Race to the Finish Line

It's been a sprint to the finish line but I was able to complete all of my bee commitments for the month of December before I leave for Southeast Asia. So before I go, I'll share with you a quick run down of everything...

In the Sewn Together Bee, Kim actually had the month of October but was greatly affected by the flooding in the Midwest and unfortunately wasn't able to get her fabrics out during her month because of it. Rick, who originally had December, generously offered to send out fabrics for her and have us send the finished blocks to Kim. She was touched but instead chose to send out her own fabrics this month. The entire bee decided that it wasn't fair for Rick to miss out on his month entirely so we are extending the Bee a month so Rick can have a turn at the end. I am constantly awed by the amazing people you meet through bees and swaps. It's nice to know that human kindness overflows.

Kim is making a Velvet Night quilt from batiks and we were all asked to make a star block for her. I had time and the block was easy so I made two.

In the do. Good Stitches {Hope} Circle it's Jeni's month and she wanted to keep it simple so she asked for two 12.5" checkerboard blocks in orange and turquoise, which happens to be a favorite color combo of mine. For my first block I was a little ambitious and wanted to create square in square blocks for my checkerboard. Unfortunately since I was running low on time, and since math isn't my strong suit I didn't plan out mathematically exactly what size each square needed to be so my first square ended up too big, but I'm sending it to her anyway. She can cut it down or use it or not. It's up to her.

For my other two blocks I made simple 9 square checkerboards. These ended up just shy of 12.5" and I had every intention of fixing them, but I ran out of time.

In the Red and Aqua 2 Bee, Gayle asked for either log cabin or courthouse step blocks with either red squares or fussy cut the Shinzi Katoh fabric. She also told us that she wouldn't mind if we added a little embroidery to embellish our blocks. Let me tell you, after looking at her inspiration gallery and seeing the other blocks coming in I absolutely cannot wait to see this quilt come together. I am already in love. It's going to be fabulous.

I had so much fun improving these blocks. It's hard to give them back. I hope Gayle likes them as much as I do. On the big one I debated adding some embroidery but in the end I liked it just the way it was.

Finally, in A Dozen Quilters Bee, Gayly asked for handmade donations for orphans around the world. She adopted two of her children from China so Orphan care is very dear to her. She suggested that these children need something handmade to call their own. I would have made more if it weren't for time, but since time is scarce this month I made two pillowcases - one for a boy and one for a girl. I used flannel, because I LOVE flannel sheets and I thought it was something soft and cuddly for a kid to snuggle up with at night. I cut the girl's pillow incorrectly, but I think I was able to salvage it.

So that's it in a nutshell! In a few short hours I'll be on a plane headed to Bangkok and on Monday I'll be a "Mrs." - can you believe it?! So I'm going to be radio silent around here until after the New Year. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year! See you in 2011!

Project Linus Quilt

So I have tried everything in the book to fix the problem with my Janome. I changed the needle. I cleaned her out. I removed the entire bobbin casing and put it back in. I re-threaded the darn thing. No luck! I am frustrated so I am stepping away from that machine for a moment and I'm pulling out my trusty Baby Lock. Thankfully I found the power cord this morning so I should be able to use Old Faithful to hopefully get some of these bee blocks out this weekend.

Through all of this frustration I wanted to share a ray of light. I realized that I never got around to sharing the quilt I made back in October for A Dozen Quilters Bee. October was Christy's month and she asked each of us to make a quilt to donate to Project Linus. Her daughter was on a ventilator when she was born and she received a blanket to keep her warm in the NICU from Project Linus. Her daughter still has her blanket today.

Here is my contribution to this wonderful organization...

I participated in a small charm swap in the fall and we all swapped pink charms. I used the charms I got in that swap to make this quilt. I cut each charm up into two 1.5" strips and one 2" strip. Then I cut the 2" strip down to two 1.5" strips and one center square that measured 2"x2". I mixed up the center squares with the outer strips and sewed all the charms back together. Then I sashed the charms in Kona Snow and adde an outer boarder in Kona Baby Pink.

I used some adorable cherry fabric on the back and the binding is a sweet pink and white fabric I found at my nearby fabric store: Lincoln Fabrics. I decided to keep the quilting simple and stitched in the ditch around the squares so it created a square pattern on the back.

If you haven't heard of Project Linus, you really should check them out. They provide blankets to sick children all over the United States. If you have time make a blanket and donate one to your local chapter. Hopefully this little blanket is making some child warm and cozy right now.

Bad Sewing Ju-Ju

Have you ever had one of those days when you sit down to the machine out of obligation rather than desire? Well, that was Sunday. I was planning to come home a little early and enjoy the house to myself after my bachelorette party. That's when I get my best sewing done. But I ended up spending more time in Las Vegas than anticipated so it was after 7 pm by the time I got home and I was tired. But I knew that I have so many sewing obligations that I need to complete before we leave for Asia that I went against my better judgment and brought out the machine. I have one word of advice if you ever find yourself in the same situation... Don't do it! My heart wasn't in it but I gave myself two solid goals to complete before I was going to allow myself to step away from my Janome and go to bed.

1) Make the stocking for my November commitment in the A Dozen Quilters Bee.

2) Sew the binding on the table cloth I was making for my mom so I could take it to bed with me and finish it by hand.

Well, you saw the stocking yesterday. Thankfully I did that project first. I was not completely happy with how it turned out but it was acceptable.

Then I went to work on the table cloth for my mom. This table cloth has been a labor of love. I started it, gosh, probably over 10 years ago. It's a cross stitch I picked up on and off over the years but I finally put the finishing touches on it just before Thanksgiving and I picked out some fabric to back it and bind it. I'm not quilting it so I just pinned the backing fabric to the main piece. And this is where I got lazy. The backing fabric was just a hair over the front piece, so rather than baste and trim as I should have I just pinned them together.

You know, when you're not in the sewing groove you tend to make small, stupid mistakes. I simply didn't think it through. What I should have done is basted the top and bottom together and then trimmed as I would have done with a quilt sandwich. But I was lazy and looking for shortcuts because I wanted to go to bed and I started machine stitching my binding onto my piece. This is where the stupidity really kicked into high gear. After the binding was secure I thought that I needed to trim the edges and got all the way around to the last mitered corner before I realized the damage I had done. Yeah, you can't trim a mitered corner. Major Blonde Moment. So I need to now rip out the entire binding and start from scratch so that project is now sitting in a corner. There is no way I will finish it before I leave for our wedding. My mom will just have to wait until next year. Sigh.

But the bad sewing juju doesn't end there. Oh no! Last night I got home early, wonderful and amazing fiance had hockey so that means sewing time. I sat down and decided to try and bang out some bee blocks. Jeni asked us to make two checkerboard blocks in orange and turquoise for the December Hope Circle Quilt in the do. Good Stitches Bee. So I pulled out some orange and turquoise fabrics from my stash and I started cutting 2" squares. My first block will be square in square, almost like mini log cabin squares in alternating colors. When I sat down to sewing my thread kept breaking so I cleaned out my machine and checked the thread tension and then rethreaded the whole thing. It seemed to do the trick. I was chain piecing and things seem to be fixed until I got to the end of the first group and I saw this...

Wha! Sigh. So I started trouble shooting... again... to no avail. Frustrated I put everything aside and went to bed. It looks like I'm going to have to pull out my other machine to try and get things done before I leave on Tuesday, but I have a fear that I might be behind on a few bees this month. Is an international wedding a good excuse? Ugh. I hate being late!

A Dozen Quilters November Project

I am finally caught up in A Dozen Quilters Bee. Phew. Now I can just focus on my bee commitments for December this weekend. Jenny picked our project for the month of November and asked each of us to create a stocking that is going to be donated to St. PJ's Children's Home in San Antonio, Texas. Each stocking will be given to a child at the home. We were also asked to donate a gift card that can be used to buy gifts to fill said stocking.

I don't have a lot of holiday fabric in my stash since we celebrate Chanukah in our home but I did have some fuzzy red and white fabric left over from an old project so I was inspired to make a Santa Claus themed stocking. Speaking honestly, it's not my best work. I was up against the clock trying to get it finished and sent in time so it's more plain than I would have liked but it was a quick and easy project. I was able to whip it up in a half hour.

Basically I folded the red fabric in half (right sides together) and I drew an outline of a stocking on one side freehand using chalk. Once I was happy with the shape I pinned around the inside of the lines. This fabric is really slippery and the fuzz gets everywhere so make sure you clean your machine afterwards!

I stitched from one end of the stocking around to the other, leaving the top open, then I trimmed the excess fabric off with my rotary cutter. Then I measured the top of the stocking and measured out one long piece of the white fabric to be the same size (adding an extra 1/2" for seam allowance) and I sewed the two ends closed using a 1/4" seam.

Then I turned up a "hem" on one side and finished the hem before I sewed the white trim onto the top of the stocking, finally turning the white trim out to finish it off. Super quick and easy and now it's off to brighten some child's Christmas.

If you have a moment, take the time to give back this holiday season. It only takes a moment to brighten a stranger's day! Happy Holidays!

We Have A Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. I got some great feedback and I promise I'm going to start implementing some of it starting immediately. Traceyjay and Lee both commented on the photos on my blog, and I have to admit that has been something that has been bothering me as well. When I first started this blog I was uploading photos directly to blogger and quickly realized that there was a space limit that I was quickly approaching. I didn't want to pay for more space so I started posting pictures on my blog via Flickr. I was always disappointed with the size that the photos were when they came through the "Blog This" feature but I never took the time to figure out the HTML option... until your comments came in and I took the time to figure it out. Problem solved! Thank you!

Then Addie (who actually knows me in real life believe it or not! She was one of my best friends in high school.) and Becky suggested that I post more consistently. That, again, was always my intention. I gave myself a goal of one post a day, Monday through Friday. Unfortunately life has gotten seriously crazy in the past couple months with the wedding planning (and all the things included in that) and wrapping out the current job while starting up a new one with a promotion to boot. So I do agree with both of you. But unfortunately the consistency won't come until the New Year, because I'm going to take a little blogging hiatus starting next week as I run off to Southeast Asia to get married.

I also loved Natalie's suggestion about showing my creations where they live in my home. Unfortunately I don't think I've actually made anything for myself since I started this blog but when I do I promise to show them off in my home environment!

I loved hearing all your suggestions and feedback and I'm committed to making this little blog of mine better thanks to all of you. Now on to the important stuff... the winner! Congratulations to lucky number 13!

A.J. Dub. said... I enjoy your blog quite a bit as is. You share all parts of your projects not just the good parts. :)I agree with Tracey Jay that blogs are what you make them. Just as long as you enjoy the process and it accomplishes your goals, you are good. December 3, 2010 4:07 PM

A.J. I'll be contacting you shortly and you'll be receiving your City Weekend charm pack very soon! Yippee!

Vegas and Plugs and Giveaways... Oh My!

I had a great time this weekend in Las Vegas, surrounded by some amazing friends. I am so thankful to have such lovely and wonderful women in my life. I did keep it relatively contained and was a good girl and I came out $45 ahead overall for the weekend, which isn't bad considering at one point I was close to $200 down. Yikes! (And of course my eyes are closed in the picture.)

In other news I want to shamelessly plug my show that's premiering tonight. Season Three of Tabatha's Salon Takeover starts TONIGHT on Bravo! Please tune in for, what I promise, will be another great season. In our premiere episode tonight Tabatha takes over a crazy salon located in San Bruno, California (just outside San Francisco) run by four sisters who work together AND live together. Check your local listings for channel and time.

And don't forget, there is still time to enter my City Weekend Giveaway. You've got until 5 PM PST tonight to enter. Thanks for all the great feedback so far!

My 100th Post

I honestly don't know how this happened... I officially hit 100 posts today. Wow! I mean, that's crazy. When I started this blog in last winter I had no idea what it would become and I think my little blog is still trying to evolve and will continue to do so. But I appreciate each and every one of you who has joined me for the ride. Over the past 11 months I have found that I really enjoy sharing my creative process through my little blog and I look forward to posting, reading your comments and connecting with my readers.

I have also started to follow many, many, many (perhaps too many?) other crafty blogs out there. I am constantly inspired by other people's creative work and process. This is such a great community! So thank you to all my readers and any new ones that stumble over here and decide to join the party.

To celebrate my 100th blog post I have decided to host a little giveaway. I thought there would be nothing more appropriate than to give one lucky reader a charm pack of what is currently my favorite fabric line, City Weekend. If you've been following my blog you know that I adore this line. I love the color combinations, especially the use of teal and orange. And the fabrics are sooo soft, it makes you just want to cuddle up.

To there are several ways to enter my celebratory giveaway.

1) Leave me a comment and tell me how you think I can improve my blog. I'd like to start evolving more and take it to the next level so I'd love some constructive criticism. What would you like to see more of? Or less of? What should I change or what should I add to make my blog better.

2) Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a link to your blog or tweet.

3) Become a follower or my blog (or let me know if you already follow me).

I've got a big weekend ahead of me. It's my Bachelorette Party Weekend in Las Vegas! So I'm going to leave this giveaway open until Monday, December 6th at 5PM PST. Good Luck! And as always, international entries are welcomed!

October do. Good Stitches Quilt Top Done

Work has been insane... as usual... and I have not had a moment to pay any attention to my poor little blog. I had a nasty cold over the Thanksgiving Holiday and after hosting 14 people at our house on Thanksgiving I finally crashed on Saturday after my parents left and I left my wonderful and amazing fiance to entertain his family while I spent a majority of the day in bed. I did manage to get a few crafty things done as I was going a little stir crazy so I finished up my blocks for my October Stash Buster Quilt for the do. Good Stitches Bee. That way on Sunday I was able to get the quilt top assembled!

I really love how this quilt top came together. It's it wonderful? Each woman involved in our little {Hope} Circle did such an amazing job. I am constantly impressed by the mad skills everyone has in this Bee. If you have a moment you should check these amazing women...

Krista of Spotted Stones

Emily of This Little Life of Mine

Jeni of In Color Order

Natalie of Threaded Mess

Corey of Little Miss Shabby

Anna of The Joy Cottage

Muriël of Hopfaldera

Robyn of Coffee and Cotton

I am trying to decide if I am going to back the quilt in white or in another solid color. But I know I am going to showcase the beautiful Stash Buster #2 block that Muriël made in the center of the backing. What do you think? Should I bring a solid color to the back? Or keep it white?

And be sure to check back tomorrow because I'll be having a Giveaway to celebrate my 100th post! And I'm also linking up this project at Sew and Tell Fridays hosted by Amylouwho. Check it out!

Apparently My Math Isn't So Good

How did this happen? I am so frustrated right now I could scream. And the worst part is I got too cocky and didn't follow my own advice. There was a little voice in my head that said "make the last row of white thicker than in the instructions so if you're off you'll have a cushion to cut the block down to size." That would be so much easier than trying to "fatten" the block up to size. Ugh.

Sewing on the last round, getting cocky...

Last month was my month as a quilter in the do. Good Stitches Bee and I asked the group to make Stash Buster Blocks from Little Miss Shabby's awesome tutorial found here. I waited until all the blocks from the other members in the group came in before making my own blocks so I could see if we needed to balance anything out in the quilt.

Beautiful little 1/4" seams. I'm not crazy.

Murel made a beautiful block using the Stash Buster #2 tutorial for one of her blocks and I decided that I wanted to showcase it on the back of the quilt so I needed to make three blocks to round out the quilt top. I cut my strips and squares based on the measurements in the tutorial and started putting the blocks together. I considered cutting the strips on the outside layer a little fat, just in case my seams were slightly off, that way I could cut it down to size. But when it came time to sew the outer strips on the block, I measured and got cocky. Okay math is not my strong suit, but I swear that according to my math I should have been okay with the correct sized strips.

How am I 1.75" too short?!

I was very wrong. My block turned out to measure 10.75" instead of the desired 12.5". That's 1.75" difference! Arugh! I shouldn't have gotten cocky. So it's back to ripping stitches. The most frustrating part is when I measured my seams they were all measuring out at 1/4". And I used my trusty 1/4" foot on all the seams so I don't know where I went wrong and SOOOO grossly wrong.

This time I added 3" boarders and cut them down to size.

So here is my Tip of the Day: When in doubt, always make your last row thicker than you think. It's so much easier to trim a block down to size than it is to try and bulk it up to size.

Kona Color Card

Lookie what I got!

The Kona Color Cards are finally back in stock over at Pink Chalk Fabrics. I have been waiting and waiting for this! Yippee! Now I can finally figure out what color this is...

This handy little tool is going to make my life a thousand times easier when I got to match Kona solids to my projects and make purchases online. Computer screens are never true to color but now I've got the whole line in my real life. Woot!

And very, very soon I'll be hosting a giveaway right here for my 100th blog post. Keep watching!

do. Good Stitches November Blocks

Check one more thing off the list! Last night I was able to piece the last few rows onto my second block for the do. Good Stitches {Hope} Circle. This month Emily of This Little Life of Mine, asked us to make two yellow and white blocks. The blocks could be any style we wanted but the primary colors should be yellow and white. Surprisingly I found I didn't have very much yellow in my stash at all. In fact, other than some scraps from other bees I am in, I only had some Monaco and two Kona yellows - banana and canary. But I thought using Monaco in both blocks would help tie everything together.

As I was searching for pillow inspiration, I stumbled upon this Evening Star on Flickr, complete with a link to a tutorial. Something about it spoke to me and I decided I wanted to try it for my first block. I finished it with a row of Monaco and a row of white to get it to 12.5" square and I like the way it turned out. Only one little mistake. Can you see it? One of the points in the center is slightly off.

My second block, for some unknown reason, I decided to do 2" squares. The initial concept was to cascade down from yellow to white but as soon as I pieced my first row I realized that my math was slightly off (surprise, surprise) so instead of 7 rows or 7 I needed 9 rows or 9. I cut more squares and laid it all out and only after I squared up my block to 12.5" did I see my mistake. See those two rows of white squares? Yeah, they're supposed to be on the bottom of the block, not the top. Since I had already cut the block down I decide to just go with it. Oh well.

So the To Do List is definitely getting smaller and I'm also quickly approaching my 100th post. I can hardly believe it! Thanks for sticking with me. And Amy finally got her linky working for this week's Sew and Tell Friday so I'm linking up! Come and join the party.

It's a very good day!

I have been stealing a precious few sewing moments in the morning for the past two days. Yesterday I woke up at 5 am because my mind was working overtime. All good things, in fact it turned out to be a VERY good thing. I was just offered a new show and a huge promotion and since I don't have an agent I knew I would have to negotiate the contract myself yesterday and I hate to negotiate contracts. I am so bad at it. I am too nice. But since I was up early and I couldn't shut off the brain I decided to start working on my second block for my monthly commitment in the do. Good Stitches Bee. I went with 2" squares that cascade from yellow to white and initially I cut too few squares but before I had to leave for work I was able to get all 9 rows of squares pieced together.

This morning I got up at a reasonable hour now that the next gig is in line and the contracts have been negotiated. The life of a freelancer. But I ended up with a few spare moments so I started working on piecing the rows together. I didn't have enough time to finish the block completely but it's about 75% of the way there and I should be able to finish it up tonight or tomorrow morning. I've found that any day that starts off with a little sewing can't turn out bad.

And stay tuned because in 5 more posts I'll be hosting a giveaway to celebrate my 100th post!

Making a Dent

I made a dent on my To Do List this weekend. It wasn't a huge dent but at least I got a couple things out of the way. Saturday night wonderful and amazing fiance went to a hockey game with his friend and I opted to stay in and sew.

Cross the November Blocks for the Red & Aqua 2 Bee off the list. Rebecca asked for Pinwheel Inspired blocks and let us run with it. I came up with these two blocks. I would have made a third but I rand out of the white fabric she sent and, frankly, I have a lot on my plate this month so two was all I could come up with this time. I hope she likes them.

I was also able to get one of my blocks made for the do. Good Stitches Bee so I only have one more to go there. And I realized that there was one thing I forgot to add to my "Need" To Do list. I have been working on a cross stitch table cloth for probably 12 years now. I gave it to my mom for her birthday in July but there were a few finishing touches and some input from her I needed before I could officially be done with it. Since my mom is coming into town this Saturday I want to have it completed and ready for her to take home. So last night on the couch I made a little more progress on that. Hopefully it should be done by Saturday.

November To Do List

I have quite a To Do list in my head of things I need or would like to finish before the end of the month. I know there is still a lot of time left in November but as I look at my calendar it seems all of my precious weekend sewing time is being eaten up by life this month. It seems as though this will be my last free weekend for a while.

Next weekend I'm probably going to have to work on Saturday and then my mom, grandmother and sister are flying in Saturday night because my incredible friend Candice is throwing me a bridal shower on Sunday - even though we're eloping. How incredibly sweet and thoughtful is that? My mom will stay on through the week and my dad will join us on Wednesday because that Thursday is American Thanksgiving. My wonderful and amazing fiance and I are hosting both sides of the family this year (minus my sister) for the first time. And guess who's doing all the cooking? They'll stay on through the weekend. And that brings us to December. Can you believe it? Phew.

But I don't want to slack on any of my commitments so this weekend (and then in any spare evening following) I need to make a dent in my To Do List.

NEED TO DO

1) November Bee Blocks for the Red and Aqua 2 Bee

2) November Bee Blocks for do. Good Stitches Bee

3) Stockings for the November project in A Dozen Quilters Bee

4) Modern Swappers: I have my secret partner's fabrics already. And I know exactly what I'm making. I even have the fabric picked out. I am just working on my prototype then I'll get to cutting into the Heather Ross I picked up just for this project. I wanted to prototype it with linen first so I didn't ruin the Heather Ross. I also have a plan for the decoration for my partner but it keeps changing.

This will hopefully turn into something really cool for my secret partner.

5) Bee Blocks for October's do. Good Stitches quilt. (Yes, October. But October was my month to quilt and I wanted to get all of the blocks in before I made my own blocks in case I needed to balance the quilt out and I'm waiting on two last blocks to come in.)

6) Quilt and send the October do. Good Stitches quilt.

7) Danita's Quilt (our friends Dan and Anita are having a boy sometime this month so I need to get cracking!)

Yikes! Those are all the NEED to do. I haven't even gotten to the WANT to do.

WANT TO DO

1) Finish Marc's Quilt. I am still waiting for two more blocks to come in and then I can finally get started on layout and piecing this quilt top together.

2) Jill's Bag. I started this and I need to finish it but I realized I laid out one of the panels incorrectly so I need to find the remaining fabric and re-cut a piece before I can continue.

3) Pillows for the couch. I have that fab Echino and City Weekend calling my name.

City Weekend just waiting to be used!

3) Apron. I would really like to make myself an apron.

4) Ironing board cover. Again, just a little side project to brighten up my sewing space.

5) Organize my sewing room. I am getting there, slowly, but still working primarily from the dining room at the moment.

My wants will have to wait. I need more hours in the day. Anyone know how I can swing that one?

I do have a bit of exciting information. You know those pillows by Anna Maria Horner I was "crushing" on yesterday? Well, Natalie had a brilliant idea: Why not just email AMH herself and ask her about the pattern. That possibility never even crossed my mind. So, last night I emailed AMH and she actually wrote me back! Turns out she is working on a larger version of that pattern and is planning on releasing it (for free) sometime soon! Yippee! And how sweet is she for responding to me personally? I can't wait!

One last thing, I want you all to know that I read each and every comment and I love hearing back from readers. I do my best to respond to every comment but lately I've had some "No Reply" comments that I haven't been able to answer. And I do my best to do some detective work and try and track down the "No Reply" commenters through their own blogs, etc. So if you haven't had a response from me, that's probably why. Keep the comments coming! I love reading them!

Sewn Together November Blocks

Last night I was able to get a little sewing done. I decided to tackle my Sewn Together bee blocks for Anna. She asked for two wonky star blocks and gave us this awesome French themed black and white fabric. This was my first attempt at making wonky stars. She had us follow a great tutorial from the Silly BooDilly. I think I ended up with a little too munch wonk in my block (I had to rip a seam or two... Shhhh!) but I am pleased with the end result. So pleased that I'm linking up to Sew and Tell Friday's over at Amylouwho's blog.

My wonderful and amazing fiance even commented on these blocks. He really liked Anna's fabric choices and even liked the wonky star pattern, which is good to know because it's really tough to get him to settle on a design aesthetic that he likes sometimes.

Speaking of which... Yes, I am a bit obsessed with City Weekend at the moment and I really want to make a pillow for our couch out of my City Weekend stash but I'm trying to find a pattern that said wonderful and amazing fiance and I can agree on. We've settled on a couple different patterns that we both love.

The problem is we both really, really love Anna Maria Horner's 16 point star pillows (top left) and I can't find a pattern for a 16 point star anywhere and I KNOW I will need to paper piece something like that. Anyone out there know where I could find a pattern like that?