Stuck in a rut...

Aside from the fact that I no longer have any time to craft other than Sunday evenings, I am completely stuck in a rut with this mini quilt! I have 2 weeks to finish it - which means 2 more Sundays - but I just can't decide how I want to quilt it which is making me avoid it. I did cut my batting and backing - just need to pin baste them together. Any thoughts on quilting? Always happy for inspiration and suggestions!!



Still haven't taken a new picture lol - again, GREY not SALMON :)

In other news, I did get a "quilting consultation" set up for next Saturday!! I am soooo giddy with excitement about this! Pinkie is finally going to get quilted and hopefully by the beginning of April I will have her back to bind and SNUGGLE! This is the first quilt I made for myself and it has been waiting since Fall 2010 for me to finish it - finally just decided to take her to a local longarm quilter and see what I think about that whole process. She had some great ideas for quilting designs and her prices are great - I also follow her blog and am expecting absolutely good things out of this first time working together :)

A little nervous that my backing and batting are not going to be 2 inches on each side when I "square them up" this weekend and honestly I have no idea how I am going to square up this beast of a quilt on my tiny dining room table. You see that Mini quilt in the first picture? Yep... it is taking up the whole table lol.

O! And I think I forgot to share this news - I totally won another honey bun of that Soiree fabric from my quilt above - so awesome! This has been out of print for almost 2 years I think and I just happened to find a giveaway on Lila Tueller's blog and I WON! YAY! The lovely honey bun came along with a cute purse pattern - definitely making a matching pillow for this quilt :)

Not much progress on anything this week but I've been thinking a lot about quilting... it is the thought that counts after all, right?? :)

ps. 1 week and still going strong with my fabric diet... 7 more until I can take that little "snack break" - ok seriously I'm not going strong, I am going INSANE and it is very frustrating with all of these darn "Leap Year" sales going on haha but for now, I'm abstaining ;-)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - go check out all of the other awesome creations from this week:



Fabric Diet & what I'll be dreaming about until Summer...

Ok people - this is it - my "fabric pants" have gotten WAY too tight and I need to go on a diet!

8 weeks - no fabric purchases whatsoever!

Middle of April I am allowed to take a small "snack" and buy some of Lizzy House's Guising (Below) and the foxes from Aneela Hoey's "A Walk in the Woods" - and then it is back on the diet for another 4 weeks - ouch!



Guising - Lizzy House - Arrives in April



Then when my diet is over, I am totally getting some of this and making a fabulous Winter quilt!



Brrr! - Laurie Wisbrun - Arrives in June

I will admit that I already pre-ordered and paid for Flea Market Fancy (just a few prints I liked) - so at least that won't be tempting me during my diet. There are a few other fabrics coming out in May/June/July from Moda that I have my eye on but the sweet-treats will still be there when I get off my diet and if not - it was not meant to be. 

Can I do it? I sure hope so! Need to curb this addiction NOW lol. My fabric budget is way overdrawn and drastic times call for drastic measures!

So here is to no shopping and as much sewing as I can fit in around school and work! Wish me luck!

(ps. yes, I do realize how pathetic I am that I have to write this post but I am hoping it will keep me accountable and make me stick to it :) - don't judge me - you know we are all fabric hoarders ;-))

WIP Wednesday Update

YAY for Wednesday - just 2 more days til the weekend, woo hoo! Basically I start counting down til the weekend as soon as I wake up on Monday morning. It is sad that I only enjoy 2 days out of my week... I really need to quit my day job and just stay at home and craft ;-)

ANYWAY... enough of that... and on to the projects!

I finished my Pillow Talk Swap 7 pillow yesterday and I must say, I LOVE it! It is really enjoying its friends on my couch and it will be so hard to part with it. Hubby asked if I could just make a different one "real quick" for my partner and keep this one haha. ... sorry Hubs, can't keep EVERYTHING I make or our couch will be over flowing with pillows and we will have to sit on the floor with the dog :)

Not sure what goodies I will send along with this lovely pillow cover but I am sure I will think of something in the next 2.5 weeks :)

Next up is my For the Love of Solids Swap mini-quilt.

First of all tho, let me just set the record straight because there has been A LOT of confusion on flikr - this is made with Kona light grey - not salmon as most people assumed. Why the heck would I do 3 shades of grey and then salmon pink? haha And my table is not orange - it is light wood - apparently I need to take a new picture... will work on that :)

I do need to figure out how I am quilting this big lady... thinking some type of straight line quilting because I suck at free motion.

My translation classes started yesterday so on top of school, working full-time, and the ten million other obligations I have... hopefully I will find time to get this finished and off to its new home on time! 2.5 weeks til this needs sent out as well - yikes!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday and enjoying all of the projects over at Freshly Pieced:

New Fabric? WHAT!!! I know... I know... :(

I am such a bad kid... I am trying SO HARD not to buy new fabric but if they would stop making so much awesome fabric, that would REALLY help! :) To be fair tho, there is nothing else coming out between now and May that I am interested in - other than maybe Moda Summersville in April - so I can spread this out a little through my fabric budget (haha like that ever works out lol). In my defense as well, I either got a great sale price or a sale and free shipping on these - so how could I resist? Really? Will power... that is how... I am so weak lol.

Anyway, regardless of how much trouble I am in with myself, here are the new lovelies :)

Laurie Wisbrun Jack and Jenny - donkey and rainboot prints only, not the rain prints shown here:

Flea Market Fancy - pre-order - will ship in March - ordered the 7 prints I circled in white:

I have to say, I am not 100% on the Flea Market Fancy bandwagon but I do like these prints so I figured why not - good sale and it is best to get them while they are available and normal price anyway.

And last but not least - Pezzy Prints! I haven't decided if I will get FQs or 1/2 yards of these - I am thinking I will use them for A LOT of projects so I would like 1/2 yards. Ok obviously I would like a yard of each but I have to be realistic, espec. with the others I just purchased :-p Aren't they lovely tho?? There is a coupon that starts Monday which I am waiting to use:

And if I must admit it, and apparently I must because here I go - I am going to Lancaster County, PA this weekend with my mom if she is feeling better and you KNOW I will come home with more fabric then lol. I have a set budget for myself tho and will force myself to stick with it. I am usually pretty good there - just pick up some stash builders, not entire lines, but I always find such great prints and deals and no shipping so I can't complain.

So now you know how pathetic I am... breaking my resolution less than 2 months into it lol. We'll see how I do in the next couple of months, maybe I can redeem myself! I am having a quilt quilted in April and May so my budget is pretty much gone for those months but since I already bought all the fabric I wanted that comes out then (other than Summersville) I SHOULD be ok... should be the opperative word here lol.

How do you curb your money spending habits for hobbies? Any good tips for the weak of willed like me? :)

Heather Ross Goldfish Swap

I happened across a second Heather Ross Goldfish on blue FQ the other day and could not resist snatching it up. What I REALLY want is a Goldfish in the bags FQ tho - the Lightning Bugs series one, not the PJs from Munki Munki. Anyone interested in an even trade?





Seeking - Left (in bags) : Swapping - Right (free swimming)

 

How to do the polka?

Hey bloggy friends! Looking for a little help and inspiration today. I signed up for a polka dot charm swap from Craft Buds and just got my charms yesterday:

I already owned the whole bottom row, all but the left 3 on the middle row and 6 of the top row lol - apparently I really like polka dots.

My normal instinct is to keep them in their separate lines and not mix them (ta dots to themselves, metro circlse to themselves, etc.) - but that wasn't the point of joining this charm swap - I need to branch out and mix these babies up! SO what I am hoping to get from my lovely readers are some ideas on what to do with these. I have 4 of each of the 28 prints - so 112 5inch squares to work with. I have some other polka dots not from these lines that I could throw in if I need a few more. A quilt would be fun but I'm open to any suggestions really.

Thoughts? :)

Mendocino Pillow Love!

I finally finished my wonky Mendocino pillow to match the hexagon one I received in the Pillow Talk Swap 6 last year. Love them on my couch!!

I was going to start quilting my pillow talk swap 7 pillow today but I think it needs one more border to make it an inch bigger finished and am not sure what color. I am leaning towards coal border with orange back - what do you think?

I also had a GREAT surprise as I was browsing flikr this morning. Remember my picnic quilt collage? Well one of my Honeycomb partners already finished her 2 blocks for me even tho my month isn't until March. They are SO pretty! The mushroom one I have a feeling is going to be my favorite in this quilt!

I would love to paste them in here but flikr won't let me for some reason so here are the links:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58064314@N07/6856356155/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58064314@N07/6856356237/

Regardless of the awful time at the post, I was able to get some good crafting in so I feel better. Now it is time to drink my spinach smoothie and get ready for the gym... yay? haha. Happy Saturday!

Linking up with:

Grrr... post office worker, I loathe you.

We have a big post office about 5 min from my house. It is ALWAYS packed and there is only ever 1 person working there, even tho it is the hub and the only place you can get your passport as well. Saturday's they are only open from 9-2 so it is always crowded but I went anyway.

There is 1 man that always seems to be working there and I will just say that he is not a native English speaker and doesn't always understand what people are saying to him. That is fine, my husband is from Germany and I've lived abroad in 4 different countries... but just because YOU don't understand ME doesn't give you the right to get pissy with me or just repeat yourself over and over when it doesn't make sense.

He also ALWAYS overcharges me! I got a swap block from someone in Cali - it costs them $0.64 to send it to me. What does he charge me? $1.71 - are you freaking kidding me? And to make it worse, the person gave me the wrong zipcode the first time so I had to resend it and pay $1.71 again - yep, $3.42 for one square of fabric... ridiculous. I asked him today if that is the cheapest "yes, cheapest." I said I don't think so, I am pretty sure there is a cheaper option "no, cheapest." Great...

THEN I find out today that our post won't let us send anything that isn't flat in the "flat rate envelopes" - even tho everyone I buy from on Etsy sends up to 7 yards of fabric in one. He tried to charge me $13  - "Not flat, no flat rate!" I finally gave up and went to another post office. She explained that it is a new policy, blah blah blah. That is fine, even tho I don't agree with it since obviously it is up to the individual post office worker to decide because everyone else still uses them... but regardless, just be nice and explain, don't be an ass and yell at me like post office jerk #1. Seriously done going to that bigger post office - the small one by us is open 8am - noon on Saturdays so I will either go right after work before they close at 4 or wait for Saturday - sick of that jerk and I really just want to hurt him everytime I see him. Rawwwrrrrr.

I understand they have no money to employ more people, I understand they have to watch costs, but that doesn't give people the right to be jerks and raise their voices... espec. when their lack of English skills are causing some of the problems! Be nice, explain instead of repeating the same stupid phrase over and over, and you will piss off a lot less people you post office jerk :-p

Ok... my rant is done, my packages are mailed, I will go calm down now :-p

I am such a winner ;-)

I forgot to share this - before we went away for the holidays, my bloggy buddy Bree was having a giveaway and guess who won...

That is right, it was ME!!! :) Oddly enough, this giveaway was how I ended up in contact with Bree in the first place over a year ago. She was giving away an awesome bag and even tho I didn't win, I fell in love with her blog and we somehow ended up being email buddies too. Awesome gal, awesome crafter - thanks so much for the awesome prize Bree!!

And what did I win you may wonder? Nothing less than this awesome elephant pouch!! She did such a fantastic job on this little guy - love it so much!! :)



I highly recommend you go check out her awesome blog, it is: My Crafty Crap

New Fabric and a new WIP

I could not resist a sale at Joanns this weekend especially as they have some of the new DS Quilts prints available. Even at $9 a yard on sale it is better than paying shipping online and I was able to get some 1/3 yard and 1/4 yard cuts which is nice.

This one will be a purse I think, plaid on the outside, grey on the inside

These are to restock my orange supply, as it is a color I use quite often and can never get enough of

And I couldn't resist a quarter yard of these just because they were all so pretty :)

Other than buying fabric I don't need, I was able to get some sewing done on my Pillow Talk Swap 7 pillow. It will be 4 blocks connecting to make the image below - which is actually just my 1st block rotated as an example. I was able to get a second block completed this weekend tho so I am half way there, yay!

Last but not least, I also put together an inspriation mosaic for my new bee group. My month is in March (thank goodness because I have no time to make blocks for anyone that month!) and I decided I would like blocks for a picnic quilt. Leaving those awesome gals pretty open to be creative and make something new and fun - here were some ideas I put together for inspiration:

 Can't wait to see what lovelies will come in the mail for me in March! Both of my swaps are due the middle of March as well so it is going to be a great month for mail!!

Loulouthi FQ Pack - for sale or trade

Cleaning out my shelves again today and this time I have a FQ pack of Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner up for grabs.

The 4 on the right are FQs, the brown one is 18 x 18 inches and the blue/green on the very left is 17 x 17.5 inches

Asking $16 including shipping (USA) or an interesting trade offer - comment or email me if you are interested! :)