artsy-crafty babe

the finished MHC quilt

2009-11-09T15:12:59-06:00

Here it is, the finished Margaret's Hope Chest quilt. I didn't get it in the mail today, like I had planned, but I think tomorrow will be fine. I had to keep it an extra day to get some photos of it. I didn't finish the binding until late last night, then it needed to be washed.

When the call went out through Craft Hope to make a quilt for those in need, I knew that I had to do it. My goal for this quilt was for it to be cheery and non-gender specific. I pulled some fabrics from my stash that fit the bill, then started cutting away.

I didn't use a pattern, but started by cutting 3 strips from each of my fabrics, varying in width from 2-4". Next, I sewed my strips together randomly, trying not to sew two of the same fabrics together. I did this in 3-4 strip groupings, resulting in 4 groups of strips. I pressed my sewn groups and figured that I could make 12 12.5" blocks from what I had (3 blocks from each sewn group of strips). I ended up having to cut a few more strips to make some groupings wide enough, but that was easy enough. I then sewed my blocks together rotating the strips. The quilt wasn't quite wide enough, so I added a border.

Due to my time restraint, I backed the quilt with one solid piece of fabric. I quilted it with my usual squared spiral, then bound it with the fun stripe to give it a little kick.

Individually, none of these fabrics really jumped out at me, which is probably why they've been sitting in my stash for a while, but I love how they all work together. While I made this quilt, I thought about it bringing a little bit of comfort and joy to the recipient. I also kept the family of Margaret in my mind, focusing on the positive endeavor brought about through such a tragic event. I hope that my own positive thoughts and love are felt by the person who receives it.

Thank you Craft Hope for such a fulfilling project.

low key weekend

2009-11-08T16:09:57-06:00

Things have been pretty quiet around here this weekend. We don't normally have busy weekends, but this weekend was supposed to be one of the busier ones due to soccer games and the kids' school fall festival. By late Friday night Lily started feeling bad and by Saturday morning has a 103 fever, so off to the Dr. we went. She was just getting over a sinus infection and we've been keeping a close eye on her asthma due to recent flare ups, so we wanted to make sure that things were okay. Poor girl has the flu, most probably h1n1 since that's the only strain they've been seeing in these parts.

We sent the younger two to their grandparent's house just to be on the safe side, so it was very quiet around here. I used this down time to cast on a new knitting project, clean up my sewing room, do LOTS of laundry, finish up the craft hope quilt (still working on the binding) and catch up on my 1 2 square blocks.

Sarah allowed us to make whatever type of block we wanted. Her only request was that if we add any fabrics to please use a white or yellow toned fabric to lighten it up. Okay, that's exactly what I did. I love a pop of white in a quilt so I added 2 white frames. I started out making a log cabin-ish block, but then it evolved into this. I have problems doing proper log cabins, as you'll see in the next block.

Katie did ask for a log cabin block, a scrappy one. If you've ever visited her blog, you'd know that this block is so totally her. That girl loves white and linen! Her only request was that if we added any fabrics that it be white or linen :-) I had a few in my stash that worked. I'm not usually a monochromatic person, but I love this. This will be such a pretty quilt when assembled. So feminine.

And last but certainly not least, Chris sent us a bunch of vintage sheet pieces and asked for rows. That seemed like a simple enough request. If we were to add any fabrics, they were to be more vintage sheets or white. Well friends, I have oodles of vintage sheet scraps. By the way, searching for these scraps was how the sewing room, clean up happened.

I had so much fun and had so much material for this one, that I made another. I easily could have made 5 more. In fact, I'm thinking about making more blocks to do one of my own (just call me copy cat). I hope you can use the extra block, Chris. If you need some more to even it out, just let me know.

Well friends, a quilt is calling. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week!

just dreaming

2009-11-05T17:59:17-06:00

Now that it is Thursday already and I haven't done a thing other than the painting night, I realize that my craft to-do list was only a dream. And with the kids' soccer games this weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, it looks like I won't be getting much done then either. Dang! There's nothing scheduled tonight and the house is fairly picked up, so maybe, just maybe I can do some work on that quilt.

Speaking of quilts, I'm still behind on my 12 square quilt squares (what's new?), which officially ended in September. I definitely need to move that one up on the priority list. Some squares have started rolling in from the PTQB, which is exciting. I love what those girls have come up with. I have a feeling that a certain 8 yr old will take this quilt over once it is made. It is right up her alley.

This really does deserve a post on its own, but that little Ava of mine is something! She acts all sweet, but underneath she's a little spitfire. All my kids have done some stupid stuff, but she seems to do it 10x's worse.

Just this week she dumped an entire bottle of fingernail polish in the sink - HOT pink. The nail polish was out of her reach, but she figured out a way to get to it. The entire sink is now HOT pink. I haven't taken the time to kill some brain cells cleaning that stuff off. On Monday afternoon she and Alex were innocently coloring on my bed, but then Ava decided to color ON my bed - the blanket, the sheets, and my coverlet, all of which I just washed on Saturday. It will wash out, but I'd like to have clean bedding for at least a few days. Is that too much to ask? While she was at it, she also colored all over the back of my bedroom door with a crayon.

I was hoping that was it, but then yesterday I noticed something funny about Oreo, our cat. Is his fur pink? Why yes, it was pink, and not just a little bit. What the??? SOMEBODY colored the cat. I asked the kids and they all denied it. Then I questioned Ava some more. I told her that she wouldn't be in trouble, I just wanted to know how she did it. She answered me "Oreo was sleeping on Alex's bed, so I colored him". ***this photo was from today, so he's had a few days to clean it off. his paw was the only thing we could keep still enough to photograph, taking a picture of a cat is really hard!

If she's quiet and you ask her what she's doing, she'll answer "anything, mama". Oh, how right she is! That girl, what in the world am I going to do with her???

painting is fun

2009-11-04T15:03:55-06:00

I really do like to paint, even if I'm not in love with what I'm painting. Last night was fun, but I already knew it would be. How could a bunch of friends doing something creative not be fun? I ended up liking my painting more than I thought. I didn't stray too much, but I wasn't afraid to add highlights here and there. I only wish that I had lightened my purple a little bit because I think it's too dark. At first Ava was scared of it, I think. Those branches are kind of creepy, aren't they? But after Alex told me that it was pretty, she agreed.

There was a group of young girls sitting next to me at the studio. Their conversations were interesting...at one point they were talking about so-and-so being sooo old, to which one replied "31..32?" The other answered "no, he's like 37". I had a hard time not rolling my eyes at that, well, I probably did, but I was concentrating on my painting. Before hearing that I was feeling pretty good about the whole foods cashier carding me for my bottle of wine!!

Well, I guess I am getting old because my midweek night out wiped me out. Maybe I ate something bad or picked up a bug, but I felt like I was hit by a truck this morning. Even the kids thought I didn't look so good. After they left for school I went back to bed and didn't get up until after 1 pm! Whoa, that's what I get for a crazy night out at the painting studio (I was out until a whopping 9 pm). Dang, this sucks!

I hope all that rest doesn't keep me up until all hours of the night, but if it does, I'm sue I can find something to do with my time :-)

on the agenda

2009-11-02T17:49:27-06:00

Well, friends, I've decided that this is going to be a crafty week. Last week I proved to myself that I can keep the house in order if I do a little bit each day, so this week I'm adding some craft time to the mix (good idea in theory). This will involve putting my knitting down (my usual week night craft), but I'm at a boring point on this particular knit, so I could use the break (so what if I just took a break to make a skirt!).

The Craft Hope deadline is quickly approaching, so I need to get busy on that. I made the quilt top this weekend, so now it needs to be quilted and bound. I like how this one is coming together, even though I'm not using my favorite fabrics - that's always a pleasant surprise. Because I want this finished in time, I'm going with a simple solid back. This is my #1 priority this week.

Tomorrow night I have another painting event at Corks-n-Canvas. This time I plan to go out on my own a little. Maybe. We'll see how brave I am once I have a glass of wine or two. I'm not super in love with the scheduled painting, but I'm looking forward to hanging out with the girls for a few hours. Even if I do stick to the plan, I figure the painting will look cute in the girls room with all that purple.

I still have my bloomers skirt on the brain and would love another one. I have my fabric and stencil picked out for my second version (bluish purple & aqua), but I'd like to try something different first. I'm not exactly sure yet what I want to do, but it will involve heather gray jersey.

For some reason, I have way more cotton jersey in my stash than I remembered (not all that pictured above is cotton jersey, but there is a good bit of it). I may end up with a plain solid skirt, but that's okay. It will still be fun having an unexpected colorful under layer. The comfort of my first version makes me want to make more.

If that isn't enough, I have a back cardigan that needs refashioning and I'm also thinking that I need a new bag...

Okay, reading back over this, I realize that this is only a wish list. I know the painting will get done because that's a scheduled set thing. If I get that quilt finished and in the mail next Monday, I'll call it a success. My reality is that I'll be doing good to keep up with the house and get the laundry done! It's much more fun to dream and plan, isn't it?