Happy Halloween!!

Don't OD on too much candy!

Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Fall '10

Quilting is everywhere these days. Quilt market is just wrapping up in Houston as I write and the Blogger's online Quilt Fest is back too! How fun!

Amy Ellis runs this bloggy event every year and it's a chance to share your quilty creations and the inspiration behind them. And, it's a great way to discover new online quilters.

Click on this logo

to see more

Here is my contribution ~ Regular readers have seen this quilt before. It's really hard for me to pick a special quilt - maybe because I've been quilting for such a short while that I haven't gotten favorites yet. I still feel like every new quilt is a favorite child until I move onto the next. Still, I like this one a lot - it's special to me because I designed it specifically for its recipients - my parents - who are obviously quite special to me. My mother was and is a huge sewing inspiration. She has never quilted (I don't think) but she has mad sewing skills and I still turn to her for help and advice if I run into a sewing dilemma. She and my Dad, are also super creative people, always working hard on new projects and beautifying their lives. They rock!!! Ok so without further adieu and before the tears set in, here's my submission


Right before I designed this quilt, I had been making a lot of english paper pieced hexagons after learning about them in the spring. This project just screamed hexagons to me, so I put a big curvy swath of them across the front as the focal point of the quilt and left the pieced parts of the quilt fairly simple. There was a lot of hand sewing in this quilt, but in the end, it turned out just exactly the way I wanted it to!


So there you have it! My BQF submission. Enjoy! And please go check out the other submissions. So many beautiful quilts all in one place!



Happy Sewing!

Pillow Talk Swap round 4

Here we go again! It's time for round 4 of the Flickr-based Pillow Talk Swap put on by master swap officianadittas Heather and Kerri. I had seriously considered skipping this one. With the holidays approaching and so much going on with the kids schedules, I had kind of unofficially decided I wasn't going to do anymore swaps for a few months at least. But this swap is so much fun, I just couldn't pass it up. So I'm officially in, and I already have an idea in mind. Partners haven't been assigned yet, so I hope that my idea meshes up with the person. But that's ok, usually ideas are plentiful around here, it's the time to execute them that's in short supply.

So here's my inspiration mosaic for the current round:



There are so many fabulous pillows to chose from, it's really hard to narrow it down. Modern design being a key element here.

Should be a fun swap!!

Happy Sewing!

BOO!!!

Are you ready for the haunting hour?



Lace hat embroidery design by Urban Threads



Happy Sewing!

Prickly Pear Pincushion

Here's a prickly little pincushion. I had so much fun making these apples and pears for the Savvy Seasons Swap, I decided to make another one. This one is filled with emery sand, to clean the needles and keep the pins sharp. Let's hope it works.

The fabric is Heather Ross' Far Far Away 2. I really wanted to use this fun fabric for something whimsical. I really like working with this cotton/linen blend. Very nice weight and hand for sewing something like this.

This was a fun quick project. But I think I'm full up for pincushions for now.

Hope your weekend was productive. Happy Sewing!

A Mystery Package arrives...

What could be in this Mystery Package???...

There is no return address...



...further sleuthing reveals that this package traveled overseas...


....all the way from the United Kingdom via the Royal Mail. We Yanks think that Royal Mail sounds pretty fancy indeed!

...perhaps my long lost Tiara is inside?? Wait, even better, could it be my Savvy Seasons Swap goodies??

...but it is!!

~~What a pretty package...


...with even prettier things inside!!

...as you can see, little hands could hardly stay away while pictures were being taken...



Ta Da, the grand reveal!!!

I love it all - thank you so much Mandy!! These are perfect for our home and already well loved!!!!

Check out the Ghastlies! I love these creepy guys!

Yes, I am weird.

A Halloween lover, through and through. Our newly adorned kitchen table (sorry, horrid lighting in that room).

That's all for today ~ happy sewing!

Tuesday teeny project

Here's a new pincushion for my cutting table.


This was made from a pattern in Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me book. I goofed on the center interfacing and used heavy weight instead of peltex. Ooops As a result the inner storage area puffs inward from the stuffing making that area considerably smaller than intended. Next time I'll make it correctly, but for now this will do for my purposes.

That's all for today - Happy Sewing!

A little Christmas Cheer - already!

Christmas decorations are starting to show up in stores around here. Ok I will admit I am in no way ready for this just yet. But the fact remains that the holiday season approaches.

I haven't even dug into my Halloween decorations yet, but I have made up a little Christmas cheer for my Saavy Season's Swap partner. This little package of goodies will be going their way soon.


After much deliberation, I decided to make an advent calendar out of little stockings. They are big enough to pop in a little chocolate or other Holiday treat.


The stockings can be removed for easy washing. This calendar is sized to fit on your table and doubles as a table decoration. I added the festive fruit to adorn the center. I hope you like it partner.



Now that that's done, it's back to Halloween sewing for me. I have to create a ghoul costume for my son.
Happy Sewing!

Fallish Quilting along

You may have noticed a new button on my sidebar ~ the Pickle dish Quilt-along which is being run by Aneela of Comfortstitching. I have always wanted to make a double wedding ring quilt and this one is very similar to that, so I decided to join in. Mine is going to be in very non-traditional? or at least very current colors. It's a palette of black and citrus and gray.

I have absolutely no plan for this quilt at the moment. Picnic quilt? Xmas gift? No clue.



So far I've made 27 pairs of these arches - you need 8 arches for a block and I'm going to be making at least 12 blocks (possibly more, haven't decided yet), sooooo I've got a long long way to go.


Here's a jist of what the blocks will look like ~


Should I be working on a new quilt when I have umpteen higher priority projects to do? Nope! But sometimes you just have to go with the flow of your creative juices.

Happy sewing!

All in a days work

Just a little something for a new baby. Not mine, another new little one who will be coming along soon ~ a long-time coworker and all around sweet lady is finally expecting her first child at the end of the month. She and her hubby will make great parents, I just know it!

This little baby quilt will do nicely for the upcoming shower which is next week.


It's sort of a Munki in the middle-inspired quilt, but I expanded past Heather Ross designs to just about anything cute and childlike.


I finally dug into those Kaufman Kona roll-ups which I have been otherwise admiring on the shelf for a few months. They came in handy for this project. Don't ask me which color is which because I certainly can't tell you. I can tell you they are all from the bright palette. The sashing is Kona Ash which is a nice light grey and lovely in this quilt. For the backing/binding I choose a Riley Blake dotty print which had been in my stash and happened to match perfectly. Did I mention I love using up stuff in my stash?


One baby gift down, I still have one more to make - this month! And it's October, which means Halloween sewing is on the agenda plus Swap goodies. I better get crackin'!



This also constitutes another Friday Finish for Sew and Tell - Happy sewing!