Zippered Pouch

I finished up a patchwork zippered pouch made of scraps yesterday.  I love the bright colors of the fabric and they are striking against the black background fabric.

The little pouch is available in my etsy shop.

I am linking up my finish with Such a Sew and Sew.

Longhorn T-Shirt Quilt

I finished up my t-shirt quilt using my shirts from college.  I graduated back in 2005 and I was hanging on to some of my favorite shirts.  I don't wear these ones anymore, but I couldn't bear to part with them either.  So, I found some great Longhorn fabric and made myself a lap quilt.

Here you can see the shirts from the consecutive Rose Bowl appearances and of course, a couple of national championship shirts.  The shirt in the middle on the first row was my very first UT shirt and I had worn it so many times that the seams were unravelling on the side.  There are so many memories wrapped up in the quilt and they are no longer taking up space in my dresser!

I used a white background fabric for the sashing and the iconic burnt orange with white longhorn on the back.  I went super simple on the quilting and stitched just outside the shirt squares.

 And here it rests, on the back of the recliner. Oscar just had to jump up and get his picture taken. After all, the recliner is his favorite place to be.

I am linking up my finish with Such a Sew and Sew.

Texas Traditions

Yesterday I took Claire out to a field to partake in a wonderful Texas tradition, bluebonnet photos.  The bluebonnets have been beautiful this year and have been lining the highways and country roads for a few weeks now.  I finally found a great spot and we headed to San Gabriel park.

She sat in the field of bluebonnets.

She jumped in the bluebonnets.

She "stomped" or walked in the bluebonnets.

Finally, she twirled in the blue bonnets.

WIP Wednesday

I skipped last week, which was no big deal because nothing changed from the week before.  I was going to work on a few projects during the day and report back, but plans change.  Our dog, Leroy likes to attempt to jump our privacy fence and must have landed wrong.  He was limping and crying and wouldn't even eat the first night.  So Wednesday morning it was getting worse so I loaded up the car with the dog and Claire and off we went.

Good news, is that Leroy is getting better.  Which means it isn't broken, probably just a bruise.  He is still on pain medication and the worst part, he can't run and play outside.  This is poor Leroy  while I am writing this.

On to the quilting,  I finished up two of my projects this week and made a decision about my swoon block.  I finished up Claire's growth chart and my Longhorn T-Shirt quilt. I will post about my Longhorn quilt later this week after I get some good photos.

I also finished another quilted jewelry roll for my etsy shop.  I decided to quilt the outside of this one and I really like the results.

As for my swoon block, I had it up on my design wall and decided that I was going to quilt it and make it into a wall hanging.  I also need some more magnetic snaps to finish up the other jewelry clutch up on my design wall.

I am linking up with Freshley Pieced.

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Claire's New Room

Claire moved back into her old bedroom this week. It is bigger than the office she was in so it makes  the room less crowded.  This morning I even finished up her growth chart which I will share.  Claire's room is a mix of girly colors and her love of the movie Cars.  I rotate out the bedding, so somedays it is purple and flowery and other days it is Cars.

I finally finished the growth chart using scraps from the bedding set.  I paper pieced the letters and pieced the small scraps for the border.  The letters have some hand quilting in coordinating colors and I used my machine to embroider the numbers on the side.

And a close up of the detail:

I also found the cross stitch I worked on while pregnant with Claire.  I finished it up a few weeks after her birth, never put her footprint on it, but I hung it up anyways.

I am linking up with

New Rooms!

This past week has been eventful.  When I returned from Houston last weekend, our roommate moved out, which meant we got our office back! Claire moved back into her "blue room" Sunday evening and I have been putting together the office since then.

When I clean up and put pictures on the wall, I will share Claire's "new room." It was here room to begin with, but with moving to Houston and back and gaining a roommate, she was in the grey room.  The grey room is now an office/sewing studio. It is nothing fancy, but it works great and I don't have to dig through my stash in several rooms and the garage to find what I am looking for.

The Desks

We now have an "office desk" to conduct business with business supplies stored above and I moved in my desk for my sewing machine.  

On the opposite wall, I have hung my new design wall and I have space for the ironing board.  You can also see my plastic bins housing the majority of my fabric and the two bins on top holding projects on my "to do" list.  Hanging on my design wall is my swoon block and two pieces of my next jewelry roll.  The swoon block will be quilted and hung up some where in the house.  

In the corner you can see a wall hanging my Aunt Karen put together using my grandmother's cross-stitches.  One day it will go into Claire's room, but she has been pretty destructive as of late and I would hate for it to be colored on, cut up, or any number of things.  So for now, it will hang safely on the office wall for inspiration. Here is a close up of the wall hanging:

I still have some more ideas, but for now, I like the space.  I will even share it with my husband when he needs to work since it is an office.  

Weekend Update

This weekend was jam packed with lots of shopping, rain, and moving around.  Let's start with the fun, shopping!  Claire and I went to visit my mom while my husband was at drill for the weekend.  One of our first stops was GRS Creations in Old Town Spring (Texas).  If you are a lover of Moda and you are in the area, you must stop by.  They have converted an old house on Main Street into a quilt shop, with room after room of fabric.  Plus pre-cuts, tons and tons of precuts.  I came away with some fat quarters of Good Fortune by Kate Spain and Tend the Earth by Deb Strain. We did get a little bit wet from all the rain, but it was worth it.

Good Fortune

Tend the Earth

 As for the moving around, that is taking awhile.  Our housemate got a job and moved out of town this past weekend.  It was nice while it lasted, but now we get some space back.  Claire moved back into her big blue room and I am putting together the office/studio.  I have had tons of office and craft supplies stashed in closets all over the house. Plus I was sewing on the dining room table or the desk in the dining room.  Now the desks are where they belong and we can move around again.  It is taking a lot longer than I thought to go through things, purge, dust off, and find a new home for.  It is worth it though, it already feels better!

WIP Wednesday

This week I thought I would be much more motivated, but I have not been.  Claire and I are both battling allergies which makes life a little rough around here.  Yesterday was particularly bad but we made it through.

Now down to business.

Finished:

My mini:

And I finished my March Blocks:

Progress:
UT t-shirt quilt:  It is quilted and I am working on the binding.

No Progress:
Growth Chart

I am linking up with:

March Blocks

It is already March, where has the time gone?  After watching the Craftsy.com video for Amy Gibson's Block of the Month class, I got started on the new blocks.

First I have the String Block.  I decided to pretty much follow instructions on this block.  I cut one or two strips from each fat quarter or scrap from previous projects. Then I pieced each 6.5 inch block, cut it down, then stitched them together. I wasn't a real fan of the block until I cut down each block.  There are so many possibilities for this block.  You could rotate the blocks so that the white pieces make an X or my favorite, a chevron.  Overall, much easier than I thought it would be, just like every other block we have made so far.

Block 5-String Block

The sixth block in the series is the Broken Spider Web Block.  I decided to mix things up a bit and use the blue and white print as a background print.  Then I used one of the yellow prints, cut all of the strips to 1.25 inches wide and pieced it first to outline the blue and white print.  Then I used the blue and white prints for the "web" portions.  I really like how the center stands out, it is one of my favorite prints in the collection.

Block 6- Broken SPider Web

If you haven't joined in on the fun you should.  Head on over to Craftsy and sign up for Amy Gibson's FREE!! Block of the Month class.  You can join at any time and catch up. See you there!

All 6 Blocks

Modern Mini Challenge

Have you heard about the Ellison Lane Quilt's Modern Mini Challenge?  If not, check it out the deadline is today!



I am going to link up my mug rug, it is 10 in x 10 in.  I love the chunky chevron pattern, so I switched it up a little bit.  I used black for the chunky chevrons and a little bit of aqua and white for the smaller chevrons.  It was so much more difficult to piece the tiny squares.

A close up of the quilting:

And finally, a picture on the counter:

I am also linking up with Such a Sew and Sew's March Finishes

Basting Spray

Where have you been all my life?

It is not only great for basting quilts, but it is great for so many other projects that pins simply do not work.  Have you ever tried to pin velcro to something?  It can be so difficult to sew because it never lays flat.  Or have you tried to sew patches on a uniform?  The thick patches just never lay right and then you have to sew curves.  My go too secret weapon is now basting spray.  It gives you that temporary stick and washes away.  So next time you need to pin something thick and odd shaped, reach for a can of basting spray and leave the pins in the sewing box!

Leap Day Giveaway Winner!

I went to Random.Org and our winner is:

which is:

SqqueeFeb 29, 2012 05:11 AM

Liked and left a comment on FB

Thank you all for entering and congratulations to the winner.  I will email you shortly with instructions on redeeming the giftcard!