A finish of sorts...

Oh my...January- where did it go? I can't believe another month got away from me! This has to stop! LOL! Unfortunately I never did get a complete finish in time for January of the One Project a Month Challenge. I have several of my WISP's being worked on but unfortunately chose the ones that will take the longest. I will be finishing in February though!
I did have finishes of a different kind though. A while back I had ordered from Robinson's Woodcraft's a quilt ladder and a wall shelf. Let me tell you- their workmanship is incredible! I will definitely be using them again! I have since painted them and put them in place with their perspective decor. The ladder is in our family room and houses the throw quilts used there. I decided to paint them black as we have several pieces in that color throughout the room and the kitchen. Here it is with some of it's quilts.

Next we move to the foyer. I have wanted to warm this area up and so in the summer I started this quilt with the intention of hanging it in the foyer to welcome people. As you can see I painted the shelf the same black and it turned out better than I expected! Of course Home Sweet Home is not yet finished so it has not been hung. Instead I took one of the first quilts I made- and a fave, and hung it there instead. I also had been collecting some cute prim and quilty things to decorate the top with. Here is the final product!

I have some housekeeping to take care of now. First, I just wanted to let all of you that read my blog as well as those that leave comments know how much I appreciate you visiting me and I love to read what you think too! It is fun to see what others are doing. I have had a few comments as of late that I have not been able to respond to as they have a "no-reply" listed as their email. I have to apologize if you have not received a comment back from me but I cannot if this is the setting on your comment. If you are not sure what to do, go to ChookyBlue's blog, she has been kind enough to post on several different tips for Blogger! Anyways, thanks again for all of you who visit! I enjoy meeting you!

Second, I know I have said a couple of posts ago that I would blog about the Ornament exchange that Stefanie over at The Quilt Buddy and I did . I have found that my pics are very dark so I am referring you to her wonderful post here about our exchange. It was a fun thing to do and I believe we are doing it again next year! It is so cool to have such a good friend that you can do this with and it was interesting to see that we came up with fairly similar ideas! Check it out and let us know what you think!

And on the last note, when I went shopping for the Super Bowl munchies, I came across some awesome crackers! Check this out....

...a hexagon cracker flower! :) What a hoot! They are Wheat Thins crackers and I thought they are the perfect snack for quilters!

Now all we need is hexie cheese!LOL! So, thanks for sticking through this longer post and hopefully I will make a dent in my WISP's this month!

Happy snacking!

Cara

A Cool Coincidence...

I swear August sure is going by in a flash! I have barely had any major quilting time since my last post but I have managed to start yet another new endeavor- English Paper piecing. I know that those of you who also read my friend Stefanie’s blog are going “what?!” but we swear, it was not planned! What I am talking about is the fact that we are both doing the same thing (imagine that). The funniest part about it though is that neither of us new the other was doing it. I read on her blog about the quilt inspiring one of her purchase from the Long Beach Quilt show but did not imagine that it was English Paper Piecing (EPP). Then I read how it was the Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt in her post and that she bought the same size hexes as I did! I called her immediately to tell her I had ordered the same thing straight from here after reading Camille Roskelley’s tutorial on her website Thimble Blossoms.

So…… this ……
















Became this….


Then hopefully I will get the inspiration for the design as I get some flowers pieced….more to follow…

I also am making huge progress on my Home Sweet Home and this is a sneak peek of it…. I have a few birdhouses to finish and then I will baste it and I have decided (since hand work is the only thing I am accomplishing this week) to hand quilt it! It should get me back into practice I think!

Well, I am actually drafting this from the plane (to be cut and pasted into a post later), as I am headed out to San Diego for an impromptu visit to The Quilt Buddy’s house. We have lots of quilting to do, shop hopping to do and of course the reason for the trip is the Cottage Quilts outdoor quilt show!!!! So excited! I will try to blog a little this weekend!
T.T.F.N.

Oh I almost forgot…in light of the fact that I managed to lug my sewing machine with me (I carried on) I would be very interested in hearing, in the comments, how people have travelled by air with their machines or if they have not. Also if you have any tips, trials or tribulations you have experienced in doing so! I look forward to reading your answers!


EDIT: This post was actually written last night. I have since arrived in San Diego safely and have already had a wonderful day here! We went to Old Town Temecula and met a really cool bloggy friend for the first time and in person, had lunch and shop hopped to a couple of awesome quilt shops! More on our cool meeting and the loot on the next post once I download the photos...but what a wonderful world the blogosphere is!
T.T.F.N.

More Quilting time and giveaways...

Unfortunately they are not my giveaways, but they are just too cool not to mention. There are 3 cool giveaway's happening out in blog land and here they are:

Go to Janelle Wind's blog and leave a comment about a cherished childhood item that you have and check out the completion of her Bluebird BOM quilt (gorgeous!) and you can win a copy of the pattern!!

Then hop on over to Anna Maria Horner's blog and leave a comment on her ne fabric line-- Garden Party (totally fab!) and which one is your favorite (not an easy choice I may add) and she will be drawing for some fabric.

Last but not least, if you need a new summery bag pop in to Red Geranium Cottage as she is giving away some handbags she has made (very cute!).

Whew! That is a lot of very generous people! I just love giveaways- don't you?

On the quilting front, I have been working on finishing a couple of projects...one is my Home Sweet Home quilt ( see WIP list for the link) and trying to finish my Star Struck strip quilt. I have also made a pact with Stefanie over at The Quilt Buddy to help both of us clear up our unfinished projects and our baskets of planned semi-fabric-bought-for-but-not-started projects. We have plenty to work on so hopefully we can show some restraint for a little bit and get these things to at least flimsy status! More on this later as we are compiling our lists of the 'To Do's'.

Well, I am off to get back at it! More later and happy giveaway hopping!
T.T.F.N.

More Dear Baby Jane's!

These are the Dear Jane blocks I finished last night. They are M-10 Simple Simon, BR-1 Rosemary's Rainbow and E-9 Quilt Jail respectively. I rotary cut and pieced traditionally M-10- a simple nine patch. BR-1 I FPP (freezer paper pieced) it and it was not bad at all! Now, E-9, much more tedious. In the software Brenda has given some tips and insight based on having finished her quilt and she recommended to FPP as she felt it would make the job easier. It still was giving me a little grief! The pieces are small and pressing them was not fun. I think if it does not fit in with the color scheme as I progress, it will be a redo. If I redo it I think I will try to piece it traditionally. The pic looks wonkier than it is- the one border was not flat when I photographed it but I did not notice until I downloaded it- but still I am not completely happy with that block. We'll see!

Otherwise, I just need to finish my Birdhouses and the vines in the middle block of Home Sweet Home and then I can quilt it! Yeah! I think I will try to get some more blocks done tonight as I appear to be on a roll and the Dear Jane blog group are up to 33 done. I need to start doing the ones they have to catch up!
Happy Stitching!
T.T.F.N!

Progress!

Today I managed to finish 2 new Dear baby Jane blocks. The first is D-6 Challenge. I freezer paper pieced this one and it went smoothly.

The next one I did is D-13 Field of Dreams. I rotary cut and then pieced this block. I am hoping to get some more done tonight and try and get a few of the ones that the Blog group are doing done.

I also wanted to share the fabrics I have so far chosen to use in my Butterfly Garden quilt that Stef and I are doing together. I still have to pick out a few solids for the applique and maybe add a little more yellow to the mix to even it out but so far I think I will use the lavender solid foe the main butterflies- then to decide my other appliques. The floral in the middle is the main fabric I chose (from Dandelion Girl) and matched the rest to it. Some of the fabrics are actually from my stash! When I first started quilting I loved MODA but especially Robyn Pandolph's fabrics and collected quite a stash of her fabrics! I decided it was time to stop saving them and start using them! It has been fun discovering my tastes and incorporating them into my latest project's!

I am continuing to work on my Home Sweet Home quilt and I hope to finish the stitchery's in the next few days and quilt it on the weekend. Still have not decided if I am machine or hand quilting it yet....Hmmmm.

Well off to stain some shelves!
T.T.F.N.

Organized Chaos finished!

Well, I have completed Organized Chaos and finally downloaded the photos I took of it. I am excited that I have another finish under my belt- even if it was started last year! I used YLI blue variegated thread on the border and for the feather stitch on the blocks, cream in the polka dot border and Valdani variegated pink on the blocks. I love the YLI and Valdani threads! They are wonderful to work with.

So as I have finished a project, I was going to allow myself to start the project from a couple of posts ago....well then all of the patterns I have ordered recently came in and I wanted to work on those, and my Dear Baby Jane's. So the quilt I have started is a pattern by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches that I ordered from Australia called "Home Sweet Home". It is too cute and I am excited to finish it! I managed to piece it all and trace the stitchery patterns yesterday and then I have finished one of the stitchery's already! It is going to hang in my foyer to welcome people when they come in the door!


Stefanie and I also ordered "Butterfly Garden" by Leanne's House and are going to start that together so both of us are in the process of picking our fabric' s and then piecing the first block. This will be an ongoing project that we hope to put the finishing touches on together at our quilt retreat in November. Will keep ya posted.

O.K. so I am off to stitch some more birds and the Home Sweet Home block...more tomorrow about the goodies I got at 'strip' club on Saturday!
T.T.F.N.

Blog-hopping!

Today I started my morning pretty much the same as any day... the wee one wakes me up way to early and we get up and start breakfast. Then when the kiddies are sitting with their breakfast I get tea and toast and go spend some time on the computer. Today I decided to catch up on my blog-hopping! I have discovered many new blogs ( new to me anyway) today and one in particular, Home Sweet Home, is having a great give away!! One is a known gift of the cutest pins for our pin cushions and the other is a mystery prize! How exciting! Needless to say I also visited the Pinks and Needles blog and her Etsy store where Jo found these adorable handmade's! So head on over to both sites and check them out!

I also decided to join my first swap! All Stitched Up was having a pincushion swap (it is full now and underway) and since I have discovered a love of pincushions, I joined in! So exciting as our swaps are international and secret!!! I cannot wait to see the finished products!

On that note I wanted to say....Happy blog-hopping!
T.T.F.N