Watermelon Neapolitan

This quilt is otherwise known as, "If I were a quilt I would look like..."  Sometimes quilts come together so easily, it's like they make themselves.  I started this quilt at 8 last night and finished it at 1130.  I love it!  It came out exactly like I wanted--don't you love it when that happens?

The entire front and binding are made from Essex linen/cotton blend in various colors.  The neutral background color is sand, but I'm not sure of the names of the rest.  I cut (2) 2.5" x WOF strips of the coral, pink, and green fabric; (4) 2.5" x WOF strips of the ivory, (32) 3.5"x 10.5" rectangles of the Sand background.  I sewed 5 of the strips together then cut (8) 4.5"x10.5" rectangles from those.  I repeated this step with the remaining 5 strips, but I alternated the order.  Then, I sewed a 3.5"x10.5" background rectangle to either side of the pieced strip.  When piecing the top I simply alternated directions of the block (and alternated style of pieced block).  Ta-da!  A cute, modern 40"x40" baby quilt!

I had exactly the right amount of this Amy Butler print for the backing.  Seriously, it was destiny!  I'm obsessed with the colors in this print.  These large scale florals are hard to use in pieced fronts, but for backing they are perfect!  This will be yet another for the bazaar (though I'd love to keep it!)

Sweet Talked

As a lot of your know, the Sewing Summit is approaching.  Sadly, I will be unable to attend because we have a wedding NYC that weekend (I'll be making a trip to Purl Soho to comfort myself).  Ali talked me into making a couple of things for the silent auction--so I'll sort of be there!  I made this wall hanging:

It's my own paper pieced pattern.  This was a practice run for the Pillow Talk Swap, but it turned out pretty nice so I feel good about donating it!

I added some hand stitching to make it pop a little more.  

I also made this storage basket based on the popular Pink Penguin tute.  I made it a bit bigger so you can put more in it.

Please, for those of you going, someone please bid on my items!  I'd be so humiliated if no one wanted them!

Birthday Bag

I had a busy week and didn't get much sewing done, but I did manage to finish this bag today for my best friend's birthday.

The exterior is a Joel Dewberry Heirloom print and a grey herringbone suiting fabric.  I used this fabric for the exterior of my Goodie Bag Swap bag earlier this year and I love it!  Speaking of the Goodie Bag Swap, signups are starting soon, but I can't decide what level I want to sign up for.  Last time I did advanced.  I love advanced bags, but I just don't think I have the time to commit to one.  I may opt for something easy this round.

The interior has a zippered pocket and is made with a Robert Kaufman print

Button detail.  I learned that there are some buttons too big for a zig zag stitch!  I had to manually shift the bag every time the needle moved in order to sew this on!  Major pain in my butt!

Baby Quilt and a Boy Named Ralph

I finished up this organic baby boy quilt the other day, but I haven't had any time to post it since I was busy prepping for a garage sale with a friend of mine.  I really love these fabrics by Cloud 9!  I think I'll make a girl version too.  This was quick and simple, made from 5 fat quarters and very little planning. :)  

Oh, about that garage sale--people are nuts!  No, I will not sell that item I priced at $5 for 25 cents!  Are you crazy?!?!?  I'd rather give things to Goodwill than sell them to some of these people!  I don't mind bargaining, but at least be reasonable!  I sold about half of what I had out so I'm happy.  It's nice to get rid of all those tiny toys kids seem to collect!

After the garage sale we went to a birthday party for one of Roarke's friends.  The party was great, but I started not to feel so good.  By the time we got home, all I wanted to do was lay down.  I spent the next three hours curled into a ball on the cold tile of the bathroom floor wishing I could just throw up and get it over with!  I hate feeling nauseous!  I'd much rather have a few seconds of hurling than hours of nausea!  Anywho, on one of hubby's visits in to check on me, the kids came in too and he proceeds to tell them that "Mama is on the white phone with a boy named Ralph."  This causes me to burst out laughing (because I'd never heard that phrase), then moan in pain because my stomach hurts so much.   Roarke then dead pans, "I think she has a bird in there (my stomach)."  Dude!  You're killing me!  Stop making mommy laugh and let me be miserable in peace!  This fun filled evening was topped off with a horrible, restless sleep followed by Cian waking up screaming for his pacifier that he couldn't find, then the alarm clock going off because the kids had been playing with it.  Obviously, we're taking it easy today and I'm mostly sitting on the couch reading.  I don't even have the energy to sew, so you know it's bad!  Here's hoping I feel 100% tomorrow!

Oh, and Roarke finally decided on a costume for Halloween!  Now I just need to find a 2T Luigi and we're set!  Let us not discuss the irony of our last name and his choice of costume--if you don't know what I'm talking about, good!

Pouch Palooza!

It was a pouch palooza at my house yesterday!  I finished these 12 small pouches for the bazaar.  I need to make some boxy pouches too and then I think I'll be set on pouches.

For the majority of these, I used scrap pieces for the outside--bonus!

All of the lining fabric was from my scrap bin.  I love when I finally get to use a smaller piece of fabric I've been holding onto a while!  A funny thing happened while I was assembling these:  I was at the stage where you pin right sides together when, all the sudden, I couldn't turn the pouch around to pin the next side.  I had PINNED the pouch to my finger and didn't even know it!  I guess my lack of manicure and thick cuticles saved me some pain. =)  I also finished a baby boy quilt top, but it's already basted so you'll have to wait until it's complete for a pic! 

I Like to Cheat!

I'm in love with this cheater print!  It's from the Annie's Farm Stand collection.  

I did put a little more effort into the quilting since the patchwork was already done for me. :)  I quilted diagonally through every other square.

I also sucked it up and used some of my precious AMH voile for the back.  SOOOOOOOO soft!  The binding is a subtle green stripe from MoMo's Just Wing It collection.

I love how the quilting highlights the diamond pattern on the back, though I wish I would have had enough of the voile to orient it in the other direction.  Whew!  One more quilt for the bazaar complete!  I'm now working on a LOT of pouches.  I finished two last night, but I hope to complete 10 more or so today.  I'm so nervous about having enough items to give people some variety!  I'm still really worried I'm just going to sit there all day and no one will stop, but it's too late to turn back now!

Productive!

I was really productive this weekend (and a little today).  I finished THREE quilts!  Two are custom orders and one is for the bazaar.

This is the one for the bazaar.  The fabric is Hunky Dory, except the binding which is Henna Garden in Spring.  The pattern is from Camille's book, Simplify.  Super easy and super fast!

The color of this is off because the sun was setting.

This It's a Hoot quilt is a custom order.  The front and binding is from It's a Hoot, the backing is from Lizzy House's Red Letter Day.  The pattern is Easy Bake (with a layer cake) from Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  No, it's not a 9 patch.

This one is another custom order from my friend, Sara, a photographer.  She really wanted a quilt with those 5 Amy Butler fabrics and she chose the Swoon pattern.  While I love the pattern, I wish I would have added one additional print so that two of the same print centers wouldn't be next to each other.  I love this quilt at a distance, but I'm not sure how much I love it up close.  Also, I made the MASSIVE error of using white.  Sara specifically asked for gray, but I had the white out for another project and must have been on autopilot!  By the time I realized it, the blocks were half constructed!  I gave her the option to back out, but she still loved it so all's well that ends well!

I decided to make the back a little more special than the plain solid we agreed on since I messed up the front!  I actually like this side better!  Drat!  

I Remember

Like most Americans, I remember this day clearly.  I was a junior at Washington University in St. Louis.   I had just gotten out of the shower and I was combing out my wet hair.  I turned on the TV for background noise while I got ready for a class--strangely, the name of the class was Sensation and Perception.   I knew immediately something had happened by the breaking news banner below the news anchor.  Within seconds of turning on the TV, while I'm still trying to figure out what is going on, I watched, horrified, as the second plane hit.  I didn't know what to do or who to call.  Did that just happen?  It couldn't be.  I watched the news up until the time I needed to leave for class--do we still have class?  I wasn't sure so I trudged over to campus.  About half the class showed up.  We all sat in silence for 10 minutes before the professor spoke up and told us we could leave.  It was so eerie.  Everyone was so quiet that day.

I hope everyone takes a little quiet time today to remember.

Baking and a Funny Story

EEEK!   Another Bakeshop project!  I'm super excited for this one to finally come out today!  It's been finished for a while and I'm not so good at keep my mouth shut so it was hard not to show it!  Hope you guys like it!

If you're visiting from Bakeshop, hi!  I'll entertain you a bit with what happened to me yesterday (early) morning.  Tropical Storm Lee is blowing through my area and the power went out at 5:15 AM.  My kiddos sleep with a sound machine on so not 30 seconds after the power goes out, my eldest wakes up crying about his sounds.  I tell him to go ahead and get in bed with me since I know he won't go back to sleep alone and "soundless."  Not a minute after we lay down then I hear one of the dogs get up and walk around....then I hear an ominous wet sound.  She has peed all over the carpet!  Lovely.  I fumble around for some matches and a candle so I can see what I'm doing, then I grab the cleaner and some paper towels to clean the mess.  As a side note, my dog is almost 14, so I excuse these occasional accidents.  While I'm cleaning, I notice the cleaner smells funny.  I hold the candle down to the bottle and realize I've just cleaned my carpet with vinyl/leather CAR cleaner.  Cripes!  Oh well.  I just sprayed some Fabreeze over it and went back to bed.....only to hear the incessant beeping of both the house alarm and fire alarm, which want me to know they don't have electricity, but their batteries are sure working!  Finally, the oldest munchkin and I fall asleep.  We are woken up at 730 by the power coming back on and my youngest's sound machine blaring the default sound.  Now, the sound they sleep to is rain, but the default sound (what it plays when you first plug it in or after a power surge) is FREAKING BIRDS!  Who in their right mind finds crazy rainforest bird chirping restful?  So, of course, it wakes both kids up.  I blearily look over at my eldest laying next to me--he then proceeds to lift his legs and booty in the air and POOT THREE TIMES.  Good morning, Mama!  Oh, have a mentioned that my husband if off at a Bachelor Party in the Catkills for the entire weekend?  Or that it's my 7 year wedding anniversary?  Yeah.  Happy Anniversary to me!

Oh Target, How I Love Thee!

My Flickr friend, Dar, posted pictures of these two art/photo frames yesterday and I had run out to Target to get them (after going to the gym this morning)!  I also scored those composition books for 28 CENTS each!  I was giddy.  I got 20, but I almost wish I would have bought more!  While the boys and I were in Target, the rain from Tropical Storm Lee began so we got completely drenched going to the car--but it was totally worth it!  Next we went to lunch at Panera.  I felt totally righteous eating a salad, but I killed that feeling with a Toffee Almond cookie.  Again, totally worth it!  Hubby is in NY having a Bachelor Party Weekend for one of his friends, but I'm having my own good time.  Geez, how sad is it that Target and Panera are the definition of a good time for me?  Lame!

Last night I got out all my bee blocks (from Twice Around the Block and VIBs) and started playing around with the layout.  I think I have one or two to switch around and then I can start sashing.  I love how these turned out!!!!  I didn't have to make one since some of the ladies made me two blocks!

I'll leave you with a picture of my youngest cutie pie!  He loves to put on hats he finds in the house.