Favorite Things

I recently participated in a swap on ravelry. This was my third virtual swap (see others here) and I am really happy that I did it. This one was called the Favorite Things Swap and the point was to send someone else a bunch of your favorite things.

Here's a photo of the items that my partner, from Montreal, Canada, sent to me. She included two skeins of 100% alpaca yarn, some lavender shower gel (made with local Canadian lavender), dark chocolate infused with pear, a wonderful book on healthy living, some indulgent teas and a handmade hair clip. She is also an incredible knitter and has made a pair of lined fiddlehead mittens - for a charity auction - that would make anyone envious (and hopefully made someone bid a lot)!

For those of you that know me IRL, you might know that DH and I went on our honeymoon to Montreal. Aside from Annie's package being lovely it also brought on a trip down memory lane. Dan and I took out the photo album and had a good time remembering our trip.

Fall quilting

The fall quilt is underway. I hope to finish the top and the border this week. I purchased the batting and thread so I am all set with materials. On to the work.

As I sit here looking at the color choices for my most recent quilts I am starting to see my personal style - as chaotic as it is right now - starting to come through.

With knitting, finding my style came easy, but it took time. I have been able to grow from beginning patterns to more advanced projects with yarns that I love (I still make bad choices though, stay tuned...). Quilting is proving to be as much, if not more, of a challenge as I learn. There are lots of fabrics that I love, the problem is that I struggle with how to put them all together (I know this is common). This quilt looks a bit too rainbow for my taste, so I tried to line up the dark browns close to the center which I hope will play off the dark brown border. On the other hand, I am happy that went with so many patterns. I think they give the quilt overall movement and character without being too dramatic. The prints are all small enough, and close enough in size that they almost appear to blend from one to the other without too much difficulty. Maybe I'm off my rocker, but I think I like that aspect of it.

At the end of the day the fact is that I spent way too much moo-la on the fabric NOT to love it - so of course I LOVE it, but the trick moving forward might be taking more time in my choices and exercising restraint with color.

In other quilt related news, I received my adorable lap quilt from my BTRS swap partner. Thanks Lisa! I think I'll attach a binding, and maybe a baby-themed applique, then gift it to some soon-to-be parents during the upcoming holidays. My handmade holidays are off on the right foot!

quilts, tutus and lonely knitting needles

I think that my needles will be looking for new owners soon if I don't start to pay more attention to them. This week has been about finishing up some quilt and other sewing projects. I was able to complete the second of the lap quilts for my girls - a BTRS easy lap quilt that uses some fabulous Amy Butler prints.

I also completed the quilt for my swap partner and I will get it in the mail shortly. I've only posted a little preview photo as I want it to be a surprise for her.

Tuts were also in order this week as both girl have requested to be ballerinas for Halloween. So, with some inspiration from here and guidance from here I endeavored on making some. Sewing through ribbon and 8 layers of gathered tulle is more difficult than I imagined! I went with a machine sewn design as I was not too sure that the no-sew examples out there would really hold up in the long run. I am glad I did. These tutus have already been around the block on bikes, raked leaves and been party to jumping contests off the living room couch. I have to say, they are holding up! I can't, however, get a photo for the life of me. Maybe when the big day arrives the girls will be more willing to pose. I purchased some cream colored leggings and log sleeve t-shirts from Target to go underneath and they both have pink slippers that I can dress-up with some ribbon to look like ballet slippers. With crowns and wands from the dress-up chest I think the girls will be ready for trick-or-treat.

Last, but not least, my knitting. I am still working on some socks and once those are done I will return to the little sweater to finish it up. I also ordered EZ's knitter's almanac this week and cast on for the embossed leaves socks - size 1 needles are indeed small!

Quilting on my mind

With quilt month quickly coming to a close I find myself with three quilting UFO's and a three works that are "in process". This photo is of the first quilt top I ever pieced; the purple monster that has been hanging around my fabric stash for, oh I don't know, like 3 years. I have finally gotten around to getting some backing fabric and batting. The second UFO is a wall hanging that I am almost finshed with. I have the perfect spot to hang this one, just above the staircase. I am also supposed to be finishing up my quilt for the quilt-a-long. Just have to find the time, somewhere, to do it.

On to the three "in process" pieces. here is a photo of the fabric I sent off for the BTRS lap quilt swap. I can't wait to see what my partner sends me in return! Then I purchased some Amy Butler (see below) and assorted solid fabric. Coupled with my FFF fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew I have enough to make two more lap quilts - this way I'll have one for each of my girls. These are the three "in process" pieces as I haven't really even started on them yet.

Quilt month has definately shown me that I am interested in quilting; and I am able to make a quilt from start to finish.

COMFORT FOOD!

Tigerlily Tinkering is looking for some good comfort food recipes. Go on over and share! She's posted a wonderful family recipe for Tomato Bisque in hopes of enticing you to post one of your own. I think I'll add a family favorite from around here: Cheesy Herb Risotto.

Lap Quilt Swap

Now that it's quilt month, I feel like quilts, quilting projects and everything quilt-related has been coming out of the woodwork. Maybe it is just that my creative energy is focused in that direction right now. Anyway, there's a great quilt swap happening over at the Bend-the-Rules swap blog. I just signed up. Should be a lot of fun. The great part about this swap is that you can pick your own fabric; or be surprised by someone else's creativity...it's your choice!

If you want to join in you've got until the 14th.

http://btrsswap.blogspot.com/2008/09/easy-lap-quilt-swap-info.html

Friday's mail

Look what I received on Friday! My free yard of fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew! arrived (thank you!) as did my package from Elizabeth at Oh Fransson!

The Erin McMorris fabric I picked out from being a winner of the Free Fabric Friday giveaway it great - now...what to make with it?

The package from the vintage sheet swap is great too. What a spectrum of colors and prints to choose from. I quickly sorted them into a spectrum and removed the non-floral fabrics (there were four - each of which are strong enough to warrent their own projects! Don't you just love those orange and yellow fans?!) I am now completely inspired to work on a patchwork quilt from the vintage floral fabrics. I think they would all be lovely next to one another. Elizabeth does have some pretty amazing tutorials planned so we'll have to see what comes of that too. I'll keep you posted.

Vintage Sheet Swap - more fat quarters!

This past weekend a church in our neighboorhood was having a 'Trash & Treasure' sale. I hit the jackpot and purchased an entire lot of vintage pillocases for $1. I cut them up and sent them off to Oh Fransson! for the swap. This brought my total contribution to 40 fat quarters. I can't wait to see what I get back. The suspense is killing me! The deadline for the swap is June 30th so stay tuned in early July to see what comes back to me.

Contribution: Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap

Here are my contributions to Oh Fransson!'s vintage sheet patchwork swap. I am so excited to be a part of this as I L-O-V-E vintage fabrics, but haven't ever has the opportunity to work with them. This is also my first blog swap and I love the energy floating around about it. You can see the groups progress at Flickr. My quarters are cut and bundled and they will go in the mail on Thursday. The deal is that you get back as many quarters as you contribute - I am sending in 23. I technically only found one sheet to cut into with the others being various vintage fabrics. I am already looking forward to my return package in the mail and can't wait to begin brainstorming project ideas!