Fiddling

This weekend was slow.  It involved a lot of blog fiddling and old Survivor episode watching.  It was so nice.      I got a bit of sewing done and finished up my last project for my Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap partner.  These are teeny (Felicity is obsessed with the word "teeny", and it is a word that often comes up in our conversations.) little embroideries I got from one of my Japanese embroidery books.  I then used them to cover some buttons and added some fun origami fabric backs for some color.  

My two year blog anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks.  It doesn't feel like I have been blogging that long!  I wish I could be better about blogging consistently, but I have enjoyed all the people and things I have participated in through having this little blog.  I have a fun little giveaway that I am planning to celebrate!

I always like finding out more about the people behind the blogs I read, so I thought I would share some little things.

• I always, always lose my seam ripper.  When I can't find it, all I can imagine is super gluing it to my body so as to never lose it again.
• I got into sewing because my husband accidentally signed me up for nude drawing class.  I decided to take a sewing class instead. ;0)
• My sewing machine is a Janome MC6600.  I also have a Brother 1034D serger, and  my little Kenmore is the backup!
• My dog's barking drives me crazy.
• My favorite finger nail polish colors are neutrals like gray and sand.
• I love waking up to three little bright, happy morning faced kids.
• I love homemade whipped cream.  My girls just call it "cream".
• I can't resist chocolate chip cookies.  I can't.
• This is currently my favorite song.  Love, love it!

• I'm shy.  I really try not to be, but I am.
• I love Jane Austen.  I think I cried when I found out I had read everything she had written.
• Along the same lines, we love the world of BBC Drama- Cranford, Larkrise to Candleford, North and South.  Good stuff.
• I used to have a horse- two actually.  
• I recently have gotten into running.  I have never, ever been able to run.  I downloaded the Couch to 5K app on my phone, and now I recommend it to everyone!

Your turn...share something about yourself! 

Little Things

I am slowly plugging away at my WIPs and swaps.  I feel like January has been the month of the cold.  At least one of us has been sick since January 1st.  It just seems like a never ending cycle of boogies! ;0)

  However, here is what I have finished for my Spicing Up The Kitchen partner so far.  I made her a reusable grocery bag that folds up.  This pattern comes from "I Love Patchwork".  (One of my favorite crafty books...I have made so many things from this book!).  I changed it up a little by adding some trim at the top, and I appliqued on a tree.  I love how tree looks like it just coming into bloom.  I also made a coupon organizer.  The etsy shop I got this from looks closed, but you can find a similar pattern here.  I made one for me a long time ago, and I use mine to organize receipts.  Helps keeps things under control in my big ol' bag full of diapers, baby clothes, and all the other fun goodies.  I have one more little item I am working on, and then this project is getting crossed off the list!

Mini Quilts!

I finished this little mini earlier this week for The Mini QT Swap.  For this swap you are supposed to make a very small little quilt that fits into the rounds theme.  The theme this round was "Take Flight".  I got the amazing Nanotchka as my partner.  I soon felt very intimidated.  She is such a talented lady, and it is hard to make something for someone you know could make something ten times better. This swap definitely stretched my comfort levels a bit.

This mini started out with inspiration from this pillow from Stitch Magazine.  I put it on some cool notebook paper fabric by Basic Grey for Moda.  I appliqued the balloons and clouds at first, and it just looked so... plain.  I really wanted it to look like it was drawn on a piece of paper.  So I added some writing and some little "punched" holes on the side.  I still felt something was missing.

So then I added the pencil.  I think the balloon got away!  It was funny to me how this little quilt so quickly changed. I find that I can almost never just leave something alone.  I always want to fiddle with an idea.

This is the mini that I received in return!  She does such fabulous birds, and I have admired them so long.  I love the soft, spring like colors that she chose as well as the little quilt hanging from the wash line.  Thank you Nanette!

WIPs and Working With The Stash

Hello all!  There is something about January that inspires me to start organizing.  Maybe it is all the Christmas presents that you have to now find a place for.  I have been going through the house like crazy.  We have organized our entire garage, shed, I am almost done with our master bedroom, and the crafty stuff is in much better order.  This picture up here is all my crafty works in progess (minus the embroidery and crochet).  There are three quilt tops, my Fussy Cut Bee blocks, one cut out clutch, and some pajama bottoms cut out.  The quilt top on the bottom has been completed since June 2009!  Eep!  Angela was talking about WIPs and getting back to doing one project at a time, and I sooo want to get back to that place.  I don't mind having two projects going on at a time, but I have all of these plus three different swaps.  (What can I say, I love swapping. ;0) )  So, here I am pledging not to start another project until these are complete!  I have also taken this Angela's Fabric Diet Pledge!  I honestly have just too much fabric.  I have enough fabric for more than a year's worth of projects, probably two years. ;0)  I have been a good girl so far, but I know it is going to get really hard in a month or so.  So many pretty fabrics!  However, I am ready to pare down and use things up!   

What about you?!

Josiah's Quilt Top Finished!

I have finally finished Josiah's quilt top. Yay!  I have been down with a horrible cold, and I also have the organize/ purge bug pretty bad as well, but on Sunday I got to sit down at the sewing machine.  I have had this in the works since last April before he was born.  I did most of the blocks back in October, but at one point my blocks started turning out so wonky.  I started getting frustrated and put it away to try again later.  I told myself it would get done for Christmas and instead got distracted by the Mod Bento Quilt.  Oh well...lucky for me babies are forgiving.  We have now moved Josiah into his own room though (Yay for sleep!).  Time to get this finished.

I really like how this has turned out, but I think I would have done my blocks a little differently.  I think I put the light fabrics mostly into two sets of blocks and the brighter ones into the other two sets of blocks.  If I was going to do it again, I would have mixed it up a little more.  

The pattern is Oh Fransson's Canasta Quilt Pattern.  Her patterns are excellent, but I admit to finding all the cutting tedious.  I am glad I didn't have to make it any bigger.  As it is this is a pretty big quilt for a baby at 48" x 48", but I am hoping this will be a quilt he will be able to use for a long time.

Now I just have to decide how to quilt this.  Any ideas?  Stippling would be easiest, but I am definitely open to suggestions!

I was so excited to get this quilt top done that I pulled these fabrics that I have had planned for a family room quilt for almost a year and already have this quilt top half finished.  

  

Modified Mod Bento Quilt

Back during the summer and again in the fall I joined in on Jessica's Mod Bento Block Swap that I talked about before here.  Over Christmas I finally got all the blocks together and completed it!  I thought at first that I wanted to add sashing, but then I saw this arrangement of the blocks and this completed quilt and decided against sashing.  So I tried to the best of my ability to make sure that outer blocks were the same color or if I couldn't do that had a similar "feel".  I also tried to alternate the lighter and darker blocks.

My daughter, Juliana, loves rainbows, and she gushed over the blocks in the middle of the quilt.  This quilt is so scrappy that I thought it was a good way of complimenting the variety of colors represented.  I basted a little too hastily though and got a couple of wrinkles.  Darn!  However, my stippling is getting slowly better, and I think I am starting to get my own technique.  I quilted it in a variegated yellow thread.  I am a sucker for variegated thread.  It just looks so pretty on the spool.

I have a feeling 2011 is going to be the year of quilts for me, and I am super excited about it.  

Also, if you live in or around the Bakersfield, CA area, we are having our first Modern Quilt Guild meeting at Strawberry Patches on January 22nd between 2-4 PM.  Please stop by if you are able!  Terri from Sew Fantastic has done a great job of getting this off the ground!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a marvelous Christmas!  I hope this New Year is starting off well for you all!  Today my husband and I celebrate six years!  I love starting off the new year celebrating our marriage together.  God has blessed us greatly this year, especially with the birth of our little Josiah.

This has also been a very creative year!  I have made lots of new friends. I have really enjoyed being part of a quilting bee and all the different swaps.  It has really challenged me to do my best and try things out of my comfort zone.  I put together a little gallery of my favorite projects here.