P.S. I Quilt Along - Postage Stamp Finished Top

I love Paramore

 I finally finished up the top to the P.S. I Quilt along Postage Stamp quilt. I am really, really happy with how it turned out AND very happy that I got to use up a big portion of my stash. Now I am working on getting creative regarding a border. I think that a bunch of the gals on the flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/thepostagestampquiltalong/) are not going to be adding a border to their quilts, but I really love borders. I think that they make a quilt look truly finished, so I am brainstorming here! I am so happy with how it turned out that I am going to give this to my best friend :) She's a blue fan, so I'm thinking this will be right up her alley.

Finished Top - held by hubby

Unhappy hubby... I was taking too long to take the picture.

The hubs was getting impatient - I ended up having him hold it for too long and his arms got tired - so he gave me his exasperated face. It was windy and I wanted a good shot of the front!

Current projects include finishing up the border for this pretty little postage stamp quilt, working on blocks for a Siggy Swap that I am playing around with, a baby quilt for one of my girlfriends from high school, brainstorming up an idea for another gal-pal whose baby is due in May, AND thinking about joining another quilt-along (I KNOW!!).

The new quilt-along is a cute solid quilt tutorial: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1573469@N24/ 

and of course I love the pink colorway (beautiful!! and perfect for a baby!!) I only have black and white solids in the house right now :( So maybe I'll follow along in the background and build this on my own with prints :)

Off to go create something pretty for the Siggy Swap!! xoxo

Going to LA

I enjoy The Format (Local AZ group)

I am headed out to LA with the hubs for the 2011 LA Roadster Show! WHOOOO-eee!

The Hubs and I driving in the Roadster a few years ago :)

The hubby's Roadster - which he recently sold and he now has a coupe which should make longer drives that much more tolerable (think less wind-blown/slashed eyeballs/rats-nest-hair, I am looking forward to that!)

Kind of bummed that I won't be home to sew on the quilt projects that I've got going on, but you just can't turn down quality time with people you love. :)  All I can say is that I hope Pomona has some pretty awesome fabric stores for me to check out! :)

So True, You Never Know.

Super Girl Moment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notebookdoodles/

Our wedding just got featured on Intimate Weddings :) I am excited about it. Happy Anniversary to us!
http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/real-weddings-michonne-and-michaels-neighborhood-phoenix-wedding/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IntimateWeddings-SmallWeddingBlog+%28Intimate+Weddings+-+Small+Wedding+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

First Quilt-A-Long

Is there anyone else out there who love Jimmy Eat World the way that I do? I love putting their music on while I am sewing :)


I started my very first quilt along with the Fat Quarterly Quilt-A-Long that started back in August 2010...
http://www.fatquarterly.com/2010/08/quilt-along-with-us.html

Yes, I am a little bit late in getting finished up. I did start on time, I will have you know, but then the quilt blocks sat around in my sewing room just laying there sad and lonely. :( You will also see that my final quilt is very different than the actual quilt I was supposed to make. I am terrible at following directions AND terrible at using up fabric that I love. It is definately something that I am going to work at this year - use it up and get it outta my sewing room!! :)

When I first started cutting into the beautiful Nicey Jane fabric, I didn't know how much to cut b/c I was planning on making a baby quilt (at the most). Then I realized that I needed to do something to modify the pattern b/c I wouldn't have enough fabric (b/c I didn't cut into all of it). SO insert the white crosses every other block. I think it looks pretty cute AND it allowed me to save some extra fabric that I ended up using for purses as Christmas presents.

I am finally at the pinning stage! I love the quilting part, sure it stresses me out b/c it's the creative part, but it sure is fun :)

One of my favorite things about a finished quilt is the border. I love having a BIG border with something unexpected or fun in it.

A Year of Projects!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notebookdoodles/

The above quote is my thought for the day. I think that I will be doing bunches of quilting, sewing, travelling, and projecting in the next year. I will find tons of things to keep my mind busy and focused on things that make me productive and happy.

Here's to a super-awesome year of creative and successful projects!

P.S. This is super radtacular and I need to do this for my 1946 Schwinn bicycle. Oh and I found this super-cute flyer for the Renegade Craft Fairs..... finger's crossed that I could make it to one of the big cities just to attend one and see what all the hooplah is about!

 

Postage Stamp Quilt-A-Long (My 2nd Quilt-A-Long)

I found a quilt a long that looks like fun. Rachel from P.S. I Quilt is hosting this pretty fun little project. She just had a baby too, so I figured if she can do it with her new baby, I can do it with my two lazy greyhounds.

I decided to ultimately use up some of my blue/purple stash. I really have too much fabric just sitting around doing nothing. I would like to reduce that amount by 50% by the end of the year, we'll see how that goes...

Part One: Below are my strips. Instructions were to alternate a solid (in my case - white) with a Jelly Roll strip (in my case any blue/purple from my stash). We were told to make 8 sets of each: 8 of solid-color-solid-color-solid and then 8 sets of color-solid-color-solid-color.

Part Two: Below are my 2.5 inch (depth) strips. Oh man, I probably had nothing short of 130+ strips. Man, this quilt is going to be much, much larger than I had initially anticipated it being! Fun :)

Part Three: Below are only three of the blocks that I put together. I am planning on making this quilt very scrappy and I intentionally added a bunch of light and a bunch of dark fabrics, so I am putting the entire quilt together (strips non-sewn into blocks) to set everything up first so that I don't end up with awkward dark areas and visually weak light areas. Seems to be working...

5 x 5 blocks

Part Three Continued: Here is the set-up that I am going with... I think that it's pretty much working out for me. The only hitch in my giddy-up that I have had is that all of a sudden my boy greyhound thinks that he needs to jump up onto THIS very bed (he doesn't jump up onto beds) and root around, rearrange all of my well-thought-out-and-painstakingly-strategized blocks, and just about make me cry. Well, I calmed down, plugged in my iron, started over, and went to town. I think I win.

Michonne: ONE MILLION, Ihop my grehyound: ZERO

blocks sitting next to each other, hoping to avoid too much 'dark' or 'light' in any certain area.

This dog is pure trouble. Don't let that cute expression trick you!

 
 I'm pretty excited b/c I am making this quilt for a good friend who has NEVER received a quilt from me, but has been my BFF since college. So like I said: Pretty Excited!

As a side note: I have my strips all laid out on our guest bed - so that I can see where areas are too light/dark heavy before I sew anything together. This is just how I work. Well, I came home from work today to a roughed up bedspread with strips all over the floor/bed/pillows/etc.... my silly greyhound hopped up on the bed and was rooting around, making himself comfy on top of my quilt parts. Needless to say he was on my short list today. Luckily for him, everything ironed out alright... :)

Feeling Motivated to Sew!

Courtesy of Natalie Dee

I have been feeling extremely motivated to pick up and get sewing right now. Good thing, too! I have a girlfriend who is due any day now, my brother will be getting married in 5 months, another girlfriend is due (we find out what she is having tomorrow!!!) in 5 months, AND I just now realized that I have never made a quilt for my BFF...

Here is my latest project that I finally finished up! It's a STRING QUILT! I started this about 5 months ago... and then ended up just piling it at the top of my 'find-time-to-do-this-maybe-next-year' pile of incomplete projects. :) I wanted to use up some of my pink stash, and then I decided that I wanted some yellow in there to give it a little bit more movement.

 

I think pink and yellow look pretty together.

Here's a sneak peak of the BFF's quilt (both front and back):

The top (unquilted) atop another quilt I made about 9 years ago.

The back of BFF's unquilted quilt!

That's all I have been up to. I really need to find that motivation to go running one time.... Today was the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon. I didn't even go and support :( Boo.

Projects and Training

 I have not made much time for running lately, feeling kinda lazy! Yikes!! Just like any other good New Year's Resolution, I feel the need to get some mileage on my running shoes ASAP.

I have been incredibly busy in the sewing department.  I just finished up a Color Wheel Quilt that is supposed to be a going-away-gift for one of my girlfriends at work who moved... about 3.5 months ago. I am really happy with how it turned out!! AND it was pretty easy.

It is square, I promise. It was kind of windy & blowing the quilt around.

In other news, I am pretty excited about a quilt-a-long I will be starting this week. I really need to work on some stash busting.

Xoxo M