L'Amour

The end of a long imprisonment.

Fabric jailed away for years waiting.

Waiting for the moment when it finally gets center stage.

And something happens in minutes! 

Okay, maybe hours. 

But it seems so much happier now.

One honeybun of L'Amour by Sandy Gervais for Moda. One wire wreath. Valentine rag wreath.

Love the texture and colors. And it even says love on it. 

In the shop. 

All things matching...

As they should be.

So I thought I'd share a little Moda love that made our 4th of July even more memorable. 

Coordinating "scarppy" bottoms in Minick and Simpson's American Banner Rose woven cottons. I've been hoarding this fat quarter bundle long enough. Seriously heavenly and lightweight for the summer months.

The best way to celebrate? Go stitch something patriotic!
Happy 4th everyone!

You're a grand old flag

My daughter has been singing and humming that song for hours on end these last few weeks... 

It's driving me a little nuts.

On to important things...  

I have a new project to show you in time for you to make one for your 4th of July "table-scape" if you so chose. :) 

Easy peasy and festive stars and stripes from charms or scraps.

Available here and here.

So I did some "birthing" last night.

Lots of it.

Thankfully of the sewing variety and not the baby variety!!

Flipping little coasters right side out does remind one of childbirth though.

Disturbing.

It was time again to make the forty coasters for an annual retreat group with the theme "Stinky Feet Retreat" this year.

Hilarious, huh?

So I went with high heels and coordinates.

I hope they like them and that they have a great retreat.

Cuzco

I've had a BLAST sewing this one. 

Such vibrant colors. 

A rainbow rectangular prism.

Fabric line is Cuzco by Kate Spain for Moda.
Love.
Makes me wish one of these babies was going to be a girl.

In the shop. SOLD.

Mama Said Sew

I feel like each quilt takes longer... and longer... and longer to finish these days.

But at least they do eventually find their way to the finish line. 

Today I get to share my fabric expedition in "Mama Said Sew" (Sweetwater for Moda).

I may or may not have needed to stitch that many lines in the quilting... ;)

My helper was a little bit small today.

At least she was enthusiastic about it.

I had to have the zigzag binding.

And one more picture... for good measure.

In the shop.

Oh boy! I've got Joy!

"I do. I do.

It starts in my heart and spreads to my head in a minute or two... "

I don't know how many of you will get the reference.

I was in "Joy School" as a little kid.

It was a home school type preschool program and that was the theme song.

I can still sing the entire thing.

Good brainwashing.

Still, I've been singing it to myself the whole time I've been working on this quilt. o_O

The fabric line is "Joy" by Kate Spain for Moda.

Zigzag binding.

Oh, love.

Christmas trees on white for backing.

Anyone else like the back of the quilt to hide the quilting? 

Am I odd?

In regards to this. 

Obviously I'm "odd" in other ways. 

Have you seen all the granny squares in blogland these days?

And the great granny quilt-a-long? 

I'm thinking of joining. 

These blocks are sooooooo fun to make.

In the shop.

In the Summertime

It's hot. 

I realize this is a no-brainer, but every time I walk outside this is exactly the statement that comes to mind. 

RED hot and sweaty.

Yesterday we tried to go to an outdoor theatre to see a production of "The Little Mermaid."

We left after 10 minutes. 

The kids and I were sweaty messes.

Tumbler quilt in "Summertime" by Quilt Soup for Henry Glass Fabrics. 

I pulled out the reds and blacks from this fabric line (the greens and blues were used in other quilty things already.)

Baby size - 34" x 41"

This was actually a fabric line that I purchased a fat quarter bundle of at the International Quilt Festival here in Houston TWO years ago. 

The backing is the large flower/mushroom print on black. 

Very stunning.

The quilt is in the shop.

Pleated Skirt

This afternoon was a bit of a "I'll do this to pretend I don't have to do that" kinda things...

I should be packing.

We move THIS Saturday.

I have packed maybe 10ish boxes.

Instead, I sewed this little skirt for my little who.

I could pretend that I needed to use the materials up so I didn't have to pack them... but that would hardly justify the time.

This was a nice and quick little project though.

I'm working on an outfit for "the boy" right now too.

Baby sizes are VERY inaccurate.

This thing would fit an 18 mo. old easily.

Based on the weights in the pattern sizes it should have fit him now. Grrr...

Happy girl in her new skirt.

Note the high heel "clickity" shoes in the fabric!! (Red Essentials Studio E fabric)

My little who has an OBSESSION with these shoes.

She even managed to get me to buy her a pair of high heels. :)

S'mores!

Don't these colors look just like S'mores?

Why do I always associate fabric with food?

Could that possibly be healthy?

The hubs thought this was an exercise in self-torture.

But to me it was more of a challenge to see how small of an item I could make an entire charm pack's worth of fabric not throwing any of it away.

Pretty small.

34" x 15.5" and that was with the borders!

After having finished it and laying it on top of the "brown couch" (yes, we give our couches very creative names) I realized I should have made it into two matching throw pillows.

It would have been perfect.

Spot on color match with the light brown in the fabric line.

Mmmm, I wonder if I can get more of this.

Anyway, this one's in the shop.

Birdies Skirt

This post is for Grandma.

She called me all excited one day about some awesome new Studio E Essentials fabric that was for sale at my LQS and asked how many yards I needed to sew a skirt for my little who.

Nevermind the fact that she can sew... :o)

And I finally got pictures of her wearing it.

I convinced her by telling her she didn't HAVE to smile.

LOVE those ruffled shorts underneath!
No panty exposure!
I'll get a picture of the other skirt asap... "p" being the operative part of that.

Minnie Mouse Costume

A little dress sewing going on this last week...

And here's one of them - a Minnie Mouse Costume Dress with matching bag...

I'm debating posting a tutorial on how to make this little purse since I designed it this afternoon pretty quickly - always nice to make something cute and easy!

What do you think?

More Bar Harbor

With the florals from this fabric line (Bar Harbor by Minick and Simpson for Moda) charm pack I made this little table topper (18" x 29") that is posted for sale.

(Diane, you should recognize this project since you were here for the start of it and are at least partially to blame! hehe. also at least partially to blame for that massive Arcadia purchase.)

The "non-florals" were used here.
I really enjoyed this fabric line.
Up next... ARCADIA!!!
It's already in the works (and if I wasn't lazy I would show you my progress).

more coasters

More coasters... these are so addictive.

All in the shop too.

I'm currently in the debate on which project to start next... a quilt? large, medium, small? the christmas one? jelly roll? layer cake? Decisions, decisions...

It's a good thing - I'll never get bored with this hobby and it's limitless options.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hope you remembered to wear green today. I forgot, but I did quilt in green... does it count?

This was a church humanitarian quilt effort in which other people (non-quilters) bought the fabric, batting, and thread and the quilter's assembled them...

This is what I ended up making with all of it.

And I've learned a few things...

1 - Never ever use a black back with a white quilt top... for lots of reasons.

2 - Using a 1/2" seam allowance instead of a 1/4" seam allowance makes a HUGE difference on this wonky nine patch... not even close to lining up!

I about quit right when I realized this...

(The requirements for the quilt included a 1/2" seam allowance for durability reasons.)

3 - NEVER use a high loft polyester batting and try to quilt it...

I had to take breaks so I wouldn't sweat to death trying to hold and control the weight and poof!

What a nightmare.

4 - I never knew how happy I could be to see a project finished and ready to go away.

And did I mention it is queen-sized?

If I could redo it all over again with everything corrected, I think I would love it and never be able to let it go.
As is, I hope someone really likes it.