Freedom

How the year has flown by. I didn't believe adults when I was younger telling me that time just flies by as you get older but I am a believer. Now that I am 40, I can only imagine how quickly things will happen. Fingers crossed that I am ready for it.

I lost my sewing mojo for a while, hence the lack of posts in recent months. This was the first time in years that I didn't sew everyone's Christmas presents. I have decided to not put any stress on myself for any reason to finish any project. I have not signed up for any additional swaps (other than those I committed to before this year) and did not join my online sewing bee for this year. Letting go has been quite liberating.

I've been slowly getting back to my sewing space and working on my projects. I do have a few things to share and will post more of my progress this year.

Bought a new machine. This beast is pretty awesome!

Made a little pouch with this great Afro fabrics from Spoonflower.

Finished my last blocks for my online bee!
These were fun to make with one color way and selvages.

Designing for my Michael Miller Glitz
quilt for QuiltCon 2016.

Thank goodness for a design wall and post it notes
to help keep things organized.
I had a lot of fun putting this together.

My Houndstooth quilt.
Although it wasn't accepted into the show, I think it was a winner in my book!
(It was really hard to photograph this one. I need to up my lighting skills.)

Made a bag for our guild's holiday party swap.

It was made with lots of love!

Working on a design for the improv blocks made by
the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild.

Final top design before it went to our quilter for her to work her magic.
Check out: the quilted piece HERE

Took a great class with Lee Monroe of May Chappell.
She was such a fun teacher!
(This is all the progress I've made, too. I look forward to finishing
this quilt top later in the year with the Charlie Harper fabrics I've been collecting.)

Fabric pulls for my second to last mini quilt swap.
I chose a pattern from Make Modern Magazine called
Betty Hearts Fabric. These will be the rainbow pile of fabrics in
a stack for part of this mini.

I really love when paper piecing projects come together so nicely.

Betty Hearts Fabric
This is the finished piece that went off to it's new home in GA.

Pattern testing for an IG friend.
It had so many little pieces. This is a 12.5 in block!

Here's the mini rainbow quilt I was given from my swap partner!
She used all Tula Pink and created this amazing piece.
I love how perfectly the tiger's face came out from two separate pieces.

All the goodies from my partner! It was a rainbow of so much fun!

My latest project is finishing my economy blocks from last year's 
online bee. I asked for novelty prints in the center with a
coordinating color for the second square. 
The outer squares were made with black, gray or white fabrics. About 30 were sent from
my bee hive mates, the rest I made over the last few
months trying to get my "sewing mojo" back.
I plan to piece this together and quilt it over the next few months.

I joined one last swap with my guild to make a mini for a
Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild member.
She asked for a traditional block made modern so I decided to stick with the economy squares 
but made them a third of the size of the ones I have above.
She loves Cotton+Steel and Tula Pink so I tried to incorporate those in the center.
Then I used Anne Kelle (another favorite of hers) to make the rainbow border.
She loves rainbows like me!

Making a little baby quilt for my friend who is due in 7 weeks.
I have 1 week left before her "Baby Sprinkle" to have it done.
Her theme for this baby is this Gypsy Baby line.
I tried to pull from my stash colors and prints I thought would compliment this style.
(I am still not sure how I will quilt it yet. It's 36 x 36 and will fit nicely under my Juki.)
Wish me luck!

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I made gnomes!
My friend is a gnome maker and recently invited me over to work/play at her
house. She showed me how to make this little gems.
After trying 3 different dying methods, we used coffee to get a darker skin tone!
The bodies are made with super soft felt that I cut into tiny strips, too.
She made the tiny glasses and hair for my partner's gnome.

Because we also needed capes, she did some amazing
embroidery work on the back of each one.
(Can you see the little baby pick in my Super Afro emblem?)

I worked with raw wool roving to make my afro. I had to use a needle and
 Styrofoam board to get this shape to come together.
(I only stuck myself a few times before I got the hang of it.)

She is working on a series of vegetable king/queen gnomes.
These are her pumpkin and tomato royalty.

She made these stools for her kids using logs and
felt to make the seat top.
She's pretty crafty!

This is just one of her gnome tree houses where some of her
creations live. She has a gift for working with wood, wool, and felt.
It was pretty cool to see another artist work her magic and share her passion.
I came home from that trip energized and ready to get back to sewing.

Last but certainly not least, here's a quick set of picks of Artemis. She is doing so well and learning new tricks every day. I bought this book and cannot believe how simple the directions were and love the step-by-step photos. (Many of my dog-owning friends were given a copy of this book for Christmas.)

She really likes sleeping with a pillow and has laid claim to this one.

Our first purchase of a LootPets crate included a matching shirt
for Artemis to celebrate the return of the X-Files!
We have yet to wear our matching shirts out yet.
(It's way too hot to put her in black!)

A very rare, non-blurry picture of her sleeping.
She never stays still for photo ops.

This is what happens when I try to work on the couch.
She puts her head on the keyboard to make me stop and pet her a while.

We both wear each other out on long walks in this Florida heat.
(I often want to lay on the cool floor next to her.)
I am grateful that she makes me go outside every day because work has been hectic!

Artemis has stolen our hearts for sure.


I hope you are well and having a great year so far. Let me know what you've been up to in the comments below if you wish.

Started on Sunday

Hi there!
I hope you all enjoyed your extra hour courtesy of Daylight's Saving Time.

I made out like a bandit recently with some shopping scores and even managed to get some some sewing done.

Here's a quick look!

Fabric finds:

Wonder Woman and DC Girl Power: I had to get my hands on some.

Rainbows and Unicorns! (This has been on my Pinterest page forever and I found it on sale!)

Sewing Start Ups:

I worked on a top for a local quilt shop using the Cotton and Steel collection of fabric they provided.

A Modern Heart Baby Quilt

I am also working on a little mini gift for this year's OMQG holiday party. I'll post that pic soon.

This weekend, we are going on our second annual guild retreat next weekend where I'll get plenty of time to quilt and enjoy the company of some creative women. I can't wait to share photos with you soon.

How did you spend your extra hour?
Leave me a comment below. :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Love

Hello All!
I am excited to post in another finished piece in this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival.

This is my first attempt at a mini quilt and I think I might have a new little addiction.

I am calling this mini: Junctions.

It's made with 21 different shot cotton colors, a neutral gray background and a simple black back/binding. I wanted the colors give the appearance of crossing over and under each other. I hoped it resembled the blended look that shot cottons provide up close when the different colors meet.

I also used 8 different color threads to highlight the rainbow of colors used to intersect each other. I used 6 colored bobbins for the main lines and a black bobbin for the grid work design that fills the negative space on the front. (Hip hip hooray for Aurifil!)

Here's how it was made:

I drew a design with a pencil, a ruler, and freezer paper. Then once I liked the way they crossed, I made it permanent with a marker. (I also made a copy, just in case I messed something up.)

I pulled out my shot cotton collection to decide which colors would be placed where and used markers to represent each color. Post it notes saved the day and kept me pretty organized.

Next comes part when you have to decide how to cut out the paper into strips that can be used to paper piece my design.

My new best quilting friend: the Add-A-Quarter ruler!

I really like the colors on this strip just by itself.

Putting the strips back together now.

Slowly getting there.

The struggle was real to make these line up.
(I made peace with my seam ripper.)

Now the part most paper piecers love: ripping the paper off of the back.
(Stress relief after a long day!)

Quilting Time!

Made good use of my washi tape.
(Thanks Stashbee Hive mate!)

Quilting Complete!

Put a black binding on it because I can!

Rainbow binder clips for binding.
And *gasp*...

I finished the binding by hand!

Those of you who know me well, know that binding my hand is not something I prefer to do. Since this one was so tiny and cute, I decided to make her pretty by finishing her the right way.

Here she is all dolled up and ready for her debut at the Blogger's Quilt Festival:

Junctions

(Close up of the woven shot cotton colors.)

The back is pretty fun, too.

This mini quilt measures 16.5 by 20.5. It was made with various shot cottons and quilted using various Aurifil colored threads.

I already have some ideas for my next project and am thrilled that I still have a lot of shot cotton colors to use! Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by!