In Love

I pulled out some old stuff recently in my back and forth quilting habit.  I am getting really antsy about buying some pretty new fabric.  But I have a cabinet with a dozen projects worth of pretty fabric waiting for their turns.  I need some quilt concentration so I can get my behind in gear.  

So I grabbed a little baggie of my punctuation dresden blades.  Some already made, some just cut, and a few charm squares still needing to be cut. I started with the ones that needed to be sewn.  As I sewed I remembered how much I loved chain piecing these.  Then at sewing night with Kristen (Bri is in Hawaii. pftt), I pressed the points, and got the rest of the charms cut.  By this point my heart was fluttering, and I was asking myself why I had this project shelved for nearly a year.  I thought about my dresdens all the time.  I would find one way or another to steal away a few minutes here and there to work on them. I just had to see them and touch them.  When I laid all of the blades out yesterday I realized I LOVE this quilt.  I haven't LOVED anything in a long while.  I have been enthusiastic but not in love.  

I need to get a backing.  I can hardly wait to get this baby finished.  Its a gift, but not a secret because I was so excited I sent a photo to the recipient.  Last time I was at one of my local shops they still had a good supply of punctuation, so maybe I'll find some. I will be happy to gaze upon this top until I get the backing and binding.  I could look at this quilt all day.   

I also managed to finish my "I'm a quitter" mini quilt.  Its the four blocks I made from the Farmers Wife before I quit.  It's a pretty mini quilt or table runner or whatever, its just going to take me awhile to get over my failure.  

This that and the other...a confession

 Well, how about this....I made something.  Something useful at that!  My reader needed something pretty to live in and travel in.  

 Besides this reader cozy, I have been almost completely scattered and unproductive. 

 Probably because that mess in there is really cramping my flow.  I need to get my poop in a group.  I have 5 mug rugs done for the shower favors(5/40), so that really is something, but it makes a giant mess when I work on them. My cutting table....

 ..is ridiculous. (see that failed reader cozy there? boo)

I have been working on my civil war snowballs, and my ruby bow-ties.  But there is no good excuse for this mess.(I need to find that other flip flop) I really have been flipping back and forth.  I'll do 5 snowball blocks then switch and work on 15 bow-ties, then do a mug rug or two, then get frazzled and run away from the sewing room wondering where I might score a piece of chocolate.  I need to concentrate!!

Might be time to crank up some Bob Seger and get in gear!

Holy Hutch

  Less than $200 hutch

 This makes my heart flutter

 Paul Revere bowls I bought off eBay years ago.. and the crystal my cousin Erin gave me because I drooled over hers at her bridal shower.

 The china coffee service and my grandma's soup tureen.  

 My cups and saucers, some crystal the hubs help me collect over the years plus some candle stick holders. 

 Little chicks my mom sent me.

I am a seriously happy chick right now.  And the hubs is happy he got away spending less than two hundred buck on a hutch...which I have been begging for years to acquire. 

happiness.

Meet FeFe

The past couple months my friends and I have been having a weekly sewing night.  After my friend Bri puts her little guys to bed Kristen and I head over and we sew.  We have all been making snowballs recently, but its just a few hours a week where we can chat and sew and get out of the house(well bri stays in, but you know what I mean.)

 Bri pressing her snowballs

 Kristen hauling her sewing stuffs... PTL she finally got a case for her Singer Confidence.(she loves it Rebecca)

 So because I'm ridiculous I bought myself a pressing/cutting mat and a baby iron so I can be fully prepared sewing away from home. I even made my travel iron a little bag that has Insul-bright lining the bottom so if she is still a little warm it will be okay.

Again because I am ridiculous I made a cover that has Insul-bright also... so I'm double covered.  

This is my little FeFe standing next to Row.  And I promised Bri I would blog about FeFe's name to give her full credit.  

Last month when I bought FeFe I took her out of the box, snapped a pic with my phone and posted it on Facebook asking what I should name my new baby  iron.  My friend Bri suggested FeFe, and I thought it was very cute. Then she commented that Fe is iron's symbol on the periodic table.  Nobody knew this...Bri was upset that no one knew this.  (because a week after the periodic test in high school that info was released into the land of stuff I'm not going to let take up space in my brain.)   The hubs and I discussed her smartness and whit.  I however didn't comment back about how bad ass her chemistry knowledge is.  Bri was exasperated.  This is why I promised her I would blog about her brilliant name for my little FeFe. 

 And thus FeFe was named... and not just a cute little name, but a name with real meaning...like chemistry meaning.  

So thank you very much Bri for being so smart and apparently keeping your chemistry knowledge sharp.  

I'm very impressed, and I bet others will be naming their irons FeFe after they read this. 

Beyond sewing night I haven't been up to much.  I did manage to get this giant star top put together.  I have been super distracted by a china hutch I snagged for 100 bucks and have been painting and it has been stealing all of my sewing time.  Its done now though, I'll share photos soon.

Since the bad thing happened

 The past two weeks have been the pits.  My hubby has been working almost nonstop and it has been very frustrating to my quilting hobby.  If things weren't bad enough, last week I was pushing my sewing cabinet to the other wall of my sewing room and wheels started breaking off.  One minute I'm a happy chick the next I'm crying and swearing and avoiding the sewing room at all costs.  The hubs told me I can't just push it.... apparently the wheels dont do this.  Silly me.  I thought they were wheels!  The hubby fixed it... which is good because for awhile there it looked like this....I'm glad thats over.  

 But now that the sewing room is back together I have been working along.  I am hosting a bridal shower this summer and I decided to give mug rugs as favors to the guests....I think I need to make atleast 40..maybe more.  

 I have eight quilted.  I feel kinda good about this.

This one is my favorite so far.  I am going to make some out of my Oasis scraps and other fabrics I have laying around so they wont all be the same, hopefully there will be one that suits each guest.  If not who cares, it is a free gift afterall.  Hopefully I wont have to be so frustrated and I can keep working.  

My Prairie Playground

 It feels great to get another quilt finished up!  I bought these oh so cute Michael Miller prints a couple years ago at the HoLo, and really enjoyed finally creating a quilt with them.  

 While my hubby was deployed I watched a lot of Army Wives episodes, like 81 of them.....In Roxy's livingroom was a quilt with this pattern.  It was very striking, so I finally worked some numbers and created the pattern on my own.  I had to pause the show a few times to get a good view, but its basically just a rail fence with the big squares in-between. 

 The binding was a checkered hankie print, and gave the binding a really cool look.  

I really love the striking red and blue frames around the cute cowgirl print.  I'm really pleased.  

Its going to live with my cousin back in the mitten.  I hope she will love it up!

Hometown Square

 I just finished this puppy up!  It's a small throw, but should be cozy to cuddle up with.  It is going to the winner of the Juicy Q naming contest.  

I used two charm packs, sewed them up into four patches, then sliced them down into off kilter squares.    It was a nice project to throw together for fun.

I added a thin yellow border then a light grey border and I think it really makes this quilt pretty handsome. I decided to free motion quilt this one (which I was a bit rusty at I might add!). 

I'm happy this spiffy throw is finished.  Hopefully it serves the sofa at its new home well.