Are there any Mizzou fans out there?

Awhile back, my roommate and I went to one of those crazy free-for-all garage sales where heaps of clothes are strewn about and you fill a garbage sack with as much as you can get your hands on.  I ended up purchasing a sack of stuff for 60 cents an item!  My roommate loves all things Mizzou, and she stuffed this t-shirt in the sack hoping it would fit.  When we got home, she realized it was too small and was all upset about it.  

I decided to sneak it away and make something useful out of the too-small t-shirt.  This pillow is the end product.  Well, will be the end product when I get around to finishing the back.  It's going to be 24" x 24" when finished.  

Another Christmas Stocking!

I've been working on a Christmas stocking for myself this time.  Originally, it was for my boyfriend, but then I saw that I had picked rather feminine colors, so this one's for me.  I'm using the Thimble Blossoms pattern again.  I like to have the versatility of double sided stockings, so here's one side and I'll have to make the back.  Only 11 days left for me to finish this before Santa gets here!

Here's something else I've been working on - the Snapdragon quilt from Two from Ones Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam Lintott.  I must say, this book is great!  There are so many cute quilts I've made from this book and it would be pretty easy to enlarge some of them by adding more borders.  The fabric is a mix but mostly Sew Cherry by Riley Blake.  

Bing! Bing! BingBing!

Please meet the Super Mario Bros (knock-off) gold coin pilllow!  It's 18" x 18" and made of cotton squares zig-zag appliqued onto a cotton twill background envelope style pillow cover.  I make other characters too but don't have pictures just yet.  Available in my Etsy shop!  These are a great geeky gift for that special Nintendo lover :)


My boyfriend says you shouldn't try to nap on it, because the Bing! sounds will make it hard to fall asleep. What a nerd... or am I the nerd for sewing this??

Thrifty Thursday

Well I think I found the mother of all good deals at my local Goodwill yesterday!  While casually perusing the shoe aisle, I pick up a gorgeous pair of heels, which also happened to be Tory Burch and priced at $4.99, barely worn.  The bad part of this story?  Size 8.5, not my usual 6.5 to 7.5.  Oh well!  I did buy them and they are currently listed on eBay.  I'm terrible about making any money on eBay so we'll see how this venture pans out.


It's almost Friday!  Have a great weekend :)

Cat lady quilt top complete!

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday!  Hope everyone had good food with family and friends.  I finished the crazy cat lady quilt top and I must say, it's pretty awesome!  I used some of the JoAnn fabric that was only $2/yard for the border and it really pulls the black, yellow, and grey together. 


Speaking of sales, I know I went way overboard on fabric sales Friday and Monday.  What about you?

I promise I'm not the crazy cat lady...

I have a bunch of fabric that was donated to my church quilt group for the charity quilts we make for kids at the local hospital.  Some of it is well, unusual.  Here's an example.  Notice the cats in the black and white prints?  Yep.  Cats all over!  My friends make fun of me and call me a crazy cat slash quilt lady even though my cat temporarily lives with my parents.  Anyway,  here's what I'm working on this week.  Hopefully one of the kids will love cats!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wow I've been busy sewing this week!

I've made progress on the Christmas stocking - it's quilted and sewn together!  Now all I need to do is add the cuff and hanger.  Sweet deal!  I'm considering making these for a lot of other people since they were so easy.  

Next, since my scrap bin was overflowing, I decided to sort them into piles by color and make scrappy log cabin blocks.  Here's the first one I attempted in yellow.  I am very pleased with the way it turned out!

I've been collecting selvedges for awhile now too and made a string quilt with them.  It turned out nicely also.  I must have confused selvedge and string quilts though, because some of the strips turned out to be 1/4" wide since I cut them so skimpy to begin with, then sewed on both edges of the strip.  I may change my sewing pattern on the next one.

Lastly, here's a few more blocks finished in my second version of the triple Irish chain.  At first I wasn't crazy about how neutral it was appearing, but now that I have a few more blocks finished, I am much happier with the results.

Happy sewing!

My current list of projects:

Finished!

Bliss Sampler

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler

Tops in pieces:

Scrappy Triple Irish Chain

Sew Cherry Snapdragon Quilt

Cherish Nature Circle in Squares 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 2

Finished projects this week: 1  

Christmas is just around the corner!

I decided to sew a couple patchwork Christmas stockings for my roommate and my apartment this year.  Thimble Blossoms' patterns were on sale last week and I bought the Merry stockings and Swoon patterns.  It's tough sewing this in secret so I can surprise her later with it!  Freshly cut out in stocking form this morning before work:

I'll change one thing when I do this pattern the second time.  The pattern says to cut out 3.5" squares to make the pinwheels, then trim them down a bunch.  I thought that was a little wasteful, so I'd probably make the squares smaller initially.  I'll try it when I make the back of this one and see what happens.

My current list of projects:

Finished!

Cowboy quilt for Lincoln

DS Quilts Zig Zag

Being Quilted:

Bliss Sampler

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler

Tops in pieces:

Sew Cherry Snapdragon Quilt

Cherish Nature Circle in Squares
Hunky Dory Pandora's Box 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 2

Finished projects this week: 2  

Fall 2011 Pinterest Challenge

Pinterest certainly seems like the new Flickr!  I find tons of awesome inspiration there and I know I'll never actually get around to doing everything I see, but I did have time to make a few twig-covered candleholders for my fall decor.  


I bought candles from Dollar General for $1 each, found some twigs outside, and used E4000 glue.  You can get that at JoAnn for $2 with coupons.  There's no reason to ever pay full price at JoAnn FYI!  Anyways, cut or break twigs to desired length and glue on.  You'll have to go section by section because the glue doesn't set right away and the twigs slide around a bit.  

Now on to the 438 other things in my crafty list...

Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Presenting my entry in the Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival from amyscreativeside.com!  I've chosen to submit my Central Park Moda Bake Shop Ritzy Cracker Quilt because it is so bright and cheerful, not to mention it was a breeze to whip up.  I quilted this using all straight line quilting, which was a new area for me.  Previously, I'd only free motion meandered because I'm a type A++ and if a line isn't ruler-straight, I want to rip it out and start over!  For this one however, I let myself relax and I think it turned out great.  It is perfect for the chillier nights we've been having lately.

Another Scrappier Triple Irish Chain

I had some leftover strips from my first Triple Irish Chain quilt and, being a quilter, didn't want them to go to waste.  I cut more strips from DS quilts fabric and other 30s prints I had to combine them all for another Triple Irish Chain quilt.  Here's a look-see at the result.  My conclusion: I don't dig it.  There's not enough color for me and too many polka dots (never thought I'd say that!).  I'm going to finish it of course, so hopefully it will grow on me as it gets bigger.  What do you think?

I've also decided to make a pillow to match the first Triple Irish Chain.  It's coming along nicely :)

My current list of projects:

Being Quilted:

Cowboy quilt for Lincoln

Bliss Sampler

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

DS Quilts Zig Zag

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler

Tops in pieces:

Sew Cherry Snapdragon Quilt

Cherish Nature Circle in Squares
Hunky Dory Pandora's Box 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 0

Finished projects this week: 0  

Squirrely Mug Rug

Here's my finished project: the ultimate squirrel mug rug!  I think it turned out so fabulously, I'll have to make another (or 2).  I didn't get to personally swap it at the DMQG meeting, but I'm excited to hear about the fall themed mug rug swap and receive my partner's mug rug for me.  

Back from an Extended Break!

Whew it's been a rough couple of weeks for me.  First my sewing machine broke, then I got it back, then it broke again.  And I haven't had time to fix it since I've been away at a meeting in Boston (I love lobstah!).  


I just started this cowboy quilt for my favorite little guy, Lincoln.  He's my friend's 2 year old and he loves cowboys.  I saw the cowboy and cow fabric at a quilt show I stumbled upon and thought it was so adorable!  I finally chose a pattern from the Robert Kaufmann website.  This quilt is going together so quickly!  I'm going to have to get my sewing machine fixed so I can quilt it before Christmas.  

My current list of projects:

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Verna Friendship Braid
Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

DS Quilts Zig Zag

Central Park Charming Stars

Hunky Dory Bubblegum

Vintage Sheets Mod Sampler

Tops in pieces:
Cowboy Quilt

Sew Cherry Snapdragon Quilt

Cherish Nature Circle in Squares
Hunky Dory Pandora's Box 

Vintage Sheets New Wave 

New projects this week: 1

Finished projects this week: 0