Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday!

It has been a hectic week, so I haven't been able to finish all of my projects.  However, after a little late-night washing & stitching, I finished another version of the Campbell's smock for my dear friend on her birthday!  I didn't take photos (shame!), but she loved it & I will be making more this next month.

I have been blessed with so many friends who are about to have children!  This is very exciting for my inner-quilter, and I will be working on a few baby quilts this weekend & trying out some new designs.  Stay tuned!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend with many joyful moments!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Watermelon & WIP

I finished my towel!


And, now it has a new home with my friend Cat!

Last night, I took another trip to JEM to get more fabric to make my Big & Little Bird Smocks.  However, since I can't use it until it's washed, I decided to turn my attention to decoupage and finally repurposing those Mason jars...
So, I have a few Works in Progress that I can't wait to share once I finish them later tonight!

Have a fabulous day!


Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Weekend

I had such a great time this weekend making projects.  I took a holiday on Friday, so I had a nice extended weekend to mess around...

I spent a few hours at the laundromat washing all of the fabrics I had recently bought, and reading on my kindle.  Then, I got home, did some ironing & I started by cutting up some squares of the feedsack fabric to make Kinley's blanket.  I was super excited, and then & realized I misjudged the sizes.  Oops!  This is what happens when I think I don't really need to follow a pattern!  So, after being a little frustrated, and not knowing how I was going to salvage that project, I set it aside and picked up a new one.

Took some fat quarters I had bought & created this quilttop:

It is the exact size of my table top, so I think I will make this into a sort of placemat/runner!

I set that aside & took a break to make some cupcake goodies for Easter dinner:
Mmmm...

Then, I started working on an apron for the hostess.  I had found this awesomely cute Campbell's soup fabric on sale:


So, I decided to make an apron/shopping bag duo:
They both turned out great & were so much fun to make!

Happy Monday!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Ooh, Fabric!

Yesterday after work, I took the road less traveled, and went to the City Quilter on 25th between 6th & 7th.  I was a bit intimidated to go there, as I was afraid it would be pricey and full of snobby NY quilters who know it all....

I was pleasantly surprised!  The store is lovely! (I was breathing too hard in excitment, and unable to take pictures, but here are some from their facebook page):

 
The walls are lined with a great selection of fabrics that are easily identifiable and accessible.  They have lots of fat quarters, grouped by project and color, and lots of odds and ends.  The staff was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly (in NY, can you believe??!).

So, long story short: 

I picked up two solid-ish pieces to go with the assortment of feedsack pieces I had ordered for Kinley's quilt:
And, I picked up this lovely grosgrain ribbon that I will use to wrap around the quilt when it's all done! 

I also picked up materials for a table runner project for my quilting blog group "Newbie Quilters" on Quilt With Us.  I decided to make it in lemon/lime shades and found excellent fabric:

Oh, I can't wait to start both of these projects for the long holiday weekend!

After leaving the store, I walked through Madison Square Park & watched the sunlight play off of the buildings while waiting for my bus to get back to Brooklyn.

All in all, it was a very nice afternoon, and I'm looking forward to having fun with my new projects & sharing next week!

Happy Easter/Passover to all!





Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Apron!

I made my first apron last night, and am pretty happy with how it turned out!

(apologies for my camera phone)

I used a great pattern from Debbie Snyder of Sew Simple Patterns.  She has wonderful, user-friendly patterns with colorful instructions.

This one she designed to go over the shoulder and cross in back to reduce neck stress.  Nifty!

The front has a large pocket, which I divided into two pockets.  The smaller front pocket I created as a compartment for cell phones, tissues, and what-not.

The designed fabric is a cotton feedsack, and the body is a neutral cotton fabric.


I will definitely make this again, and will experiment with other color combinations...

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Mondays...

It's Monday, and I have that oh-so-familiar anxiety that I need to FINISH something, DO something, FREAK OUT about something... And then I remind myself that I have the entire rest of the week to do all three of these things and I relax... a little.

And, I got a nifty package in the mail containing old patterns...

Now, I just have to figure out how to use them!

I got these on ebay, from AshevilleKat.  Check out her store here on bonanza too!  She's from Asheville, NC, so I take this as a good sign.

This weekend, I worked on my stitching, made some practice mini-quilt toppers for Kinley's blanket (waiting until my shipment of fabric comes in from another ebay purchase), and got totally frustrated trying to read and cut a pattern out for my silk day-dress I'm trying to make...that will be awesome...once I figure out how to read the pattern properly.

So, tonight, as soon as I get home from work I plan to make an "easy" apron from another pattern, and will try to incorporate some of my quilt-top ideas on the front.

Stay tuned & Happy Monday!

Tulips!

Nothing says spring like pretty tulips!



Hope you have a great day!

Friday, April 15, 2011

For the Love of Cake!

Need some inspiration in the form of cake?? Look no further!  My girlfriend Melissa has been making creative and fun cakes from scratch & just launched her new website:
Please check it out & pass along to friends! 


Ooh, Watermelon!

I decided to kick spring into gear by getting some dish towels from YarnTree to cross stitch with fun images.  I absolutely LOVE the bright colors of the Milano towels, and have been working on this watermelon in my spare time...





Notions & Things...



While my girlfriend was visiting me from Portland, we decided to have a craft day.  We started with brunch at Bubby's in Tribeca, and then scoured all the notions/trimmings/button/fabric/craft/arts stores between Midtown and Soho.  What fun!
She took these artistic images above from her phone, while I was busy drooling on some silk and cotton fabric...