I've been....

Sorting...   ... all of your scraps. thank you for your generosity. still working on the project. Meeting...   ... Heather Ross. truly as sweet as she seems from her book. Quilting...   ... hop on spot. even more finished than it looks here. Buying...   ... lots of fabric!

You know you are obsessed with fabric...

When the only thing you can focus on during Grey's Anatomy is whether Erica's Hahn scrub cap is made from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope fabric. And the answer is.... Yes!! See below for photographic evidence: Apparently, I am not the first to notice the magical meeting of awesome fabric with craptastic televsion. Happy New Year to all fellow fabric obsessors!!

Tutorial: "So Big!" Growth Chart

My first tutorial! I entered this project into the OhDeeDoh Amy Butler contest. I was so happy with how it came out, I thought that I would make a tutorial for anyone else who might want to make it. This is the first project tutorial/pattern that I have ever written, so please let me know of any suggestions you have! Enjoy!! Pattern

What I did on my summer vacation....

apparently, fabric shopping! This is the result of visits to the myrtle beach area quilting stores, a ginormous order from starlitnest's etsy shop, and a visit to the fashion district. The mendocino half-yard cuts and the linen are destined for one quilt. I ordered the mendocino prints from starlitnest and she was a joy to shop with. She put together a custom order for me and shipped super-fast. Thanks Allison! I also received this gorgeous doll quilt from Linaloo. I adore the mix of linen and quilting cottons, and the red embroidery is precious. I had planned to give the quilt to Annie, but I love it so much that it is hanging next to my sewing machine instead.

What We've Been Up to...

We've been busy around here, but have been lazy about posting updates.

• I sent out my fat quarters for the Oh, Fransson! vintage sheet swap. I ended up having a few extra, so I sent those as well and Elizabeth can distribute them to those less fortunate in the sheet hunting!

• As a thank you for Elizabeth, I sewed the bottle bag below out of a vintage dishcloth and some fabric from my stash. It came out very cute and was so easy. These would make great Christmas gifts when filled with a bottle of wine. Inside the bag I tucked two vintage aprons that I found when scavenging for vintage sheets. The picture doesn't really do them justice, but they are quite cute.

• I've been busy working on my quilt for doll quilt swap 4. Because of the baby and the move, I wanted to make sure I was finished nice and early. Below is a sneak peek. I hope it doesn't give to much away! The quilt ended up about 24" x 24." I have finished the patchwork and the quilting. All that is left is the binding, but I've been feeling very indecisive about color choices. Luckily I have some time. These aren't due until the beginning of September.

• Father's Day! We celebrated Father's Day last weekend. Joe's present came out awesome, and definitely involved some craftiness on my part. I will post on that later this week.

Quilt for new baby...

I (finally) finished the quilt top for the new baby's quilt. The quilt was inspired by the bundle of fabric that I purchased from patapri on etsy. I decided to do a modified log cabin quilt block, and pulled out four colors from the prints to serve as the borders-- teal, chartreuse, plum, and orange. I strip-pieced the log cabin blocks with the colors, then added the white strips. I sewed up a bunch of random "confetti" strips to mix in with the plain white strips. There are 12 different prints total. Overall, I am very pleased with this project. There are plenty of wonky seams. I really hope that I get the hand of straight 1/4" seam sewing soon! The biggest difficulty in this quilt was that the printed squares and the white fabric is 100% linen. Because of that, it frays like mad! For durability, I double-seamed each of the seams, which took forever. Also, the quilt is huge! I don't think I realized quilt how big 60" by 60" is. I kind of think I just should have made it a twin, but I think it will be a nice place to lay down the baby. Now, all that is left to do is quilt! I purchased a lovely linen/rayon blend in the exact teal I used on the front to use for the back. But, after scouring the internet for advice, I've decided that using the rayon blend is just too risky. I'm worried about the rayon wearing unevenly or deteriorating. So.... impatient me must wait for the quilt back fabric to be delivered. Sorry teal linen, we will save you for another day! I am also thinking of sending this quilt out to be long-armed. I've never done that before. Anyone have any recommendations for long-arm quilters that do "modern" quilting?

Vintage Sheet Swap

Yeah! I am participating in the Oh, Fransson! vintage sheet swap. Coincidentally, I just picked up a bunch of vintage linens at Goodwill a few weeks ago. Some of those will definitely get turned into fat quarters for the swap. I do think that this calls for another trip to Goodwill this weekend, whoopee! Here are some pics of what people are contributing: There are a bunch more pics in the flicker pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/792015@N22