Soon to be a quilt....(and the state of my crafty mess)

Before we get to the grim part of this post, how about a pretty picture?

Ever since I purchased all six colorways of the Kei Kerchief girls, I knew I wanted a quilt to showcase them with some of my other favorite prints. I love all these blocks so much, but I'm not totally sure how they will end up in the final product. Any suggestions are welcomed!

On to the next subject: my total lack of organization. I debated showing you these pictures, because as you know, all of us here in bloggy land love to paint a picture of sheer perfection in all aspects of our lives, right? Haha. Well one area of my life that has been in total disarray is my crafty space. My fabric, notions and all 437 WIPs I have going have started taking over every corner of our home. This has become a large bone of contention between my husband and I! This is a man who is completely tolerant of my fabric mania, but would prefer not to have to clear it out of the way in order to eat dinner at the kitchen table. Understandably so.

So this weekend I removed our unused guest bed (no one wants to stay over when you live in a tiny house with a toddler in the next room anyhow) and set out to convert the spare room into my sewing space. This, my friends, is only part of my stash. Horrifying or fabulous, depending on how you look at it, I guess. But definitely in need of some serious organizing!

One of the first things I did after starting the move was put up my Spiderweb WIP on the new "design wall" (aka) a large piece of batting). I'm ready to start working on that again as soon as I finish a few swaps and bee blocks. I've got some new bins and shelving, and cute oilcloth to cover this poor excuse for a table, and today I'm going to make a valance for the window. I'm hoping soon I'll be able to show you a much more tidy and workable space that I sew in!

Lucy and I are off now to her first day of school! Baby gym! It feels like fall is here today, and I'm more than ready for that.

Blog-aversary Giveaway Winner!!!!

Here it is......the winner of the big Blog-aversary Giveaway!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:378Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Number 378!

Shari said...

Congratulations on your one year mark! Favorite print would have to be the "helicopters" from the Flea Market Fancy line. I don't know how many yards I had but I used every scrap. I hope you're not requiring me to pick a color too....

Yay Shari! I will be in contact with you via email to get this little package mailed off!

Thank you all so much for entering! I really actually did go through and read each and every comment and had a blast doing so. I'm going to do my best over the second year of blogging to not bore you to tears, so please check back often to see what I'm up to. I really adore and appreciate all the comments I receive - they really keep my creative mojo going!

Have a fabulous weekend friends!

WIP Wednesday (and lots of 'em!)

Holy comment love you guys! I am so joyfully overwhelmed by all the enthusiasm over my Blog-aversary giveaway! Two days to go and over 800 comments and lots of new readers. I am having so much fun reading all your comments! As far as favorite fabrics go, it seems anything Flea Market Fancy (big shock!) and in particular the seedling print is a clear winner. I was fairly sure anything by Heather Ross would be the second most popular, but her Goldfish in Bags print is far and away the most loved. Being a mushroom and gnome lover, that surprised me! Anyways, a big welcome to all of you who are new around here. Now the pressure is on to actually sew something!

So I decided to write out my list yesterday of everything I'm currently working on.......

it's a bit big and scary. I even forgot about a few to add and left off altogether a few I have classified into the "abandonment pile". And of course here I go again -  having zero will power to resist starting yet another project. The new City Weekend line is just too pretty to not cut up.

Here are a couple of other new things I'm working on:

A quilt for my pug-loving best girl friend (inspired by Ashley's gorgeous quilt here),

a quilt made from the new Moda Bliss line (the top is all pieced now and just needs borders),

and my super secret swap piece for the Urban Home Goods Swap.

It's a wonder I'm getting anything done at all around here lately keeping up with Lucia! I'm pretty sure she has more energy than most! She is actually loving her new baby dolls I made her. See how gently she shoves the bottle into the baby's mouth? I have already had to repair one's  embroidery and wipe raspberry goo off another's face (I admit a little cringing occured here) but they are meant to be played with after all!

So how many quilts do you have going right now? I hope to find a little time to wrap a few of these up soon.

See you Friday for the big winner announcement!

Technical Difficulties!

I guess the cat's out of the bag! I was comprising my giveaway blog entry this morning when my cousins came early to pick Lucy and I up to go to her first visit to the Seattle Zoo, and apparently my post was published before I got a chance to finish! You were probably wondering why there were no photos of the mentioned goodies, huh?

Well here they are! So if you haven't entered yet, make sure you go back to my last blog post, read up and comment!

We are pooped from the zoo visit so I think an afternoon nap is in order for both of us! Happy Friday all!

Happy Blog-aversary to me! (and a giveaway!) GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!

I can't believe it's been one year! I finally decided to start blogging last August and it has been such a rewarding addition to my life. When I started I really didn't even know where to begin, as you can see in my very first post, here. I have never been one to keep a journal but this for me has been a wonderful way for me to catalog all my sewing adventures, and to watch Lucia grow and grow. I've made so many online buddies and received so my crafty encouragement from you all. I don't have any friends who craft in my "real" life so all of your comments and constructive criticism are very valued by me.

As a thanks to you all, I dug deep into the corners (okay, under the messy, desperately-needing-to-be-organized stacks) of my fabric stash and put together this little bundle of rainbow goodness to give to one reader. These are some of my most treasured prints of all, most of which are nearly impossible to find without paying for with one's arm and leg. Included is a fat quarter of each: Heather Ross lavender matryoshka dolls, pink bikes, blue dogs, aqua underwater sisters, seagulls and yellow mushrooms; Erin Michael's Lush painter's pots and Uptown paint-by-number birds in blue and red; Tula Pink aqua ladybugs; Katie Jump Rope red daisies, yellow ribbon and orange dots; and from Flea Market Fancy, green posies and seeds in gold and yes, grey! Those grey seeds I must admit are a little hard to part with, being my favorite print of all time. But you guys are worth it!

Wanna a chance to win??? Here's what to do: Leave me a comment telling me your favorite fabric print of all time! If you can't pick just one having two or three in that comment is just fine too:) (I do have a real soft spot for my black Nani Iro double gauze and some of my japanese fairy tale prints, too!)

If you are a follower, old or new, leave me a second comment for another chance.

If you have a link to my blog in your blog's sidebar of blogs you read, enter for a third chance.

And if you want to blog about this giveaway, go ahead and enter for a fourth!

And please, please make sure you give me a way to get ahold of you. So many people leave lovely comments and have their account set to no-reply so I can't get back to them! I'll leave comments open until midnight next Thursday and choose a winner on Friday.

Thanks again to all of you for making my bloggy adventures so much fun!

Wee Wonderfuls Sleepover Pals

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Hillary Lang's new Wee Wonderfuls book. Hillary makes gorgeous toys and I've long admired her work. Every single project is totally adorable, but the first one I was inspired to tackle were these little dollies, The Sleepover Pals. I think I would've absolutely loved these as a little girl, all complete with a sleeping bag for three to nestle them in, and portable when you roll them up and tie it with the attached ribbon. I thought Lucia was still just a bit too young for these still, but I let her play with them for awhile last night and she loved tucking them in, patting their heads and saying "night, night".  I then had to remain calm as she started chewing on their hair and throwing them around the room. After all, a tattered and worn toy is a loved toy.

I can't really give a review of the book since I've only made this one pattern, but the directions were clear and simple. They were very fun to make, but there is some embroidery and hand sewing involved, areas I need practice in anyways. The hair is felted wool and and all the printed fabrics are from Lecien's Flower Sugar and Minny Muu lines.

I'm pretty sure I am going to be busy with this book making dollies for awhile, because every little girl should have a room of hand-made dolls, right? (Even if secretly that little girl is ME!)

Happy Monday and be sure to check back in this week for my blog-aversary giveaway!

Munki Munki Rainbow Nine Patch Quilt

It's all done! And I really love it. I started this one way back in November last year but stopped working on it when the insane person that lives inside of me kept telling me I needed to collect more and more Munki Munki prints to add to it. Really? I had to put a stop to the madness, as you can see I already had well more than enough to make a really, really big quilt (this one measures roughly 72x72). I don't even want to think about how much money I spent at the height of my Munki insanity collecting all of these prints!

But all my favorites are there: calypso, birthday party, ice cream trucks, aliens, recess, fireflies and even the rare field trip, cheese toast and etch-a-sketch. I was inspired to get working on this again while I was getting excited to take Heather's fabric design class last month. I wanted a pattern that was simple enough to highlight all the individual prints and tolerate the busyness of it all together and this is what I came up with. In the beginning I wasn't sure if I wanted to sash or not, but settled outside of my comfort zone for Kona Coal. Grey is the new white, right?

For the back I used leftover squares, even some ones I only had charms of in the rainbow stripe. The solid is a Moda Bella which I have never used before but I'm really happy with how it washed up. I of course didn't buy enough so I ended up piecing the bottom with some Kona solids and prints I had excess of from chopping up pajamas. The binding is one of my favorite Munki prints ever, sushi, that I had a big piece left from Heather's studio sale.

It's all cozy and crinkly after it's wash and Lucy is even loving looking at all the little pictures. I may even give this one over to her one day:)

I really have been sewing!

August has been busy and I've been working on a bunch of fun projects! I know I haven't really had too much to show you lately but I'm just putting the finishing touches on a few things. I did finally finish my Munki Munki Rainbow Nine Patch! I'm absolutely loving how it turned out and I think it showcases all my prints beautifully. It deserves a real photo shoot before I show it to you so I'm waiting until the sun shows her head around here to get some good lighting, and today is a typical rainy northwest August day.

I also picked up Hillary Lang's new book Wee Wonderfuls and I'm in love! I have long been dreaming of filling Lucy's room with an army of mama-made dollies and this book is chock full of awesome patterns. My first project, the Sleepover Pals is almost done so I'll share that soon too (by the way, the book above "This is Where I Leave You" comes highly recommended by me for a pee-in-your-pants funny summer read).

August is also my month in the Bee-autiful Bee. I am super excited that all these fabulously talented ladies are making "improv style" blocks for my Paint-by-Number quilt. I sent pieces from my Erin Michael's Uptown and Lush collections to the bee-ers and the blocks are already rolling in and just what I hoped for!

I've also been doing a little work here and there on my Kerchief Girl quilt. Here is a brown block......

and a blue. I love using some of my very favorite prints all together in one quilt.

And starting in on the red this morning.

The sun looks like it's finally coming out so I hope to get some pics of the Munki quilt taken today. And make sure you check back soon because my very first blog-aversary is this month and you know what that means - giveaway time!!!

Thank you all so much for all the kind wedding anniversary wishes. We had a lovely day together and today is Mark's birthday so we're going out tonight for more celebrating!

Two Years ago today......

282030050406_0_ALB, originally uploaded by Lucy & Norman.

I was lucky enough to get this man to marry me.

It was love at first sight for me. I don't consider myself clairvoyant in any way, shape or form, but something told me that day that he was the one for me. Months later we met again, and when my friend's car was broken into and both of our handbags inside stolen, he taped up her window and took us out to dinner. I went home that night even more smitten but depressed with haven the contents of my life taken and convinced that Mark was interested in my friend, who is one of those model-gorgeous girls with a perfect figure that all men gravitate toward.

Upon waking the next dismal morning and retrieving my voicemail, there he was, asking me to dinner. Suddenly everything turned around! We went out that night and never separated since. He never fails to amaze me with his generosity, hard work and dedication. And he's pretty cute, too. Not to mention a wonderful father. 

Happy Anniversary Mark, I love you more every day.