A quilt for my house

It's rare that the projects I make actually stay home with me. They always have places to go and other friends to hang out with. They usually don't come home after leaving either, they're worse than a teenager.
The last project I have to show you that began on my 1 person retreat is the beginnings of an Arcadia layer cake quilt.
I'm really excited about it!
Maybe it has to do with this gray trend happening around blogland (I'm getting ready to start a gray project for one of my PIF's), but it's going to live in the guest room down stairs and will be the focal/inspiration point for the rest of the room.

After finishing all the strip piecing and almost all the applique cutting I decided I needed to order another layer cake.

1 just isn't enough!

Look at that stack it looks so small, I need to get it a little bigger :)
Bigger is better right? :D In this case yes!

Simplified... in reverse!

I had to laugh the other day when I saw Camille's post Gray because at that very moment I had several cans of green and gray paint sitting in my kitchen to help me take a break from my sewing! And help me it did!
I painted the main portion of the walls this fantastic green and have a planned gray wall at the end of the kitchen, of course, I changed my mind on the color of gray after the first stripe! Oops! You can see some of my gray thoughts in the pic at the top *blush*
My favorite thing about the kitchen redo are these fantastic red pendant shades. That and the simplification that comes when you clear out a room and then have to decide what's going back in :)
Look I even found a place for my new hostess apron to hang and smile at me!So, even though I'm reverse of Camille I still love the combo of the gray and green colors! We can definitely say Camille Roskelley is inspiring on so many levels! And hey, check out the little birdie that will hopefully be living on my lovely green wall very soon. It's part of the fun color strips I showed you from my mini quilt retreat! It's been growing in design since we got home and I took a break from painting :)

Munki on your hips

I finally pulled this Munki apron from my brain to the fabric thanks to my one man sewing retreat! Heather Ross is pretty amazing and I love this pink icecream truck fabric! When I got the fabric it looked like this... as so much Munki Munki fabric does :)
I was trying to come up with a way to use it that would really highlight the fabric and so I could use and love it!

To make it I folded the shirt panel to where the neck line started to curve and squared the panel side. I saved the hemmed edge and unstitched it to get as much length and use of the fabric as possible.Then used my ruler to square off the arm curve on the top as high as I could.at that point I created a ruffle that goes the length of the apron base and added a row of contrasting fabric at the top and a sash twice the width of the fabric.
I added the buttons along the button holes that were already there due to the fact that it was a shirt panel, I love the way it came out, they looked so cute!
Good luck with your Munki Munki!
Do something that makes you love it even more than you already do!

Quilt retreat! Party of 1 please :D

Last week my husband and I went out of town on business. So, while he was working...
I had my own personal quilt retreat!
It was fantastic! See I even brought my name badge so I'd remember who I was.
I had 2 kid free days to sew all I want while my husband was gone and then dinners and evenings out with my Happy husband :D hehe! I couldn't have asked for more, except there was more! We got to meet some new friends through my husbands workplace who we got to hang out with on a couple of occasions during the trip!
Yay! Quilting, food, and friends!

During my 2 days I brought almost my entire stash (well, atleast what I was excited to use and would fit into 1 suitcase!) and several unfinished projects just to see what I felt like.

Well, those days prove that inspiration always wins out over necessity because my log cabin quilt sat un-quilted the whole time, but, I finished 2 new projects! An apron & a wall hanging top (if you count a top as finished :) hmm, it feels like I accomplished something.) and started into a new quilt idea with an Arcadia layer cake I've been dying to use! It's gonna be gorgeous!
This is the beginnings of the wall hanging's color line up :D I'll be posting more pics soon!
And... I should have a tutorial for how to use a munki munki shirt panel in a cute project that really highlights your favorite fabrics even with all the odd angles the clothing panels give you!

It's a great project, I love it, and I'm making more!
Isn't that the test of a good one? I think so.