I had an hour today just for me!

So I grabbed some fabrics and my dresden plate template and did a little playing.  Nothing is sewn together, this is just fabric stuck on my design wall.  I took some pictures and then played with Picasa.  There was a button that said 'collage' so I figured what the heck.  Right now I just think, meh!  But I may try this again with more pictures or maybe a better variety of pictures.
Anyway,  this is an idea for a baby quilt for a co-worker.  Her nursery theme is 'sea babies' or something like that so I pulled out a bunch of my 'fishy' fabrics.  The green fabric on the sides is just pinned up to see how it looks.  I really don't know why I started this because I actually have a finished baby quilt for her.  The problem is that it's a little small and I just gave another co-worker my Skippy quilt which is a nice size.  I thought maybe I should make something bigger for her.  I have so much free time dontcha know, lol.  We'll see. 
                  So my Skippy quilt got a new name, Horton, and he went to  my friend whose nursery theme is Dr. Seuss.  She is so cute and so appreciative.  Last night I got a text in the evening that said, "Is it bad that I keep snuggling with this quilt when it's for the baby?"  Of course not!  I told her it would be more fun when she AND a lil baby were together under it.  Isn't it nice when you know your quilt is truly appreciated?  By now, everyone I work with knows what gift I bring to a baby shower.  The only surprise is what it looks like. 
                  Guess where I'm going next week?  Quilt retreat with some of the Wild Threads!!!  Our first WT retreat and we're going here.   The Double O Retreat in Paw Paw, West Virginia.  It looks gorgeous and we can't wait.  We'll be there Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon, yeehaw!  And four of us are going to leave in the morning so we can hit some quilt shops on the way. There are several.  And I'm sure we can enjoy a nice lunch too.  We like our 'road trips'.  So this weekend I need to buckle down and decide what to work on.  Yeesh, that's always the hardest part.  Gosh knows I don't want to run out of stuff to work on.  But I have learned from experience that if I plan to get certain things done and then don't, I go home a little disappointed.  It's a very delicate balance and requires some careful thought.  I do have a couple of quilt tops that still need borders.  And I have an entire kit for this MacKenna Ryan summer wall hanging.  Wouldn't it be nice to get that done by summer so I can take down the Christmas one that is still up.  And I just got this book in the mail. I am in love with all 20 of the quilts in this book.  My mom gave me some birthday money so I ordered the book AND this gorgeous fabric from Cherrywood's new site Che FAB.  How gorgeous are those colors?!   If the fabric comes in time, I know I'll take it.  Maybe I'll even do more than fondle it.
I know I'll be showing it off when I get it.
Have a great weekend, I am going to try glass etching for the first time tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Buh bye!

Design wall.

Here's my design wall. The Wild Threads ( if you don't know,  the Wild Threads are my mini group) have been swapping bee blocks. We each pick our fabrics and a block design and created a kit (pizza box style) and passed them around on a little schedule. I picked a block out of the book, Block Party. This last month, I got to keep one of the kits with my blocks so I popped them up on my design wall to get a sneak preview. I can't wait to finish this quilt. Yellow, red and gray! So pretty together.

  When I passed around the directions, I didn't specify the orientation of the triangles.  Too bad, huh?  So I decided  I'll just  rotate the errant blocks around and fill in the gaps as needed.   

Just a few more months and I'll have all the blocks.  I can't wait to get this quilt on my bed! 

Btw, in a couple weeks, the Wild Threads are going on our first retreat.  I am so excited.  My job has been so stressful lately.  Johns Hopkins has been planning and building a new hospital for YEARS and we finally move into it in two months.  So much planning and so many changes.  Exciting and exhausting.  Retreat will be a very very nice break.  We are going here.  So beautiful.  If you have never gone on retreat with your friends,  you MUST GO!

It's my Birthday!!

I had a great weekend.  Today is my birthday and my Wild Thread friends came over to celebrate.  We had a birthday swap and everyone got a present.  This is my friend Kathy and her birthday was yesterday.  She had recently been talking about painting her kitchen hot pink.  She lives with her husband and 3 sons so she needs to take a stand somewhere.  I decided to make her a hot pink oven mitt, and just for fun I appliqued a green monster on it. 

Hot pink Monster Mitt!

I drank my lemonade out of this lovely goblet from a friend at work.  I call it my  'Hillbilly Wine Glass'.   My daughter wants it badly but she's not getting it.  I think it will look pretty cute filled with colorful buttons!

Here's some of the gang chowing down at a table full of goodies.

And here's the rest of the gang.  Trish is on the right wearing a cool handmade crown which was part of her gift from our absentee thread, Jennilyn.

After we filled our tummies and swapped our gifts and some bee blocks we have been working on,  I even let the gals have a peek at my sewing room.  It's not perfect but it's about as good as it's gonna get.  I had to confess that I don't have ALL of my fabric in there yet but I'm getting closer.  I discovered that a pretty good way to get inspired is to fondle and fold all of your fabric.  I have been having so much fun finding fabrics that I forgot I had. 

Last weekend I had 3 baby quilts all sandwiched and basted.  This weekend 2 of them are quilted and bound.  Tomorrow before I go to work in the afternoon, I will start quilting the last one.  And I promise I'll post some 'after' pictures of the sewing room. 

I hope everyone had  a nice weekend too. 

Still not ready for an 'After' picture

I had things pretty tidy for a short while.  Then I decided that I needed to rearrange this shelving unit.  Shelves are tricky because they can  so easily get all cluttered looking.  The next thing I knew I had this...............

 big mess on my hands.  Phooey! 

Well,  I will keep working on my space and keep you posted. 

 I did refold and organize my solids.  Once again I'm sorry for the sideways picture.  Ugh,  when I edit I can't seem to get the rotation to stick.  Aren't these pretty? 

 Check out my design wall!  My red doggie has a border.  Wheeee!  And I quilted it this weekend too.  This is going to a friend at work whose baby is due in April.  I don't know if she's having a boy or a girl but I think this little 'Clifford' will do. 

 And remember that I told you my co-workers are in baby mode, I am busy quilting this quilt for another friend who is due in April. 

I also made something incredibly cute this weekend but I can't share it yet.  My Wild Thread friends are coming over next weekend for a birthday celebration. (it's my birthday!)  We are having a birthday swap.  I thought long and hard about what to make my swap buddy.  I even started something last weekend, then a lightbulb went off.   It's perfect and I promise I'll show you next weekend after I give it to her.

Have a great week everybody.  I hope I stay productive in the sewing room.  Right now I I have lots of ideas and inspiration waiting to keep me busy.