on my design wall today

 Today I'm working on the back of this quilt, although I always seem to go overboard with the back... and I just realized I haven't taken a photo of the completed top, oh boy.  It looks mostly like this!

  

I've already changed it around since taking these photos, go figure.

Quilting should commence sometime this week, if all goes as planned.  I'm opting for lots of straight line quilting, like this... due to the gazillion seams!

How is your Monday?  Any crafty things happening?

Its coming along....

...here's a sneak peek at the Sewing Room (or Sewing STUDIO?!) progress:

Embroidery hoops as wall art!

...and a fun little stack of fabric to be turned into living room pillows sometime in the near future, give or take 6 months.

I'm not known for being specific, have you noticed? haha

Made Monday {Spool Birds}

 

Today I'm sharing the other half of the project - to be shipped to their new home in Kentucky tomorrow!

These 7 little birdies are going to be turned into a mobile for a brand new baby girl to be born in a few weeks, a good life for these birdies, to be sure. And the baby will hopefully enjoy these birding hanging above her crib.  I'm sure lots of cooing will be involved - hopefully no crying!

 They wanted to peer out the window - who am I to say no?

 Seven different fabrics, then I mis-matched the tops and bellies to give them a fun look.

This is my 3rd batch of birdies, the first for my son's nursery, and the second for my sisters wedding.

Here's the easy-peasy pattern from Spool should you ever want to make a flock of your own.

 I added a little loop on each birds back (hand quilting thread - which is a bit stronger than regular thread) so they can be hung instead of mounted on TOP of branches, per the request of said baby's momma.  Excellent idea - I may try that method some day!

Starting tomorrow I'll be putting the final coat of paint on my new fabric storage!  Yippeeee!

I realize that's not sewing, but its sewing related.  OH and after that, maybe tomorrow night, I'll start piecing the back for this quilt!  Now that the top is finished....

What sewing plans do you have for this week?

{a one session stroller quilt}

 A finished stroller quilt in one sewing session!  In my world, that's a feat!

Remember the braid block from yesterday?  There she is... nestled between girly pink and some polka dots on grey... what could be better?!

 Some non-parallel straight line quilting...

 A little Amy Butler with a scrap or two of Sherbet Pips for the back... a reversible quilt, in my opinion!

The quilt measures 17"x22" and is cozy in strollers, infant carriers.... and I actually carry one this size in my bag as a quick changing mat!  I hope baby girl (yet to be born in the next couple months) loves it! 
(edit:  this blankie is for a customer/friend of mine who is expecting... I know what you were thinking!)

the french braid block - new to me!

 I've had this block on my to-try list for quite a while now... so I thought what better chance to try it than on a stroller quilt!  This block is about 5.5" x 17".  I had seen this photo on Flickr and decided it looked easy enough!  And it was!  No pattern... just strips 2" wide.... and varying from 5-6" long.   Fun!

{And I know how to french braid hair, too. There's your Cristin fact for the week.}

Oddly enough I started AND finished this quilt all in one evening!  Shocking!!!  Well, I was shocked, as most projects take me multiple naptimes/post-bedtimes to finish.  Not this one, for once in my life.

Photos of finished stroller quilt coming tomorrow! 

On my cutting table...

And finally ready to be sewn together!

30 - 11.5" string blocks
started back in September 2010 with the help of a virtual quilting bee, original post here - holy cow that was a while ago!

I was able to finish up the final blocks at the CMQG sew-in last week, and I'm quite happy with the size of it!  66" x 55" seems like a decent sized lap quilt to me! Plus I'm plumb out of the white kona strips for the middle diagonal so this is it.  Notice all the scraps from trimming these buggers from 12" to 11.5" square?  They're great fun to sew up, but trimming them is difficult because the fabric seems to want to stretch if its not done just so...  lots of patience, spray starch, and diet coke.

I do hope to get this top finished in the next few days!  I've been wanting to finish this one for a year and a half - about dang time!

What are you working on this week?

Pezzy Giveaway winner...

And the winner is....

#40 Elena who said:

"Fun! Wish I could have come! I would make something in a square tile situation....like layered tiles."

Congrats girl!  I'll be contacing you to get your mailing info... your pezzy charm pack will arrive soon!

And thanks to everyone who commented - so many great projects to make from these charms!

My Sewing Space - v4.0

Welcome to my sewing room!

 So we've been in this house for less than a month and my sewing space (previously known by the old owners as the dining room) is coming together!  At least this side of the room is...

You can read a bit about my fabric storage dilemma here, although I've already got it sanded and ready to be primed and painted asap.  So I guess there's no turning back now!  And the cabinet will be white, so the furniture colors aren't too crazy in this room... it IS the first room you see when you walk in the front door!  Eeek~

The walls are a light-medium gray color and I quite love it!  The sewing table had a recent paint job too - to bright fuchsia.  I probably wouldn't do high-gloss again because it takes weeks to dry, but other than that, I'm smitten!  Waaaay back in the day it was our kitchen table, part of a 5 piece set from Ikea.  I kid you not. 

Four embroidery hoops are ready to have fabric tucked into them - I just need to choose which fabric! Why so many decisions still to be made?!

I also plan to put up a design wall next to my sewing table, using that cool DIGNITET Curtain Wire from Ikea.  I've actually got 2 sets of wire and hooks thanks to my little sis, who always has my back! So one for the design wall, one to actually hang curtains on.  Here's my next decision: What fabric to use for curtains???? I'm baffled... maybe something yellow and grey?  Possibly graphic and bold?  Possibly Echo by Lotta Jansdotter?!  Any suggestions?  Leave me a link to any bright ideas you may have for curtains!!! Its next on my list to buy!  (Nothing too girly - my husband still has to occasionally glance in this room and I don't want him to cringe at a wall of overly-flowered curtains.

{Pezzy Giveaway}

Have you ever visited FabricShack.com?  I've bought a few things from their site and noticed once or twice that they're located in Waynesville, Ohio.  Well I'm in Columbus and always thought "Where the heck is Waynesville?  Probably up near Cleveland.... too far to drive. Meh."

On the contrary.

Waynesville is just southeast of Dayton, completely NOT where I thought it was.  My friend AnneMarie coaxed me into taking a little road trip there this past Saturday and in about an hour and a half we were in fabric heaven!  I kid you not, they actually have two buildings about a block apart - one for home dec fabric and one for quilting fabric!  Thats how huge it is!  And it was busy the entire time we were there. 

They had loads of batiks, mixers, semi-solids, and traditional fabrics... but they had lots of modern collections too - from Heather Ross to the below Pez by Moda (although yardage is unfortunately not yet available.)  So I grabbed the above stack in practically no time, much of which was clearance for $3.98/yd including the mustard Lotus by Amy Butler!  I felt it was my duty to pull it out of the scrap bin and bring it home to cuddle with.  Seriously.

And guess what I brought back to share...

a charm pack of the Pezzy Prints!  One for me, one for you...

{ COMMENTS NOW CLOSED! }

Leave a comment telling me what you'd create with this charm pack, be as specific or vague as you like!   

Just be sure to LEAVE A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU otherwise I'll choose a different winner.  

No contact info = no entry

(Sadly that happened when I gave away an Accuquilt Go!Baby Cutter a few months ago so I had to draw a different winner.... it happens people!)

International entries welcome... I'll draw a name some time this Friday, January 13th.  It could be your lucky day!

ps - I am in no way affiliated with, paid by, endorsing, advertising for, or associated with, Fabric Shack.  It was just fun shopping there in person - so I thought I'd share :-)

Mr. Cheesy Face

We say to Eli, "Let's see your cheesy smile!"

And he delivers every time!

yummy fabrics + smoke & mirrors

(before I begin my actual post:

 Have you been following the "100 days of quilting" on the Modern Quilt Guild's blog?!?!?!  Guess who's quilt was featured today!  Her name begins with Cris and ends in tin :-)

I'm so honored to be given that shout-out from THE Modern Quilt Guild!  And to see all the other gorgeous (and in my opinion, WAY awesome-er) quilts than mine!  So today I was pretty much on cloud 9.  *sigh*)

Ok.... anywho

I couldn't help myself, on Christmas Eve I said "Merry Christmas" to myself and grabbed these lovelies from Pink Chalk.  Man I could spend a mortgage payment in that shop!

There's something about circles that just draw me in - especially in 6 colors!  I probably have too many dots/circle prints so I thought grabbing a few scissor prints along with a random aqua chevron print was a good idea, for good measure.

Modern Whimsy by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman

Half Moon Modern Zig Zag by Moda Fabrics 

Half Moon Modern Scissors by Moda Fabrics 

And its more smoke than mirrors...

My fabric stash has steadily been growing over the past four years so now that I have an actual sewing room all to myself I thought "Hey, I need some proper storage!" Which led me to this cute antique china cabinet at a second-hand furniture store... for about half the price of a similar hutch at Ikea.

Here's the problem: The entire cabinet reeks of cigarette smoke!  So gross!  There's no way I can load it up with fabric and other fibers without everything smelling like an ash tray.  Its really a shame because its solid mahogany and cute as a button.  So.... I'll be painting it sooner (as in THIS WEEKEND!) rather than later (which was going to be this coming summer.) 

After a bit of research online I found out that wood absorbs smoke, it doesn't just sit on top of the wood.  It cannot be wiped off, rubbed off, or cleaned off otherwise.  So paint (or varnish) is the only answer, thus sealing the smoke in.   I'm hoping it looks just as good in white, and that the smoke smell is sealed in permanently!

If not, I guess I'll be seling it on Craigslist and and looking for another one.  I hope its less than a $200 hassle to paint it.  I guess I'll be finding our very soon...