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.

Vintage trims and a little stitching!

I got excited about a little embroidery this week! I've been working on a pattern for some Pay it Forwards and got a little practice in yesterday on these sweet little blankets!

I stitched on the names in white and then got into my vintage threads and pulled out some tiny crochet thread to accent the white on white monograms :)
And to top it off I got to dig into my ribbons and found some of my favorite pink sheers from who knows what year :D to wrap these beautiful little treasures! The only thing a little tricky here was that I couldn't mark out my pattern because of the types of fabric on the blankets (Thank goodness for quilting cottons!) and the little fact that I've somehow lost my water soluble pen... oops.
But I think with all the fun materials going into these they turned out beautiful!
If I do say so myself :D Oh well,

Hattie and Hannah
(Sweet vintage names too!)
I hope you enjoy your blankets!

Happy no-sew Valentines Day!

I venture into no-sew very rarely but this one I needed to do!

I was missing my husband this week he is in Arizona on a bike race :( so I bought myself some chocolates in a moment of low self control and toddlers in the grocery store. And, aside from calories, it gave me the start of a project I've wanted to do for awhile!

Today I disassembled my box of pot of gold hersheys! (Handily, it was already empty so there was no mess inside, so convenient!)

I found some turquoise Riley Blake fabric that I love and I covered & tufted (slightly) my first candy box!

I used the red velvet ribbon to accent the Riley Blakeness :) and sewed it through the fabric batting and lid! To create this adorable project :)

After gluing it all back together I love the results!

Can I also say I'm falling in love with my spray on adhesive! No not the basting spray though I love that to :D I used spray on glue to stick the batting to the lid and the fabric to the batting! Not excessive but holds it in place... perfect! After practicing I feel more confident and next year plan to make these for some deserving friends :)

I love good friends! They should know it too!

Happy V-day!

To my sweet friends...

I feel I owe you an explanation for my *ahem* month long absence,

I've not been feeling well (if I add a cough does it seem more real? :D ) and sadly this is the only sewing picture I have to show you!

It's the cobblestone streets of suburbia and, no, it's still not done. I'm telling you, it was in the "it's not finished because it's so daunting pile" for a reason!

This is the other reason I've been gone...

Following those little feet around all day and keeping them out of trouble takes way more time than I remember! He's a little troublemaker. Which means all scissors, pins, knives, napkins, candles, etc. must stay out of sight at all times lest they fall into the hands of the wicked er, baby :)

Anyhow, I've still got a sore throat and I'm supposed to sing in church on Sunday, and my husband is out of town for the weekend. Yes that means valentines day too! Yuck, huh!

Well, let's see what I can get done today! I hope to see you again before v-day!

Happy Day!

*I'm off to clean up something that the fingers belonging to the little feet shown above just spilled. Yes, that's all the time it takes. :)