Pocket Change

The 'Pocket Change' coin quilt is just a few stitches from being completed, but I couldn't wait to show it to you. I love it. The tutorial should be up on the sidebar of my blog later this afternoon. (Yes, I ripped out all the quilting from the no batting fiasco. A summer quilt wasn't what was in my head and once I have an idea in my head, it's hard to get it out. Stubborn, I know. I've been told that once or twice.)
Again, the back is a bit of fun...a few extra rows of coins.
A close up of the quilting...a compact straight line argyle-like pattern.

TUTORIAL IS UP...look in the sidebar. I've also created a flickr group for items made from patterns and tutorials that I've shared on this blog. Come join the group and show what you've made. It's always nice to see when the effort I put into tutorial making actually gets used. So join the group and post your pics!! I can't wait to see what you've made.
I attended a baby shower for a lovely young lady who has grown up before my eyes. Now she's going to be a mom. She and her future little one received this quilt.
I made a little bag for it. Actually, it's not really for the quilt...it's to hang over the head rest of the car to toss in all those baby/kid things that need to be in the car. You know, books, toys, extra pacifiers and of course snacks.
The shower was great fun. I can't wait to see the little one with his/her quilt.

For those who asked...I used the Kidlet tutorial at JC Handmade for the car organizer. I used part of a quilted zig zag pillow sham for the front of the bag. I adapted her design a bit by making it larger 15x15 and I changed the size of the pocket to accomodate the book, but other than that it's pretty much the same. I also sewed two lengths of the polka dot ribbon together on the edges for the handle. I wanted polka dots to be on both sides, plus it gave it a bit more weight and strength. Oh, and I added a tall pocket on the inside to hold a bottle. Hope this helps.

Baby Steps

Despite a few setbacks this week, I did manage to accomplish a couple of things. I'm going to keep these private lest you think "stupid is as stupid does" should become the theme of this blog. I was able to finish my August virtual quilting bee commitments.
First are my blocks for Amy. She wanted blocks from 2" to 9.5 inches and a few in between. When I first saw her fabrics in the bag I thought...oh my, she really did pull these randomly from her scrap box. Amy is a genius...look how fabulous they are! I couldn't stop making these. Lesson learned...unexpected fabric combinations can be so fresh and interesting. This is going to be one fabulous quilt!
This one is for Amber, the first block of the second round of my Common Threads bee. It's hard to believe we've finished our first year and are on to the second. Again Amber chose fantastic fabric. She wanted us to show off those mushrooms....how cute are they!
Look who came to visit right outside my studio window. This little one and her sibling and mom had a little snack early this morning. Thanks to Bruno, I was up early enough to see them and get this shot. My Bruno is an early riser. More on Bruno later...check up at the vet today...hopefully all is well.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for the welcome to my new friend. He may become the star of this blog if I don't get sewing.

FMF Freaks...UNITE!

I'm not much for using a whole line of fabric in a project. I like to play with different combinations, but I seem to put a piece or two of Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy into just about everything I make. It's like the perfect line of fabric, great colors, great prints, a nice variety of scale. It has a modern feel with a nod of nostalgia. I love this fabric. I have a nice stash, but I'm slowly, but surely running out. I cut my last piece of one print the other day and it was hard.

Ah, what to do? Don't despair. Could we, the quilty blog community band together and convince Free Spirit to bring back this fabulous line of fabric? You never know the power and influence you have unless you try.

My friend Penny, of Sewtakeahike, has taken the initiative to start a campaign to bring FMF back. So, let's not let her be alone in her quest. If you're a FMF freak too, or would like to become one, join us!

Penny has started a blog just for the purpose of showing Free Spirit how much we want FMF back. To join the campaign, just go here and sign in to show your support.

I'd Like You to Meet...

Bruno

I miss Fudge terribly, and though no dog could ever replace her, I'm a dog person and I need to be a dog owner. I've been looking at shelter dogs online for a couple of weeks. On the way home from the airport we stopped in to see the boys and run some errands in the city. I asked my husband if he'd mind stopping by one of the local shelters...simply to look.

As you can see, I'm not much of a window shopper. He wasn't even the dog I planned to see.

Maybe it was that face, those eyes...the gentle paw on my knee as I knelt by his kennel sealed the deal.

Have you seen this on Sew Mama Sew about Iraqi Bundles of Love? Talk about making helping easy.

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

Are you sitting down? Ready for a good laugh? This is worth more than a giggle...a hearty guffaw for sure and possibly your drink spewing through your nose kind of funny.

Remember this quilt...'Pocket Change'...those fun fabrics...a cute baby coin quilt. I got up early today and continued basting away. I had settled on a quilting idea...I was pumped, ready to get it finished and take that final picture so I could upload the tutorial today.

I was happily quilting away.....line after line....laying it out, smiling at myself, at the quilt. There was a nagging feeling though...my machine wasn't sounding quite right, a sort of hollow sound. I chalked it up to the fact that it needed a good cleaning. I told myself I'd do it right after I finished the quilting on this one.

Halfway done and I spread it on my table to admire my work one more time. This one was turning out just as I had imagined, but something wasn't right. I flipped it over...looked fine on the back. Flipped it over again and said to myself, my that's light as a feather. Then I looked at it again and my jaw dropped and a knowing frown spread across my face. How could I...how could I have done something so stupid.

Perfect top,

cute back,

great quilting...

no batting.

I forgot the batting. Forgot the batting...what quilter in their right mind forgets the batting?

Don't answer that.

Lost in Cyberspace

Done and in Chicago by now. Hopefully it will be delivered to the new parents today.
I really love the colors they chose, so boyish, but not overly babyish. This should grow up with him awhile. It's definitely big enough to last past those infant days.
The back was one of those serendipity moments. I was planning a couple of zig zags for the back...sewed one of the sections wrong and didn't see it until I had cut it...took it apart and put it back together this way. I thought it looked pretty cute.
This might turn out to be another quilt design. I love those serendipity moments...after I get over the initial 'screwed that up' moment.
Thanks for the comments on my test post. Been struggling with my posts showing up on bloglines and now google reader. I thought maybe it was me being a MAC user, or my browser (so I tested with safari or firefox). (No I'm not going on a safari!) I've heard from some of you that I'm not the only one with this problem. I did figure out that if you resubscribe in bloglines and choose the second feed listed when it gives you feed options, that one is working. In google reader I have to refresh to get the posts to show up. It's so frustrating to not understand the whole feed thing. My hope is that you all can find me....I don't want to be lost in cyberspace.

test

safari test post....

Monday...gotta do

Spent the weekend pretty much lazing around. Too many hours spent in the studio simply staring at the design wall. Ever have one of those weekends? So now, it's gotta do Monday.
This quilt has to be bound and ready to hop on the plane with my hubby in the a.m. The baby is late and so am I.
This is a design I'm playing with inspired by some leftovers and a song. It's not a gotta do...it's one of the things that distracted me from my to do list.
This just needs to be quilted so I can share the tutorial for it this week. Should've had this done by now.
I really didn't get a thing done this weekend except make more messes. I've gotta get this cleaned up...I'm having company tonight. Do you think they'll notice?

Iraqi Bundles of Love

So, do you have some extra fabric and notions hanging around your house? If so...read on.

I've been reading Kristen's blog for awhile now and she's an amazing artist, but besides that she's got this cool husband who is serving in Iraq and doing this project to leave behind supplies for the people he has served. Iraqi Bundles of Love. I'm packing up a box to send tonight.

Head here to read more about it and find out how you can help. A simple gesture with enormous impact.

Edited to add: The IBOL guy has made a button (well, maybe Kristen made it) to add to your blog. Thanks to all who have headed over and are sending a box. I know I shouldn't be surprised by the goodness and generosity of people. But, somehow I always am.

Making and Receiving Gifts

I've been cutting these...

to make another quilt like this one. The tutorial is almost done. Amazing how different fabric choices can change a quilt.

My Christmas in July package has arrived! (after an unplanned detour) It came all the way from Norway from Anne Marie's house. She sent me all of these things snuggled into this beautiful bag.





I think this book might be my favorite thing. It's so wonderful to see the work of quilters from another part of the world.

Thank you so much Anne Marie. I appreciate all the work you put into my gift. They will all find special places in my house.

A Magical Night and Bright Tangerine

Friday's show was amazing. Way better than the July show for a couple of reasons: Jon's music made the atmosphere fun and festive, more people, people lingered and that translated into lots of sales. I was more relaxed too. I assigned photographic duties to my oldest son. Not that he's not a good kid, but a photographer...nope. In 4 hours he took 10 pictures. Here's the only not blurry one and it was taken of my hubby and Jon before the show began. Trust me, it was a fabulous evening. Any one interested in coming to be my photographer for the September show?
Sunday I played with Kaffe Fasset's idea of shirt stripe boxes. I've been collecting striped shirts forever. I used his templates, made my own and I'm still not quite satisfied. I learned that not all stripes are equal. Some work well in this design and some don't work at all. I did a sort of argyle type quilting. I do like that and the bias binding is nice too. I'm not sure I'll be making a larger version. I'm still thinking about it.
I love when the "back to school" items appear on store shelves. There are always such fun storage ideas and usually they come in bright, nifty colors. These were at wal mart for cheap! I have 6 of them on these shelves to put works in progress. I like to keep things sorted and separate so that projects don't get mixed up or lost since I'm always working on so many things at once, this system really helps me pick up where I left off.
I put a couple here to plop things I use often....like all my painter's tape and my rulers and tools. I love how they pick up the colors in the yardsticks on my thread cabinet.
I think I've set a color theme for the studio. I had some 'bright tangerine' paint that I picked up in the paint reject section a few years ago. I was going to get formica to cover my work table (the one I made from the platform bed), but formica is expensive and this seemed like a great solution. So, I painted the table like this. Just one coat done, but I think it's going to be so bright and fun.

Maybe a pale spring green on the walls and some fun fabric for a valance? Stay tuned.

A Good Omen and Something for You Too

Look who joined me for breakfast today. She was a little cautious at first.
While I enjoyed my yogurt and grape nuts on the back deck, she enjoyed a few nibbles of the meadow which is my back yard.
I think she's a good omen for the show today.
I've been promising a tutorial for how I put grommets in my potholders. It's not rocket science, but if you've never done it before you might find it helpful. Just click here to download the pdf. I have a couple of other tutorials in the works to share, one for this quilt and one for this one.

Thanks for all your good wishes and support.

I'm off to the show!

Show Time Again

The August opening reception for my quilt show is on Friday. I'm especially excited about this one because my youngest son, Jon will be providing the music. Live music, how great is that? Invitations went out last week. I can feel the nerves building again. I have lots of prep to do, so that will keep me busy. Busy is good.

Orange crush is finished. I have to decide if this one is going to be added to the show. I'm on the fence.
I do like the quilting though. Much harder to do than I expected.

**Meagan is recruiting to start another virtual quilting bee. She's got a site set up too. This girl is on it. If you'd like to participate, just head on over here and leave her a comment. Make sure you give her a way to get in touch with you. (email!)