wip wednesday: the one where i can't find my camera

Shhhh! The baby is sleeeeeeping. So I figured I'd get myself set up to post on ye olde blog. I opened the curtains to let in some nice light, laid out some pretty fabrics and a couple of WIPs to photograph...

And that's where I've come to a screeching halt. I know that stupid camera is around here somewhere, but it's either hunt for it or post, and I chose to post. Lucky you! :)

So I'm currently working on a couple of bee blocks. Our quilt guild is doing a local bee and it's my month first! I chose Ellison Lane's Starflower Block tutorial and I'm excited to see how things turn out. Our guild is awesome, and we have some very talented ladies!

I also have a scrappy ticker tape quilt in the works for a friend's baby, and I'm gathering fabrics to make my very own Swoon! I joined the Swoon-Along on Flickr a few weeks ago... I've mostly been stalking the group but finally posted a couple of times and now the group is massive!

So that's me, what are you working on? I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced... head on over and see what people are doing!

finish it up friday

I love finishing projects. For me, it's not about the process... sometimes I find that tedious and stressful. But when I finish something and can look at it and pet it and admire it, I feel pretty good. Is that weird? I know a lot of crafters are all about the process.

Anyway, I finished a couple of things this week, one of which I reaaaaaally love. But more about that later.

I had embellished several cloth diapers to use as burp cloths over the summer, and I really like using them (as much as a person can like wiping up baby puke. But that's a whole 'nother story.). It's helpful too, because it's easier to distinguish dirty from clean. So I did a set of eight more burp cloths.

And now for my favorite. A few days ago, I finished this little pretty up for myself.

It's a travel sewing kit. I used the tutorial from lots of pink here. I absolutely adore the nesting doll fabric. That came from Laura as part of a swap and I love it! I've always had a thing for matryoshka dolls.

I made a similar kit for Penny for our MQG's Secret Santa in December, and I loved it so much I had to make one for myself! Here's Penny's: (Thanks Michelle for taking the pic! :) )

Finishing projects feels so good! I'm linking up with Finish it Up Friday over at crazy mom quilts.

2011 in pictures

When I went back to look and see what I've made in 2011, it turns out I did quite a bit... mostly baby projects, which comes as no surprise! (These are most definitely not in chronological order, by the way.)

And here are my most recent projects...

Don't even ask me about what I didn't take pictures of. I didn't take a picture of the gingerbread house I made my MIL for Christmas. I didn't take a picture of the sewing kit I made for Penny for our quilt guild's Secret Santa. I also didn't take a picture of a mini I sent to Laura as part of a swap. C'est la vie!

But, in my opinion, my most spectacular creation of 2011 is this little sweetie... and I have plenty of pictures of her!

I hope your 2011 was as wonderful as mine, and I wish you peace and happiness in 2012!

drooling over fabric

I have a bad habit... I like fabric. I like to look at it online, I like to look at it in stores, and I like to buy it. Lots of it. Sorry, Hubby. :)

(Tangent... Hubby found  fabric shop he'd never seen before a few weeks before Christmas. Didn't think I knew about it and went in to get me a gift card. Imagine his surprise that I was already in their system, lol...)

I've seen lots of "Blogger's Choice" fabric bundles over at Fat Quarter Shop and I think it's so neat that they invite regular ol' people to choose their favorites. So, when I saw this little linky party over at Quokka Quilts, I immediately jumped over to the FQS site and started choosing fabrics.

I've been loving blues, yellows, and grays as a color scheme lately, and I'm collecting them for a queen sized quilt for the master bedroom. I chose several of these for "my" bundle, and then added in green for some extra pop.

I love that my bundle represents my favorite designers lately... Joel Dewberry, Bonnie & Camille, PamKittyMorning, Aneela Hoey, Tula Pink... they're all there!

1. Ruby-55037-12-200, 2. Ruby-55037-13-200, 3. LittleApples-18515-13-200, 4. LittleApples-18515-19-200, 5. Heirloom-JD49-GREEN-200, 6. Ruby-55031-26-200, 7. PrinceCharming-TP12-OLIVE-200, 8. IHeart-C8173-GREEN-200, 9. Ruby-55030-16-200, 10. PamKittyMorning-LH11009-YELLOW-200, 11. PamKittyMorning-LH11016-YELLOW-200, 12. BellaSolids-9900-173-200, 13. BellaSolids-9900-178-200, 14. BellaSolids-9900-23-200, 15. FolkHeart-30394-60-200, 16. FatQuarterShop-175

santa cow!

What? Posting two days in a row? Unheard of!

We took Emma to Chick-fil-A last night to meet Santa Cow! I almost fell over when I saw how big this cow was.

BIG HUGE COW!

 itty bitty baby....

christmas is a-comin'!

I've been working on lots of Christmas projects... two are still in progress and a couple have been given already. (But no pictures! What kind of a blogger/crafter am I? Sheesh.)
I really love our Christmas tree. This is the first real tree I've had in many years, and it is so nice to come down the stairs in the mornings and smell that piney smell.

A friend came over yesterday and we had fun with some holiday baking. I had a rather ambitious list of about seven varieties of cookies and fudge, but after we enjoyed lunch and hit the grocery store and gave Emma a bottle and put her down for a nap, we had a lot less baking time than we started with.

So we made Snickerdoodles

and Peanut Butter Blossoms

and a pan of fudge... so there are still four varieties of cookies on my list. I hope Hubby's colleagues at work enjoy the fruits (sweets?) of our labor!

Miss Emma had rice cereal for the first time a couple of days ago. As you can see, it went very well.

What's going on?

Mama, what is this weird stuff in my mouth?

Et tu, Daddy?

Poor baby was in tears by the end, even though the whole thing lasted about three minutes. So, we stopped and tried again yesterday. She was still suspicious about the whole thing and pushed most of it out with her tongue, but on the whole it went a lot better the second time.

I've got to spend today working on Christmas presents and getting things in the mail. Happy Monday!

peek of the week {sitting up!}

Check it out! I can sit up all by myself! When you prop me up against something, that is. And don't leave me here too long, Mama... I'll start to list over to the left.

Linking up with Peek of the Week over at Happily Home Sewn. :)

wip wednesday {quilt as you go} and retreat recap

Ahhhh... I love quilting retreats! It is so, so nice to be surrounded by people who share your passion.

I only have one problem.

I didn't take a single picture. Not. one. picture.

Baaaad Carmen!

At any rate, it was a great weekend. I got to see my local friends, I got to sew with far away friends, and I got to meet some new friends! These lovely ladies include Tara, Penny, Amanda, Randi, Jennifer, Audrey, Melodee, Darla, Ruth, Amanda, Rebecca, Emily, Julie, and Lizzy (oh boy, I hope I didn't forget anyone!)

As always, the food was yummy. Tara is such a fabulous cook and hostess!

I worked on my star block quilt... I've decided to call it Ruby's Prince since it includes my new love, Ruby by Bonnie and Camille, and my other favorite line, Tula Pink's Prince Charming. This is a quilt as you go quilt, and I got six and a third blocks quilted. Some people quilted ALL of their blocks and started joining them! I must have been going reaaaaaally slow, haha.

Anyway, here are the blocks I finished:

Unfortunately, I have to put these fun quilt blocks away until the new year. It's time to work on Christmas presents! I started one last night:

Isn't it great? :) Hopefully next week I'll have more to show you and it'll be more obvious as to what it is.

I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced! Head on over and see what other people are working on.

mini quilt challenge

It just so happens that amylouwho is hosting a mini quilt challenge with a linky party today! I'm excited because I made a mini quilt to swap at my quilting retreat this weekend. Perfect timing!


I used the scraps from my star quilt blocks to make 36 four inch HSTs. I recently saw this quilt from Stitchery Dickory Dock and LOVED it... I originally wanted to just base my mini on that design but then I ended up doing the exact same layout just because the symmetry really appealed to me. I know there are SO MANY ways to lay out half square triangles... I used to be scared of them but this mini has helped me get over it!

I pieced the back with Farmdale from Alexander Henry and a Moda red, and bound the whole thing with a Moda turquoise. (The two solids are going to be the backing for my star quilt, by the way.)

I'm pretty pleased with the end result... my piecing on the quilt top isn't perfect by any stretch but it's so much better than it was a year ago, plus this is my first attempt with HSTs, so yay for trying something new! I'm sort of sad to give it away, but I know the mini I receive is going to be fabulous. :)

Head on over to amylouwho's Sew and Tell to see the awesome mini quilts everyone has made! Plus, there's a Flickr group just for minis!

This is also my Peek of the Week... this mini and my star blocks have been my main activity, outside of diapers, bottles, and otherwise entertaining Emma. I'm linking up with Happily Home Sewn!

And now, I'm off to a fabulous weekend of quilting! I really love these retreats... they are SO MUCH fun! It's so great that they're local and I get to come home every night... if I had to go away for the whole weekend, I don't know if I'd be ready to leave Emma. Special thanks to the Hubs for being willing to hang out with Emma for three straight days!

wip wednesday {retreat mini quilt}

I finally finished the quilt blocks for the retreat this weekend, now all I need to do is turn them into sandwiches and I'm all set!

This is one of my favorites... in addition to my Prince Charming stash, I also used a couple of fat quarters from Ruby. I heart Ruby! I'm seriously debating getting a fat quarter bundle from the whole line.

I also began working on a mini quilt for a swap at the retreat... I used a bunch of triangles that were left over from the star blocks.

I sewed 'em up...

and trimmed 'em down...

and now I'm playing with layout. I do believe this is my first foray into triangles and HSTs! (Love this next photo... can you see that I'm a very messy quilter? Also, I've pretty much taken over the kitchen as my sewing space. Hubby LOVES that.) ;)

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!