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!

Project Overload!

It's Friday night and I'm working on this

I had planned on finishing this

but I realized I didn't have a long enough zipper for the inside pocket so I'm stalled until tomorrow.  This is a bag my godmother commissioned and it's WAY past due.  I think I just got sick of this pattern (Sweet Harmony by Amy Butler).  I've done it so many times I don't need to look at the instructions anymore! 

I still have to finish these

This stack includes a quilt for our bed per my hubby's request of the Aviary 2 fabric (not exactly my taste, but if it'll make him happy!), a Bakeshop project, a trial run of my Bakeshop project, my Katie Jump Rope Kite quilt, the squares for my Warm/Cool QAL, and my blue/green HST quilt.  Whew!

I have broken my rule of only working on one project at a time and it's biting me in the butt!  I'm much less productive when I feel overwhelmed like this.  What's sad is that I have a to-do list with about 10 more things on it!  The list wouldn't scare me if I didn't have so many "in-progress" projects!  Time to go back to my one-thing-at-a-time sewing.  Back to my basting.....

Raise Your Hand If.....

You've ever made a massive quilting boo-boo.  Anyone?  Well, I'm waving both hands in the air today!  I was so happy to be approved for another Moda Bakeshop project, but I had one slight problem.....I'd never made the quilt.  I have no idea how much fabric it will take or it's final size.  Yikes!  Due to some complicated math issues, there was no way (read: I wasn't going to hurt my brain with the math) for me to figure it out on paper.  Ok, no biggie, I thought.  I'll just make a practice version!  I sewed like a maniac yesterday with a pretty Verna jelly roll only to end up with this:

Yeah.  It's laying "flat" in this picture.  CRAP CRAP DOUBLE CRAP!  Stupid me forgot that I'd be sewing with a lot of bias edges!  Grrr.  Now, I'm worried about my ability to make one that does lay flat!  I *think* that using pins and laying the quilt-in-progress flat before I pin the next piece will solve the problem, but I'm having some major self doubt here.  If anyone has any great tips for this bias-challenged quilter (Tracey, this means you!) please tell me!

In more happy sewing news, I finished my June bee block for VIB's.  Meghan is making a patriotic quilt for her hubby who is in the Army.  I chose to do a paper pieced spinning stripes block.  The instructions said it finished at 12", but in reality, it finished at only 10"!  I guess I could have figured that out if I took a ruler to the pattern!  Since Meghan wanted the blocks to finish at 16", I knew I was going to have to add borders anyway, so the smaller size wasn't a big deal.  

I've also joined Jeni's QAL, Warm vs. Cool.  These are my fabric picks.  I did end up taking out some of the green, adding some yellow and blue.  I'm half way through cutting out the squares to make HSTs, but this project will have to be put on hold for a bit since I'm going out of town tomorrow for a week.  We're going to my in-laws in Missouri.  Though I'm sad to be away from my machine for a whole week, I get to meet my nephew (Ezra Stegosaurs) for the first time!  Plus, my MIL is super sweet and waits on us hand and foot! 

Gifts and Bee Blocks

I was quite productive today!  I managed to start and complete three projects!  First up is my morning project, a quick kid's quilt for my friend's son who turned 2.  

She requested no gifts, but I just couldn't stand it!  Today was the party so I had to come up with something that I could finish in a couple of hours.  This was so stinkin' easy!  I've been holding on to that 2D Zoo for a while and this seemed like the perfect time to use it.  

Around lunch time I also made this market bag as a surprise gift for a friend.  I won't say who in case she ever reads my blog.  The outside is Isso Ecco and the inside is Early Bird.

Tonight I decided to get my June bee block out of the way for Twice Around the Block.  Mary requested any type of triangle block so long as it finished within a 12.5" square.  I had no plan with this.  I just made a few smaller triangles then had to work out how to make them into a square.  Probably not the best idea since I barely had enough fabric!  I had to use a little of my own on the ends, but no biggie!

In other news, I got approved for another Moda Bakeshop Project!  Hooray!!!!

Celebration Giveaway Winner and New WIP

I started a new quilt last night after seeing Faith's beautiful new pattern, Kaleidoscopic Kites.  Take a look at hers!


I decided to cut into my Katie Jump Rope stash and make my very own! 


This quilt will be living with me, for a change!  I had to use some of Denyse Schmidt's new line for JoAnns to supplement my KJR since I didn't have enough light prints for some colors.  They blend nicely I think!


Now, on to the giveaway winners!

The winner of the Chocolate Lollipop charm pack and notions pins is #39, Live A Colorful Life!
The winner of the It's a Hoot charm pack and whimsical pins is #67, Renee! 

I will contact the winners for their address if I don't hear from them.  Winners, please note I am going on vacation for the next week (Las Vegas and Portland!) so I will not be able to mail your prizes until I return.

I Baked Just For You!

Head on over to Moda Bakeshop to check out my tutorial, but be sure to come back because I'm having a little giveaway to celebrate!  If you're here from MBS, welcome!  I was so excited to have my little project accepted--I even did a little booty dance.  Don't worry, I'm not going to show you that here! :)  Anywho!  To celebrate my Bakeshop project, I'm going to be giving away these two sets!

eeeek!  Did you get a look at those pins?  Here, let me show you up close

How stinkin' cute are they?!?!?  My super talented friend Christine makes them and sells them in her etsy shop!  She'll even make custom pins!  She made some Green Eggs and Ham pins that are to die for!  Christine has even set up a coupon code for you guys!  Enter "KELBYSEWS1" at checkout.

Oh, back to the giveaway details!  I will be choosing two winners.  One will receive the charm pack of Lollipop and the notions pins, the other will receive the It's a Hoot charm and whimsical pins.  Just leave any old comment--something funny or entertaining would be cool, or maybe you can just tell me how adorable my little chalkboard organizer is!  I'll leave the giveaway open until Friday, April 22nd at midnight and I'll post a winner, via RNG, on Saturday, April 23rd

A Few New Projects

Three new projects to show and a special annoucement!  In case you've been living under a rock, Denyse Schmidt released a new line of fabric.....at JoAnn's!!!!  The quality is WAY better than normal JoAnn's stuff.  Better yet, it's cute!  I whipped up an Amy Butler Cosmo bag with some




Next up is a baby girl quilt that I will list in my shop when I finish.  Two of my quilting guild friends and I decided to all do the same pattern in different fabrics just for fun.  This is my version in Tula Pink's Husyabye





I'm also particpating in a secret pouch swap.  I've gotten a little bit of a start on my zippy pouch.  A little Heather Ross, a little linen, and I will be adding some handstitching.



Now, for my annoucement!  My Moda Bakeshop project will be up tomorrow!!!!!  I'm so excited!  It's nothing fancy, but it's mine and I love it! :)  Be sure to check it out!