Top done!

Ok I went with the slashing the quilt at the 3/4 then sewing in the fat yellow stripe bordered by thin red. What do you think? I'm really happy with it. (less happy that it's cloudy and I can't get a great picture)

Another view that shows the design more, but the colors are off.

So for quilting I'm going to NOT quilt in the red at all, then on all the fat stripes some free motion quilting, I'm thinking of sort of curvie lines that go all the way across the width of the stripe then back again the other direction. I can't explain it, but it's very clear in my own mind. haha.

Stephen loves it and says that it IS yellow enough.

Oh and I also made a quilt top yesterday

So last night I visited Mom and Jack in their hotel room with my boys. The boys were enjoying it so much that the 4 of them decided the kids should have a sleep over there. I raced home and enjoyed time totally ALONE! *Brian had a church thing and didn't get home until late* So I sewed up a makeup bag for mom who needed a larger one than I had made her.

Then I started cutting fabric for Stephen's quilt. Then sewing. Then I was done. It's SUPER simple. I need to do a border or something, it's sorta narrow. Anyhow here it is: My issue is that I want to do the border in the red dot, but Stephen wants a "yellow quilt" so I'm afraid that will be too much red and not enough yellow. So I'm not sure what I'll do. I have a cool yellow animal on white print that I'm doing the back in and I have plenty do to the border with, but I think it's not a strong enough print to go with all this bright color. So I'm stuck. But pretty happy that I made a quilt top in about two hours.

Oh one idea I have is to slice this whole top at about the 3/4 point, longways. Then add a fat stripe of my animal print, bordered on either side by a thin stripe of the red dot. Then not putting a border on the whole thing, just a red binding. That's actually my favorite idea, but when I explained it to Brian he said no way. But it's not up to him... I'm not sure.

These stripes are simply the fabric cut selvage to selvage and then sewn together.

Poetry

So did you know I write poems? I actually write all sorts of stuff. I make no claims that I'm any good though. See I have this NEED to write. Then I write the thing and that's it, need is gone.

Today's poem I sorta like so I'm gonna share it with you. Its about this box of crap I have. You know, old love letters, mix tapes, ticket stubs. Whenever I would add something to the box it seemed like a treasure that I'd never forget. But looking at the stuff now it all means nothing to me next to the treasures I have in my life every day.

I have a box where I keep
Some objects that I love
I store them safely as I sleep
As you may cage a dove

I took the box down today
To look at what was inside
Not love but junk how did they
Become symbols of live that died

And now I have your heart
I want to keep
And lock it away

But I’m afraid
That if I do
That will also fade

So you are free
To live and choose
Although it may hurt me so

If you choose not me
But break my heart
And choose to simply go

The rhyme pattern is sort of a mess. 4 lines, then 3, then the last two bits rhyme not inside the grouping but with each other. But whatever, I'm not a poet, I'm a girl who wrote a poem. :)

Panda Friends.

I cannot say enough about The Greeting Farm. I first fell in love with their Alice in Wonderland stamps. I knew it was only a matter of time before I got these Panda Friends too. And inside detail.

I colored with copics then went over with the Specia glitter pens.

So what do I love about The Greeting Farm? Well they ship really quick. I love that. The shipping charges are very reasonable. *actually when I ordered the panda it was a free shipping sale* They are just adorable and fun to color. I think they are pretty unique too. Although this all could be influenced by my love for anyone who makes Alice in Wonderland and panda stuff. :)

In other news:

I just went NUTS and ordered $70 of stuff from Cornish Heritage Farms! So in a few days when that all comes I will be stamping up a storm. I'll tell you all about what I got when it comes.

Favorite Things Quilt Swap.

I participate in several quilt swaps on Flickr.

One of the recent ones was the My Favorite Things theme for THIS swap group. My partner had orange and vegetable gardening listed, so I made her the carrot quilt. I used a very sketchy applique. Basicly I basted the items on then sewed over the edges several times with a black straight stitch, but kept it sloppy, like sketching. I really had fun with it. So much fun in fact that I made a second quilt with trees. I sent them both to my partner, they didn't want to be seperated. And this is what my awesome, amazing, wonderful partner sent me. Is that not the most adorable tiny quilt you have ever seen in your entire life? I'm GOBSMACKED. I mean totally and completly in love. I love the birds, the colors, the embroidery, the funky piecing. The whole thing is just awesome.

And as if that wasn't enough look:

It came with goodies. I love goodies! I mean I really really do love goodies.

In other news:

This wasn't my only awesome mail today. I got stamps from the same company I ordered the cute Alice stamps from. I'll do a full report tomorrow with the adorable card I made. I also got a large (for me) order from Pink Chalk Fabrics. I got 3 yards of the famed Kona cotton fabric. I needed a high quality white. I think it's the right white for me. I need to work with it a bit first. I got some yellow for Stephen's quilt, some number fabric for me and Kim's personal use, and some white on white print for me. Oh and I got a quilt pattern, but I'm afraid to show it or talk about it here. It's going to be for Christmas '09. yes, I'm getting ready to work on that already. I want to make almost everything. Again.

Oh speaking of patterns. I'm looking for a cool pattern to get to make some gifts. Do you like Note Taker or Pencil Roll more. Which would YOU want me to make? I just can't decide. I have a pattern already for a small seno pad cover, it holds just one pen/pencil on the outside. It's adorable, but is Note Taker cooler? Then on Pencil Roll, I figure I can use that for all kid birthday parties AND for my artsy friends, right? But anyone would love Note Taker, even if they are not a kid or an artist.

Not so much men though, what do you guys make for men in your lives?

Orangish quilt

After I made that mini quilt for Ethan I needed to make one for Stephen as well. You know how it goes...

So here is Stephen's Stuffed Animals' quilt. And the back: I literally used random fabrics on this one. Just pulled stuff out of my drawers and the pile of fabric on my desk. Oddly I like it, although I'm quite sure these colors do not "work".

Finished up "Not Good Enough"

I'm calling this mini quilt "not good enough" because it's just not good enough for my swap. Although honestly, after putting the border on it looked way cuter than I expected and should be called, "Almost good enough, I mean if I could have used it I rekon" I like the fun back I made:

Another random view.

So Ethan will have this for some of his stuffed animals. Of course Stephen already asked for one for HIS animals. I don't mind though, who better to make adorable tiny quilts for?

Fail Quilt

Not good enough:
Not for a swap. This tiny quilt top is 7x9 inches. I will probably finish it up because Ethan has a deep love for it. I will try again, trying to make it straight and nto wonky and lame. Turns out TINY sewing is harder, much harder. I'm gonna get it though. I can do anything I set my mind to.

Apron for my Grandmother

I made a reversable apron for my grandmother for Christmas. I did buy a pattern, but ended up doing my own design and totally ignoring the pattern.

Here it is on my beautiful friend Laura, who asked me not to include her head. (I'm not sure she knows she's beautiful) Here is the reverse side.

Here it is just laying around. I loved this kitchy fabric for an apron. Can you see the millions of lines of decorative stitching I did on the waistband?

Here is the other side, it also has miles of decorative stitching. And box pleats, well they are on both sides. And I also love the eyelet lace.

Oh look, I found a picture of the decorative stitching. I'm really pleased with that part.
And here it is on the red side. I'm sure you have noticed that it's different decorative stitching on each side, so I did each band seperate with it's tons of stitching, then applied them together over the top of the apron.

Anyhow, I got a thank you note from my Gramma yesterday, she said she really likes it. :)

Stained Glass Octopus.

I'm sure everyone has gotten the memo: I LOVE Octopodae. (Octopi if you MUST, although it's from the Greek so really it should be Octopodae)

My mom got the memo. Look!

I don't know the name of the artist who made this, but God Bless them! It never occured to me to dream of a stained glass octopus. I wanted to hang it in a window, but it simply didn't work out on any of mine, it would be hidden behind blinds, or curtains, or it would hit right there the latch is, making me fear for its life all the time. So I tried it agains the paint in my bathroom and loved it. And now it hangs there.

And I love it.

I got a rediculous amount of stuff for Christmas. I cannot even try to list it all. I'm almost ashamed! I will share one cool thing, My mom found a vintage turquoise (love turquoise) sewing box. Like a tackle box, only made for sewing stuff. Anyhow it's pretty large and I totally needed one, I had all my notions in a cookie tin and they didn't fit. But that's not all, it was STUFFED with all sorts of fun stuff, trims, ribbon, binding, zippers, snaps and so on! WOOHOO. And my mom's good friend Patricia found me a lovely cordinating silk scarf and tied it on for maximum cuteness. Oh I also got Amy Butler's In Stitches. EVERYONE is getting pajama pants next year. HAHA.

PS CHARLANE (sp?) I can't find your email! Brian LOVES the Kinder Suprise Eggs. He was TOTALLY suprised and he's only done one because he's making them last. The one he did was a puzzle inside, which he told me is one of the stinkier prizes, but he's so happy to have them he doesn't really care. Thank you a million times. I was so pleased to see him so suprised.

Hello Wonderful.

I got lovely new stamps from Pink Poison. They are Alice In Wonderland. And oh so kawaii.
I made this fun card. The paper is by K. And Company. I colored with copic markers and copic specia glitter pens.
This next pic actually shows the colors the best. I'm still learning the new camera.
And you can see the glitter in this one. Everything has glitter though, from her eyes to her hair to the white dress. It's hard to take a photo of glitter.

So there we have it, my new Alice in Wonderland stamps! I love them to pieces.

In other news:

I have a cold. I am sick for EVERY holiday. It's crap. My friend Tracey has a theory that it's because on some level holidays stress me out and that gets me sick. She's probably right because I've been sick the past 3 holiday seasons. I didn't even exercise today. :(

Stephen got up before 6am today. Unacceptable. He's rambling on right now about how orange is his sidekick color but yellow is his sidekick color too. He's pretty weird. Today I take him back to the allergist for his one year checkup. He's deathly allergic to peanuts. There is an outside chance he will grow out of it though, so here's to hoping. (I'm not terribly hopeful)

If I don't post again,

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Kim's Disappearing Nine Patch

Well Kim and I opened Christmas presents on the phone today. I'll show you what I got tomorrow. But now I can finally show you what I've been working on for Kim.

I did an orange/tan/brown quilt. I used Disappearing Nine Patch for the pattern.
You start with a standard nine patch like this: Then you slice it in quarters like this:

Rearrange and sew back together like this:

Repeat a bunch so you have a whole quilt's worth. Then lay them out to see how you like them best like this:
And sew them together. You will see that I didn't end up staying with my original layout. Very close, but I made soem changes.
Then quilt. Sorry I don't have better pictures. I did a free motion random pattern.

This pic sort of shows the quilting better. I backed with this off white color. I did bind it with the dark brown. I guess I forgot to take a photo of that though. The finished quilt is 60x60 inches. Kim said it goes well on her couch, the colors are right and all. So she's using it to cuddle in to watch TV. It's good because apparently they had a HIGH of -2 today and that's just sick! You NEED a TV quilt with that kind of weather.

So this type of free motion quilting is my new favorite, I plan to free motion quilt everything now! No more pain in the butt stitching in the ditch for me.

I blame YOU.

Yes YOU. Over there, with the computer, and stamps, or maybe a sewing machine.

I am a diehard library girl. I pretty much don't buy books unless they have patterns in them ie, craft books. This isn't because I don't love books. I LOVE books. I check out about 20 library books a week. And yes, I read them all. Well unless they suck.

But everyone went on and on about the Twilight books. Oh they are so good, Oh they suck you in, Oh on and on. I'm a HUGE vampire fan. I wondered if these would be too light for me. I like my vampires sexy, dark and dangerous. Stephanie Meyer is Mormon, which is cool, I'm Mormon too. But I don't want Mormon vampires ya know? Vampires are my total dark indulgence.

But you kept going on and on about the stinking books. So I requested them from the library. My library system has like 60 copies of Twilight but it never sent one to me. I don't know what's up with that, maybe I'm on a huge list. Finally I got sick of waiting and bought the first book at Costco. (I *heart* Costco)

Well dang you all! It's really good. I mean not super dark and stuff, but really good. Mom said I will like the next one even more. I can't wait another who knows how long for the stinking library to get it.

So I ordered all three of the ones I don't have just now on Amazon. It was only $29 including shipping for all of them, so that's cool. Two are in hardcover, maybe they are not in paperback yet? I have this thing where I actually prefer paperback. I know it's weird. But whatever.

I guess it's ok, I mean it's been ages sense I purchased a book. Why not buy four all at once and just a week before Christmas?

I don't have any photos. Just me rambling about Twilight, just like I read everyone else doing a few weeks back.

Hanna Stamps

Ok I resized the pics this time. Hope it helps.

I was just playing with coloring today and made these.

The yellow one is colored with watercolor pencisl and blended with dove blender pen. This is my favorite coloring technique.

And red is colored with copic markers.

well I'm off to bake a ton of cookies.

Little notebook/pencil holder thingie

Ok first do I need to resize all my photos now? I got a new camera (still figuring it out) and it's 10mp from my old 3mp so if that makes the blog take forever to load tell me and I'll resize everything. Kim says she does have to. I don't wanna, but I will.

Ok. So Kim and I were chatting it up and we decided we need holders for art supplies. She because she's a real artist, me because I'm a poser! haha. Anyhow I decided to whip this up. What do you think? *it's for me*I should have done this inside stitching before putting the outtermost fabric on so you'd not see the brown thread across the outtermost front. Or bought turquoise thread. Anyhow. My sketch pad is super fat, so I had to put tiny pleats in the pocket for it. I think for normal sketch pads I'd not have to do that. And no I don't normally sketch with a pink marker, Although I do love pink.

Well feedback welcome. :)

Warning to Moms. *maybe Dads too*

No matter how much you love your kids. And how much you love being funny with them.

Do NOT take a bite out of the play doh sandwich they make you to give them giggles. You may think you can take a bite then just spit it out. NOPE. Play doh sticks to teeth something awful. Also it tastes HORRIBLE. Like almost instant "rejection" horrible. And even after you brush your teeth your mouth still tastes funny.

It DOES make your kids giggle though, so at least we have that silver lining.

Christmas cards

I got a brand new camera today. It has all these manual settings. None of the pre programed ones are "taking photos of cards at night for posting on your blog" so I had to play around. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with this quality. But I'm sure I will get the hang of it.

So anyhow here is one Christmas package tag and some Christmas cards.

This one isn't hazy. It was one of my earlier photos. I should have redone it. And "tis the season" for baby pigs I guess? I eat ham at Christmas, so maybe it really "tis the season"

This stamping of the snowman really is super light in real life.

Most of these stamps came from a package of stamps I picked up at Costco. The Alice in Wonderland is by Red Eowyn And I tell you I LOVE these stamps.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland I found a new-to-me stamp company. Pink Poison's Splended little Stamp Company. It's a mouthful, but right there on the main page they have the most Kawaii Alice in Wonderland set EVER. Thanks to Kim and Thanh for getting the info to me. I ordered those puppies first thing this morning.

Doll Quilt Swap 5 Received

I can't get a good enough pic of this for you to know what it's like. I received this in the Doll Quilt Swap 5 swap. I'm FLOORED. It's from Kellie of Don't Look Now! She has better pics of it over there.

I'm floored. The whole quilt is lovely at a glance, but the detailing on this is AMAZING. I'm a HUGE fan of lots and lots of really tight quilting and believe me this has it! I'm truly gobsmacked to think that this was made for me. Serously this is the type of crafsmanship you see at a quilt show and there are 30 ladies trying to look at it all at once and you want to weep because you can't touch it. But I CAN touch it, I can touch it all I want because it's MINE!!!

I love the kid's art smocks too and now I have a pattern! :)

Alice in Wonderland Christmas

I made a few Christmas cards last night. I used my Alice in Wonderland stamps on them. It's so icky out that this pic is the best I can do.

That scribble you just see a corner of is my newest obsession. Basicly I'm drawing patterns that I might later like to quilt. I'm talking about the actual free motion quilting. That one is just actually what I automatically do I think. But I'm trying to force myself to do some other patterns.

In other news: I am published in the current issue of Just Cards magazine. It's volume 12. I have six cards in there. TONS of my Stamp Shack friends have stuff in there too! How fun. I'm such a twit I see the magazines come out and think, "oh THAT'S what I did with that card!" like I forgot I sent it out.

I took the boys on my power walk today. In the stroller. It worked totally different muscles for some reason and I'm sore. POOP. But at least I'm sticking with it so that's happy.

Well back to cleaning. I'm trying to do lots of that today. I don't love cleaning but I love a clean house. I need a cleaning service... No just need to be less lazy.

Glasses or Contacts

I know this is mostly crafts here but I need some help from my friends with an eye for what LOOKS good.

It's time to update my glasses perscription. I'm considering going back to contacts. I could keep my current glasses for when I don't feel like contacts. I have no problems with contacts, I switched to glasses just for style's stake. So here goes.

Glasses

No Glasses

In case you are wondering yes, I have lost weight. About 5lbs. Also this is the best hair and makeup I ever wear. So this is pretty much me at my very cutest.

Crafty Secrets

Well I have all this stuff I've made. But it's all secret! Can you believe that?

I made a really cool mini quilt for a swap. A really cool totally secret project for Kim. A really cool shopping spree for a Secret Santa swap with a group that swaps quilts. OH wait!!

I made these:

Couple of Super Hero capes. The "E" one really is that wonky. I do'nt mind, Ethan doesn't mind either. Oh and Stephen refuses to wear pants. It's not like I can force him. Well I could but I'll save force for more important issues.

I'm stalking UPS today. My purse from Macy's is out on delivery. I wish my driver all saftey and Godspeed. But he needs to get here RIGHT NOW. I'm going out tonight and I'd LIKE to use my purse. Every car that goes by I jump up!