In project - A baby quilt

One of my cousins in France is having a baby at the end of August. She is a great gal and I wanted to make something special for her and her little one. One small problem: the sex of the baby is a surprise. 

It took me a while to figure out what to do. Neutral, fun and sweet. I had that panel in my stash as well as most of the solids. I just added the purple and the orange. I may add a darker blue to the mix still. I'm in the brewing stages but I have to hurry. This has to be finished in 6 weeks when we fly to France (yay!) for a 2-week vacation. I think it's going to be really cute...

More organized

As I mentioned in a previous post,  after spending much time reorganizing and de-cluttering over my holiday break, I've changed the way I handle the everyday household "maintenance". It's been working quite well for the most part and freed some time to tackle some overdue organization. 

I have a few sewing, crafting books that had been tucked in a box when my studio moved from a corner of the guest room to the basement and forgotten in the process. Also forgotten in a box, crafting and quilting magazines, my sewing machine's manual and sewing patterns. I stumbled on all this while de-cluttering the house. They needed a new home in the new studio. An organized home. 

Last time I went to Ikea I had grabbed a few magazine organizers and this weekend just turned out to be the right time to get this all done. All is now there, sorted by type and season. Hmm a tad OCD maybe.

I so like having everything so handy and still not in the way.

Progress report - The princess tent

Things are coming together a bit slower than I had hoped but so much better! A girlfriend commissioned a fabric organizer and bought waayyyy too much fabric for it. The organizer is done and delivered, and she gave me all the leftover fabric. So the tent now has a 'floor' made of that really solid grey fabric. It attaches to the body of the tent with snaps and conceals the bottom tube structure. I also started sewing the embellishments : flowers, pennant banner and curtains (yes curtains). I'm also finishing up a couple of pillow cases with the same fabric as the pennant banner. 

Here are the latest pictures... I think I'm in the race for aunt of the year :)

Ok I can't believe I'n typing this... I should really iron it before taking pictures next time :p

My super secret project

My new chore schedule is working well. I should have had tons of time to craft this weekend. Not so. I've been sick again, ugh! So thankfully I was able to rest and sleep in instead of stressing out about the household chores. I sent the hubby out for groceries and buried myself in a good book (The Time Traveler's Wife). 

I was feeling much better this Sunday and was able to work on a new pillow project. It is actually close to completion already.  Unfortunately this picture is all I can disclose for now.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for the recipient. 

A little whoop whoop for me, the ruffled pillow I entered in the CSI challenge last week was picked by Beckie as her favorite. Not bad for a little project that came out of experiementations with my ruffler foot

I also played with some bead trims and lace. 

Come back tomorrow to see what I've done

Stash disclosure

I caved in and shopped ... after being cooped up for a whole week and spending days catching up I needed a little "feel good" experience. Starting next week, I'll be working full gear to make Christmas presents so the shopping trip had some purpose

A little Amy Butler - First time ever can you believe it ?

 I just got a set of fat quarters that I'm going to marry with solids for some cute sun dresses for my nieces

Did I ever mention how much I love brocade and paisley?? 

This was the end of the bolt and 50% off  - Throw pillow anyone ? 

These strawberries were just too yummy to pass up

Not sure what I will use that one for

I was at a fabric store near Lancaster PA last April and just fell in love with the gold and peacock blue (on the right side) 

Just stumbled on the flower print on the right

And now I have tons of idea to play with peacock blue

Conjuring fabulous

A couple of months ago I saw a picture that really drew my attention. It was a pillowcase, in a plain grey fabric but oh so fabulous. I HAD figure out how to do this. After studying the picture and thinking about the kind of fabric to use for it I was convinced I really could pull this off. I started by going through my stash to find the right fabric to test my theory. Then I got sick and put the whole thing aside until last wednesday. Since then I've been experimenting in my sewing studio and I think I managed to conjure the fabulous. I'm soooo totally excited and so making a tutorial for this. 

Without further ado there is the picture that caught my eyes: 

and here is my version

I'm still ironing out the kinks so the tutorial will not be out for a couple of days... But seriously , what do you think ? 

Scarf , banner and a ribbon

It will be chillier here tomorrow 58F  (14C) vs 77 F (14C) today. Not coat weather but a sweater and a scarf would be a good choice. I could not find something to fit my mood in my closet. Not to worry... I can make one right? So I did.

I got this long strip of Japanese Koi print in a scrap bin at a quilt show last year : it was a shopping bag full for $1 and I fished this one along with a bunch of I-Spy prints that day. 

I married the fabric with a long piece of black microfiber suede and added a lilac ruffle matching the color for the lilies on each end. 

That project came together so quickly I even had time to put together a sign to set above our front door for Sunday : 

My little bug is so excited about Halloween. She gets to dress up at school tomorrow. I wish I could go see her in the parade! The curse of being a working mom. On the plus side, we had a  great time decorating the front porch together with skeletons, bats, spiders and of course or pumpkin friends Chuck and Happy. Speaking of those two, my photo won the third place at last week's Shoot'N Tell challenge.  I believe the cuteness of my little bug has to do with it. 

Stash disclosure

Since I acquired my first "real" sewing machine, I have turned into a fabric junkie. Sometimes I shop for specific projects and sometimes I just grab a yard of something that I fall in love with  hoping to mix and match for the pleasure of the eyes. I haven't shopped much since August since I took the Stashbusting September pledge and I have been way too busy to shop since except for the baby quilt I finished last week.
During the stashbusting month, I ended up reorganizing my stash after pulling everything out of the cabinets for inventory. A couple of combinations did form during the process. No definite projects for either but I think some of that eye candy will be soon becoming a quilt.

Little Boy, Big Dream - Better pictures

As promised a couple of pictures of the completed baby quilt. The shower is tomorrow. I hope the mom likes it! I also made a little taggy blanket out of the left over backing that is so cosy and soft. I like the contrast of the white sashing and the colors a lot. I thinking about making another quilt with the same design but with reds and pinks. Although I'm not 100% sure I want to submit myself to the finicky piecing involved in the process. We'll see! I'm looking forward to starting a new project this weekend, or maybe I should concentrate on my last UFO {cringe}

If you are interested in the previous posts about this quilt: 

- Fabric selection 

- Cutting and piecing 

- Piecing part 2 and quilting

- Reveal

Designed inspired by the Poseidon Quilt  by the so talented Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts

Finished : Little Boy Big Dream Quilt

There it is, inspired by the Poseidon Quilt  by the so talented Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts

I do wish I had some of her skills!!

I will take better pictures tomorrow - in daylight which will reveal the true colors

Playing catch up - Part 3

The baby quilt is back on tracks, with only a bit of stitching to be finished on the top. I've just finished the binding and it's now tumbling dry after a first run the in the wash....I had to push aside a lot of things to get to that point so time for a bit of catch up on other business that I has to push aside to finish the quilt for the friday deadline.

Atelier Caroline Giveaway:  Sorry to all that have entered. I will put the winner announcement Wednesday at the latest

Sew Dang Cute Giveaway: Your prize will be shipped by Thursday

Again, I apologize for the delays, the downside of trying to do so many things on top of taking care of my family, my house and having a full time job , I managed to over-extend myself again. I'm so very behind on everything especially responding to all your wonderful comments. This week will be dedicated to regroup and get back on track of being organized.

Playing catch up - Part 2

Quilt top done

Quilting mostly done

Still have to finish quilting details and bind it

Sooo tired but it looks like I will be able to finish on time

Stashbusting September - I did it !!

I decided to look back at the projects completed in September to see how well I did with the stashbusting challenge, so here is the full collection: 2 UFOs , 3 upcycled items,  4 Halloween projects. Some painting action, some sewing, some crafting. Even though my projects didn't make the judge's top 10 cut, I say mission accomplished. I did bust some stash. The plan is to keep it all under control now that everything is inventoried and keep thinking about the box i.e. instead of shopping for extra items, thinking about how to use what I already have at home to get it done.