Another Kimono Tee

The first one turned out so well, I immediately went on the lookout for fabric for another Kimono T-Shirt from Maria Denmark.

I found the perfect fabric at Fabric Mart-- a happy Maggy London ITY print.

Making it the second time was even faster than the first time (and I felt like that was pretty darn quick!). No changes at all.

I am definitely feeling the love for this design and fully intend to make more at some point. But I've got some other projects lined up, including plans for using these:

Activewear knits! Woo!

Quality crafting time

It has been a good few days, with lots of crafty goodness!

I spent some time catching up on my Sea Breeze Quilts "Chocolate Marshmallow Sampler" quilt along blocks:

Blocks 7-10 are now complete, and I am all caught up! Only two blocks to go in this one, I believe.

I also got all of the pillowcases washed, ironed and packaged for donation.

And I received a fabric order from Gorgeous Fabrics. Yum!!! Remember how I said I wanted to do more garment sewing? My plan at this point: tops from the b/w stripe and the purple, a skirt from the coral stripe, and not sure about the brown. They were actually sold out of the one I originally ordered and I chose this as a replacement, but I'm not sure I like it for the cardigan I had in mind... so it might turn into a skirt. Not sure yet. The next step though is to get them pre-washed, which with long swaths of fabric that need to be air dried, is kind of a process. Hopefully I'll fit them into the laundry cycle here soon.

In addition, I've been working on some party prep for Big Bear's upcoming birthday. He's turning 8! Crazy!

Bundle fun!

Fat Quarter Shop recently began selling fat quarter bundles that have been put together by famous quilt/sewing bloggers. Quokka Quilts thought it would be fun to pretend to be a famous blogger and create her own "Blogger's Choice" bundle and has put together an awesome contest for all of us aspiring bundle-makers. Create a bundle (including 12 prints and 3 solids) using fabrics available at Fat Quarter Shop. Winners will actually receive 1/2-yard cuts of all the fabrics in their bundle! Pretty darn cool! Not to mention it is a fun excuse to go browse about Fat Quarter Shop (one of my favorite online stores!).

Since I have little boys, my bundle is definitely inspired by them:

Fabrics included:

1. Writer's Block Earth Symbols Yardage SKU# 11860-169
2. Espresso Petite Dots Yardage SKU# 39065-222
3. Sew Geared Up Golden BrownMetal Garage Flooring Yardage SKU# 0977-4
4. Mechanical Genius Navy Hexagon Geo Yardage SKU# C8997-NAVY
5. Robot Factory Brown Robot Connections Yardage SKU# 11533-16
6. Hall of Fame Olive Game Plaid Yardage SKU# DC5365-OLIV-D
7. Hall of Fame Mustard Game Turf Yardage SKU# DC5367-MUST-D
8. Retro Basics Retro Slender Stripe Yardage SKU# CX4844-RETR-D
9. Alexander Henry Brown Bumper 2 Bumper Yardage SKU# 7463-A
10. Little One Organic Light Green Multi Star Dots Yardage SKU# 11480-130
11. Hall of Fame Yellow Game Jersey Yardage SKU# DC5363-YELL-D
12. Coming Home Pebble Sand Barn Siding Yardage SKU# 19501-19
13. Michael Miller Sailor Cotton Couture Solid Yardage SKU# SC5333-SAIL-D
14. Kona Cotton Olive Yardage SKU# K001-1263
15. Kona Cotton Banana Yardage SKU# K001-1481

It is kind of a funky-looking group, but I really love all of the prints and think they make for a very interesting combination. If nothing else, I had lots of fun putting them together!

If you're thinking that you might want to join in on the fun, there's still time! The contest runs through January 15th.

Miscellany

It has been kind of a slow week crafting-wise. My stitching efforts have been focused on my Once 'Round the Country commitment and getting that done in time for the July 1st send-off. I'd show you my progress, but (frankly) it's not very exciting looking at this point. It's going to be a close call, but I'm hopeful that I'll get it done on time.

I'm also hopeful that I'll somehow be able to squeeze in another project: the Teardrop Bag for this month's Style Stitches challenge. I've only gotten so far as picking fabrics, but for me that's nearly half the battle!


This project is my personal favorite in the book, so I'm really excited about working on it.

Also going on right now is the 2011 Western Washington Shop Hop. This year, instead of attempting a family shop hop adventure with my 14-month-old and 4-year-old sons, I opted for taking a bus tour with 40 other quilt-obsessed ladies. We hopped on the bus bright and early on Wednesday morning and visited 12 shops over the course of the day. I made some new friends, actually got time to browse in every shop, and had a really good time. I even came home with a few goodies:


I have plans for most of the fabric, but not all. Considering all of the enabling going on, I feel like I stayed fairly strong and curbed the majority of my fabric-acquisition impulses.

And then last night...


I got a new 'do! It's pretty different for me-- but I'm diggin' the purple. Fun!

Hope y'all have some happy and crafty weekends!

Tri County Quilt Tour 2011

Last week was the annual Western Washington Tri County Quilt Shop Tour. Over the course of three days, I managed to visit all of the participating shops (14 this year!). This year's theme for the tour was "Birds of a Feather" and each shop designed both a block and a quilt that featured all of the shop blocks.

This is the fourth year of the hop, and my fourth year participating. I have to say, this year I saw more creativity than ever in the shop quilts. Truly, each one was totally unique. A couple of the shops really went out of the box and created some awesome displays (Two Thimbles in Bellingham actually asked local fiber artists to create their blocks). And, of course, there were some wonderful traditional-style versions as well. I took pictures of all of the quilts to share:



If you go to the album, I've posted comments with a little bit of additional information. The pictures really do not do some of these quilts justice.

And, of course, what is a shop hop without happy loot?


I splurged a bit this year. But, I actually have a plan for all but one of these fabrics. So only one is actually going directly into "stash." Now I just have to get sewing and put those plans into action.

I love me a happy shop hop!

Christmas joy

Christmas was a ton of fun this year. Big Bear hit the mother lode when Santa brought him a train table and some new engines.


In addition to the "official" Thomas engines, he also received a couple of special cars:


The tar wagons are featured in a few of the Thomas stories, and BB includes them in his play a lot. However, there is no actual tar wagon toy in the Thomas collection, so he has been using legos and blocks to stand in for them. My husband found some plain wooden trains and then painted them to create this pair of custom tar wagons. Didn't they turn out awesome? And Big Bear LOVES them!

It was such a joy watching him take it all in and then seeing his excitement once he started to play (and he didn't stop... all trains, all day!).


Little Bear was not left out of the fun either. He got some wonderful new toys for his first Christmas, including a big wooden activity cube from Santa and some electronic goodies from the grandparents. It is currently very noisy at our house (why don't those toys have volume controls???), but the boys are having a lot of fun.

I received some wonderful new "toys" as well!


My in-laws gave me some wonderful new crafty books, including Amy Butler's Style Stitches, Pretty Little Potholders by Lark Books, and Jelly Roll Quilts & More by Kimberly Einmo. And then my mom gave me a beautiful fat quarter pack the new Sanctuary collection by Patty Young in the chocolate berry colorway. So lovely!


And look at this wonderful piece of handmade loveliness from the super-talented Evelyn! And it had a cool little seam ripper gadget inside too!


In addition to a fabulous gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop, my husband signed me up for a new block of the month at Shabby Fabrics: The Pincushion Club! It is the coolest thing! Each month I will receive a new pincushion kit. Some of the kits will even have enough to create multiple pincushions. And every month features a different designer. The first kit is supposed to arrive at the end of January. I can't wait!!!

I hope all of you have been having a wonderful holiday season as well!

A prize!

Woo hoo! As if just completing my One Week, One Thing Challenge weren't fabulous enough, I actually won a prize for doing it too. Look what I just received in the mail this week:


Oooo... I love me some Sandy Gervais!

Thanks so much to Amy for hosting this great challenge, and to Natalia of Piece N Quilt for providing the prize.

Happy and bright!

Even though I haven't been doing much crafting, I have managed to do a little shopping! A couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite online shops, Shabby Fabrics, had a fabulous sale and I picked up these:


Woo hoo!!!! That's 88 fat-eighths of bright fabrics in a rainbow of colors. I'm afraid my picture does NOT do them justice. What a treat! In person they are absolutely gorgeous. My initial thought is to use them to try and make one of those gorgeous patterns from Kellie Wulfsohn of Don't Look Now (I'm thinking about the Rainbow Lollipops... but I haven't decided for sure). I'm not quite ready to commit to that yet though. So for now, I'll just gaze happily at my pile o' happy brights.

Also, kind of hiding to one side in that pile, is a pattern I've been eyeing for some time, the Happy Stacker Ring Toy by Heather Bailey. I think it will be a lot of fun to make for baby sometime in the near-ish future.

Tri County Shop Hop 2010

This weekend was the third annual Tri County Quilt Shop Festival. Quilt shops in three counties join forces to host a fun shop hop. Each shop creates a block for the event and then makes a special quilt using blocks from all of the other shops. This year's theme was "Smooth Sailing" and it was a ton of fun going from shop to shop and seeing all of the fabulous quilt designs.

Here's a little peek at all of the various shop quilts:


I think my favorites are the quilts from Fabrics, Etc. (how cool is that porthole???), Folktales (using the Sandy Gervais line "Frolic"), and Tangled Threads (so bright and happy!). But I love how unique each of the quilts is and how differently they used the same blocks.

Since I really wasn't sure I was going to be able to manage any of the hop this year, it was super exciting for me to make it to all of the participating shops! It took three days to complete. On Thursday, the boy and I visited 3 shops together. Then on Friday, I managed to visit 2 shops while the boy was in preschool, and then together we trekked to another 3. Finally on Saturday, I got up early and drove myself to Lynden and Bellingham (the shops farthest from home) to visit the last 7 shops on the tour (some happy alone time for mama!).

I didn't take many pictures other than of the various quilts, but I did get a cute one of the boy. Granny's House in Stanwood, WA, offers classes on creating custom umbrellas, and my boy was having a lot of fun checking out the sample:


And how cute is that umbrella? If the shop weren't so far away, I'd probably sign up for the class!

And, of course, the loot...


I tried hard to not go too crazy. I ended up with a few patterns, including Amy Butler's Birdie Sling (which I have been eyeing for some time), some stitcheries (so cute!), and a festive little bunny quilt kit. I picked up the Antique Quilts magazine (because I've been reading so many great things about it). And then I picked up just a few fabrics, including some to use for the Amy Butler pattern, backing fabric for my Paintbox Quilt Along quilt, a couple of prints I just had to have, a charm pack, and some green fat quarters (sigh... I just couldn't resist! What am I going to do once my Stickle quilt is complete and I don't have an excuse to buy green fabric anymore???). The only things not pictured are some stickers I picked up for the boy, as well as a big blue button he picked out for himself.

Another fabulous shop hop adventure!

A fun giveaway!

Twiddletails is carrying a whole fabric collection in her store for the first time, and she is celebrating by giving some away. Now I don't usually post about giveaways, but I'm so excited to hear that her store (open just over a year now!) is growing and that she is able to carry a whole collection. It's a pretty exciting milestone for a small business, I think.

The collection is beautiful! It is "Wild Thyme" by Carolyn Gavin for P&B Textiles. If you have a minute, you might want to check it out, and maybe even enter yourself in the Twiddletails giveaway. :)

Quilt retreat!

This last weekend, Evelyn and I (along with 60 other ladies) spent three days at the Falls Creek Conference Center for a quilt retreat hosted by Karen Snyder.

It was awesome!!! So awesome that I failed to take any time out to take pictures. But, I can tell you that the retreat center was beautiful (albeit a little stormy), the food was plentiful (and tasty), the ladies were all welcoming and friendly and fabulous, and having nearly 3 days to just sit and sew was amazing.

Evelyn finally reminded me that pictures were pretty nice for blogs, and helped me take a couple at the very end so that I can at least show you what I managed to accomplish.


I spent the majority of my time (all but about 3 hours!) working on my version of the "Prairie Pinwheels" quilt (from McCall's Quilting, August 2008). I managed to complete 33 blocks, which means I now have all of the 48 blocks required to make the quilt. Woo hoo! Evelyn took this picture of me standing in front my blocks. The design wall wasn't big enough to hang all of them, so there are also few sitting in the chair nearby. I hadn't planned on working on this quilt the entire time, but I just found myself wanting to get the blocks DONE. So I kept going until they were all completed. Hopefully, I'll be able to start putting them together soon.

Needing a little break from the pinwheel blocks, I took a time-out to participate in a retreat project that Karen put together. She requested that we each bring two half-yard pieces of ugly fabric. She took them all and then randomly drew names. We each received a bag pattern and got to go up and choose two pieces from the pile that we could use to make our "ugly bags".


This is my completed bag. It took me just a little more than an hour to put together, and was a nice respite from the grind of pinwheels. And the bag isn't bad at all!

More pinwheels followed. Finally, on Sunday morning, the last pinwheels was complete. With only a couple of hours left before we planned to head home, I decided to get a start on the "My Friend Maisy" quilt.


It was a huge joy to be working on these after spending the entire weekend on pinwheel blocks. And they were so quick in comparison! This is going to be a very happy quilt.

On the way home from retreat, we made a stop at Sisters Fabric Shop in Chehalis. They had a lot of fabric packed into that little store! It was actually a little overwhelming. But, I managed to come away with a little something:


The brown is going to be for binding Felix's quilt (assuming I ever get it started!), the peachy floral is for my last Autumn House block (so I can make it match its mis-cut opposite block), and the green is for my Jane quilt (because I just couldn't resist!).

I also wanted to show you this:


The day before I left for the retreat, I took a little time and made a portable ironing station for myself, a la the fabulous twiddletails. I bought a TV tray at Target for about $9 and transformed it following Anina's instructions. It was a super-quick project (less than an hour!), and I was wildly grateful that I had it at retreat. I was able to just stay at my spot and do all the pressing I needed right there. I cannot even contemplate how much time it saved me to not have to get up and go to an ironing station every time I needed to press. And I think it will be just as helpful at home.

My first-ever retreat was amazing fun! Though I wasn't as productive as I had hoped (those pinwheels took a lot longer than I had hoped!), I feel like I really got a lot done. I got to hang out with my friend and meet some amazing ladies. I got to sew. And I can't wait until I can do it all again!

Panda peril!

One of the tops I completed last weekend was my purple patchwork panda quilt-along (from AJ Designs). I love how it came together—so cute!


Unfortunately, all is not well in panda-land.


My husband put water in the iron, and I didn't realize it (somehow, the steam billowing out just wasn't clue enough for me). So when I picked up the iron, water dribbled all over one corner of the quilt. I figured it would be fine to just press it dry. But, in doing so, the purple fabric started to bleed. Eeeep! It was just a little bit though. So I let it dry and took it to the sink and used some Synthrapol on it (a quilt appraiser/conservator who spoke at my guild a few months ago swore by its effectiveness at dealing with bleeding fabrics). Yay! It seemed to be working.


Unfortunately, I used hot water (hitting palm to forehead now) and it started to bleed in another spot. A lot. Gah! This is all extra-aggravating since I pre-wash all my fabrics for the express purpose of preventing such events. Sigh. The best picture I was able to take was of the back of the block... it shows the bleeding pretty well.


I'm thoroughly disheartened at this point. And I'm also in a quandary. This quilt was supposed to be a gift for a new baby. On the one hand, with some more Synthrapol (and COLD water) and a thorough wash (or even two) after quilting, I think it will be okay. But, on the other hand... what if it's not??? Do I invest the time if I'm just not sure?

The bleeding is pretty much only in one block. I think I have enough purple to make a replacement block. So would it be better to make the extra effort to remake and replace the offending block? Or should I just go for it as is, and see what happens?

What would you do?

Jane Stickle Quilt: I-12

Block number/name: I-12 “Fred’s Square Fair”

Date completed: July 7, 2009

Number of pieces: 41

Notes on block: It’s been Stickle-a-rama ‘round here lately! But, I am officially up to date now with my blocks. Woo hoo! It feels really good to be ready for the new block being posted tomorrow on That Quilt.

So I was feeling kind of like my pile o’ green fabric was dwindling. But, thanks to a few great friends, and some recent shopping expeditions, I have lots of fresh, happy greens in the pile. Yay! The green I used for this block was one of the ones I purchased a couple of weeks ago from Pacific Fabrics. They were having a pajama party. If you wore your pajamas, you got a 20% discount! So put on my pj pants and picked up a few greens (and some grey… I’m thinking I’ll use that with my scrappy nine-patches).

Some treats!

Mother's Day was a few weeks ago now, but I still wanted to share the fabulous treats I received. One was a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop, and my order arrived just a few days ago.


The only plan I have thus far is for the beautiful April Cornell charm pack ("Nostalgia"). I'm going to use that for (yet another!) baby quilt. I'm not sure what will become of the rest, but it's exciting to have some new fabrics to play with!

Then, taking me completely by surprise, my mother-in-law gave me a beautiful necklace.


She designs and creates jewelery, and this necklace is a gorgeous example of her work. And it is so me! She sells some of her work to friends and has participated in a few craft shows, but I keep telling her she needs to open an etsy store. She is so talented, it blows me away.

I am so grateful to have such a loving and supportive family. Thank you for a wonderful mother's day and for all of the love and appreciation you give me all year long!

Birthday treats!

Last week I celebrated my 35th birthday. I received lots of wonderful birthday love from friends and family and went out to an incredible dinner with my husband and the boy. I also was the recipient of some super birthday treats: a gift certificate to a local quilt store, some much-needed new clothes, and a beautiful vase. Then there were a few gifts that didn't arrive until today.


A happy package from my in-laws via amazon.com arrived that included some fabulous books and a DVD of Wall-E. The Gayle Bong book, Save the Scraps, is just full of amazing projects that I really want to make. I checked it out from the library awhile back, and am now super-thrilled to have my own copy! The other book, I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, is campy, happy, crazy funny, and actually includes some very tasty looking recipes. I'm going to have lots of fun combing its depths.

Another package, from Pink Chalk Fabrics, was actually my birthday gift to myself. I've been wanting to start using solids more, and the Kona Cotton Starter Pack seemed like a perfect way to get going. And I just couldn't resist the famous "Bento Box" quilt pattern. I've seen a number of these quilts now, and just love the design. This was my first time ordering from Pink Chalk Fabrics, and I am a happy customer. My order was packed up beautifully, arrived quickly, and the customer service was great.

Meanwhile, I finished quilting my challenge quilt and completed the first phase of binding. Now all that's left is to stitch the binding to the back and attach a label. Should keep me out of trouble for a little bit.

Crafty Friday

Yesterday the boy and I met up with E for a field trip to the Bellevue Arts Museum. They have a new quilt exhibit: American Quilt Classics, 1800 - 1980: The Bresler Collection. I wish I had some photos to share, but alas, no photography allowed. The collection included some gorgeous quilts. They grouped them into categories, including whole cloth, mosaics, albums, Amish, medallions, log cabins, and more. The boy precluded me getting to really focus too much on the details of each quilt (must be moving at all times!), but I really enjoyed the exhibit. There were some truly beautiful quilts on display and I came out feeling seriously inspired.

Later, the boy and I went over to E's house and we crafted it up! E saw some super-cute Valentine garlands being displayed around blogland (like this one) and decided it would be a quick and fun afternoon project.

Armed with my bag of red/white/pink fabric I joined E and her giant piles of felt, fabric, and trims. Now, though I do consider myself pretty crafty, the only garlands I've ever made have been paper chains at Christmas. I was feeling rather clueless as to where to even begin. So I sat back and observed as E got started on hers.


This is what she came up with. I love how she used the ribbon-- each heart is separate and then they can be chained together by tying the ribbons. And I also love the pinked edges. So cute!

Once I saw how hers was coming together, I got brave enough to get going on my own.


Somewhere in the center of the crafty chaos, you can see the start of my garland. Instead of ribbon, I went with a continuous strand of white rick rack. Each heart includes a backing fabric (I used the same fabric for each heart), two layers of felt or fleece (depending on what was closest at hand), and then a top fabric. To hold all the layers together, I used a decorative stitch around the perimeter of each heart (each one is different).

Fun fact: in doing this project, I realized I do not have a single heart-print fabric in my rather expansive stash. Crazy! Fortunately, E was happy to share a few of hers with me.

My garland finished around 9 feet long. I decided to hang it in my kitchen, over the pantry.


Right now it's being held up by tape. I might try using little tacks or nails at some point in the future. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with the happy little hearts.

Many thanks to E who helped me along, offering sage advice, materials, and great company. Yay for crafty friends!

Laundry day

Unfortunately, I have nothing particularly crafty to share today. Except my laundry. It might qualify as crafty because it was all fabric!


Inspired by my friend E's lovely stacks of washed, ironed, and neatly folded fabric, I started in on washing my fabric haul from last August. The pile above represents four full loads of laundry. I actually managed to iron and fold the first load (the tiny looking neat pile in front). Sadly, I think I've got another three or four loads of fabric to go. Anyway, that's about it for crafty accomplishment today.

In other news, I've received my first-ever blog award.


Woo hoo! Many thanks to Satu. She is a skilled quilter who does the most beautiful piecing and has an amazing eye for color. It is really an honor to receive such an award from her!

I think I'm supposed to now pass this award along to seven other people. It's hard to narrow it down because there are so many amazing and inspiring blogs out there (I just looked, and my Bloglines list has 131 subscriptions!). But I'd like to pass this award along to:

• Carrie P.-- an amazing applique artist
• Emily-- a gifted and prolific quilter and businesswoman
• Gayla-- who makes beautiful crafty things
• Kira-- who is super-crafty and makes me smile
• Zonnah-- a talented quilter (and mom to a toddler, like me)
• Karen-- for sharing her many quilting journeys
• Yvette-- crazy productive and creates beautiful things

Now, I know I've seen this award on other blogs, and (of course) I can't remember where. So, if you've already received this award, and I'm awarding it to you yet again... well, I just want you to know that I appreciate all the work you're doing!

Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year seems like a great time to do a little looking back and some looking forward.

Last year, I made 3 resolutions:

1. Go to Atomic Java no more than three times a week. Um. I didn't last long on that one. But, I have curbed my caffeine addiction somewhat. I'm able to drink a half-decaf latte now without major headaches. And I can even go multiple days without my java fix. So, on some levels, I was successful.


2. Use more fabric than I buy. I got off to a good start, but kind of lost control.
   Fabric In: 389.183 yds
   Fabric Used: 93.810 yds
   Dang garage sales. But even that was only 150 yards. Clearly, I have a problem. To be fair though, I have used more than that. But there just isn't a good way to track fabric usage for my Dear Jane, grandmother's flower garden, Grandma's Country Album II, or block lotto and block exchange blocks. But added together they also used up a decent amount of fabric. Still, I think I've definitely earned a failing grade on this resolution.


3. Don't buy any books; read the books I have. I did pretty well on this one. A few books were purchased, but of those, I've only got 3 left to read. So, there aren't new books languishing on my shelves. I also re-discovered the local library. That has been awesome!!! And it has helped keep me from adding to my personal library. Not perfect, but I feel really good about my adherence to this resolution.

Here are a few goals for this year:

1. Stashbust— I really, really want to start using up my stash. Really. I'm not sure how to put this in objective, measurable terms though. Based upon last year, maybe I'll say, "Use at least 100 yards of stash fabric." It's ambitious, but I think it's a good goal.


2. Complete 3 UFOs— I'm trying to be realistic here. I think I can do this.


3. Make and donate some quilts for charity— I don't know how many I'll be able to get done, but I'm putting this on the list to help me focus.


4. Keep up with my blocks of the month projects— For Christmas, Keith bought me a subscription to a beautiful block of the month program through Shabby Fabrics, Autumn Houses. I also want to start work on the kit I purchased at Quilt Festival for the American Jane quilt, Playtime. I'm also going to stay focused on my Dear Jane quilt and continue to keep up with the Dear Baby Jane blocks as they are posted.

Not too many, but I want to try and make goals that I can keep. These are already going to be a challenge, I think.

Best wishes for 2009, and best of luck with all of your New Year's resolutions!

Mother lode!

My garage-saleing friend came upon an amazing find. And thanks to her perseverance and patience with a slightly batty garage sale proprietress, a hugemongous amount (about 300 yards) of high quality quilting cotton was procured at a freakin' amazing price! My friend is a serious mistress of negotiation.

Here's part:

And the rest:


And, much to my joy, she was even willing to share. Here's my half:


There is probably about 150 yards or so in those containers. Most are smaller pieces—1/2 yards and fat quarters. There are a few larger pieces as big as 3 or 4 yards. Wow. And I'm telling you, the price was incredible. Less than $1/yard. There are, of course, a few in there that aren't really me. But for the most part there is a ton of beautiful, imminently usable fabric goodness.

No. I did not need this fabric. But I am happy to have it, and I really look forward to using it. Projects are dancing in my head. What I need to do now is quilt faster.

Mail fun!

Yesterday was an excellent mail day!

Mail item #1: Last week I used the last of a birthday gift certificate and ordered some stuff from Big Horn Quilts.


Included were a pack of machine quilting designs, a yard of a pretty Alexander Henry print, and a yard of beautiful Oriental dragons. The dragon fabric is going to be a fun fall shirt for the boy (or, at least, that’s the plan).

Mail item #2: I received my registration info for the Houston International Quilt Festival! Yes, it’s true! I’m going to Houston! My Austin friend sent me a mail at the beginning of July insisting that I join her and a couple friends in their Quilt Festival adventure. They’ve got hotel rooms already booked and everything. My wonderful husband pretty much insisted that I go. There’s definitely some mama-guilt, but I bought my tickets, they are non-refundable, and I’m going. Bonus: I even got into my first choice classes! I’ll be taking Advanced Machine Quilting from Linda M. Fiedler, and Hand Quilting for Beginners from Jan Svatek.

Mail item #3: A few weeks ago, I won a contest that Gayla held celebrating her 250th post on her blog, flibbertigibbet bunny. And as a final super mail surprise yesterday, I received my prize:


In addition to some fun fabric, she included two handmade items. One was a darling pincushion she made from leftover Dear Jane blocks. The other was a fabulous knitted hat (how did she know I’ve been yearning for just such a hat?).


Thank you so much, Gayla!