knit

edit: for those of you who asked, the quilt in the background of the photo below is blogged about here.

I knit this scarf this summer on bamboo needles (oh, they are lovely) I received from the very generous Mama Urchin. I used 2 different yarns together. It is one thick scarf. I love the texture of it so much, that I think I will be keeping it for myself. My knitting skills have not progressed past "idiot projects", as my neighbor likes to call them. Idiot projects=scarves, dishcloths, etc. Yeah, that's my skill level.

Then, after reading this post, I thought I could try to make a vest for my daughter. She's little, and really, how hard can knitting in the round actually be? I have some yarn and some needles. Here is what I came up with.

See that big loop on the left hand side? Um, that was one of my stitches. I tried at least 4 different times. Maybe I don't know how to cast on properly? I tried 2 different ways of casting on. It was a disaster. What was I thinking? My hat goes off to all of you talented knitters out there.

Some day I would still like to further my knitting skills. I still would love to learn how to knit socks. But for now, I think I am going to stick with quilting. And a few idiot knit projects here and there. :)

I'm ok with that.

what would you do....

...if you knew you only had six months to live?

I was pondering this question yesterday when I was mowing my lawn. (I have a huge yard, so I had a lot of time to think about this.) Today marks the 2 year anniversary of the death of one of my friends. And in exactly a month, it will be the 2 year anniversary of the death of another of my friends. Both friends each fought 4 rounds of cancer in a 4.5 year time span. They were both within 5 years of the age that I am now.

I came to the conclusion that if I knew I only had six months to live I would be living my life a lot differently that I am now. I would spend much more time with my husband, my kids, my family and my friends. I would devote much more effort toward my relationship with my Maker, who is my Saviour and Lord. I would spend less time being busy. I would spend a lot less time accumulating and maintaining my stuff. Because all the stuff isn't going to matter in the end. Heavy stuff, but well worth the thought.

So what would you do?

green

More progress on this quilt.

patchwork obsession: part 21

The house of girls quilt is complete.

This is a total scrap quilt. I took two pieces of pretty fabric and sewed them together, pressed, added another piece of pretty fabric, pressed, on and on. It was a lot of fun to piece using this method. I have never done a whole quilt this way before, but I plan on trying it again.

Roxanne, do you recognize these fabrics?

The quilt is a lap size: 52" x 65".

I thought the quilting added a nice texture to this flower.

This was the first time I used a thrifted vintage sheet for the backing.

I probably won't do it again-I much prefer pieced backs.

Although the colors in this sheet match the front perfectly.

This is going to my friend who has 4 girls.

It's her belated birthday gift.

I'm only a month late on this one.

stash happy

Here is my progress on the slice of my stash quilt. (click on image to see the detail)
I have a bunch of greens to sew together yet and then I have to figure out how to pull this together in a quilt top. Did you notice how pink heavy my stash is? 2 lines of pink to half a line (if that) for every other color. I might need to go fabric shopping to evenly round out the stash. :)

I'm quilting...

...on the house of girls quilt.

getting things done

Inspired by Erin, who is crossing stuff off her list left and right, I finally got around to making the little pillow...

and extra pillow case...

for my niece's birthday gift.

Her birthday was August 11th.
(WHY am I admitting this?)
My sister was in town, so I figured if I could get this done and sent with her, she could deliver it for me. That was just the shove that I needed.

My boys LOVED this....so I hope to make some of these for us, too.
Winter is coming and their little pets are cold.

So I crossed one thing off my list, and added another.
That's about how things go around here.

Happy Monday!

cards

My sister and I had a great time hanging out the past few days.

We stamped cards for a few hours yesterday.

These 3 are my favorite of the 7 that I made.

I LOVE this one.
These will be added to my stash of cards.
I like to have several made ahead of time just in case.

We also quilted. And played with the kiddies.

My boys are outside enjoying the nice weather. They are playing army men: sneaking around the trees and making the cutest machine gun noises ever. Ah, boys.

Next up: laundry. :)

my insane quilt project

I started another quilt. It's a little insane, but I have been thinking about making this one for a year and a half. I finally jumped in and started cutting.

I cut a strip off (nearly) every piece of quilting fabric I own (it's a LOT, despite my recent stash busting phase)...

sorted it into color families....

then cut those strips to approximately 12" lengths.

Now I am sewing those little strips all together to make bands of color.
I am going to try to incorporate all those fabrics into one quilt top.
A nice little benefit: I am adding to my stash of scraps. Hurray!

my head is spinning

Here is what has been going on in my life in the past week:

We moved from our tiny little temporary apartment into a rental house. This place feels like a mansion. We are loving the house. This move is nowhere near complete, but we are one step closer to the end.

My husband and I had a lovely dinner cruise date Friday night. The evening was planned and paid for by his work place. It was something that we wouldn't have found the time to do otherwise. Thanks to Hjordi for babysitting my kiddies.

My daughter is cutting eye teeth.

One of my boys has a cold.

A new bus route for my other boy.

Met some wonderful new neighbors. They bake great cookies. :)

No internet access in our home for 5 days. And 7 hours.

I finished a quilt top.

And started a new (insane) quilt project.

My sister had her first baby yesterday-a little boy.

And my other sister is here to visit for a few days.

Whew. Anyone else tired?

contest results

Wow! Thanks for all the response on my 200th post giveaway extravaganza. That was a lot of fun! I really liked what kim commented: "Wow I'm in shock that you are giving away such beautiful things! Although that is the fun in it, isn't it. :)"
I couldn't have said it better myself.

Commenter number

wins the purse.
Congratulations, Lera!

was the total referrals that May Britt of Abyquilt sent my way. Thanks May Britt. You really got your readers motivated to comment on your behalf. I will be sending the fall quilt to you soon. Thanks for spreading the word.

Thanks to all of you for playing along. Lets do this again sometime!

200th post contest and giveaway extravaganza

You all know I am crazy-it's right there in my name. So, in honor of my 200th post, I am doing a contest + giveaway. Well, 2 give aways, actually.

Leave me a comment on this post sometime in the next week and you could win this purse.

But wait, there's more!

Whoever refers the most people to my blog over the course of the next week will win this quilt. Yes, this quilt could be yours!

Now, in order for me to track this (I've lost sleep over how to do this, by the way), the individual you refer will have to leave a comment on this post.

In that comment, they need to include the name of the person who referred them here.

They may only comment once and can only mention one referral person.

Whoever refers the most readers that comment and mention their name will win the quilt.

Is that clear? (oh boy, I hope so!)

When referring someone, please have them use your blog name or address, e-mail address or else a first and last name for ease of tracking.

No employees of crazymomquilts will be eligible to win. (as if...)

And one more thing...thanks for reading!

patchwork obsession: part 20

My falling oaks quilt is done and I love how it turned out.
The blocks are 6". The leaves are sewn on with the raw egdes exposed so they will fray and add a nice texture over time. It is a lap size-54"x72".

The backing is pieced-all from my stash-again. I tell ya', it's amazing how many quilts I have finished without purchasing new fabric. Not even for binding. And I am just starting to see a dent in the old stash. Oy. The fabric on the left is flannel toile (oh, and it's so lovely + soft) and the fabric on the right is a leaf print quilter's cotton. I love love LOVE piecing the backs of my quilts. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should.

I just did more stippling on this quilt. I actually looked forward to quilting this one. I never would have dreamed....

So, another one down, and I only have 6 quilts in progress.
Only six. Sheesh! I'm in deep.

some suggestions, please?

Awhile back my dear Amy Jo and I had a moment of weakness and purchased a fat quarter stack of katie jump rope fabric. we bought both color ways and split them so we each have a fat eight of every single fabric in the line. (It is gorgeous!) It's been sitting around for a few months already and I have been racking my brain for the perfect quilt pattern for those fabrics. Any suggestions?

wanna swap?

I have a package of Quilt Patis that I don't have a use for any longer and I was wondering if anyone would like to swap for a bunch of good cotton fabric scraps? (US only please, to save on shipping costs.) Quilt Patis are reusable plastic templates used for making grandmother's flower garden quilts. There are 40 plastic templates in the package-1.5" on each side.

edit: they are taken.

untitled

This just may be the year that I finish my fall quilt.

patchwork obsession: part 19

patchwork tissue holders

These were made from bits in my scrap box.

Last Sunday, while in church, my friend went through about a dozen tissues. I felt so bad for her (she has sinus problems) that I gave her my fabric tissue holder. She loved it. I decided to make a bunch more: one for each purse that I currently have in rotation, (photos here) and then a few more to give away as needed. It's getting to be cold season, and how nice would that be, to hand someone a kleenex pretty (as Amy Jo calls them) when they have the sniffles?

a day this good...

...needs to be documented.

The kids and I went on a walk today...

...I took lots of photos...
(the skies are brilliant blue here, too, Susan.)

...I love everything about fall....

...we enjoyed the beautiful weather...

...and collected a stroller basket full of leaves and pine cones.

Now, I need to figure out how to knit (in the round) and felt a bowl to hold the pine cones. I'm wondering what to do with all my pressed leaves. (this is the second batch)

The kids and I also got to have lunch with my husband.
I got some sewing time in.
I played with the kids.
It's been a good day.

patchwork obsession: part 18

I finished this quilt sometime last week, and I have been waiting for some decent weather to do an outside photo shoot for this one, but that seems a little hopeless. It's been raining constantly.

My husband bought me a fat quarter stack of Moda fabrics about 5 years ago for my birthday. I finally got it into quilt form. (woo-hoo!) I changed my mind about 100 times before I got it to this point. And usually I am a decisive quilter. I am decisive about nothing else, mind you.

The quilt is approximately 83" x 90" (queen size).
Each square is 2.5".
There are 52 different fabrics in this quilt.

The pieced backing is all from my stash, as is the binding.


The machine quilting was done on my Juki.

It's good to have this baby done.
Although, I have to say, if it hadn't taken me this long to make it, the quilting on it wouldn't be nearly as good. So hurray for delayed projects.

Nancy, if you are reading, don't you think that this one deserves a comment? ;)

mail

I've been getting some lovely mail. I am still laughing at Linda's comment from the last time I posted about mail.

I won Chara Michele's 200th post giveaway and here is what she sent me.

Headbands (it turns out I do have enough hair to wear these, yay!) book marks, tags and some of her cards. Thanks, Chara, for the great package. :)

Roxanne and I planned a little fabric swap shortly after we both hit the fabric jackpot.
And she also included this fun pincushion.

I can't wait to use those scraps! And the pincushion is already in use.
Thanks, Roxy.

I have my own parcels to send, but I often have a hard time finding a box to send it in. I got this fantastic idea from Roxanne...turn your box inside out. Unfold it along the seams, flip it around, tape it back together and...

Viola! You have a box that is ready to ship that needs no wrapping.
Why didn't I think of that?

Another idea for using what you have. (or in my case using what Hjordi had.) Thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post on this subject. It was fun to get some new ideas.

Today my daughter has pigtails in her hair for the very first time and she looks like little Cindy Lou Who. It cracks me up.

Hope you are having a great Monday!