Friday, July 29, 2011

Rows



My purple pinwheels are done and pieced into rows with the pink ones. I had hoped to have the whole top completed today, but I'm finding myself second guessing a decision I made before I saw the whole top laid out. I imagined working a print I hadn't yet used into a thin stripe separating my rows. Now I think it might stand out too much...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Pink pinwheels



More than half of the blocks for my quilt top are completed with this pile. I am going to have to piece the back as well though, so I may decide to make more of these pinwheels in the future.

The next set is purple, aqua and green. I have a TON of the purple fabric, but also a ton I want to do with it, so I had to dig out my notes before I could cut into it. I found them this morning on my desk and should have a stack of purple pinwheels like this tomorrow!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Testing



I saw a picture of a quilt I really liked in a magazine and thought I knew how to make the blocks from it. It's a good thing that I grabbed some fabrics from my stash to test my theory, because I was obviously wrong. Turns out, using my shortcut, the green pieces end up in the wrong spot exactly half of the time.

After coming to my realization, I went and downloaded the free pattern. The block size is about twice what I need, but at least I now know how they constructed it. I'm sad that I get to spend another day at the cutting board trying to figure out measurements before I finally get to break into the good fabric.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Couldn't wait...



I was not going to reveal the theme for the baby's corner of my son's room until I had the whole thing finished. Thinking about it though, I ideally want the bedding, the painting (I'm seriously considering two more smaller ones with her initials after this one) and the crib all done in time for my first baby shower. I'd like to have completed photos to show all of the relatives from far away.

That shower is in less than two months! I am hoping that putting things up on the blog will keep me motivated to finish it all in time...because if I really sit down and think about how soon my little girl will be here, YIKES!

The fabric to match this unfinished canvas should be here today! I'm crazy excited!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monday Moments

Two years ago at the Fourth of July arts and crafts fair, we bought this photo mat. We thought we could do better on a frame price, though and neglected to purchase one. After researching, we have been walking the craft fair every year since just waiting to see this vendor back so we could buy a frame.



Obviously, this was our year.

I love it! The letters were so much fun to find photos for. The middle of the C perfectly covers up the jutting nose of a blow up dolphin, and I couldn't imagine a better photo to go inside the H. The palm tree was perplexing though. I'm still not sure that I absolutely love the photo in it, but I figure that's okay.



We just got to the beach for the first time this summer, last week. The kids are growing more every day, and next summer there will be a whole new family member to add to the frame. Eventually, I will find the perfect photo for that palm tree.

Friday, July 15, 2011

E is for elephant



It's finally done! If you have been waiting to see what prompted me to try embroidery in miniature since last month, your wait is over!



It took some trial and error, but I finally figured out embroidery on both sides of the elephant. I almost ended up running out of fabric due to failed embroidery attempts. To be fair to my skills though, I was only using what scrap was left from binding my Fresh Flowers quilt.



Now to just find a box for it and ship it off to its new home.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Moments



We spent part of the weekend out of state taking the kids to a much bigger zoo than our area has to offer. We really wanted to take them on some kind of bigger trip before the baby comes and we can't really do things like this for a year or two...or maybe even three.



Note the hands rubbing the eyes. Maybe three was a little too young for spending hours walking around in the 90 degree heat. Still, he says he had a great time. We all did.