Little Red and Nicey Jane are on there way to Market

Ha if only.

That started as a childrens rhyme joke and then I capitalized Market and my brain went straight to Minnesota. I'm not even going to explain what the joke would have been it's just depressing now. At this point I may or may not be going to market, though it seems to be leaning towards not.
Sad huh.

On a happier note, let me show you my cute swap things.I made these for my wonderful swap friend. She's amazing and she was looking for some fun things for her home I chose a sewing machine cover and then threw together this Nicey Jane pillow. It wasn't one of her color combo choices but she had the color's in her inspiration pics and everyone loves Nicey Jane right?

Here's a close up of Little Red herself. I love it it's a drawing done by my very good friend Catania I think she could sell some of her artwork as embroidery patterns. She's great, so is Red.
I also love her gnome friends :) Tiny gnomes make life happier I think.

This is part of the swap gift I received. It's awesome!!! I don't know how I managed to get some one with just the right stash or maybe just the right fabric taste for me! But I now have several projects I want to do that involves finding some of the fabrics she used :) It's way to super cute! And the pillow she gave me was amazing (go check out all my pics on flickr then check out her's :) ) The front is adorable & the backs blue is perfect for my living room! She used a daisy chain fabric and a solid gray to pair it with on the back and I don't know how I got so lucky but it's really one of my favorites!

Last, I was asked about the mailbox I said I was building...
Well it killed my wrist, almost. I can still sew :) but here it is in all it's not perfectness what can I say but I'm sure glad I can still sew. I'm a lot better at that.If I could not sew we would be having some big issues. As it is, it only makes it hard to do push-ups which I'm not really sure I'm upset about :)

Smoke and mirrors

May I just say. Things are far busier than they appear :D
Yes it's all tricks I play. Smoke and mirrors to make you think I'm slacking off but no. :D

Hehe, in any case I have lots going on, sewing and not!

I have a tutorial I'm getting ready to put up, my very first pattern (not the giraffe) is ready to go and for sale in a couple places (makes me smile:) )
I also have another pattern getting ready to be finished this month (possibly the giraffe... cross your fingers) if I can get my scanner to work right, ugh.
And I finished my swap projects! Yay!
Here's a backwards peak at my Urban Home Goods swap stuff that I'm sending... a few days late. But I'm pretty sure she'll still want them :D I'll post more pics tomorrow after I have some sunshine and I mail them!
And I can start attacking even more projects... do you ever dream of getting your sewing table completely clear of projects? Not just so it feels clean but so you can start fresh again! I love a clear table and right now mine is anything but that.

Happy dreams.

Prom time and a traveling gnome.

My gnome is really traveling :)

I've been working on my PIF's (no I haven't forgotten you) and I have another Pay it Forward session to start after that! So be watching! This is the start of my surfing gnome that I've added to a fun project I'm working on.

Aside from that it's prom season and there are always a few girls needing alterations and I've been building a mailbox because our old one rotted out and fell in the road! So I'm taking a lesson from those live and learn little piggies and I'm building a brick one. But those darn bricks sure cut into my sewing time.

Oh well happy traveling!

Inspiration bubbles within...

Utility sewing today.

Scout badges & curtains for a friend (I'm still working on mine :) )
Maybe a little more but with cleaning, and cooking, and kids... I'll be fightin' for it!
But fight, I will, because my brain is just bubbling with inspiration!
In fact, I finished a pattern write up yesterday, just looking to test & print! Yay!
It's amazing for a person to finish a project :) It inspires you!

So, what do Target, leaf swirls, Anna Maria Horner, and laundry have to do with eachother?
Not much I know :D but they're all part of the inspiration in my head!

There goes Peter Cottontail!

Easter is over as Peter Cottontail was hopping down the road yesterday morning...

...and thank goodness he left a little of his cotton goodness behind!

The Easter Bunny knows what everyone likes!

I do know the meaning of Easter but I also like to play so here's a message from some very happy cousins on Easter morning!

So to all of my happy friends,

I hope you also had a great Easter and are bouncing with joy for that wonderful Easter Bunny!

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 :)