Getting back to work!

Hello again,

So, I need to just accept that I'm just not a frequent blog-poster. The news here is that I had the flu. It's gone now but it certainly knocked me off my feet for a while - literally. I'd been saying that I wanted time to just do nothing.. Well, I got that! And quickly decided that 'nothing' is really boring. Who knew day-time television was so terrible?

Also, I got into the Handmade Holiday show! Whoohoo! I'm quite proud of that. But now I'm quite scared too! I just need to plug along on making inventory. It's not until mid December. I'm sure I'll have enough done. I'm not planning on having a truckload of stuff or anything. We'll just see what happens! But, while I'm thinking of it, if anyone wants to comment about their favorite color combos (especially in the kitchen/dining area of life) feel free to let me know! I'm so afraid of making things in the totally wrong color schemes! I'm not trendy enough to know what's cool.

On another note, I recently went to a farm very close to where I live called Lavender Fields Farm. Such a sweet place. I bought a big ziploc of dried lavender to put in little sachets made from bitty scraps.. Ya know, for your closet or 'unmentionables' drawer? ; )

And to end the post, I'll put up a picture of what's recently been on my work table - lots of oven mitt tops! Now I just have to turn them into real oven mitts... Someday..

I tried! And keeping busy sewing!

So I applied to the Handmade Holiday show today that the Richmond Craft Mafia is doing. We'll see what happens!
I'm excited about the prospect of doing a craft show. I have been building quite an inventory now. I really need to get my butt in gear and put some stuff on Etsy! Baby steps though for now..
On to what I've been working on lately. I have now joined the teaching staff at the shop! So I have lots of samples to work on!I'll be teaching a class about "Circular Patchwork". I'm using very bright flannels paired with fun bright cotton prints. Lots of pinked-edged-circles going on!
Also, my mom knows a few people who are expecting a new addition to their family. I recently pieced this baby quilt. She said the expecting couple like the beach. It sure is beachy!! I hope it's not too bright!Well, I have more pics but I'll save those for another post. For now I have to go get a shower and get ready for work!

Schedule? Coasting...

Hello,

Yes, yes. I have not given up on this blog. I hope y'all haven't given up on me!

I've actually been quite busy - that's the problem. Whenever I'm not at work I'm working in the sewing room! I just need to get myself on a personal schedule. When to take walks, when to clean the house, and when to sew things. I've mainly sewn things and cleaned a VERY little. Walks and exercise need to enter the picture soon though! "Happy pounds" have hit me quite hard.. Ya know.. After you get married and you know that the man you love loves you no matter what? I heard about these just before the wedding. I guess it's like the "Freshman 15".. Yeah, well, need to get a hold of that!

Anyways, that's my ramble for now. I'll show you some pics of what I'm sewing on. That's what the "coasting" is about. I've made a fair amount of coasters lately.

By the way, John took the third picture. I need to start taking product photos to put on Etsy.. He did a night of practice and took some really good ones!

And speaking of the hubby... We went camping last weekend with our friends Brad and Sumona in Loft Mountain. Really fun! The next picture cracks me up! Especially since he's the least violent and least scary person I've probably EVER met.

And one more sewing picture for good measure. I'm (slowly) working on a batik (of course) log cabin quilt in all blues/greens - light vs. dark. The strips are 2.5" so each block is.. er.. too lazy to get a ruler.. 14" square I think? Hopefully when it all comes together it'll look like the waves in St. John.. Ahh..

Lastly, why the heck is it that whenever I load a picture to the post Blogger puts it at the very top AND inserts extra paragraph breaks between each paragraph. I hate computers sometime. I'll just blame it on my ancient laptop and keep wishing for a Mac.. No, really, any advice would be appreciated!

Another Wedding Show and Tell

Well, I suppose I'll post about another handmade item from the wedding. I need to take pictures of what I'm currently sewing on for a post about that.

Bridesmaids outfits are always a tricky situation. I always feel bad for folks that have to buy a very particular dress that isn't really the type of thing that can be worn again. And in my case, apparently red was not 'in' this season (oops - I've never been style concious..) So eventually the decision was made to make skirts for my sisters! My sisters and John's sister (my now sister-in-law!) were the bridesmaids. I love all my sisters and was grateful they all wanted to be a part of our wedding. And even better they were excited to get handmade skirts!

In this picture from left to right is Tasha McKelvey, Melissa McKelvey, me, my wonderful hubby, Martha White, and Molly Lynch.

So I found three different red and white fabrics at the shop. They were all from the same line so they went together really well. I used the wonderful pattern from Indygo Junction called "Great Fit Gored Skirt". Each lady picked out a white t-shirt they liked. I think they were all comfortable through the event and it still looked great! To add to the outfit, Tasha also made adorable ceramic red flower necklaces for each lady!

For lots more pictures from the wedding you can go to my hubby's Flickr site or Melissa's Flickr site!

Thanks for reading! I'll be getting on with posts about 'real life' soon!

More Show and Tell

Shwew. I have to admit, I've been a bit busy. The big news is that I have officially resigned from my government scientist/outreach job as of yesterday. I don't know how I feel about it really... I'm excited to start my next adventure (erm, if you don't know, I'm working at Quilting Adventures full-time and attempting to create a home business - DawnStitches). But I did like the agency I worked for and definitely liked the people I worked with. So, yeah, I'm just at a bit of an emotional peak. I'll work through it - especially with the help of my super supportive hubby!

So, yeah, I'll stop babbling now and start showing..
The picture above and pictures below are of the 'signature quilt' I made for the wedding. Yes, yes - still talking about the wedding. I made quite a few things for it so there still may be a few more posts about all that.. : )

The quilt was based on a Bareroots pattern (#51 - Flower Quilt and Pillows). I added some more squares and didn't embroider all of it. I left quite a few places as blank muslin for people to add their signature and congratulatory messages. Everyone wrote such nice things!

I was afraid people would be hesitant to write on this but in the end I think they enjoyed it! Now I just have to make time to quilt it! Phoebe had a 'scathingly brilliant' idea that I embroider the Shakespeare sonnet (#18) that was read at the wedding around it on the red border.. Mmm.. definitely need to make a chunk of time for that!

Okay. Now for Show and Tell - Part 1.

Hello,

Yes, we're back and getting into the swing of things again. Or trying to at least. : )

Now for some show and tell. I'll start off with the Mariner's Compass wedding quilt I made for my husband and me.

John and I took these pictures at Meadow Farm/Crump Park. We're very lucky to live so close to this great park. A taste of country living without having to travel too far.

This is a queen-sized (or a bit bigger... there's somebody around that is occasionally a blanket hog..) Mariner's Compass. The compasses are foundation paper pieced and the pattern is from Showstopping Quilts to Foundation Piece by Tricia Lund and Judy Pollard. The sashing was modified to have three strips (with a nine-patch in the corner). More pictures of this quilt can be found on my flickr.

I need to take care of some things around the house. I promise to share more soon! For any of you interested in seeing some photos from the wedding please see my sister Melissa's flickr.

I'll be back soon!

Don't give up!

I just wanted to say hello to anyone out there still attempting to read this blog.
John and I are married! Thus, I have plenty to share about the wedding and all the handmade goodies that went into it. So, bare with me. I'll try to start posting soon!

More sewing.. of course!

I am continuing to work on finishing the 'wedding quilt'. I think I have to paper piece one more block and then need to do quite a bit more curvy bits. BUT, soon I get to pick out the sashing fabric. I'm going to do what the pattern's designed for - two strips of sashing with a four-patch in each color.. So some kind of dark and light is brewing in my mind.. The picture above is one of my favorite blocks-to-be.

Just because it's so darn cute I made a Chubby Chicks quilt. Amy made one a little while ago and it inspired me to make my own!

I used Amy Butler fabric for the chicks, muslin for the background, and a floral batik for the pinwheels and borders. Not the best picture so I'll post more once I do the quilting!

Really that's all the sewing pictures for now.. Today was somewhat springy again. Whoohoo. Last week when I was whining about the lack of spring my future hubby brought me a beautiful bouquet. Am I lucky or what?

New Camera! And WOP's

For anybody that doesn't know - WOP=Work in Progress. Yes, it's true - I have a lot of them but I'll focus on just a couple.

First of all, I bought myself a fancy new camera. Too bad for Circuit City that they're going out of business but great for me that I bought a new SLR camera (Olympus - E420) for pretty cheap! So now I have even fewer excuses for my slack blogging habits!

Without further ado...

A preview of the "wedding quilt" I'm making for John and I. I guess it's a wedding quilt because I'm hoping it will be done by then and will adorn our bed after we get married!
It's a Mariner's Compass paper pieced pattern. I'm wondering if it looks TOO nautical but we like the colors and it's been fun to piece (even if some certain people think paper piecing is the devil, I quite enjoy it!).

This is truly a wedding quilt because it will be our 'guest quilt' instead of having a guest book. So, anyone that will be coming to the wedding - be prepared to write on this! Oh, and here's my plug for complete honesty - if you are not invited to the wedding, please do not be offended. We are going to be keeping it quite small for several reasons.. Anyway, some people have expressed they might be scared that they'll 'mess it up'. We'll have scrap fabric to practice on so go for it!

I'm embroidering approx. half the blocks with flowery motifs but the rest of the muslin areas will be free for the signing.

So that's the latest in my little sewing world. : ) Thanks for reading.

And keeping with my daily hope that when I wake up it will magically be spring....

Our first little daffodil - doesn't it look like it's cold?

Back from England! and still talking about Christmas...

Yes, I've made it safely back to the States after a two-week trip to England with my fiance'. We had a wonderful time! I may post more about it later but for now I want to catch up on what I made for Christmas. But, if you're dying to hear about England go to John's blog and/or his Flickr.

So, it was almost entirely a handmade Christmas this year (minus the IPod docking station bought during 'black Friday' for John)..
Both of my sisters received a handmade throw-size quilt.
This is the quilt I made for Tasha. It is made of Amy Butler fabrics and matching 'blenders' (blenders were largely thanks to Phoebe's wonderful eye for color!). The pattern is Scrappy Circles by CarolinaPatchworks. Very fun pattern. Hopefully this will go well with the couch Tasha will be buying soon from Ikea.

This is the quilt I made for Melissa. Her and her boyfriend recently moved into a brand new home and Melissa had recovered the dining room chairs in a brown and blue fabric. She gave me a swatch and (again with Phoebe's assistance) I tried to match it as well as I could. The pattern is In and Out by Blue Underground Studios.

Both of them seemed pretty pleased which was exciting.


This is what I made for my parents. It's a small wall hanging quilt. I bought a kit from Batiks Etcetera and tweaked the fabric a bit.. It's a pattern from McKenna Ryan PineNeedles. I did fusible applique and just quilted around to highlight some details. I was pretty happy with how it came out.

Well, unfortunately I think I'm getting sick so that's it for now.. Gonna go get some rest.