Pouches! A New Swap

Anyone else doing this swap?? It looks fun, I signed up - hope you do too!

This is my inspiration mosaic

Michelle of 'I like orange, too!' is hosting - check it out...

What is all this MADNESS?

Mug rugs, snack mats, coasters, mini placemats - call them what you will, but they are all over blogland right now. Thanks to MugRugMadness I'm now feeling compelled to post about the snack mats I made for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild's February swap.

Blind swap. Simple concept. I decided to make 2 because they are quick and fun. Both are improvised, I had no idea what they would end up looking like when I started. I also used entirely scraps for both.

Fronts:


Backs:
That's it, not the most exciting crafting in the world, but they're just so fun and quick to make, I can hardly resist. Can I just say that I really dislike the term 'mug rug'? I don't have the same issues with it as Jen does ;) but I prefer 'snack mat' - thank you Megan for that perfect substitution.

Anyway (thanks to Kristen and a long story)- I was the lucky recipient of this:


A true work of art by Elizabeth. I love it, and won't put snacks on it. It lives on my desk. I think it is happy there.

I also changed the look of my blog - what do you think, better, worse, fine, you don't care? Let me know!

Cheers all, hope spring is coming your way (and my way too).

Oh Echino, I love you!

I want to thank Jen Bailly (bettycrockerass) for taking all the pictures of the quilt in this post.

This is the cozy couch quilt I made for my son for Christmas. I totally forgot to post about it, and realized last week that I didn't even have a picture of it. My daughter's quilt got finished first, and it was a race to get this one done in time - but I did. They both love their quilts and regularly snuggle with them on the couch.

Can I just say that I LOVE Echino fabric? It's so bright, graphic, and bold. It is also a joy to work with the cotton-linen blend. I used some kona solids and some 100% linen in this quilt as well. I think it turned out really fun, and we all kind of fight over it a bit in the evenings.

It's backed with a piece of minky that I got at 50% off, and it quilted up pretty nice. It was a bit heavy for my walking foot to pull through, so I had to help it along quite a bit. Even so, it wasn't all that bad to quilt.

We just rolled back into town after a long spring break weekend at the coast....ahhh, the ocean air does wonders to my mood and my brain. I feel pretty much ok for the first time in awhile. Cheers all!

Holiday Gift Giving

Yes, I know that the Holidays are LONG over, but I did manage to take some pics of pillows that I gave as gifts, and wanted to share. Way back in August I took this class which was taught by Elizabeth on free motion quilting. I wanted to practice what I learned so that I didn't lose it. I ended up deciding to make pillows for a bunch of people on my gift list so that I could get a lot of quilting time in. I think it really helped, I got way more confident with free motion. Now I just need to get up the courage to do it on a whole quilt...



Plus - everyone can use a another pillow, right? Also, please try to ignore that huge mess in the background and all the unfinished walls with no trim. Cheers all!

1 More Block

Well, I've made 1 more block for my son's quilt. I was inspired by Megan and Christina, it's my first time trying paper piecing. I love how it turned out, but it took FOREVER and made a huge mess. It wasn't hard, but I still managed to screw it up a couple of times. So now I have an 'X' and an 'O', and I think that may be the name, or at least the theme of this quilt. X's and O's (cause I love the little bugger so much), or tic tac toe (because of the grid) or something like that. It's still really just an abstract concept, and I'm hoping it'll just come together.

I'm finding that I'm still really, really tired from my new medication and I'm not getting a lot of time to sew, but I'm more inspired then ever lately. I have like 100 projects in my head. Maybe more. I need to maybe start writing them down - before I lose them. This Thursday is our March meeting of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild (I can't wait!), and I also have a neurologist appt that day. I hope he can give me some insight, or advice, or anything.

In super exciting news, my Etsy shop - tabslot is sponsoring a giveaway at I Like Orange, Too! Check it out!!

Cheers all!

Happy Birthday to Carla!

I love Carla! She lives next door to me, you can't really choose your neighbors, but if you could I would have definitely chosen Carla! She's a very cheerful, inspiring Momma of 2(!) teenage girls, leader of a household and Social Worker. On top of all that, she's just f-in awesome and I love hanging out with her. Anyway, I made her this pillow last week. At least I'm pretty sure I did, I'm having periods of amnesia due to my seizure, and I'm now only partially remembering making this. It's definitely fabric from my cabinet though :)

Hope all you NW'ers are enjoying the wonderful sunny warm day, as we're enjoying it, I'm thinking of all the people suffering in Japan.

Grey Day

It's a pretty grey day in P-town. This is what my desk looks like right now. I think I'm trying to find some summer in the blue and green fabrics. I'm having a rare moment of quiet here and I almost don't know what to do with myself. So much has happened since I last posted! I think I decided that it's really ok if I'm just an occasional poster. I just don't have my sh!t together like alot of you lovely, creative Mommas out there. But I think I'm ok with that. My house is a mess, my kids eat granola bars for lunch, my 3 1/2 yr old still poops in a diaper, my dog eats off the kids plates, we have crayon drawings on every surface of the house - but I'm ok with that. We had a scary week here, I had a grand mal seizure, which I haven't had in 11 years. It's made me realize that I need to stop sweating the small (and not so small) stuff. I need to try to get as much rest as possible, hug my kids as often as I can, and try to enjoy every little stupid, silly thing we do together - even if it's just playing with train tracks or folding laundry.




So I made this green and blue block out of Kona solids the other day, and I can't stop looking at it. It was going to be for PMQG swap, but I may love it too much. Then I thought I might turn it into a pillow for my son's room. Now I'm thinking it may just turn into a twin quilt for him.

I have lots more to share! It's just gonna happen slowly. I hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of spring...

Who Knew?

So I really had no idea that when preschool started the rest of my life would be on hold for awhile. 2 days a week of school with lots of shuttling back and forth, and 2 other days of therapy - speech and OT. I'm barely at home these days, and since the little one doesn't nap too much, I'm never alone. My poor sewing machine feels very neglected.


In the past month (and a half!!) since I've last written, I've completed 1 project, and it was already pieced way back here. Regardless, I'm completely in love with this quilt and very proud of it. Yes it's simple, but it turned out really cool and it just may be my favorite one that I've made so far.


I love the minky back, it is so soft and warm! I was afraid to quilt with minky, but it honestly wasn't that bad. I loaded it up with spray baste, and I didn't have any problems with shifting or stretching.


In other news, I had closed down the etsy shop until I could get myself back into a routine, and I think we're almost there. I'm planning on opening the shop back up sometime this week when I can get a few minutes at my computer without anyone jumping on my lap. So look for it, and for a giveaway to go along with the re-opening!



Thanks for stopping by, I hope everyone has been enjoying their fall and is looking forward to the holiday season. Cheers!

A Girly Birthday Pillow

Initially I wasn't sure what I'd use these fabrics for. I liked them, but they weren't my usual 'style' (whatever that is!). This week I knew I had to make a birthday pillow for a very special (and girly) 7 year old. As I was going through my stash looking for pink and purple I came across this stack (I believe it's Remix by Robert Kaufman Fabrics), and I knew this is what it was meant for.


I didn't have a plan when I started this, and I didn't have much time. I just started sewing random widths of the print strips to 1" white strips. When I finished that I wasn't in love with it, so I started cutting that up and sewing it back together all flipped around, and this is how it ended up. I actually really like it and think it's a pretty fun pattern.

I almost free-motioned it. Almost. I chickened out though. I really need to get back to Christina's free-motion quilt along so I can boost my confidence a bit. I decided to just do diagonal lines at random distances apart. I like it, I think it works for the pillow, and it went REALLY quick.

The back is a simple envelope closure. I love the striped binding on this. I just love striped bindings in general. Well, it's a sunny day here in P-town, probably not many of those left, I'd better go enjoy it. Or clean up my garden...

A lopsided pincushion...

I had a great time at the September meeting of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild last Thursday. Elizabeth did a great presentation about beer cup fabric dyeing and Jen did a cool presentation on pincushions. As usual there was a great show and tell.


Well, it turns out that at next month's meeting there will be a pincushion swap. So I decided that since I have not made a pincushion before I should try early in case I have to re-do it. Well, I have to re-do it. I named it the color wheel pincushion, and I like the overall look of it, but it turned out all lumpy and lopsided and not quite round. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

At least I now have a pincushion, I didn't have one before. This one should be happy on my little sewing desk. This is the bottom of it - reversible!

Not a Baby?

I can't believe that this sweet, tiny little baby has grown into this little boy, who is starting preschool tomorrow. Seriously, can it have been 3+ years already?


Well, he had to have a special new backpack for the start of school. I had been saving this awesome Japanese train fabric for something special for him, and it was perfect for a backpack!


I did buy a pattern for this because I needed to get it done quick and didn't feel like I had time to think about designing a pattern.


It's fully lined in a bright lime green Kona, and I did buy the piping instead of making it (like I said - super quick).



He loves it, and he can't wait for school to start...


...the little one loves it too. I really hope she kind of forgets about it soon, I don't think I can make another one right away, it was a bit fussy to sew. Tons of layers!

A Challenge? I'm Always up for a Challenge...

Well, I'm always up for a challenge that can be completed in 1 toddler naptime...



Last Friday I was at Jen's house with Megan and all of our kids (6 in total) having a little (Mommy) playdate. Jen bought a 3 pack of Moleskine gridded notebooks and gave one each to Megan and I. We gave ourselves a challenge to give the notebooks a fabric cover in our own 'style'. Then we could each post about them and compare what we came up with. Here's what I came up with. I don't know if I really have a style, but I definitely have a philosophy about 'crafting' and creating. Do it quick, get it done, and (hopefully) make it look good.


It's pretty simple, I decided to sew right to the chipboard cover of the Moleskine, there's no quilting and no batting, and it can't be removed without totally destroying the book. I had originally thought I'd do a removable one, but then, I like the idea of making a new one with each new notebook, and since I store my old sketchbooks to reference, this will let me easily recognize the one I'm looking for. I totally raided the scrap bin for this one. I did simple wonky log-cabin-ish piecing (very technical term), and finished around the edges with some selveges.

I added a little strap with a velcro closure to keep it from flying open when I dump my diaper bag, and a little pocket for a pencil and scraps to match or inspire. I think it's pretty cute, and I'm looking forward to a lot of sketching!