spring to finish challenge

for my spring to finish challenge update, i have 2 QOVs to show you:

QOV #2 - anchors-a-swirl dedicated to the us navy

i would have had this one completed a few weeks ago, but it was sent back to me unfinished. i finished it about an hour ago and caught a few pictures before the sun was too low in the sky. the borders were hand-quilted with a connecting wave pattern and then it was bound in the same solid red fabric that makes up the backing.

detail of border stitching

and here is QOV #3:

detail - you can see the pledge of alligence fabric


full shot of quilt top

QOV #3 is a simple block, but alternated to form the crosses. i like how something so simple can turn out so pretty.

on top of these two finishes, i made the flowered skirt the first week of the month. it's a happy skirt, don't you think? i need happy lately. and i did finish the scarf that i rediscovered in my knitting bag last week. i don't have pictures - it's put away already for christmas. i finished it off with fringe in the same pale green and added a pale yellow yarn of the same type wool/cotton combo. it's nice and warm for the winter. plus, the new baby will like to play with something soft too. :)

my total may "spring to finish" finishes: 4. not as many as i had hoped, but i still got some things done. i'm not counting my dia de los muertos quilt top since it's just the top and i haven't done more work on it.

now....tomorrow, i get to do a random generator and pick the winner of my may day giveway. if you haven't already entered, go over to it quickly - you have just under 3 hours left!

back to watching the red wings kick penguin butt. it should continue, right?

may giveaway day!!

the may giveaway day is here!!! the lovely people at sew mama sew are hosting the next round of giveaway days. i discovered so many of the fantastic blogs i follow and regularly read from their last one in december. tons of fun to participate in - people offered fantastic items in their giveaways.

i'm in the process of getting items together for my upcoming etsy store. since it doesn't look like i'll be able to put jewelry, etc. back in the little store in galveston after ike destroyed it all, i figured i'd put a similar line to the one i used to make for them on the esty store, as well as other jewelry, metal objects and textile/fabric items. i used to make a lot of baby and children's items and will be offering those as well. unfortunately, i did not time the giveaway day well enough to open my etsy store on the same day. drats... it's all because i'm working on multiple QOVs, knitting, supposedly starting a dress, an orchid illustration and hopefully finishing boo's teepee that i started before christmas.

so...without further adieu... my giveaway:

my giveaway is a set of 4 wine glass charms and at least the 4 fat quarters pictured above. i will ALSO INCLUDE some surprise items (could be more fabrics/scraps from my stash, zippers, patterns, magazines, buttons, paper craft items, etc...you never know!) the wine charms are made using milliefori glass beads and natural stones (hematite) and are packaged in an organza pouch.

this technically opens tomorrow at 9am eastern time, but i'm posting it now since i'll be at work and may not get a chance first thing. i will leave it open until may 31st so you have lots of time to comment.

to qualify: since i've got so many projects going, leave a comment on this blog post telling me what project you're currently working on. i'd love to find out what everyone else has going on this spring. don't forget to include a way to contact you - if you don't have a blogger profile, leave me an email address!

unfinished business being finished

um..yeah... so, i rediscovered some knitting this afternoon during my lunch break. i was knitting on the shawl i started during the christmas roadtrip to kansas (which i had not worked on since january) and when i peered into the bottom of the bag, i noticed this pale lemony-green yarn. what could it be?!

a scarf i started almost 2 years ago. seriously. the scarf was started for a friend with the intentions of being a christmas present. didn't finish it in time since i was planning a wedding for myself and was too busy sewing for that. then, i started working on it again, but the friend disappeared (result of her own wedding a year ago this past weekend) and has not resurfaced in 9 1/2 months. now i'm thinking of finishing it for either my sister or my sister-in-law for this christmas. probably my sister-in-law: she's moving back to washington state next winter and she'll get much more use out of it than my sister here in texas.

hmm...maybe i'll get it done in time for the "spring to finish challenge" at the end of this week. there isn't as much as i hoped for that and this is definitely one big UFO.

the postman came knocking...

and he brought me this box of goodies! do you see how stuffed to the brim this box is?! a little while back, i entered a giveaway on artsymomma's blog and i won. this is what i received today - yarns, papers and stickers for scrapbooking, a ton of different fabrics in all colors, prints and sizes, buttons (you can see the red ones peeking out in the photo), vintage zippers and a gift certificate redeemable at fabricworm. i've never been over to fabricworm before, so i have a new adventure.

it's going to be hard to live up to steph's box of wonderfulness. later this month, i'm participating in SMS's giveaway day and i have no idea what to giveaway yet. hmm...must finish something since i picked my category already.

this weekend was houston's armed forces day -military ball. that's my sweetie giving me a peck before we headed out in the rain. i made the dress and it's the most wonderful turquoise shantung silk. it has a linen-like look to it and drapes beautifully. the dress has a fishtail hem, which you can't see here, but it's pulled towards the front.

spring to finish challenge update: um...nothing much to report. i had expected to finish and ship off QOV #2, but it was returned from the longarm quilter unfinished. QOVF instructed that i go ahead and finish quilting it by hand. none of the borders were quilted - just the main portion was stippled. not sure why and this sets me back on getting it out. QOV #3 just needs borders and that top will be done and ready for the next longarmmer.

grumble grumble

i got back my QOV yesterday. it wasn't quilted completely. no idea why - the inside is stippled nicely, but they didn't touch either of the borders at all. not even a stitch-in-the-ditch around the 1inch inner border. it's just flopping around and i'm left to figure out what to do with it. i contacted QOVF and they suggested that since i don't machine quilt and i don't have a longarm machine, that i just use my machine and do a stitch-in-the-ditch on the inner border and handquilt as i see fit. blah!!!!

i was planning on sewing the binding last night while i watched the red wings play game 7 and grey's anatomy. but no....i cried instead. all the time and hard work i put into that quilt already and to have it returned half done. i can't send it to the recipient yet and this delays me finishing the next QOV top this week.

sms's may giveaway day

sew mama sew just announced they will do a giveaway day this month like they did this past december. i checked it out in december and found quite a few of the people i follow through it. i had a blast reading the blogs and seeing what everyone had to offer as a prize. didn't win anything, but that was fine with me. i loved it anyways.

i'm going to participate later this month - it opens on may 27th and will end on may 31st. i'll be offering a handcrafted item and some sort of supplies/materials to the lucky winner. i have a few ideas in my head that coincide with some plans for my etsy shop (yet to open...stay tuned). the wonderful shop/gallery that i had my work in closed after hurricane ike this past september and hasn't reopened yet. they were hoping to, but i haven't heard when. with no place to sell locally, i figured i could put items other than my drawings in the etsy shop. i lost my stock in the hurricane and need to rebuild it again.

hmm...maybe i can open the shop and do the giveaway at the same time. we'll see!

who's got an obnoxious quilt top?!

me...that's who!

i'm going to warn you - put on your sunglasses now before your eyes are burned from it's brightness... well, that's actually boo's cat-in-the-hat quilt. i think it hurts the eyes more than this one. you be the judge.

this past week was spent working on my dia de los muertos quilt. i finished the strips and put on the borders about a half hour ago while my dinner simmers on the stove.

here's the entire quilt top:

and a close up of some of the fabrics.

at first, i thought i'd just find fabrics that were bright and happy and flowery, along with some skeletons and skulls, to give the sense of the celebration that is the day of the dead. then, at the international quilt festival in early november...i found the border fabric. a robert kaufman. the border fabric seems to have worked its way into the main body of the quilt top too, but that's okay with me. this one is big too...i've been working on smaller lap quilts or kid-sized ones lately.

now that this is pieced, i can get back to the next QOV, my green batik dress, my drawing, boo's quilt and my drawing. um...yeah... about that...

i was bad.

april 30th couldn't come soon enough i guess.... i tried very hard not to buy fabric or start new projects during the spring to finish challenge last month.

now, jacquie has decided to continue the challenge to the end of may. which should be a great thing. but i feel guilty because i was bad... see what arrived today from fabric.com?

don't tell my husband....

i'm really thinking i have a fabric addiction. i'm past the denial stage and into acceptance. i tried not to buy any fabric unless i absolutely needed it for something i was trying to finish. it lasted a month. there are toooooo many ideas and projects in my head and i don't know where to start. or maybe it's where to stop.

and lately, the dedication to making QOV's is overwhelming. i told myself i was going to do something for me, or at least my household, before i started the next quilt top. i did make a skirt. and i wore it yesterday! but i started cutting a fabric yesterday for the QOV #3. i stopped myself quickly...then started cutting the fabrics for my dia de los muertos quilt. it's a fairly simple quilt pattern, so i'll put it together and then work on the QOV.

i need a QOV sponsor. i keep buying fabrics. in the stash that came today, the oranges, the red rope fabric and the biggest piece of blue fabric (backing material) are designated for QOVs. the oranges are for the coast guard. the red one can go for either usn or uscg - it's just simply nautical.

now i'm off to check on my kiddo who is losing his voice. let's just hope he doesn't get sicker and i have to squash the thoughts of H1N1 virus. i'm in the greater houston area....we have it here...

my new weekend skirt

i made a skirt this weekend. figured it was time to make something for myself instead of everyone else. that and something that wasn't quilt related! so i pulled out this free spirit fabric that has been staring at me, along with several others, waiting impatiently to be used and worn. i'm going to wear this skirt tomorrow to work (granted that all the pesky mosquito bites look better so my legs don't look diseased. we'll see... if not, then it'll be worn as soon as they aren't red and bumpy.

it's been a while since i sewed clothes. so much, that i forgot to cut my pattern out with the fabric turned right side in. i just admitted this... at least it was a very simple skirt and didn't matter. next time, waist adjustments... this pattern has been in my collection since 1994/95 and the waistline is too high for a short-waisted person. i also lengthened the skirt so it's not as short for work.

goodies i received!

the mailman brought me some goodies in today's mail. it was the only thing that wasn't junk too! a few weeks ago, i entered a giveaway on the homestead quilter's blog and i was one of the lucky winners. as well as quilting, pamela makes soaps and bath teas and balms. she sent me a package of bath teas, romantic rose bath salts (to which my hubby went "ooooooohhh!!!!" upon my going through the contents) and a lip balm. she's having a grand opening of her online store for the soaps and body products on june 1st, so pop on by montana soap works and check it out.

so far, i tried the lip balm. it's lovely and light - goes on thin enough to coat your lips but doesn't have any goopiness that some of the other balms i've tried before. mine is unflavored, but i know she's got some flavors out there. i'm looking forward to the bath salts and the teas. i've never used a bath tea before - you steep it in boiling water and then add it to your bath. i could see it being a calming thing. hmm...i see a hot bath, a good book, and maybe some candles in my near future... now, to put the kid in bed or keep him from going "mommmmmm!!!!!" every few minutes when i want to relax.

as much as april's challenge to complete things instead of start them, i did a great job. in ways, i was hoping to keep that going before i started anything else, but no luck. thursday night, i already had a skirt pattern laid out and free spirit floral fabric cut while i watched grey's anatomy. i haven't started sewing yet - that was part of the plans for today, but that changed to running with hubby and kid (and holy smokes! my 6-year old can run like the wind for a half mile before slowing down for water! i think he'll be a cross country runner), some gardening and lawn work, then battling the eyeglasses place about the wrong lenses and incorrectly put in - an adventure that took me through a sales person and two managers, and then running around getting odds and ends for the house. AND, i washed all the fabric for my dia de los muertos quilt. i figured out a pattern for it. modern and clean lines, although the fabrics won't keep it so streamlined. pictures to come later.