Fabric recycles

So near me in overland park (a Kansas city suburb) is a new store called, "Fabric Recycles". They buy and sell crafting supplies. Most of what they have is geared towards sewing & knitting.

I went a couple days ago. Took my mother-in-law and my toddlers. One in a stroller (he was well-behaved) and the other one holding out hands. He was a terror. He ran wild. * sigh*

Luckily, I have a fabulous mother-in-law. She sat with the kids in the car while I looked.

Got a couple pieces of solid fabrics. A couple zippers too.

The prices are not bad but they're not giving things away. I need to go thru my sewing room to get things to sell.

Messes

I have so many messes in this house.  So many.  From Christmas to my general clutter...  Gotta get a handle on it.  Where to start?  I've decided to pull out even more stuff to make yet another mess in the hopes that from my new mess will sprout order...

I have a dining room that I never used, so I made it my office.  It proceeded to get cluttered and never used...

Things are piled up.  Big mess.  I have decided to tackle it.

I have a nice desk in there that has room for two chairs for my boys.  Drawers, too.

And a built in hutch.  I'm going to put kid locks on it and keep craft supplies in the bottom.  Wanting to get my father-in-law to put a power outlet inside so that I can plug things in & have more lighting... Could even have a station for charging Ipods and my laptop and stuff.  A printer, too!

I have misc. papers and all kinds of crap.  Needing to seriously purge.  Needing to organize what's left.  So overwhelming.

Oprah's clutter guy says to remove everything from the space and only put back things that have a home.

So that's what I'm doing.

I've been putting everything in boxes.  Will take them to the basement until I can go through them (my hubby will be less than thrilled because that's his domain)...

I have 4 filing cabinets.  Must utilize that space more efficiently.  Going to hang some hooks on the walls for bags to get things out of their reach (Play dough, paint, markers, etc.)...

I want to do crafty things with the boys, but find I'm always searching for supplies...  This will make life better, surely.

But right now, everything is upside down.  Just got the kids down for a late nap.  I am resisting the urge to join them.

Bought tile for (yet another mess) the kids' bathroom.  You see, the toilet flooded right before we went out of town for Christmas.  I had to rip up the crappy flooring that was there in order to get everything dry...  Now instead of getting a new mattress for my bed, we'll be getting a new tile floor in their bathroom and ceiling repair in the garage.

Sorry to be such a complainer.  Thanks for listening.  Will report back.

Asian fans wip

Asian fans wip, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

So I've been trying to decide what fabrics/colors to use for the background in this quilt.

At first, I wanted to use black.

Now I'm thinking it over more carefully.

After much advice, I'm leaning towards going with what Cherri House suggested. A golden colored fabric... And my friend, Jo Anna suggested navy. Maybe a touch of navy in the handles of the fans and then a nice and rich golden fabric for the backgrounds. What do you think?

Am very excited about this quilt. Not completely sure how I will lay it out yet.

One of my plans for the new year is to finish more wip's... Especially ones that are for me! I'm happy to say that this quilt is going to be for yours truly. :)

***

Update...  I have some hand dyed indigo fabric from Japan.  I'm thinking I'll wash it up and use it for the handles of the fans.  I can fussy cut it and save some $ by not having to buy it....  But I will have to shop for the perfect gold.  Nothing like that in my stash.

My In-Laws' Barn

It took me years to convince my in-laws to move here to the Kansas City area.  They were in Wichita for the first few years of my marriage and with my plans for having children, I really wanted them to be closer.  I had/have a very close relationship with my paternal grandparents.  I spent more time at their house than at my own.  We had horses, chickens, ducks, a cow, pigs, countless litters of puppies and kitties...  A playhouse and 4 wheelers...  Hot chocolate and sledding on their hill... So many rich memories.  I wanted that badly for my own children.  Since we live 7 hours away from my family, I knew that my husband's family was my best shot at having this close relationship for my kids...

My husband's brother got married a week after we got married.  He and his wife moved to KC from Chicago at the same time.  We moved here from Northwest Arkansas.  My mother-in-law was itching to move here, too, but my father-in-law was resistant.  He'd spent a lot of time planting trees and improving the house they lived in near Wichita...

I was always on the lookout for houses that would suit them.  We looked at many and they made offers on a couple that didn't work out.  My father-in-law had lots of requirements.  He needed a barn or a shop.  He wanted a house that didn't face the north.  He wanted a roof that had a certain pitch.  He wanted a paved road.  He wanted some land.  

We finally settled on a house that is about 20 minutes from ours.  It's 10 minutes from my brother and sister-in-law.  There is a very nice shop for my father-in-law to play in.  They have about 5 acres and it's on a paved road.  He is dissatisfied with the roof and with the fact that it faces the north (makes snow removal more difficult)... but overall, they're happy there.

Besides the nice shop, there's an old barn.  It was a dusty mess that I thought they should bulldoze down.  I think it was used previously as a chicken coop.  But my father-in-law seemed more excited about this old barn than his nice shop.  I think he saw potential in it.  We call it, "Barn B". After many improvements (doors that lock, reinforcing the loft, patching holes in the roof, coats of paint, etc.), it's looking much better. 

The state of Kansas is celebrating their sesquicentennial this year, so they've decided to enter a contest that encourages people to paint quilt blocks on their barn.  The contest asks that you incorporate a sunflower and the dates of Kansas' statehood.  Here's the finished product:

I think it turned out great!  Don't you?

My Cousin, Kristen

Here's a picture of my cousin, Kristen opening a new baby quilt for her little girl, Hallie, who is due May 1.  We'll be having a baby shower for her in a couple of months and for that, I'll be giving her a pink butterfly quilt like Parthena's.  It's not quite pieced yet, but I could finish the top in one sitting if I got serious.  I'm going to quilt it myself.  

But Hallie needed a gift under the tree too, so I made this one for her.  I'm happy to say that I used my stash for it!  I had some FQ's and a charm pack of "Oz" by Moda.  These fabrics really suit her.  I did free motion and straight line quilting on this.  Not sure if I got a close up picture of that or not, but I was really excited at the possibilities of quilting with my Bernina.

It was a merry Christmas for sure!

Kauffman Solid Challenge for KCMQG

December was a great month to attend the KCMQG meeting.  Not only did we have a tasty cookie exchange, there were door prizes (I won a glue stick) and everyone left with a FREE charm pack that was donated by Kauffman.  We are all going to make something quilted that incorporates all of the fabrics in one of these charm packs.  We can add additional fabrics, but they have to be solids (not prints).  

I knew almost immediately what I wanted to try.  I have all of my charm squares prepped for action, but I need a little time in my sewing room to go through my stash of scraps to weed out the solids and incorporate them into my plan.

I'm going to try something I've ALWAYS wanted to do.  No more hints, but it's something I've never done before.  Will have to watch a few tutorials online to get the method down, but I couldn't be more excited to get started.

We could choose from a few different bundles but I chose the Classic color, shown below.  I have until the March meeting to finish up my project.  I think that's doable.

Stay tuned!

New Asian Fabrics

New Asian fabrics, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I've cut 4 fan blades out of each of these and I've raided my sister-in-law's stash. Will try to assemble some of these this afternoon if my kids will cooperate by going down for naps.

It's been ages since I've gotten to sew. Before Christmas. Ugh.

Closeup of More Fabric

Closeup, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Closeup of More New Fabric

Closeup, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Closeup of New Fabric

Closeup, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Asian fans wip

Asian fans wip, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

This is on the top of my list of priorities to finish. It'll be a beautiful quilt with fans made of Asian fabrics. I bought some more fabrics with my Christmas money to make it even bigger than I'd planned. So far, I have the blades together for 27 fans. I have individual blades cut out of my newest fabric to make even more. I'm not much of a planner. I just buy fabric, love it for a while and then chop it up.

Am trying to decide what two fabrics I will use for the background/fan handles of these blocks. I'd like to use something dark... Maybe a black... or maybe some Japanese Taupes...

Checkers

My mother-in-law made these for us a few years ago

Merry Christmas

My hubby let me peek in my stocking tonight.

Back in the day (before kids), there would've been a sizable Victoria's Secret gift card inside...

He was much more practical this year.  A very nice gift card to my local quilt shop, Quilter's Haven.  :D  What a man!

Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you have a very merry Christmas, too!!!!!

My mother-in-law & her noodlehead clutch

My mother-in-law & her noodlehead clutch, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Closeup

Closeup, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

A Little Amy Butler

Finished 5 tonight, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Finished 5 of these tonight and worked on 3 more...

These will be for my two sisters, my mom, my aunt and my cousin.

The next 3 will be for my mother-in-law, my grandmother and my step-mother.

I have one for me partially cut out, but I think it will have to wait until I get back from my post-Christmas trip out of state.

I am getting good at these! Might have to make up a few extras for last minute gift giving. I wouldn't mind having more than one of these in different colors...

The tutorial can be found online. They're Noodlehead Gathered Clutches, although I didn't gather them. It's a great way to learn to master those scary zippers!

More

Busy bags

Am wrapping gifts for my nieces & nephews in these busy bags. Perfect for packing toys for a trip.

Sweatshop

I'm heading up to the sweatshop.  Hopeful that I can finish my Christmas sewing tonight.

I need to make 4 bags.  It can be done.

Will post pics...

Downy quilt

I'm at the gym. Binding a quilt in the cafe. :)