August 29, 2011

Irene induced crafting time...

Thanks to Irene I had nothing to do and no where to go this weekend so I was able to finally get some sewing done. I was in a slump on Saturday and had no motivation to sew or do anything productive in the afternoon. I felt bad, like I was wasting precious sewing time, but its better to not sew than sew poorly.
However, Sunday my motivation came back so here are some goodies I was able to work on:

1. Two "Rainy Days and Mondays" Sprocket Pillows



I think I like the smaller one on the right better, only because I like the side fabric better because it pops more. The umbrealla fabric on the larger pillow is one of my favorite prints in that set, but somehow it just blends in too much. O well - they are both cute and hopefully the recipient will love them too :)


2. Block 8 for the "Skill Builder Sampler QAL" Series


I have to say, I REALLY hated this way of making the flying geese. However, I guess the point of this project is to learn various ways of creating the same block and figuring out which method you like best. I still have 1 more block to make this month to be caught up so we'll see if I like that method any better.
Sadly, that is all. I also took a trip to the post office and finally mailed out the items from my giveaway and the turtle baby gift I posted about last week. Between life, an earthquake, and a hurricane, things have been a little crazy around here - hope everyone will forgive me for being so slow on shipping when they get their lovely items tomorrow :)

Happy Monday everyone!

***PS - In a previous post I had mentioned a great tutorial for zippers with tabs - here it is from Bree from My Crafty Crap - guest posting at Sew Sweetness I used this tutorial for my giveaway clutch and I really liked it - first time making zipper tabs and they turned out super cute!***


Linking up with:  sew many ways {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge CreationsFresh Poppy Design

August 26, 2011

design seeds: harvest hues

design seeds: harvest hues: {harvest hues}

I am totally seeing a new quilt here - what do you think? Green is my favorite color and that top green is fantastic. That bottom orange happens to be favorite color #3 on my list - and my car is even that color! Yes, I do believe we have found a winner. I think this may be my first attempt at a "modern and original design"... we'll see what that ends up being! Thanks for the inspiration design seeds!

In other news, we are preparing for hurricane Irene this weekend. It is supposed to be between a category 2 and 1 when it hits the Delaware and Jersey shorelines, both of which are only 1.5 hours away from where I live. We won't get in the devastation in northern Delaware that those costal cities will, but I'm expecting big storms, lots of rain, and maybe even power outages. Keep those affected by the storms in your thoughts and prayers, my heart goes out to those I know and don't know living in the path of this beast :(

Bottled water - Check
Flashlight - Check
Charged up Kindle with the whole Jane Austen collection - Check
Big snuggly dog and hubby to keep me company - Check
... I think we'll be alright at my house :)

August 24, 2011

WIP Wednesday Update... or lack thereof

I have been a total slacker for the past week and weekend! I really have not gotten anything crafty done except for my smaller gift for my partner in the For the Love of Solids Swap:


FTLOS - Mug Rug
 So there my friends is my meager WIP Wednesday update - pathetic, I know!

In other news tho, I had a fabulous weekend and have been keeping very busy with life stuff - which I do believe is more important than crafty stuff... if only barely ;-)

Friday I had a lovely date night out with my husband - Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then a nice stroll around the mall to help relax our super full bellies.

Saturday myself, my hubby, and a friend of ours all went down to Rehoboth Beach for what will most likely be our last beach day of the season. The weather was perfect and we had a fantastic time! I even played in the ocean which I have NEVER done and o my heck it was SO fun! Here are some highlights from that little trip:


Hubby taking a little nap

My friend enjoying her book and the gorgeous weather

Hubby and I

My first time playing in the ocean - yes, I am doggy paddling while my hubby belly-surfs a wave to shore haha
Sunday after church we had a game night with friends from our ward and our old ward - always good to see old friends and make new ones! No pictures but I assure you, it was a roaring good time - complete with electronic catch phrase, love that game!

And one last picture for you from last night - we were putting together lawn furniture for my friend and once we turned the glider rightside up, we realized it was either made only for REALLY tall people... or we did it wrong lol. Fortunately I am REALLY tall and was excited about the prospect of a chair at my height, but in the end we put it back together properly, hehe.


I'm 5'11 - gotta love those hightop gliders for us tall people haha... wow, we are seriously furniture building geniuses :)
And that my friends is why I have not gotten any crafting done for the past week... forgiven? I hope so :) 

***I almost forgot! An amazing thing happened yesterday that will probably never happen again in this state in my lifetime:
We had an earthquake in Delaware!
FOR REAL! It started down in Virginia and was reported to have been felt all the way up in NYC and even as far up as Toronto, Canada! It was a 5.8 and things got shaken up a bit down in VA and DC but fortuntaly no causalties have been reported and things did not get damaged much up by us. Definitely a very weird experience that I never expected to have here on the east coast... kind of cool tho! And now we are expecting a hurricane to hit us this weekend which will hopefully only bring heavy rain since we are farther up the coast.
Armageddon? I hope not! :)

August 17, 2011

WIP Wednesday Update

Happy Wednesday everyone! Two more days til Friday and the weekend, woo hoo! ;-)

Here are some of my current projects I've been working on this week:

1. A little baby present for a friend of mine - Stuffed turtle and a diaper basket



2. Block #7 From the "We Can Do It - Skill Builder Sampler"



3. Beginning of a new Sprocket Pillow - Rainy Days and Mondays



I'd say for 2 evenings of crafting after work, I've made a nice amount of progress.

Happy Crafting and Hope you have a lovely day!


Be sure to jump on over to Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else is up to on this

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

August 14, 2011

Weekend Sewing & Giveaway Winners

Happy Monday everyone! What better way to start the week than with an announcement of my giveaway winners, yay! Thanks so much to all my new and current followers for playing along - if you didn't win this time no worries, there will be other giveaways in the future.

Winner #1 for the Zig Zag tote bag is:

#2 - Joy said...







That tote rocks my socks! I'm also a follower.

#19 -  JBlanton said...







Love the bags- following your blog


2. Next on the crafting list was another 4 x 5 Bee block - 3 down 5 to go! Also hoping to get these finished by the end of the month and mailed, even tho the deadline is not until Oct. 15




This quilt top is made out of some old-fashioned Moda fabrics cut into 9" squares. Quick and easy to put together and I hope someone will end up loving it.

I have 1 more charity quilt top to make and then all 4 quilts need to be completed by Oct. 22nd for the big celebration with all of the children from LDS churches in our area who have been participating in the RED (Read Every Day (in your scriptures)) Program.  #5 is on my to-do list for this week... wish me luck!

Have a great week everyone!
sew many ways{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations
Fresh Poppy Design

August 11, 2011

Mini Bowtucks Bag #2

Here is the new mini bowtucks bag I made this week.


I used the same "Its a hoot - by Momo" fabric from the first one, just in pink this time. I love the way it looks. 
Its a good thing I love my mom or I would be keeping this one too haha. Alas, I promised it to her and to her it will go.


Just to give you an idea of the size, this is my Kindle in its green cover sitting next to it. In front is the matching zipper wallet/pouch I made.

Yay for quicker projects that don't take 3 months to complete... just 3 days haha. (Ok only about 5 or 6 hours... but spread over 3 days.)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

One last reminder... don't forget my GIVEAWAY - ends Saturday at midnight!

***And for an update to my dear readers... I will indeed be giving away BOTH the tote bag and the zipper wallet from that giveaway post... between blogger and google reader I reached 100+ followers, yay! Thanks for your support and good luck!

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August 10, 2011

WIP Wednesday & Giveaway Reminder

Good Morning and welcome to WIP Wednesday!


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

First order of business... go check out my GIVEAWAY if you have not already, those bags are dying to go to a new home - ends Saturday August 13th at midnight EST.

Now onto the sharing... here is what I've been working on this week:

1. Mini Bowtucks Bag

Re-creating this yellow bag in pink for my mom 

I completed over half of the prep work last night and I think it will be finished in time to go visit her on Saturday. I just need to make the handles, side ties, and insert the zipper pocket on the lining, then the rest is just quick assembly sewing from there.



2. Charity Quilt #4

I hopefully will sew the 6 strips together this week and have the top completely finished.
It may not look like much here but I think it will be a nice "old-fashioned" looking quilt, using some older lines of Moda fabrics. I cut 9 inch squares cut from the fat quarters someone donated to make a nice simple pattern, alternating light and dark fabrics.
I may add a pieced border using some leftover FQs to make it a bit bigger & longer once the top is all pieced together.

One more top to go and then I need to quilt all 4 tops and will have 5 total completed - due by October tho, gotta get crackin'! :)


3. A new pillow - fabrics chosed by my husband:


Front and Back panels

I think I will try an invisible zipper on this one - will be a first for me. I made 2 panels when trying out this Amy Butler pattern and thought wow, this would be fun as a reversible pillow, so we'll see how that turns out.

After seeing these next to eachother while taking pictures, I also realized what a fun quilt this would be! Sooo... I think I'm going to have to make a quilt to match the pillow :) These blocks are so easy to make, it would come together very quickly. That will have to wait until lots of other projects are out of the way tho.

4. For the Love of Solids Flikr Swap
Here is the finished pillow top for my partner - love this pattern with the colors. Now I just have to figure out how to quilt it and decide on a "smaller item" to send along.


I need to get this package completed by the end of the month before we go to Alaska, because the shipping window starts during my trip so I'll have to mail it right when I get back - yikes! DEADLINES... ahhhhhh :)

Hopefully I will have more fun things to show you on Monday after some weekend sewing. I will also be announcing the Giveaway winner then too so make sure to come back, it could be you!
Have a lovely week!


August 7, 2011

100th blog post giveaway!!

*** Giveaway is now closed ***

So excited... I've finally made it to my 100th blog post AND I still have people reading my ramblings, woo hoo! Lately I have been doing a bit of sewing that I'd like to share with you, my lovely readers.

Object #1, a zigzag totebag of my own design, complete with an inside zipper pocket for your wallet or keys for school/library/whatever trips:

Fabric - Curio by Moda

Object #2, a gathered clutch using the Noodlehead tutorial and a fantastic zipper end tutorial from my friend Bree at My Crafty Crap:


 
Love those zipper ends!
And now onto the giveaway portion of today's message ;-) You can win one or both of these lovelies - here's how:

Leave a comment for each of these things separately if you do them for a chance to win:

1. Follow this blog or let me know that you do already
2. Share this giveaway through a blog post, tweet, facebook, etc. and let me know you did

This giveaway will end on Saturday 8/13 at midnight. I will announce the winner on Monday - as Sunday is a lovely day of rest around here. 

The item being given away is Object #1 - the Curio Totebag. However, if I reach 100 followers, in honor of 100 on my 100th post, I will draw another name at the end of the giveaway and that lucky person will get my gathered clutch shown above. If we don't reach 100, no fear, I will give this lovely clutch away at a future date. 

Good luck, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing my big blogging day with me, and have a happy Monday!

{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations
Fresh Poppy DesignLinking up with: sew many ways

August 3, 2011

WIP Wednesday & Monday (8/8) Giveaway announcement



WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Welcome to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday Report

(Some of my projects are one hold due to lack of time, so I'm only going to report on those I've been able to work on recently)

1. A Zig and A Zag Quilt Along

I finally got my strips 1/2 way sewn - each one just needs a colored strip on the other side of the grey and then I can FINALLY start cutting. Hopefully this week I will be caught up.


Not sure why everything has a green tint - hopefully I will have a better picture next week once my strips are sewn and cut



2. BWS tips button

Block #6 Bow-Ties




3. For the Love of Solids Flikr Swap

Here are the options I gave my partner for a 20" pillow - I've received many responses and I think I am just going to go with #1 since that is the first one I made and I happen to prefer it as well:

For the love of solids


Also, I think this would be a really fun idea for a blanket. Making 9 of these 20" squares in the same color but different layouts like above to make an approx. 60 x 60 quilt - could also add sashing. Def. something I will keep in mind for when I have time ;-)

4. New Project (O no!) - Argyle Diamonds for my Hubby

I have a fabulous quilt my grandma gave me when I was a little girl and it has no batting and is perfect for the summer - but only big enough for 1 person. Hubby decided he would like one too and picked out this argyle fabric and pattern - here is my first sample block:


They will be turned the other way in the quilt with about 4 or 5 across and 5 or 6 down - have not figured out the exact measurements. This will have to wait until I get some other things done, but I wanted to make sure he liked the layout before I ordered more fabric

That is all for my WIP update for the week. Hopefully next week I will be a bit further along on my Kaleidescope quilt & Bee blocks and can share those.

Now for an announcement... this is my 99th post!! You know what that manes?
Blogpost #100 is a GIVEAWAY!

Next Monday, August 8th, I will post my 100th Blogpost Giveaway so make sure you come back to check it out!
AND just for fun, if I reach 100 followers, there will be a second giveaway item up for grabs. 
See you Monday!