Twister anyone?

Aeris needs a playmate....

This wasn't the exact feel I was going for with this quilt, but that's just sort of how it turned out. This is the project I was making for my husband that was fraught with problems before Christmas. I DID manage to finish it before Christmas and I just kept forgetting to take a picture of it. I know it looks like a kid's circus quilt or something, but it has to do with a funny "flash" video that he saw and an online game that he plays. It's a little too involved to explain. So... there it is, Jason's "throw more DoTs" quilt.

First quilt top of 2008

Here is my first quilt top of 2008!
Finished yesterday evening. These are charm squares from Moda's Celebrate Spring fabrics. I love the colors in this line! The pale one with the pink outlined flowers is what I used for the border. My goal is to have this one finished by the end of the week. Wish me luck!

A Booga Barrier

My Booga (aka Aeris the cat) loves mice.
These kind of mice.



We have quite the collection of them as you can see. These are just the ones I could find, the rest are lurking in the shadowy regions unknown of my home. Probably hiding out with the dust bunnies.

Aeris chases them all over the house and is quite adept at losing them under things and then demanding that I retrieve them for her. This is especially true of the closet in my kitchen. We do this no less than a dozen times a day. She loses them under the door and then proceeds to scratch at the door. This does not make me happy. Our house is still fairly new, it was built in 2003, so seeing kitty scratch marks on the door frame is bad news.

So yesterday, I tried to think of a remedy, and this is what I came up with. It goes under the door and there is a roll on either side so that it stays in place when I open and shut the door. If that makes sense.



We will see if that works....

Crying over cut fabric...

Seriously.... ok, I know that I am a bit hormonal because of the monthly visit... but seriously...

You see I have this small scrap of fabric. It has been in my stash for probably 7 or 8 years. Why? Because I have been afraid to cut it. It sounds stupid, but, I didn't want to ruin it. You see, it is from a dress that my mom made for me when I was a child. Probably 4th grade or so. It is a scrap of my childhood so to speak, and so I wanted to use it in something really special.


So, I finally bit the bullet and cut it the other night. To make these squares which will one day wind up in a quilt. Then I spent the rest of the evening in tears because "what if it doesn't turn out and I wasted that one scrap". Seriously, I really think I'm losing it some days... Please tell me I am not the only one who has ever felt this way!

I'm in purge/organize mode....

so I decided to dig into my sewing room and get organized.
Here are the before pictures. Granted, this was after I dragged everything out of the closet, but still, all that stuff was just piled haphazardly in the closet.



I took everything out of this cabinet and into my kitchen to organize it so I could spread things out on the counter, and this is what I found when I returned.


I bought new bins for my closet that I absolutely love! They were cheap, too, $16.48 and tax for the whole stack on the left. I am thinking of buying more for other areas of my home.


Here is my freshly folded and better organized stash.



I realized that I have way too many scraps and I need to make some scrap quilts. I have three drawers full of scraps.


I made myself a list of projects. Most of which are already in the works. I worked on one a little bit on Sunday (never mind the "ghetto" design wall).



And finally the end product. I still have one box of scrapbooking stuff to go through and I need to vaccuum, but it feels much better, now.

Traveling hook project...

I am thinking about joining in with this traveling hook project. Once again, those of you who know me know that I am passionate about trying to find a cure and raise awareness for FA. I don't know all the details yet, but I will keep you posted as I find out more. I am excited that I may be able to use a skill taught to me by my grandmother, to help someone of the next generation in our family.

Planning.....

I am planning my next quilt... after I finish Kayla's "TurningTwenty" I think I will do a "Happy Hour" made with these.

What do you think?

A few questions....

for those of you with kids. I am looking for ways to improve the kid's clothes that I make. My questions for you parents are

1. What is the most important thing that you look for when purchasing clothes for your kids? Is it durability, is it price, is it how easy it is to dress kids in, or how easily they can dress themselves, is it versatility? I know these all play a part, but what sells you on a piece of clothing?

2. Are there certain colors or fabrics that you are drawn to or avoid? Prints versus solids?

3. Are there certain styles that you are drawn to or avoid? Such as one piece outfits or two piece, overalls, snap crotch, pullover or button down, zippers, buttons, snaps?

4. Do you prefer to see coordinated sets or individual items that you can mix and match?

5. If you are buying a dress would you prefer to have bloomers with it?

6. Do you have any other words of advice for someone who designs kid's clothing? Something you'd like to see, but can't seem to find anywhere?

I appreciate all of your input and look forward to seeing your responses.
Thank you for the well wishes from my last post, I am feeling better, not quite 100%, but better.

I apologize for the lack of posting...

I've had a cold since last Thursday and then I pinched something in my hip on Friday at work lifting a 50 pound bag of quarters and have been sort of down for the count. I laid on the couch pretty much the whole day Saturday. Blech...

In other news, I got a phone call the other day from someone that I have never met before who wants me to do some sewing on some blankets for his daughter. I'm not sure what exactly it is that he wants at this point as I Jason forgot to tell me that I had a message (from Friday) until about 9:00 last night. I will try to give the guy a call tonight and find out more of the details as to what he wants. This is the first time I have ever had anyone outside of friends or family that has asked me to do any sewing for them. He must have gotten hold of my business card somewhere. I had a few in the rack at Hancock's, so maybe someone picked it up there? I don't know. I am curious to find out how he got my number, though.



I started cutting the fat quarters for Kayla's "Turning Twenty" quilt last night. You are supposed to cut 4 at a time. Well, guess what. I cut 4 at a time, and I cut one stack of 4 wrong. SOOOOO now I have to figure out what I am going to do. Of course, I am in love with these fabrics and I don't want to leave any of them out. These 20 fat quarters came in a set together. What that means is that I will have to go back to Joann's and buy a whole other set of them. (which is ok, sort of) I was going to wait until the next 40% coupon and see if they had another set anyway because I really like these fabrics and want some for myself, LOL. I'll just have to find a pattern for them that doesn't quite use a whole fat quarter. Now I have already used the current coupon and really need to go get the fabrics before they are gone. I really am dumb sometimes! I was so mad at myself for not paying attention! I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come with this quilt......

Serendipity...

I decided to call the block swap quilt "Serendipitous Journey". That is sort of how this whole project has been, full of surprises from beginning to end. It started because I watched an episode of "Simply Quilts" where a group of ladies do this annually. I threw the idea out there and some friends responded. We voted on the color choices and the block pattern to use. Then they sent them all to me and I divvied them out. It was fun to see each person's take on the colors and the blocks. Some of the blocks were a little smaller than others so that presented a challenge. Amanda's quilt turned out so pretty and that was a fun thing to see how she put hers together. I decided to paper piece mine to a bigger block size to disguise the smaller blocks. So there is randomness there, as well as random angles that I set the blocks at when I paper pieced them. I was really not terribly inspired to finish it until I read a note from the mother of an FA patient who sent a donation to FARA for the quilt drawing. She was late and missed the drawing because her daughter was having surgery to correct her scoliosis, but as I read her note, I felt inspired to do something for her. I was trying to think of something to do, if I had a project that I could finish up for her and realized I had the block swap quilt. All it needed was borders, batting, backing, quilting and binding. Then I realized that it contained pieces of fabric that were leftovers from the quilt that I made for my niece, Allison when she had her scoliosis surgery a year and a half ago. It just seemed perfect. And finally, the recipient has no idea that this quilt will soon be coming in the mail to them.

Serendipity....

I need your help....

I am trying to come up with a name for this quilt. (I apologize for the substandard photography, I was in a hurry. I'll get better ones later.)
The recipient is going to be a teenage girl named Colleen who just had scoliosis surgery. She is an FA patient. Some of the fabrics in this quilt were leftover from the quilt I made for my niece, Allison when she had her scoliosis surgery a year and a half ago. This is also my block swap quilt. My husband thinks we should call it "Jason" because it is bright and random and so is he. (You almost have to know him for that to be funny.) I think we need a different name.....

Here is a shot of the backing. I love this bright orange, it is just so lively!

I also used variegated thread for the quilting this time. I like the look of it, but it was kind of a pain when my bobbin ran out and I had to take it off the machine to wind another bobbin. Note to self, wind multiple bobbins before starting to machine quilt! LOL

What are your thoughts for a name for this quilt? All I have left to do is the label.
All in all I am pleased with how it turned out. My only regret is that it has one pretty good sized pucker in the backing. JUST ONE! I am slowly progressing toward larger than lap size quilts! This one is 5 feet square.

Do you?

Do you quilters out there sign your quilts? If so, how do you do it? Do you embroider labels? Do you do it with a permanent marker? I am debating whether or not to label the block swap quilt that I am planning to give away. I am too lazy to embroider a label for it (mostly because I am itching to get it done) but I am afraid that a permanent marker will fade and look bad over time. Are there special markers that you are supposed to use for this?