bizzare bundle

There was a lovely rumor circulating among the crafty bloggers that JoAnn Fabrics had some Heather Ross hiding in their fat quarter bundles. Not wanting to miss that opportunity (as nobody in my fairly large city carried HR), I ran over there after work yesterday. Sure enough, I found this:This was the only HR fabric I saw at this particular JoAnn's, and yes, I looked through every single bundle. The one sad thing about buying these at JoAnn's is that all of the selvedges are cut, and Heather Ross has some of the cutest selvedges around. The first three, obviously, are the wonderful Lightning Bugs fabrics. They were hidden behind the black and pint polka dots and the ugliest FQ I've ever bought (which happened to be the front one displayed). Look at this one up close:
I'm not even going to give it the dignity of being ironed-- those are glittery smiling dogs on a neon green background. Yikes. It's even uglier compared to the gorgeous HR fabric. Now I kind of want to do an ugly FQ show of my collection-- ones I've recieved from swaps, or unfortunate impulse purchases.

flowers and butterflies

Really, if's hard not to feel loved when total strangers make you darling blocks like these.  Kat made me two blocks: 

I'm so excited to have some of that faux bois in my quilt top.  I think I need to buy a bolt of it.  Here's the other one she generously made me: 

I love them both!  And I got Mary's gorgeous block in the mail yesterday-- after seeing it in person, I can see she made that middle butterfly "float" by giving it a tiny ricrac border.  That was really clever.  Thanks, ladies!

three is our magic number

I don't post much about my non-sewing life on here, but yesterday was my third anniversary.  My husband and I are silly and love to do the traditional gifts, and the third year is a funny one: leather.  I got him a new belt and wallet, both things he wanted/needed.  He thought about getting a big leather purse for me, but-- and this is where crafting comes in to play-- knows that I like to carry bags I make myself.  That, and everything that he liked was crazy expensive.

(Mine's the second one from the right)  

Now, I know that a sterling silver key necklace might not look like it followed the traditional bent, but it does: Tiffany's wraps all of their baubles in a little suede pocket.  Two of the many reasons why I love my husband: he's incredibly clever and has gorgeous taste.  And a reason I love my anniversary, aside from the fact that it celebrates my marriage, is that it's six months away from my birthday (which is always lumped with Chanukkah/Xmas/New Years celebrations).  Celebrating and gift giving in June is really refreshing.

Fourth anniversary is traditionally fruit or flowers.  See more traditional and modern anniversary gifts by the year here.  

skirt mishap

Remember this dress?  And how I was going to make a matching blue and white one for myself?  Well, after having about half of it cut, and my annoyance with the book that inspired it, I decided to go rogue and make myself a very simple skirt instead.  It's just like the red and white, only in blue.  It's a full circle cut on the bias, with it stitched up one side.  I made a casing and threaded through some elastic.  It took me about 10 minutes to make, and I really do want to make a ton of them.  I've decided an elastic waist isn't all that evil, so long as I'm feeling thin and use a really narrow elastic, like 1/2 inch.  The drape of this fabric is so wonderful, and I decided to keep the hem raw.  I really want to embroider/applique a clipper ship on it for some reason (if I can find a good free design).  I wore it to work yesterday with a navy cable-knit sweater, and I was happy and felt pretty.  

Except when I was walking from the parking garage to work, and realized that I wore a flimsy, unlined circle skirt on a very windy day.  Big City Downtown, I apologize for anything you may have seen.

   

I started another quilt, too, as a wedding gift for my stepbrother using some of this and some of that from these two collections.  I know it's an unusual combination-- but the green and pale aqua are just about identical.  Pictures to follow soon. 

the excitement begins

Look what Mary made, just for me:
I think the only fabric she added are the outer lime green polka dots. I love the movement, and after my last block full of triangles, I'm very appreciative of them. I'm unsure how she got that little butterfly to float in the center; I can't wait for it to arrive back at the Sweat Shop. I'm crazy excited to see what everyone else is going to make for me! Mary, thanks so much!

Maggie (in progress)

I was so excited after I cut my strips for my most recent quiltalong, I decided to go ahead and sew the top together. Here's the top, from two different angles.It's going to be about a twin size, I think, which will be perfect for the little girl it's going to. As you can see, my lovely assistant Cassidy approves. My blocks are 12.5" square, and it is 5 blocks across by 7 blocks down. I have a couple of stray ones for the back. How should I quilt it? I'm kind of thinking straight lines, but I'm unsure how many or where. This was such a fast top to put together, which was a nice break for me!

PTQB-- June

This block is for Michelle. Here's something different for my quiltalongs: a specifically-asked for traditional block. I went to my 2009 Quilting Block-A-Day calendar and found this pattern (twirling pinwheels, I believe). Originally I wanted the off-white in the location where the light blue fabric is, but part of the fun of a quilting bee is working with what's sent. I'm really happy with this-- I took my time to make sure my points match.I hope she likes it!