TSotTQ

Are you ready for this?  
I have joined a traveling Quilt Bee.  SO exciting!!  Stephanie of Spolgar Quilts sent out an invite and I jumped right in.  Feet first.   I have NO clue what I'm doing, no ideas are spilling out of my brain, but it will be fun, regardless!!    These four lovely ladies and I will be sending our quilts around the country.  So exciting!  Well, actually, the black sheep that I always am, I am the only West coast gal.  Everyone is East coast, but still - what an adventure these quilts will have!  

Here we are: 

Stephanie of www.spolgarquilts.wordpress.com

Ashley of www.wasntquiltinaday.wordpress.com

Laura of www.littleandlots.wordpress.com

Jess of www.quiltyhabit.blogspot.com

Kim of www.robotmomsews.blogspot.com

Wish me luck!! ;)  Stay tuned for our adventures.  We are also on Flickr.
Thanks to Jess for the cute button!! :)

♥

The Library Project

Ok!  Yay!  It's time for the Library Project!!  This is hosted by the lovely Adrienne from Chezzetcook Quilts, created in mind for us to not just drool over our quilting books/patterns, but to actually use them. A great concept I think!

I actually ended up deleting quite a few.  Let's TRY and be realistic here.  :(  Sigh.  Not enough hours in the day.  

Here are the ones I am really dedicated to completing this year.  I have a mix of actual books, patterns and magazine patterns.

1.  Heartthrob - Pattern by Lella Boutique.  I finally got my FQ's picked out for this.  I am using Heather Bailey's Lottie Da.  SO excited.

2.  Giggles - Pattern by Jaybird Quilts.  Not sure but I'm thinking of doing this in Lecien.  Or something like it.  Reds, pinks, greens and turquoise of course.

3.  Cub Crawl baby quilt by Fat Quarterly.  So cute.

4.  This flying Geese quilt from Modern Designs for Classic Quilts.  I will probably do a baby version...I really need to brush up on flying geese.

 5.  Math Facts - from the Quilty Winter 2012 issue.  LOVE the solids.

Photo courtesy of Quilty

6. Chevron and On - from the Quilty Spring 2013 issue.  For some reason I cannot find my copy, but it's here somewhere. :(  I have the fabric picked out - Les Amis in orange.

So there we have it!  6 picks.  I think it's manageable. ;)  Join us won't you?

♥

A Pug Pillow fit for a Pug

A while back on one of our numerous fabric shopping adventures, Robot Child #1 and I came across some Pug fabric.  Yes, there are other doggies on there, but most importantly, there are PUGS on that fabric!!  I'm sure you can imagine the squealing that commenced from my child and, um, er, myself. Haha.  Not ashamed. It's PUG fabric people!  And the pug even has a little curly tail.  Awwwww.

There are Pugs on that fabric!

So, we had an extra pillow lying around and decided that Mimi the pug, should really have a pug pillow.  I mean, really, what else was this fabric created for?

I made it with a zipper enclosure on the end because Mimi likes to destroy anything that has fluff inside.  If it's a stuffy she knows it and her main goal in life is to kill any stuffy and eat it's insides.   So, we put a kibosh on that idea.

This pillow took all of maybe 10 minutes.  But the pure joy of it was showing it to Robot Child #1.   Mimi is technically her pug and she was SO excited for Mimi's pillow.  Our love for pugs originated from RC #1. Her favorite thing is pugs...I'm not sure where this came from, but she loves their goofiness.  Pugs live to make people happy and laugh.  Pugs are the clown of all dogs and she lives up to that title.  I bought Mimi for RC#1 for her 9th birthday and it was the BEST.DAY.EVER.  Seeing her face when we picked her up from school with Mimi...there were tears!  It was so awesome.  I loved it.  Mimi came to us when we were going through some rough times together as a family and she was definitely a therapy dog for us.  We ♥ her.  (In case you couldn't tell).  :)

Pug photo shoots are always entertaining.  It's like she knows she's being photographed for a human blog, and is so utterly disgusted by the idea.  That and having to be leashed up inside because she's a wanderer.

At any rate, I do think she loves her pillow.  It's a perfect pillow, fit for a spoiled rotten Pug. :)
Linked up to:
Quilt Story

♥

Suck it, Cancer #Deux

Suck it, Cancer #Deux

This is the 2nd 'Suck it, Cancer' quilt I've made.  I made this one slightly different than my first version, but I think I may love this one more.  Shhhh, don't tell.

This was a commissioned quilt for my friend Amanda, who requested a red color way.  I found a bundle, and we both loved the butterflies right away.

I tried to sneak in the one lone butterfly, flying different than the rest.  The rebel butterfly.  ♥

I love how after I washed this, my label got nice and chubby.  Love it. ♥

BTW - I want to give a huge, high-five-ing fist pumping 'Shout Out' to Shout Color Catchers!  (see what I did there?) ;)

After crossing my fingers, taking a deep breath, I plunged this very RED quilt into cold water with TWO color catchers.  When the cycle finished, more deep breathes and prayers said, washer opened and Voila! My whites stayed pristine and the reds stayed bright and lovely.

There is never a need to worry with color catchers.  I think they are on my top 5 list of things of quilter-must-haves.  Funny thing, I don't use them for regular laundry.  They are tucked in the back, secretly waiting for a quilt washing.  No one here knows about them.....and it will stay that way. ;)  Again, Shhhhhhh.

Today's post is brought to you by the color Red.  ♥

Busy January!

Well, I had this thought a while back, once Christmas is over, things will calm down.  Right?  We all think that, no?  Well, January is proving to be just as busy.  But that is good!  I love to stay busy.

I haven't posted much of late, but I have been busy making stuff.  Here are some sneak peeks.

Finishing this.
SUPER belated Christmas present. :(

Heart Pillow for V-day.  Tutorial coming soon - along with a matching 'LOVE' pillow. Stay tuned!

'Suck it, Cancer' quilt #2 for Amanda.  I love the reds in this.  Binding left to do, then completed.


Next up....
Have you heard about the TLP with Chezzetcook Quilts?  You know you have a hoard of quilting books on your shelf right?  You know you have maybe done a few of your favorites from those books, or dog-eared the ones you wanted to do, but you never did them.  Well Adrienne is starting a fantastic QAL to get us USING those books!  Making those quilts that we said we wanted to, then never did!  Yah, I've got a bunch...so I'm in!!  Jumping in feet first people!  Check out her blog for info - starting on January 17th!
I can't wait...I have a LOT of dog-ears!  Narrowing them all down will be difficult!

Here is a list of quilts I've got planned, but haven't started:

• Triangles - Demystifying the mystery of Triangles ;)
• Heartthrob quilt
• Ladybug quilt
• Briar Rose quilt ♥

Question:  How do you all keep track of your projects or things you see that inspire you?  I've currently got a OneNote going with all my inspirations, tutorials and patterns...but I can't take that everywhere I go...um, I'm not even sure if I can pull it up on my iPad.  That's about the extent of my tech-savvy self...I created the OneNote, have it all pretty, but then what? Haha.  Just curious how you all keep track of everything (besides Pinterest-I find it a little overwhelming at times).  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  

Linked to: Quilt Story

♥

A Year in Review: 2013

2013 Finishes

I created/sewed/crafted around 48-ish items in 2013.  I'm too lazy to link these all, but as you can see, I like pinks and turquoise. ;)  Those colors find their way in my projects.

I am grateful that I have the ability and the means to have/support this hobby.  It is my outlet, my therapy, my all.  I love that I am able to sew and make things for others, to give a piece of my heart.  I hope that you all have a prosperous 2014 and may we all create and continue to do what we love!

December Finishes!

All I can say is, phewsh!  I'm glad that's over!  Haha.  Thank you all for your sweet comments on my Holiday ranting post.  I am much better now.  I had last week off of work, got to spend time with family and had lots of fun.  Sorry for my rantings and ravings.  Deep breath.  We are all good now. ;)

After all, it's all about the kids right?  These kids of mine made everything worth it.  ♥   The Pug too. ;)

Moving on.  I was feverishly working to complete 3 quilts for Christmas.  2 out of 3 actually got finished.  #3 is still in the works.

My friend wanted a photo collage quilt for her mom.  This was fun to make, but the photo fabric is terribly fragile and temperamental.  You can't use spray starch or get it wet at all...the print runs and makes a horrible mess.  Trust me, I learned from experience.  My poor friend ended up running out to my house on two separate occasions to bring me new pictures.  Ugh.  BUT, we finished it and I love how it turned out.  And I heard her mom loves it too.  Look at all those adorable kids!!

This one was for my SIL, who has said on a few occasions, When am I ever going to get a quilt from you??
Nuff said.

I LOVE how this turned out.  I used the Joel Dewberry Aviary line and they play so well together.  It was so much fun to make...and EASY.

It was a little hard to make this as my SIL and her family came into town for the holidays and was staying with us.  I was up a few late nights, desperately trying to finish this before she peeked in and saw.  Luckily it was kept secret!  :)

My 3rd quilt is also the Aviary line, but the purple collection for my Dad and Step mom.  I'm hoping to finish this soon.  I've done snowball blocks on that one.  They are fun to make as well...it was my first time making them.

I'd like to do a post soon of all my 2013 finishes.  Coming soon.  Hopefully. ;)

Happy New Year!   ♥