It's A Girl!

I would like to introduce you all to my sister's newest bundle of joy.  ......

Cora Lynn.

At 8 lbs. she was my sisters tiniest!

  We welcomed her into the world Tuesday Morning. 

Big Brother and Big Sister couldn't be more enamored. 

OOPS

I purchased this lovely Amy Butler Fabric to use in the Patchwork Prism Quilt.

 Since I purchased the fabric online the color ended up being different than I needed, always a downside to buying fabric online. I think the fabric is beautiful.  I knew I needed to find a special place for using it.

  The design is too beautiful to chop into little patchwork pieces.  Once I received an e-reader for my Birthday I knew I wanted to have  a handmade case, the Amy Butler Fabric was just the thing.

 To tie in with my up coming Hand Stitched Class I decided to do a little hand stitching on this case.

I worked most of the weekend on this little piece.   If I must say, it is turning out quite stunning.  There is one slight problem.

I failed to measure correctly.  The darn thing is big enough to fit my son's iPad!  As much as I know he would LOVE a new case, this probably isn't what he had in mind.

One fish, Two fish

Red fish, Blue fish...
Over the weekend I sewed up these little fishes.

I used "love from Beth X's" tutorial  from Moda's Bake Shop for these 2 cuties. They both are made with various brightly colored scraps, ribbons, lace and Minky. Lots of textures and shapes to grab and stuff in their mouths!

 The most ingenious part of this pattern is the use of cellophane.  Beth's pattern calls for sewing cellophane into fins and scales of the pattern so they crinkle. Brilliant!  I used scraps from the Middle School's laminating machine  and they worked perfectly.

The fish are stuffed with normal fiber fill but have an added bonus of a bell, a cat toy to be precise.  How Great is that?  A regular sensory buffet. I have a new niece who is going to love this in 2 or 3 months!  And a nephew I know will enjoy it!

Speaking of little fish.

  Mine had a blast out on the Lake this weekend!  Hope your Memorial Day was enjoyable.

Organized..Well,sort of

Those who know me well, know that I have my own method for organizing. My husband who has known me for over 25 years is still not quite sure what that is exactly.  He and my daughter are the Organizers.  I try.  Really.  I do.  I just get swept up in the creative processes and WHAM!  I have a mess.

 I vowed this year to set up some new types of organization in my sewing space.  It is organized, in a way, which might or might not change daily.  In an attempt to hold up my end of the organizing deal I searched High and Low for ideas for craft room storage. One of the things I decided I needed was a shelf.  My work surface is small and I am constantly accumulating items, creating piles and moving them around.  A shelf nearby would give me more space, close at hand. This Week I found what I was looking for and got my shelf.

 I found an article in a quilting magazine that suggested using penny candy jars to sort small fabric scraps. I found these three at Target. Cute.  I don't plan on saving anything smaller than 2"X2" squares, but one never knows. Current the jars are divided into, Prints, Solids and White/Cream.

I found a dowel rod at Home Depot for all of 0.88 cents and now it has a place between the brackets.  I have the ribbon organized by size.  I need to paint the dowel black to match the brackets, but all things in time. The cute sign was a download I printed from freshlemonsquilts.com and you can find that here.
She also has 2 other printable signs you can find here. (I think one says clip, stitch, press create and I am not remembering what the other says. Hop over and check it out.) I am thinking I should paint this frame black as well. Hmm?

I now have my Moment in Time Quilt Hanging, after only a year, to help remind me to live in the present and not worry about what's to come.  I am thinking about either hanging another small quilt in the empty space or getting some large letters that spell, QUILT or TCQ, and cover them with fabric.  I found a cute how-to over at mmcrafts. see here.

I am so pleased with how nicely this turned out.  I cannot wait to see if it helps me stay organized. Optimism at it's finest. 

A rainbow of fabric.

After pressing and starching my rainbow assortment of fabrics, it was time to Cut out Triangles!  I am not a huge fan of templates but it had to be done.  I cut, and I cut and I cut, which seemed like it took forever.  Even after I cut and counted all of my pattern pieces I still came up short?  I am not sure how that happened. I cut some more and filled in the missed pieces.

I laid out all of the beautiful triangles and played with their orientation until I found a layout I liked. To arrive at said layout I had to cut MORE fabric, which came as no surprise.   I stuck with mostly tone on tone, batik or solids but I did throw in a couple of patterns to mix ti up a bit.  I am completely loving how cheery this quilt is becoming.  It makes me smile every time I look at it!

With the quilt laid out on the floor I didn't have the luxury of admiring it there for long.  3 kids and a dog made sure I pieced it together quickly.  And it was quick.  It took me about 1/2 the time to piece this quilt as it did to cut it out.  Don't let that stop you it is still totally worth making. Now the rows are hanging on my quilting table waiting for me to sew them together.

Feeling a little blue...and green...and...

This spring has certainly been crazy.  In February it was 80 degrees, In April the temp barely got higher than 70.  Now it has rained most of May.  While the weather has kept me guessing mother nature apparently has it all under control.  The flowers around my house are blooming and full of fragrance.

All of this color has gotten me in the mood for bright cheery colors to use in my quilts. Check out these fabulous blues and turquoises!  Aren't they just dreamy?

 All of these, along with some yellows, oranges, reds, pinks and purples, are just waiting to be cut into triangles for the Patchwork Prism Quilt -a-long.  If you are interested in a little more color check it out over at sweet diesel designs.

Tagged

Some of you may have noticed a strange little white tag on the side of the teacher tote I showed you last week.  Maybe you even wondered what it was.  Then again maybe you missed it all together.  Take another look.

Do you see it now? How about a closer look?

There!  Right there!  Do you see it?  My new tags arrived.  I have been dragging my feet, trying to decide just what I wanted to do about labels.  I didn't know what I should put on the label.  I couldn't decide if I wanted a graphic design or just writing.  I just held off, delaying the decision, and truth be told the expense.  I made my own for a while.  I decided that they just didn't look professional.  Then a friend embroidered a few and that became just a little too much to ask of even a friend.  I finally just broke down and ordered the darn things.  They are not fancy.  They do not have snazzy graphic designs or pretty colors. They are a simple white ribbon tag with a black font.  They say The Crafty Quilter on one side and have washing instructions and my web address on the other.  They are the simplest of simple but they are mine.  Yea Me!