Gnomemade

Before & After

2011-06-26T14:43:00.000-04:00

Before

After

Quilt Stats:

Finished Size: ~ 59" x 71"

Fabrics: Jelly Roll & Yardage of Urban Coture by Basic Grey for Moday

Pattern: Key to My Heart by Sweet Jane's Quilting and Design

Started: January 2011

Finished: June 2011

A gift for my best friend for her birthday and her graduation from nursing school!

Finished!

2011-06-13T17:37:00.000-04:00

Well, after announcing my Nerves last month to the entire world, I finally built up the guts to try quilting the baby quilt! And, I can say that I'm fairly happy with the results...hopefully mom- and dad-to-be will be too! We'll find out soon, as the baby shower is this Wednesday morning!

Here's a shot of the overall quilt...I did a general stipple stitch across the nine-patch and borders.

I started first though by quilting the owl, branch and leaves. I figured he needed a bit more attention and just stippling over him didn't seem right, so I tried a bunch of different techniques...all with somewhat matching thread to try to hide any major mistakes...

Here's a close up of the leaves - I tried to give them a stem running through the center and then just echoed the leaf shape on the inside. The branches have just some lines running through to try and give the impression of wood grain.

The owl...well, I tried to give him feathers. For his eyes, I did some co-centric circles just to give them some definition and echoed again in the wings. I can point out all the problems/mistakes, but hopefully it'll be loved all the same...

Quilt Stats:

Started: February 2011

Finished: June 2011

Finished Size: Approximately 40" x 52"

Fabrics Used: Summer's Basket of Flowers and Deb Strain's Saltbox Harvest

along with some random scraps for the applique

Time to get it wrapped up and put into the gift bag with the rest of the loot for mom, dad and baby!

A Patriotic Birthday

2011-06-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

Mom Gnomemade's birthday is towards the end of May, and I thought I might make her a birthday gift this year. Enter Sandy Gervais' Zippity Doo Dah fabric and a cute little pattern from Art to Heart's Easy Does It Patriotic Book and I had a cute little table runner in the works.

I'm pretty pleased with the way this table runner came out and it made it in time for Memorial Day. Mom Gnomemade likes patriotic decorations, so I figured this was just the thing for her. So happy I could find those fabrics.

Plus, it gave me a chance to try out my machine appliqueing skills prior to tackling the owl. (Sorry mom, you were a test case - but thankfully a successful one.)

Most difficult part? Attaching those stars to each other so they would lay flat and not show all my hand tacking!

Nerves

2011-05-26T16:00:00.012-04:00

My next project has been basted and is just sitting on the guest bed staring me down...just daring me to start it. And, I...well, I am a bundle of nerves about it!
Now, I've quilted every single one of my projects thus far...but for some reason this one scares the heck out of me. I recognize that my skills aren't great, and I'm not going for perfection, but there's something about this most recent project that makes me anxious.
Perhaps, because it's my first baby quilt from a pattern? Or from designer fabrics?
Or maybe it's because I finally figured out how to make my little Kenmore sewing machine complete some machine applique!
I mean...I really think this owl is adorable and I'm worried my wonky free-motion quilting skills are just going to mess him up. But, the baby is due in August (fairly far off still, I know), but we've got a baby shower planned for mom in mid-June - so it needs to get done! I just need to work up some courage, and to stop stalling by posting about the quilt.
Anyways...I took a photo of it just in case it doesn't make it through this process gracefully. Ok...maybe I should go take a stab at it!

Another Finish

2011-05-25T16:50:00.002-04:00

Well, after about five years, I finally finished what should be considered a relatively quick and easy project.

I saw the pattern for these pillows in a McCall's Quilting - August 2006 issue. It was a pattern by Jean and Valori Wells - who as a new quilter I didn't really know. Now, I'm a bit more in the know and hold these two women in high admiration for their patterns and fabric.

Anyway, in 2006, I was living in a new furnished apartment that came with a very "interesting" black leather couch. It was possibly the most uncomfortable piece of furniture I've ever sat on. But, I thought the room could use a bit more color, so I went ahead and ordered the kit (the first one I ever ordered) and started working on these pillows.

I have no idea why it took me five years. But, it did and I finally finished these in April! I love how they came out and while I no longer live with that ugly, awful couch - they do happen to match the duvet cover in our guest bedroom/sewing room. So, now they're cheerily sitting there.

I did do all the quilting by hand - so maybe that's a reason I took so long? No? Not buying it either?

Home Dec Project

2011-04-29T10:00:00.002-04:00

Over Spring Break, I happened to stop by our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Mr. Gnomemade and I have been using one of our kitchen table chairs as a desk chair, so when I saw this chair sitting there for $5, I couldn't resist!

Now, it was in a little bit of rough shape - some light yellow paint that was chipping, peeling and not very event. But, I figured, we had some time off from work and it was a beautiful weekend, so we'd try a little re-finishing project.

A quick trip to our local hardware box store for some sand paper and spray paint (and then a second trip for some more spray paint) and we got to work!

And here it is in all its finished glory. It went from a light yellow to a pretty ivory color. Now, I'm searching for the perfect seat cushion and we should be all set!

I Can Hardly Believe It Myself!

2011-04-27T17:50:00.008-04:00

So, when I started my personal UFO challenge a while ago...it was one specific quilt that I had in mind that I really needed to finish.

Now, I've only been quilting since 2005/2006, so I don't have a ton of UFOs that have been hanging around for a long time. But, this one...well this one has been almost four years in the making.

After Mr. Gnomemade graduated with his Master's, we accompanied his parents for a 2+ week to Italy. I had never been, and it was a wonderful experience. We had the chance to visit Florence, Sorrento and Rome, along with areas all around those three cities. We had a great trip, and I was greatly appreciative to his family for the opportunity for such a great trip.

Mr. Gnomemade's mother had subtlely asked a couple times about me making her a quilt, and their house is full of photos, so I figured that would be the perfect marriage...hence this quilt was born.

Now, it's been a labor...mainly of love, but I'd be lying if there weren't times I just wanted to throw this out of the window. First, it was about trying to pick out which photos I wanted to use. Now, that shouldn't be too hard - but Mr. Gnomemade is the quintessential tourist, and I think we have about 900 photos from our trip. Then it was onto designing the layout. Then, I had to figure out how to print photos onto fabric...and that was an ordeal for quite a while. Some of the printer photo fabric worked well...another package of it...not so much. Picking the rest of the fabric wasn't too hard - my now Mother-In-Law loves gold and burgundy.

So, it went for about 3 1/2 years. I'd pick it up, then put it back down. Sew some more, get frustrated and then put it away for a while. I really workd on it inearnest over the past two years, especially once I found the perfect backing fabric.

I mean, isn't it perfect? It's a fabric of major Italian landmarks. We had seen quite a bit on our trip and I thought it was great.

The rest of it eventually came together and I finished up the binding in March. Yup...March of 2011. We went to Italy in June of 2007. Don't judge too harshly.

It was hand delivered to my in-laws in April when we went up to see them for a wedding of a close friend.

They seemed to like it and I'm just happy to cross this one of the list - and that it made it through the washer.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T16:11:00.003-04:00

Happy Easter! Hope your day, however you choose to celebrate, is a wonderful one.

Our ham is in the oven and the Macaroni and Cheese is prepped.

We have several of my students coming over for dinner tonight.

And we thought it'd be nice to give them some small Easter baskets.

Who doesn't love some tasty candy?

And the baskets are handmade by me using the Pink Penguin tutorial!

Keeping with the Christmas Theme

2011-02-06T11:16:00.007-05:00

In mid-December, I entered a giveaway over at The Happy Zombie. Now, I always am flabbergasted by the generosity of quilters and their willingness to giveaway fabrics, notions, projects, etc. I try to be fair and only enter those giveaways that I actually would want/use.

I've been blog-stalking (in a harmless, oh my goodness, I love what you're doing) Monica at The Happy Zombie for a while, and was so excited when I saw her Christmas fabric line called Holiday Happy come out. As the title of my blog might suggest, I love gnomes. No, really - Mr. Gnomemade and I even had a gnome-themed wedding - which I realized I never admitted to on this blog - I really should post some photos of our gnome related items...put that on the to-do list (you would think I would have gotten around to that, but what's eight months in a lifetime we'll spend together...but I digress).

Anyways, where was I...oh yeah...gnomes. I love gnomes and I immediately fell in love with the little "Gnoma-Claus" on Monica's fabric. I went to a couple of local quilt shops, but couldn't find the gnomes, so I was browsing on the internet instead to see where I could find some of this wonderful fabric...this brings me to the giveaway.

So, I put my name into the ring, never expecting with over 1200 entries, I'd be picked. But I won! Oh my goodness, I won. And shortly after - this beautiful stack of fabrics arrived at the post office for me! Isn't the "Gnoma-Claus" just adorable?

So, here the stack of fabric sits - on my trunk waiting patiently to be cut into and made into our first ever Christmas quilt. It's wonderful! And thankfully, I have a very supportive husband who encourages me (and goes with me to quilt shops/online shopping) to get all the matching fabrics I'll need to turn this fat eighth bundle into a snuggly quilt for us.

Thanks so much, Monica!

More UFO Progress

2011-02-05T09:36:00.001-05:00

When I first started quilting, I was strictly a machine project girl. The only handwork I did was turning over a binding and when push came to shove - sewing on a button.

I did try my hand at hand quilting two different quilts...but seeing as how the first one arrived a month after the wedding it was a gift for, and the second arrived over 2 years after the birthday it was a gift for, I quickly tossed aside the idea of handquilting - except for some small projects.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when I arrived at my first small group meeting arranged through my quilt guild. I was instructed to bring some embroidery floss and a hoop, to do embroidery. Now, the floss I had plenty of - what self respecting 80's child didn't make tons of friendship bracelets in her day? But, I had never done any embroidery! Thankfully, I had some great teachers and it seemed like a fun concept.

Then, I found Gail Pan's Free Block of the Month, and figured I'd give it a try. That was 2009. I made the first block back then, bu tthen in the midst of engagement and wedding, it got pushed aside.

Well, I've picked it back up and made some progress, if I do say so myself.

Here are 5 of the 9 blocks.
I've got numbers 6 & 7 complete, and number 8 just needs a couple more french knots. Then one more to go and then I just need to put it into a quilt! The fabric for its been sitting around since '09, and I'm hoping to get this UFO crossed off the list before Christmas 2011.

Better than the dishes...

2011-02-04T17:22:00.003-05:00

While Mr. Gnomemade did the dishes last night, I spent some much needed time on this project.

It's one of my many UFOs that have been in the works for way too long. But recently I've plowed ahead and carved out some time (like during the dishes) to finally get some quilting onto it. Can't wait for the final product and hope to have all the quilting done and binding ready to be turned over by the time the SuperBowl rolls around.

We're hosting the annual SuperBowl party for all my co-workers at our place again this year. A series of events have led to my family becoming major Steelers fans, so I know who I'm rooting for, as well as Mr. Gnomemade! Looking forward to some good snacks, great times with friends, a good game and some crafting - all in one!

Snow Day

2011-01-10T11:26:00.004-05:00

Now, I'm a girl that was raised in the Northeast. For the first 18 years of my life, I had piles of snow every winter and negotiating a snow storm was just another typical winter day. I own more scarves, mittens and hats than I'd like to admit, but they were alowasy put to good use. Now, fast forward a couple of years - living in the Carolinas - and it's a rare occasion when I have to pull my now infamous (more on that in another post) pink boots out.

But, today it's snowing like crazy here. They're predicting we'll have seen over 7 inches fall by the time the storm is over. So, we have a snow day - which in truth is a rather odd experience for me. You see...I live where I work. No, I don't work from home, but rather have an office in the building in which I live. So, in actuality, my commute is maybe 50 feet or so down a hallway. Yet, offices are closed, so I'm tucked away in my apartment enjoying the pretty snow before the wintry mix gets here. (I do have a meeting I have to go to later today at 2 pm, and then again at 9:15 pm, but we'll just ignore that fact right now.)

Anyways, Mr. Gnomemade decided despite being rather well versed in winter driving himself, he'd work from home today - a decision thankfully his work agreed with. So we're both here at home. Now, while he works away, I'm enjoying my snow day and cutting into this...

The majority of the fabrics are from "In the Pink II" and I'm using a pattern I found online through AllPeopleQuilt.com. While not a UFO, it does meet my criteria of working on projects I already have the fabric for - didn't buy anything new for it this year (though some of it did come in on New Year's Eve!)

So, that's my snow day. Well, that and trying to unearth our cars. And maybe some hot cocoa.

Two Steps Back...

2011-01-08T10:46:00.003-05:00

...from my promise that I would complete my UFOs before starting something new. But sometimes, you just have to break that type of promise.

It started with a book. Camille Roskelley's beautiful, wonderful, inspirational book - Simplify. Then add in a wonderful jelly roll from Fig Tree Quilt's Fig & Plum line and that would be enough to tempt me to stray.

However, I was committed to sticking to my resolution of working on my UFOs. But, this quilt needed to be made, because it was going to a good home. Mr. Gnomemade's sister-in-law...one of his brother's wife...was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall. We wanted to do something special for her, and these were the perfect colors for her...so I consider that a good reason to break away from my plan.

We saw Mr. Gnomemade's family for the Christmas holidays, so I finished it up in time (putting the binding on while on the plane there).

Like with all the quilts I make and give away, I really hope that she liked it. This is one of my favorites that I've made. It's a lap quilt size, so perfect for snuggling during the snowy winter.

I really love the pattern from the book, and I look forward to making other quilts from the book...but I guess I should finish up the others that I have pending - or that I've started over the holidays!

One Step Closer...

2011-01-06T11:30:00.006-05:00

...to completing my own personal UFO challenge! This is the final product of the long-ago finished Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-A-Long. When did that happen? 2009? Whoops! I guess I take a while to make quilts. I've been working on it for quite a while now...and even longer than that!

Well, here it is in its finished glory. It's very busy and loud - not quite my style, but the fabric was perfect for its receipient - a wonderful woman who has been very good to Mr. Gnomemade and I since we moved here. This was our way of saying thank you to her.

I apologize for the rather poor photo. It was snapped very quickly at the end of November in a hallway when we hadn't seen the sunlight in a week or so. One of my students took it and I was running out the door to bring it to its receipient.

It's recipient was very gracious and seemed to like the quilt - or at least that's what she told me! I hope it's true!

Happy 2011

2011-01-04T19:10:00.005-05:00

Happy 2011!

Like almost everyone, it seems, 2010 flew by and I'm not quite sure where it went. I had such grand plans for the last quarter of the year, but it just got crazy. Work truly became the main event in mine and Mr. Gnomemade's lives, so there wasn't much else that got done. In fact, we haven't even looked through our professional wedding photos!

With a new year, comes new goals. I like everyone else would like 2011 to be a year where I can accomplish a great many things, but more than anything I'm looking for balance - the opportunity to find some harmony in my life that allows us to be happy. Now 2010 was great - Mr. Gnomemade and I made it official, we spent time with family, had some wonderful vacations/getaways, and more. But, I'd love for 2011 to be even beter.

One thing I wish I had done more in 2010 is craft. I have so many projects that I want to work on - not to mention so much fabric I've stashed away. So, while I didn't do too well with my personal UFO challenge for 2010, I'm going to work on it for the New Year!

So, for 2011, I'm going to try to craft something every day. Now, it may just mean taking a couple of embroidery stitches, or working on a binding, or perhaps like these past four days doing more! 2011 was off to a great start - on New Year's Eve, Mr. Gnomemade took me out fabric shopping to start off the new year right. On Saturday and Sunday, I got several hours to myself where I put together most of a quilt top and finished up the borders on my Parents-in-Law Surprise Quilt! Last night, I put the borders on my new quilt top and today I put together the quilt sandwich on my Parents-in-Law's quilt. Now that's the way I want to kick off 2011 and hopefully keep it going!

I also want to be better about blogging - if I'm going to be crafting more, I love having it all recorded. Not to mention maybe it'll keep me on track for crafting!

Now, there's lots of other stuff I want to accomplish - go to the gym more, eat better, watch less bad TV, etc. But I really want to craft more...

So here's to 2011! Year of the craft!

ABC Baby Quilt!

2010-09-07T10:00:00.004-04:00

A great friend had his first baby this summer. She was born in late June - 20 days after he and his wife came to our wedding. Mr. Gnomemade and I were thrilled to have them there and get to see them before such a big event in their life.

Welll, the little one arrived and she's absolutely beautiful. This is the same couple who I gave a wedding quilt to when they got married a couple years ago, so I figured it was only appropriate to give their new little bundle of joy a quilt too!

Now, getting married and going on a honeymoon didn't give me a lot of time to put something together, so thank goodness for some really cute cheater panels!

Such a cute theme and hopefully one they like for the newest member of their family! (And another UFO challenge item complete!)

Batik Color Sample Quilt

2010-09-06T09:30:00.002-04:00

Now, it's never happened before, but I made a quilt that I don't have a home for. Up until now, everytime I've started a project, it's been for a certain person in mind. They always have homes they are going to go to, and in fact, with the exception of the one I just made Mr. Gnomemade, not one quilt has stayed in my home. (Wait, that's a lie - I have kept one Thanksgiving small wall-hanging).

But, a quilt larger than 20 x 20? Never happened. Until now.

A couple of years ago, I was in a small quilt shop when I came across a kit. I'd never purchased a quilt kit before then, and I'd actually never used batik fabrics. I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone, and picked up the kit. I thought it was really cool, and something completely different than anything I've done.

So, here's the final project! I'm pretty proud of it myself.

Now, just to figure out what the heck to do with it! It doesn't match anything in my house, but I think it's really cool. Maybe my office? It used to be a supply closet (no joke), so I'm afraid the quilt will overpower my little area in the world!

Mom's Americana Quilt

2010-09-05T09:00:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I challenged myself to a UFO completion! , part of my post-wedding/summer plans was to try to get a handle on all of my unfinished projects. I've been lucky to have lots of projects started, and some new exciting fabrics and patterns come in over the past year. I'm itching to get started on the new stuff, but know realistically that I should probably finish up all the old ones before I get started! I've been trying to keep my sidebar up-to-date with all my UFO's, but even that doesn't even touch some of the projects I need to work on.

To start this effort to finish up all my UFO's, I tackled a project that is long overdue. For one of my mom's big birthdays, I put together a quilt top. Mom loves all things Americana, and I'd been collecting red, white and cream prints for a while. I put together the top and presented it to her for the birthday. I had just started hand quilting it, and hadn't accounted for how long it would take.

Fast forward a couple of years (yes, I really am that far behind) and I finally got all the hand quilting done. Mom and Dad visited in early August and I was finally able to present to her the final project! SCORE!

So here it is...

And the hand quilting that took me so long to finish...

I think she likes it an I'm just happy to finally make good on my gift!

UFO Challenge

2010-09-04T13:50:00.004-04:00

This summer, I challenged myself to complete all my UFO's. Part of my post-wedding/summer plans was to try to get a handle on all of my unfinished projects. I've been lucky to have lots of projects started, and some new exciting fabrics and patterns come in over the past year. I'm itching to get started on the new stuff, but know realistically that I should probably finish up all the old ones before I get started!

After getting back from the honeymoon and unpacking some great wedding gifts, I took stock of all my unfinished projects. I promised myself I would get through them as quickly as possible. And, so, I hunkered down over the month of July to get them done!

Now, I was hoping I'd get them done during the summer, but August quickly crept up on me and I found myself consumed by a 19-day work week with 15-18 hour days. So, I got through some of the projects, but not all of them.

So, rather than abandon the project by saying, well the summer's over, I'm going to keep going.

This July I completed several items:

Mom's Americana Quilt
Batik Color Sample Quilt
ABC Baby Quilt

I look forward to blogging about these finishes soon and posting some photos of my industriousness.

But, for the rest of 2010, I'm going to focus on the other UFOs/WIPs in my life, including:

Flower Power Pillows
Quilt Along Quilt
Christmas Embroidery Quilt
Wedding Autograph Quilt
In-Laws Surprise Quilt
Pizza Box Challenge Quilt

Now, I'm sure there are others, but those are the big ones. I've got to fit in completing some projects to sell at my Quilt Guild's quilt show, as well as some Christmas presents, but I'm not letting myself cut into the beautiful fabrics I've purchased over the past year until those are done! (And my, those are tempting - my birthday presents from my parents was a shopping trip to a local quilt shop, so I had to tuck all my purchases away in a drawer to keep from tempting myself!)

Wish me luck as I embark upon this adventure! Hope I can keep to my promise of not starting something new!

The Wedding Quilt

2010-09-02T20:52:00.007-04:00

Well, one of my projects for the wedding was a surprise - for everyone except me. I know it's tradition to exchange gifts between the bride and groom for the wedding, so I wanted to do something special. Mr. Gnomemade got me a great gift that arrived before the wedding - a Le Creuset lasagna pan. It was too heavy and too much a logistical nightmare for him to get it to Williamsburg, but I was able to transport his gift!

For months I'd been working secretly - when he was at work, at church, etc. - to make him a quilt. He'd been asking ever since I started quilting when I was going to make him one, so I figured there would be no better time to! He walked in a couple of times while I was working on it, so I was certain he knew what I was up to and was just sparing my feelings.

But, turns out he had no clue. So, on our wedding day, he opened my gift and found this...

Front of the quilt

Detail of front

Back of quilt

The colors are a little bit off - it was sunny out taking the photos, but I found lots of fabrics that are his favorite colors - blues, greens and browns. I actually had been collecting them for several years now. Some of the backing is leftover fabric I had from a Williamsburg quilt I made for another friend's wedding.

Our Winner

2010-08-03T08:47:00.000-04:00

Where did I go? How is it the beginning of August already and I didn't even post the winner of my blog giveaway? So sorry about that.

I asked the Random Number Generator (aka Mr. Gnomemade) to choose.

So congratulations to...Megan!

I've e-mailed you to get your address. Thanks to everyone for participating!

The Wedding Day...

2010-07-31T10:46:00.002-04:00

Our big day was great. We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. It was an amazing day (an amazing weekend all together), and made so special by being surrounded by everyone we love. We really wanted a weekend where we could visit with our guests, and I hope they walked away saying we did. With just over 100 people in attendance, Mr. Gnomemade and I did our best to chat with everyone that day, and throughout the weekend. We really were humbled by how far our friends and family were willing to travel to be with us - from New York, Rhode Island, Boston, Orlando, etc.

The morning of the wedding was spent prepping. The girls met in the bridal suite and had their hair and make-up done. The boys went out to lunch and then spent about 20 minutes putting on their suits. Mr. Gnomemade and I met up in the bridal suite just ourselves, and then we headed out for some photos. (We wanted to get our photos done beforehand so we could enjoy our entire reception and mingle with our guests). Our photographer was wonderful and willing to trek around campus with us - we're still waiting on those photos to arrive, so what you'll see here is those from our family and friends. And Mr. Gnomemade, as he carried a camera with him - the only groom I've ever seen do so.

Our day was hot...99 degrees out! We visited a couple spots on our campus where we met and were being married before meeting up with our families at the chapel. We did our formals together, and then it was time to say "I do." After the ceremony (which we don't have any really good candids of), all our guests assembled in the courtyard of the building where we were married for a group shot.

My maid and matron of honor and I after the ceremony.

Lots of hugging, and a couple more formals later, we were on our way to the reception. Our reception was held at a town hall type building. It had large picture windows and beautiful natural lighting which made it a wonderful location. Our caterer was great, the DJ phenomenal (we're pretty certain people liked her better than us!) and a good time was had by all.

Mr. Gnomemade and I really wanted a fun, relaxed wedding where our guests wouldn't stand on ceremony and really enjoy themselves and I like to think that's what they got. We were blown away by the number of people who could attend, but once there the dance floor was packed, people milled about socializing and everyone enjoyed the food. We were thrilled.

Mr. and Mrs. Gnomemade at the reception

Well, the reception went by like a whirlwind, but we did manage to make it to every table in the place - so we were happy. We were determined to give our guests individualized attention - I mean, how often do you get everyone you love in one room? There were toasts, pie (yes, pie - I don't do cake), lots of dancing, some games and well, a lot of heat (poor little AC just couldn't keep up with us!).

After the reception, the parents got together back at the hotel along with some of our guests, while we went out with our college/high school/work friends to a local tavern - which gave us a great chance to visit.

The next morning, it was up bright and early to greet our guests and bid them goodbye at a brunch. Then Mr. Gnomemade and I packed up and headed off to our car to drive back home, where we were greeted with this...

Thanks to my sister (who served as my maid of honor) and my close friend (my matron of honor) and their signfiicant others, our car got the royal treatment. The balloons and streamers were removed before hitting the highway, but we still got lots of honks (until it rained) for the messages written all over our windows!

So, there you have it - our wedding in a nutshell. I'll be back again soon to post some of the more personal touches we had at the wedding!

Mr. and Mrs. Gnomemade

2010-07-06T17:54:00.000-04:00

Well...we did it! On June 5th we tied the knot in Williamsburg, VA. It was a great day filled with family and friends. The most memorable, or perhaps notable, part of the wedding - other than marrying my best friend? Well, it was hot. No, not just hot...it was HOT! Hot as in, on our wedding day we broke the record high temp by six degrees! Six degrees! The record high had been 93 degrees, and we hit 99 degrees. Thankfully, our chapel and our reception site were air conditioned, but even the A/C had a hard time keeping up.

I've shown a couple of friends photos from the wedding and they've kindly said we were "beaming" or "glowing." But really, we were melting. We took our photos outside before the ceremony, so we were hot! We were married on the college campus where we met, and it's gorgeous, so we couldn't resist.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend celebrating. We had just over 100 guests, and we planned weekend long activities with the goal of being able to spend time with all of them.

The festivities started out really on Wednesday, when my matron of honor arrived, along with one set of wedding guests. We dined that night at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in town. It was a small crowd, but the food, as always was tasty and it was nice to spend some time with my parents and matron of honor.

On Thursday, the future Mr. Gnomemade arrrived - he flew into town after working through Wednesday. We ran some errands and then the real fun began. Our families began to arrive and we had a great dinner at Pierce's BBQ. And then it was off to Bruster's for some tasty ice cream.

On Friday, the girls got their nails done and then Mr. Gnomemade and I took my aunt and uncle on a tour of the college campus. After braving the heat, we got changed and headed off for the rehearsal. Three run-throughs later, our officiant gave us the "all clear" and then it was off to the rehearsal dinner with our family and wedding party.

Our rehearsal dinner was held in a Colonial Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was wonderful and we were treated to strolling misnstrels and colonial traditions.

After that, we immediately met up with more friends and family in Merchant's Square where Mr. Gnomemade and I gave a ghost tour around the colonial village.

It was a busy week, and that was only the beginning. The next day, we got married! Now, I've already rambled on a bit, so I'll save all that info for a little bit later.

What A Month! And a Giveaway!

2010-06-30T17:50:00.007-04:00

It's been almost exactly a month since my last post, and I'm not even sure where to begin! It's been a whirlwind of activity and fun, and only now do I feel like I'm coming up to breathe. So much has happened and I've enjoyed myself so greatly. Now, if I were to go into all of it here, I would be writing a blog that would span multiple pages, and that just seems like too much to read. So, I think I'll break it up over several blogs over the next few days to cover everything. Everything will include...

The wedding - yes, I'm married now!
All the wedding DIY projects I crazily committed to (and did manage to finish on deadline)
The honeymoon to Disney World - so much fun
Our sneak peek of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal in Orlando
A fabulous shop hop where I bought way too much
My personal Summer UFO challenge (and I'm off to a good start!)

But before I go into all that, I want to thank you in advance for reading all my forthcoming rambles with a giveaway (plust this is my 50th post, so it seems like a fun way to celebrate). What's up for grabs? An adorable bundle of three fat quarters. They're all a nice teal blue in color with a stripe and floral hiding underneat the top patterned fat quarter.

How do you win? Well, I thought you'd never ask! It's simple.

I will give you one entry for each of the three following items:

- Leave me a comment
(any comment will do, or if you need some direction, let me know what you want to hear about our wedding)

- Be follower of my blog
(leave me a comment saying you're a follower)

- Post about my giveaway on your blog
(Leave me a comment saying you did so. I'm excited to go check out your blogs, as it gives me incentive to visit your blog and add more blogs to my google reader)

Be sure to leave me a separate comment for each entry - it helps when trying to choose a winner!

I'll choose a random winner using my personal "Random Number Generator" (aka saying to the new-Mr. Gnomemade, "Sweetie, pick a number between 1 and xxx).

Giveaway is open until midnight (EST) on July 4th.
I'm more than happy to ship internationally too.

And Away We Go...

2010-05-31T10:14:00.003-04:00

Well, it's finally here. After almost a month of preparation, the wedding day is only 5 days away! Eek! We're extremely excited here and looking forward to spending the weekend with our family and friends celebrating.

The fiancee and I are absolutely blown away by the number of friends and family who are willing to travel such a distance to spend the big day with us. And we can't wait to celebrate with every single one of them.

I head out of town tomorrow morning, with a car packed full of wedding goodies - including my dress - to make the trip up to Williamsburg. The fiancee will join me later, as he doesn't have the luxury of lots of vacation days like I do.

And so, as you might imagine, as I will be busy with other things in my life other than sewing and crafting, this blog will remain quiet for a bit. Promise to be back soon with some photos and to share all the fun projects we did for the wedding!

We Have a Winner!

2010-05-20T23:51:00.005-04:00

Wow! 362 comments - that's so great! Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog!

I'll get to the part everyone is curious about - the winner. I had the random number generator (the fiancee) choose a number between 1 and 362 and he chose 252 - so...congratulations to Sy! (I sent you an e-mail so be sure to get back to me with your address to send the fat quarters.)

I really enjoyed all of the advice everyone shared and appreciate all the lessons you were willing to offer me about married life. We definitely have a lot of great ideas to sift through and incorporate into our new life together (which will start in 16 days!) We also had some good laughs!

Once again, thanks for stopping by.

Giveaway Day

2010-05-16T19:29:00.006-04:00

EDIT: The giveaway is now closed - thanks for entering.

It's giveaway time - as part of Sew Mama Sew! Giveaway Day! Up for grabs is a set of three fat quarters - all very bright and cherry and just in time for upcoming summer!

There's a yellow stripe, a red/green/yellow plaid and a bright and a cheery floral!

What do you need to do to win this? Well, as I'm getting married in twenty days - leave me a comment with a piece of advice about how to have a great marriage. I look forward to reading your advice. I'll have the random number generator (better known as the fiancee - who will be told "pick a number between 1 and ###) pick a winner. And this will stay open through 10 pm on Thursday, May 20th. I'm more than happy to ship internationally, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Almost Time for...Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

2010-05-16T09:49:00.005-04:00

Sew Mama Sew is hosting their giveaway day officially starting tomorrow and I'm participating! Check back a little bit later tonight to see what I'm giving away.

This is what our wedding looks like...

2010-05-03T22:16:00.003-04:00

So, we're in full swing on the wedding front here in the Gnomemade household. And what does that mean? Well, lots and lots of craft projects of course. All my great ideas - that were such wonderful ideas 11 months ago, all need to become a reality and fast!

Here are the casualties of one such wedding craft project. It kinda looks like a ribbon factory exploded on our carpet. Needless to say, after many hours with a scissors, I then became accquainted with our dustpan and brush and vacuum.

This is the "in process" shot of our party favors. Hopefully the handmade favors will be a hit - though at this point, I'm starting to think I should have bought more and made less - but I know the day-of and afterwards I'll appreciate having made all of our crafts! Let's just hope we get to that day-of - with them all done!

What's left - well we've got our table cards and place cards - all with a gnome theme of course!

Oh My Goodness...I Won!

2010-05-02T10:18:00.003-04:00

So, earlier in April while wandering through the blog-o-sphere, I happened across a wonderful blog run by Carolina Patchworks. She just so happened to have a giveaway going for some of her patterns. So, like a good blogger, I hopped right over to her Etsy shop and took a look at her patterns, per her instructions. She's got some absolutely adorable patterns and is really creative. And to boot, she's just a couple hours up the road from me!

She's really creative with some patterns that make really great use of pre-cuts, and then some that are based on old-school video games (which any child of the 80s can appreciate). So, anyhoo...I took a look around and left her a comment about which pattern I liked best.

Fast forward a couple of days, because naturally I had forgotten to add her blog to my reading list (whoops! I do that a lot), and I got an e-mail from her. And what did it say? I won! And I should e-mail her with my address and the pattern I'd like sent to me! I was so excited. So, off I went back to the Etsy shop and actually ended up changing my mind from my original post to pick out "Walking on Broken Glass"...

Isn't it beautiful? It arrrived in the mail not too long ago. Now, I just need to find a layer cake that I love to make it from. (Hint, hint husband-to-be...birthday is not that far away, and yes, I know I should be focusing on wedding and not sewing - but like that's going to happen!)

Anyways, I'm so excited to try out this new pattern, but that's going to have to wait until after June 5th! Only 34 days remain to the big day!!! Which really means I should stop posting and get back to all the wedding projects in front of me.

Baby-palooza!

2010-04-20T18:28:00.003-04:00

Well, the streak of babies continues around here...this time a second baby boy arrived to a good friend of the family. I've known the mom for my entire life, as our parents met when they were in lamaze class for both the new mom and my older sister.

It's thrilling to welcome another boy into their lives. They already have one whose several years old, so their little family is expanding.

In honor of the newest addition, I put together a baby quilt that is "Pirate Mouse" themed. I came across this flannel at Joann's and couldn't resist. In typical fashion, I forgot to take a photo until after I packaged it up, but I remembered before taping up the box. So here's a glimpse - it's got a really cute striped border and binding too in lots of primary colors.
It went in the mail today along with a gift for the new big brother. Growing up, my mother always included a gift for the older siblings whenever delivering a baby gift. Her feeling was the older children often got neglected when the new baby was showered with gifts. Plus, she always picked something that would help occupy the older sibling. Now that I'm at a point of sending baby gifts, I make it a point to keep this practice alive, so into the box went a Star Wars coloring book and crayons (nicely wrapped up so big brother could open something himself). We went with a Star Wars coloring book because rumor has it the new big brother wanted to name his new little bro "Luke Skywalker."

Amazingly enough this quilt got finished only five days after the baby arrived. For once, I didn't cut it super close, but I did with the thread. I was worried throughout the quilting process I would run out of the thread I was using - a thread I picked up several years ago and have moved since purchasing and can't find by me. Well, I cut it a little close - the bobbin had even less left!

But, I made it - woo hoo. The quilt went in the mail today and hopefully will be to its new owner soon.

Well, That Was a Bit of a Break...

2010-04-18T17:48:00.005-04:00

So, I had every intention of blogging starting in the New Year. I figured - once the holidays are over, I'll have plenty of time not only to blog, but to sew, so I have something to blog about.

How did that work out? Well, my last post was on December 15th, as Blogger liked to remind me of everytime I logged on to read everyone else's consistent and much more up-to-date blogs.

I wish I could say, I was just so busy sewing that I didn't have time to blog, but that's not the case. Rather, my world - or should I say our world - has been overtaken by the wedding! Eeep! According to our wedding website, we have 48 days to go! I can't believe it.

Both myself and the fiancee are getting really excited, but there's still so much to be done. But, we've got the big items covered - DJ, caterer, location, priest, flowers, etc. But who knew there were so many little details to handle! I just took my wedding dress in for alterations earlier this week, and the fiancee and I sat down earlier this weekend to choose a playlist for the wedding!

I'm hoping we'll get it all done in time.

In the meantime, while we've had wedding on the brain, many of our family friends have had babies on the brain. We had three born in just the past month alone, so any major sewing I've done have been for them.

This little quilt went to some friends' of the fiancee who just had a baby girl join their family. And yes, cheater fabric it is - but it's cute!

I've been working on a couple of other projects, which I'll post soon. Oh, and I uncovered some other treasures while prepping for a garage sale (more on that later - we seem to like to make our lives even busier by adding on extra things to do between now and the wedding). But, one of those treasures should be making an appearance here as a giveaway sometime soon as well!

All I Want for Christmas...

2009-12-15T18:03:00.004-05:00

...is to finish my projects in time! I had a great plan this year. I was going to get all of my sewing holiday projects done early - with plenty of time to spare, so as not to worry about the last minute crunch. I had my ideas of what to make for everyone, and even completed shopping for supplies by Veteran's Day.

But, I think I forgot to factor in the baking, shopping, wrapping, shipping, card writing, etc. that goes along with the holiday season. I've also been helping my future M-I-L re-launch her Etsy shop with her knitted items. Because, here it is - just over a week from the big day and I'm going to be scrambling ot get it all done!

So, let's see where I'm at...

Two table runners? Check! (Ok, we can mark that complete). One's made with a "Merry & Bright" charm pack using the disappearing nine patch. The other is made using a "Crazy Eight" mini-honey bun.

Three Santas? If only 33% were a passing grade. Perhaps I can work out some joint custody arrangement between family and friends, but that might get complicated as they all live in different states! Here's one of them complete and ready to mail. However, the rest of them still have their heads (sans beards) sitting to the side on the coffee table and the clothes are just a figment of my imagination. Must get stitchin'.

I do like how this guy turned out though. I used a pattern provided by a friend that she based on a kit she bought a while ago. The htb keeps asking if we can keep him, but maybe next year I'll have time to make one for us!

Tonight will be spent on the Santas' beards, and maybe even a little bit of clothing while watching the So You Think You Can Dance finale. And then wrapping up Santa #1 to get him into the mail tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T11:09:00.003-05:00

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving - albeit, a day early! No huge plans for the holiday here - I'm "working", which means I'm committed to staying in town, so my sister flew in for the holiday. We'll be joined by the fiancee, and a random assortment of co-workers for the big meal. I've hosted for the past three years here, and enjoy the day to cook and eat. Preparations started this past weekend with a huge shopping trip and I spent last night baking two pies and cookies - more on that later.

Below is a photo my parents sent me of the Thanksgiving present I sent them this year. I'm absolutely horrible at taking photos of my own projects before they go to the intended recipient, so I was happy to get this sent to me in my inbox. I've named him "Turkey Frank 2.0". Why 2.0? Well, I made myself one last Thanksgiving, so this is the new and improved version now living in New York!

My sister and I are planning a big shopping trip on Black Friday. I was never brave enough living up North to shop on that day, but found that down here it's much calmer - kinda like a typical shopping day up in NY. So, we'll see what deals we can find!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T17:06:00.002-04:00

Amy over at Park City Girl is hosting a Virtual Quilt Festival! She hosted one last spring, but I was out of town so I couldn't take part in it. I'm thrilled to show off the favorite quilt I've made.

This was a wedding gift made for a good friend and his now wife. It made it in 2007 for an October wedding. The quilt block is called "Peace and Plenty" and is made from Teresa Kogut's "Williamsburg" fabric line. The groom was a year ahead of me in college and we met through several activities we both participated in. He really served as a great mentor and big brother figure in my life, and I was thrilled when he got married. Since he and his wife met in college, and we all went to school in Williamsburg, I couldn't resist when I found this Williamsburg related fabric. Now, I will admit - it took me a little while to hand quilt it, so while they were married in October, the gift arrived in November to them.

Well, that's my quilt! I'm looking forward to seeing all the others out there!

I'm Back!

2009-10-09T16:58:00.003-04:00

It's definitely been a while - I'm not quite sure where the two months have gone! Wait, I take that back - I do know - work and wedding planning. Working at a college, work really kicks into gear starting mid-August and only winds down starting around this time. Add in a visit from the future in-laws, as well as a very quick trip up to our wedding location (6 hour car ride one way), time has flown.

However, I am pleased to say that we have gotten quite a bit accomplished - at least on the wedding front! We have a chapel, a reception site, a caterer, a photographer and a DJ! So, almost all the big decisions are made. I'm wedding dress shopping next weekend, and then it's just a ton of smaller details!

But, with some big decisions made and work winding down, it means I get back to blogging and sewing.

Next up on the blogging front? Participating in the Quilt Festival hosted by Park City Girl (see the button on my sidebar!)

Oh My!

2009-08-08T12:04:00.004-04:00

It's August already! And not even just the start of August - we're eight days into it! I can't believe how quickly the summer has flown by. I had such grand plans: reading, sewing, cleaning, getting a tan. But, I'm still pale and no better read. My sewing room has been sorely neglected.

But, no worries - all of these grand plans have taken a backseat to the excitement of wedding planning! At the end of July, I made a trip up to Williamsburg where the htb and I will be married. My parents came down from NY to meet me and we hunted for some reception locations. We think we've found one, but now it's just waiting on trying to confirm our wedding date with our officiant. Once that comes through, we'll reserve the chapel and reception site and we'll be on our way!!!

People keep asking me all different questions like, have I picked out a dress, or do I have attendants yet? I keep telling them that the only thing I know for certain about my wedding is who the groom will be! But, that's not entirely true, I also had a chance to visit a LQS a couple of weeks ago and picked out some fabric for a quilted wall hanging I hope to make and use instead of a guest book.

Much to most people's surprise, we picked out green and pink as our colors (I think everyone was expecting something darker from me), but I think it's lovely and very spring-like. So, while at the LQS, I found these fabrics from Moda's Nature's Chorus...what do you think?

I'd love your honest opinion - I've now had two people say "REALLY?!?" when I told them these were the colors I picked out, so I'm starting to doubt myself.

Well, it's a beautiful day here in SC, so I'm going to enjoy it before it gets too hot! It's my last weekend of freedom before work kicks into high gear, so I'll probably continue with my trend of reading, and not posting blogs! Enjoy your Saturday!

WIP vs. UFO

2009-07-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

Last night, I had an evening to myself that I finally decided to use to work on a WIP. Here's the progress I've made on my Quilt-A-Long Quilt. Yes, that event held by the Old Red Barn Co. has come and gone, but I'm slow (and apparently didn't accurate read the directions to see that each block was supposed to be different -I guess I really like consistency and even if not, the thought of ripping out my rows entered my mind for about a half a second).

But anyways, as I was working along on this project, I started thinking about the terms "Works in Progress" (WIPs) vs. "Unfinished Objects" (UFOs). Now, I know a lot of quilters use these interchangeably, but I feel like there's definitely a different.

A WIP gives a connotation that you're still working on it - you've visited it fairly recently and while it may not be on the top of the pile, it's still got a shot of getting completed sometime in the foreseeable future.

Whereas, a UFO, well that poor little project has been shoved in a back closet somewhere again - just hoping to see the light of day and the sewing machine. A UFO may or may not be remembered by me, and may have lost my interest so much that I can't even fathom finish it.

So, I guess my question is, when does a WIP become a UFO? Is there some point in time that any illusion of making progress on that project should be given up?

Week In Review

2009-07-09T17:02:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it's already Thursday! Where has the week gone? Oh, yeah - most of it was spent in a medication induced stupor thanks to having two wisdom teeth removed. It was a bit of a whirlwind decision - went in for the consultation last Wednesday and on Friday morning I was having them removed! Not so much fun, but glad to have it over and done with. I'm finally up and about again, and trying to get caught up on dishes, laundry, cleaning and a bunch of organizing!

I hope everyone's Fourth was delightful. Mine was spent on the couch watching TV, though did manage to get to the fireworks display in town the night of my wisdom teeth removal. Don't remember much, but I did have a sno-cone...yum!

We did try to celebrate here...

...this was the celebration at my house while watching the Boston Pops on TV. I just love the Boston Pops. The HTB (husband-to-be...we'll try it and see how I like it), and I were able to see the Boston Pops play on the fourth when we lived in Boston. We also had the chance to visit the barge where they set off the fireworks in the Charles River, which was a really neat experience. (A little scary too when you think about how much firepower you're standing on).

Anyways, now that I'm up and running again, I'm hoping to get some sewing done again. However, having your wisdom teeth out does allow you some time to catch up on blog reading. One of the blogs I follow, Green Fairy Quilts, is having a great giveaway, as well as doing some real great things - so you should go check it out!!! Tell her I sent you!

We Have a Winner...er...Winners!

2009-07-01T17:41:00.004-04:00

Finally my week has slowed down enough that I'm able to pick a winner. My best friend and her husband were here for an overnight visit on Sunday. Monday was full of work and a migraine, and last night was a bachelorette party for a colleague (very tame - we painted pottery!)

I'm killing a little bit of time until another friend comes over tonight to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Has anyone else seen that show? I love it - been hooked since season 2!

Anyway, the real reason you came was to see who won. As you can see below, I used a very technical method to choose my winners. And the winners are...

Congratulations Amy (no blog) and Katie! Amy, since your name was out of the hat first, you won the quilt pattern. Katie, the fat quarters will be on their way to you! I'll e-mail each of you as soon and I'm done posting here to get your address info!

Hope everyone's having a great first day of July!

When You Fall Asleep at 8:30 pm...

2009-06-27T12:10:00.003-04:00

...craft night becomes craft morning. I had all of the best intentions to spend last night crafting, but I was just so tired and worn out, that after taking a hot shower, I just fell into bed.

Well, that meant I woke up early today (well, at least early for me - 8 am...yeah, if you do that math it means I slept for almost 12 hours, I guess I was tired!).

Since then, I've spent the morning crafting. Here's what I've been working on:

Cutting and piecing the strips of fabric for the Old Red Barn Co.'s quilt-a-long. I'm pretty far behind, but I'm making a push today to catch up! This is one of the fabrics I'm using from a line called the Power of Healing!

Nametags for next year's staff. I supervise six wonderful women and I try to make them nametags for them to post on their doors. This year, I decided to go with fabric.

It's getting to be lunchtime, so I'm going to find some food and then maybe visit a brand new indoor flea market in the area. Hopefully I'll get through some more sewing later today!

And don't forget about my giveaway! Leave a post there to be entered!

I Hereby Declare...

2009-06-26T17:10:00.004-04:00

...tonight to be craft night!

So, to you, the dirty dishes in the sink - get comfortable, because you're staying there. And the dinner waiting to be made? You're bumped in favor of some form of take-out, that may even be delivered! Same goes for you laundry - you get to see another day in the hamper. And dust bunnies? Well, I'm coming for you tomorrow before company arrives...but you've got at least 12 hours.

Wish me luck - I'll give an update later!

Oh, and don't forget, I've got a giveaway going - scroll down. Leave a comment on this post or the one below and I'll enter you. Open until Sunday!

Big News...and a Giveaway to Celebrate!

2009-06-21T14:20:00.005-04:00

EDITED: Thank you to all who entered - the giveaway is now closed. I'll pick a winner soon!

Some big news here in Gnomemade world. The BF is no longer the BF! After 7 years, 6 months and 4 days (but hey, who was counting) of dating, he proposed on Friday night! I can't begin to explain how happy and excited I am!!! He did a great job with the proposal and I'm so thrilled to begin this next chapter in our life together!

Well, since I'm so ecstatic, I felt like a giveaway was in order. I'm going to do two items for a giveaway...

Giveaway item #1: A Flutterbys and Flowers pattern designed by Sarah Tuttle. The finished measurements are 58" x 74".

Giveaway item #2: A cute little pack of three blue and yellow themed fat quarters!

So, if you want to win - simply leave a comment! Anything will do. I'll give you an extra entry if you're a follower - so, please let me know that in your comment section as well! I'll pick two winners in a random drawing. This giveaway will close next Sunday (June 28th) at midnight!

Oh, and now that he's no longer the bf, any idea how to refer to him on here? The FI? I don't know...hmm.

I'm Back!

2009-06-14T12:34:00.004-04:00

I've been MIA for a while. I took a week off from work and headed up North to visit my parents for a while. I haven't seen them since New Year's, so it was a long overdue visit. However, the main purpose was to assist my family. My grandmother is moving out of her home where she's lived for 62 years. I spent my days cleaning out cupboards, cleaning up items and pricing them for a garage sale. Other than that, there really wasn't much time to do anything else - though I did catch up with two friends, and of course shared a lot of time, conversation, and thankfully, laughs with my family. Cleaning out a house and helping my grandmother move is a bittersweet process.

On Friday and Saturday we held a garage sale at her home. It went really well, thanks in part to the three other garage sales in a two block radius! While hanging up signs for our garage sale, my mom and I took a look at the other ones. One was held by a fellow quilter - who was selling her quilting frame (too tough to send to SC). But, she also had some great fabrics for sale. Below is the stash I picked up...

The whole stash cost $12! That's right - $12! Each bundle had at least 4 fat quarters. And the darker Thimbleberries fabric is a yard of each print.

I've always wanted to play around with these fabrics - but never bought any - so I was thrilled to find them.

I have some other photos from my trip, which I'll share in a later post. Now it's time for brunch and to visit with the bf!

Just What I Need...

2009-06-01T17:58:00.004-04:00

...another project! But after hours of browsing different blogs for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway, I couldn't resist after seeing so many people get involved with this one...

I just ordered some fabrics off the web for CHEAP! It's the only way I could justify participating (I struggle finding coordinating fabric within my own stash). I'm excited to get started. The fabrics I found are perfect for a gift for a wonderful woman who has been especially kind to me over the past two years.

The fabrics should be in the mail tomorrow or the next day, so hopefully, I'll get started once I get back from vacation (not exactly in line with what the quilt-a-long suggests, but I'm already two weeks behind, so what's another two?)

On another note, I realized as I was reading through all my comments from the giveaway, I never let people know where the patterns I used came from. The tablerunner was courteous of P.S. I Quilt's tutorial. And the bags came from a pattern in Better Homes and Gardens "Quilts and More" Fall 2008 issue. So, if you want to make your own, now you can!

Introducing...

2009-05-31T22:36:00.008-04:00

My newly named sewing machine...

Adelaide (or Addy for short)!

Many thanks to Carrie from Delaware who first suggested the name. She wrote "I like the flower power purse. How about Adelaide. You can call her Addy for short :)"

So, the flower power purse will be on its way to Deleware.

As for the other two prizes...I used a random number generator and the winners are...

Kim, who wrote" I love the patriotic table runner- SO CUTE!!! I think your machines name should be Sally."

(Kim, I can't access your blog profile, so please e-mail or leave a comment with how I can get in touch with you! If I don't hear from you, I'll need to find a different home for the table runner.)

And...

Mommyof2Girlz who wrote, "Hi, i'm Stephanie from San Diego, CA...she looks like an "Adeline". It means "Noble". Thanks for the giveaway :)" (And it's kinda ironic that she picked a name so close to the one I ultimately chose! But I promise, it was random. )

So, the black and white and red all over bag will be heading to San Diego!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my giveaway. The response was overwhelming!!! I really enjoyed reading through all your comments and checking out some of your blogs (and I'm definitely going to check out more as I have time!)

It was tough picking just one name. I sat in front of my sewing machine for a while trying to figure out which one just felt right. But, with my love of Broadway musicals, I couldn't resist Adelaide, one of the leading ladies in Guys and Dolls. However, if it was up to the BF, my sewing machine would now definitely be Mr. Winklebottom!

Well, it's getting late, and it's back to work on Monday for me!! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Name Game Giveaway

2009-05-26T23:52:00.017-04:00

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who entered. This giveaway is now closed. I am combing through all of your wonderful suggestions and trying to figure out which of the great names calls to me! I'll post soon our winner(s)!

Well, it's giveaway day here - as hosted by Sew Mama Sew! I'm really excited about the giveaway, and I promise, it's in this post, but first humor me for a very short story.

For my 24th birthday, my parents gave me my first sewing machine. Up until then, I'd only used my mother's when I was at home. But as I had just graduated with my Master's and was moving to Boston for my first job, getting to that machine was going to prove difficult. Armed with now much more free time (no more required readings, no more papers), I decided I wanted to take up quilting/sewing. So with my new trusty sewing machine and a Better Homes and Garden book on quilting, I gave it a whirl.

Immediately, I was hooked and me and my sewing machine have bonded over the years. As I was working on my giveaways on her, I came to realize that unlike pretty much everything else I own my sewing machine doesn't have a name...which just won't do. (On a side note...my car's name is Dr. Talbot, which is a story for another time, but does involve a late night infomercial and a cat) .

Thus brings me to my giveaway.

To enter, what you need to do is this...tell me your name, where you're from, which of the three giveaway items you like best and suggest a name for my sewing machine.

Entries will close on Sunday, May 31st around 10 am-ish EST (or whenever I can get myself out of bed!). I'll pick my favorite name, christen my sewing machine with it and the winner will receive their favorite of my giveaways. Everyone else's name will go into a drawing to win the remaining gifts!

Here are your choices of giveaway items (the colors aren't great - I took these fairly late at night, which means no natural light!)...

Patriotic Table Runner (in honor of Memorial Day just past and 4th of July coming up)

Flower Power Purse

Black, White and Red All Over Bag & Coin Purse

And to tempt you even more, I just recently went to a quilt store garage sale, and picked up bunches of fun things for future giveaways - so become a follower if you want to get in on some more upcoming giveaways!

A Little Early or A Little Late?

2009-05-24T17:59:00.004-04:00

I'll let you decide. A little while back, a few women from my quilt guild taught me some basic embroidery. I came across Gail Pan's block of the month a while ago, but just recently thought I'd try my hand at it.
For my first real embroidery block, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm looking forward to trying the others she has - I'm 4 months behind (soon to be 5), but at least I'm ahead of the game for my Christmas gifts!

Busy Day Ahead...

2009-05-23T10:21:00.006-04:00

Today's a big day! One of my former employees, who delightfully has transitioned to being a very good friend is getting married today! She and her soon-to-be husband live in town, and are getting married at a local church, so I've had the pleasure of being involved in the wedding. As I speak there are hundreds of bubbles currently sitting in my living room having been recently tied up with ribbon in her colors. Thank goodness for the BF, as he was a significant help in doing all of those last night - otherwise I'd still be tying and curling ribbons.

There are also four dozen cupcakes just waiting to be iced and loaded into the car to take over to the church. The bride and groom decided they didn't want a traditional cake, so their family and friends are baking funfetti cupcakes with white icing. She's got a cute cupcake tower that I've been made responsible for - so wish me luck!!!

Before I head off to ice cupcakes and load my car and get dressed myself, I thought I'd leave you with a photo of a past project. Since I haven't been doing much sewing myself right now (too much baking and ribbon curling!), at least I can show that I do quilt sometimes!

In honor of the wedding today, here are photos of a quilt I made for a very good friend and his bride for their wedding in October 2007. They met, went to school and were married in Williamsburg VA, so I couldn't think of a better use of all the Teresa Kogut "Williamsburg" fabrics I found on a shopping expedition. It was machine pieced, but I did all the quilting by hand.

It ended up being much larger than I anticipated - almost covered a full bed.

Here's some detail of the end - I didn't realize how blurry my photos were.

The block was called "Peace and Plenty" - I think. I figured it was a good wish for newlyweds.

Hope you all enjoy your day!

May Giveaway Day

2009-05-19T10:49:00.004-04:00

The wonderful Sew Mama Sew Blog is hosting a May Giveaway Day! I happened to stumble upon it by my newest hobby - blog-hopping!

This Giveaway Day is the second one they've held - the first being in December. It's a day for bloggers everywhere to host a give-away. The giveaway can be anything related to handmade goodness and needs to be up until May 31st! All the details can be found on the link above.

I'm planning on participating - I've wanted to do a giveaway to give back to all the ones I've entered since I joined the blogging world. So, I've got a couple ideas of what I may giveaway and I can't wait to see all the others offered. They'll have a full list of everyone participating!

Spring Wear

2009-05-14T21:25:00.003-04:00

It's starting to get hot down here in the South. Just a few weeks ago, I switched out all my winter clothes for my summer clothes - though living down in SC, my real winter clothes never really make an appearance.

My wardrobe is in need of some updating, so how could I resist when I found the Spring Top Tutorial from Made by Rae over at Sew Mama Sew, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I've never made any clothes other than some pajama pants (well, there was that sweatshirt I made in 7th grade home ec. class...though that one is probably best still suited for simply gardening or never leaving the house). But anyways, with very little practice, I took a stab. Here's how it turned out...

I couldn't get it to hang flat anywhere that had natural light...so...off to the grass we go...

I really like the contrast of the two fabrics.

It was definitely a learning experience, and I don't know if I'll be starting another one soon. It's a wonderful tutorial and very easy to follow - I may just stick with buying my clothes and spending my sewing time on my other crafting. But, perhaps, if I learned as much as I think I did with this one, I may try it again!

I Think I Need A Checklist...

2009-05-07T20:53:00.002-04:00

...for when I finish a project. I'm not sure if it's because I'm usually cutting it close to my deadline, or because I'm just so excited to send a project off to the recipient, but I seem to always forget to take a photo of my projects.

Case in point...I made a basket for the May basket swap, yet taped up the box, and then realized I had no photo.

So, you would think I learned from my mistakes? Nope.

What did I do this week - finished up a project late at night, fell asleep with the best of intentions of photographing it in the morning light and then sending it off. But, looks like I missed a step. I ended up wrapping the project up, put it in the mail and then on the walk back from the post office only then realized I had no photo.

Oh well. It's a mother's day present for my mom, so I guess I can get a picture of it the next time I'm up visiting the folks!

So, I guess this brings this to my checklist idea. Maybe I need a visual reminder (more than my camera sitting on my desk just asking to be used) to remind me of what needs to happen before the tape goes on the package!

Happy May...Basket

2009-05-02T09:48:00.004-04:00

Susan over at Blackberry Creek Home Arts hosted a "May Day" basket swap, which I participated in. We were paired up with another swapper to create a "May Day Basket" for our partner with all of her favorite things.

After a bit of deliberation and some shopping, I put together my package for my partner who loves reading, birds, gardening and kayaking. Here it is all packaged up and ready to go...

Well, wouldn't you know it...as soon as I put the tape on the box, I realized I never got a photo of what was inside. But, basically, I got a couple of great reads, some gardening books, and made a basket from Pink Penguin's tutorial out of the Moda "Celebrate Spring" line.

My basket arrived in the mail this past week, but I waited to open it until last night. It was such a lovely package, that I hated to cut through that butterfly. Even the lady at the post office, who handed me my package commented how cute it was.

Inside, it was chock-full of goodies! A lovely basket with a note pad, tissue pack, fabric, needles, a pin and some tasty looking chocolates!

My partner has an etsy shop where she sells thes adorable little birds - don't they just scream (or should I say "tweet") spring?

And such a lovely basket. My partner also is a paper artists - I know that's not the right term, bu the appropriate one escapes me, so this cone basket is just wonderful.

I had never heard of the tradition of May baskets, so it was lots of fun to participate. Thank you Susan for organizing and thank you Ginny for my treats!

Social Gnome

2009-04-26T10:24:00.003-04:00

I feel as though I've been MIA for a while here. And I guess for good reason - since my last post was over a week ago. But what a week plus it has been!

The trip to Williamsburg was wonderful. It was a lot of catching up with the BF's friends, wedding-related duties, and of course, eating! The BF and I joke that we always end up eating our way through Williamsburg when we're there.

Overall, the trip was delightful - albeit, very long time in the car. The wedding was beautiful and the bride and groom very happy. I wish I had some good pics to share, but the BF is the photographer in this relationship, and they're still all on his camera. However, I do have a couple of shots of campus (and the building where the wedding took place), as well as Colonial Williamsburg...

This is the Wren Building - the oldest continually used academic building in the country. The wing on the right is where the chapel is housed and where the wedding happened.

We also took advantage of the gorgeous weather in Wmbg to stroll through CW (Colonial Williamburg) a bit. It's always pretty in the spring.

After we got back late Sunday night, it's just been a whirlwind of activities. My quilt guild met on Monday night, and I had to work after that meeting. Then Tuesday, I saw "Legally Blonde: The Musical" in Charlotte. Wednesday was birthday dinner for a friend. Thursday was a bridal shower I helped host for another friend. Then came Friday, where I basically just laid on the couch, ate leftovers and watched my Netflix. Up early the next morning to proctor an exam and then do some cleaning around the apartment, which I guess brings us to right now.

After a good night's sleep, I'm ready to tackle some quilting projects. Hopefully, I'll have something to show for myself soon - especially since some of the deadlines I have set for myself are coming up very soon!

Roadtrip!

2009-04-16T11:37:00.002-04:00

Nothing like a last minute project before you hit the road. I'm headed out of town in just a bit to head up to Williamsburg, VA for a wedding. The BF's college friend is getting married, he's a groomsman, so we're headed up to see friends and celebrate with them. It should be a lot of fun - though it's been a push to the finish to be ready to head out of town. I still need to fill up the car with gas and check tire pressure, but I've got a bit of time since the BF is still at work until about 1 pm today.

We're looking forward to our trip. Williamsburg is home to the BF's and my undergraduate alma mater, so it's really like home for us. It's actually where we met, so it holds even more significance. We try to get up there at least once a year, though with a six hour drive, and limited vacation time, I'm not sure if that's always going to work.

But anyway, onto the project - since that's what this blog is supposed to be about. Another one of the BF's friend and his wife are expecting their second child in May. I was hoping to get a quilt done in time, but let's be honest - I dream big. Since we just found out they're going to make it to the wedding, I wanted to have something for the new little guy (yup, it's a boy) when we see them. So, this morning, I put together these...

I've made these bibs from "Bend the Rules Sewing" before for a baby shower for a colleague at work. She stopped me in the hall just a few days ago and said she just loves them - so with that ringing endorsement, I figured they might be perfect for the new baby on the way!

Well, I should make sure I have everything packed, grab some lunch, get gas, etc. Enjoy your weekends!

Finally!

2009-04-13T22:17:00.003-04:00

Something to show for myself! See, I really was working hard. I just have a nasty habit of starting multiple projects and never actually finishing one for a long long while.

This was a pretty quick start to finish for me though - just about a week. On an expedition to IKEA, I purchased a TV stand for my living room. It's a beautiful wood piece, which I'm certain my heavy TV is going to scratch up like crazy. So, currently, the TV is sitting on a make-shift protective layer of some old placemats and a coaster - not so attractive.

I was browsing blogland when I came across a tutorial for a Disappearing Nine-Patch table runner over at Rachel's blog. I'd been itching to try a disappearing nine-patch and this finally pushed me over the edge - plus I finally had a good reason to make something.

So, after a bit of browsing on Etsy (I love that site), I settled on the Cotton Blossom's charm pack and waited for it to arrive in the mail.

Once it arrived, I got to work....

It matches my decor in my living room really well, so I'm excited. Plus, it's got that wonderful crinkly goodness I read about on blogs about machine-quilting and then putting it in the wash.

I was pretty happy that I could find some coordinating fabrics for the backing and binding in my stash - I'm trying to work through.

Next up is to put it under the TV - I'm just kinda sad so much of it will be hidden! It's one of the first few projects I'm keeping for myself!

Where has a week gone?

2009-04-11T10:42:00.002-04:00

I'm not quite sure where over a week has gone since I last posted. I'd love to say I've been having glamorous adventures, but honestly, I've just been working and trying to get through the week. I have been productive on the quilting/sewing front, but haven't gotten far enough along with any project to feel like it's worthy of showing here.

Luckily, it's a low key weekend here in SC for me. We'll celebrate Easter with just a small dinner for the two of us (turkey, since I hate ham). But other than that, no real plans. Perhaps I'll get a project done?

Cute Easter Giveaway!

2009-04-02T12:42:00.002-04:00

One of the blogs I follow is having a really cute Easter giveaway. Check out Sew Fantastic's blog for a wonderful giveaway from Aly's Esty store, Bliss Forest.

Those bunnies and gnomes are just so cute. I just love the Ninja bunny! It's so creative, and so cute!

Look How Beautiful!

2009-03-31T10:27:00.006-04:00

I received my bag in the mail from my Charming Handbag swap partner. I was happy to learn earlier this week that my bag arrived safely to its new home, and was thrilled to get this lovely bag in the mail - thanks so much Lorna! I love the color combination of blue and brown and the tissue holder is just adorable. Oh, and I can't wait to play around with the fabrics!

Sorry the photo's not great - I don't get a ton of natural light in my apartment.

Today is a day off from work for me - yippee! So, I'm hoping to run some errands and hopefully have some time at home to work on some of my projects. If all goes according to plan - but when does it ever - I'll have some photos of some projects up online soon!

Happy Tuesday.

Mail on it's way!

2009-03-24T17:28:00.004-04:00

I made it to the post office just before closing today - cut it pretty close! But, I was able to get my "Charming Handbag" on it's way to it's new owner. I really enjoyed making this one and making it for someone else definitely made me step outside my comfort zone of fabric choices. I'm hoping she enjoys the bag, as much as I enjoyed participating in the swap.

Here are some photos of my creation...

I was pretty proud of myself for how well the seams on the side matched up (not to brag, but it's a first for me).

The fabrics are from Amy Butler's "Lotus" collection and I picked them up at Mary Jo's when I was there last week.

We were encouraged to add some "crafty" items to the package as well, so I sent along some fun fabrics - didn't get a pic of them - which hopefully she enjoys and can use.

My partner doesn't know who I am, so even with the pics up on my blog, she will still be surprised when it arrives. Hopefully she enjoys it!

I'm looking forward to receiving my bag - we're supposed to mail them out no later than March 31st! The swapper who has me left me a message letting me know she's making mine, so I'm thrilled to have met a new friend on the internet and see what she creates - it's her first swap too!

Past Projects #1

2009-03-20T19:10:00.004-04:00

I'm enjoying a couple of nice days off from work. Headed up to Mary Jo's yesterday and had a ball going through all the fabric choices. I came home with a bunch of stuff - but almost all of it was on my shopping list, so I feel pretty good about it. My favorite find was some "themed" fabric for a quilt I think I finally can start after putting it off for two years.

I spent today enjoying some quiet time at home, while also finishing a book. I also started and finished my "Charming Handbag" for the BTRS swap. I'm hoping to get it into the mail either tomorrow, but most likely on Monday. After it gets approval from my bf to make sure it's worthy of sending along to someone else. I was super excited about participating in the swap, but am worried that the receipient of my bag will be disappointed in my skill level. I'll post photos once it's in the mail.

I figured I might share some photos of my past projects - I've made a point to photograph almost every project I've completed- since all but one have been given away. These I'm somewhat embarrassed by - there my first attempts. You can tell that I'm definitely self-taught and I was still learning about color choice. But they were made with love for several of my staff members. I actually made 9 over the course of a year plus (the tops were done in a year, but took me a little longer to quilt). These are four of them - and I'll post the other four I have photos of sometime soon. I missed getting a photo of one.

My first quilt ever - it was music themed and had so many problems!

My second top - but the last of the nine to be quilted - the girl I gave it to loved purple!

This one is currently residing in California.

Not a great shot, but I liked the earthtone colors.

This is the bf's favorite - for all of these I complete just made up patterns based on what I thought would look cool. I was shocked later to learn that you could buy patterns for quilts!

Yay...One Project Finished!

2009-03-18T22:26:00.005-04:00

Baby steps...literally and figuratively around here. In an earlier post, I mentioned that a friend who I attended school in London with just had a baby (and by just, I mean early January). Well, the goal was to get back in the swing of knitting and throw together a baby blanket. However, the best laid plans always seem to get side tracked.

My friend sent pics of her little guy, who is absolutely adorable. In every photo he's decked out in tons of jungle animal print accessories. It seems to me that mom and dad went with a jungle theme for the little kiddo, so who am I to fight that?

When I was at the Shop Hop last month - right after getting the photos, I found the cutest panel, which just had to be swapped in place of the knitted blanket (that currently is gathering dust next to an end table in my living room). After a bit of frustration and some mis-steps with my sewing machine, I was able to "successfully" machine quilt my first baby quilt.

I think it's really cute. And as I said...with this being my first attempt at machine quilting I was fairly "successful". Luckily, some cute applique letters covered up the bunching!

And so, now it's ready to be dropped in the mail and heading out to Colorado!

In the meantime, I'm getting my game face on. I've got two days off from work now, and I'm planning a fun-filled weekend. Tomorrow is a trip up to Mary Jo's, and then to meet the bf for some Cheesecake Factory. On Saturday - it's off to the brand new IKEA! Yay vacation!

Domestic Bliss in the Kitchen

2009-03-16T21:28:00.003-04:00

I love to cook. After having attended culinary school, I always get asked if I can make "fancy" things. It usually involves a conversation something like this:

Watching the food network....

Boyfriend: Oooh, rack of lamb...can you make that?

Me: Yes.

BF: Did you make it in school?

Me: Yes.

BF: Will you ever make it again?

Me: Probably not.

Despite my "training", I really prefer comfort food - and now that I have my own kitchen, the food my mom always made. My prize recipes are the ones I grew up with...and a few more that have been added in over the years. It's relaxing and rewarding to whip up something that I know is going to taste really good and make my soul happy.

I usually don't care if it's fancy or even looks pretty, but this past Sunday, as I was playing around in the kitchen all morning, I couldn't help but be proud of how pretty my quiche came out...

Not to brag...but doesn't that just look like it's supposed to? During this cooking session, I also put together a pot of Italian Turkey Meatball Egg Drop Soup. Neither mom or I can take credit for that recipe - it came from Rachel Ray via someone else's blog. (I can't remember who, but I really should figure that out and thank the person). This soup is soooooo good. It is a highly requested meal from my self-proclaimed non-soup eating boyfriend.

All this was topped off by my very favorite "Fast Fixin' Chocolate Cake." This was the cake I always had my mom make me for my birthday and now making it myself, feel like perhaps she was always happy I did - it involves 5 ingredients plus water, one spoon and a 9x13 cake pan - that's it - no bowls, no beaters, nothin else. But, oh the chocolatey goodness.

On that note...I'm going to go eat some. So much for all the good work I did today at the gym!

What a Difference a Week Makes

2009-03-10T18:06:00.014-04:00

I've been away from the world of blogging for about a week thanks to the joys of just feeling plain ol' icky. When I last wrote, my choice of footwear was this...

These are my very pretty pink boots that I acquired while living in Boston. They were necessary for traversing the Boston Common everyday as I shuttled between my multiple work sites. I absolutely loved them, and actually are a large part of a story that involves me being picked up for armed bank robbery - which perhaps one day I'll share here.

But, back to my main theme - the difference of a week. Well, last Monday was the "snow day" of a couple inches of the white stuff (that consequently was really good packing snow and resulted in a rather fun snowball fight with the bf). And now on to this week, and my choice of footwear for this past Monday (as in yesterday)...

Yup...flip flops! Those accompanied a nice dress for work, as it was 80 degrees and the AC hadn't yet really kicked in at work. I'm loving the warm weather (it was 70 something today, and is supposed to be back in the 80's tomorrow). But I know it's not going to last - I think we're dropping back to the 40s and 50s on Thursday and Friday - ugh.

Well, the weather isn't the only thing that a week changed. A week ago (and even more so this past weekend), these were my "accessories" of choice...

Yay for the cold that seemed to hit everyone - and is still going around. I spent most of the end fo this past week and the weekend, when I wasn't working, curled up on the couch watching cheesy TV and movies and sniffling. This of course was after alternating between having no voice and a constantly cracking voice that made me sound like a boy going through puberty.

Well, I'm up and running now...figuratively, and literally, as demonstrated by my new accessory of choice...

Yay for getting back to the gym. Between the warm weather and finally kicking this cold, I was thrilled to go work out this afternoon after work. Yay for health!

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report on the crafting side, but I'm hoping two hours on the couch watching American Idol tonight will change that, and I'll have a finished project to share!

Snow Days are Productive

2009-03-03T18:58:00.004-05:00

Well, we had a snowy 24 hours here in SC. Starting around 6 pm on Sunday through Monday morning we got several inches here. The northerner in me doesn't really make much of that, but it's a huge deal down here. Schools and work were closed here, so I had a nice day off! I went for a walk Sunday night and snapped some photos of the snow...

I took advantage of the quiet day to nurse a cold I'm still fighting, get a little bit of work done, take a quick nap and read a book. But perhaps my greatest accomplishment was getting this bag done!

I bought a jelly roll at the Shop Hop two weeks ago, along with Bunny Hill Design's pattern for the jelly roll bag. I think it came out pretty cute and I'm looking forward to using it as a work bag this spring. Yay for finally completing a project!

Cold and Blustery = :)

2009-03-01T17:16:00.013-05:00

It's a pretty cold and blustery day here. For the past day or so we've had the worst weather here - cold and rainy. Of all of the weather in the world, that's the type I hate the most. Why? Well, because it just chills you to the bone, and that's the worst feeling for me. I hate being cold, hence the reason I now live in the South and not Boston. So, I've been staying inside all day and taking advantage of the icky weather as an excuse to craft :) I guess cold weather isn't all bad.

Despite having a ton of WIPs that I really should be working on, my tryip to the Shop Hop got me started on a bunch of new projects. Below is a glimpse of what I'm working on.

A little elephant (who also has some other friends), just peeking out to say hello!

And just the start of what I consider a very ambitious project, which I'm not sure I'm quite ready for. But I'm going to give it a shot and if it doesn't work out, at least I tried!

I'm going to try to finish up at least one project tonight before dinner time. I've got plans to go out this evening, but looking at some heavy wet snow coming down, I'm not sure if those will come to fruition, or I'll just stay snuggled up at home listening to showtunes, sewing, with the heater running.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Swapping

2009-02-27T19:20:00.003-05:00

I just joined my first swap online! I'm very excited about it. I received Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book for Christmas over a year ago and used it to make some baby bibs. I've had some fabric set aside to make the Charming Handbag out of the book, but hadn't gotten around to it. So, I was thrilled to find a "Bend the Rules Sewing" Swap blog. They just happen to be swapping the Charming Handbag, so I figure this is a great way for me to try out the world of swapping. I just sent my e-mail in today and the deadline to sign up is tomorrow.

We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

I Love Mail :)

2009-02-23T22:48:00.004-05:00

When I was younger, I always had a pen pal. I used to love writing messages to a girl about my age in some "exotic" place like Indiana (hey, when you're 8 and live in NY, Indiana is pretty exotic). Perhaps more exciting was always getting a letter from her. It didn't matter so much what she wrote about - it was probably our mutual love for some teen movie star of those days - but more that someone had taken the time to put something together for me and pop it in the mail. Then it travelled all the way to NY just waiting to be opened.

Now, I've outgrown the idea of a penpal - I have plenty of friends from my travels in college, grad school and my time living in Boston whom I communicate with via e-mail, Facebook, etc. But, the idea of getting mail is still fun. My current living situation is such that I don't get mail delivered directly to my home, but rather have to pick it up at a postal box. Oftentimes, my mailbox is full of flyers, magazines and of course, bills, but other times, it's such a joy to open up my little box in the world to find a card, or better yet a pink slip!

Now, a pink slip doesn't usually elicit a response of joy, but in my case - it means only one thing...a package! So this morning, after waiting the requisite amount of time from handing over my credit card number, I found a pink slip waiting there just for me.

I had ordered a bunch of fabric from The Quilter's Paradise last week and it arrived today (well, technically it arrived on Saturday, but I have to wait until Monday to pick up mail). So, to add to my already large stash that I picked up at the Shop Hop, I added these four beautiful holiday prints...

The tan one has holly sprigs on it and will hopefully serve as a good background for some pillows my mother has requested for next Christmas. Given my success/completion rate with last Christmas' gifts/projects - I figured I should get a jump start on it now.

I also found the panel below - which made me very excited. I purchased two of Nancy Halvorsen's "Art to Heart" books earlier this year and was super thrilled to find a panel that went along with some of the projects. I'm hoping I can whip these up for my quilt guilds bi-annual Holiday Silent Auction/sale.

And with that, I should probably head to bed for the evening. I've got a bright and early day ahead of me in the office.

I Think I Have a Problem...

2009-02-22T10:54:00.005-05:00

As I said in my earlier blog the local quilt guild in the next county over held their Shop Hop yesterday. I drove there with my boyfriend, who had to work in town, and he dropped me off for some fun shopping. Now, I don't get to quilt shops all that often, as there aren't a ton close by to my home - it'd be at least a 30 minute drive, and I don't usually have that amount of time. So, the idea of having 20+ stores in one place meant I'd been saving my pennies to do some serious damage :) I consider it making up for 6 months of no real shopping.

I had a lovely time - ran into some ladies from my quilt guild, and took a long time browsing. I took the first half of my excursion to walk through all the vendors and browse. I wanted to compare selections and prices before committing to anything. All in all, that worked well for me, except in the case of one pattern that I loved, but didn't get back to before it was all bought up - I guess I have popular taste. Luckily the shop said I could call and they'd send me one.

Below is a picture of my spoils. I showed my boyfriend after we got back home and felt a bit embarrassed, but all in all, I think everything I bought (with the exception of a few fat quarters) already have a destiny to become a specific project - mainly gifts!
After shopping, I headed across the street for a tasty lunch of Chick-Fil-A. It had to be guilt free, since I didn't have a car (BF was still working) and it was that or Pizza Hut! Then, I headed over to the Walmart - once again, in walking distance - and got some errands done until BF was able to pick me up.

We then headed to his work - I'd never seen it, got a tour of the town, and had dinner with his co-workers. All in all, a very fun, but exhausting day. I was happy to get home, put on my PJs, and review my goodies!

Now, it's a quiet day at home utnil it's time to go to the gym this evening and then dinner. Not much planned, except some laundry and maybe even some sewing!

WIPs

2009-02-20T20:41:00.008-05:00

As I spent time cleaning my apartment tonight, I began to realize how many works in progress (I prefer that term to UFOs) I have floating around. Having read so many other quilters' posts, I've been inspired to make it a challenge to get through as many as possible this year!

I'm picking something that might actually happen - as opposed to jumping on the bandwagon of trying to clear out my stash...I just love it too much! Plus, I'm headed to a Shop Hop tomorrow in the next county over, and with the promise of 23 shops, I know I'll just increase my stash, as opposed to reducing it. And on top of it, the FabShopHop site was hosting a Blowout Sale this week and I found some lovely items for Christmas presents from the Quilter's Paradise. Those goodies should be arriving in the post and hopefully I'll pick them up on Monday from my post office box!

And so, in hopes of guilting myself into actually getting these done, I'll share some of what I'm currently working on....

My "Flower Power" pillows. I've been working on these since 2005 - sad how far I haven't gotten. They were originally meant to soften up a really ugly black hard leather sofa I had in an apartment, which luckily stayed behind in Boston when I moved. Now, I think they'll still make a nice addition to the apartment, if I can ever get them done.

I found this top as a kit in a cute little shop nearby. I thought it was a fun pattern and some interesting fabrics - unlike anything else I've ever made, so I picked it up. I also happened to be taking a Machine Quilting class right around the same time and figured it'd be the perfect thing to practice on - it's busy enough, I'd never see the hundreds of mistakes I was bound to make. Unfortunately, the top took me so long, I still haven't gotten around to quilting it yet!

I made this quilt for my Mom's birthday last year. Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten it finished in time for her surprise party, and as you can probably tell, I haven't made much progress since. But I will get this done!!!

There are definitely more than just these, but for some reason, my internet is being difficult and not letting me import anymore. Perhaps that's a sign I should stop typing and start sewing!

Goodnight!

Football and Domesticity...

2009-02-02T21:59:00.002-05:00

...not two items you ever really expect to put together, but this weeknd allowed me to combine two of my favorites. I guess to make that accurate, I would have to say Steelers football and domesticity, but you get the picture.

I hosted my first ever party in my apartment this past weekend. We had a wonderful time with lots of good food, crazy commercial and a fantastic game that had me on the edge of my seat. I was able to channel my inner mother and put together a bunch of fun game-time snacks including spinach dip, mini-hot dogs, turkey chili, spinach artichoke dip, onion dip and cupcakes to look like footballs. I think my friends had some fun and it was nice to connect with everyone here in a social setting.

And perhaps best of all - the Steelers won! Woo hoo!

Other than that, it's just been busy at work. Not a ton of time for crafting, but the baby blanket is coming along, as well as a couple of other projects I'm going to keep secret for the time being, as they're presents to be shared with the ones I love and I like to keep a little bit of mystery when I can.

Trying Something New!

2009-01-11T17:31:00.005-05:00

Over the past several years, I picked up quilting. I'm primarily self-taught from a great book, and have really focused on making quilting my top priority when it comes to crafting. I made a bunch of holiday presents for family/friends this year, and think I might be a little bit burnt out and in need of a temporary new distraction.

How do I know this? By the choice of my newest choice of "material"...

Yup, that's yarn! I haven't knitted in a long time, but figured it might be fun to try it again. What led to this decision? Well, about seven years ago, I studied at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in London. It was an amazing summer adventure in between semesters at college. While there, I met a good friend, who was my partner in cooking, and we've kept up ever since. Mainly, it's an e-mail here and there and Christmas cards every year. That summer was a special experience in my life, so she still holds a place close to my heart, even if we aren't very close.

Well, this year, instead of a Christmas card, I received a birth announcement! She and her husband just welcomed their first child - an adorable baby boy - into their lives. Combine that with my procrastinating reading of other blogs and stumbling across a great pattern from JCHandmade, I just new I should try this!

Is it going to be perfect? Hardly, but it's new and fun for now and hopefully baby will love it - if I get it done before he's in high school!

And Here We Go...

2009-01-10T14:42:00.002-05:00

Welcome to my blog! With the start of the new year, I figured I might jump into the world of blogging and give it a try. I've so enjoyed reading others' blogs and learned so much from them, that I'm hoping this may give me an opportunity to connect even more with others.

I hope this blog will provide me with not only connections within cyberspace, but also be a place to chronicle some of my successes (and probably failures, or should I say learning experiences?) in the world of crafting, cooking, reading, etc. - basically all of my hobbies. Perhaps also having the written reminder of what I'm working on (or should be working on) will keep me on task and keep the UFO's from piling up.

So, welcome - we'll see how this goes!