Small Business Saturday!

Instead of Black Friday mayhem at the mall, lets support the small businesses!

Through December 1, 10% off at my Etsy shop with the coupon code BLOGGER2010 or at Artfire, w/ no coupon code, but please let me know you got there via this post!

Happy holidays!

Sewing & coding, coding & sewing

For those of you who have built a website from the code up, you know how tedious it is. If you haven't done this, I don't recommend it!! I built my mother a website close to 10 years ago, if not a bit longer. I started with a blank notepad file & built it from scratch. I've decided that I need to have my own site, too.

Thanks to Liz from pesky.ca, I have a base to start from this time, but it still takes a long time to sort through photos, edit them, crop them, resize them, write the code, test the links, go to PayPal, create my buttons (hope that all the settings are good), etc etc. I'm not sure how long this is going to take me!

Add to that, I still have holiday sewing I need to do! I still have myriad gifts left to make for the family, and an order that I need to get out in about a week  & a half, which I'm waiting on a piece of fabric to arrive, before I get started on that one. UFOs UFOs UFOs....

Plus, I tested for a potential contract bookkeeping job yesterday, in hopes of picking up some side work to help make ends meet.

A is now 6-1/2 months old, and defiantly refusing to crawl. He'll sit on  his tush, lean AAAAAALL the way over & STRETCH for that toy, but he won't crawl for it. He'll grab the blanket or play mat & pull on it in order to move that toy to him (how's that for creative reasoning??), but he won't crawl. He rolls over and over, occasionally using that as a travel method, but he refuses to get those little knees under him. He is able to hold himself upright if I stand him at the coffee table. Something tells me that this guy is planning to take off running, and skip crawling entirely!

I suppose I should go find some more coffee & try to get some 'real' work done today. Wish me luck!

Changes!

They are a comin'!

I'm in the process of working on a new site, so bear with me. I hope to have my blog, shop & gallery all in one place once I'm done, but the setup and testing are going to take a bit of time.

Please bear with me!

Shhhh! Don't look now, but the holidays are coming!

The holidays are just around the corner, do you know what you're giving for gifts? No? Well, consider giving Handmade! Our family is having a handmade Christmas this year. I'm making ornaments, coasters, trivets, crayon rolls, tote bags, caramel popcorn and maybe a few other things.

Need some ideas? Check out my Etsy or Artfire shop! I can still take special orders, but remember, they can take up to 6 weeks, depending on what you want.

Take care, & happy shopping!

International Round Robins

I'm a member of the quilting board Scrappy Quilters, and they're running a quilt swap called an International Round Robin, or IRR for short. In this swap, participants are broken into groups (in our case, groups of 6). Each participant makes a center block for a quilt, plus a label for the quilt, and sends it on its merry way to the next participant. The next player then adds a small border to this block, signs the label, & sends it to player #3, who adds their own border & signature, mails it off, well, you get the picture. After your little block has made its way through all the members, you get it back as a grown-up completed top!

I was added to this swap at the last minute, so faced with no clue of what to do, I pulled out a block that Sam had designed using EQ7.

I've made a couple of modifications to her layout, picked my colors, and off I went.

It's quite a lot of pieces, but paper piecing, as difficult as it can be, results in beautiful, and I mean STUNNING corner perfection, which is an absolute necessity in a block like this.

I can't wait to see what the other players add for borders, although I must admit, I'm more than a teeny bit nervous about the quilts I get to work on. I've seen the centers, they are incredible. I feel outclassed! But it's all for fun, and it will be a great experience. 

Back to piecing, I have to send this little center off to Montana, ASAP!

New Storefront

So once again I find that I've been eyeball deep in sewing & other work, and have again neglected to post *any* of my work to this poor blog! No wonder I have so few followers!

In the past few weeks I've added an Artfire storefront, as well as completed some projects that have been waiting around, started some new ones, and done a few orders and gifts.

Back to the sewing machine!

Grandma Churlik's Blocks

When going through boxes of my sewing supplies, I found a box my grandmother had sent to me, easily 4 or 5 years ago. I never really looked through the blocks until now, and I'm sharing them with you.

First, there are 5 blocks that must have been from a swap, as they are all labeled with the maker's name.

Then there are 20 17 inch 8-point star blocks, hand pieced & on muslin squares. Her note was that she had intended to make a queen size quilt, but this was as far as she had gotten.

I will finish this one up, but am concerned about machine piecing it (I don't do handsewing unless absolutely necessary).

There are also 2 'table sets'- placemats and runners, meant to be applique'd and embroidered. These I'll never finish, not my thing, but I'll hold on to them for now.

Quite a find, isn't it?

A few more down!

So I finally finished up Hawaiian Punch, and she's now for sale on Etsy.

This one's been languishing as an unquilted top for about 2 years, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet & get it done. I put it on the frame & made a panto of leaves & flowers, I'm fairly happy with it!

Unfortunately, my machine decided to have a hissy fit, so there are some problems with the quilting, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

I've also been working on some criss-cross coasters, both for gifts & to put up for sale in my Etsy shop. I started by going through my box of pre-cut squares from when I sorted & folded my stash. I have a lot of 4 in. squares, it turns out! I also have a lot of 1-1/2 in. ones. I got a silly notion in my head to attempt a micro-mini coaster, and ended up making 4. I think they're adorable, what do you think? Each one is approx 1 inch square.

I've also made some full size ones, but I haven't decided which will be for sale & which will be for gifts. I've got a bunch more waiting to be finished as well, but Halloween is coming soon, and I have costumes to make!

The sewing machine beckons! Come back soon!

Teddy Bear Dress-up

Over on Quilting Gallery, Mishka sponsors a weekly themed quilt contest. This week's theme is teddy bears, which of course means I absolutely must enter this little cutie.

Teddy Bear Dress-up was a gift for my cousin H (seen in this post) when her brother A was born. I made him a quilt, and didn't think it was fair for her to not have one of her own. I couldn't resist the teddy bears playing in the hat boxes, shoes, & jewelry. I think the result was absolutely adorable, and I know she still has these.

On Friday, please go back to the contest page and vote for my quilt! Thanks for stopping by!

Still alive & kicking!

And screaming, and rolling, and fussing, and spitting up... Oh, sorry, got carried away talking about the boy! So our little man is now 4 months old! The week before Labor Day he figured out how to roll over onto his tummy, but then he gets mad that he's stuck on his belly and cries for me to roll him back over! He's mostly sleeping through the night now, too, which makes for a much happier mommy. However he also is demanding to be held more and played with and entertained, which means an unproductive mommy...

Over the Labor Day weekend, we took the kids to Maryland so that my grandparents could meet A. My parents flew down from Massachusetts, and my aunt & her family drove in from West Virginia as well, so a great time was had by all. S is right in the middle of my aunt's kids, H & A, so we had a 4 month old, and 9, 10, & 11 year old kids, and very happy grand & great-grand parents.

I've gotten a little work done over the last month, too. Finished up the 3rd commission, A's baby quilt, and an older project that's been waiting to be quilted, plus started another top. Hopefully A will start being willing to play with his toys for entertainment, and I can get cracking on more of my WIPs (Work In Process), UFOs (UnFinished Object), and ideas crowding my studio & headspace!

New WIP: Pixelated, bargello wall hanging. I just need to quilt & bind this puppy. She's basted & ready to go, I just need to trace out my quilting pattern.

Cuban Flag: This lap/throw quilt was another order. Just waiting for pickup!

Aaron's Jungle: this is my little man's quilt, that was the subject of this post. My first foray into working with a pantograph on my quilting machine, instead of just free motion meanders & stippling. I'm very happy with it, and since it's a twin size quilt, he'll out grow the baby jungle animals long before he outgrows the quilt!

 

Country Fences: twin size quilt that's been patiently waiting his turn to be finished. This one is for sale in my Etsy shop!

Thanks for sticking around, I am still alive & kickin!

Two more done!

This week has been a productive one for me! I got two orders finished and am starting on a third. I'm happy with how everything is finally coming together!

This little beauty is named Charlotte's Web. Charlotte is now 6 months old and a little terror by the sounds of things! She loves the wires to mommy & daddy's computers.

I'm having fun with pieced backs. This one was just a simple block pieced back, using the fabrics from the front of the quilt. I left the selvages intact & showing for a little fun. I used the Scarborough Fair line by Windham Fabrics. I don't usually stick with a single fabric line, but in this case I wanted the unified look. I love how it turned out.

 

Memories of Stage Fort Park was a challenge for me. I found a gorgeous piece of tonally dyed batik that just screamed out to be used for this quilt. I quilted it using a meandering pattern that imitates the breeze-driven waves on the surface of the water or in tall grass.

For the back I used some yardage I found at our local Ikea. It's a fun black & green on white print with birds, leaves, seed pods, & branches. It suits the theme perfectly, and I love how soft the fabric is. I never would have thought to shop there for fabrics!

Thanks for stopping by!