Sunday, January 30, 2011

Movie Pop Quiz!

Along with retro looking pictures, decorations and quilts, I also love old movies.  So, for any of you who are up to a little quiz, here ya go.  See how many movies you can guess by looking at a picture taken during filming.  Good luck! (If you really can’t guess, point your cursor on the picture and the name of the film will pop up, but try not to cheat unless you have to!)
It Happened One Night
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Meet Me In St. Louis
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Quiet Man

How did you do?  Too easy?  Too hard?  I am in the middle of planning a movie quilt and I have been searching for great old pictures to be in it, hence my quiz.  These are just a few of the many films I love.  If you haven’t seen them, I highly recommend you take an evening and cuddle up with a bowl of popcorn, one of your cuddliest quilts, and your favorite movie watching buddy for a terrific evening. (The fifth picture form the top is my absolute favorite.)

Friday, January 28, 2011

Postage Stamp Quilt Along

I finished it yesterday and I’m so excited!  I love postage stamp quilts.  I always have.  So, I’m super excited to have my first top done.  I was extra extra careful with my corners.  (My fingers have the prick marks to prove it.)  All the work paid off.  These are my best corners yet!  Now, I can’t wait to get it on the quilt machine and quilt it.  Any thoughts as to what backing I should use??
Posh, quilt-a-long
Posh quilt, quilt-a-long
For those of you still working on it – good luck!  I can’t wait to see yours!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Thoughts on Fabric “Stashing”

A few years back, on our drive from Texas to Utah, our family stopped at Great Aunt Vernetta’s house.  What a wonderful lady.  We all love her.  She is also a quilter from way back.  Her quilts are just beautiful.  At the time we stopped, her sister happened to be visiting her and they were deciding how to quilt their historical quilt tops they had each recently finished piecing.  They had all kinds of pictures and images on them representing the life of Joseph Smith.  I was very excited to chat quilts with these two seasoned professionals, especially since I did not have much experience.  The conversation strayed to Vernetta’s very sweet but strong opinion about all these young women who go to fabric stores and buy whatever fabric they like without even making plans for it!  They go on big shopping trips just to buy carloads of fabric.  Then, they bring it home and stack it all over their sewing rooms!  It was just madness!!  At this point of the conversation, I got very quiet for a moment. Then started murmuring in agreement.  Humph!  Yeah those crazy ladies!  What are they thinking!  Who could be so thoughtless as to waste all that money on fabric?!!  Outrageous!!  Meanwhile, my husband could hardly contain his laughter.  Although it was early on in my stash building days, my son had already lost his closet to my “holy cow that is sooo cute. I have to have it” pile.  Thankfully, he didn’t give me away.  Anyway, my fabric stash has saved me in my recently tightened down budget.  How would I be able to buy  a cute new radish bucket and then go rummage through my fabric and start making a quilt to match it?  Without spending a penny?  (Except for the radish pail of course.)  Well, after making a short story long, here are a few of my beautimous stacks of fabric that will one day be quilts.  (Including my radish pail quilt.)
Wildflowers fabric stash
Black and Cream Stack
Fabric Stash Stacks
Pure Stack
Red White and Blue Stack
I love my stash and love looking through my fabric.  Just looking at my pictures makes me grin like an idiot.  Just don’t tell Great Aunt Vernetta…

Monday, January 24, 2011

Retro Decor

My new love is retro decorations (as you’ve seen in my new dish towels) and I’m so excited, I must share.  I was wandering around Hobby Lobby this morning and they had a display of the cutest retro/vegetable stuff.  There were plates, baskets, pails, and ya-know stuff.  I couldn’t help myself, I had to buy just one thing.  This was my favorite..
Vintage radish pail
I love the colors.  I even have fabric to make a quilt out of these colors (surprise surprise).  I think I’ll go pull it out and let inspiration take me away.  Anyway, my cute new radish pail is up on top of my kitchen cabinet.  Across from it is another great retro find (that my husband made)!  It’s especially awesome, cuz Stewart and Young are both family names.
Retro decor sign

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Birthday Purse

So, I wanted to make a cute present for my niece’s second birthday.  My sister had just sent me pictures of these fun little hand bags she had been making and I thought if I added a strap, it would make the cutest little purse for a toddler.  So, I whipped one up then  filled it with a few mini stuffed animals and tada,   An adorable little present for my adorable little niece.
Mini pink and green quilted purseMini purse present
It was so fun to make, I think I’m going to make some more for other adorable little girl birthdays.

I love Red and White Quilts!

Yesterday, I was talking to my sister about holiday fabric.  Shellie and my mom LOVE and have quite a large selection of Halloween and Christmas fabric.  I don’t really buy holiday fabric because I like displaying my quilt year round.  But, I do tend to like Valentine and St. Patrick Day quilts. (Probably cuz red and green are my favorite colors.)  And since Valentines is right around the corner, I’ve found a few great red and white quilts for you to drool over with me.
half square triangle quilt
This cutie is from cluckclucksew.com.   Don’t you love all the polka dots??
Red and White Postage Stamp Quilt
I LOVE this bedroom, LOVE postage stamp quilts and LOVE red and white quilts.  Seems like a good fit.  You can see more here at Cherry Hill Cottage.  She has such a fantabulous house.
red and white romance quilt
WOW!  This quilt is no longer available, but the online shop is definitely worth browsing through. Country Door.
red and white patchwork quilt

This is a quilt that was on display years ago at the quilt shop “ American Quilting” in Utah.  I bought all the fabrics to copy it, got it half way pieced and never finished.  I forgot all about it until I started looking through pictures for this post!  I’m in such a red quilt mood now, maybe I’ll pull it out and start working on at again.  It is super super easy to piece.  It’s just a 9 patch cut into quarters.  Then the two kitty corner blocks are turned and all is sewn back together. Easy peasy.  And remember, “Old quilts never die, they just go batty!”

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My first Postage Stamp Quilt Block

I’m using another Jelly Roll that I had sitting around.  (I have way too much fabric just sitting around.) This one happens to be the Posh line.  I have been cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting.  Finally, I have finished all my strips sets for the PS I Quilt postage stamp quilt along.  Holy Cow!  It took me two hours!  (I cut them one at a time, so they were more accurate.) But, finally they are cut and the sewing begins.  I’m determined to have beautiful matching corners, so I am pinning every single seam.  (Something I never do.)  I had time to sew the first block together and I’m super excited with the results.  My corners are awesome! (If I do say so myself.) I only see one that is a hair off.

Posh Checkerboard
One down, 31 to go…..
Posh Strips

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Camille Roskelley giveaway!

I love Camille Roskelley, fabric designer, quilt maker, and she has recently put out her own book.  If you love her stuff as much as I do, head on over to her blog and leave a comment.  She is giving away a copy of her new book along with some other great stuff. Simplify by Camille Roskelley

Camille Roskelley
 

AUUGGHHHH!!!

So, if you happen to see my blog today. I'm sorry! I'm trying to change the layout and it's not going so well. I'm fairly new to all this stuff and it's obvious. If you have any suggestions or advice PLEASE feel free to comment.

Sneak Peek

I started a new project, surprise surprise!  I only had one charm pack of the Bliss fabric line, but I LOVE it.  I thought I should make something especially cute out of it.  So, I designed my own pattern.  This is the first real pattern that has made it off paper and into a real quilt.  Here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on…
PInwheel sneak peek
Can’t wait to show it to you finished!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Balloon Fest Fiesta!

No sewing today, cuz we got up early in the morning to go to balloon fest!  I really had a hard time getting excited about this trip, since we had to get up early on a Saturday morning.  But, we had great fun!  Here are some of our awesome pics we got this morning…
Balloon Fest 2011
Mesilla Valley Balloon FestGirls with balloon
twin balloons
If you ever get a chance to go to a balloon raising, even early on a Saturday morning, take it.  It’s fabulous!!!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Ta Dah!

I finished it!  I don’t think I have ever pieced and quilted a quilt this quickly.  I was really in the mood to get a project done.  So, I did!  Yesterday, I got all the borders put on and the quilt on the frame….
Soiree quilt on frame
So today, I just had to wait for my little one to take her nap and it was ready and waiting!  It went very fast, since it’s not very big.  Luckily right as Sammie was waking up, her siblings came home from school and entertained her while I put on the binding.   I showed it to her and she said (in toddler talk), “dank you, mommy, dank you”.  She loves it!
Sammie with her new quilt
Soiree quilt
Now, I think I’ll head over to psiquilt to join in on her postage stamp quilt along.  I’ve always loved postage stamp quilts.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Something Old, Something New

I’m so excited!  I wasn’t in the mood to plan out an entire quilt yesterday, so I pulled out a Soiree jelly roll by Lila Tueller that I’ve had for some time.  After about 5 hours! of deliberation, I decided what to do with it.  My 21 month old daughter has many baby quilts, but no big girl quilts, so I am in the process of creating her first one!  I’ll give you a sneak peek and maybe you’ll be inspired to start anew one of your old projects that has been laying around for awhile.
Soiree quilt pieces
Aren’t the colors perfect for a happy, bubbly toddler girl?

 

Thursday, January 6, 2011

My Adorable New Dish Towels!

I did it!  It took me every second of my daughter’s nap (that means nobody has clean clothes to wear tomorrow), but I got my reproduction dish towels done.  I saw the idea in a quilt shop I visited over Christmas break and I loved them.  My husband’s first question was, “Can I use them?”  I’m going to have to think on that……

cute dish towels
and here they are on my oven.  I thought my husbands new dutch oven makes a great accessory.  Don’t you?
Vintage Dish Towels

I have enough fabric leftover to make a matching apron.  I’m going to have to find a great vintage pattern…..Hmmm… next project coming soon….

 

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My first post!

So, I started this blog roughly 6 months ago and never posted! Kinda forgot about it! Oops. Anyway, it's a new year right?

I'm always sewing, crafting, cleaning, scrapbooking, mommying, you name it, I do it. So, what are my latest projects you ask? Well, let me show you.....

and this......



...and this.....

The top is adorable little 5inch Christmas ornaments for my quilting sisters, mother, and sisters-in-law. The second is a quilt top I just finished because I am currently in the vintage mode and one of the fabrics matches my Grandmother's wallpaper! (It brought back so many memories, I had to make a quilt with it.) And the last, is the Christmas present I just finished for my mother-in-law. And yet I want to do more! Unfortunately, today's "to do" list includes taking down Christmas decorations, so the adorable reproduction dish towels must wait for another day. Sigh.....