WIP Wednesday

MUCH better day today :o)  The past couple of days I've had a temporary leave of my senses...so glad it's Wednesday!!

This has been a busy week in our house!  My daughter had a sleepover on Friday and then we got a new kitty on Saturday.  My "free" time was pretty non-existent this week...but that's okay!

I added a WIP to my list...the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along.  I think I am just going for unplanned scrappy in this quilt.  Something I can somewhat mindlessly feed thru the machine.  I love kaleidoscope quilts...and some of the ones I am seeing on flickr are so pretty!  The next set of instructions come out tomorrow, yay!

I didn't check off a single item from my WIP list, poo!  I had plans to get at least ONE completed, oh well, there is always this week.  Plus Monday is a paid day off, whoohoo!

I am linking up here at Freshly Pieced:

...Is So Glad Yesterday Is Over!!

You know you're addicted to Facebook when your sentences all start with verbs!!

....is getting ready to vent...so beware :o)

Anyway, yesterday kinda sucked.  Work was blech...10 hours of stress.  My foot has really been bothering me lately...going to the doc next week.  I'm so frustrated with this stupid foot!!  It's been almost 9 months since I first broke it, and I am STILL having trouble.  ugh.  After I got home, I dropped a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper on the floor of my kitchen and apparently hit it just right, because it EXPLODED all over my kitchen floor, inside the freezer, under my fridge, literally EVERYWHERE.  At that point I was ready to just leave it and go take a nap...but good sense won over.  The girls came running in, the kitty ran like a bullet AWAY from the explosion.  At first the girls thought the kitty did it, until they saw me standing in the middle of the Dr. P ocean....oh, well.  They were really helpful, handing me towels.

It took me a while to clean it up and I got annoyed at a certain weight loss advertisement on TV.  My girls were watching Little House on the Prairie, and here comes the Jenny Craig commercial with what's-her-name from Star Wars.  I got so annoyed when she said that Jenny was making her feel pretty again.  So, here are my beautiful daughters, listening to this crap.  Why wasn't she pretty "before Jenny"??  My older daughter has certain issues with her self-image...she's super tall for her age, but she translates that as she's fat.  We have trouble getting her to eat regular meals because she thinks she's fat.  She is so NOT fat.  But, I am just SICK of the world feeding this image to girls that they can't be beautiful unless they are thin.  Then they carry this awful view through their whole lives.  I know plenty of heavier people who are beautiful AND healthy.  I just have issues with the way we teach young girls that if they don't fit into the world's idea of beautiful, they are not beautiful. Why don't we focus on what the person is like on the inside as the judge of true beauty??  Everyone wants to look good on the outside, and I am not discounting that we should all look our best, but the TRUE worth of a person should not be reflected by the scale but by how we treat others and the character we posses as people.  I finished mopping up my mess and was ready to write a letter to Jenny Craig, but they depend on people who have low self-worth because of their weight, so they're not gonna listen to me.  *Deep sigh*

On a crafty note, I went to my sewing room and proceeded to cut out my pieces for the KAL and accidentally cut out WAY too many triangles because I was so busy listening to the show River Monsters and this crazy fish who likes to eat male parts.  SMH!  It was time for a nap.

Time to Get Chopping!

It's time to start cutting for the Kaleidoscope quilt along...and I have to admit that it seems daunting when you see the number of pieces to cut out.



Plus I changed my mind about the fabric I wanted to use.  At first I was pretty committed to using my DS fabric, but after I thought more about it, I am going to use my FQ bundle of California Dreamin'.  I love this fabric and I am from the great state of California, so it's perfect.  Plus, it's so cheerful and bright...perfect for a summer project!  Tonight I am cutting into this beautiful stack...is it just me, or does anyone else ever feel bad cutting fabric...almost like you should find the biggest quilt block possible to keep the whole pattern intact??  I'm weird like that, I guess!

Oh! And we got a new member of the household this weekend!  Her name is Roxie and is about 8 weeks old, we think.  She is just the cutest little ball of fur you ever did see!! And super sweet...love her already!!

Another Quilt Along--Double Wedding Ring

I LOVE Double Wedding Ring quilts...they are so traditional and I just love how they look.  The Plaid Scottie is hosting a DWR quilt along...which is great since there is so little "real life" information out there with tips and instructions.  I bought a book a few years back, and while it really inspired me to make one, it didn't give me the confidence to just give it a go.  This pattern is paper piecing so no cutting each thing by hand, yay!  Needless to say, I am very excited about this QAL!!  We're starting on July 1, so I have a lot to do before we start....so excited!

I haven't scoured my fabric collection yet, but I am thinking that I would like to use this color palette for my quilt...making the dark navy the background so that the rings really pop.  I love the website design seeds which takes a picture and pulls out these amazing color palettes, making it easy for people like me to MAKE A DECISION when it comes to colors.  I am loving the fuschia and green together...and grey...what could be better??  Everything looks better with grey.  Swoon.



I plan to NOT buy any fabric for this quilt, so we'll see how well that works!!

WIP Wednesday

I am linking up with Freshly Pieced today for WIP Wednesday...cannot believe I have added to my list!!  Anyway, here is my additional WIP.

New Wave quilt



I was able to get it basted last night...I actually SPRAY BASTED (happy dance!) and was pretty impressed with how quickly it came together.  I have to decide if the extra cost is worth the time saved on the ground safety-pinning my life away.  I don't know about you, but it takes me at least an hour from start to finish to pin-baste a lap-sized quilt.    Cuts the time in half by spraying.  We'll see how it sews together!

Also in the works, but not yet started, are the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along (starting tomorrow) and the Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along (starting 1 July).

AND I found the perfect pattern for my Flea Market Fancy fabric...but will absolutely wait until I get some of these quilts off my WIP list (side panel)!!  I get so excited about starting new projects that I don't finish up what I already have going on.  Hate that!

Basted:
2 Customer quilts--both basted this week

Untouched:
1974--will bind this week
Beach Baby Days
Single Girl--will get finished piecing this week
Deer Valley--stumped on borders
Recess Zig Zag
Scrappy Split Rail
Twiggy
Valentine--will bind this week

This week's stats:
New projects - 3
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 11

Linking up with Freshly Pieced here:

New Wave Progress--Quilt Top Done

I usually tend to stay away from making quilts that have hand-cut pieces.  I just feel like it's too easy to screw up the template and then you get inaccurate pieces!  When I started the New Wave quilt, I found TabSlot,  this awesome shop on Etsy (of course!), that will make custom templates for you!  Jill (shop owner) sells a template for the New Wave quilt.  I used it to cut out all my fabric and found it to be a high quality acrylic template.  It didn't slip and was as good as if not better than any you can buy in any store.  I just love buying handmade, especially when the quality is so great!  Cutting all the pieces took less than an hour, which would so NOT have been the case had I traced and cut each piece!!



Right now, I am having Jill make me a large hexagon template.  I saw a hexagon quilt with large hexies and just loved it...but I don't want to have to cut them all out by hand!!  I can't wait to get my new template :o)

Anyway, here is a picture of my New Wave quilt top...took me a few hours on Saturday to put it all together and I am so happy with it!  I wanted to use up all my Nicey Jane FQs...so it's bigger than the original pattern. I can't wait to get it basted and quilted!!





Any ideas on the quilting?  I usually stick with an all-over wave pattern, but thought I might step out of the box on this one and quilt something different in each wave.  Thoughts?

I Love the Mailman!!

I won several auctions of Flea Market Fancy fabric on eBay about a week ago.....and it came in the mail yesterday!!  I cannot believe how much I love this fabric.  I have one more bundle on its way, and a couple more auctions on eBay I am watching.  My favorite is the flower bunches and the seeds.  I can't help it!

Summer Thursdays-Finally a Finished Project!

This summer I am working 4 10s in order to have an extra day off to spend with my girlies.  Today, however, my girls wanted to go with their summer day camp group to the Marbles museum today, leaving me all alone for the entire day!!  I talked to my sister for a couple hours, took a nap, cut out some fabric, etc.  It's nice to be at home when it's totally quiet!!

My first project in quite a while is my new camera strap.  I LOVE this fabric!  I gave the a pocket on the inside for the lens cap and added rosettes to the front so that I would remember which side my lens cap was!  Anyway, I love how it turned out!







I have been looking at a lot of pretty camera straps and just decided to design my own.  There are things I would change to do it all again, but it really didn't take very long so I may just make a bunch of these!

Sewing Room Organization--Finally!

I finally got into my sewing room to re-organize my mess!!  I spent the whole day Saturday putting together a new bookcase from IKEA (love that place!) and organizing/folding/purging my fabric collection.  I didn't realize how out of control that room had become in the 2 months since I've been able to work in there.  No wonder I haven't been able to get any sewing done!  Your room has to be accessible, not to mention your basic cutting area and machines!



My biggest problem when it came to organizing was just how I was going to divide everything.  Now that I have 2 bookcases, I am using one of them to keep all of my collections of fabrics together.  The second bookcase is divided by color and made up of fabric that doesn't fit into a collection.



I got rid of about 6 bags of fabric, and that giant container on the floor are most of my scraps that I just can't bear to throw away...I swear, I have issues!

Now that I have room to work again, I am getting started on my New Wave quilt, my niece's Single Girl quilt, WIPs, and so many other sewing projects!  I am really excited about it!!

Flea Market Fancy

I have started putting together a collection of Denyse Schmidt's oh-so-popular line of fabric Flea Market Fancy.  Honestly, it can be really intimidating to try to snag some now because it is so hard to find and super expensive when you find a small tidbit.  I found an article on a blog (that I now cannot find again FOR THE LIFE OF ME) that gives some tips on finding it and not paying an arm and a leg for it.  The key is to simply BE PATIENT for the right pieces and right times.  EBay is a great example of this.  I started looking about a year ago, and would check eBay occasionally without luck.  Recently though, there have been a lot of auctions for FQs and I have managed to win a few. So, here I am awake at 1:32 am waiting for about 10 auctions to end while watching the Golden Girls and updating my blog!  I just love this fabric!!

Etsy is also a great place to look, although, it's still hit or miss. Now I have to find another project for this new fabric...ha!  I think the hardest thing will be actually cutting into it!

*Update:  It is now 3 am and I won 10 auctions for a total of 4 1/4 yards of FMF fabric....super excited!!  And now, off to bed!

Fabric Storage/Organization--Ideas NEEDED

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  Truth be told, I haven't done a whole lot other than "normal" everyday stuff this week.  This week, I started a 4 10 hour/day work week and it's exhausting.  Several days this week, I went home and took a nap right away.  I hope it isn't like this all summer!  I have BIG plans for my house and for myself this summer.  I am finally going to get my tail into gear and get my house painted and decorated how I want.  I started by going to IKEA with my sis-in-law and getting some sensible storage for my overflowing  fabric store  sewing room.  I bought a giant wooden bookcase with 8 cubbies ( I love that word :o) to store my hoard.  Which brings me to my line of questioning....

1.  How do you purge your stash??

When I first started quilting, I bought fabric from everywhere regardless of quality.  Some of my earlier purchases, uneducated as I was, were pretty much crap.  While I am by no means a "fabric snob," I don't buy crappy fabric anymore just because it's $1 a yard.  I save my money and buy nicer fabric, knowing that the quality is so much better.  I want to just GET RID of those earlier purchases, but my husband thinks I should keep them.  I don't think I will ever use them, so shouldn't I give them away to someone who will??

2.  How do you store your fabric?

I have seen so many people blog about how they use this folding method or that tutorial using comic book boards to make mini-bolts, so I thought I could give that a try.  I ran out of boards before finishing the first shelf.  Do I really want to store by color or by collection??  I like both ways!  I like seeing the fabric I bought in a collection all together so that I actually REMEMBER what goes with what....but then how do I store that??  I don't want a room full of baskets and bins either.  Back to the original question...how do you store your fabric?  When I sat down to start, I just got overwhelmed and literally had to just take a nap......and I haven't been back in my room since then.

I am starting to feel like I should be on that show "Hoarders: Buried Alive" and I don't like it one bit!  So, all that to say.....my first item of business is to get my sewing room functional again and get my fabric stored nicer.  If you have any ideas or tips that might help, please leave me a comment :o)

Kaleidoscope Quilt Along

So, I have been buying a lot online these days as it's been difficult for me to get out shopping.  My first shopping trip after my surgery was to Joann's to purchase the DS Picnic and Fairgrounds fabric!! Today I got 3 more of my prints in the mail from Joann.com (and I think it's so funny that the online shop doesn't have all the fabrics).  Now I have 18 of the 21 prints...I am going to have to fanagle to get the last 3 prints.  I just looked over etsy and boy is the Australian set expensive!!  So pretty, though!  I am not sure I can spend $68 for 10 FQs...pretty sure my husband would KILL me :o)

I joined the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along and am thinking of using my DS fabrics!!  Can't wait to get started!

DIY Hairbow Centers

I started making my own hairbow centers a while ago when I was trying to find certain characters.  Out of "need" comes custom made hairbow centers!



So here is a Princess Peach hairbow center I made for my Super Mario bow...don't cha just love her :o)

I just made a lot of hairbow centers shown here.



Okay, here we go!

Materials:

Ink Jet Printer
sharp scissors
White Shrink Paper for Ink Jet Printers
Pre-heat oven to 350
cookie sheet
spatula

Use any kind of program that will allow you to enlarge images...Power Point, GIMP, or Photoshop.  Open a blank file that is sized at 8 1/2 x 11 inches and 300 dpi.  Add your image and size it to approximately 2-3 inches x 3-4 inches (I totally eyeball this one).  I can usually fit 10 images on a sheet, depending on how they are sized.  Once you've arranged your images, print them on your shrink paper and allow the colors to set for at least 30 minutes.  Cut them out and you are ready to shrink in the oven!  Shrink one image first just to get the hang of it.  Place the image on the cookie sheet and then in the oven...watch it as it shrinks up, very cool!  It will curl inot a bowl shape and then will flatten (although usually not all the way flat).  While still in the oven, flatten the image with a spatula.  Your image not only shrinks, but thickens quite a bit.  Once you take it out of the oven, it cools super fast...so flatten IN the oven.

If you have an image that is already dark, you may want to use your photo editing to lighten the image before you print on the paper.  In Photoshop Elements, I usually lighten 15% before I print.  Below is a picture of the original image with the final product on top.  Once you get the hang of this, it is so much fun!!  Of course you can always use these for earrings and necklace charms...just make sure to punch a hole in the paper before you shrink!