Love

love

the one word that describes this picture the best.

my 2 nieces almost 3 yrs old & 6 weeks old. i still have a hard time looking at this picture & not get tears in my eyes. i am very blessed to have them & their parents in my life.

WIP Wednesday

its nice to finally (sort of) be back into the swing of things with regards to sewing. i have gotten a few things done this past week.

i wanted/needed (what the difference?) an instant gratification project. so i made this nice large tote. its an Atkinson Designs pattern from their Big Bags, Little Bags book. i am not sure how to describe the fabric that i made it out of but i found it at Joann's & it was only $2.99/yard. it the type of material that the reusable grocery bags are made out of only tougher.

this really isn't a WIP item. it might be someday but as of now i prefer to call it a weak moment. i randomly check the Missouri Star Quilt Company's Daily Deal page to see what they have on special. needless to say one day it was a Sherbet Pips jelly roll & of course it was on sale so it found its way to my house.

not sure what i will make with it but it is yummy.
i finished my 1st quilt top for the H2H Challenge. i didn't follow a pattern. my goal was to use any much of the fat quarter's that i was given as possible. i have 2 small pieces left & they will be pieced into the back of the quilt.
my other sewing accomplishment this past week was finishing up these star blocks for my Opening Day quilt. i got the last few finished last night & laid them out on the floor. i still have some tweaking to do with the layout but overall i am pleased.

what project are you sewing on? i would love to hear about it

"It soars inside my soul because of you. All that innocence that you inspire"

Happy Mail

i know that we all love getting 'happy mail' you know the mail that comes in larger envelopes that sometimes is squishy. last week was a great 'happy mail' week for me. it seemed like almost everyday there was something waiting for me in my mail box.

i don't remember the order that it all came in but here is what i got.

these lovely fat quarters arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop. no i didn't order anything from there but my H2H partner Larissa did. Larissa lives in Australia so it was more cost effective for her to order fabric in the US and have it sent right to me.

i won this lovely slipper pattern from Mauby's along with 2 half yard cuts of fabric of my choice from Above All Fabrics.

then this lovely DS fabric showed up from Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. i won one of her giveaways from the H2H Challenge. i wanted some of this DS fabric but just hadn't made the trip to JoAnn's yet to get any. thanks Sarah for saving me the trip.

another wonderful little package showed up last week & in it was this great little jewelry pouch from Talin’s Corner. it was part of Pay It Forward 2011 so stay tuned for my part of Paying It Forward.

then in yesterday’s mail came this AMAZING prize that i won from Candi over at Raccoon Creek Quilts. Candi is part of the PMQG & they had Cherri there as a guest speaker at a meeting. i have had my eye on this book for sometime & i am so happy that I won it.

its even signed & everything. i know that i will be making several of the projects out of this book. i also go a charm pack of bright colored solids & my mind is spinning with ideas for that.

so that’s my ‘happy mail’ for the past week or so. i spent a lot of time in the sewing cave this past weekend so come back tomorrow to see what i got done.

Heaven's Amphitheater

life has been a roller coaster for me lately as you all know. its sad to say but for some reason that has become the normal for a lot of us. i personally don't do well with the ups & downs of life. i like routine & consistency with a little adventure thrown in here & there.

last year in May when DMB announced that they were taking 2011 off from touring - i was down. then in January of this year they announced that they would do 4 multi day festivals this year to celebrate their 20th anniversary - i was up.

yesterday they announced the final 2 stops for them.

like music to my ears the 'last stop' will be in my backyard. i have looked at the other 3 stops & contemplated them all. it didn't take me long to realize my all time favorite place to see the band is the Gorge.

photo credit

fans travel from all over the world to experience DMB here. i believe that Dave once referred to it as 'heaven's amphitheater'.

its an amazing & special location to see any artist at.

this past week i have had an ongoing conversation with a friend about music & the roll it can play in our lives. as you know for me music is a constant in my life just like seeing DMB at the Gorge each year. as i have said before some people find my passion for this band odd or strange & others are fascinated with it. to each their own & i respect that. my annual trip to the Gorge for me is always a magical experience & it reminds me that where i practice my faith does not always have 4 walls.

enjoy your weekend!

"I'm not going to change my ways just to please you or appease you"

WIP Wednesday

whew, what a week it has been. thanks for all of the kind words regarding this post. its nice to know that i have support from all of you. some progress has been made in the sewing department of my life. i was able to finish up my bee block that i needed to get done for April.

this block was a 1st for me. very modern & not a traditional size at all. it was fun to make.


i did get to spend sometime working on my Opening Day quilt.
flying geese all done & blocks matched up.

3 down and 33 more to go.

this past week i also got 1 set of fabric for one of my Hands 2 Help quilts. i love the color range of these batiks & i am looking forward to making a quilt out of them. sad to admit that i have never made a quilt only using batiks - so this is a 1st for me. i also have sent out my fabric to my 2 partners. Barb who is local already has it & Larissa who is in Australia will be getting her's soon.

i have gotten a little further on my hand stitching project as well. i am on the last line & then i have some boarder work to do & this block is finished.

*********

now for (what i think is) some fabulous news.

i got my confirmation packet for my class with Tula Pink at The Quilter's Affair which is held the week before The Sister's Outdoor Quilt show. the class i am taking is going to be on her Cartwheels pattern. my friend Shelly is taking it with me & we both are looking forward to it. this will be my 6th trip to Sister's & probably will be the best one yet.

"to change the world start with one step"

Finished

for some crazy reason (probably because they were driving me nuts) i decided to sort & organize my scraps. by scraps i mean anything smaller then a fat quarter. i did have some sort of order to a small part of them. that order was here in these boxes.

they are boxes that some dishes came it. super cool right?

the rest of my ever growing pile resided in here. there were a few piles in some other boxes as well. so i began the sorting process. not an exciting thing to do but once i had piles everywhere it was something i had to finish before i could move onto another project. sort of forced myself to finish it. mostly i sorted by color but i did come across pieces that were left over from finished projects. like an extra block , balance of strip sets and that sort of thing. those got to reside back in one of the green boxes. i also came across some left over precuts from projects. those got to go into a green box as well. the occupants of the other 2 green boxes are my salvages & my red scraps. in my scraps i had some Hope Valley & Authentic. those are the only 2 collections that got their own separate bag & were not sorted by color. all the rest got put into piles. purples oranges & yellows blues neutral backgrounds with prints on it

browns

the largest pile of all greens. no surprise there.

i knew i wanted to re-use the large green tote that housed the mess to begin with but i needed it to be organized so i easily could find a color. i put the scraps by color into 2 gallon zip top bags. some colors took more then 1 bag. the smaller piles went into smaller bags. i wrote the color on each bag so i could easily find it without pulling out all of the bags.

next i went to my fabric closet to put it all away.

the top shelf holds the 4 green boxes as well as 2 boxes that have my flannel & pink scraps. i was surprised by the amount of pink scraps i have. must be from all the little girl stuff i make.

the rest of my closet looks like this. on the right side of the picture you can just barley see the large green tote that is full of scraps. the rest of my fabric is sorted by fat quarters, WOF under 18" then WOF over 18". fabric that i have purposes for is bagged together & stored in a plastic bin. i also have a dresser that i store my backing fabric, my solids & fabric that i am going to make bags out of in.

i think fabric is very pretty to look at & i would love to have it on shelves lining my sewing room walls. however, light is fabrics worst enemy & i don't sew fast enough to use it up to have it displayed all of the time. so it gets tucked away from the light. when i go looking for something its like Christmas because i do forget what i have. it is also motivating for me as well.

now that i am finished with that project i can get back to my machine.

"what i want is what i've not got.... what i need is all around me."

you must not quit

this was given to me many years ago & unfortunately that person is no longer in my life. i still read this often & it gives me the extra kick i need to keep going. so, i thought i would share it with the rest of you.

enjoy!

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will

When the road your trudging seems all uphill

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must but never quit

Life is queer with its twists and turns

As every one of us sometimes learns

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won if he'd stuck it out

Stick to your task though the pace seems slow

You may succeed with one more blow

Success is failure turned inside out

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems far

So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."

~Anonymous

4.17.11 update

over at 1 Choice 4 Quilting they are starting a quilting club & doing a giveaway as well. they also have a blog for it here.

Showing My Cards

i am showing my cards in this post.

my blog sub-title says ' from fabric to finish and everything in between'. this is the in between part with a little fabric thrown in. although sewing, fabric & quilting is usually fun & happy stuff truth be told we all have a life. a life in the real world that gets yucky sometimes. i am just like the rest of you. i don't live in a land of rainbows & cotton candy i live in reality & i don't want my readers to think otherwise.

this past week has been one of the roughest weeks i have had in a long time. work has been crazy. we have been short handed. customer's want stuff 2 days ago & somehow their poor planning is our fault. battling suppliers over stuff that shouldn't be an issue. it seems like it has been a constant struggle all week. in dealing with this stuff my normal work is not getting done which adds to the problem. not to mention that my health has taken a downward turn during this process as well.

my health + stress = bad things

on top of that you throw in some disappointment whether it be in myself or others & you have the makings of a rough week.

its times like these that i have those conversations with myself in my head. you know the ones. "come on you can make it through this" "you are stronger then you think" "its just a bad day tomorrow will be better" "you are never dealt more then you can handle" yep. i have had them all. did they help? who knows. all that i know is that its FRIDAY & this week is about over which i am very grateful for.

when things are not going the right direction for me i do my best to find the silver lining that is always there. yesterday i got an email that brought tears to my eyes & a smile to my face. my SIL sent a pic of my nieces which was priceless. totally made me realize that even though there is crap going on i still have a wonderful family that is full of love. i will share the pic at some point in the future for now i just want to treasure it.

another great silver lining from this week was this.

my friend Sharon gave me this fabric. yes i said gave. her husband dropped it off at my work & it was during a time that i was elbow deep in something & didn't get to thank him. Sharon was going through some fabric, came across this & realized she didn't have a need for it anymore. i told her i would be interested because i know someone who likes that sort of thing & i could make them a quilt. so, thank you to Sharon for being a silver lining in my week.

when things get crazy for me & i get off of center i turn to things i know to bring me back. my two of my favorite things are music & sewing. so, yes itunes is playing as i am typing this & DMB is assisting in the re-centering process.

this is some of the sewing that has taken place this past week. block #11 from the Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery BOM. i also put together a bee block as well. i don't want to show that until she has gotten it.

another thing i have been working on is organizing my scraps. yes you read that right. crazy as it sounds my scraps have been driving me nuts. they have been residing in this large tote for sometime now. when i go looking for something you can imagine the mess it makes. that is what brought about this organization project. i have began by sorting them into piles of color range. if i come across something that is 5" or wider & the full WOF then that goes into a separate pile. fat quarters into a separate pile as well. this is my progress so far. i am surprised at my stack of reds. i am planning on getting through it this weekend. i have a couple ideas on storage so check back to see how that goes.

last but not least this morning i received another silver lining. i told you about the challenge that my friend Sarah over at Confessions of A Fabric Addict issued to all of us quilters. Sarah posted this morning that she had 48 people sign up. that means 48 quilts will be made & taken to Romania. me being me signed up to do 2. my 1st partner is local. my friend Barb is joining in the fun & we will be exchanging our fabric on Monday. huge Thank You to Barb for taking on the challenge. my 2nd partner is Larissa from Australia. yep, Sarah went international with this challenge. the response to this challenge puts a HUGE smile on my face.

i hope that you all had a survivable week & that an amazing weekend is ahead for each one of you.

remember "make the best of what's around"

WIP Wednesday

back to quilting stuff for wip Wednesday.

i finished up block #10 for the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery BOM.

then in yesterday's mail block #11 showed up so i have the fabric pressed & ready to go.

i have also been working on some bee blocks. like this one.

then i have decided to dig out what i think is my oldest wip.

i got this pattern on my 1st trip to Sister's which was 6 years ago. then on another trip to Sister's i got the fat quarters for the pattern. i think that trip was maybe 2 years ago. about a year ago i cut it all out & started sewing. then i hit pause on it until now.

why now???

i have the perfect person to give it to. funny how that works.

so, what are you working on???

A Good Cause & A Bag

awhile back i did a post about using our sewing talents for a good cause.

with that said i would like to let you know about a fabulous cause that is right up our alley. my friend Sarah who blogs over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict has put together a challenge for all of us. its called Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge.

PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE.

go visit her blog & learn about this amazing cause & how you can participate.

life if getting back to normal for me - again. i have lots of stuff to share with everyone, even stuff from quilt camp which was at the beginning of March. i am beginning with my favorite thing that i started at that camp but only recently finished.

the zipper bag as i call it.

i bought this pattern last summer on my annual trip to Sister's. the shop had one made up & it was love at first sight for me. needless to say i came home put the pattern away & sort of forgot about it. off & on i would come across it looking through my patterns. i would begin to read the instructions & put it away again. then i was digging through my fabric & the light bulb in my head went on.

this fabric + this pattern = wonderful

the pattern is No. 106 The Bijou Traveler by Serendipity Studio

the fabric is Montana Modern from Benartex

once i had this figured out it was time to study the pattern. i normally read through a bag pattern once or twice before i make it. i have made a lot of bags & a lot of the time the basic construction is similar. not the case with this one. this one had a big zipper, a grommet & didn't go together the way i normally make bags. the reading continued. i probably read the pattern about 10 times before i cut the fabric as i did not have room for error. the pattern is well written i just didn't want to screw up the bag.

i went to camp with all of the pieces and parts cut & ready to go. at this point i can't remember how long it took me to make it. it was the last thing i grabbed going out the door when i got the call that my SIL was in labor. i took it because so many other campers were eyeing it. when i left camp i had the short ends bound on the inside & just needed to finish binding the long curved top on the inside. i finished that last weekend & took the bag with me on my trip last week to New Mexico.

on one of the sides there is a pocket that is divided in the middle. the flap has a grommet in it so your headphones can come through it & your music player is safe inside. the flap/pocket closes with Velcro. the other side of the bag has one big pocket. it too closes with Velcro & is a great spot to stash your boarding pass & other essentials. zipper pulls on each end of the bag. the zipper wasn't as bad to put in as i thought it was going to be. i just read, re-read & read some more to get it clear in my mind.

the inside has pockets along both sides which you can make as large or as small as you want to. yes, that is a tennis ball that you see & no i do not play tennis. it works great for a back or neck massage just about anywhere.

it is a very large & spacious bag. great for traveling.

i will be making this bag again. i am sure it will go a little quicker then this one since i have one already under my belt.