Bumble Beans Inc.

finishes

2009-12-10T06:42:00.000-08:00

Trying to finish...
I've been cramming to get Christmas stuff done...
A Doll quilt, and B's Buddha Wall hanging...

One Success! Jenny Egg already made her new bed a home, by the Christmas tree...

I started making a bunch of pot holders just grabbing scraps out of my bins, and whipping them together... Then I realized I kind of LIKE them for a quilt blocks! So instead of 7 pot holders, I have 2 pot holders and 5 scrappy quilt blocks!

I quilted this piece and bound it last night... I really like how it turned out...

Now let's see what other trouble I can get into today....

Bee balm quilt bee

2009-12-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Had to pop this on the blog. my one sewing adventure for the day...
I'm in the Bee Balm Quilt bee, and this was our December block.
Looks great with the black background!
Instructions were on Bonnie's site...Quiltville

I had never paper pieced, so this was a first for me, and I'm quite happy with the results...

A NY minute

2009-12-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

I had high hopes of getting loads done today, sewing. BUT, I sat at my computer ALL DAY, and I still am, merging computers, files images, music, etc etc etc blah blah blah...
SO for today you get some New york moments...

Yesterday we had some errands to do, so we went to a place called Chelsea Market about 20 blocks away from me.. It has many great bakeries, food places, meat locker, fish market, flowers books store, etc... Fun place to go when it's COLD out side...
They had the entire place decorated with recycled plastic...by

environmental artist Tom Deininger and Creative Voltage of Los Angeles

The Christmas tree was made from CD's & Dvd's and at the base of the tree was VCR TAPE, the wreath was also a mixture of the two...

And the light globe fixtures were made from red green and clear plastic cups and bottles... And they all looked AMAZING! the best use of plastic I've seen!
here is a link about it. it was very cool...

We then walked home, and decided we wanted to see the Highline now that the season has changed...
The highline was a railroad track above ground that ran down the west side of Manhattan for shipping... then deserted, it sat for years unattended.. No wit's been made into a above ground park... Brilliant use of dead NYC space...
See more about it here...

And there you have a New York minute.... ;-) Enjoy your day!

Loaded Monday

2009-12-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Tree up!

Let the Christmas RUSH begin!

Ready,

set,

GO!

I had left these scrappy tile blocks at my house to work on on weekends only, but they are so darn fun... I had to bring a couple in to work on this week in the city.

I had planned this quilt to be a giant 9 patch... But am thinking it might be fun to make it into a bed quilt... or perhaps I just need to make another!

Cleaning.

In my attempt to clean, I realized I need to get some of these projects finished... I like this method, because then I get excited again and I start whipping out these projects that have been lingering... I didn't want to wait til NEXT Xmas to finish my Xmas Log cabin quilt, especially when I only needed two more blocks... So I zipped them up and have all the extra bits in a box that I want to use up in the border...

So far I have this done, But I am thinking since i have MORE scraps left in the box, I may add even another row around this... It's so close to bed size, that I figure I might as well keep going...

I pieced 3 more blocks for my ON POINT quilt, and got the yellow squares sewn together for my dresdens... I figure I can take the hand sewing dresdens to my house over Xmas break to work on... That will be fun to look forward to January to finish.... three more blocks to go...

Did you see Jackie's little mini quilt using this block?

click here, it's so cute.

oh, and see Kathie's fab use of scraps...

AND, go see these little houses at twiddletails,then make your own!

I started today cleaning, and found this stack of Home decor weight Denise Schmdit fabrics, and figure I better not forget the doggies for Xmas

I had made two Amy butler poufs a while ago, For B, which she loves, but we find that the dogs keep stealing them...

So i made this one for them, and will fill it with all the foam peanuts I have saved for packing... It works great for filling bean bags... This will also save me $30 in stuffing just to fill these things!

WHY IS MY COMPUTER UNDERLINING EVERYTHING............

A lot right? I know. I have family coming Thursday and it always gets me in a good frenzy. I work well under pressure... pressure meaning,

to clean my studio and rid the POOL TABLE (aka:great work space)

of the Santa's Shipping and Packaging area...

Pheew.

Exhale.

I guess I should get a shower in today too...

Better run. (faster!)

oh! And thanks for all your nice comments yesterday!

I had meant for it to be a nice NYC post, but my haircut sort of took over!

bits of this and that...

2009-12-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

What is she looking at?
I picked B up form school on Friday and we walked home, so that we could walk past the Christmas windows at Macy's and Lord & Taylors...
(check out the lady's coat next to B...very crazy patch)

Crowds of people are out and about But we could still get up the windows to see...
it wouldn't have even really mattered if we couldn't. it was so nice out, and to take the time to not RUSH home, But walk and take in the holiday air... Everyone was cheerful and happy.
NYC is so lovely at the holidays. It really is magical.
It was a lovely walk spent with my sweet B.

The Macy's windows were all about writing your Santa letter and what it goes through to get to the North Pole. hey even had a interactive window where you could write your letter... I'm thinking this may be the last year in "Believing"...
Questions come up, but she doesn't really wait to hear the answer...

These Salvation Army bell ringers were a lively bunch! They were half rapping, and singing Christmas tunes and attempting some dance moves... We stood and had a good chuckle... Whatever works right? You go girls!

I was out walking the dogs the other night, and I looked up to see the fullest loveliest moon over Manhattan... glorious.

And tonight they say we might just get some snow. Although its raining all day today, we'll see if it gets cold enough to turn it to snow.... so for now it's a good day to see Mr. Fox, or stay home in front of the fire...and sew...or nap...

I have 3 of my 9 tile blocks finished... 6 more to go...
I really am enjoying how they are turning out...

Feeling the need to be au naturale...

I cut my hair again... I couldn't handle the floppy haircut I had a month ago...
Now I feel like I am back to my old self...
Well, as soon as the dyed brown grows out, then I'll be back to my natural gray self...
It feels so good.

I hope you are able to enjoy the Holiday spirit in the air today.
St. Nick comes tonight!

Oopsie fabric

2009-12-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

So, last week, I had an idea for a quilt, so I rummaged online to find something that would work for it, in all the sales the stores had... I found exactly, to my surprise a fabric I pictured in my head, and as I was looking I came across a repro stripe, $3 a yard, and what I thought was a red and blue cream print... So I ordered it as I have a project here I thought it work with... When I got it, I thought, why did I order a black and red and cream stripe? Turns out I didn't look close enough... For a split second I thought, Rats!

But then I had a flash of an idea, and well, an hour later, I had this...

Turns out it was the best OOPSIE fabric purchase to have made... I'm having a lot of fun with these darn appliques..

B was putting some paper away in our recycling bin when she saw these paper packing thingy's. She decided we needed a packing thingy Christmas advent tree, so each day she adds a little toy to the tree... So far we have a recorder, bird and paper airplane... How's that for recycling!

Want my best Xmas gift idea?

5 Crowns card game... Do you know it? We play this constantly.

It's great for a 8-9 year old and up... It seems complicated at first until you get it figured out. We're completely addicted to this game, and everyone is getting it for Christmas this year... Well, not everyone... But, trust me, it's fun.

What's the best thing you've found this year that you wish you could just give to everyone?

fabrics-a-flyin'!

2009-12-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

All my little swap squares are being put to work! I am trying to get the rest of my on point blocks set so I just have to do the appliques...

I will have 12, I think, large blocks to put together for this quilt.

It's been great fun playing with color to keep this quilt balanced. Finding tones and values that work together, yet keep it punchy so each block stands alone as well as all together...

I have so many 4" blocks now, I see a fabulous 9 patch in my future...

Nothing beats a good 9 patch.. After I made this for a grad quilt for commission last year, I started to make my own, but found it hard to make the SAME quilt twice... then I saw Janet's, and that confirmed for me, that I need one for my own...

Simple is so fantastic sometimes!

So I maybe hitting those 4" blocks sooner than I thought...

I'm at the fun part with this quilt.

playing with borders, and finish details...

but alas, this DESTROYS my studio with fabrics being tossed left and right...

But who can resist making a huge mess?

well, I can't. ;-)

I'll continue to play with this, And enjoy the process of finding it's verdict!

two-s-day the 1st

2009-12-01T07:39:00.001-08:00

Finally! I got a new computer, so I've been busy playing around with my new IMAC...

The screen is so big it's shocking! Well, the shocking thing was I couldn't READ the screen, but luckily they have this button that ENLARGES EVERYTHING... pheew. Didn't want to think I was getting old or anything... Doh!

I finished up little O's other shirt for his bday and xmas gift... Totally inspired by Miss Doris...(her shirts were way to cute!)

I free motioned the Star Wars logo and storm trooper... or whatever it is... Never was into the star wars thing.

I also dug out the xmas table runner buried under layers of other quilt tops... I think it may go back under that pile. bleeh. don't like it at all...

But I did pull out my last years Santa runner and lap quilt... After all, it is DECEMBER 1ST!!!!

How's that Christmas Shopping going?

:-)

Finishes

2009-11-30T06:15:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to getting in the studio today to get some of these projects wrapped up. but as I looked around, I realized with December 1st being tomorrow, I need to get some labels on quilts that need to be sent off ASAP! So I made labels for many of the quilts that have been sitting here, the amount of labels I need to make is adding up... Usually I leave them until I send them out, but I decided I should get organized and catch up now...as long as I had a few to make anyway... Plus, I need to keep better track of where they go, what size they are etc. I always forget to keep records of sizes...

I like had written labels. It's my last bit of work to add to a quilt, So I print it out on paper, centered etc, so I can then write it out and it looks all straight. Then I add my little BEE picture, and stitch them on. I always include the name of who they go to, who quilted it, (if I didn't), any contributors to the quilt, state, date, year etc... I don't know if they people who get them like that or not, or if they just want to cut them off, but, I like that fact that someday maybe my quilts will still be lingering around somewhere, and someone will know that it was made with love, by me. It's a nice feeling that these quilts will live longer than me...

Do you have a unique way of adding your labels? creative touches? I'd love to hear...

I also realized I need to get this other shirt done for my godson ASAP! Birthday and X-mas both in December makes the month very short! So, to go along with his BMX shirt I made him,
He also loves Star Wars, So I am trying to decide if I stitch the design on or paint it...
Gotta do it today, so I better make up my mind....

Separately, before Thanksgiving, I think I've settled on this layout for my dresdens,
I wish I could play with them today,
but not sure I will get to it.

I'm also ITCHING to start working on these FABULOUS prints from Paula Prass's new line!

She sent me some scraps to play with, so my and Shelly are going to work on something together. Aren't they fun? Love that orange....

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving (and or) a lovely weekend. We went to the beach at sunset, and oohed and ahhhed over the pink sky and purple water. (above)
So peaceful!

relaxin'

2009-11-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

Stitchin'

craftin'

Decoratin'

relaxin' & reflectin'

My, how time does fly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

So important, I am posting again,
if you haven't signed this yet,
Sign the petition and help us ensure that all women have access to this life-saving screening. CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE.

**

More Playing.

It's back to the drawing board with my dresdens... I still have not decided what I want to do with
them... I may just put them away for a bit or go very simple on them... They are just so fun, I did want to step it up a little... we'll see.

Girls playing in scraps...
B and her pal came over for a playdate and rummaged through my scrap bins...
They made little patchworks, and want pillows made out of them. So cute.

We're off for along weekend. I hope you all have a lovely Holiday!

Easy being green! and blue!

2009-11-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

To fulfill my obsession with small stars, I put together a bunch of charms I had of Kaffe, and picked out some of my favorite greens and blues to put this quilt top together...

It goes together very quickly and easily. Although I should be binding...
I have a lot of binding I need to get to today also.

**

Need a great Xmas gift idea?
check these out.

When Cheri came by the other day, she very sinfully brought me a variety of Vosges chocolates.
I am putting away quite quickly, the Black Pearl bar.
wasabi
ginger
black sesame seeds
and dark cacao

(and by "PUTTING AWAY" I don't mean in a drawer....)
it means nobody else is getting any... ;-)

Yum.
they come highly recommended...

***

And, if your interested,
regarding breast cancer and mammograms
Sign the petition and help us ensure that all women have access to this life-saving screening.
Click here

Starting to look a lot like Xmas

2009-11-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

Girls Night out!
Look who came for a visit and dinner?
Cheri from jovial Quilts!
We had a lovely visit, then we took a walk from my place,(it was so nice out!) to a restaurant downtown fro some yummy Indian food. One of my favorite places in NY. What fun!
She thought it was funny when I said let's walk I need the fresh air!
Well, as fresh as it can get in NY.... But we did actually see the moon and a few stars which you pretty much can never see in NYC. Bonus!

Even Minnie was out for a stroll!

Macy's has their Christmas window displays up, and so we had to take a peak.
They did a pretty fun set of windows this year.
We're out of here Wednesday, for Thanksgiving. We live to close to all the parade gathering and crowds so we get out early...Believe me it's so much better to sit at home and watch the parade on TV, in front of a fire...

This was one fo the windows...all Santa's mail being blown up the North pole.
Very cute and fun.

And although I am not much of a sports fan, I am guessing there was a METS game on tonight, as the Empire State Building was lit up in Blue and Orange. I guess being a NY'kr I should know these things better....

So i stand corrected since baseball season is long over! thank you Amy for pointing that out! ;-)
click here...
A cool site shows why the empire state building is the color it is each night...

It was actually the 125th Anniversary of Boys and girls clubs of America last night and their colors are blue & orange. who knew!

And, I got home to find my package from Jenny who swapped me some 4"ers for
my ON POINT quilt! I got two more blocks laid out with her blocks! Thanks Jenny!
They were perfect!!

QUESTION: Can anyone recommend a Good beginner sewing machine that you know of that someone has? Like the Janome beginner machines etc.? I have a 14 year old friend who wants a beginner machine, and am trying to keep it to under a $100... If anyone had any advice I'd be thrilled. thanks!

9 p.m. Winner

2009-11-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

My fairy (fabric) godmother sent me some lovely prints for me to play with!
What? Never heard of her?
Well, I am blessed to have one, and she sends me goodies every now and then.
I recvd a package this week with the red yellow/black yellow fabrics, another red that I used in the outer blocks of the mini quilt above.

Some cool old New York fabric, and a bunch of whites for my ON POINT quilt!
What a doll! Thank you fairy FABRIC godmother!

I did these other African inspired quilts a year ago after seeing a show on
African textiles at the MET...
Fabulous!
I've started hand quilting both of them, but, SIGH, they are ,
not done.
yet.
one day.
I'm hoping now that I've posted them AGAIN, perhaps I will finish them...
Wishful thinking??

Now I am seeing patterns everywhere....

*****

One more Xmas gift done. My godson, O, loves down hill BMX, he likes to ride his bike around with a helmut on, like the BIG GUYS.... He's 5. ;-) So I did this drawing of a bike flying through the air... cut it out like a stencil, taped it on with PAINTERS tape... (ha! very fancy stuff here..) and free motioned in the details... over a gray piece of fabric...

Here it is! I think he'll love it... Now I have to do that Star wars shirt...

******

Oh! Canada~
And last but not least, BRENDA, of scraps and strings was the name picked out of the hat by B, she will be getting the box of scraps!

Thanks for making my bins a little emptier! ;-)
Thanks everyone, for your nice comments!!

HAPPY FRIDAY

2009-11-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, Family quilt top done.
My indecisiveness came from my daughter wanting just the opposite of what i wanted yesterday.
Darn Mommy guilt.
I wanted one big family quilt, she wanted one for each of us...
I also want just the log cabins... Mom is winning this one... ;-)

MOST of the Sis Boom POW! Blocks are done and in! I think I am just waiting on two people's blocks... Can't wait to find a good home for this Charity quilt.

Don't they look Fantastic! I look forward to putting these quilt together.

CLEANING, CUTTING, DE-CLUTTERING....

I've gone through two more bins in my de-clutter my scraps binge...

I have a nice box full of larger pieces that I have a lot of scraps for.

not really crumbs.. fat 1/8ths and strips mostly.

Any takers?

send me an email today only.

I'll draw a name at 9pm tonight.

If more than one wants the box, I'll pick a name out of the hat...

(the photo is not the box in reference)

Have a great weekend!

decisions

2009-11-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

Circles and Stripes top is done! Yippee! I've wanted to do a nice stripe quilt for ages... So I finally got around to it... I might not want to let this quilt go... I just love red.

So indecisive today!
These are family blocks that me, B, my mother and niece made.
My original idea was to put one of each blocks into lap quilts one for each of us...
The fabrics I had chosen, once I made them, I really disliked them. So they sat in a box for a year. Then as I was cleaning up my stash I had this yellow/brown weird fabric,
(I'd always wondered why on earth i bought it) then it struck me, those old blocks!

So I dug them out, and decided to punch them up with some solids. I will use the stripe for borders. But now that I have a bunch of the blocks all scrappy and wonky, I kind of like them all in one big quilt!!!!
so now I don't know what to do... 4 lap quilts? or one big one? (I'm leaning for one big one)

Then, I did this snow boots, hats scarves ear muffs gloves and snowball applique a week or so ago. And I had decided to use up my swap Xmas blocks, like in the first picture, but finishing it off with a nice red border ALL around...

But then again, I could just make TWO MORE blocks and put them all together with a red border ALL around... and put the applique in entirely something else.... !!!!!!!

argh!~ this one I really can't decide what to do with....

what to do, what to do...

I lean towards all log cabins, as the applique picture thing is so not me, it hit me one day as a fun project to try to machine applique, but I have hand appliqued them... The red dots are actually ear muffs if your wondering I just haven't gotten around to putting the strap on it in the photo...

Becky was giving away some scraps, so I offered to swap some scraps with her so I'd have some new goodies to play with... here's my stash! And a few cute little holiday ornaments!
Thanks Becky!

productivity

2009-11-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! my BEE!!! Thanks Shelly! I Love it!
ha! She appliqued my little Bee from my old logo, which I put on all my packages!

****

One commenter had many questions how I can get so much done... asked if I have a housekeeper, husband around etc...

here's my answer...
I work fast and in a particular, (scattered way!)

I sew during the day while my daughter is at school. Mondays are baking days, and I make many meals that can be eaten as leftovers. I do not have a nanny.

I do have a regular babysitter for Thursday eve's only,
so I can have a date night with my hubby. This event does does not have any affect on my sewing time...
My lovely husband is home every night for dinner. I pick up my daughter from school everyday, and we have family time til she goes to bed...
then I hand sew things as I watch my favorite shows on Tivo!

It's not perfect. Sometimes dinners are very simple because I can't tear myself away...
But we make it work.

Laundry is in, dishes are in the dishwasher...

I work fast to get the ideas out of my head and then I go back and
work on them when the time is right...

For instance the tile quilt. All the blocks were slightly tacked,fused so
that now I can work on a block during the evening while I watch my shows. The borders are cut, so once I have the blocks all appliqued, then I whip the borders on, and wallaa!

Or cutting up all those squares out of my scraps.
I did this for an hour last night after B went to bed...
I see another red quilt in my future!

My studio is right next to my daughters room, so I don't run the machine once she goes to bed.
So it is all about planning it out, and leaving things to work on in the eve or things I can take with me while B is at gymnastics for an hour, or take to the house on the weekends...

Part of this is the reason why I have so many projects going at once.
Sew sew sew all day, hand sew in the eve...

here's the pool table in our loft. It's taken over as my layout table...
These are: a stack of finished quilts, the alphabet "B" project , B's Buddha wall quilt, the ON POINT Quilt blocks, which will be on hold til I do my swaps with some of you! two quilts for binding, the scrappy happy quilt and the Black and gray windows Quilt, otherwise known as the BOB quilt, the Tile quilt blocks, Xmas log cabin blocks,
(ALL evening sewing work)
And the recently finished Parsley Patch quilt...
**

Also, I like to keep you guys on your toes... if I keep showing you the same project for a week you'd get bored and stop reading my blog! I find the blog to be as enjoyable as sewing. It's inspiring to me to put down my projects, and think about them in a different way. And I like the idea that I might inspire a few of you... I get inspiration from you all, so I like the idea of full circle moments...

Does that explain it? Others call it quilters A.D.D.... Take your pick! I don't mind!

ahhh, sunday.

2009-11-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

A little Central park inspiration...

Nooks and crannies, skylines....

Bethesda Fountain and the murals under the stairs by the fountain...

Fun in a park in soho.. gotta love that mural... PLAY!

I dragged B along with me to my first Empire Quilt Guild meeting Sunday.
Sherry Shine was the speaker, and I was curious about her work...
Actually this photo is from show and tell, but Sherry's two quilts are in the background behind the ladies...
B actually enjoyed her self and walked away with a free fat quarter to go home and play with... Good and inspiring... all around..

I have a lunch with a good dear friend for her birthday, Monday. So I whipped this runner up
for her as a gift today... Don't you just love runners! They are so fast and fun!

we had glorious weather this weekend. a good one to stay in the city to enjoy...
and enjoy we did... Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

sunday

2009-10-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a little block leftover from the first waverunner quilt...
So don't throw your bits away! Lots of goodies to be made with the scraps!

The end of my garden.... Raspberries! i thought they'd be done by now, but my plants are full!

Had to break out some recipes to find a yummy use for them...
Something I haven't been doing a lot of lately... need to cook more... been a bit lazy.

Here's a little scrappy waverunner table runner swap gift! I love how it turned out. And it was fun to practice my machine quilting on! straight lines, something I haven't really done much of...

A little pay it forward gift... just finishing the binding. Love, love, love the colors on this one. I can see doing a whole quilt soon of these colors... just yummy.

When did the leaves change? boy I must be out of it... I feel like i missed the season!
me and B are now officially sick. so it will be a lazy week!

How are your waverunners coming along?

send me pics!
;-)

TUESDAY

2009-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

B and I were in Chinatown the other day, and we saw this blue
peony fabric, We decided it was a must to use to do some updating in her room.
It's from a very fun store called Pearl River... You can see it online too. We love to go snoop through the store to find little treasures you won't find anywhere else.
B thought it would look nice around, and back for her B wall hanging with the Buddha on(see old post)..
I think she's right!

Inspired by Heather's runner from her new book, you can find it here.
It's my favorite runner out of her new book.
I decided to give a little machine applique a test on my newly fixed Janome.
After seeing all the blocks come in for the SIS BOOM POW machine appliqued...
I got inspired and wanted to give it a whirl.
Gotta try new things, it make smy sewing world just a little bigger!

Now I just need to quilt it, bind it, and wrap it for xmas!
one more off the list!

Yesterday I went to a (new to me ) restaurant, Momofuku, for lunch with my dear friend Calla, whose Birthday it was and the recipient of the runner from Sunday.. She liked it very much, and it got a close inspection by her mother! (Whom I adore... )Who said to me, You must have a very good machine! ;-) to cute. Another happy home for a homemade gift... yippee!

Now I gotta get to binding those last three quilts ASAP...
!!!!
HaPPY STITCHING!

Oh! And one last thing.
Some of you may remember my friends boy, Owen from old posts...
here's an update!

recently,His CT scans were clear.....
YIPPEEEEEEE!!The plan continues to be the same for his treatments.

Chemo until the end of February, and then will stay on Tarceva (oral chemo) for a while. And we will continue to pray that the cancer cells stay away.

Wed. FUN!

2009-10-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

(one last pay it forward giftie, sneak peak)

A few fun things today!
B is off school so we plan on doing a little charity work...
Here's a clue.

Don't know it? pictures to follow later...

And we'll maybe sneak off to see the wild things... her second time, my first. ;-)
Let the Wild Rumpus begin!

I know I said I would wait to start another quilt as I have many to finish,
But I already gathered my scrap blocks to make more of these... fast fun, and uses up a lot of scraps! it will go into a quilt to go along with orange and turq one I posted yesterday...
Fun fun fun!
I just need a couple things off my design wall to get this rocking...

Tonya of lazy gal is posting a quilt I put together with the help of many of her Blog pals, when we found out she would be having surgery... We did it very Tonya style, and I have to say, it was SO much fun to put together...

Some Waverunner Finishes...

Cathy finished up her top, with some Kaffe fabrics! And Juanita broke out the batiks!

I'm loving how you all just went and made these all your own. Very inspiring Everyone!
Keep up the great work!

Time for me to go play and have some FUN FUN FUN, on this very rainy day...

Lovely Detours

2009-10-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like I took a big detour lately, and wanted to get back to other projects I had started before the waverunner...

I had started these applique projects and have gotten so taken in by them. I bought a couple books to figure out how to bead and embroider them a bit...
But now that
i got this batik project off my wall...

(remember the trees that shelly and I made?)
they became this...

I wanted to get back to my Dresden plate quilt...

I started cutting into all that fabulous YELLOW i picked up in Houston,
And then realized I wanted to do the same sort of thing as those little applique projects!
So now...

I have yellow in the main background part and I am blending from yellow to yellow/pink and then finally a pink border...

Once I have that done I will play around with the plates,
but for now I tacked them up to see if I like.
I LIKE!

So I guess the Detour was worth it! It's lead me on a new path... Gotta love that!
Have a great weekend!

BOO!

2009-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Charlie Chaplin would like to say, Happy Halloween!

A Busy fun day!
Getting a few quilts bound... My scrappy Christmas star quilt is done.

Trying new things and still working on getting stitch length the same in my machine quilting...
Patience, V, Patience...

And Here is a picture of My new Obsession quilt on the left...
They are sooooo fun to work on one block at a time!

and the Sis Boom POW! Blocks on the right...
See some of the other recent cool blocks being done over at the Sis BOOM Blog

Have a great Saturday!

happy friday

2009-10-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Getting a little more applique practice in... Every year, B's school does a project for the auction where they ask about 30 artist to contribute to the Alphabet project.. Each person gets a letter or symbol, and produces something to do with that letter... I have the letter B this year.

In the past I have always given photographs, but this year, I am thinking of giving this little quilt... I'm going all out on a limb here, folks! Applique, embroidery, beads, hand quilting the works... I have only just begun to stitch everything down...
(and I need to learn how to BEAD!!)
anyone? tips?

So far, I'm kind of excited about the project, except, my daughter, B, insists, it's for her! So I am afraid I will be making a second one!

*********WaveRunner Progress*********

Mary made this so far!~

Siobhan pushed on, and came up with this so far!~

Michele is cruising right along! fab brights!

I'm completely giddy~!

If your posting your progress,
please shoot me an email so I can keep up!
they look fabulous!

if you need extra help, please check the videos in the last post.
to see more pics of their work hop on over to their blogs!
***

Ok.... here's my yummy stash I bought in Houston...
I didn't think I'd be buying any fabrics, but alas, I did indeed...

I couldn't pass up some Kaffe blues and greens
Old prints. I love 1800's style quilts more than anything... so I had to buy some repro column fabrics and indigos to play with...
And one little piece of Amy butler's new line.... love the navy blue..
This is all Terrie Hancock Mangat fabrics... Truly funky and fabulous...
crazy color combos, right up my alley.
And lastly, YELLOWS!
It's time for me to get back to my dresdens, and I was in serious need of background yellows....
What fun...

See! I didn't' buy out the show... just a wee little bit!
oh, and two antique quilts, but I'll save that for another post...

Have a great weekend everyone. Happy quilting!

sick day

2009-10-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

Leave it to my girl... She wanted a B wall hanging, and Boy, did she get a B wall hanging!
She decided she wanted it to be for Buddha, so with her help in choosing fabrics and ideas,
She choose, flowers to make it look like Buddha is sitting on a lotus flower, and made sure to include 7 offering bowls... Which we will make into pockets...
"Mom, it also needs to RADIATE!!!.." she says
So she selected the golden-y green beams of light...

The girl knows what she wants, that's for sure...

Not a bad, "stay at home sick day with mom" sort of project!

But I now have APPLIQUE coming out of my ears!

At least it's FUN!

Carolyn W. has some great colors going together on her waverunner!

Siobhan is almost done!

And Mary IS DONE!

I'm thinking perhaps I don't need to do a post about layout...

I'm thinking you guys guys have it all going on! woo hoo!

If you want help with lay out, perhaps email me...
The fun part is laying it all out, filling in,
and adding your personal touches like Mary did on the border...
I love that!

let's see what you can come up with...

Anyone else?
How are the rest of you doing?