Done!

Two Dresden Plates are DONE! And already mailed off to Angela... hooray!
More details on said blocks here.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a great weekend of festivities, family and friends!

A Boy and His Bath

Forget the boats, he loves the Burts Bees soap bottle!

I'm trying to savor every moment - he's growing so fast!

Dresden Plates in Progress

Thanks to the Virtual Quilting Bee I'm a part of... I get to try all sorts of new techniques!
Angela sent a bunch of Katie Jump Rope fabric (one of my favs!) for us to turn into 2 Dresden Plate blocks! I've never ventured into this area so I dove in this morning! The tutorial we're using is from the Sew Mama Sew! blog and created by Elizabeth of Oh Fransson!

Angela sent us pre-cut pieces so the hard part was done! I finished piecing this circle in about an hour so its quite manageable! Next is to attach it to a creme 16" square block then add the center fabric to finish it off.
Thanks, Angela, for helping me master a new block and get over my fear of 'messing it up.'

Timber Quilt

{ quilting }
all over meandering free-motion stippling
My little Janome really does a nice job, although every now and then it skips a stitch causing the darning foot to get caught on the thread. Then I start to get angry.
Which is why I took training classes to use the big, cool, phat LONG ARM machine at my LQS...
More about that in January, to be sure!

{ size }
60" x 42"
Lap Size, I'd called it.
I was going for "get it done fast" so I used 9 whole fat quarters, if you cannot tell.
Does that make me lazy? Nope, just in a hurry to get a bagillion things done.
You've done it too - be honest.

{ fabric }
Front: Jessica Levitt "Timber" collection in berry.
LOVE IT!
I also added a FQ of "In The News" newspaper looking fabric... its rare (OOP?) but I still have another FQ left. I'm hoarding it for a black and white quilt I hope to start some day.
Maybe in 2011? I do hope so!

{ fabric cont. }
Back: Kona Cotton in "terragon" which is a nice little contrast to the pinks and blues on the front. I was a tad short on the green yardage so I dove into my stash of Leaf Path from the Dill Blossom Collection (which apparently is hard to find now as well because I can't even provide you with a link!) What's up with that?

{ binding }
Pieced... A little In The News, a little green and a little creme.
In The News is my favorite, no doubt!
On larger quilts I like to finish the binding by hand.
It just seems proper. Call me old fashioned.

Available in my Etsy shop. Makes a great gift! (wink wink)

Fabric and Christmas Trees!

I went on a bit of a bender at my fav local fabric shop... MAN was it FUN!

left to right:
It's a Hoot by MoMo for moda
Hoodie for Blank Textiles in Grape
Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt Designs

Urban Circus by Laurie Wisbrun
Weekends by Erin McMorris
(those bicycles are just too fun - I love them!)

Zoo Menagerie by Eleanor Grosch for FreeSpirit
Urban Zoologie (Whales in Bermuda) by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman
Urban Circus by Laurie Wisbrun
Urban Zoologie (Owls in Bermuda) by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman
...

Yesterday we were able to go and pick out our Christmas Tree!
It was fairly mild and sunny plus Eli was great for the whole trip, couldn't have asked for more.
The tree is currently half decorated...
We will finish decorating it today, really.

Sneak Peek

A Christmas gift... for whom I cannot {yet} say.
But I love this Japanese Echino fabric! I believe its a linen cotton blend and its quite substantial; a bit thicker than quilting weight cotton for sure.

How are your handmade gifts coming along? Don't be dismayed, do share :-)
I am the first to say I still have A LOT to do!

And Then it was Over

Yesterday was the craft show I've been writing about lately... my very FIRST craft show... and for the last two months sewing items for. And now its over! Yes, I'm somewhat relieved. I can now move on to sewing for Christmas AND re-stock my Etsy Shop, among other things.

Anyhow - back to yesterday's event: It was held at a church in Florence, Kentucky, and the show workers were amazingly friendly and helpful! They even had men out front at 7:30am to help us carry things inside... which was great!
Carla and I set up the tables then moved things around three times before we decided on the final setup about 15 minutes before the show opened at 9am.
The best selling items were the burp cloths, hand towels, mug rugs, and zipper pouches. Unfortunately I brought home all of the quilts, stroller quilts, baby elf hats, and sewing machine covers. I guess I chalk it up to it snowing all day and I think that deterred some people from venturing out, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I had my first sale after an HOUR into the show. That kind of took me aback but I kept telling myself that this was a different kind of crowd... grandma's, good ol' folks, and people who have never heard of Etsy or know anything about modern crafting/sewing/quilting. The above quilts stayed nice and cozy on Grandma's quilt rack as none of them sold... but that's ok. Tomorrow I'll be listing them on Etsy and I'm sure they'll find a nice home.

Overall it was a great experience! There were a couple of vendors that had adorable little booths, were on Etsy, and obviously had done a craft show or two in the past. They approached me to ask if I'd be interested in a MODERN "craft show" next November and of course I said YES! They were super sweet girls and I think the networking I did at this show could be worth a lot.

**A HUGE THANK YOU to my mom, Carla, and Amanda for coming to support me (and help with Eli) yesterday!**

A Banner Day

Juuussst about ready for Saturday...