ticker tape blocks... DONE!

I can't believe I've stuck with this project for  a whole year! Today I finished up the last 2 blocks for my ticker tape quilt...

 I'll be honest, I wasn't thrilled with these colors and I had very little in my stash to add to the scraps we were given. I did find a cute puppy and this awesome cockatoo. He came off of a piece of fabric Maria sent me (was it this past Christmas? Or the Christmas before?) Anyways, now that I have cut one cockatoo out of the corner I am motivated to make something out of the rest of that fabric!

 The rust was even harder. If you look very closely you'll see that several fabrics are repeated. Sigh. But they're done!

 so, 25 (I did an extra one last month so my quilt can be square) done. Here they are...

Get a good look at them because you won't see them again until October. That's right, we're all keeping our finished quilts a secret until our "Ticker Tape Parade" in October! There will be lots of pictures then, I promise!

barbados bag pattern review

On the first of July, the gals at The Quilt Asylum hosted a terrific market review party to show us all of the cool new products from spring Quilt Market. When they showed the new pattern from Pink Sand Beach Design I knew I had to make one! I've made several of their bags before, including the Tahiti Tote that I made recently, and I have never been disappointed. 

The Barbados Bag is a good sized hipster style bag (my iPad even fits inside! I checked). It has lots of pockets including a zipper pocket on the front. The main bag is also closed with a zipper. It's really a great bag! I had a fat quarter bundle that I had bought several years ago on a trip to Arizona and had never used so I decided to cut into it for this. I do believe I have enough left over to make another bag in another color way.

As always, the pattern has lots of terrific pictures and step by step instructions. There were a couple of steps that were not very clear to me (putting the tabs on the zipper for the outside pocket was one. I'm still not sure I did it right, but it looks great). Also, even though the pattern said "make sure the strap isn't twisted" and "made sure the strap is tucked inside the bag before you sew" and even though I swear I checked BOTH of these things, somehow my strap ended up both twisted AND looped outside the bag. Argh! My fault certainly, not the patterns!

I'd say this is an advanced beginner pattern. The zippers do go in easily and look very nice finished off. I am certain I will make this pattern again. You should probably make one too. Just sayin...

in case you ever wondered...

It is, indeed, possible to slice through your cutting mat. Ask me how I know... go on, ask me. Because I managed to do just that! Apparently I frequently use the 10 inch line as my cutting line. Last week one day I sliced right through that 10 inch line. For the record my cutting mat was about 10 years old & had seen lots of wear. But still, this little event caught me off guard!

It was a good excuse to dig out a 50% off Joanns coupon and go on a field trip. Don't you worry, I'm all set now. 

Note to self: change up the line you cut on.

Happy Birthday USA!

Here in Allen, Texas, we celebrate the fourth of July in June. Don't ask me why.... it wasn't my decision! But I really enjoyed the fireworks this year. Hubby and I took one of my quilts down to the park and laid on the grass with a million other people (it probably wasn't quite a million but it seemed that way). I took these pictures with my iPhone! I was surprised they actually turned out pretty good. 

Enjoy the fourth everyone.

fusion blanket crochet along

yes I've jumped on another bandwagon. Sigh. But seriously, I had pinned this blanket a long time ago on Pinterest and when Little Miss Shabby and others decided to do a crochet along I took it as a sign that I was supposed to play along. 

The cool thing about this blanket is that it combines sewing and crochet skills. Most people are using quilting cottons for the center squares (and since it calls for 5 inch squares, charm packs are perfect). You know me, I had to try something different. I had a bundle of flannel fat quarters that have been sitting in my stash for a while, so I cut them up into 5 inch squares and set to work....

 Hmmm my first attempt was less than perfect. The yarn I had chosen was way too thick and created a ripple/ruffle effect. Not what I was going for! Back to Walmart I went for baby weight yarn. Well look at that! Much better!

 Each block uses 2 different squares, here's the back of block number 2.

 Quite a difference. Now I am busy cutting the border off of square number one so I can reuse the flannel.

Feel free to jump in and crochet along with us!

what a little patchwork can do

So I couldn't just let things be! I started playing around with 2 1/2 inch squares this afternoon, and before I knew it my foxy stitching had become this....

 I had some of Cinderberry Stitches Woodland fabrics dying to be used. Amazing how the colors matched exactly (ok, maybe she did that on purpose? I'm sure she did! But it was amazing to me). I mixed in some other fabrics from my stash and it looked so cheerful. I stared at it for a bit, waiting for it to tell me whether it wanted to be a pillow or a wallhanging. In the end, pillow won out...

Doesn't it look sweet sitting on my newly painted bench? 

 Now I just need to go buy another 16 inch pillow form. I stole this one out of another pillow for the photo shoot. So nice to have a finish instead of one more work in progress, don't you think?

foxy embroidery

I've been busy hand stitching lately. You might remember a while back I won three awesome embroidery patterns from Natalie at Cinderberry Stitches. Well, I picked my favorite of the three and stitched it up during our road trip last week and a few tv shows this week....

Are those not the cutest foxes you've ever seen? And the hedgehogs! Adorable. I think I will make it into a patchwork pillow so it can sit out for everyone to see.

What have you been creating lately?