Mermaid, part 1

This is giving me nightmares.

See, it looks innocuous enough.  Just a nice pattern.  Various sizes.  I even got it at 40% off. 

Friends, I'm scared.

I have promised a certain precious 3-year old that I will defeat this giant by Halloween.  I think it's going to be a series at the Wendy City.  Anyone want to join in?  

So I bought it.  And I read it.  Carefully.  

I'm confused already.  

And now I'm contemplating fabric.  I don't even think I understand how much fabric to buy.

Stay tuned....

Roses!

Here's what's on my design floor today:

Mr. WendyCity hadn't seen this project before.  

Him:  What ARE they?

Me:  Roses.

Him:  Oh neat!  I like them.  

Me:  I can't figure out how to put them all together.

Him:  You can't.

Me:  Well, I think I can....

Him:  I KNOW!  You could use some sort of filler material!

Me:  Um, well, yeah... 

TO BE CONTINUED!

Mosaic bee blocks

Finished up some more bee blocks that particularly appealed to me today.  

These are for Rick, for my Scrap Happy Bee.

One cool thing about that bee is that when it's your month, you post a pattern, but all the participants use their own scraps to complete the block.  So it has a wonderful sense of variation each month!

I thoroughly enjoyed these mosaic blocks.  And I was so pleasantly surprised at how quickly they went together!

(Anyone recognize the black batik?)

And since you're using your own scraps, it's fun to make extras.  Rick might get one more if I get a chance before the month is up.....

Both blocks together. 

My favorite thing about online bees?  It gives me a chance to do something new without the commitment of a whole quilt.  I can sit down for an hour and finish a task.  Awesome.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

A process pledge quilt

I completed a quilt this week, and I'm going to tell you all about it.  I am LOVING reading posts associated with Rossie's process pledge, and so on this quilt I made an effort to better document my process to share with you.  I feel like I learn so much more when quilters share the journey instead of just the finished quilt..... and so:

My niece is home from college this summer.  She's just completed her first year.  

And I had planned since the beginning of the summer that I was going to send her back with a quilt.  

And then a few days ago, she posted on facebook (the great reminder of things...) that she was heading back in 9 days.  9 DAYS!

and I thought, oh crap...  I still need to get that done.!

I absolutely adore her. 

And I'm blessed to call her my niece. 

So I started sketching in my daughter's ENT doctor's waiting room.

I started here:

I knew that her room was pink and black, so I was going to go with that.  I wanted something I could finish before she left, and so that meant no time for fabric shopping, so it had to come from my stash.  

Luckily my stash is extensive...

I also wanted something I could chain piece so that it came together faster.

The first drawing didn't really do much for me, so I tried again.

{Although I may come back to that drawing later}

So this was my next attempt.  I liked it, and I thought that I probably had the stuff to put it together.  I knew that I had a cut of black batik that I could use for the plaid effect.  And I have quite a lot of pink.

Next I considered how to piece it.  You see, if you look at my drawing, there's 2 main ways.  One is to piece the 4 patches and then add the other as sashing.  I think this would be quite efficient, but I was concerned about getting it correct since I wanted all 4 pink blocks to be the same around the cross.  I thought the organization would kill me and I'd lose any time I saved messing with the seam ripper.

So the other option was to piece blocks with the black cross through the middle of the block.  I figured out a really efficient way to do this by sewing selvedge to selvedge cuts.  

(Will post more on this later, a tutorial is forthcoming.)

I was a little concerned that the pink and black could look a little juvenile, so I considered an acid green binding.  I decided that the batik would solve it, but I still like the idea of using an acid green in that color scheme.

Here's the finished quilt. 

A closeup of the quilting.  A friend suggested boxy spirals in the pink areas, and I'm totally in love with that method.  Quick, suprisingly easy, and looks very neat.  The inner black lines are left unquilted.  The other black border is stippled, mostly because I was concerned that I'd have a mess with binding it if I didn't quilt it somehow.

Here's the back.  Love it.  I may love it more than the front.

I used my off-cuts from the blocks to make a pieced border, and I always enjoy a pieced binding.  

Looks like I need to clip some threads, though.

I really dig the green peeking through!  Maybe I should have used that for the top as well..... hmm. next time.

And I quilted a K in one block just to make it hers.  

I didn't actually intend to do that, but I "finished" quilting it, laid it out on the floor, and then realized I had left out that square.  

Oops!  

But it was a happy mistake since I love the initial in there.

I'm going to post a pattern/tutorial on this quilt since it went together so extremely well and was so very efficient and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  So stay tuned!

Rainbow Cupcakes!

I love cupcakes.  I love fancy cupcakes.

I love fancy recipes that are actually easy and use simple things to get a cool end result, don't you?

I'd seen these online, and was determined to give it a try.

I bet you didn't even know that you needed a rainbow cupcake, did you?  

Here's how to make them for yourself.

Take one of these:

Make it like normal, and then find some of these:

I used 6 colors, but it doesn't really matter how many you use.  

Just imagine the cool color combos you can create!

{But in my opinion, if you use more than 6 colors the layers will be a little challenging to get in all the cupcakes.  So I'd use 6 or less.....}

Separate out your batter and color it.  

It is helpful to decide what color you'll use last and make a little extra of it. 

Layer the colors one by one into the cups.    

My mix said it made 24 cupcakes, but I only got 18.  I like tall cupcakes.

Having a little extra of the last color makes it easier to even-up your cupcakes at the end so they bake evenly.

Bake as directed, and they will emerge like this!

Check the side view:

After they cool, ice and add another rainbow of sprinkles.

Love them!

I-Spy progress

Posting some more I-Spy blocks while I'm sorting blocks.....

Doesn't it look like so much fun!  I love swaps.

Beth's blocks.  Love those owls!  And the dinosaur bones!

Sheila's blocks.  My daughter is in love with purple, so she is especially fond of those cats!

Ellen's blocks.  See the pigs?  So cute.  

Asiyah's blocks.  On the top left is tiny chicks.  So cute in person.  And I love the fish.

MamaRatliff's blocks.  Can you see the teeny teapots on the bottom left?  Awesome.  And the tiny ladybugs on the top left?  so cute.

Becca's blocks.  Love the starfish!

And Linda S's blocks.  Weiner dogs in sweaters?  Cute.

One more package to arrive, and then we're ready to mail out.  Can't wait!

i - spy progress

Here's some fun pictures of the I-spy swap packages I've received so far.  This is so much fun to get the packages and look at the wonderful prints.... so I thought I'd share the joy!

Monica's blocks.  Love the crayons and vegetables!

Kim's blocks.  Can you see the cool zebras in the top right block?  Awesome.

Mimi's blocks.  Love those owls.  Have I told you how cool I think owls are?  Well I do.

My blocks.  Can you see the little orange traffic cones?  Very cute and tiny.

Careese's blocks.  I'm especially partial to the clothes in the middle.  And the coffee cups.

Linnea's blocks.  More owls!  And robots!  they are so cute.

Jodi's blocks.  More robots.  I'm crazy about robots too!  and sharks.  My daughter is thrilled about this one since we went to the aquarium last weekend.

Caroline's blocks  -- check out the Monopoly money!  And the buttons!

Linda's blocks.  Check out the fire truck!  And the kisses!

Ramie's blocks -- that's sushi on the top left-- so cute!  And I want yards and yards of that one with the apples and pear.. so cute.

Roses!

Boy, do I love my quilting bees.  Such wonderful opportunities to try out new things and make new friends!

This month in Scrap Happy, it's Alice's month.  She chose scrappy hexagonal roses with a green border.

So here's the first one.  Nice, normal.  

So.... I just can't leave well enough alone.  

On the next one, I got a little wild, thinking about a "Painting the roses red" kind of vibe.

This one I edged in a lighter green to contrast with the red.  I'm not crazy about it, but I think it will be just fine in a complete quilt.  It's a bit darker than it shows in this picture.

And then?  Then I took it one step farther....  convincing myself that since it's a 3rd block and I just have to make 2, so it's extra, I can do anything wild that I want and she won't have to use it if she hates it.

Yep, blue rose.  Think "The Glass Menagerie."

Guess what?  It's my favorite.  Shocking, I know.

Now, I've never worked with hexagons.  Is she going to have to hand stitch these together?  

I really don't know.  I'd love to use the rose idea and do a whole quilt of roses (probably blue ones), but I think my blocks would probably be square.  

I'm allergic to hand stitching.

Need 2 more for I-spy swap!

Friends,
I need 2 more participants for my I-Spy swap.  If interested, go to this link.  I know there are 20 comments listed, but some are duplicates. Just comment if you'd like to play!
W

UPDATE:  I-spy swap is now full.

Little projects

I've had a teeny bit of extra time to just learn and play, and so I've done some block lotto blocks this month.  I LOVE this month's sparkler patter.  

I hope I win.

And, by the way, Block Lotto is AWESOME!  You should check it out.

And this wonderful surprise came in my mail.  The pictures don't do it justice at all. 

The fabric is just lovely.  It's a honey bun in Moda's Blessings line, and then yardage as well.  

And a pattern!  

Many, many thanks to Carol!

I've been getting caught up on my sewing bee blocks as well.  Don't you just love the mushrooms in this set?  And the pattern was really cool.  I think that I must try some more of these sometime soon.

The request for this bee was "something with flying geese" and here's what I came up with.  

Can I tell you this?  I was very very nervous that their recipient wouldn't like them at all.  But she did.  Whew! 

I had a really good time putting them together.  

I just worry that my chaotic and haphazard improvisational style is not universally appealing.

These were for my improvisational bee, and I had a blast with them.  

The "naughty" and "nice" just HAD to be fussy cut into a block, don't you agree?

What a wonderful quilt this one is going to be when all the blocks come together.

Have a lovely weekend friends!

I-SPY a sway part DEUX!

After numerous requests,  I am reprising my I-SPY swap. 

{The crowd goes wild...} 

We did this last July, and it was lots of fun.  And I ended up with a fabulous quilt!
The details:

• The first 19 people to sign up here are in. Just leave a comment on this post, and make sure I have a way to contact you.
• Each person will send (20) 4" squares from each of 10 novelty fabrics to me by August 1.  I'll have some details on how to sort them, and I will also need for you to send a stamped envelope so I can mail your squares back to you.
• You will receive (200) 4" novelty squares (enough for 2 small I-SPY quilts or 1 large one) We're hoping to send packages out by August 15th, but that depends on how long it takes everything to come in. Live outside the U.S.? No problem! Just try to get your fabrics to us a little earlier.
• I have some patterns drawn up that I will post so that you could arrange the squares in order to get a certain sized quilt.

A few thoughts and guidelines on the fabrics...

• Please measure carefully and use a rotary cutter to cut your fabric
• Many fabric stores have a dedicated novelty fabric section. But generally these
  are fabrics with objects... animals, food, people, etc. It may help to think in terms of things you could use for the I-SPY game. (I spy the letter G, I spy a sushi roll, I spy a monkey eating a banana, etc....)
• In order to avoid duplicate patterns, go on a mission for some really obscure, hard to find prints that aren't available at the chain retailers.
• No team prints or licenses characters (SpongeBob, Dora, etc.) So for example, a print with basketballs would be great, but a Dallas Mavericks print is not. Or a print with ducks wearing hats is great, but Donald Duck is not.
• The object in the fabric should be distinguishable in a 3.5 x 3.5 square, which will be its finished size. Keep this in mind when choosing fabrics. Either go with smaller prints, or be ready to fussy-cut.
• You can get (20) 4" squares out of a 1/4 yard cut of fabric or out of a fat quarter. So you'll need to purchase at least 2 1/2 yards of fabric.

What is an I-SPY quilt? It's a quilt made with novelty fabrics. And it's a wonderful toy to play I-SPY with. Great for traveling with kids or rest time or when you need something to occupy little ones. How to play? Take turns spotting something in the quilt, maybe "I spy, with my little eye, a frog in a tutu!" And the first person to point out the tutu frog on the quilt goes next, and so on. Hours and hours of fun!

If you want to participate, leave a comment on this post!

If you are not one of the first 19 people to comment but would like to be an alternate,  please go ahead and comment.  I'll contact you if someone drops out.

UPDATE:  The swap is now full.

pretty things to go see....

Friends, you must go see all the lovely items made in the string to finish challenge.  

It's quite a fun tour!  

Go hit the tour

While you're there, make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom...  this project of mine has been featured!  

I'm so overwhelmed that anyone would feature anything I made....

Love to all of you on this 4th of July weekend!  

I'm hosting a family reunion.  

If I survive, I'll be back next week tackling more throw pillows.