Tweedle Dee

Do you tweet? Meaning: Do you Twitter?

I tried to Twitter. But between Twitter and Facebook I just can't keep up with all of it. Not to mention this blog which goes in spurts!

So I want to know: Do you tweet or do you FB? Or do you do BOTH? What do you prefer?

I'm just asking.

My new goal is to tweet at least once a week. And FB at least that often too.

I hope to post here at least 3 times a week but don't hold your breath! :o)

A little of this and a little of that

Today I had a friend over for a while. She helped me with a few of my projects then I helped her with a few of hers. She's been working on a few projects for their upcoming new arrival. She showed me a onesie and T-shirt she appliqued for her little boy and the new baby.

LOVE THEM!



I helped her choose a font and add the "BIG Brother". They turned out SO CUTE! She's planning on having her guys wear these sweet shirts when they bring the new baby home from the hospital. :o)

That day is not too far away.

I know, because her due date is during Quilt Market.

And that date, my friends, is getting SCARY close! :o)

It came!

Thanks for all the wishful thinking-

my packages came today!

I was out and about and came home to 3 packages stacked up in my doorway.

Guess what was inside!?

Oh, you're smart- FABRIC!

Fabric from Michael Miller. :o)

Can't wait to show you!

What are you working on?

Waiting

Ugh.

I haven't sewn since I finished 'Sunset Serenade' and not because I haven't wanted to. It's just that I'm waiting.

Waiting is such a drag. All I can think about is what I'm waiting for. I don't want to start a new project just in case my waiting turns into recieving. I don't want to be in the middle of a project and have to put it aside for my recieved goods.

You know what I mean, right!?

And so I'll keep on waiting.

...waiting...

p.s. While you're waiting along with me- don't forget about this!

Another Birthday

This time it's the birthday of my "hubs". We have a lot of family birthday's in March- not much quilting going on. But today it's ok not to sew...we're going to spend the whole day together!

I met this handsome guy back in '95 in my first year of college. I was a city girl and he was a country boy. We dated briefly but that was about it. If anyone had told us that someday we'd be married we both would've laughed. And then, 3 years later we got in touch again and the rest is history.

He's the best "hubs" EVER! Especially since he supports all my quilting madness. :o)

Hope you have a wonderful day, I know we will!

Growing Up

Happy Birthday to my wonderful boy Logan!

Logan is 9 today and I can hardly believe it!

He's been talking about his birthday for MONTHS. He has an early out school day today and I'm going to bring his class Krispy Kreme donuts (per his request). After school he gets to go shopping with his Dad and I. He wants a new outfit and Jordan's (new basketball shoes). I guess he's growing up. He hasn't mentioned a cool toy even once. Oh yeah, and he wants more credits for his iPod.

Looking forward to a fun day with my boy!

(P.S.- Happy Birthday to my Dad, too! Love you!)

Pixelating!

I was thumbing through Redbook magazine the other day and came across this image.





It's a pixel pillow. And of course, because I see quilts in almost EVERYTHING I began thinking...

I have a pattern called "Postage Due" that could be done with a solids Jelly Roll and give the same effect.

But my mind kept at it and wouldn't leave the idea alone.

And then I had another thought- Remember the watercolor quilts of yesteryear that were all the rage?

What if you used that foundation of a grid lined fusible backing to give deliberate placement for your pixels!?

I can see it now.

I don't know what I'm going to try first. I already have a Jelly Roll in my online shopping cart! :o)

What are your thoughts!?

Sunset Serenede

I've been working on finishing this quilt so I could show all of you. These are most of the blocks from my quilt exchange group I talked about here.

I kinda cheated when putting this top together. I knew I wanted a wonky layout- but once I started playing I didn't want to take the time to piece them all. So....I put a large piece of white fabric up on the wall and pinned the blocks to it. Then I zig-zag stitched around all of them to attach them to the background. I have to admit that halfway through stitching those blocks on I was really kicking myself thinking "Why did I do this? I ruined all these cute blocks!" However, once I finished and started quilting I knew it was going to become one of my favorite quilts EVER!

I even did my first real pieced back. Take a look:

That bottom piece is an Amy Butler print that I just LOVE. I bought it orginally thinking I would use it to make a skirt or something. Then I came to my senses. At one time I was going to make a different quilt out of all those pinks and oranges and this fabric would've been the border. So glad I did this instead.

The quilting was fun! I did a square-stipple. I don't know what other people might call it- but that's what I'm calling it! :o) My kids said it looks like a maze to which my husband said "That's A-MAZE-ING!" Har har har. :o)

Here's another shot so you can see the blocks and quilting.

Now to get this puppy bound. I'm using the pink lattice fabric from Sweetwater's Sunkissed line. A few scraps made it into the quilt so I think it'sll be PREFECT!

Have a great weekend!

It's finally here!

Are you one of the lucky ones that already has your hands on this!?

If not, you're going to want to run out and get yours NOW!

'Perfect for Precuts' is a new bookazine by the editors of everyone's favorite quilting magazine- American Patchwork and Quilting!

This 'zine is a wonderful resource to add to your collection. It's packed full of awesome patterns for those amazing pre-cut fabrics including this one:

BYOP: Build Your Own Plaid

.....designed by ME!

Oh my gosh I have been waiting so long for this. My first REAL publication! Can you tell I'm just a little excited. But it gets even better!

I have kits available in my ETSY shop in the same fabric I made the original- Park Avenue by 3 Sisters for Moda!

Order yours and use the code: perfectplaid for FREE SHIPPING (domestic orders only)

Marky Mark

No, not him. It's what I was doing this weekend. See?...

I decided to get a little "funky" with part of a quilt I'm working on. LOTS of marking. LOTS of patience. LOTS of not-so-straight lines in my quilting. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

I was almost done with the "allover" design when I ran out of thread. GRrr. I guess I wound one too many bobbins. Well at least I have some thread there to use. I finished quilting with 2 bobbins on my machine!

Here's those finished lines on the border. Sorry, I can't show you the whole quilt just yet. But don't worry, it won't be too long.

In other news: remember this post? I got my blocks back from the group. TONS of blocks. Probably enough for 2 or maybe even 3 quilts (if the third is a baby quilt!). Can't wait to show you!

Have a fun weekend!

Thought you might like to see a fun little video of my kids that my SIL made for an assignment. Hope you enjoy!

Sewing with Solids

Solids are BACK!

Everywhere I look I see more and more quilts made out of solids- ONLY. At first I wasn't too thrilled about them. But now I LOVE them. Yesterday I saw this one. LOVE IT!

Although I'm not quite ready to give up my passion for fun prints, I do have a couple "Solid" ideas in my sketch book.

Have you been sewing with solids? If so, I'd love to see what you've done!

Do you know this guy?

*Blushing*

Those folks over at Robert Kaufan have decided to use my 'Urban Life' pattern to promote their new line- "Pick a Bunch". It is a super cute line with colorways in blue, green, and yellow as well as the pink, purple and reds shown.

Wanna get your hands on that pattern? Hop on over to the Etsy shop!

Scary Forest

Have you ever seen the movie "Kiss the Girls"? It has Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. I used to watch thrillers like that back in the day (pre-children) but not anymore.

Anyhow...there's this scene where Ashley's character is running through the woods and you can't see ANYTHING except tree trunks. The space between tree trunks where you might see the clearing up ahead is instead filled with more tree trunks. THERE IS NO WAY OUT!

I live in Utah and my husband likes the out-of-doors (ok, he's a hunter.) We've taken many scenic trips through the beautiful mountains. But everytime I look out the window and see a grove of aspens (the ones where the space between trunks is filled with more trunks instead of a clearing) I think "scary forest". If it's dusk-make it ten times as scary.

Then I saw THIS.

The forest doesn't look so scary anymore. It looks amazingly beautiful. I want to sew my own scary forest....except that's a little scary in it's own right. Me and free-hand sewing do not work well together. But ...

I. LOVE. THAT. QUILT!

Have you ever done anything WAY out-of-the-box for you? How did it turn out? Were you pleased with your creation?

FINISHED!

I finally finished quilting 'Flower Power'. I know, the pattern is already out. But sometimes I'm in such a hurry to release the pattern I take the cover picture of the quilt top before it's been quilted. This one I couldn't wait for. I had special plans.

See what I mean?

I knew I wanted a medallion in the center. This part I drew with water erasable pen and quited over. The concentric circles around it were the last thing I did on the whole quilt.

I echoed each petal four times and meandered (stippled) the remainding space and border.

Then I quilted a squiggly line down each petal.

I actually quilted this part after everything else. Originally I didn't want quilting inside the petals. But after the rest of the quilt was done the petals looked unfinished. So I added this. I LOVE IT! The only thing I don't like is the puckering around the outside edge of each petal. You can see it a little in the picture. Oh well. Now I know for next time!

And the finished beauty!

BTW: the quilt IS square- but my camera wasn't! :o)