Show and Tell Thursday

First, let's start with my photos for show & tell Thursday:

I tea-dyed some of my fabrics

I made a doodle girl doll from Chocolate Lollipop fabric line

I made a John doll to go with my doodle girl

I made a Jo doll

I made a quilt for a customer

This is my pieced backing for the quilt

I finally received my Spare Change Swap squares

Not much quilting or sewing has been getting done this week, my kids all decided to take turns getting sick-- so sick kids mean--lots of cleaning--I'm always behind disinfecting everything-really, no sewing, no quilting--and no blog posting, but since my husband is back and he had the past 2 days off I did manage to find some time to satisfy my urge to sew/quilt. I made some adorable dolls that are addicting! If you haven't seen them check them out..... I got them from here: http://www.bitofwhimsyprims.etsy.com/ . They really are quick and easy--you can make dolls in less than an hour. I've almost just about purchased all her doll patterns--I know, call me crazy, but I'm so addicted to the softies and plush dolls. I've built up my felt stash and also picked up some chenille and minky dots to make the animals...I can't wait to see how that turns out. Do any of you know where else to get patterns? I've been on the hunt and haven't found much so either Free or to buy--I WANT THEM ALL!

For the fabric dye-ers out there-- QUESTION !?! I just started to dye my own fabric, well I only did 3 and that was just using tea. I need to know the rules out there of what kind of fabric works best. I used one material--I don't know the material, some poly blend that took the tea so quickly and acheived the color I wanted so quickly....I took pictures of what I ended up with.(SEE ABOVE) The darker of the 3 is the unknown fabric so I was just wondering if you all can tell me which material is best to use for this? I of course am gonna use this new dyed material for the rabbit doll pattern and the bear :) I know I can buy it, but making it and having the control of the shade is SO MUCH BETTER! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also finally finished a quilt order....whew! Nothing like speed quilting :) It seems as though 2 is the magic number. However this quilt went by very quickly that I could have finished in one day, but I needed to sleep. The pattern is called Lodge Pole Pine from Eleanor Burns "Quilts Through the Season" book. The customers choice....I'm glad she picked it, I would have never picked this as one to make, and I love how it turned out, I'm going to have to make another one for myself.

So that's my post for the day. I've got some pretty big projects coming up that required the help of some of my favorite fabric designers --more info. about that coming soon. So off I go, the baby's calling. Happy Crafting!

Possibly a new quilt to giveaway?

My giveaway is still going on---it will be closing at midnight on Thursday, and I will be picking a winner Friday morning....so if you haven't signed up--Hurry!! I've already found some amazing blogs through here and everyone of you have been very sweet and kind with your comments. I really am touched by all of your 'kind words'. Thank you.

I've enjoyed having this giveaway so much so that I've been playing with the idea of another one. This is the quilt-top that I pieced together quickly with some vintage fabrics I found hiding in one of my plastic bins to be forgotten. I spent all Sunday morning piecing the soft neutral colors of fabric together and ended with a very nice soft combo. Just really soothing to look at. The picture does not give this quilt-top any justice.

You'd think after working and finishing my last quilt in record time, I would be relaxing and taking a very needed break.....WRONG. This quilt is large enough for me to possibly break into 4 crib size quilts, if not maybe 2 good sized cribs.....opening it up to the possibility of 2 winners this time. This was made completely out of old vintage fabrics that still carry that scent of 'old'--I LOVE THAT SMELL :) Keep checking back as I may turn this into a giveaway..... Let me choose my winner first from my current one and finish theirs before this one gets going. My goal would be to have that giveaway just in time for two of you to receive a special Christmas Present from me. Gotta quilt this and add batting to it eventually.

On another note, I promised several folks that I would have my pattern of my giveaway quilt ready by Friday at my etsy store. I never realized how hard it would be to put it in writing and making sure that it would be easy to understand and follow as well as Beginner and Pro friendly. I've come up with 2 different patterns for my heart quilt, and I'm really aiming to have it by Friday....here's what I've got so far. I definitely prefer working it out on graphing paper and then transferring it to computer when I'm done.

Can you see the heart in there?? :) A little optical illusion for ya.

As if that wasn't enough, I added an apron to my list earlier in the week, I kept forgetting to post about it here, but it is going to be added to my etsy shop and available for purchase. My very own design....I didn't really follow a pattern for this and although I wasn't trying to go for a holiday theme, it kinda looks like it, or Rasta colors.....yeah man. I made up a matching pot holder to go along with it. --My very first apron:

So that concludes, the projects that went on in my home this weekend. I can't wait to pick a winner and be able to tell someone they won a quilt and possibly make their day? What did you do?

Brain Fart

I love yo yo's I really do. I love making them just as much as looking at them.

I was having a brain fart when drawing up my patterns and figuring out the measurements so I took a break and decided to re-organize the stash. I found some more stuff I had forgotten about. I went to several auctions this past summer and picked up some really great things. There was one particular auction that I attended that had a gi-normous stash of vintage fabrics and you better believe I bid on that baby to death. Of course I won, but true to my nature, I put it away and forgot about it....well during my break from designing patterns as I was looking for something else to make while re-organizing, I came across this bag of pre-cut circles--all vintage fabrics....

I suddenly felt the urge to make some yo-yo's. I pulled out the X'mas looking fabrics and stopped when I got to this point.

I really could spend all day and making these, but certainly not without the help of these.... if you don't have them yet, you really should get them..... it just makes it THAT much easier. (cue the staples commercial here.)

I really did use these. I like to keep them in the plastic cause I'm pretty anal about certain things... especially about keeping things where they belong. Don't ask.

So after looking at the yo-yo's I started to have another brain fart..... really this mommy brain is killing me! I can't think of what to do, there is no way I'll make a quilt completely out of yo-yo's it just doesn't appeal to me, and I've already done a flower garden quilt out of yo-yo's and also placed them on a bag..... so what can I do with them? This is where I would be asking you all for some ideas.

Well in the mean time, the brain fart I had passed for a moment and I thought I came up with a genius idea-- I thought- "Let me turn these into hair barrettes! and make some matching dresses or x'mas outfits for my girls!"

I placed a ribbon and everything, the only thing left to do was hot glue to to the barrette piece.

Then I realized something..... There was a major flaw to my idea:

Notice anything?

Well let me tell you..... my girls hardly have any hair.... HOW THE HECK WILL THEY USE THESE BARRETTES?

So back to the drawing board and me asking you for some help. What can I do with my yo-yo's? I'll have to post back here later to show you the final product.

The Fortune or The Cookie?

So I had Chinese for lunch earlier today or since I'm a night owl and posting this super late, yesterday to some of you. It's still 'today' for me, I haven't slept yet. I had to snap these beauties. I've never had such perfect fortune cookies out of the wrapper. Mine were always smashed or already broken in half, but look at these:

So of course using my light box and a fantastic camera, I made the fortune cookies look even more scrumptious. I picked up my order and I don't know about ya'll, but I always have to make sure that they gave me my fortune cookies. Its not the fortune I care about-I could really care less about the fortune inside, I've gotten the "You'll win the lotto" several times & well I'm still broke, still waiting for that fortune to come true, but I just love how it tastes. I'll add a recipe that I've tried before and it just tastes really good fresh!

So these perfectly shaped fortune cookies made me snap to attention. I'm always looking for things to add to my items as a giveaway to my customers whenever they purchase things for example; magnets, cup cozy's, mini-wallets holding my business card, just that sort of stuff. Now I'm not chinese at all, and anyways the fortune cookie idea came from America, but I decided I wanted to make a fortune cookie out of fabric and add my label inside like the paper fortunes---DING DING DING DING!!!!

I'm sure people have already done this, but let me have my moment, and for figuring it out myself. ---By the way those participating in the swap--this is a good project for using up those scraps.

So with some messing around with fabric, I ended up with this as my first ones:

I loved it, and the fact that it's a NO-SEW project folks?! All you need is fabric, fusible, glue, and some beading wire & you're good to go. I should have taken some photos while I made the rest, but I just couldn't stop until I was done. They were just too easy to make. I'll post steps later when I make some more. For now here are the fabric fortune cookies.....ta da!

I'm still figuring out how to make the box, I'm gonna wash the chinese box and take it apart and use that for a template--once I'm done eating my leftovers of course. So I thought I would share this little project. So until next time, JOIN THE SWAP, and keep craftin'!

THQ's Sewing Area- Finally Organized

After organizing my ribbon, and leaving me with 3 empty drawers I had to re-organize my sewing items. WHOO-HOO!--you have to personally know me to realize how nutty I am about organizing and cleaning....everything truly has a certain place where it belongs.

It is my way of keeping sane and keeping my area from getting to crazy. You may have read in an earlier post and saw the messiness of my sewing area---and let me just tell you, that, that is a rare occasion. I love to organize, & I need to organize. What the organization is not helping me do is remember what books I have and what patterns & fabrics I already have.

There have been numerous of times I've ended up buying the same thing---and would you believe, I ended up buying 3, yes you read that right, 3 copies of one book--I guess I really liked and wanted that book, I don't know.

But here is how my area looks now after some major cleaning up and organizing:

Main Wall of Vintage Fabrics, the drawers hide my fusibles & quilt blocks

The other side where my laptop sits and printer where I print tut's from blogs or check up on your blogs, this is also where my serger sits when I'm in the mood for serging--very rare, and my back-up sewing machines.

All of my thread. Yes, that's 6 drawers filled with thread, not including the ones in the rack and my organizer full of embroidery thread behind the rack. On the top 3 containers are some of my wooly felt, all organized by color.

This is my sewing/quilting books & patterns & notions area. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a label on each box with a label of what supply is in there. The books are separated by quilting/sewing, and then by the types of projects....sick, I know.

My wall of designer fabrics from Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Anna Maria Horner, Sandi Henderson, Valori Wells to name a few and there are soo much more....thats just scratching the surface. Some quilting squares up top along with zippers and more notions. There's my quilting hoops & some of my fat quarter stash.

A close up of such beautiful fabric....I don't even want to cut into them, it's too beautiful :(

These are all scraps, Yup all scraps organized by color in all of the bins. I ran out of shelving so this was the only thing that I could do. I'm planning on purging some of this and maybe have a giveaway with the scraps, fabric & books that I'd like to send off to a new home.

1/4 of my vintage fabric collection. I love vintage fabric!!

& of course some more fat quarters....all nice and organized. So soothing to me.

So my sewing area is done......it's now off to organize my knitting area.....I'm posting a before pic and hoping to add an after shot soon!

Everyone, meet Isabel or Bel, Beli-my 2 year old daughter. She wanted her picture taken.

I can't stand these bins. I need to come up with another way to display the yarn and my embroidery and cross-stitch supplies. HELP! Any suggestions?

My Knitting needles all in one bag.....I need to make some Needle cases for these....Another project to add to the already long list of projects I'd like to do, added to the orders I have to complete. Anyone feel like trading? Make me a Knitting Needle case and I'll throw in some yarn or scraps or books....whatever will call it even. I'M DEAD SERIOUS. EMAIL ME OR POST A COMMENT HERE.

Some more knitting & crochet books. Told ya'll I loved books.

& some yarn scraps in little baskets placed right next to my rocking chair. My relaxing spot.

So Kat & I have been discussing about arranging a swap of some kind having to do with our scraps. It's still in it's early developmental stages, but we are very close to having the final rules and will be ready to post about it. We'd like to get it started soon and have it end 2 weeks before X'mas so we all can get early presents. How many would be interested? I will also be having a giveaway soon with a lot of the stuff I purge from organizing & as well a quilt to giveaway. Check back, follow me to make sure you don't miss sign ups. Oh yeah. I was really serious about trading or bartering for some sewing/knitting/quilting stuff. I have plenty to give out or trade with in exchange for a knitting needle case/roll so if you're interested, please post a comment here or send me an email! Thanks for stopping by!

Ribbon Stash Clean-up

I haven't posted anything of substance because I have been organizing & spent most of the weekend cleaning up and re-organizing my stuff. One project that I made sure to do was organize my ribbon stash. On the most recent issue of Organize, there were a bunch of great ideas to help organize each room in the home, amongst them, a craft room. This is how my ribbons were:

Hidden away in my clear organizers, with no way of me knowing what colors I had and just mixed up all together.

This is the space that I found would best fit the new storage/display area for my ribbons:

I was ready to head over to WalMart & pick some wall shelves or towel rack, and that would have easily been $15-$20 or more for each one, but then my bff Kat gave me the best idea ever.....and definitely the most cheap & very doable for everyone. Her idea was to use paper towel holders--BRILLIANT!

I still went to Walmart & found a very sturdy holder for $7.85, I used that, but I still had plenty of ribbons left to hang....so the next stop?--The Dollar Store, they were not as sturdy as the one I bought at WalMart, but definitely worked, I screwed them to the wall above my desk, I had wooden dowels and cut to the length I needed to fit between the holder and VOILA! It worked & I couldn't be more happier with the result.

Here is how it ended up looking:

It ended up looking really cool, but it left a bare spot next to it, so I went back to Wally's and picked up a Dry-erase/Cork Board Combo and found that wooden oval rack and wrote the word "scissors" on it, now not so plain. I LOVE IT! What do you guys think?

I'm Still Alive....was just locked up in my sewing room

I had taken a very long, a very needed break from sewing & quilting. I just completed some orders from the Biz Market. I apologize again to you folks who I kept waiting for a while for these items. I certainly hope it was well worth the wait.

I finished my embroidered quilt. I don't want to let it go!!! :*( I hand embroidered flowers on each vintage solid colored diamond. I didn't want to take anything away from the design itself and the embroidery so I did a simple quilting design by machine. I'm going to miss this quilt.

Here are photos of this quilt:

The Quilt Top finished

Batting added & Ready for Quilting

Quilting is Done.

Showing off the embroidery

Close-up of one of the embroidered flowers

Gotta add my label of course!

Ready for it's new home......

Other projects completed.......

Fiona Bag, by Jenna Lou Designs

My New Bag Tags.....I LOVE THEM! THANKS ED!

My Executive tote.....I have no idea what to name this

My fabric label & bag tag.....added to everything I make.

So that's it for now......pretty good progress in one week, I've got about 3 bags to finish 7 more quilts to go----gosh, why did I take that long of a break?? Well, I will be back to post more projects as I complete them. I just remembered.....along with these orders I have to complete....I also have to make 20 log cabin blocks for a swap, darnit! gotta go.