SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ok I am digging this Silhouette thing...I wonder, does it cut fabric? Inquiring quilty minds want to know.
SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway

Shabby Apple Queensland Swimsuit Giveaway - what beautiful suits! Love them all...though not sure how practical a white swimsuit is.

So...happy year to you...

Well it has been a long time since I posted. What a naughty blogger I am. So why blog now? Well, something quilty is on my mind and I thought I'd ask what people think here. I could just ask the members of either guild I belong to but that would be too predictable.

So here is what I'm wondering. Have you ever gone to a guild meeting and looked around and thought, hmm. There are few young(er - because youth is sometimes relative) people in this room. Is there a way to get more young(er) people interested in quilting?

What do you think? Quilting does have a bit of an old-lady reputation. But so does knitting and somehow the knitters have broken through to a broad array of age groups. How can quilting do that? What was the appeal for knitting? (For the record, I do know how to knit and have even gone so far as to make a pair of mittens and also a sweater...but I must have bad form because it makes my hands hurt something awful.)

Coat!!!

I finished it! Actually I finished it about three weeks ago and I'm just getting around to blogging it, so I actually did get to wear it a few times due to the cold snap. What do you think?

This is from Simplicity 2812. It's a Project Runway pattern. Woohoo!

Quilt Discussion

I was reading LittleShika's blog and she wanted to open up some quilting discussion. She posted a question and asked that people answer it on their blogs and link the answers in her comments. Since I haven't posted in awhile I jumped on it. This is the current question:

if you had to pick, what would be your favorite colors(combinations)/style of fabrics?

This is a tough one. I really don't have a favorite color. If I had to choose one I dislike, it would easily be orange. But that's not to say I wouldn't work with it if I thought it was adding something that no other color could add.

Really my favorite combination is simply a two-color quilt. I love 'em. For whatever reason they scream homey happy quilt for me more than other multiples of colors. I'm not sure why. My first (completed) quilt was a blue and white quilt. I am looking forward to someday doing a red and white quilt. I saw a pic on someone's blog the other day...I don't remember who it was, sorry...that had an absolutely awesome blue and white quilt with a pieced center and beautiful swaggy appliqued borders. Loved it! I wish I could remember where I saw it. They used a particularly dark and denimy-looking (I'm sure it wasn't actual denim) color and to me it would have been hard to get that stunning look with multiple colors.

I don't have a particular style of fabric that I favor. I do like Amy Butler-esque type stuff but I've never really figured out how to successfully incorporate them into a quilt. I suppose I could generalize and say most things that look vintage are attractive to me. But there are some periods that are not - I generally tend not to like civil war fabrics because they look dark and gloomy to me, even when the fabric is a light color. I like most 20's and 30's fabric...but only if it's not too cutesy.

And how do you feel?

Addendum: I found it! The quilt was on Georgina's blog, about 2/3 down on this post.

Losing my cool...if I ever had it

I just came from a quilt guild meeting, where all the youngish (by quilting standards I think we're young) ladies were talking about the Twilight book series. Ok, am I that far off the cool map?! What the heck. I'd actually never heard of the books until the movie came out. Which, I did not see because for crying out loud I have kids and if I'm going to go see a movie with a theatre full of 'tweens and pubescents it will be because I have my kids with me and not because I'm on a date with The Husband. Seriously - the last "grown up" movie I saw in a theatre was the Indiana Jones movie. Not that IJ actually qualifies as grown up. What can I say? Harrison is hot.

Though I did take The Boy to see Hotel for Dogs and it was passable entertainment. I mean, it did make me cry what with the lovable dogs without homes theme being closely mirrored by the lovable orphans without a home theme. And The Boy had some seat bouncing moments so you know he liked it. But...back to my unhipness.

And here's another thing: what on earth is a Shamwow? I've suddenly heard this product mentioned half a dozen times. I must be living under a rock. Can someone lift it up, please?

2009 goals

I hope you had a wonderful new year! The Husband and I spent it like always, at home eating junky snacks and watching old movies. This year we rented 'All the King's Men'. I had the book out of the library some time ago but couldn't remember how it ended. I think I probably just didn't read the end, 'cause I would have remembered that goofy last line.

So, I'll start with last year's goals.

Non-quilty/crafty:

• Exercising no less than 3 times per week - erm, nope. When I was exercising I did stick to 3 times per week. But there were times of the year that I didn't exercise at all.
• Only visiting the snack machine 1 time per week at work (I have to give myself something, otherwise I'd go bonkers and start snarfing everything in sight.) - another no. My buddy the snack machine should be much more resistable this year though because I am on an allowance, and I really don't want to spend money on that.
• Watching my portions (which is vague, but really what I mean is being careful to eat a single serving.) - I suppose I probably did this fairly well, though not always.

Quilty/crafty:

• Finish binding The Girl's quilt - done!
• Baste, quilt & bind The Boy's quilt - no
• Finish at least 10 of the hand-pieced blocks for the sunburst quilt - finshed 6

So I didn't do too hot last year. I'll have to try harder this year. Though I did accomplish some things not on the list:

• A winter coat for The Girl
• A winter coat for The Boy
• A batgirl costume
• A clone trooper costume
• 20 tea wallets
• umm, that's all I can think of.

2009 goals (notice these aren't resolutions!!)

• Get into better shape. I'd like my belly and thighs to reduce in circumference and gelatinous appearance, especially.
• Round robin top with guild 1
• Crayon challenge quilt with guild 2
• 6 more sunburst blocks
• finish (urm, and start!) my own dang coat
• Sandwich, baste, and quilt The Boy's quilt

I know to prolific quilters this sounds pretty pathetic. But I take what little quilting time I can get and hope to get somewhere with it.

I also have a number of financial goals:

• Fully "fund" our emergency savings account. It is currently half of what I want it to be.
• Save for our next house - I want a full 20% down payment for that sucker.
• Save for The Husband's next car
• Make at least one extra payment on the house this year (my long term goal is to have the house-no matter if we move or not-paid in full when The Boy trips off to college in 2020. If he goes. No pressure, son.)
• Not decrease 401k contributions even though I've taken a pay cut for 2009

So, wish me a sweet ride! I hope I can do better than 2008. Happy New Year to you, and may your goals resolve themselves.

Merry Belated Christmas!

We had a great Christmas and I'm just now coming out of the fog. Of course I went back to work today (boohoo) after a five day weekend which was not so much fun but that's life. The Husband got sick on the day after Christmas and is still recuperating. I sure hope he doesn't pass it to anyone else, because it wasn't pleasant!



So here is a cool shot of the Christmas tree, courtesy of The Husband:


That's the back of Scarlet O'Hara to the left and a Star Wars ornament in the middle. I thought the wiggly effect of the lights was the cool part.


And here are a few shots of the tea cozy's that I made as gifts for lots-o-people. I found the pattern on Sew Mama Sew and altered it a bit to suit my supplies and lazy whims. Here are my alterations:

1. I didn't bother top-stitching the tops of the pockets. I totally didn't miss it.
2. I didn't use fusible interfacing. I had some crinoline laying around from a fellow guild member and I used that. Since it wasn't fusible, I pinned it to the back side of the inside piece and stitched it in place while sewing on the pockets. Two birds with one stone.
3. Urm, I totally eye-balled the location of the pockets, and just folded a crease in to find the middle.
4. I didn't pre-sew the ribbon/strap piece down. I just pinned the two sides together with it stuck in there and was careful to be sure that I could see a wee bit of it peaking out as I sewed over it.

I also wrote this little poem to go along with it, although the non-cooperation of my printer caused most people to instead receive my goof-ball overly enthusiastic (but humble, I hope!) explanation in person:

I am a tea cozy

I hold your bags of tea

If that doesn't suit your fancy

there's still a use for me

I can hold charge cards, gift cards and more

I hope you find something

fun for me to store!

My mom wants me to make some for her yoga studio (Well Within Health Center in Streetsboro Ohio) but I think for now I am cozied out. I also have two projects coming up with my guilds - one is a round robin which has a due date for the center square in mid-January (and yes, I haven't started!) and another where I need to use two crayon colors to make a quilt. My colors were blue and red-orange. Hmm. I already have some blocks made up in those colors for another purpose that I haven't gotten back to...maybe I have a different use for them! And of course there is the ongoing hand-piecing of the starburst quilt and The Boy's quilt needs layered, basted, quilted & bound.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday, or just nice days off if you don't celebrate that sort of thing. I'll take a few days off any time of the year!