Friday, October 27, 2017

Leather labels

Hi everyone! I thought I'd pop in and let you know I am recovering well. I had my second knee replacement last Tuesday. Everyone warned me that it would be different from the first, and boy were they right. I've had some unexpected hurdles and setbacks. Nothing I can't overcome, mind you, but I've had to draw on my extra store of patience and strength.  

Meanwhile, I'm creating in limited doses, in between exercising and napping, haha! I wanted to share some awesome labels I received in the mail shortly before my surgery.

I had seen others sewing custom leather labels on their handmade bags & went searching for some for me. I ended up ordering these from Mann & Co Heritage on Etsy. They came all the way from Moscow, Russia. I was afraid I would wait months for them, but they arrived on my doorstep just three weeks after ordering! I was amazed.

The shop offers lots of different sizes and shapes of labels. Mine are tiny, just about 1 1/2" x 1/2". I  can't wait to use them.

Monday, October 16, 2017

NYC 2017

I love to visit NYC in the fall! This year the weather didn't exactly cooperate - it was still in the 80s! But I still had a wonderful time with Leigh Anne. Here is our view from the hotel room. Not too shabby!

I was there to attend the She Is Free conference with Leigh Anne, but I did sneak in a few detours... including a trip to Mood!
wow! so much fabric. I was terribly overwhelmed. Didn't buy a thing! (ok, I bought a t-shirt).

The conference was amazing! Great speakers & powerful worship. Oh, and I wore some of my new fall clothes because it was freezing in the theater, LOL
On Sunday we spent some time in Brooklyn. Visited Leigh Anne's new apartment on the top floor of this awesome brownstone...
Visited Emma Straub's sweet bookstore, Books are Magic...
And the Brooklyn General store (where, yes, I did buy some fabric!)
As always, I found inspiration in some of the incredible graffiti around town...
Until next time New York!







Saturday, October 14, 2017

baby quilt

This quilt has been delivered to a "soon to arrive"  baby in New York so I can share it here. The request was for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not something I am fond of, but requested nonetheless.  Also, baby gender was a mystery to me, so a bright, gender neutral quilt was in order. The greens here are the turtles, found at my local Joanns. I pulled the other colors out of the turtle fabric and used all blenders from my stash. It worked out great.
The pattern is A Quilter's Table's Quarter-cut baby quilt tutorial which I've used several times now. Thanks Debbie for the awesome pattern! It whips up quickly and makes a perfect gift. I especially love the rounded corners. Finishes 40" square. I used a soft flannel on the back and cross hatch quilted it on my domestic machine.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Dresden Swap Quilt

Lately I've been thinking maybe I should change my word of the year to DRESDEN! Thinking this will be my last dresden quilt for the year. (never say never, I know, I know). I shared with you a while back that we swapped dresdens at McKinney Modern Quilt Guild. If you want to see the dresdens I made for the swap and a before shot of the ones I received, you can read all about it here.

This is my final quilt made with those dresdens I received! I really love the way the colors pop off of a black background. Not wanting it to be just boring solid black, I did a patchwork background of a mix of "reads black" fabrics and I'm so happy I did! The dresdens are all appliquéd on top of the pieced background. After appliquéing each one, I was able to carefully cut away behind the dresden and use the background pieces I cut to create the center circles.

I really love the way this turned out! Collaboration quilts make me so happy.... I know who made some of the dresdens I received but not all (I wish we had all initialed the back of ours? or something). I'm looking forward to seeing what others have done with the dresdens they received.


Finished quilt is 40" x 42"
Quilted by Diann (Happy Quilts)


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