Quilt Test Run...

For Christmas my Mom got me 4 charm packs of Moda Portabello Market. I had mentioned to her that I loved the line and would like to make a quilt for my bed out of it. As Mother's do, she remembered!

The colors are much more vibrant in person.

I finally decided on a pattern that I really like. It is called "Friendship Braid" and it is in the book "Jelly Roll Quilts." Well, with everything I do, it wasn't quite going to work. The template is 5 1/2" long and the charm packs are 5" square! So I made a template based on their's and decided to do a test run on scrap fabric. I know from experience that when I get a "great idea," it'll probably fail horribly, so I have learned to test things out first. Miracle of miracles, it worked! Here is the result of my practice run:

Now my only dilemma is what do I do with this piece? It came out to be 12" x 20" in size. I could just make a pillow out of it, but that seems so uninspired! I'm looking for some help here, so please, send your ideas my way!

I've Fallen In Love...

With a whole collection of fabrics. Look at these gorgous fabrics from LakeHouse Dry Goods :

I would love to make a quilt out of these lovely patterns! The collection is called Doll Dresses and apparently came out last September.

Unfortunately my budget won't wrap around enough of a sampling to make a quilt...sigh...stupid how the electric company wants their money first! So if any of you are willing to send me the fabric... just kidding... but seriously... no, I don't really mean it... unless you want to...

Okay back to the real world! Check out Holly's blog. She offers some beautiful quilt patters for free!

...thinking to myself... maybe the kids won't mind eating peanut butter and jelly for a few days and I can sneak off to the quilt shop to pinch at least a couple of 1/2 yard lengths... hmm...

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Silk and Satin and Linen...oh my...

Here a couple of my recent finishes.

This one is from a kit I won at Giggle Buttons the beginning of February. I stitched it using Kreinik silk thread and colored it with colored pencils. I chose the colors based on this material that I had. Just a minor departure from the suggested DMC colors.

Sonya chose the winners from the comments that she liked the best and I was one of the fortunate ones! Here is the comment I left:

I love all of them! My favorite has to be the roses though. When I saw it, it instantly reminded me of my Grandmother who passed 14 years ago. She loved roses, rose water and rose scented drawer liners! Her favorite was from Crabtree & Evelyn. I hadn't thought of that for awhile, thanks for the memory poke!

I plan on framing this piece and displaying it on the wall with a picture of my Grandmother, I just know she would have loved the embroidery and the material I have chosen, definately her colors!

This piece I stitched on a vintage linen napkin that I have had for a while. It is part of a set with placemats (which are on my Daughter's dresser's now that she has a "big girl's" dresser set) that belonged to my Dad's~Uncles~Second Wife. Lovely lady and I think she would approve of me embroidering them. I used DMC's satin floss for the girl and flowers, regular floss for the house and gate. They recommend using 3 strands instead of one, but I used ONE strand! I found that the satin floss "spreads" more than the regular floss and therefore one strand was equal to using two strands of regular floss. It's very splitty so shorter lenths were better. I love the end result! It has such a beautiful shine to it and it was awesome for my french knots (yes, her hair is all french knots...I do love them!)

In my hoop right now is something different. I am trying stumpwork. I should have a picture soon. I also have made two new purses, one for me and one for my Mom that I will show in a few days!

Funny ATC's...

I found these over at Blithe and Blonde. I just thought they were so cute I had to share!

Even though it is cold here, there is some sunshine, so hopefully I will be able to get a couple good pictures of my recent finishes today. Stay tuned...

Sand Anyone?

Truely beautiful and amazing! Ilana Yahav makes art with just her hands and sand. I can't draw like this with a pencil, let alone sand!

Drunken Sailer - Irish Rovers

I grew up listening to the Irish Rovers. They put a smile on your face and a hop in your step! I'm 1/4 Irish and I can't help but to want to do a jig when I hear this kind of music. I remeber my Grandmother, even in her 80's when she was heavy, getting up and dancing an Irish jig like she did when she was a girl. She was amazing! She was probably almost 200 pounds and still light as a feather on her feet!

So...to all you Corcoran's, Irishmen and holiday Irish...HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Finally! Blogger has been being a butt-head and wouldn't let me upload pictures for the last couple of days!

This is the most recent block in the Once Upon A Time BOM. It is Snow White and Rose Red. I decided to use ribbon roses instead of just embroidering them. They are my first attempt at ribbon embroidery. Not bad considering I just used the cheap-y ribbon that you get for $.99 a spool.

I am trying to decide what to do now. I'm kind of in a slump. I can't seem to make up my mind on anything! I just flit from possibility to possibility. I have new material I could make...something with. I have new floss I could embroider...something with. Or, I could just go take a nap. I think I am in the pre-spring, pre-warm weather dumps. Oh, did I mention that I'm 44 and I seem to have A LOT of the perimenopause symptoms? White hair multiplying like rabbits, forgetful, moody, forgetful, tired ALL the time, forgetful, can't sleep at night, forgetful...whine, whine, bitch, bitch, complain, complain...sorry, it's one of those days.

Did I mention forgetful???

Shopping Spree and a Share...

Okay, so like don't tell my Husband, but I went fabric and craft shopping today. I didn't spend a lot of money, in fact I saved over $20 on my purchases by using coupons! Here's what I got:


House material that I originally saw on Jane's Fabrics & Quilts and a coordinating print.


This delightful group of blue/white/brownish-black material. I'm thinking maybe a new purse!


Some new satin floss and I have decided to try punch needle embroidery. We'll see how I like it!


So I grab the mail on my way up the driveway after my exhausting day of shopping at JoAnn's and what do I find, but a package! More material love-li-ness! A few days ago I purchased this Alexander Henry fabric from Anthem Fabrics. My picture really can't do this material justice, it's so cute!

It's called April Showers and May Flowers in chocolate/strawberry. I don't usually do the cutesy thing (despite the previous house material) with material, but I just couldn't pass this up!

On to the sharing! I have the Febuary and March block done in the Veranda Views BOM. I am so happy with these!

I am still looking for the right fabric to use for finishing the quilt as we can start sewing sashing on the blocks now, but I just can't decide on anything! I may have to bite the bullet and go to the quilt store and look at some more expensive fabrics. I have been trying to stay on a tight budget with my purchases, but sometimes you just have to splurge!

So that's my day...how was yours?

Finish #1...

I have been busy sewing...hand sewing that is. I have a few finishes to share with you, but I am going to dole them out one at a time. Give me more to blog about. Today I'm showing you my "Wonky House" that is an embroidery freebie from Jenny over at Elefantz. There are supposed to be more coming too!



"Wait," you say, "I thought you said embroidery freebie." You say. Well, it is. I just decided to do it a little differently. Instead of embroidery, I got the great idea to do it in needle turn applique. Something that I have never done before. I made the image bigger (since I'm not completely insane enough to make it so small!) and used it as a pattern for my material pieces. I also challenged myself as far as the material choices. As you can see, the "grass" and the "hill" are pretty traditional materials...what I'm most comfortable with. I chose what, to me, looks like a night sky with it's swirlies and "star lights." Where I really jumped out of my comfort zone is in the main house material. I love it, it just isn't something I would normally choose to make something out of. I used wool felt for the windows, doors, tree, sign and mail box. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out and I am really looking forward to the others that Jenny will be sharing. I hope she likes what I did with her pattern.l

Worst Fight Scene Ever

I used to love this show...sometimes I wonder why!