Redo on my sis in law's quilt

Here is the first take on the quilt I mentioned. The Kaffe Fassett one. Well, I hated this one. I like the concept and I like the stars but that pink is so LOUD! So, I took it off and wallah! Much better.My sister in law seems to love it. I made it for her wedding shower gift. I would have given it as a wedding gift but her brother - my hubby- insists on cash. Its an Asian thing. Or a big brother thing. I am working on my DQS9 right now. I can't wait to show it to you. And I got mine the other day. LOVE it! I'll have to show you later though. Its evening and the lighting in my house is awful for pictures. Hope you have a great day! Oh, do any of you know about night terrors? MY daughter in having them. They are totally freaky so I of course want to stop them. Thanks.

My Little Piggy

Before I started working on my Sis in Law's quilt I caught up on all the quilting bees. I wasn't as far behind as I thought except for the above one from March. I forgot to take pictures of all the rest of them. This a Cathedral Window. Not overly difficult but there is no way I would make a whole quilt this way. Maybe a nice pillow. Here is a tutorial if you want to try it out.

I also wanted to introduce you to my little piggy. My mom was having fun with pincushions and this is my favorite one. He actually gets used although I feel bad poking him in the face. Poor guy.

Why aren't my quilts ever the right size?

My sister in law is getting married this September and I wanted to make her a quilt. My hubby wants to give his little sis cash for their gift so I decided I would make the quilt for her Wedding Shower. That gave me a months less time to procrastinate so I got started. I figure if I can have it done by this Friday I can take it to get quilted and the turn around is about three weeks and that would give me a week so sew on the binding. So here is my start.

Is it loud enough? I was just fascinated with the Coats and Clark advertisement that featured this quilt. Its Kaffe Fassett's Hot Diamonds.

But I am not one to have this much color in my life. I like color but as you can see this is a lot of color. My Sister in Law and her fiance are not afraid of color. She's an interior designer and he does some sort of design . He creates chandeliers and light fixtures for some of the rich and famous. Anyway, they have an orange wall in their living room so I figured this would be a great lap quilt. So, here is my problem. I sewed everything together and according to the template if I made the large diamond, 144 pieces, 12 rows up, 12 down the quilt would be like 54x90 inches (that's a lap quilt to me). Some how the quilt is only like 59x56. I don't know how it happened. I swear I used every piece and I even had extra that I used. So, I am going to add a 15 inch border and make it a Queen Size quilt. I can never make my quilts the right size. Oh well. When I am all done I will take a completed picture to share. I like it but it sure is LOUD! I hope she likes it.

Oh and Diamonds are not that easy. Way too much brain power needed. You can't just line the seams up and sew. It has to be off slightly so it lines up right. Luckily, I figured it out on my third row of where the placement needed to be. I think I might have to make myself a diamond quilt now.

Madeline Quilt

This is actually my mom's. I was at her house and we went shopping and I bought this pattern. I had been thinking about it for a while. Well, my mother stole it as soon as we went home and made herself this. Now it is supposed to be much larger (like 27" x 39") but she made it for a 12x12 frame. She just didn't enlarge the pattern. I think she actually shrunk it a bit. I think its adorable. I might have to make a small one for Doll Quilt Swap 9. Great little scrap buster.

Tea Towel #1

We are going on a trip to Hawaii to visit a friend and the sun and I realized that the friend that we are visiting is having her birthday a couple of days before we arrive so I wanted to bring her a little something so I thought I would make her a couple of tea towels. Also, this is a great little project for sitting and waiting during ballet or tee ball or swim lessons and kids are so fascinated by it. This is the first one. I bought pattern from etsy but it is no longer posted so here is her blog. I am making one more which I should finish this week of a little girl on a swing in a tree from the same artist. I think I want to make myself a set so like 3 or four. I would use some of these patterns (probably the one with the butterflies) and this one ( the tree), the one I will show you next week and the one above. I need new cute towels. I bought the towels themselves at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup, WA earlier this year. I couldn't tell you more than that though.

Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap

I really liked this Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap held over at Quilting Gallery. It was fun to see how one design could look so different. Here is mine. You can check more out at flikr. I also love these small embroideries because they are perfect to take to swim lessons or tee ball. What else am I going to do for a half hour or so. I can only facebook or play tetris for so long on my phone. :) I think next I am going to do a set of dish towels. That is if I can find where I put the dish towels I bought several months ago for this project!

Oh, Doll Quilt Swap 9 is on its way for sign ups. I saw it late so I hope I made it in.

Phew, it's done!

I don't know what convinced me to make this but I did. I had seen the pattern numerous times and wanted to make it but it seemed above my skill level. Well, my mom and I were shopping and she said she would help me make it if I wanted so that's what we did. I made the Amy Butler Weekender bag with the help of my mom. The only thing my mom did was help me translate the instructions, guide me and I made her sew the outside bag together although I could have done it but it got really thick and I was using her sewing machine and I didn't want to be the one to break it. We only broke one presser foot! At least it wasn't her $10,000 machine! It actually wasn't horribly difficult to make just a lot of it to make. I can't wait to use it! We did make a few changes. I added pockets on the inside and instead of making a stiff base we only used the false bottom. I put all the stiffener in the false bottom and used Velcro to hold the false bottom in place. I still plan to put some sort of closure on the outside pocket. I haven't decided but I think I will need something to hold its shape.

The fabric is Anna Maria Horner's home dec fabric and the lining is just a light colored bottom weight. The trim and the side pockets are a black bottom weight.

Would I recommend making this bag? I guess it would depend on how badly you want something unique. The supplies cost maybe $75 and the labor...add about 15 or so hours to that. But I do love my new bag!

I'm awful...

First, I must apologize for my awful blogging. Part of my problem is I haven't done anything news worthy. The other part is I take pictures with my phone and check the Internet on my phone but the phone doesn't allow me to post pictures to blogger or flickr. Its really annoying. I hope they fix that soon so I can post at a moments notice if so inspired.

So what I have done. I went to a recycled fashion show or rather a trash show. It was the 10th Annual Re Store Trash Fashion Show. The Re Store is a store in town that will come to your construction site or you can take stuff to them. They will tear your house a apart and salvage 95% of the housing materials to be reused. Its pretty awesome. To the fashion show...The people are so creative and some if it wasn't made out of trash bags and would be really hot, I would think of wearing it. Enjoy the pictures. I apologize for the quality of some. The top one is made of inter tubes and newspaper. The second is of old umbrellas, third, onion bags, and finally, paper off a table at one of those restaurants you get to doodle on. People were extremely creative. I only posted the mellower ones! One of the ladies brought her kimono that was in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

I also made a few dolls. I used the Jane pattern from Bit of Whimsy. They are pretty simple to make. The first one below I donated to the Kids Safe Whatcom County Fair. The Trauma department at the hospital that I share an office with was one of the sponsors so I thought I would nice. I was lucky to see the recipient of the doll. I hope they like it!

The second doll was for M's friend who had a birthday. We were at Target looking for a present and I asked M if she would like it if I made her friend one and her response was, "Yeah, even though you haven't made mine yet." I'm such a bad mom. Its on my list. :) I also made a doll quilt too but I forgot to take a picture.

I am working on some other projects. Don't give up on my blog yet. I figure when I am FINALLY done with my job I will be able to focus on my projects and my blog. I have 2 months left - word of advice never give 6 months notice - the waiting for the end is torture. Oh, and they haven't posted the job yet! I can't wait to be done. I have a huge list of things I want to get done and start! Thank you to those who have stuck around.

A Few Blocks and Exciting News.

So here are a few blocks I made for some quilting bees I am in. I don't remember whose is whose. I took these with my phone and they have been there a while. Which is why the aren't the best photos. They are really simple blocks. Its hard for me to think really big when I see the amount of fabric I get. Okay - its just hard for me to decide.

This one she was going for complicated versus simple. I did little string blocks and lots of white. I think I over did the simple but I didn't have enough fabric to do too much.

This one was a 9 patch block. You sew nine squares together and then cut directly down the middle of the block and the other direction and turn two of the four squares and sew them back together. Kind of ingenious.

The third was do anything you like going along the lines of a quilt she liked. She sent a link to the quilt photo and we just winged it. I added the orange and sent her a little extra to incorporate it into her quilt somewhere so it didn't stand out. I really hated cutting those little mermaids heads in half but I had no choice.

This one is actually the starts of a mini quilt. I hated it so I folded it up and put it away. I know - I should have just finished it - I may have liked it.

So did I tell you I quit my job? I gave my notice last month. I have till June 30th. Its the busiest time of the year and I am the only one that does my job so it would have been very cruel of me to leave any sooner. Plus they take forever to hire so I figured I'd give tons of notice because after June 30th nothing happens until August. So what am I going to do with all my free time? Well, sew of course. Reorganize our house - my hubby and I are getting claustrophobic. We have a very small house and lots of junk. And exercise, I need to get healthier and not working I won't have an excuse, right? We will see how long it takes me before I get bored. My daughter will be in Kindergarten so she won't be around to entertain me. :) Sad, isn't it.

Mini Quilts Galore

So I signed up for three mini quilt swaps at one time. I know I am a glutton for punishment. I just love doing them so much. So, the first one was for STUD (Swap Till I Drop). The theme was "Love is in the Air" I tried a couple of different things but after I made this I was so pleased with it. It looks so cute. The picture really doesn't give it justice. That's a vintage button in the middle. I was going to make a heart but I thought the button actually looked better. Almost broke my machine putting it on. I was too lazy to hand sew it and it jammed with lots of thread and the mini quilt stuck to the machine. Disaster but I freed it with no injuries.

The Second swap was the Winter Themed Mini Quilt. Its through the quilting bloggers link on the side. I wasn't in the snowy mood. We have had phenomenal weather here and the beautiful black skies with the large moons really inspired me and then I found an article in a really old Quilting Arts magazine that I tried to copy. I, of course, didn't come close but I was pretty happy with it. I hope my swap buddy likes it. She is in the Netherlands with no blog so hopefully she will send me an email when she gets it.My third one was for Doll Quilt Swap 8. My partner really likes saturated colors with a white contrast and I wanted to play with curvy sewing that I learned in the Jean Well's class I took in November. My husband was unimpressed with it but my mom said it looked great and she was impressed with my sewing. Who should I trust? Non sewing hubby who is always brutally honest or my Mom who has years of experience but wants to encourage me? I think I will wait to see what my swap buddy thinks. :)Tonight I am going to start on a mini quilt for myself but using purples and a Kaffe Fasset print. Wish me luck. I hate cutting into fabric with no real idea of what I want to do plus I can't get any more of that fabric until November when the Quilt Show is back in town.

Hope all of you are well and I apologize for my absence. Now I have to turn off my computer before I check my work email. Its a bad habit I have. Really it is!

Testing My Phone

I haven't been very good at blogging lately since I never turn my computer on now that I have my droid. If i can post pictures I will be extremely happy with this app and you'll get sick of me. :)



So apparently I can't post pictures that aren't from a url. Hmmm...bummer.

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

So, I also participated in the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Gallery. I received my swap yesterday and I LOVE it. I got it from Carmen at Chunky Dunk Quilts. I could not wait to put it up. My mom had given me these cool quilt racks for my birthday this weekend so I wanted to use them. I went to my hall closet where I keep my girly drill (it was a small one perfect for little things around the house) and I totally got distracted looking for it and cleaned my closet. And to make it even worse - I cleaned off a whole shelf and my first thought was "oh, I could put fabric in here." My husband would kill me since I have huge shelves in our guest room full of fabric! By the way, I never found my girly drill which means my husband used it. I wonder where it is. I guess I will clean the hall closet looking for it tonight! Or I could just get a screw driver and screw it in by hand. I'll have to take photos of them and show you. You will want the racks too! Plus my mom made me a wall hanging which I will have to show you the picture of once I hang it.

If you haven't heard yet - head over to Etsy and do some shopping in the Craft Hope section. All proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders - Haiti. They are taking donations as well through today. But the least you could do it check it out. I ended up buying a couple of pdf patterns.

My Favorites Mosaic

As I said before I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8 and incase my partner is stalking me - I thought I would put a mosiac of my flikr favorites. I have a lot so forgive me. I could just add tons more too! I apologize to all those that I didn't credit too. If you check out my favorites on flikr - samcrawley - you can find who it is. I just couldn't figure it out today. Sorry! Just one of those days.

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

I finally finished my Fall Inspired Mini Quilt. I wasn't feeling it. I actually made two. One had trees and then this one. I wasn't feeling the other one even more. Now that this one is done I actually like it. I don't know if you can tell but the apple is similar to one in the apple fabric. I thought it would be cute. I just felt like I could have done more but I think if I did - it would have been too much. Simple is better sometimes. Now I just have to get it in the mail before Monday. I think I can, I think I can. :)

I also just signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8. I really like the doll quilt swaps. I feel so accomplished when I finish my little piece of artwork. If you have done quilting bees before - you should try one of these out. Its too late for these two but you can also try STUD. They do it monthly. You just have to catch it on the right day. I think I even got my mom hooked on it. Check out hers. I couldn't figure out how to steal her picture but it is pretty cool.

Have a great day!

Anna aka Grandma, GM, Nana

My grandmother passed away last week. Its been a fight for her the past 6 months so I am happy for her that she was able to pass. She hated being sick. She had never really been sick until she turned 90 so 90 years of good health, she hated not being healthy anymore. Everyone who needed to be there was there and was able to say their good byes and all the adults are doing okay. My daughter is doing better. She had a rough time to start. She was pretty close to her Nana.

To commemorate my grandma, I am going to overload you with pictures of her through the years.

This is my Grandma and Grandpa. They met on the Conney Island bumper cares when my grandma drove over his hat. When he returned from the war they wed two weeks later and the city girl who never left New York moved to the other side of the country with a man she barely knew. This is my favorite picture. I always knew my grandma as a farm girl. She never got gussied up or wore a lot of jewelry and in this she looks like a model.

My Grandma and Uncle Jerry. Poor kid wearing a dress. :)

M and her Nana. The two of them were troublemakers. I'd take them shopping and they would disappear or I would catch them running down the aisles at Costco.

More trouble making. She started my brother's addiction to chocolate.

The whole family annoying her at once. We loved annoying her. She had a great sense of humor.

Thanks for letting me share my grandma with you.

Happy New Year!!

2009 is about to end and 2010 is about to begin. An end to my early 30's and a beginning to my mid 30's. Man, time is flying. My kid will be in kindergarten this upcoming year and I have been with Quoc for 13 years. Wow!

Well, Christmas was really nice. We had it at my house this year. Its always at my mom's but since my Grandma has been ill she didn't want her to travel. It was probably a good thing. A couple of days before x-mas she had another episode and ended up in the hospital for 5 days. So, we had less people at our house and we went to the hospital a few times that day. Quoc and I ended up getting her an electronic picture frame. She really liked it. She didn't really complain which she always does. Her only complaint was that there were too many pictures of her. I have to admit there were. I used the file on my computer from her birthday and I of course used a lot of her. I'll have to create a new file for her with less of her and more of everyone else.

M made out like a bandit. I try not to get her a lot of toys but she is the only child so she gets way spoiled and this and her birthday are the only time we buy toys. Don't get me wrong - she gets stuff from the dollar store but I mean like real gifts over 10 bucks. She got one of these Alive Husky's. So cute. Ahh man, I was just linking it and I could have saved money if I got it on Amazon. Darn. Oh well, she loves it. She also got a Leapster 2. That one is cheaper from the Leapfrog website. Anyway, that game system has been great especially with all the time we spend at the hospital and the nursing home. She is thoroughly entertained. And it really is educational. My mom made her x-mas dress and M got a dress for one of her dolls. She has always wanted a dress just like hers so my mom made it happen. They were both very cute. (excuse the awful picture - we weren't going out so M's hair was a mess and I took it with my phone. Quoc got a Flip video camera for his birthday so we have video of everything but I forgot to take pictures - oops) My mom also made a ton of Barbie cloths. She messed up though. She was using vintage patterns from when I was a kid and using my old Barbies as models but the Barbies of today have smaller boobs so half of the strapless dresses fell off. My poor mother. We might have to sort some out and leave some at my mom's house where my dolls are and some that won't fall off at our house where the new Barbies are.

Me, I got a jewelry box, necklace and a lamp. I think my mother was trying to tell me I need better light for sewing. She is so good with the hints. Not.

My brother cooked dinner. He is a great cook plus he makes it look pretty. My food is good but not great and its not pretty.

So, onto my new year's crafty project. I am doing the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt and so here is my idea so far. Appliqued trees. And depending on the fabric a couple of leaves on the side out of this batik I have. What do you think? It will probably change. It has like 10 times already and I haven't even picked out the fabric. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do and other times - I have no clue. Its one of the latter this time. The fun of trying to be crafty and playing with my markers. :)

This will make you laugh. So M started drawing people this past week or so. So she was drawing a picture of grandma. She drew a circle and then she put these lines on both of the insides. I asked her what that was. She ran over to Grandma and touched her face, "These." "You mean wrinkles?" "YES." OH MY GOSH, my brother and I were laughing so hard. My poor mother. The honesty of kids.

I hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY new year!

Not a Very Crafty Christmas

I have been having no luck. Seriously...I am trying hard to be crafty but it is not working. First I wanted to make scarves but couldn't find fabric to match (Thanks Michelle - totally going to try grey), then I was going to make these bubble pouches and put some Govida, Frango and Lindt chocolate in it for my office mates, I cut them out, bought everything I needed but then when I was getting ready to sew them together - I can't find the hair elastics that I bought to hook on the buttons. I am getting some more today and then I am sure I will find them.

Then I was going to make these little calendars for my daughter's preschool teachers (there are 10 of them so I wanted something useful but not to expensive) but after M and I drove to 7 different stores in our town looking for the little calendar - I had to order them on line and may not get them in time (might just make as a New Year's gift).Then I was making cookies - since my Grandma is usually the Christmas Cookie Goddess, I had to step up and make them- and the spritz first were deformed but I got that fixed and then I burnt half of them. I did make her traditional Italian cookies yesterday (all 12 dozen) and they turned out so I am 4: 1 on my Christmas crafts/cookie. I should have taken pictures but I wanted to pack them up before I ate too many. :) I have never had them fresh and they are so good fresh. I had to text my brother and brag that I was eating the cookies and he had none. He is looking forward to his stale portion on Christmas.

Oh, and I lost our Christmas cards. I bought the photo cards at Costco, filled out the envelopes but I can't find the cards. Help me...please. So everyone will get those in the new years as well.

On a side note that will make you grossed out but chuckle at the same time - my 91 year old grandma shared a little secret thought she had (I know not so secret any more) - She said, "did you know I have wrinkles on my butt?!" Oh, to get old.

Oh, also you should check this out. I know of Kwanzaa but had never really read anything about it to know much more than its an "African" heritage holiday and it goes for like 7 days but that was all I knew. There was this short post you should read. I wish we all celebrated this sort of thing. All the tenants really should fit in all our lives. Anyway...a little Kwanzaa education for you.

Oh, the very top picture is M and her friends decorating cookies at a friend's house. I didn't make the cookies - thank goodness. The kids would have been so disappointed!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful day off of work whether you celebrate the day or not.

I lied

Okay, only a little. I said I would be posting about the scarves I was making. Well, I made the tops then I got so frustrated I threw it to the side. Why so frustrated? Well, the top is mainly dark purples so I wanted a dark purple fleece or flannel for the back. All I could find was bright purple. Do you know where I could get some dark purple flannel or fleece? I wasn't happy with black. I would really appreciate your help and then I could really finish them. :) Thanks.

I'm Back Again and so Quickly

My brother asked me to make him so bags for gifts for x-mas. I said sure as long as he pays for the fabric. I always buy excess fabric so that is how I receive my payment. So, first is the above bag. I made two, one for him and one for myself. I ended up not liking the size of it for me so I think I will send it to my aunt in Texas after I change the button that is. I am not liking it. This bag is from Artsycraftybabe. It is a free pattern of hers called the Phoebe bag. The flowers are hers too. No creativity on my part. :)

This bag is from a vintage McCall's pattern that I acquired from my mother. Its from the late 70's. I like it. Super roomy. I made myself one too. (I have to test them out, right? And I needed a Halloween bag.) This is for my brother's friend who is going to school so she needs room for books and loves skulls. I love this fabric. I got it here at Pink Chalk Fabric. They deliver super fast. I highly recommend them. The buttons are also vintage from my great aunt Oska's collection of buttons.I made two buttercup bags designed by Made By Rae. I thought I messed up on the purply one so I made the maroon one. I put snaps on it and then I couldn't sew around the edge and it really needed it so I was super frustrated. Then the next day I realized, duh, I have a big hole in the bag still. Why not take the snaps off, sew the edge and put the snaps back. I am so dumb sometimes. The purply green one is from Amy Butler's LOVE collection. I made the handle shorter and since is was so wide I folded it in so it has a little peek a boo effect. The maroon is from Anna Maria Horner. I again used a vintage button. I really love that one. I thought about not sending it but I sent a photo of the fabrics to my brother so I kind of have too. I am sending him one extra bag with the intentions of him returning one so I hope its that one.Finally, I made an Amy Butler Swing Bag. I have so gotten my money's worth out of this pattern. I have like four of them for myself and I made one for every one of my friends. Much use. In fact, I have made 4 out of this exact fabric. Its Amy Butler's Nigella line. Love it. I get compliments still when I use mine. This is the pattern that sucked me into making bags. When I was looking at the link I was eyeing another one...hmmm....

My next project is making skinny scarves. I broke my ruler so I need get another one before I continue but maybe I can share this weekend with you. That is what everyone is getting this year. Skinny scarves made with kimono silk and fleece. Odd combo, huh? Its gonna work, really. :)

Wow - its been awhile

I have been so preoccupied with my grandma and the holidays that I haven't had a chance to blog at all. We really haven't done anything but holiday stuff. M and I saw the Nutcracker and we made gingerbread houses, had a sleep over and more. Nothing too exciting to share. But I did finish my quilt blocks for the three bees I am in. I forgot to take pictures of all of them but here are a few. Check in tomorrow for the bags I made. :) Oh, I threw in a couple of my kid too. The first one is at the Nutcracker. My mom made M's dress and the next is Gingerbread making. You can't tell but she is wearing a Grinch t-shirt. She picked it out herself. Nut.