Monday, July 25, 2011

Design Wall Monday 07/25/11


Not much sewing happened this week.  I made progress on the project that I started here.  It's funny that I had pulled piles of fabrics and I only needed to use a small triangle from each one.  Now I just need to put these quadrants together to make the block, which will finish at 12" square.  I made it on a whim, with no real idea of what I would do with it.  It was just something that I had wanted to do for a while and frankly I didn't feel like working on the project that I had in progress at the time.  I really like how it is coming out and it is possible that I'll make this the center of a larger project.  Maybe I'll add rows of blocks all the way around in a medallion setting.  We'll see.  The fabric I ordered for the borders of last week's quilt arrived, so I guess I'll be working on that next.

I had a little scare recently when our computer died.  We are very diligent about backing up our data, but when we tried to recover it, we found that not all of the files were being backed up.  Specifically, the files were I keep the patterns that I write.  I estimate I've written over 40 patterns in the last 5-6 years, and I was starting to panic.  Fortunately Lance researched and worked very hard and we found that we were able to pull the hard drive out of the computer and plug it into a reader and recover all of the files.  Whew!  I think I'll be saving a copy of my files in the "cloud" from now on.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on other people's design walls!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Design Wall Monday - 07/18/11


I actually have a design "wall" today!  This one was too big for the table.  My sister and I are working together on a quilt and here's how far we got in one day.  I just love the zig zag quilt.  It's so impressive looking, and yet so simple to make.  We'll be squaring off the sides (no setting triangles) and adding a couple of borders.  Working together worked out really great. We both cut and I sewed with she pressed and pinnned and did the layout.  I had made this quilt once before shown here, and I didn't realize that we ended up with the same colors as the first one until my sister pointed it out after it was sewn together.  Funny how that happened!  Now to choose borders...

See what others are doing on Judy L's blog!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Pop Top Gifts


I recently found this tutorial on Our Best Bites, one of the cooking blogs that I read regularly.  I have been having so much fun with these!  It's a great way to package a little gift or just some sweets.  I originally made some for Mother's Day gifts, and filled them with See's Candy.  I didn't take any pictures of those, but then I made a few more recently for Father's Day and a Graduation gift (two shown above).  Candy and nuts went into the Father's Day cans and candy surrounding a gift card for the Graduation can.  They are so easy and everyone is stumped as to how they are made!  Go to the tutorial link above for a step by step tutorial - but basically what you do is buy a can of anything that has a pop-top, such as mixed fruit or pineapple.  The mixed fruit comes in smaller cans, so I got pineapple, which comes in bigger cans for the bigger items like the gift card.  Open the bottom of the can with a can opener (I have the safe style which kind of un-crimps the bottom).  Empty the contents into a container for later use.  Wash and dry the inside of the can making sure you don't bend it out of shape.  Fill with treats or a small gift.  Glue the bottom back onto the can (we used crazy glue) and allow to dry completely.  As noted in the tutorial, you might want to put a small piece of tissue paper in the bottom of the can before gluing in case any drips inside.  Cover the outside of the can with decorative scrapbooking paper and a label, and you are done!  These are super easy to make and are always received well.  However, sometimes people think that something is going to jump out at them - of course, you could to that too!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Design Wall Monday - 07/11/11


I've finally got another project in progress on my Design "Table"!  I've been roadblocked working a project for quilt class in the fall.  So for whatever reason, I felt that I couldn't work on anything else until I made decisions on how to set that project.  Let's just say that I got over that feeling this weekend and started pulling fabrics to make a color wheel block.  For a very long time, I've been seeing lots of interpretations of a foundation pieced block with flying geese going in a circle.  I mentally bookmarked it to come back to at a later date.  Well CrazyMom showed one last week and I finally decided to just do it.  I don't know where it will go - a one-block wall hanging or possibly a center medallion for a bigger quilt - the possibilities are endless.  I chose to do a color wheel with a black background.  I had trouble printing the foundation the right size - had to do some creative enlarging/cutting/pasting.  Above are the 12 colors that I've chosen so far - I may tweek them before I start.  Most of these came straight out of my scrap bag.  The reds are not reading very true in this picture.  They were right under the lamp.  I only need a tiny piece from each fabric so most of this will go right back in the stash.  Unless I build it bigger...

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 28


Sorry about the unintentional blogging break.  Lots of things going on at work and at home, and I haven't had the energy to blog much.  I do have some things that I am working on that I'll show this week.  But today is for my stash report.  I'm reporting for the past several weeks.  Let's see, I have a yard of a beautiful aqua and brown paisley print left over from a large piece that I had cut up into fat quarters and given to my quilt class on the last day before the summer break.  Also, my husband went to visit his family down in Clovis, where my favorite fabric shop (Quilter's Paradise) is located.  He is such a sweetheart that he stopped in an picked up a couple of fat quarters as a surprise for me (above).  He said he wanted to try to pick fabrics in a style that I didn't already have.  He did a great job!  Lastly, I did give my sister a yard of solid black from the bolt I bought recently - so yay - one yard down!  I'm still working on the mini basket quilt, but I haven't finished the top, so I won't count that fabric out yet.  Here are my totals so far:

Fabric in this week:  1.50 yards
Fabric out this week:  1.00 yards

Fabric in this year:  36.25 yards
Fabric out this year:  5.75 yards

Check out Judy L's blog to see how everyone else is doing!