mi casa

...got a few updates over the weekend.


Thrifted @ DAV<3 for $3.98. Cats love them too! Not sure where they're going to go yet but I think they're going to work perfectly for little sewing odds and ends.


Hung up a few notions to get my desk organized. Please ignore how unorganized my desktop is...


From last week, an old photo project that didn't get very far now has a new life framed and hung.


And finally hung up our little rhino. Mark bought him for us at the Rock N Roll Craft Show last year, and he has sat in the glove box ever since, oops!

sunday stash #7

The chambray is even better in person (no surprise there). I'm looking forward to cutting in to this yummy dark jewel toned group when things slow down.



<3 this corner of the house. Need to hang a couple groupings on the other side of this wall, as well...

sunday stash #6

They came Monday!



Big pic tonight because they are so <3.
Even better together in person.

But I promised myself to not cut into them until I get "everything" else finished. Which is kind of impossible right now since my quilting machine is dead (decided I'm going to save up for the Bernina!).

So for now they hang on the wall and make me so so happy every time I walk by.
Good enough!

new etsy!

I've been meaning to start a companion shop for this blog, and a very rainy, head-congestion Sunday seemed like the perfect time to do so!



Only two items so far, but they are much-loved super favorite pieces from my vintage collection.





I'm super excited, and will add more items as time (and daylight) allows! Look for more vintage, and some handmade too, coming soon.

mini diy

DIY Sample Book

Since I'm on a mission to collect a lot of polka dot fabrics (which, really, can you have too much?), I needed something I could keep with me that would keep my color palette a little more balanced, and even keep me from buying the same thing twice.


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I have quite a few different Moleskines sitting around partially used, so I tore the used pages out of this little one (you could actually just leave old pages in and sew on top of them!), cut squares freehand about 2x2", and stitched them in.


Start from the bottom up so you can layer on top and flip the fabrics up to get a full view. I decided not to clip the threads because not only would it have taken too long, but it looks pretty neat too!

Just a simple, fun way to keep a visual record of your stash, or a project you're working on, or the solids you have on hand, or...whatever! There's even room on the backs of the pages to write notes, such as how much yardage you have, or where you purchased it (I know this is something I take care in knowing, for whatever reason).

god damn it

I was feeling good. I was sniffly, and achey, and kind of sleepy. But the blinds were open, the sun was shining, my quilting machine had just been moved to a decidedly less cold part of the loft. I was ready to kick quilt ass.

And then it just....stopped working. I had been sewing along for a half hour or so when it turned off, and wouldn't turn back on.

This machine has caused me nothing but heartache. From the fight Mark and I had over it when I bought it, to the fights we've had as to where to put it, to discovering the bobbin casing had been completely disassembled, to my tension being completely screwed any time I try to free motion (including today), to this.

The machine guys know how to fix it, but if it's the power supply that needs to be repaired (probably), I'm looking at around $300. I love this machine. I love that I paid less than a hundred bucks for it. I love that it's exactly like my grandmother's sewing machine. I love that it's from the 70's.

But I'm really really wondering if I shouldn't let it go to sewing machine heaven and save up for one of these......

another fabric 'oops'

This time from Purl Soho.
Gorgeous (much more so in person than in these color swatches!) shot cottons and chambrays, along with some black Essex linen. I'm thinking Amish. And I was inspired (greatly, immediately, enough to shell out nearly fifty bucks for fabric less than thirty minutes after seeing it) by this quilt.

Suspiciously similar to the last oops, which hasn't even arrived yet. I don't think the two will cross paths, but I officially have more "quilts I'm going to make" lined up than I can ever finish.

Oops.

more dotty hints

More on what was going on in last week's Sunday Stash.

Some inspiration...

(from American Jane, love their patterns)


(Grandmother's Gift by Gay Nichols as seen in Mary Mashuta's Cotton Candy Quilts, one of my favorite quilt books of all time; the appliqued squares are vintage, the rest of the quilt is reproduction, vintage flowers were hand quilted in echo lines with the rest of it being machine quilted)


The first block...



And some vintage goodies of my own...

an 'in-between' quilt

This is one of those quilts that fills in the cracks. It's not meant for anyone or anything in particular. It's not made up of favorite fabrics. It's not a particularly difficult undertaking.



It's just plain fun! The day after my birthday (and two days after I'd started my '23' quilt) I fell in love with this quilt from Oh, Fransson! I thought about it on and off during our weekend getaway, and on the car ride home I asked Mark, You know that quilt I showed you? What color should I do it in? And of course, he said...............gray. I love gray. But do I have 27 different gray prints? No, I have, like...three. So brown was the next closest thing (not really, but whatever), and it gave me a chance to use some fabrics I'd never use otherwise.



After we got home that Sunday, I spent all day cutting and piecing it. I really had to force myself through the last stretch (I get distracted easily!), but I was determined to start and finish a quilt top in one day. Not only that, but I got it pressed, basted, and a couple of the quilting lines started before I passed out that night.

I used blue painter's tape to mark the diagonal lines, and my beautiful Pfaff's built-in walking foot to quilt on either side of the tape. The quilting was finished after work that Monday, and the binding was added during my lunch breaks (one benefit of working with sewing machines!) over the next couple days.

So what's left? Oh, just hand-sewing the binding to the back. Argh.

yummy fabrics

Images from fabricworm.com.

This was a complete shopping accident, but wouldn't this make the cutest little boy's quilt ever? Can't wait for them to get here so I can line 'em up and dig through my stash for something to accent the coral and tangerine colors in the giraffes.

Look for these coming to a Sunday Stash near you!

'23' quilt progress

I was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I took the day off from work to recover. Of course the tv in the bedroom isn't hooked up (lazy) so I had to find something else to do...



I actually got this up on the wall on Sunday, but since these pictures were taken the bottom left four stars have been attached with white diamonds.



This is how I would like it to hang once it's done (image has been rotated).









I love the way it's looking, but I hate sewing set-in seams. I'm having to resort to hand-sewing where the six(!) points come together, reluctantly.

I think this one is destined for a quilt show.

the embroidered home

Stitching is taking over the loft.



Finished up another mini, finally. Working with the plastic canvas takes far too long.



So glad Mark agreed the birdies were a good find ($1.98 at the DAV) or I might have left them behind. They were just what we were looking for to center over the bedroom door! It also turned out to be the perfect spot for Mark's fish, which he found at a garage sale we went to last Spring.



These used to hang in Mark's old place, and I was so happy he brought them home this past weekend. He also found a great spot for them, yay!

Now I just wish I had the time to design and work up my own embroidery, hmph.

sunday stash #5

Late with this as usual. But, an excuse! Our internet went out Saturday afternoon and wasn't fixed until yesterday evening (thanks Mark) (un-thanks AT&T the worst internet ever, wish my mom still worked for you so at least I might not have to pay as much for your crappy service).



Dots! Dots! Dots!

The top three are from a trip to the quilt store on Saturday with my mom (thanks momma for the fabric and the new quilty toys!). There are 5 more bins to go through before I dig out all of the dots from my stash...and the shopping continues, of course.

These are for a secret new project, or, well, just my next quilt. But I have three to finish yet so I feel guilty spending too much time on the new one!

it's my birthday

Today I am 23. Not that it matters, I'm far passed the point where birthdays feel like they certainly can't be real.



I'm making a quilt in honor of this coming year, called (so clever, right?) "23". I have to thank, a million times over, Rita (and her MIL!) over at Red Pepper Quilts for the inspiration and advice (although I have to appologize, there's no way I could have hand pieced these! it's machine piecing for me until I'm in retirement I'm afraid).


A few of my favorites so far....but, really, I love them all. They're each such teenie little Escher-esque quilt-y works of art. Um, not to brag or anything, hah!

I've got 15 blocks down, 8 to go. They're completely addictive.

Two more exciting things, today my mom is coming in to town to see me, aaaand Saturday, for my birthday present, Mark is taking me to stay a night HERE...



I have wanted to stay here ever since I was a little girl and we would drive by on the way from Arkansas to Branson/Silver Dollar City. I thought it was a magical princess castle that only celebrities could stay in! We are like....sooo thrilled. Even if we can't afford the spa luxuries ($190+20% "service fee" for a couple's massage!). There will totally be chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, and hot tubbage though. Eeeep!