Color wheel charm square exchange

I chose red.  I wish I hadn't signed up for this swap because they require you to pre-wash fabric.  I hate that.  Unless it's a batik, I never pre-wash.  But against my better judgement, I did today.  So frustrinting to deal with all the tangles and string, not to mention how you lose part of what you bought when it unravels.

Enough complaining.

I've got three 1/4 yards cut... Seven more to go.  I'll end up with 200 different 4 inch squares when I get back my swapped fabric.

This is why

I don't pre-wash fabrics...







A tangled & unravelled mess.

Kc scrappy bee blocks for Angela

These fabrics were SO nice to work with!

Urban home goods swap, etc.

I'm so wishy washy. I couldn't pass up some new swaps.

The 3rd round of the urban home goods swap is starting up on flickr. I couldn't pass it up.

Also, there are 2 charm square swaps I'm doing. Both are 4 inch squares. I prefer 5 inch, but I'll get 200 different prints! And it only takes 1/4 yards to cut up 20 squares... Will do ispy & a color wheel one. I think these may be good for ticker tape quilts...

And I signed up for a soggy swap.

Plus I need to finish my solids challenge item for kcmqg.

I decided to pass on the monochromatic challenge for the modern qg challenge. I already have a red monochomatic king sized quilt going.

So I need to get busy!


But I've been busy doing this...









And this...






And this:

Angela Walters, My Favorite Quilter

HERE is her blog.

She was our program last night at kcmqg...

She gave us advice on tops we brought in...








And she showed us other quilts she's quilted, explaining her thought process.
























HERE is a link to her post about this quilt...
and HERE is a link to the Flickr gallery that shows all the other entries (including mine).

For Jessica in the kc scrappy

Jessica requested Christmas blocks.

Deb

When I was an ESL teacher, Debbie was my aide. She & I have kept in touch over the years. She is fairly new to quilting and was having issues with a quilt she is making for her daughter. Turns out she wasn't pinning when sewing her rows together. I taught her how to pin, press & fudge when things want to pucker.

















So excited to see her feeling successful about quilting. I'm sure her daughter will be tickled, too!

Stashes

Help me understand these quilters who keep track of how much fabric is in their stash... How much they use up, etc.

When did it become a sin to have a great stash of fabric?  If you have the space for it & if you use it to sew with, then what's the problem?

I keep seeing many of my fellow quilters obsessing about their stash.  Making sure more is going out than is coming in...  Guilt-ridden when they see something they want and have to have it...

Life is short!  I'm all for living within your means and all that, but let's nix the guilt tips.  Let's spend the time we would've been using calculating how much fabric is waiting to be used up actually sewing, instead!

Anybody with me?

Second butterfly baby quilt top completed!

Second butterfly baby quilt top completed!, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

I've found that if I'm planning on making one quilt, it's not much more trouble to cut out enough fabric to make two. I got most of the fabric for the butterfly wings from my stash. I've made two of these quilts, now. Love this block! It's from Mrs. Schmenkman's blog. You can find a tutorial there. It's even got a little wiggle room built in, just in case you need to fudge a bit.

For Baby Charlie

For baby Charlie, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

Chuckie Eason kissed me under the fort on the playground in kindergarten when we were 5 years old. His big sister, Christy told on us. We got in trouble. He was my boyfriend. He was also my grandmother's next door neighbor.

Our romance didn't last, but our friendship did. I spent the majority of my time at my grandparents' house, riding horses, playing with chickens, pretending in my playhouse or in the barn.... riding 4 wheelers... climbing on rocks... getting into seed ticks... picking all the wild violets on the 10 acre hillside...

And through it all, most of the time Chuckie Eason was by my side. We were partners in crime.

Nowadays, Chuckie Eason is a policeman and he has a beautiful pharmacist wife. They have a shiny new baby boy named Charlie. I kept meaning to make him a quilt, but I have this problem of overcommitting. *sigh* So right before Christmas, I whipped this one together. The print has a bunch of cowboy boots on it. Very Chuck.

It's not fancy, but maybe I can make it more special with my quilting. I didn't get it quilted in time to take it to them at Christmas time, but it turns out they were out of state when I visited.

I'm needing to get this puppy quilted! Must cut backing and batting... Maybe tomorrow?

Bee vintage wonky log cabin

Bee vintage wonky log cabin, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

November was my month. Should've known better than to plan my month around the holidays... Lucky for everyone else, I've been busy making stuff for other people, too... so I didn't get too bent out of shape that they hadn't all arrived yet.

But... Now I'm itching to get busy on this puppy. I still need to make a few extra blocks myself for this one, too. With the ones I make and a few that I'm expecting (hopefully soon) in the mail, this one will be ready to quilt!

Dare I quilt it myself???

I think I just might!

Getting That Itch Again

4 inches of snow and it's still coming down in BIG flakes... Might end up with 8 inches by tomorrow morning.  I love it.  Took the boys out to play a couple times this morning.  They were shocked at how wet and cold snow actually is!  Now they're down for naps (but not necessarily asleep)...

It's been a week or more since I ventured up to the attic to sew.  Hubs is gone for a couple days...  Letting the housework fall to the wayside til tomorrow or Wednesday.  Sounds prudent, right?

Much to do in the sewing room!

I have two blocks made for Jessica for the KC Scrappy Bee, but they're not super thrilling and one needs more embroidery before I can give it to her.  She's requested Christmas blocks.  Much of what she loves is paper pieced.  Not my forte. :(  And before Christmas, I was sewing up a storm making gifts... Then I got kinda Christmas'd out.  KCMQG is this Thursday and my blocks are due (technically, I only have to make one block, but I like to make more.  Jessica gave me the most fantabulous block when it was my turn.  Must return the favor)...

And I got my fabric packet in the mail for the new bee I'm joining.  It's the Lovely Linen Bee and this month, Jodi is requesting butterfly blocks.  Fine with me because that's one of my very favorites.  I've been making a LOT of these blocks lately... Two baby quilts and a table runner...

And I noticed today that the second challenge for the Modern Quilt Guild is up on their website.  Monocromatic Challenge.  Hmm...  Would like to do this one...  Will see...

Plus I must finish piecing / basting / quilting / binding my cousin's butterfly baby quilt.

And I am a little behind on my KCMQG Kaufman solids challenge.  A little wishy washy on exactly what I want to do...  I've started but need to fully commit to my idea and finish it up.

Enough typing!  Time for action!  Will post pictures soon.

Snowy day? Try cinnamon rolls!

When I was growing up, my mom sometimes made these cinnamon rolls from scratch on Saturday mornings.  The smell would fill the house.  You should make them, too!  Allow yourself about 4 hours to get this done (you don't have to spend the entire 4 hours fooling with this.  You just have to allow time for it to rise a couple of times).

Here's mom's recipe:

Dough:

2 packages of active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1/2 cup lukewarm milk (scalded and then cooled)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup shortening or butter or margarine, softened

4 1/2 to 5 cups of all-purpose flour

2 tsp cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  This makes the yeast active.  If the water is too hot, it'll kill the yeast.  Add some sugar or honey to the yeast and water.  If you add honey, it will make the yeast foam after a few minutes.  This indicates that the yeast is active.  Stir in the cooled milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening/butter and 2 1/2 cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  Mix enough of the remaining flour in to make the dough easy to handle.  Turn the dough onto lightly floured board or counter.  Kneed until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).  Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up (at this point, the dough can be refrigerated 3 to 4 days).  Cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles its' size (about 1- 1 1/2 hours.  Dough is ready if impression remains when touched.

Punch down dough.  Roll dough into a rectangle about 15 x 9 inches on the counter.  Spread melted butter on the rolled dough.  Mix about a cup of sugar with 2 tsp of cinnamon.  Sprinkle over the butter.  You can add raisins if you'd like at this point.  Then roll up the beginning at the wide side.  Pinch the edge of the dough into a roll to seal it well.  Stretch the roll to make it even.  Cut the roll into 15 slices.  Place slightly apart in a greased baking pan 13 x 9 inches or in greased muffin cups.  Let it rise until doubled.  Then bake 25-39 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Glaze:

Mix 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 Tbls milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla until smooth.  Pour over hot rolls.

rolled out

ready to rise for the second time
***Pictures of the finished product to come... Stay tuned!

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...