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.

A Good Thing or Bad Thing?

A new Joann's opened up closer to me the past couple of weeks. I have to say I've been over there pretty much a total of 10 times out of 14 since they opened?! Okay so maybe that was a little exaggeration there, but seriously, it seems as if I don't have a life other than being home with my children and sewing & quilting during breaks, so when I get the chance to get out, I get out and head out to my quilt shop and local fabric chain stores. Some of you said after reading my comments when I took you through a tour of my sewing/craft areas that it was a lot....to be honest..... I really don't feel like I have enough. What was the new addition over the weekend? Well here it is.....

I picked up some really girly and boyish fabrics to turn into kid projects.

These will become aprons at some point....the fabric for my holiday apron swap is in there :)

The four on the left were from a quilt shop....I am definitely loving the Art Gallery Fabrics.

The 4 on the right? Will be another apron.

I definitely had to pick up some more perle cotton floss for some more embroidery work. I'm thinking about doing another embroidery quilt....something other than flowers.

& of course.....more books!! I am definitely loving these! If you don't have them yet, definitely pick them up. For my fellow apron lovers...I'm a new apron lover....any good apron books out there? I think I grabbed every apron pattern from McCall's, & Simplicity that Joann's had....I'm wondering if there are anymore books you all might recommend? I want it..... oh yeah, and Yaya, I found my vintage apron patterns! Yeah! I'll be sending those over soon :)

So, having this new Joann's a lot closer seems to be hurting my wallet a lot more, but I've definitely got some great stuff from it--I still haven't figured out if it's a good or bad thing.

Sewing/Quilting Addiction

It's seems I keep alternating between my fabric & book addiction. Right now, it's all about books, all kinds of books. Mainly mystery, lots and lots of romance, fiction and of course craft books. Just this past week I added these books to my collection:

Ignore the fabric beneath those books, those are just layer cakes that I purchased about two weeks before....like I said it alternates--Last week I purchased the whole collection from Anna Maria's Chocolate Lollipop and Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market and Ginger Blossom, I also picked up several yards of Heather Baileys collections.

Anyways, I was talking about my addiction for books and then started to ramble on about fabric....you see what I mean? Not even in purchases and addictions I switch between the two, but in writing and talking, sorry for those that cannot follow my rambling. Where was I? Oh yeah, the books that I bought last weekend---I'm definitely loving them and finding lots of great patterns that I will eventually work on.

I also did purchase a few more patterns, I'll be posting them for sure on here once I have completed some.

Adding to my collection

I've been busy......Look what I got!!----

Earlier in the week I added to my library collection to my already big/full collection.....I stopped counting at 874 and about 2 shelves left, but I just added about 50 more books and magazines---whew....I'm running out of room...i don't know where to put them all. I got a great deal through the wonderful Craigslist.....and then bought a couple more books at Borders....plus, I just bought a bag of buttons and also found a nice big jar to put a lot of them in at a thrift store and added to my buttong collection....gotta love those shops!

I've already tabbed a lot of the pages that I will be working on.....my to-do list is getting too big!

I have been sewing a lot, just trying to pass the time since my DH is gone for 2 months, but he is making an extra trip up this weekend! whoo hoo! I need a break! So when I'm done with the last couple of projects I had lined up, I will post them up here....I'm currently working on my own design for a new bag.....I will put a tutorial here when I've fine tuned everything! So until next time....KEEP ON SEWING!

Taking A Break from Quilting

I have been quilting way too much these past couple of weeks that I needed to switch gears and do a different kind of sewing.....I chose two projects to do that only took me a total of 1 1/2 hours. The first project is the Wildflower Pincushion by Anna Maria Horner, You can find that tutorial here.
Mine turned out just great....I love this pattern, I will be doing lots more of these and probably tweaking it a bit to create my own kind of Wildflower.....here's mine: I also did my own pattern for a Needle Case......Girl with Bouquet. I'm hoping to have a tutorial made for this project soon, but for now here's a look at my Needle Case. So this was a great way for me to use my time while not quilting....there are days when I just want to sew & make bags of course!---that's my addiction and my kind of patterns. So that's it for now, I'm heading off to bed.....gonna turn in early for once. Check back later, hopefully I'll have my tutorial up.