Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

And if that is true, then you people are head over heels in love with me by now.

Let me just say 2 things - WORK and 2 1/2 year-old.


Enough said.

Batik Squares

This was my other finish on my super productive weekend. This is a top I did quite some time ago at one of the Friday Night Valet Sewing events at Quilters Cottage. Such a fun night. I think I need to do another one of those.....
I had never really been a big batik fan until I saw the quilts Laura had created. Every pattern she did in batiks was just beautiful. So I had to give it a try. It reminds me of underwater. I really like it.

I quilted across the background squares on a diagonal with a beige/tan veriegated thread. Then used a variegated blue to stitch about 1/4" outside each of the border seams. Simple and it works.


This was another new binding technique. New to me at least. I stitched the binding on by machine. So that line of stitching also adds to the quilting I did.

Gratuitous Bug shot.
Look at just how dang cute she is!!! (Biased, I know.)

The sneeze - solution

I love to sneeze. I really get into it. A good sneeze just feels so great, one you can let your whole body experience. I think it is just one of those wonderful 'releases' our bodies provide for us. There are some 'O'bvious 'O'nes, and then some other little suprises, like the sneeze. I often get the shivers, or even giggle, after a good sneeze. Really, try it some time. Live it up.

But every now and then you need to save it for another time. Like this morning at 4am. I realized I would not get the full benefits of the sneeze, and it would wake up the 4 other bodies in bed with me - husband and 3 cats. I know, a lot isn't it? Well, this solution amazes me along with the act of sneezing itself. Put your finger across your upper lip, under your nose, and press. It works. Seriously. Try it. But only when you absolutely have to. Otherwise, embrace and enjoy your next sneeze. Enjoy the mini release.

Whirlygig Christmas

So this has been done for awhile, but life has intervened so I haven't posted it yet. This is one of the quilts I finished in my Very Productive Weekend. I even got soooo productive that I made a matching pillow case. Check it!
Isn't my little helper just the cutest?



Fabric is Sherri Berry Holiday with a white on white snowflake. I quilted (approximately) 1/4" into the white part of the 'gig. And may I just say that trying to quilt straight lines with a free motion set up, not your walking foot, is just a little harder that you think it is going to be. Seriously. But I still love it.


Oh and check out the binding. It has PIPING! So cute. I saw this tutorial at TLC Stitches and wanted to try it. And this was the perfect place to try it. I love the pop that aqua adds to this quilt. Again, a technique that is just a bit harder than you think it will be. It was the ironing that killed me on this. My iron gets very hot, and I have one of those fancy-dancy covers that is teflon or some such thing, that probably gets hotter than the iron. And you are working with a very small little area. But again, I learned so much, and I love the result. As long as I stand back. And don't have on my glasses. And I get the overall picture. And don't look too close at the stitching....



And then, since the detail on the binding added so much, I used one of my fancy stitches that came on my sewing machine that I thought I would never use, and made almost an eyelet trim along the edge of the pillowcase. Because, I mean really, if you are going to go big with the details, then you need to GO BIG with the details.



It is constantly amazing to me the affect that the smallest details have on a peice. I usually get so excited to actually get something done that I rush to finish, and miss opportunities to add a little extra here and there. I'm thinking that might be changing.

I got the call

The call that I did not want to get. My friend passed away.

And in an odd twist, a bit of irony, in the weird way things work in the world, my brother-in-law was the one to have to tell me. It was his tragedy I was relaying earlier this year. We are all so connected in so many ways.

Pay attention to each other. Pay attention to yourself. Do not let things linger. If you have been meaning to do something, do it. Do not wait. Reach out to the people that used to be important to you and tell them. Make them important again, in some small way.

Stop reading blogs and go talk to someone. Offer your biggest and most genuine smile, offer your kindness, offer anything that you can of yourself. In honor of Don.

This was a good day

Work clothes

I realized I could never have an affair with any of the delivery people who come to my house.

I work from home and usually just roll right out of bed and to my office. My hair is usually up in some sort of strange knot thing on top just to get it out of the way. Yesterday's makeup, if there is any, has long since been smeared or rubbed off. Except of course for the lovely mascara eyes I wake up with. I grab whatever sweatshirt and comfy pants I can find. And I usually have on those super soft blanky type socks. And nothing matches, is absolutely not flattering, and often a little worse for wear. I think some appropriate adjectives might be - shlumpy, slightly unkempt, scary, etc.

And all of this reality hits just as I am reaching for the door handle. If I am lucky I get in a swipe under each eye before blasting my lovely morning breath on the unsuspecting bearer of presents on the other side.

Thank god we don't have video conferencing. And I am outlawing skype on my computer.

A turn...

A very special man is dying. I almost married this man and yet we have not had any communication in over a dozen years. Unfortunately at the beginning of this year our only conversations were regarding a tragedy in my family that affected him as well. And I kept things every distant, somewhat informal. We learned that he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer within about a week of our own heartbreak. But the reality of that didn't quite sink in. He has now 'taken a turn for the worse' and the reality of his mortality has hit me in the face, hard. It is so unbelievable. He has always been so vibrant, so healthy and active, so ALIVE! And now he has taken himself away to his sanctuary to wait things out I guess. He has removed himself from society, his family, his friends, those people around him that could offer so much love and support. He never liked conflict. He never liked to need things from others. He was always the giver.

I hate to admit I have regrets. So much can be read into that that probably shouldn't. But that is one of the overwhelming feelings I have right now. And the what ifs. That in no way should devalue the paths that I have taken. I fear people might think that. But it is there none the less.

I am struggling with death. It has beaten me up this year. I have to admit that I have been very fortunate in my life. Yes, people I know have passed throughout my 40+ years. But most of them were somehow removed, the mourning was vague. I have not had the practice to know what emotions can do to you when you least expect it, how the roller coaster of grief works. It has caught me off guard, unsettled me, plunged me into dark depths, taken my breath. I am tired.

I want to say "Please stop" but I realize that this really is only the beginning. We are entering that age when more bad news will come at us. When our parents mortality will be tested. When some of our dear friends will come to harm. I want none of it. I have no place for it. I have had enough. Please stop.

A confession about the library

I love books. Adore books. Could get lost in bookstores for hours on end. And now I have a new addiction. I went to the library. For the first time in I don't know how long. So long that I am embarrassed to even think about it. It has been so long that I am overwhelmed by all the cool gadgets they now have to look up and reserve books, to check out books, all of it.

The coolest was the check out. You put your stack of books on this panel, scan your card and up pops the list of books you are checking out and boom, you are done.

I was making lists of the books to get next time I am there. I am at least trying to be realistic on how much I can get read between now and when they are due. 3 weeks! Wow. Didn't it used to just be like 10 days or something? Seriously, I am so out of the library loop.

So many subjects to explore. Oh, the possiblities. I am giddy. (And I need a little giddy right about now.)

My sewing room (to be)

This is actually just one element. Mark is building a murphy style bed against one wall. And here it is in all its glory!

My craft/sewing room is also our only guest room. But the Queen size bed takes up too much floor space, and the reality is that I sew more often than we have guests. But when we do have guests we like to do it up right. So now we will be able to do both so much better.

So the big plan is the fold up bed surrounded by shelves and storage on one wall. And a corner shelf and storage system opposite that. With a built in desk/surface for my sewing machine or whatever else I might need at the time. Then on the bottom of the bed that becomes basically a wall when it is up, we will have a drop down shelf. Of some kind. Most likely. Whatever. The point is that it has started - yeah!

In our design phase we really tried to work in too many things. One goal was that Mark was going to build me a fancy sewing table kind of like this one. And that was going to slide into the corner or somehow fit within the shelves and then slide out and either have flip up sides for actual quilting, or move over to the flip down shelf on the bed, or some such thing. I'm kind of one of those, hey, let's just get started and we'll see how it ends up. That is so not Mark's style. But I asked for the bed part for my birthday, so work has started. And then we will see how it ends up. I know it will be beautiful!

We are doing (who am I kidding?) He is doing a horizontal style. We haven't figured out the details for the front but we do know it will all be painted white. As will all the trim in the room. I love white trim. And all these shelves and cabinets will have trim and moldings to make them look even fancier.

Some times you just need to get started. That is a lot like quilting isn't it? You can get so tied up in the planning of every little stage, or overwhelmed by how much you need to do, so that you never actually start. But once you do start, it all seems to flow so much better. Even if you have to make some adjustments, it just feels so much better to be actually doing.

So here is to doing. Thank you Mark!

An update on the big girl bed

Well, we are back to our crib. And everyone seems just fine with it. Our original goal was to get her used to a big bed so that we could do some traveling and visiting and sleep through the night at other peoples houses. But after a week of getting up at least once in the middle of the night, finding her sleeping in the middle of her floor in the wee hours, and a very early wake up, we decided that now may not be the time.

And we all seem much happier that way.

(And I get my little girl a bit longer....)

September 14

Today was Anthony's birthday.

Chicken Peppers

My sister Michelle turned us on to this one.

Use the sweet peppers that look like mini-bell peppers. They come in red, yellow and orange. You can usually find them at Costco or Trader Joe's.
Most of my recipes are pretty exact ingredients because I need to follow an exact recipe. This one is kind of thrown together. So if I can do it this way, so can you.
Cut about 1/3 to 1/2 off the peppers on one side the long way and clean out center. This is where the good stuff goes.
Cut up some or all of those tops and add some diced chicken, a little mayo (optional), some pesto, a little grated or diced onion and maybe a little feta cheese. Put a small amount in each pepper and serve. Watch them disappear. (Don't forget to put out a little something for the pepper tops for people to discard.)

Eiffel Tower for my Dad

My dad's name is Pierre. He went by Pete for probably 60 years of his life, but in the last 10 or so he has started introducing himself as Pierre. Both of his parents were born and raised in France in a little town called Joigny. I'm pretty sure they were married in France before they came to the U.S. so my dad is first generation American. My dad did not always like his name and growing up and through most of his adult life he was Pete or Peter. Now, he is Pierre. He loves all things French. I cannot count how many vacations he has taken to France. My mom has stopped going with him. She has other countries she wants to see. My sister-in-law always gets him a huge basket filled with everything French she can find throughout the year for Christmas. And he loves it.

So when I saw this pattern I thought of my dad. And when I saw it was a class being offered here, I signed up immediately. The pattern actually is for a wall hanging but I like quilts you can use. (Although I think this one is now hung up. And the one I gave my Mom is also hung. Theirs to do as they choose.) I added much wider borders and didn't do the PARIS applique. I like it just as it is.

(notice my little helpers feet with my big helper? so cute)


The quilting on this one turned out better than I thought. The border fabric is a diagonal lined print so I followed that for the outside quilting. The tower itself is from a fabric with a very tight squiggle, so I followed that for quitling as well. I defined the shape of the iron work on the bottom. And then I was stuck. What to do in the large off-white expanse? Why clouds of course. And they turned out good, if I say so myself. Just the thing. Then a large meander in the beige background.


And here is something you may never see again. A picture of me on this blog. Me in all my no make-up, weird hair wearing glory. And of course, with Pierre. I think he really liked it.

Using every bit

So in cleaning up a little bit and sorting through various piles I came across this.

And it is the trimmed extra from this back.


Zip, zip, zip (that means sew a few edges together and stuff) and I now have a fun matching pillow for my Figgy Pudding D9P!





Love it!

Wasabi Dip

This one came from my book club. And it is so dang good. You will get hooked. Seriously.

1 cup total Mayo and/or sour cream
2 tsp wasabi paste
2 tsp lemon juice
4T soy sauce
1.5 tsp sugar

The original recipe called for all mayo but my sister doesn't eat mayo (gives her the heebie-jeebies) so we made it with sour cream and it was still great. Now we do a mix of both.

really good with sugar snap peas

Yum Yum Yum

In the eye of the beholder

When we were getting Bug's room ready for her arrival I was looking for a quilt rack, or a blanket rack. But the only ones I saw had only one bar or maybe two at the most for hanging. And I am a blanket girl. I needed many more options than that. So as I was perusing thrift and second hand stores I ran across this.

It was that weird fake pine color so I painted it white. And I loved it. As I was painting it my husband says - Why did you by a shoe rack?

What? Oh, I guess I really did. But I didn't see that until he pointed it out. Here is what I saw. My perfect blanket rack!

What a weekend!

I had such a productive weekend. It felt so good. My mojo is back and I am loving it. I finished quiliting and binding 2 quilts this weekend. Yes, I said TWO finishes.

And I tried two new binding techniques. On my batik squares I attached the binding completely by machine. Not a new technique but new to me, and I like it. And on the holiday whirlygig I did a faux piping technique. And it is great.

Of course you want photos. And I don't have those yet. It was a busy weekend.

Bug got her first official haircut. And last night she slept in her big girl (toddler) bed for the first time. It was rough going down but she slept all night and I was woken up by the soft shuffle of feet to my bedside - and a big smile. I am so proud of her. And a little sad as well. My baby is no longer a baby.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a craving a few weeks ago for these. It may sound odd but the pumpkin adds just a little bit. Just the right bit. Luckily all items were in my pantry - very rare. I put most of them in the freezer after they were cooked and would take out 1 or 2 (okay, usually 2 or 3) when the need arose. Just hit the spot!

1 cup softened butter: beat until smooth
add 1 cup each of white and brown sugar: beat until light and fluffy
2 eggs: beat in 1 at a time
mix in 1 tsp vanilla + 1 cup pumpkin puree
whisk then add 3 cups flour + 2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 tsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp ginger + 1/4 tsp nutmeg + 1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 cups chocolate chips: stir in
Bake on lightly greased pan, or use parchment paper. Rotate pans 1/2 way through.
350 degrees, 15-20 minutes

Yummy yummy in your tummy. Thank you Jacque!

Entertaining Time Suck

One of the blogs I saw on Quilter Blogs.com mentioned a site called Regretsy. Oh my god. It is hilarious. Seriously. I just spent I don't know how much time looking at some of the very odd things people create, and even better, request someone else to make (i.e. matching hats for guinea pigs modelled after the Sister Sister tv show).

It is scary people. Seriously scary.

Another great site along those lines is Kraftomatic.



And I really wanted to sew tonight. Be careful if you go there, you will not get anything else done.

When last I left you...

I was whirlygigging. I still am, this picture is not current, and I have actually finished quilting it and need to get to the binding. All sorts of other things happening in there as well. More to come....
(Nice design wall, huh? My guest bedroom. There is about 18" between the end of the bed and my sewing table. The ironing board is usually wedged in the corner as well. We have big plans for a new room...someday.)

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

Isn't that wonderful? That phrase has just touched me. Odd how sometimes that happens. So I wanted to share.


I saw this on Bonnie's website. She was relaying the wonderful story of a family coming together to celebrate the life of its Patriarch. A sad time, and yet joyful as well because so much family came together. And it becomes a celebration. I used to be afraid of funerals or memorials. I think maybe because I was blessed to not have attended many, or needed to, until recently. And now I realize that you really can use this time to celebrate the one you are loosing, and come closer to the ones still around you. Still hard, oh so hard.

Christmas in May

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I saw my 'name' in someone else's blog again. And it was because I won some yummy Christmas goodies. Still a bit startling as you are looking through your reader at all the wonderfulness posted by so many talented people, and then you see your 'name'. Seems so out of place. So not worthy.

But oh so exciting. Dana at the Old Red Barn and Kari from Fresh Cut Quilts did a joint giveaway for some Christmassy things. And I figured if I started soon I might have something to give as a gift for Christmas. So I entered. And I won. Imagine that.

This is the pattern I get to play with along with some Berry Me fats. Yeah me. Christmas in May.

VW Bus from Duct Tape

This is totally great. And this is made by my cousin. Okay, again, technically my cousin-in-law. So cool. She is an art student in PA (don't remember all the details - sorry!), and one of her projects was to make something out of duct tape. So she decided a VW. Her professor kept telling her 'bigger, no bigger" and so it is bigger. She had to set it up in her living room to finish because it was too big for the studio. Then take it apart to get it to class, then take it apart again to go to Ohio for some duct tape competition. (Something like that. I really need to listen better next time.) Those are her feet under it. Go to the link above for ohter photos.

Yeah Amy!

Super Easy Super Sized Nine-patch

I ran across this pattern on someone's site. I wish could remember who. This was before I had a blog. Before I knew to a) write it down so you could make the correct references, credit and links and b) write it down because you still have mommy brain and forget everything. It is very easy!(The pattern is easy, writing things down is obviously not easy.)


The original pattern is on the Quiltmaker website. You can download it from there. It calls for three yards of fabric, two cuts, switch the fabrics around and you end up with three tops. I used just two yards of fabric and I used flannel and made it into a rag quilt. A few times. Very very very fast.


The original blog I read mentioned that they had used this for one of their sit and sew days with her guild for donation quilts. That is a fabulous idea.



Dang it. There are those wrinkles again. Maybe I should rename this to "Come see all of my projects with wrinkles" blog. Or "I am too lazy to iron anything before I put it out there for all to see" blog. More likely, "What the hell was I thinking" blog. Oh well, 'tis me.

I am whirlygigging. Is that a word?

My current project (and I am only actively working on one right now. I have many in various stages, but this one is getting to flimsy stage before I do anything else.) As I was saying, I am whirlygigging. I am using this tutorial
and this fabric.


And I am loving it.

Fabric is Sheri Berry Holiday. I scored 2 charm packs on sale a few months ago with this in mind. I think it is the right fit. I was waiting to find a bright white on white snowflake pattern for the background. And I found that in Arizona at the end of May. No one had any holiday fabrics out in my neck of the woods.

So that is what I am doing. Yay me.

I won, I won, I can't believe I won

Seriously, I won a t-shirt from The Bitchy Stitcher. You are going to love this.

"Don't Drink and Quilt"

I really don't enter that many giveaways so this was pretty exciting. And seeing my blog name out in the ether kind of freaked me out at first. I was confused and then clarity dawned. I won!

Let me tell you. This is one blog you want to follow. Megan is hysterical. And really funny too. I think one of my favorite posts is this one that defines some key quilting definitions. As an example:

Quarter Inch Seam, Accurate – What quilt books and patterns are always harping on, like the world’s gonna end if your seam is a little off.

That is one of my favorites because of my casual relationship with the 1/4" seam. I am sure that others will resonate with each of you. (I can't believe I picked just one. They all make me laugh.)

Thank you Bitchy Stitcher!!! I shall wear your shirt with pride, as long it fits, and doesn't show the shlub, and covers my....naw, I'll just wear it.

Figgy Pudding D9P My Way

I need to stop saying how much I love my own quilts. Sounds a little too self serving maybe? But then again I haven't posted the 'other' quilts yet. The ones that I don't really love. I am having a hard time saying I don't like them now that they are finished. I put too much work into them to not like them. But the reality is, some I just don't. But this one, this one I love.

It started with the disappearing 9-patch tutorial for a table runner at p.s. i quilt and a charm pack of Figgy Pudding. I made the 4 big 9 patches. And cut them up. And then - yuck. I didn't like any version of putting them all back together. Too scrappy for me. There really is a theme developing here that I have hard time with scrappy. I like a little more order and reason to things. (Not that you could tell that at all from the state of my house. Maybe it is a compensation thing.) So white sashing to the rescue.


And then I started adding borders. I did not really have a plan other than I wanted to end with a border using the other charm pack I had. So I would audition something and stand on top of my dining table to see how it looked. Make a little tweak, stand back up on the table, and so on. The goal was to fill the space until I used the charm pack and it would be the perfect size. Even squares all the way around, no trimming. Shouldn't be that hard, right? I have to admit that the borders did not go as easily as I thought they would. I invariable ended up with the wrong size of something. I had all the math figured out and voila! I was totally wrong. Quilt math seems to kick my butt. And I don't understand it because I am usually good at math. Maybe I underestimate how tricky it really is so it kicks my rear to teach me a lesson for judging.

This one I quilted myself as well. Straight lines on the diagonal. Turned out much easier than I had thought. And I pieced the back as well. I did it a little off center, using up all the yardage I had, but it is not quite off center enough. Know what I mean? It is not quite off enough to look intentionally, just like you kind of messed up. But that is okay. Know why? Because I love this quilt. Yay me.

Spiderweb quilt for Halloween

This is one of the first quilts I made. I saw one like it at a show and thought the quilting was so clever. Although she had Boo written in hers. There was no way I was going to attempt words. I just stuck to the basic spiderweb. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I used a neon green thread for the quilting and I love it. You can't see it all that well in this photo though. If you click it to enlage it is a little better, but not much. Next thing to work on, better photography.

The fabric on the back is so dang cute.
As I write this I realize that I did this quilt before I took any classes. And I think that I might have been more hesitant to try the quilting myself if I had done the project during those classes. All (okay, most) of the women who shared their projects in that class were either professional LA quilters or had hired someone to LA for them. I also have to acknowledge here that I was the youngest person in the class. It was a senior adult education quilting class put on by the local community college. And it was free. My neighbor introduced me to the class and I loved it. And they didn't seem to care how old I was. But the point is that during that time I was too afraid to quilt anything myself. I did okay before the class, and I have done some since I stopped going to the class. But during that time period I think I thought everything had to be quilted on a LA to look 'professional'. Hmmm. Something to think about.

Now I just go for it.

Butterfly Jar is done! (to a point)

It is just the top still. A flimsy so to speak. Still need to layer, pin and quilt for it to be officially done. Yeah, not too much left to do. Right.

(And in this photo I still needed to add just the top and bottom borders. Those have since been done. Now to get some other WIPs to a better stage in life.)

the coolest thing ever (to me)

My cousin gave me the coolest thing ever. She quilts and she knows all sorts of great tricks. I was complaining (what's new) that I really can't cut straight. My ruler veers off to the left as I get to the top of it, making all of my cuts really not straight. Which, combined with my less than perfect 1/4" seam and the fact that I really don't like to iron fabric before I cut it, makes for some harder than it has to be quilting.

So she gave me some wonder dots. To me they are wonder dots. In reality they are sandpaper dots you put on the bottom of your ruler so that it doesn't slide. It was one of those ta-da moments when I finally (found them again and) put them on the ruler. Huge difference. Amazing.


These are not actually the ones she gave me. Those are much smaller and there was no brand on them at all. But I am attempting to limit the posts I do with no photos. Not really blog savvy from what I can tell.

So go get you some dots. Works like a charm.

Peanut's quilt made with love

My neighbor did a sweet and wonderful thing when I was pregnant. She got a list of friends and family from my husband. She sent them a 6" muslin square and asked them to create a block. She encouraged sewing, quilting, applique, painting, whatever they felt comfortable with. And then they sent them back to her and she made me this. It hangs above Bug's Crib. (Although she is getting so tall that she can reach it now. It is only a matter of time before it comes flying off the wall.) It truly is a treasure for me, and hopefully will be for Bug as she gets older.

(Great Aunt Donna, Kristin, Cousin CeCe, Great Aunt Donna, Great Aunt Martha, Jenifer, Great Aunt Marie, Great Aunt Elizabeth, Grandma Grace, AmyGrace and Michelle, Paula, Cousin Kelly, Great Aunt Rozy, Ariana, Aunt Caroline, Great Aunt Gayle, Great Aunt Jeanne, Jacque, Aunt Michelle, Grandma Sandy)

When I was pregnant with Bug we called her Peanut. We did not announce her name until people were introduced to her. So that is why it is Peanut's quilt. And why that name is embroidered on there as well.

This was supposed to be a secret project. But a few of my friends started talking about it. And these were separate friends that this happened with. When I called them on it they said, yeah but you knew anyhow, didn't you. And I admitted that I did. I guess they know me pretty well....

Hedgies!

I love my hedgies! They are so cute. I loved them the minute I saw this post at Darling Petunia. I knew I had to make them. Just had to.

It took me awhile to scope out the hand mits. I have to limit my trips to the dollar store. I know each item is only a dollar, but man, can I spend way too much money in that store. It is amazing! So I am wary about going too often.

And of course I couldn't get just one color. I had to get all three. I mean, they're only a dollar.

The Bug loves them. And bless my friends, they humor me and tell me they like them too.
This week I decided to join Sew & Tell over at AmyLouWho. Go see what other people have created this week. Be inspired.

Beautiful eggs - wish I had seen this a few weeks ago....

Oh my gosh! These are beautiful! You have to go see. They are Silk-Dyed Eggs {aka TIE-Dyed!} at Our Best Bites.

I first saw them at Count it *all* Joy as I was just browsing around. Wow - so cool. Hers are beautiful. I am off to find photos of more that I can drool over and be inspired by, but needed to share first. Isn't the internet wonderful?

Good thing I have 18 blown eggs that we didn't decorate this year. All I need now are the ties. I am off to thrift!

(I really want to post photos here instead of sending you off, but I don't feel right about stealing someone's photo to do it. So please, go to the links. You'll love them.)

The 'net really is great. I mean, think about it. I started out the evening just poking around, looking here and there. Enjoying, but really more like killing time. And then Bam - I run across this page of awesomeness. I am totally inspired. My heart is racing a bit. My mind is spinning on when I can tackle this project. My hopes are up that it will turn out to be beautiful. I am excited! Love it!

Princess and the Pea - Done!

I love this quilt. I really do. It was one of those that I saw (on Moda Bake Shop) and instantly said - I have to make that. And I did.

The honey bun is Soiree by Lila Tueller for Moda. And I added lace, large and small ric-rac and other trims between some of the layers. The one thing I have not done is add the pea. My bug would have that thing off and in her mouth in a heartbeat, so that will get added a little bit later in life.

This was one of my first times doing applique. I don't know if I am a fan or not. Although I do like how this turned out. I know you are supposed to stitch down the applique before you put the quilt together, but I didn't so the outline is quilted through all layers and I love it. The only other quilting was a few curvy lines and I chose to do it only on certain fabric strips. This was very thick to get through my little sewing machine so I used the wavy stitch on my machine with my walking foot to get as much help as possible.


I used an uber soft pink minky for the back and hi-loft poly batting so that it stayed as soft and fluffy and cuddly as possible. And believe me, it is. I am often found snuggling with this cutie. Even without the bug around.


The ruffle is a fabric that is turning up in most things I make for her. I bought a bolt of the colorful stripe when we were decorating the nursery. I had big plans for curtains, dust ruffle, basket liners, crib type things and other accessories. She has a valance. That's it. But that fabric is the backing on a twin size quilt, in this one, on her alphabet letters, and now that I think about it will probably be the binding on the butterfly jars as well. Love it.

(And I have to apologize for the wrinkles. I pretty much had to pry this from little hands to get photos and so we will just consider it well loved, not slovenly and wrinkled.)