.

And as I thought about it, I thought -- maybe my other beautiful bloggy friends would like to put a block or two in to her Blessings quilt.

Kristie, and Michelle, and Cherie sent me some blocks to add to my own, and they are so beautiful together.

I'm not writing up a full tutorial (there is a for sale pattern out there that is a little bit similar), but here are the cut sizes (unfinished), and I'm guessing many of you should be able to figure it out by this.  The block measures 13 1/2" x 6 1/2" unfinished, and each of those little square sections are 2 1/2" unfinished. 

If you would like to contribute a block (or two), you need:

• monochromatic scraps of any bright, fresh color for the sprout (quilt shop quality fabric please)
• mixed neutral scraps for background (some solids or linen mixed in is fine)
• a 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" scrap of green for the "stem"
• all the love, prayers, blessings, good thoughts, and best wishes you can shove in to a quilt block

Email me when your block is ready, and I'll send you my mailing address.  

Chelsa doesn't know I'm doing this.  But I can't wait to send her her quilt.  I'd love to have it for her for Christmas, so if you could send blocks by November 20 or so, that would be wonderful. :)  (I need at least 40 blocks for the lay-out I have planned, if you were curious.)

In other WIPs -- 

- working on the pattern for my Cosmic quilt

- Trying to finish quilting the Pickledish!

- Trying to figure out buttonholes for a dress for Scarlet!

- Treasure Boxing!

- Praying my dad's harvester stays strong for the last 10 acres! (Jay's already broke down! gah!)

Linking to Lee's WIP Wednesday! (when it's up -- yes I posted a little early)

"Pickledishing"

First business -- SewLindaAnn -- you are the winner of Natalia's new book!  I'll try to shoot you an email, or you can contact me. :)

Now -- my post --

This is, I think, my favorite quilty-type photo I've ever taken.  I love it so much -- it's even up there in my header.



Maybe it's because of the subject -- but the colors, the shapes, the scrappiness, the lighting -- it all makes me happy.  The only downside is the WHEN the picture was taken -- in January of 2011, and blogged about way back then...

This year -- more than 1 1/2 years later -- I wanted a fall quilt.

I thought about starting a new project, but some good friends advised me to finish up something I already started (they know me well enough to know I have plenty of WIPS lying about).

So this weekend, while my big Cosmos quilt was at the long-armer, I finished piecing the arcs.

And added three more blocks to what I already had.

Basted.

And quilting has commenced.

Seriously though -- this quilt makes me so happy I want to sing songs to it.  Can't wait to show it all finished up!

If you want to make one of your own -- Aneela has the Quilt Along details here.

Until later... ♥

hair baubles (and mini tutorial)

My life right now = crazy busy.

No, I'm not talking about the normal kind of busy with a baby and a toddler, but the kind of busy when Daddy hasn't worked less than 12 hours/day in 5 weeks (though technically he only worked 11 on my birthday).

Mama = tired.

That being said -- I *know* that I spent a good chunk of time yesterday cleaning the kitchen.  This morning, there is no evidence of this, other than perhaps the vague notion of how much worse it could be had I not cleaned and tidied what I'm sure I remember cleaning and tidying.  Therefore, despite the days being long, and the realization that I really cannot maintain my sanity and try to do one more thing (like make quilts), this mama's heart still craves the investment of at least a little time in accomplishing something that no one undoes 2 to 45 minutes after it is completed.  A quilt may be out of the question (those take forever, and I wanted to FINISH something)...

So I made hair baubles.

And I was so happy I wanted to make twenty. (And when I say happy -- I mean the wave of happy, positive neuro-feedback something or others were streaming in). :)

Still - I decided to stick with four for now. :)

But I took lots of pictures to make up for it. (and I've got a little mini tutorial at the bottom for one like this one) :)

The smiley little Miss sitting up on her own!

I think this one is my favorite.  I googled a tutorial for a fabric rosette, gathered some linen and elastic lace trim together, stitched it to 1/8" elastic, and hot glued the flower to the middle.  Oh, I stitched some plastic pearl beads in there too.

I made the band a little too big, so I'll have to resize it, but I still got it to "fit" for a quick picture. :)

My sewing table is now covered in buttons, fabric scraps, a hot glue gun and the quilts have been moved to the side.  (At least until next week when Steiger goes to stay with his grandma for a couple days).

"Mini Tutorial"

Fabric Flower Hairband

1. Cut some "organic" circles out of fabric, linen, tulle, satin, whatever, in various sizes (so they get smaller gradually).  More tulle = more texture and poof obviously, and I think there were 4 

I burnt the edge of my tulle sometimes (on the pink ruffley one above to make it stand out a bit more -- just hold it next to a lighter, or your gas stove and melt the edges -- some of the tulle looks burnt if you do this, but the hot pinks didn't.  Make sure you don't hold the tulle over the heat of the flame, or it will have a hole burnt in it -- just the edge)

Stitch about 1/8" from the edge.  You can also use fray check if you don't have a sewing machine handy.  (But seriously, my first piece of advice for people who want to start sewing/being crafty is to leave your sewing area set up.  Hopefully you can still keep a dining room --unlike us right now).

2. Arrange them as you like, and stitch the layers together with a little X in the middle. 
(or you can use a little glue -- this is to tack or baste the layers together so they don't shift all over.)

3. Pucker/fold the centers and do a little stitching to make a gather.
And the picture isn't deceiving you - there isn't much perfection about this.  The bigger the gather, the poofier the flower (like the pink one above has more fabric in the pucker.  You could hand-stitch this if you don't have a machine, or I'm sure a glue gun could do something amazing.)

4. For the band, cut the toes and top band off a knee-high, and stitch the ends together.  

My machine likes to "eat" the nylon, so I start in the middle and sew to the edge.  Use regular size nylons if you need something bigger (for a toddler or, *ah-hem* yourself).

I didn't get a picture of the next step, but you're going to fold the sides over of the seam on your band.  Divide the band in approximate fourths, and fold each edge so they meet in the center like a pleat at the seam.

5. Grab a  button, hold the hair flower on to the pleat of your hairband, and stitch your button on, stitching through all the layers and securing the flower to the band.

6. Snag a baby, or a mirror, and you're done!

I call this bauble "country girl"

(You can see how it lies flatter than the pink one -- just depends on how much you pull in in step 3, and how much tulle you use)

(This one was made with the same method)

Pretty sure I'm hooked -- though I'm not sure if it's on the hair baubles, or just baby girl in general. :)

See her shirt -- she knows it's true.

(and lest any one worry I've forgotten about her big brother -- rest assured, he's just trickier to capture on camera these days -- but I did get him running by with his fly swatter... he was "getting bad guys" or "bugs" or both)

(and P.S. my pattern sale ends tomorrow)