Looking for a Project?

What an honor and how fun to be a part of the book reviews on the See How We Sew blog. Fabric Jewelry was my contribution, but the patchwork projects look so very tempting. Must get our tax return finished so I can go play!

Have a great weekend! The temperature will be in the 70's so it should be yard work for me ~~
Happy coloring,
Tana

Quilt in a Box

Square #1 of a pizza box exchange quilt left me today...it will come back home at the end of the year full of 12 1/2" blocks made by my friends of the Have Knots, Will Travel quilt group. I am absolutely terrible at keeping secrets, so I hope no one asks what I made for them. (Of course, they might just find the beans spilt right here on the blog...) I did a variation of the Friendship Star pattern. This quilt just seemed to need that pattern :)

This is the other project I have under the needle. The raspberry orange block on the left was the first 2014 BOM from the local quilt shop that is way way too close to my house. Instead of the 12 1/2" block, mine is 20" finished. I made the half-square triangles from 5 7/8" squares. The pattern is Barbara Fritchie Star, I was so inspired by the pattern and color, I decided to make a small children's quilt from 4 - 20" blocks (and probably a border). Not being able to wait for the February meeting, I cut out more half-square triangle blocks to make the Depression Square pattern. Those two patterns just seemed happy together. The fabric from A Nimble Thimble for our block of the month is the green in between the monkeys. How did she know that would be a perfect fit across from my Depression Square block??

Alternate layout of the squares....

I think I like how the dark green frames the corners. The turquoise and green are from my hand dyed stash. 

I did flip 2 blocks after this picture was taken. Funny what you see in print that you don't always see in real life. Guess I'm off to sew this up quickly, before I start rotating blocks around again or cut into the fabrics I was marinating over.

Happy coloring,

Tana

Post Val-Day Trauma

My Valentine date and I had agreed to a quiet evening in our newly updated dining room. He had even bought me flowers for the occasion. I was to prepare Roasted Shrimp Enchiladas with Jalapeno Cream Sauce. YUM! (Been waiting all week to try this recipe.)

My date was available to go to the grocery store with me, so we headed out early afternoon to run several errands and to grocery shop. On the way to our first errand we began talking about what we would like to do to finish our house transformation and before we really realized what had happened it was pushing the early evening hour. About 6 furniture/accessory stores later (including a quick trip back home for pillows to match fabric) there was still no food for our date night menu. HERE IS WHERE THE TRAUMA BEGINS. Every person that lives in and around our little town of almost 100thou was driving on the main west to east loop and north to south highway. That would be 100 thousand cars in a 4 square mile radius. The traffic was worse than the holiday shopping time of year. I love my man! He would have been happy with a sandwich if it meant we didn't have to go grocery shopping. (I found salmon in the freezer and the meal was fabulous!) 

This morning I had my usual e-mail notification from Craftsy of the number of pattern downloads. The free download usually ranges from 2 to 5 per day. 648 Heart Attack downloads yesterday. Seems like there were some last minute internet shoppers too. If you still need a heart, you can find the pattern here....

Finishing

FIRST came paint (and lots of it!!) and next came new kitchen counter-tops. (Oh, and replacing the fridge that moved in when we did 26+ years ago...) Delivery times kept us without an oven/stove top for a week. (Enter the crockpot.) LAST has been a full week of flooring, but the pro's have left and we are adding our finishing touches. (Yes, we probably have control issues. We would have laid the tile if we could justify the cost of the tools for a one time event.) 

A Well Furnished Living Room

It was about the third day of "flooring" when I told my mother "We should have furniture and watch tv in the living room tonight." Furniture...yes....TV...no! (And yes, that is the OVEN by the back door...couldn't get to the crockpot either. Thank goodness the phone could dial take-out.)

So glad that this is now the path I take...

Notice the pug in lower right. He is glad for the finish too!

The quilt is also finished! I call it Backyard Blooms because of the hand dyed fabrics that I did...well...in the backyard! The actual pattern is from Bling Bling Blooms by Annie Unrein. It came as part of a tutorial from Superior Threads. 

The tutorial was for Charlotte's Fusible Thread. 

You wind the bobbin with the thread; sew around your applique shape; cut it out and then fuse to the background fabric. The great plus was being able to cut away the background fabrics. 

 

I really could see the shadow of the black borders from the front before cutting the excess fabric away. It was however, the scariest thing I have ever done!! 

FINISHED!

I think I am for only watching programs that are broadcast in blues, greens and a touch of orange. Don't you think Daffy was a perfect accent for my quilt!

Happy coloring,

Tana

One Thing Leads to Another (and Another)

So, the painting and decorating that has been happening in the living half of our home sometimes goes by "the remodel", but there isn't anything structural being done, so that really isn't accurate. Then sometimes I will say, "Updating," but since I am not necessarily young and fresh and I like what I like...updating is a relative term. Face-lift....I think that is the description I have been searching for and as I suspect, when you get a face-lift, you then need to color your hair, then you need new clothes, and then you need....well, then one thing leads to another and then another.

Needing another thing is where this large expanse of freshly painted light gray family room wall has found itself.

All the nick knacks and wall hangings have circled round and round, into the entry hall and into the dining room and when the music stopped, this wall remained empty. And this is when I broke my main New Year's resolution.  (Finish the 2013 projects before starting anything new in 2014) 

Enter the new project to hang on the empty wall. The thing that sent me off to sew, was 

being able to finally use some of the hand dyed fabrics in a project for me.

My hubby estimated the wall quilt to be up in about 2 days. (He was seriously being generous on the time frame.) I am ready to trim the blocks and the borders are cut.....it has taken, just shy of 40 hours to get to this point. I am doing raw edge applique on the sewing machine, I would never finish if I was doing hand applique!

It was so hard to make the first cut into my batiks, but so glad I found a fun project where they look really happy.  Wish I were ready to do the quilting...

Happy coloring,

Tana

Desperately Seeking Sanity

At some point right after Thanksgiving, (after confessing to a sister in law that I was basically procrastinating) the hubby and I chose a paint color for the old office/soon to be Dining Room (again). As he was painting the walls of our little room and I was standing there chatting (i.e. not helping) I started picking at the wallpaper in the kitchen. Ha!.....

Before I really knew what had happened, the once dark green kitchen was being viewed in a new light. I was pregnant with my #2 son when we had this wallpaper hung....he will be 21 years old in a few months. Okay, I will admit that it was time for a change. 

Not real sure how we managed to get these walls textured and painted, the Christmas decos in place, the living room and entry painted as well and the mess cleaned before anyone arrived for celebrations. 

~Counter tops are next. Guess I'm not procrastinating any longer ;-)

Happy Coloring,

Tana 

Sprinkling of Fairy Dust Too

Well things have been very busy around here completing this pillow and other hand crafted items for an annual Studio Sale that I collaborate with a friend.

The little frog got a visit from a fairy! I really wondered the entire time I was coloring and stitching if she was giving him a charm or a wish or just making his day brighter with a little fairy dust. It is possible that I should call on all fairies, brownies and elves to come and help complete all that is still "in progress" in the craft room.

Here is a little preview of what we will have for sale...