National Quilting Day

Apparently today is National Quilting Day. I like to do things on those kind of days. Last year, I had a grand ol' time with National Sewing Month (September). I wasn't really prepared, per say, for today. Tomorrow is Norooz, or Persian New Year, which is the first day of Spring. It's a holiday for my DH, so today was devoted to getting the house ready for the party. I did, however, manage to sneak in a small project. Little micro-mini one.

There's no way I could quilt something today (though my Amelia quilt top comes to mind as being something ready for it). I opted to make something quilting related instead. I've been doing without a pincushion for over a year. I need one. Perfect project, right? I started with some scraps. I should have known it was doomed when none of the scraps screamed out to me. I have so much fabric, but not many scraps. And the scraps I have, I tend to use and use until they're done--but by that time I'm bored of them. Needless to say, my first pincushion attempt was a dud. The fabrics I wanted to be in the block plainly REFUSED to be worked in. It's like they had a mind of their own.

You know, sometimes you just have to throw out the lemons and pass on the lemonade. I started over from scratch and made something simple; a 'just-for-now' kind of thing. I fished two charm squares out from Hopscotch by Chloe's Closet for Moda. I started with 4 packs, but I opened one to look at all the prints, and while I was doing that...my daughter decided to open another one to do the same thing. With 2 opened charm packs, I know I will eventually make something with at least part of that stash. This was the perfect opportunity! I took 2 of the more spring-feeling prints (one of my favorites that I actually have yardage of) and went to town.
I ended up using a little bit of Willow-colored felt from National Nonwoven. It matched the green in the prints nicely (the underside is the pink, yellow, green plaid from the range). I also used some yellow dnc floss. I wish I'd stuffed it more, but I always have that problem. Even when I think it's overstuffed, it could still use more! Overall, I am very happy with it. I think later I will add some decorative stitching to the green flower, like a blanket stitch in pink or something.

To all you other quilters: Happy Quilting Day! I hope you get a chance to make something beautiful, too :)

Insanity

What. Was. I. Thinking?

I really have no idea what I thought going through my stash would be like. Easy, I guess. Negative! It was completely overwhelming. I couldn't figure out how I wanted to group the fabrics (collection? designer? color?) so I just went with what felt 'easiest' (that being a relative term).

I also decided to refold my stash so I could see it better. Until this point, I had the fabrics stacked in a clear under-the-bed container. I refolded them so that I could glance and see what I had by having them in rows (I had admired this technique in various flikrs). Well, refolding made my stash not fit any more.

One - I couldn't fit all my fabric refolded. Two - Since I have to stack the not-folded fabric ontop of the rows of fabric...I cannot see the rows, therefore the purpose was negated. Three - there are now several yards of fabric that do not fit into the containers at all now and are now on my work bench. Awesome! Two hours in and there was NO way I was going to finish. None. Maybe I'll tackle it again on the DH's next day off. I think there is still some maneuvering I can do to make the new way work.

Additions

I pulled out some of the things I bought when I broke my Fabric Fast (Yes, it deserves to be capitalized. Maybe even bolded, too. I think it's harder than an actual food diet.). While doing so I realized that I needed to completely update my stash pics for my flikr. While it can seem strange to photograph all the fabric I have, it's really a necessity. I do 90% of my fabric shopping online. I need a reference so that I don't purchase the same thing twice, lol! Not to mention that it helps me to remember what pieces I am missing from various lists of 'omgosh-I-have-to-have-this!'.

Needless to say, it's going to take all of an afternoon--preferably one when the DH isn't around. I made tentative plans to do it tomorrow. But, I did take a picture of some of what I bought. I couldn't resist. There was a huge sale and the charm packs were only 3.50-4.00 each. They had some jelly rolls and layer cakes for 16.00, but I made a priority decision (and I didn't want to burn my whole allowance on unplanned for precuts) and didn't purchase them.I bought 6 Whimsy, 3 Snippets (a line I've been wanting for a long while), and 2 12 days of Christmas to go with the 1 I already own. Oh, and then there are the two Kona charm packs in the bright range, but they came from a different shop. I'm actually really excited to go through my stash, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow!

And More

So I'm not much for titles. Really. Even when I write creatively, I hate making a title. Anyway! Back to playing catch up!

The days I have been waiting for are finally upon me. My daughter is finally old enough to participate in some group classes. This will finally enable her to meet and play with other children. Unfortunately, all her cousins live far away and there are like NO parks in my town. We do have a lovely library system, though. They hold several little groups for children (e.g. story time). The last two weeks we've been attending the groups twice a week. Since she responded so well, I registered her in an art class through the rec center.

Now I've been meaning to make her an art smock since before Christmas. Never happened. Now I had a reason thus a fire under me ;) I already had the materials, so it just took a little time. I used pieces from the County Faire range by Denyse Schmidt. I used these same fabrics to make an art smock for my niece, Lyra. My daughter thinks it's a dress. She's also not a very good model, but I'm glad that she loves it!

Side Project

When my daughter was born 2 years ago the DH made it clear that he did NOT want her room to be pink. Or girlie. I think there are a bunch of guys who feel that way. I know my BIL felt the same way when my sister had Lyra. I searched and searched and finally decided on the range Amelia from Timeless Treasures.
I bought 3.5 yards of the main collage print, 3.5 yards of that blue floral, and just over 5 yards of the brown multicolored floral (the pattern color is the same as those brown 'applique' flowers). I then bought an additional quarter yard assortment in 5 other of the coordinates.

Yeah, I made an investment in this line (at least imo).

Then we ended up decorating the room in a COMPLETELY different way. COMPLETELY. I was at a loss as to what to do with all the fabric. I folded it up and put it in my stash. After I finished my Mother's birthday gift, I wasn't feeling like I wanted to jump right back into working on 'Into the Woods' my Tula Pink green and brown sampler. I wanted to do something else. Something small and therefore instantly rewarding!

I dug out my Amelia fabric and started cutting. I was inspired by the Michael Miller pattern for the Happy Hills line. I *probably* should have read the pattern. I just went by the picture and winged it. It seemed simple enough ;) I haven't had any real issues with the way I did it, except for the fact I will need to really square the end result up. Oopsy.

Here's a little peek since I'm not done yet. I still have to put together the bottom third of the quilt and back it. I'm not altogether sold on my fabric arrangements, but what done is definitely done, LOL. I didn't want to purchase more fabric (like a neutral sash fabric), but we'll see what the end result is like. Until then, the jury is definitely out.

Goodness Me

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! The funny thing is that I have been accumulating a whole list of things to post about, too! This last month and a half has been a sewing adventure for me. Not to mention after 2 months of Fabric Fast, I finally bought some new things. It was beautiful. I remember it like it was yesterday--even though it was 2 weeks ago. It was beautiful and everything I imagined, and more.

And yes, I am being romantic over a stack of fabric. Beautiful. Lovely. Delicious fabric. Though, my longing is giving me flash backs to when I was pregnant and wanted to eat lots and lots of pie.

First, I spent a good bit of February making my Mother's birthday present.

I made it with 9 layer cake slices from Fig & Plum which was designed by Fig Tree & Co for Moda a couple of years back. I love this range, and so does my mom. It has her colors. This was my first time using the Cathedral Window blocks. I would DEFINITELY use starch the next time around to keep the corners crisp. They have a tendency to spread otherwise. Irregardless on how *I* feel I did with the project, my Mom loved it, which made me happy.

Second: OMGOSH there is the best giveaway to celebrate Churchill's 100th blog post! It's a rare and coveted bird--the Neptune jelly roll. I made my bro-in-law a quilt for his birthday last year from the charm packs. I absolutely LOVE this range. I'm excited. You should be excited, too. There are THREE ways to enter the giveaway. That's just awesome :) You should probably go over there now.

That wraps it up for now. I promise to have several catch up posts in the days to come~