Amazingly, there have never been handmade items that hang in my home (except for the few trimmings that my boys made that come out for the yearly christmas tree). It's not that I wouldn't hang them, it's just that I am the only one in my family who sews/crafts and I just don't have the desire to hang my own stuff.

With this said, I am so excited to show you the first handmade item to live on my walls.....

See that beautiful potholder?! Ashley made it for me a while ago and I have been eager to get it up in my kitchen. I can honestly say that it is the perfect match to my kitchen. All the greens and blues compliment the accessories that live on my counter tops, not to mention my tea kettle. 

Thank you Ashley, it really brightens up my kitchen and makes me over look that fact that my kitchen is small and obviously built in the 70's!!

that girl is a genius

A while back I stumbled onto Elizabeth's tutorial on how to make a TV tray pressing table. I loved the idea from the get, but it got put onto the long list "things I wanna make", which quite honestly never seems to get done. Then we moved, my sewing space shrank and neither one of my ironing boards seemed to work on a daily basis....so guess what popped into my mind this weekend??

My sister was kind enough to pick me up a tv tray, then after spray painting it white and soliciting my husband to help...I have a new ironing table. I have to tell you that that girl is a stroke of genius. This little table is not only the perfect solution to my creative space, but will also be a breeze to take with me to my weekend LAMQG sews. Small, portable, works great for piecing all my blocks and to top it off, it's cute. What more could a girl ask for?

 

Well, except for an entire sewing room filled with unlimited amounts of fabric and a pressing table big enough to press an entire quilt top at once....but we must live in reality, right?

Covered with a linen cotton blend by Lecien found at Fabricworm. 

up to par

I am not feeling up to par today....I think that staying up until the wee hours of the morning trying to get this quilt finished has caught up with me. I'm anxious to share it with you, but not really feeling the motivation to type...so forgive me if I am a bit blah today. The pictures aren't to great either....the sun didn't want to come out and I haven't really found a good place to take them yet.

It's actually upside down in this picture, but it was one of the few decent shots I got of it, so it will suffice. The details of this quilt are sad and long, including a weeks worth of paper piecing, a completely different quilt top, four attempts at quilting, more torn (no not ripped, literally torn) stitches than I can count and staying up til 5:30 in the morning to piece a new top at the very last minute.

It was all worth it to have created this beauty though. I enjoyed every late hour/early morning minute of piecing, quilting, basting and binding this quilt. It came together so nicely with no thought or plan but just going with the moment. I think that is just what works for me....whenever I plan a quilt I end up not really feeling/loving it. Weird I know, but it's me.

All folded and ready to be wrapped! It was actually hard for me to let this one go (really hard) but I was strong and gifted it to my girlfriend yesterday for her birthday and as always got my dose of satisfaction when she squealed with joy and got giddy over getting her very own quilt!

Fabric details: all patterned fabric is Hope Valley by Denise Schmidt

all solids are Kona cotton in Herb, Ash, and Snow

random images

I have been busy working on a quilt that I hope to show you soon, but since it's not ready, I thought I would share some random images from this past week.

Izzy has been dressing herself on days that we aren't going anywhere besides the park! Which never seizes to make me smile!

My colored stacks for the Tokyo Map quilt along. I am waiting for one more package to come in the mail and then my collection will be complete.

891 kona cotton white 2 inch squares!! WHEW...that was some serious cutting.

and lastly, my current project all cut up and ready to sew. 

I will be burning the midnight oil trying to get this finished by Saturday for a birthday gift.

trenton's quilt

Thankfully I was able to finish quilting Trenton's quilt before we moved. He was so excited to use it and hasn't let another person touch it since I handed it over to him.

This actually took me a few weeks to finish. It has lines going vertically, horizontally and lastly diagonally in both directions. 

I absolutely adore the way the intersections on the border turned out...they make all the work worth it. I have acquired a recent love for complex straight line intersections. 

This is a close up of Trenton's favorite block, not only because it is his hexagon block but because it was made with his favorite Quicksilver shirt (I literally had to pry it from his hands to get it out of his closet, even though it was 2 sizes too small). I think that he would of loved the quilt regardless, but this makes it extra special to him. 

This is what he looks like everyday now. He comes home from school, grabs his quilt and stays wrapped in it all afternoon (even when it's hot out)....I have to tell you, seeing a quilt I made loved like this makes my heart explode with joy and reminds me why I love this medium!!

this. that and getting unpacked

Let me apologize for slacking on this blog for so long....I can't believe it's been over a month since my last posting!! We are finally all moved and mostly unpacked. I can honestly say that I completely under-estamated how hard this move would be!! It was completely overwhelming and had me feeling like my whole world was turned upside down!! I know in part that my personality didn't really help (I am a bit on the OCD side...and can't handle things being out of order) plus enrolling and registering the boys in 3 different schools, signing them up for athletics and starting my taxi services back in forth from the multiple practices a day. To top it off my husband has been going out of town for 3 days every week for work...it's a wonder that I'm not completely grey by now (just added some to the collection). I wish I could say that I am super woman and pulled it all off without a hitch, but sadly I am not, and apparently me and moving just don't get along!

But yesterday I finally turned a corner...the house isn't fully unpacked yet, but it's close and most importantly, Nina got unpacked!!

This is my new sewing corner...I am really looking forward to breaking it in! 

Before I packed my machine up, I made her a new cover for the new location.

I was inspired by Megan's sewing machine cover to try my hand at the flying geese...and I just adore them! They were so fun to make (and a bit challenging) but most of all I just love looking at them!

For the inside of my cover I used a Kei pattern that I stashed a while ago with no purpose.

The quilting on it turned out really nice too....even despite the fact that some of my geese were flying a little crooked!! 

Lastly, I couldn't resist the temptation of Oh Fransson's new quilt-a-long. I loved her original version of the Tokyo subway quilt...and the one she designed for the quilt-a-long is just irresistible. So, as soon as Nina was put on her perch, I started sorting my scraps.

Originally I wasn't going to buy any new fabric for this project, but with only 3 purple scraps and no purple stash, I have no choice but to buy some! Its one of those moments I wish I had a quilting neighbor that I could borrow a cup of scraps from (i've got plenty of sugar)!