I'm a Winner!

My quilty friend Ellen, had some give-away fun on her blog to celebrate her 1 year blogaversary AND birthday - and I was lucky enough to win some Authentic charm squares to help me cope on my fabric diet!!

Love me some pre-cuts!  Thanks, Ellen!  Hope you had a great birthday!

Jesus is My Favorite Christmas Gift...

but I'm really liking this one, too!

(you can buy this fabric at http://www.belsizesquare.com.au/store/)

Giving fabric to a fabriholic when she's in husband-mandated rehab...it's dangerous territory, Stephanie!  This quilt will be for ME!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm a Fat Quarter Junkie

There you have it. I admit that I have a problem. Now what am I supposed to do?


Just about every one of these purchases is for a quilt for someone I know and love! Better get to work!

Lots of secrets here, but I can't wait to get started on my projects!

This is Lantern Bloom. Yum. Got 'em all from Melanie at Above All Fabrics. She's so great.

I'm thinking about using it in this or maybe this.

A little Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille! I almost bought the whole line of fat quarters. Almost. Got it from Quilted Treasures on Etsy.

I'm thinking this star or this or I might make a really cool applique quilt.

A little Love that I got from A Fabric Outlet on Etsy.

I picked this line because, well, it's awesome, and because it has high and low values for my value quilt.

Some more Love.

A couple of Fat Quarter Shop purchases....

I like that this is modern and somewhat manly for a couple-to-be.

I'm thinking this might work well with the big prints, or maybe this.

Ok, I'll admit that this was purely a fun purchase. I have no specific plan and can't wait for the right one to come along!

Lot's of washing and ironing to do!

Totally forgot to mention...

That I actually won a giveaway! I kinda stopped entering them with all the "mention my post and get another entry, and follow me on twitter" mess that sometimes goes on, but then my fellow-Dallas-quilter, Lisa @ Sophia Aster had a giveaway for some Urban Chiks Summer in the City by being a follower/commenting/being a fan on facebook, all of which I was already doing ; ) Sweet!

The tin has a pattern to make the quilt featured on the tin. But I'm really thinking about using Lisa's tote pattern found here. I still have yet to make a bag. My poor Birdie Sling is still in pieces in my sewing room...... Thanks, Lisa!!

News Flash!

Got an email today from my quilting buddies that there is an awesome new MODERN fabric store - City Craft, here in Dallas! I can't wait to go! Check out their website! Follow their blog!

http://www.citycraftonline.com/home

The Quilt Shop Dilemma

I've been making it a point to support my local quilt shops rather than google shop the fabrics I want and buy the best offer out there. I go to their sales and stock up on the fabrics that they have that I like, I keep up with their inventory so I always have an idea of what they have on hand, and I talk to the owners when I can't find something I'm looking for. No one can say that this is not a valiant effort. I think it's important for community and local small business support. I know it's hard times for them right now, in fact, I got an email this week that my favorite little shop is closing.


The problem: not every quilt shop can stock every line of fabric or every colorway or every matching solid. I ended up driving all over town looking for a certain Moda Bella solid to no avail for the baby quilt I'm working on. One quilt shop is still unvisited because they close at 5 pm every day. 5 pm? This makes the shop inaccessible to every working quilter except on the weekends. Grrr. Gas is used up, time is wasted, frustration levels have risen.


This becomes the routine: check the LQSs, check my favorite online shops, google what I'm looking for and buy it for a much better deal than I could have gotten at a local shop. I would much rather drive to a shop, find what I need and have it the same day without paying for shipping. But by the time the search is over, I could have already received the fabric in the mail and the gas spent driving all over town would totally cover shipping.


I also think it's rather amazing that we as quilters can shop for fabric all over the world. It opens up a huge world of possibilities - to find out about new fabrics that blog friends are designing, or learn about fabrics like Flea Market Fancy that are out of print, or buy Japanese fabrics on a Japanese website that is kind enough to translate into English.


Just thinking out loud. Enough of that. Back to studying...

It's Nifty Being Thrifty

Just some bragging after some serious shopping success, if you will indulge me!

After a fruitless trip to Helping Hands, our local thrift store, my mom and I decided on a whim to go back on Tuesday. Ya know, just for kicks. As I turned the corner into the main part of the store...there it was. The armoir we've been dreaming about. A new arrival that day. All for me! A great deal for $200!









Spurred on by my good fortune, I started prowling craigslist.com for another steal. Erik had me out in the thrift stores looking for a dining room table to no avail. But there on craigslist, in a town only minutes away from us was this beauty! I had to fight for her...there was competition and an owner that wouldn't cooperate, but it all worked out in the end and we even got to throw in a nice dinner with my parents on the way back from picking it up!

$300!

The bowl I found on the same day as the armoir at the thrift store. Isn't it pretty? $15

I also found this mirror for the "boy" room in the new casa which will be Texas themed pending the completion of my bandana quilt and a mattress to put it on! Six dollars!

And last, but not least, a stash of vintage sheets and pillow cases! (Well, the halloween pillow case at the top isn't really vintage, but how fun is that?) Some are from my mom and some from a thrift store nearby. I see a pretty blue and yellow vintage sheet quilt in my future. That blue on the bottom is zig-zags, so I can't get that out of my head for a quilt pattern. We'll see...

Ok, no shopping and only quilting for a while! I'm going to meet a new set of twins next week and I can't go empty handed!

That's one quilt down...

(sorry, Mel, didn't build up enough courage to free-motion! But bandana quilt, here I come!)

One. (my first commission!)

Two/Three. (twins!)
Four.

Five to go.

Before June.

Another Tutu

Since I'm recovering from the ordeal that is National Boards Part I for dental school, I'm taking the crafting thing slow and I'll ramp it up as I regain energy.



First things first, you can't get anything done if you can't find anything, so I organized my stash. I outgrew my previous scheme and went for the drawers. I may be able to go back to the hanging stash once we move, but the closet I had it in here at my parents' house is not conducive to stash access and this way it is all packed up and ready to move : )

I think I need to work on my oranges, yellows, and greens. : )

The small projects are energizing, so I started with this for my niece who will be here in about a month.




I think the ribbons are fun and were left over from a bake sale we had at school for Susan G. Komen and I had tons of hot pink tulle left over after the race!


Tomorrow, I bind a quilt!

Still Not Finished...

I'm learning that the only way to get to the projects that you're really excited about is to gut it up and finish the one that's been plaguing you for nigh on a year. So this Labor Day weekend, I intend to finish. See, I'm really anxious to get "star"ted on this next quilt and now I'm getting a chance to spoil some kiddos I know with some neat dress up clothes I've been wanting to make for a while now. Molly will fall in this category in a few years, but I must scratch the itch NOW. So I'm off to Hobby Lobby and Walmart later today to get some tulle and maybe more elastic...and some felt. Halloween and Fall festivals are coming up, you know : )

So in the mean time, I took some pics of the work I've done organizing my stash...

The closet is not exactly where I would like to put my stuff, but it will have to do for now. I will actually have a sewing room in our new house which excites me beyond belief!

I found these hanging organizers in the dollar aisle at Target and could not pass up the opportunity to get my pretty fabrics out of a plastic drawer. I kinda wish I had gotten more of the shoe sized ones as they don't bend like the bigger ones, but que sera. They will do to hold my project bags...notice how many there are waiting for me...

Someone's Been A Bad Girl....

Like I have time to have fun with all of this! Those dangerous trips to Walmart and Hobby Lobby can sure get me into trouble. I see a baby quilt, a Christmas apron, maybe some ornaments or a rag quilt, and on the far left, some machine quilting practice (what! machine quilting?). The one on the left is a patchwork print that I can practice motifs on and then use as....I dunno maybe some pillows. I'm giving in to Erik's plea to speed up my quilting, although I think a compromise will include a new sewing machine...we'll see : )

After I finish NaNa's quilt, the next few projects will be somewhat secretive because they are gifts, but I'll document per the usual. One quilt will be a stash only adventure, one will be a special order by the mama after the sex is determined, and the last is an excursion into a colorless world...

I also need to order my brown bandanas to whip out the bandana quilt before the house is done.

The summer has wiped my brain clean of what dental school actually entails and I think I'm in for a huge shock come Monday morning. That makes me really sad. I would so rather quilt and build houses all day : )