Too Many Projects!

I'll try and make this quick or at least interesting with lots of pictures and little words!



I re-covered my ironing board.  I kinda wish I would have made more blocks and centered the diamond part down the middle, but it's way cuter than it used to be.



Made this AMH Multi-tasker tote for my godmother.  It's a whopper!  I have 6 more bags to make for her.  A couple more of these and some Amy Butler Sweet Harmony bags. 



I'm going to be an aunt for the first time!!!!  I'm an only child so this is really exciting for me.  My hubby's sister is expecting next spring and I sent her a box filled with goodies and these onesies I whipped up.



Quilting Divas block for Jessica in progress



Quilting Divas block for Corey in progress



Quilting Divas block for Rene in progress

I have three more hexi-flowers to make, but I can't quite come up with 19 different fabrics for each of those.  I'm hoping some swap packages arriving soon can help me out.  I've realized I don't have many fabrics that are just blue.  Teal I have, blue, not so much.



I made my first skirt!  This is Amy Butler's Barcelona pattern and fabric from her Lotus line.  This came together super fast.  I started it about 8pm one night.  Worked a couple of hours then went to bed.  I finished it with about another hour's work the next morning.  It fits pretty good.  My problem with the pattern is that it's WAY too long.  I don't wear skirts half way down my calf!  I'm 5'7" so I'm not a shorty either (I hear my hubby disputing this fact as he reads this).  I shortened the pattern by about 2 inches, but I kinda wish I would have gone up a bit more so it would hit the middle of my knee cap.  Also, I feel it flares too much for me at the bottom and I could use about .5" more space around the tummy.  Better yet, I wish it fit a bit lower on my hips.  Anywho.  I'll still wear it and love it, but I will be making more and adjusting for these things.



Cute kid picture #1 



Cute kid picture #2



My oldest finally stopped sucking his thumb and he received a reward today--Tokyo Mater!!!!!!  It's a remote-controlled version that spins.  Are you jealous yet, Chad?  :)  It only took him one day to stop sucking his thumb after I put some "no-bite" stuff on his nail, but I waited almost 2 weeks before getting him the reward to make sure he didn't fall back into it.  I'm so proud!

New Wave Finished!

I love finishing!  I'm really happy with how this turned out.  I know it's not for everyone, but I love it!  This is for my cousin and his fiancee who will be married in November.  As I've said before, she told me the colors in their living room are lime green and orange, so I ran with it. The final measurements are 62" x 68"  I had about 4" shrinkage in each direction.

I free motion quilted this on my regular old sewing machine.  I just can't justify the cost of sending something out to be quilted!  I'm El Cheapo!

This is the backing fabric--from the Park Slope collection

The binding is Michael Miller's Ta-Dot in Apple.  I love all things polka dot so of course I love all the Ta-Dot colors!

As a side note, for all you fabric junkies, a Flickr friend is trying to destash and has started her own etsy shop.  Think Wonderland, Heather Ross, Michael Miller, Amy Butler, etc.  She adds new stuff as she has time to post it so check back frequently!  Her shop is called Emmaboo.  Cute, huh?

Bee Blocks and Fabric Diet

I just finished this block for Anne from The Stitchin' Bee.  She wanted math-themed blocks that are clean and modern for her mathametitian hubby.  I actually took pen to paper to figure out the math on this one!  This wasn't my original idea, but I ended up liking it better.  I was going to make a pi and square root symbols, but the square root symbol was giving me difficulties so a scrapped it.  I was really nervous making this because Anne is so talented.  Her blocks are outstanding every single time and I wanted to be sure I delivered something she would like.  Fingers crossed......

I joined a new quilting bee.  Yeah, I know, but I couldn't pass it up when I saw who would be in my group.  I'm such a newbie and there are some superstars in this group!  This bee is a bit different.  We use our own fabrics and we pick the design of the blocks, but our fellow members can pick the colors you use for their blocks.  This is a preliminary mock up for Rene.  She wanted green, blue and white.  I have tons of fabrics in these colors so this was a breeze.  I have a few changes to the hexie line up you see here because I found some better matches.  After I hand sew all these together, it will be appliqued down onto background fabric and then I will do some embriodery around it.

I'm now in a support group for fabric-o-holics.  Five of us decided we really wanted to stop buying fabric for a while and we needed some help.  We take it on a month-by-month basis and we state at the beginning of the month what we are allowed to buy, if anything.  This month I am only allowed to buy backing and binding for the New Wave quilt top I finished.  It's for my cousin who is getting married in November.  I still haven't decided on a backing/binding yet.  I'm thinking of using the second to last green as a binding....or maybe an orange.....or maybe a red.....thoughts?  I just can't decide.  If anyone has any bright ideas or knows of the perfect fabric, let me know!  Anywho, I've gone 9 days!  Yeah me!

Roarke started school again today--hooray!  I needed a quick, one-night project, so I whipped up this grocery tote for his new teacher, Ms. Laura.  It was super tempting to keep it, but really, do I need another bag?

Met a new swap partner on Flickr, MaRisha.  I sent her some fabric left over from another project and she sent me this!  Airplane punch art.  Is it cool or what?!?!?!?  Roarke was so excited!  He said it was beautiful and was happy to put it up in his room.

I finished making my Modern Swappers partner a sewing machine cover.  This is my first project with hexies!  I completely ripped off the cover Christine made for me, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  I have to block out that one hexie because it would give too much of a clue who it is for and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!  I think I have one, maybe two more things to make for my partner then I can mail it off.  I can't wait!

Another Box from Heaven (and other things crafty)

I received another super stupendous swap box for July's ALFALC from my Flickr twin, Amy.  So much fabric and goodies I could hardly stand it!  She knows me so well.  I loved EVERYTHING!  Hopefully she'll get her box Monday and love it half as much!

I finished my Christmas bee blocks early this month!  I was determined to conquer the pinwheel so I did a little blog studying over at KarrieLyne's blog.  Here are the results:

And in the interest of keeping it real (and to make other messy quilters feel a bit better), here is the current state of my sewing area:

It's driving me crazy and I think it's time for a major cleaning!  Also, I hate sewing in this dark cave!  I call it the murder cave because of the blood red walls (we didn't paint it).  It's technically our dining room, but how often do you really use a dining room? :)  ha ha!

I've also gone hexi-crazy!  After receiving the wonderful sewing machine cover made with hexies and my own hexi kit, I've decided to make my Modern Swap partner a hexi sewing machine cover too!  I hope she'll like it!

And for all the grandmas and Daddy who read this, here are some pictures of the kids: