Monday, June 24, 2013

my neighborhood

A group of us are swapping house blocks to make Cluck Cluck Sew's Suburbs pattern....

The swap is not until September, but I bought my fabrics last week and next thing I knew, 40 houses had been constructed, 5 of each of these....
 I hope my swap partners are not too shocked by the bright, cheerful houses I am bringing to the mix! Since I double stitched the corners of the rooftops, I ended up with 80 half square triangle blocks when my neighborhood was finished....
 I trimmed them up to 3 inches square. By the end of Saturday, I had made 64 of them into a 20 inch pillow cover....

 with a happy spotty back...
 my new favorite way to finish up a pillow back, it's two pieces overlapping. The top piece bound in a contrasting fabric with a little bit of ric rac poking out.....
I'm afraid it will be a long time before you see my neighborhood all assembled. I am, however, happy to have these blocks done and ready for my friends.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

this is what happens when I go to bed early

I found this on my camera when I got up in the morning. Either the dog was taking selfies (doubtful) or Hubby and Ally were having way too much fun while I was snoozing. Poor poor Lexi.

Friday, June 21, 2013

flower garden

I'm not much of a gardener. Every year I pick out the flowers for the garden then I watch hubby plant them. But fabric flowers? They are right up my alley. After we learned to make kanzashi flowers at Trae's birthday party last week, I came home and made more flowers....




 I'm having so much fun with this! Now that I have the hang of it, they go together very quickly. You really should make some too!


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

past my comfort zone

When I was in seventh grade, I took the one semester art class that was required. Even though our teacher was well loved and respected, I was hesitant. I was not artistic, or so I had been told over and over. Maybe it was just that voice in my head saying it? Regardless, I did not believe I could be an artist. That seventh grade art class proved my theory to be true. I stunk at art. 

Over the years I have come to understand that Art can be many things. It's not just the seventh grade art teacher's perception of a perfect painting. I have learned to "do art" my own way. However, I have not ventured to pick up a paintbrush more than a couple of times in my adult life. I don't paint. Until today.

Today several of us ventured to "Let's Art Party" in Plano, Texas. I had made a deal with myself. I was going to have fun, do my best, and be happy with the outcome whatever it was. good attitude - CHECK! 

Ally seemed a little intimidated by the blank canvases too, even though she paints things with great regularity.
 We had a good teacher and even though we followed her directions precisely, our background sky came out quite different....
 Surprisingly, Ally's colors were much more vivid than mine. I love color! But for some reason, today I was more subdued. Oh look! Melissa is there too...
 I have to say, I am really proud of my finished painting! Who knew I could even pretend to be a painter?
 The really cool thing is that all of the paintings ended up a little bit different. I love Ally & Melissa's finished paintings as much as my own...

Melissa even made her swing a double so there's room for Robbie. Sweet.

Have you tried anything out of your comfort zone lately?

Friday, June 14, 2013

birthdays

Today the "crafty Tuesday girls" gathered at The Quilt Asylum to celebrate Trae's birthday! Doesn't she look beautiful in her birthday crown?
 Her awesome hubby paid for all of us to take a class to learn to make Kanzashi flowers. Here are the samples we got to see before we started. So so pretty...

 Everyone set to work...
 We used the Clover flower maker tools and it was really easy! Even Melissa (who swears she's not a sewer) caught on very fast. I do believe her gig is up.
 We made a big old mess, laughed a lot and actually got some flowers made! Here are our flowers....
 Not bad for a bunch of beginners. Only one of those is mine (the red and yellow one in the bottom right corner). Either I'm really slow or I spent too much time taking pictures and handing out cupcakes.

Sunday (which is Trae's real birthday) is also my sweet hubby's birthday. The big FIVE-O. About time he caught up with me, don't you think?

Happy Birthday honey! You're the best.....

Monday, June 10, 2013

revisiting the line dance quilt...

I really love the Line Dance quilt pattern from Pink Chalk Fabrics (It's a free pattern you can get here). It's a great size for a baby quilt, lap quilt, etc. You might remember the ones I made before, here and here and the ones the girls made too. Well, a friend of mine asked me to make another last week. A birthday gift for a young woman she knows. I had been wanting to sew something up with the Simple Marks fabric for a while and this was the perfect opportunity!


The sashing fabric is grunge (I'm not sure about the color names, sorry!) And I love the back just as much....

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this cute pattern...


Friday, June 7, 2013

June stitch along

I've been working away on a new stitchery for you! This month's theme at bring 'n brag is critters....

So here's a little bumble bee to remind you about what's important in life.  I filled in his stripes with satin stitch.
 Have you been stitching along with us? When you finish this little stitchery, you will have six finishes....
click here to get your copy of the June pattern
And won't you please load pictures of your finished stitcheries to our Flickr group? I'd love to see them! Happy June my friends!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

aprons and crafty Tuesday

You might wonder if I've totally abandoned my sewing machine for the camera these days. NO WAY! 

Joellen and I took a fun apron class last week and made these great fat quarter aprons.....
 It was taught by Natalie, the designer of the pattern and we had a great time! The apron is made from 5 fat quarters and some yardage for lining and straps. Several gals I know have made Natalie's bag pattern too and love it. I'm going to have to get my hands on that one!

Tuesday was crafty Tuesday at my house. These lovely gals were there, plus Joellen for a while...
I didn't get pictures of our projects but there was English paper piecing, embroidery and scrap booking going on. Oh, and eating. Always eating!

Tomorrow I'll have a new little embroidery pattern for you! Are you ready?

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

shadows

You might remember when I accidentally took this picture on Melissa and my first inspiration day....
 A picture of me (my shadow) taking a picture of Melissa, taking a picture. Well, we decided we would try to recreate that shot every time we went out. So the next time we got this picture....
 This month it was much harder, since it was such a gloomy day. There were NO shadows outdoors. Seriously. The sun was hiding all day long. We tried several places with bright lights inside the Dallas Art Museum. Since I couldn't use the flash on my camera inside the museum it was really tricky to get the shot. But, we finally did....
Not great, but not bad! Hopefully it will be easier next time....

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

letter inspiration


Have you ever seen the photo collages where people spell out words photos of everyday objects that look like letters? On our last inspiration day, I started seeing letters everywhere! After a while it became a search for letters.....
 I confess, a few of these were intended to be letters (like the B and the G) but most were not. Then I started playing around to see what words I could create.....




I even made myself a new facebook header.....


Do you ever see letters in ordinary objects? Give it a try sometime! It's really fun.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

May inspiration day

Melissa and I had another inspiration day the other day. It was a dreary, gray day. Luckily we had planned to to spend most of the day inside the art museum....
 So much inspiration! We both loved this colorful, 3D mural....
 And I could just imagine this painting as a modern quilt in solids, don't you think?


After we left the museum, we headed to the farmers market where we both loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies. Aren't these raspberries pretty in their bright colored bowls? They tasted yummy too!
Another fun day, learning more about my new camera....

Where have you been finding inspiration lately?