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.



Monday Design wall.

Thanks to Judy's book I showed in yesterday's post, I have gotten some serious border mojo going.  Mr. Brown Doggie got his border yesterday and I am playing with some Red Doggie ideas.  I pieced a backing together for this lil dude and hopefully he will be sandwiched and ready for quilting soon.

And now, I feel compelled to make reference to a comment that someone made on my last post.

Really Chris?!  Really?  Did you have to bring up the stepstool that went missing?  The stepstool that practically sent me into a downward spiral questioning my sanity.  No ma'am,  I did not find it.  I didn't look for it.  As far as I'm concerned,  IT NEVER EXISTED.  I was so sure it would appear one day but it hasn't.   That's all I have to say, and now I will go back to fighting the urge to peek into all the closets once again.

Enjoy your Monday people! 

During!

It's hard for me to clean and sort through my sewing room.  I have trouble resisting the urge to stop and play. I stayed strong for a little while though before giving in to some sewing.  Here is a peak at my day spent 'cleaning'.
I wouldn't have to clean up so often but I have a problem with surfaces.  I cover them up.  I pile, stack, shuffle, move, shove, rearrange and just generally collect stuff on any available surface.  This is my Big Board ironing surface.  When I began tidying up look what I found buried under some fabric.

My hammer.  I used it about 2 weeks ago to help me get some screws out of the Big Board.  I used to have it attached to 2 rolling carts with baskets.  I really love being able to roll things around to where I need them but the big ironing surface took up so much room and, as you can see, it attracts clutter.  I removed it from the carts and now it's propped behind the door where I can easily pull it out and put it across my cutting table when I need it. 

Ok, moving on.  Next up is my newest quilt book purchase.  Judy Laquidara's book on pieced borders.  I really wanted to stop and poke around in this book but I forced myself to tuck it away.

I did play (mess around) in this box for a bit.  This is a box of thrift store shirts and also some 'closet cleanout' cotton clothing that I thought I might recycle. 

I decided to keep these items out for a couple of specific projects that are in the pipeline.

Remember when Laura Ashley dresses were THE thing to have?  I love this cotton fabric  so I chopped up the dress.  I am intrigued by the button bodice and think I may be able to use it.  Can't tell you what for though because some people I know read this blog. 

A co-worker asked me if I would make a pencil roll for her daughter.  She also told me that her daughter's favorite color is lime green.  I decided I could used some of this shirt, including the pocket.

Vintage tablecloths.   Isn't that red and aqua one on the left just yummy?  A few of these have been cut up a little.  I made some pillows with them a few years ago.  Back into storage these went to be saved for another day.

I got these pachaged of cloth napkins from Wisteria last year on sale.  They have questions around the border for dinner table coversation. 

One for adults.

Another for kids.  I haven't decided what to do with them yet,  so they will continue to marinate in the cupboard.

Oooooo goody, more vintage!  I snagged this child's apron years ago.  Maybe some day I'll have a grandaughter who will bake with me.

Cute little cat faces on the pockets.

I got these hand stitched beauties at a quilt show a few years ago.  I'm saving them for just the right project.  They have the most unbelievably tiny and perfect stitches.

I checked on the kitties.  Chet appears to be guarding Rosie, and keeping her warm too.

Oy!  This UFO is beginning to haunt me.  Tiny apple cores, all hand stitched.  I photographed it with my shoes for scale.  It's a charm quilt, no fabric is used more than once, and I have at least 400 pieces.  I think it may end up as a table topper in the dining room between meals.  Some day.

Getting better don't you think?

Hmm, what's all this in the hallway?   Forgive the sideways picture,  I am getting used to using Picasa.

I felt that I deserved a reward for making progress so I stopped to whip up the pencil roll.  I just happened to have some cute lime green batik.

Instead of just slots for pencils, I included a larger pocket on the right for cards or a notebook and on the left I attached a pocket from the thrift store shirt.  It has a nice button placket.  I didn't want to deliver the roll empty so I got some cute pencils with a little eraser and sharpener that I can hide in the pocket.  And I found some adorable little cards at HomeGoods (my new favorite store).

Connect the dots,  how cute is that?

Well,  don't go far folks because I actually got some more sewing done this weekend.  Every weekend should be a three day weekend don't you think?  Of course I had to work 16 hours on Thursday to be off on Friday.  bleh
Have a pleasant Sunday evening, I plan to.

BEFORES !

BEFORE

(sorry this is sideways, I goofed)

BEFORE 

 BEFORE

I have the speakers hooked up to the computer and Pandora is playing classic rock!  I have the day off and I am planning a blitz attack on  this sewing room.  

I'm gonna  try not to disturb  my babies who are snuggled together in the next room.  Chet is the black and white in the back and Rosie is the tabby.  Rosie is a manx cat, no tail.  This picture is so deceptive because Chet is such a chubby guy and weighs at least twice as much as Rosie.  She's a little feather, but boy can she hunt.  Always leaving gifts on the doormat.  Gifts from Rosie are carcasses;  moles, mice, birds, and once a bunny.  Dreadful I know but she is still my precious darling, lol.

Stay tuned for some 'AFTERS'.

btw - if you have never seen 'Tin Men' starring Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss,  you really should.   If anything, you need to see the scene where the siding salesmen snooker the Baltimore  housewife into wanting to be the 'after'. (it's not naughty I promise!)  Watch the clip here on youtube.  And, omg, the movie is worth it just to hear the exaggerated Baltimore accents (Baltimorese)



Welllll.......................Hey there!!

Hey there!  Hi there!  Ho there!   Guess what happened?  I'll start at the beginning.... I had trouble posting pictures on my blog,  I don't like to blog without pictures (Although I secretly think I could possibly maybe perhaps almost be entertaining enough without pictures.  If I get enough nerve I'll tell you about the crazy dialogue I had going in my head the other day while lying face down getting accupuncture!),  ummmmm  where was I?  Oh yeah, so not crazy bout posting without pictures, and   week after week goes by without a post.  I worry that I'll never post again and I slowly stop reading the 2 zillion blogs I follow.  It's a downward spiral and the monologue that I have in my head talking to all of you (hahahah ALL of you!  oh gosh, rofl, there are so many of you, hee hee hee!) is beginning to fizzle.  So,  2012 comes along.  I do have some resolutions and one of them is to B L O G.  Are you wondering how I solved my terrible, dreadful, most miserable dilemma?  I had a spaz attack last weekend and got all fussy with my husband.  It goes like this, 'I take care of this, this, this, and this around here and all I really want you to do (besides take out the garbage and run to the store to get  milk for my oatmeal and go out of your way on the way home from work to get me Noodles and Co. for dinner) is to handle the computer issues.'   So my darling fiddled around, called Comcast, fiddled around some more, and changed the router cable.  Tadah!  Looks like I can now upload like a fool!

 

I didn't plan this post around any specific pictures.  I was testing the success of the Great Cable Changeout and just snagged a variety of photos out of my library.  Now I'm going to try to provide some entertainment to go with them.   Even if you read it last year, go read this post.  I was so excited to get my little nativity collection out this year.  I put them up on the hutch and used some pretty paper as a backdrop to make them stand out.  And I never took a picture,  :( .    I'm so sorry . 

Remember my Clifford?

And his friend?

I think they are going to make their way to the finished pile soon.  Right after I pop together some jazzy borders for them.  Amazon just delivered this book to me.  I believe one of my 2012 resolutions involves this book.  Stay tuned.

If you remember these blocks I worked on a while ago, you might be interested to know that I finally sewed them together, on point!  Oh yeah!  I believe I will be using Judy's book to put a border on that one too.

Do you like these scrappy blocks?  They are from my quilt cruise with Bonnie Hunter.  I put them together too, not on point.  The original pattern from Bonnie is one point but I ran out of steam and couldn't bring myself to make any more blocks.  Apparently my husband must really like this quilt.  He is always complimentary when I say, 'Hey Jon, come look what I made!', but this quilt elicited unsolicited (say that fast a few times) praise.  The blocks were on my design wall for a while and every visit to the sewing room, Jon would say, 'Hey that's nice!'.  I wonder which one of the  60 borders I'll choose for this one?

And here I am with a happy face!  If I look disheveled it's either because I had just traipsed all over Old San Juan, Puerto Rico in 350% humidity or because I had a couple drinks at Senor Frog's.  Does it really matter?  I had a happy day with my Wild Thread buds.  

And there you have it my faithful readers,  I think I'm back!