Thursday, August 27, 2009

Patchwork & Pillowcases

Taken with my cellphone camera....early this morning before leaving for work. sigh.
I didn't want to leave it!

I love this blog by Alicia Paulson and today my love grew even greater when she offered up a free embroidery pattern for pillowcases at Sew Mama Sew! Queen Anne's Lace....oh how lovely, eh? I want to stitch some of these for our bed....

....to go with the new patchwork coverlet I am working on!

A few weeks ago, I decided to stop HOARDING my favorite fabrics and just CUT INTO THEM. I picked out my favorites and every few nights I cut 2 to 4 8" squares of each, and just started stacking them in one of my "work in progress trays" (um...yeah, I do have a dozen or so of them going at any given time. Any other questions?) Moving along....

So...last night, I started piecing them together in rows of 8. OH...but first I divied up my piles into "greens/blues," "pinks/reds," and "oranges" (cause those were the main colors in my "favs" it seems).
I pieced the first row, then eyeballed the selections for the next row, being sure that the same fabrics did not touch. And sure enough....as I moved down the rows, I realized how SIMILAR my fabrics were. Not enough DARKS and not enough small scale prints. I guess I tend to just "like what I like" and pick up the same fabrics over and over again. I just marvel at the "queens of quilting" who can design a whole colorway of fabrics that JUST GO TOGETHER and those who can whip up a scrappy quilt with "oh, just some stuff from my stash" and have it look just so right.

Interesting thing? The fabrics I LOVE on the bolt are NOT my favs in the actual quilt top....and those I almost passed over, I ended up cutting more squares of to sprinkle among the rows. I think I finally get the "add sparkle" terminology I keep seeing when reading about fabric selections in quilting patterns.
And so to bed!

Monday, August 24, 2009

I really, really do....


....and I really, really loved Purl Patchwork, too...

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Busted camera means lame posts...


...'cause you know I need a photo for every post! Our poor little Canon PowerShot SD45C just stopped working properly on the fourth of July (LCD screen is GONE). So I can't use the menu and that means no flash or macro controls....(the only two settings I really used!)

Sigh.

But that means Sirryha can play with it to her heart's content. Interesting to see things from the perspective of 2 1/2 feet from the floor, eh?
(kitchen plants - and my precious Moravian pottery pieces - the first thing I hung when we moved in 8 years ago! And the LAST time I MEASURED before pounding nails--shhh...don't tell ROB!)
Happy Saturday, peeps!
And Happy Happy Birthday, Niki LALA! Wish I was there to celebrate with you! xoxo


Sunday, August 09, 2009

Stella's 2009 Summer Scavenger Hunt {#4}


Fizzy fruity drink (Island Paradise) - item #10 on the list...taken with my cell phone at an after-work gathering last week at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Yummy.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Stella's Summer Scavenger Hunt {#3}


File this one under "some sort of indoor crafting." I have been playing around with my fabric scraps...stitching them to pieces of canvas and muslin and yes, my Color Catcher laundry sheets. And lookie here! This? It's the first button hole I ever made. Complicated stuff this "real sewing!" (My camera is on the fritz...thus the horrid and few photos of late...the mini box is for my first SwapBot swap - Altered Matchbox. How much did I love making THAT little thing???)

Love the red and blues together....isn't it summer-y? xo