Lauren's Quilt

it's done. I finished it in a few days before and after our trip to Vegas. Lauren helped me baste it and commented that she didn't realize how much work it is to make a quilt. I wish everyone knew how much time, sweat, (and love!) goes into them...

Anyhow....here are a bunch of pics, and not very good ones. I free motion quilted it in a spiral. Actually 2 offset spirals in orange thread.

80's shawl

My lovely 80's neon shawl is done. Sucks that I finished it at the beginning of summer and I'm only able to wear it when we visit Ventura (cause it's always cold at night!). I love it. A lot.

I'm making a second one right now for my sis Lauren....in her new school colors! Go Sam Houston State Bearkats! Orange and blue! woot woot!

Also, I have finished her quilt top.....so the hard part is done! Just need to get it basted and quilted! it's roughly 85"x85"

Mitting

I've moved my sewing space from the kitchen and into the master bedroom....which gives me some 'personal space' when I'm sewing and allowed me to take my fabric out of plastic bins and onto shelves so I can be inspired and see all of the beautiful fabric everyday! And I'm sad to say that I haven't been doing much sewing....I've slowly been working on blocks for my sister's HS graduation quilt. But THIS is why I haven't been sewing.....I've been knitting! As Avery says "mitting". This is the reason I was so hesitant to learn because I knew I would have to spread myself even thinner with being a wife and mom, sewing and reading. I'm making a Cardigan....this one...to be exact. I know, brave of me for my second project to be a friggin sweater! And I'm also making this shawl.....and absolutely love it! I hope I can get it finished during my flight and layover to Texas next week for sister's graduation ceremony! I should be taking her finished quilt with me...but...I did buy her a LARGE Coach bag to use away at college next year to carry her laptop/books. And I think that in lieu of a quilt (which I'll give to her in July when she and my brother are here for the summer) a Coach bag is pretty sweet.

Honey Cowl!

I have officially finished my first knitting project! It is the Honey Cowl...which is a free pattern on the Madelinetosh website. I used the Madelintosh DK yarn in Citrus. It was an extremely easy pattern to follow for a newbie. I did need to watch a few youtube vids about casting on and off and a slip stitch....and it took me three weeks to finish! maybe my next project will be faster! Here are a few pics of it in process and finished. I followed the pattern to the T, but my cowl is a lot more tight than the one pictured on the pattern. I wonder what I did wrong....or if the chick's neck is smaller than mine...ha!

And yes, bacon is good for me.

Retreat cont....

Just a few more pics from the retreat!

pic from chris @ www.izzyinspired.blogspot.com

pic from chris...

On the design wall....

My king size top that I was able to finish.

And plenty of snow!!!

1st Annual LAMQG Retreat

Ok. First I thought that being in a guild and having all these amazing and inspiring women around me was awesome....until we all went away together for a retreat. THAT is the best. ever. (to quote Alissa...she is sooo right!) I want to do it again...soon. We all had an incredible time. We escaped from sunny LA and went up into the mountains...and experienced record snowfall. It was beautiful and cold outside and we were warm and cozy inside.

The amazing Lori taught me to knit....and I think I might be in big trouble. I just place my first order last night for Madelinetosh yarn and circular needles....cowl, you are soon to be mine!

Absent

Sorry, I've been absent from this poor blog for a few months. The holidays were busy, Avery turned 3, and our family had the flu and I had pneumonia the whole month of January. Excuses, I know! But I have been sewing! The pics below are from my phone (cause I'm blogging from work...shhhh!) and they aren't that fantastic, but I will post 'real' pics soon! Also, this weekend is the retreat into the snow laden mountains just outside of LA for the LAMQG! This is going to be an alcohol and coffee fueled till 3am sewing marathon weekend...I'll take pictures of that too!

First up...a dress I whipped up using a tee and a tutu. I appliqued Moono on the tee...this was for Av when we took her to see Yo Gabba Gabba live! We had pit tickets, which was cool ( and Gwen Stefani was sitting behind us with her boys, and yes....she looks fucking amazing in person), but was weird considering just a few years ago the only concerts I had pit tickets too were ACTUAL concerts.

Hubby bought me a Kindle for Christmas and I love it...but it needed a cover! So I whipped up two and mailed the Mendo one to my lil sis in Texas. BTW, she graduates HS this year and found out yesterday that she has been accepted to Sam Houston University!
This is just a crappy pic of the layout. Made this for my MIL. And it turned out so cool that I was tempted to keep it. I gave it to her before taking a pic - but I'll get some next time we're over.
Pebble quilting my Flickr bee quilt. It's a bit larger than a twin. Pebbling was super easy, but takes a ton of time and used 5 spools of thread and about 12 bobbins....
See my skin for my Bernina??? love it! Little flowers with skulls....

Castle Quilt

I finished the Castle Quilt about a month ago but I wanted to wait a bit before I posted it because I entered it into the Project Modern Challenge . I'm sure it's a long shot that I will actually win but I'm happy to be in the running for a new machine!

It is straight line quilted, backed with Minky, and bound in blue! And the most important part is that Avery loves it! As I was piecing it, she kept taking off with pieces and laying them on the ground and then laying on top of it....and she would tell me "Mommy, this is Avery's castle".

Heather Ross Studio Sale loot!

I received my package today! I asked for girl's clothes in 4t and fabric scraps! I got exactly what I asked for....and more! oh and I spent $50!

Fabric cuts are: snails 1/2 yard, dots 1 yard. Does anyone recognize it?

This dress is a thick jersey knit....it looks so comfy! But I am always scared to put Avery in anything white! Maybe she'll do better next summer when I bust this out!

Her signature is cut off...but she signed each print! I think I may need to fame them and hang in A's room.

LAMQG 1st Anniversary Awards

LA MQG 1st Anniversary Awards, originally uploaded by seventeen and em.

I won a set of Fat Quarters at the LAMQG 1st Anniversary meeting!

And to prove what a super nerd I am...I also received an award for Perfect Attendance! I was the only member (besides one of the officers, Latifah) who attended every meeting since the very beginning! My hubby even called me a nerd! ha!

Following through

Don't you love when you get this marvelous idea for a project, write it down, draw it up, and actually follow through and make it? Like in two days?!

I've had a stack of Castle Peeps since our LAMQG field trip to Michael Levine's...and I decided to put it to good use. I've been on a bit of a quilting 'off season' with the summer heat and summer plans...but now that it is starting to cool down (except this weekend is 104 degrees) and that NFL has started...I have been in the mood to sew again.

The fabric just spoke to me, almost quite literally! Just look at it! So it went from this:

To this!!!

It's about 60x60 and A will use it on her toddler bed.

I'll be basting and pinning it tomorrow at the Guild Sew! and I'll post pics when it is quilted and washed!

HR Studio Sale

Did you all see that Heather Ross is having a studio sale?!

http://heatherross.squarespace.com/journal/2010/9/15/studio-sale-place-your-order.html

I just placed an order for random scrap bags and girls clothes.....hmmm, I wonder if I'll get anything!

A quilt top and a birthday gift

Sorry for the crappy pictures! I took them last night after the sun started to set. Anyhow, I'm sure you get the idea! This baby is big...like 90x100! I'm working on the back now and I'm already nervous about quilting it! How am I going to get it to fit in the neck of my machine!?!

I turned 31 about 2 weeks ago. My hubby hired a photographer to take pics of Avery and I for my gift. He said that all the pics we have in iPhoto are of him and Avery...because I'm always behind the camera. So this was a great gift! But then he ordered huge canvas prints of a few pics to hang in our living room! Here are a few of the pictures....there were 264 of them!

If you remember a few posts back I mentioned a Tinkerbell and Friends costume pattern I bought...well, she's wearing the dress (and wings) I made for her in some of the shots.

My fave pic of Avery.

I love this one....she was over taking pictures and said "I wanna go home!" and just took off down the path! It's funny to think that her face is all pouty and mad in this shot!

Feature!

Wow! My Paintbox Quilt is being featured! Please go to Quiltstory.blogspot.com to check it out!

And if you are visiting me after seeing me on Quiltstory....Thank you! I have a awesome new quilt to be posted soon! So please check back!

This is hard....

finding time to update my blog is hard! How do you do it?
This is going to be a long post!

First up-

A raffle quilt for the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild. Members volunteered to make a block or two for two raffle quilts - one warm and one cool using a piece of fabric given to us and using the rest from our stash. Then I volunteered to put the top and back together. It's a big one too, about 80x80. Do you see my note at the top of the quilt? When I layed it out I gave it a 'direction' and when it's quilted I'd like the top and bottom to match up! ha!

Chris! This is all your fault! You were hand sewing hexes at our monthly guild sew and I was inspired...now I'm addicted!

Avery has turned into a super girly-girl. Dresses all the time - and I mean all the time. Even to bed OVER her pj's. And even in the bath a few times because she refused to take it off! The more ruffles the better to spin around in....so I used solid scraps left over from my paintbox quilt back to make this skirt. I attached it to a tank I picked up at Target for $2. And this skirt is EXTRA full....the bottom ruffle used 5 selvedge to selvedge strips....that's over 200" of fabric!

I've been holding on to a large stack of Dolce by Tanya Whelan Fabric for a while now and adding coordinating prints to the stack when I came across them. Then I hit a wall. I had NO idea what to do with them! I didn't want to cut into the beautiful large print poppies! Then of course Elizabeth inspired me with this....that woman is a motha f'n genius.

btw....that is a Tinkerbell and friends pattern in the corner....figured I'd make A a costume...to wear all year round! Joanns had a sell of their Simplicity patterns for $1 each. So I picked up a few halloween costume patterns. They are normally 16.95! crazy deal! I also picked up a pattern of various pirate outfits....OMG, so cute!

block up close...