Lucky, Lucky Girl

I am so very lucky in so many ways. I'm not just talking about a good life, which I am always very thankful for. But I absolutely love the quilt I received for Doll Quilt Swap 9. Oh my goodness, the colors are so neato. And I finally get to see what shot cottons are. They are cool is what they are! I'm in big trouble. Who sells them at the best price?!

My partner Krista combined natural linen and rich shot cottons to make me a modern quilt that is really a piece of art. She added some slow stitch quilting, which I adore. It's going to look so cool in my studio. I may have to redecorate to match the color palette. And quit laughing anyone who has been in my wild studio. One day I'll have a sleek, modern studio and this quilt will be center stage! And as if the quilt wasn't enough, Krista sent all kinds of goodies from Alaska. There's a sourdough starter I'm tempted to use for perfume! It smells wonderful.

Not much sewing going down Monday since I had to work, but I did rearrange my selvage blocks into the spider web pattern to take a picture before I moved it off my design wall cutting mat. And then I added some log cabin strips to my Grandmother's Flower Garden mini.

Number One child started college yesterday. And no, he wouldn't let me take a picture. Hmmph! He seemed excited both before and after. Yay! I think that minimum wage job at the theme park may have helped. Lots of hot, long days, being nice to rude tourists (he better be nice), lunch costing as much as you make an hour, etc. Thank you Universal Studios for collaborating with me that this kid should use his smarts and get a good college education! High five!

Hello Monday!

I'm so honored to be featured on the Selvage Blog! Karen started my love of selvages when I started quilting and continues to inspire me with her beautiful work and features from other fun quilters. She also has an Online Quilt Museum for even more eye candy. So hello and welcome if you hopped over from the Selvage Blog. I played with my selvages again yesterday. I really can't get enough of them!

This little wonky house block turned into a mini quilt for a swap. It's also time to mail my doll quilt for DQS9! It's been so much fun seeing all the creations. What a talented bunch!

Thursday, the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild visited the Quilt Shop of Deland. Judy Hansen, the owner has a wonderful fabric collection and patterns. There were also demonstrations and a little shopping.

I've been in a novelty fabric mood lately. Wasn't one of you supposed to keep me from buying fabric?! Okay, no more until...

Happy Monday everyone!

Hexie Love

There's no shortage of adorable hexagon quilt projects going on in blogland. English paper piecing is the perfect on-the-go project if you're waiting for kids, watching the tube, or need to keep your hands busy. I love how many of the quilters give this traditional technique a modern spin, but I had to try a Grandmother's Flower Garden too. Hexies are super easy even for a novice hand sewer like me.

Some links if you're interested.

Die cut paper pieces in all shapes and sizes
Great video tutorial using squares and piercing the paper piece
Love this tutorial because the basting stitches are on the back side and don't need to be removed. I used a square piece of fabric scrap since I don't have one of those fancy die cut machines.

Selvage Love!

 1. Selvage Wallet, 2. Selvage Wallet, 3. Salvaging Selvages, 4. Selvage Spider Web, 5. Selvages, 6. Selvage Bag, 7. Selvage Bookmark, 8. House of Selvages, 9. Selvage Asterisk Block

Playing around with the Mosaic Maker when I should be catching up. Or sewing with my selvages! ; )

I Love Rain!

It's been such a nice weekend with rain off and on. We really needed the rain and it kind of cools things off. A little steamy, but cooler. I had some spare time to catch up on things around here. The house block above was made for me for a swap I hosted. Love the geranium in the window!

Three minis are done. The bottom two have homes, but the top quilt is just something I wanted to try. Meh.

Played in the selvage pile for a little while today. I couldn't decide what to make, so this simple wallet seemed mindless enough. School starts tomorrow for the high school child. I hemmed her Denny's law magnet uniform skirt this morning. I'm sure it is not short enough, but it is supposed to be a uniform, not a mini skirt. I'm sure I'll hear about it in the morning when I place my breakfast order with my little fashionista. Kind of sad she has to wear a waitress outfit on the first day of school. Oh well, she can resume her cool wardrobe on Tuesday. College starts next week for the college kid. Yikes, I have a college kid! How did that happen? Tuition has been paid, id and parking decal obtained, books purchased, etc. I haven't had to do a thing! I'm so fortunate to have self-sufficient kiddos. I hope they both have a fun and successful school year.

I Love My Crazy Friends

My friend Jane sends me an e-mail this morning..."Found this painting - I believe it is an oil of Emmett Kelly the famous clown...signed by "Jasper" trying to find information about it on the internet and can't seem to find the right search to find...try and look this up for me MISS ART and see if you can find anything."

Oh yeah, I made the picture extra large just to mess with you.

See, she calls me "Miss Art," so I can totally make fun of her right back. That's how we roll. I think she did this to get back at me for getting us into trouble back in the day. I plead the fifth, but let's just say we've had some fun since second grade. But she must know I hate clowns in any form. Really, really hate clowns. I know I'm not alone. In fact, true clown lovers have to be rare. I designed a book for a clown once and it was all I could do not to scream during the photo shoot for the cover. Good times.

Anyway, if you know of a famous artist named "Jasper" who had an Emmett Kelly fixation, steer me there. I'll split the millions my dear friend is going to share with me when this "baby" sells! And sorry in advance for the nightmares.

Jane and I at the Antiques Road Show. I'm the gigantic one.

It's not that we haven't tried to make millions on our finds in the past. Here we are finding out that our stuff isn't worth the price of the free tickets we scored for the Antiques Road Show. I'm holding out for Emmett Kelly though! I have a feeling. ;)

Free Motion Quilt Along

Christina's Quilt

Christina at A Few Scraps is having a free motion quilting quilt along. I need all the help and practice I can get, so I'm eager to see what she has up her talented sleeve. She also has a giveaway going.

Not a lot of sewing going on around here, but I did get a few minutes to play in the scrap basket. My obsession with house blocks, basket blocks and clothesline quilts continues. In between work, back-to-school shopping and life, I hope to tackle some UFO's. Ha! I said that last week didn't I? Maybe they'll just disappear.

Do You Have Friggatriskaidekaphobia?

An irrational fear of Friday the 13th? That's the Urban Dictionary definition, I'm not hating on anyone's phobias. I'm not a super superstitious person but I have plenty of other issues! ; ) Anyway, what a fun word. Try to say it out loud and use it in a sentence today. Ha!

I added three black beads to this little mini quilt. I still need a label. I need to make labels today. Make me.

Work was so busy this week, but I managed to find a little time to reward myself with sewing projects. This gathered clutch was fun and gave me more much-needed zipper practice.

Love this lunch bag. I've had the red and white gingham oil cloth for a while and was looking for a fun project. Sewing with oil cloth is very interesting. Luckily, most of the sewing was done on the wrong side. I think you need a special Teflon foot to sew on the oil side. The pattern called to top stitch the upper edge, but I don't think my machine will do it.

Wonky houses for a block swap. I have a wonky house block collection from other quilters growing. I'm hoping to put them all together for a charity quilt. These three I'll send to my swap partners.

I stashed all my UFO's away when I cleaned my studio a couple of weeks ago. Not a good idea! Out of sight, out of mind! I plan to get that basket out this weekend and continue work on a few of those UFO's. These two asterisk blocks are a start. One of my quilt friends sent me more selvages, so I had to make a selvage asterisk.

I made this mini quilt for the friend who sends me selvages. I can't believe I haven't made her one of my floppy selvage bookmarks to say thanks. I usually whip up one of those to say thanks. She included a note in the bag that said "what do you do with these things?" I guess selvage quilting is relatively new. And just a little crazy.

Off to make the boy some blueberry pancakes. The fruits and veggies are still wonderful this summer. I've been a cooking fool. I'm even growing my own basil and dill. Barely, but I'm doing it. Looking forward to a fun weekend. I hope you have a great one.

A Few Finishes

Just need to add a label to this little mini and get it in the mail. Hope my partner likes it. I had fun playing with rick-rack. I'm going to have to do that again as I have a large collection of rick-rack. I first saw rick-rack on quilts blocks right here on one of my very favorite blogs. The author has a book coming out this fall. I can't wait to check it out!

Another little mini complete. This one needs a label too.

A fellow quilter sent me her selvages, so I made her a bookmark to say thanks. Doesn't she use some pretty fabrics? Love these black, red, and white prints.

My Ugly Fabric

And lastly, we had a blast at our monthly Orlando Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Kathryn demonstrated a watercolour painting technique used on muslin with a soy milk resist. It was really neat. Now I just need to find some dry, white soybeans to make the resist. I wish there was a Whole Foods on this side of town. It would quadruple my grocery bill, but I just love that place. The cheese section alone brings me to my knees!

The fish fabric above is what I found in my brown paper bag challenge. Our guild is having an ugly fabric challenge. We make something using the fabric we received and show the results at the October meeting. I think I got pretty lucky. I like the colors in this fish fabric. Other members were not as lucky! ;)

I hope everyone has a fun-filled week. I plan on tackling my UFO pile. Scary, but I'm inspired after watching a few A&E's Hoarders episodes. Talk about scary! I don't know why that show fascinates me. Frightening and very sad, but they usually have a happy ending.

A Colorful Weekend

It was a colorful weekend here! An inspired color palette and scrappy quilt. I think this will be a mini for someone.

Playing with houses again. Another mini for someone. My scrap basket never seems to go down. I'm going to play in it again today. I have the best fun playing in that basket!

I've always wanted to make this block after seeing Loft Creation's fun neighborhood of garden girls. It's not a tough block, but do remember to add your quarter-inch seam allowances to the templates. Ask me how I know. I don't know if I'd be as brave as Stephanie and make 12 of these gals, but I may try another now that I know to add the seam allowance. My girl has short little arms. I was just proud of myself that I could figure out how to fix it!

Uh oh, these pretties somehow landed in my mailbox. I'm done fabric shopping for a while. I promise. No more fabric until I put a dent in what I have. Or until Fabric.com sends me a coupon. Or someone has a big sale. I'm kidding. No more!

Besides, it was my 21st wedding anniversary Sunday. I think the hubby got off easy gift-wise! We were married on the way to work 21 years ago yesterday. This was our official wedding portrait. Dang we were skinny. We had planned a vacation to Jamaica and decided to get married the day before we left. Oh, why not? Instant honeymoon! We told only our parents the eve before we flew out. It's been an interesting 21 years with Inspector Gadget. He continues to amuse and entertain me and I couldn't have hand-picked a better father for our kids. He's all that and a bag of chips!