Just Three from Tracey

I love this idea from Tracey and am totally copying her and linking up over here at her blog.  This is an awesome goal, and I think it'll be really successful for me. 

The idea is to set three reachable goals for April.  Tracey and I seem to have the same issue of wasting our kids synchronized naptimes and perusing online fabric shops, pinterest, facebook...those time traps.  Time that I could easily spend binding (my least favorite part...) unfinished quilts, sewing pieces together or just making progress on my way too many WIP's and up my rate of finishing things! Heck, today I had enough time to cut some fabric for a swap but...then I didn't.  So!

Here's my list of three things to get done in April:

1) Bind my Drunkard's Path quilt - This baby has been quilted and waiting patiently on top of the dryer for over a month...sad...and I'm so anxious to use it!  It's going to be a wonderful lap quilt.  Anyone have an opinion on these considerations for the binding?

 Ok, this is the best shot I could get.  My top pick is the second one, it's a light aqua polka dot.  The one under it isn't as red as it looks, more of a raspberry print.  What do you think?

2) Finish and mail my Hoop Up! Stitch and Send Swap projects - Don't have pictures of these yet, but they are in progress.  I've been working on them a little here, a little there and it's just too slow of a pace.  Plus, they need to be out by the middle of the month (end of next week?  what?) so they'll have to get done.

3) Bind Ben (Husband)'s quilt - I finished quilting this one over the weekend, but it's such a honker of a ginormous thing, that I'm nervous to trim the sides and just get it over with. Haven't picked binding fabric for that one either...


Anywho... these are pretty reachable goals for me if I can just bit the bullet and sit down to do them.  But I've got to start somewhere, right?  So, those are my three goals for the month, what are yours?!

I blame spring break...

...for my severe and ridiculous absence.

My almost 3 year old  has been severely testing limits this week and it's been spring break for my husband so...I haven't done as much sewing as I wanted to, but we're all still alive and well (as I wrote this he was trying to have a conversation through the window with the man fixing the neighbor's roof...).

This same child has recently taken to responding to everything with "Yes Sir!" or for me, "Yes Mom!" and saluting us (thank you Toy Story army men...), and both kids discovered how awesome the Muppets are.  So much that i've been going to sleep with Rainbow Connection stuck in my head. 

 See that yellow spot on the left side?  That's the first flower on the side of our house!

Guess what else.  I went to a tea party yesterday!  It was a fundraiser for the ISU Honor Society (I'm pretty sure) and a friend of mine sponsored a table and had an extra ticket!  There were real teacups and real teas - I tried the herbal huckleberry one - and even finger sandwiches, it was yummy.  Great to chat with adult friends too.

Remember the scarf I won from Rachael at Imagine Gnats? Well...it came in the mail yesterday!  And it's so gorgeous.  I love it and can't wait to wear it.  Of course I did have to pry it off of my little Lady Face first.

Oh boy, she loved wearing this!

Ok.  On to the quilty part!!  I do have one thing I want to show you today, and I think it's pretty great. 

I finished my Dream Big quilt top!  I absolutely love it.  This one is all for me and it's my favorite project to date! I'm trying to figure out what to use for the backing and think I might use the same fabric as the border fabric (California Girl by Moda and Fly a Kite by Riley Blake).  I love those prints.

This is a terrible picture but I'm totally loving this pattern and can't wait to finish this quilt!

Finally, I received my gift from my Cover Robin swap partner!! Holy smokes is it beautiful!  I'm really excited about it.  Stay tuned, you'll get to hear more about it this month, but here is a sneak pic.  It is perfect.  Now I need somewhere to go so I can show it off!

And do you remember those two log cabin blocks I made some time ago for Avery, the gymnast?  Well...they are now part of a gorgeous quilt!  I'm so pleased and thankful to have been part of such a wonderful project.  I hope Avery will enjoy it, and didn't Carrie do a wonderful job!  Here is a picture of the finished product from Carrie's Flickr (my two contributions are top row middle, and 5th row far right)

Happy Weekend!  We're going to make cookies today and get ready for Lady Face's 2nd birthday tomorrow!!!

For swaps?

Guess who had an awesome idea that I'm a little late getting in on?  Lucy at Charm About You!

She's doing a stale stash swap which is genius. Absolute genius.  So here's what I've got to swap.  Let me know if you see something you like in the comments or in an email!  I'll update this post as things change.

I have a bunch of fabric I'd love to swap.  The stale stash swap is dealing in FQ's.  I've listed how man FQ's of each fabric I'm willing to swap but some of these are less than an FQ so if you see something you like anyway, let me know and we can work something out.  I've just grown tired of these fabrics, or have more than I'll use.  Hope you find something you like!

 Except for the pink polka dots the rest are a bit less than 1 FQ Polka dots and birds have been swapped!

 Also a smidge less than 1 FQ each-Green on the right swapped

 1 FQ of each of these - HELICOPTER and construction print have been SWAPPED

This is a Michael Miller print, 2 FQ available

Erin McMorris, 2 FQ available Swapped

London 2 FQ available

Canning Day from Connecting Threads 4 FQ available  Swapped

 Wonderland by MoMo 3 FQ's available

 Play Dot by Michael Miller 3 FQ's available Swapped

 Don't know the names of these but all are quilt shop quality.  Less than 1 FQ of the far right, 1 FQ of other two.

 This is actually a dark blue print called Itsy Bits for Andover Fabrics 3 FQ's

 1 FQ of the far left swapped, a little less than 1 FQ of the other three

 1 FQ available  swapped

 These three are from Connecting Threads, 1 FQ of each available

 1 FQ of each  Pink on the left has been swapped

 Pooches and Pickups from Robert Kaufman 2 FQ of each color available
Swapped

Tula Pink Dandelion 2 FQ available Swapped

This is a little darker blue than in the picture.  3 FQ's available.  Called Housework Whenever for In The Beginning 

Thanks for looking!!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday survival wishes to all!

Here's what I've got to show for my absent-ness lately.  Our little ones have been trading colds and coughs but I think we're over it.  We did a lot of this recently...

 This is their new favorite book and favorite story - The Gingerbread Man.  And yes, that is me.

I finished my bee blocks for this month of the bliss circle of do. Good Stitches.  I winged it and I think they turned out ok.  Next time though, I've got to make sure the edges aren't going to be lost when all the blocks are sewn together.

I am currently hand quilting my husband's quilt!  Yahoo, this beast has been weighing heavily on my shoulders.  Here's a very badly lit photo of the top, which measured 81x91.  And it's pretty great.  I tested it by falling asleep while working on it yesterday and it was very nice. It has flannel on the back :)

Here's a sneak peek for my partner in the covert robin swap!  I'm hoping to get this baby on it's way this week.

I started a new project from Camille Roskelly's book, Simplify, last weekend and got all the strips sewn up last night.  This is the Dream Big pattern in the book and it's been a super quick and painless project so far.  I picked out a bunch of spring prints from my stash to use here as it was grey skies and almost rain/snow/sky-spit yucks last week...blah...this quilt will be a reminder of happiness even when the weather sucks.

I still have to pick border fabric.  This pattern has a couple borders and I might do white as one of them...or a solid...any ideas?

Hope you all had a happy St. Patrick's Day this weekend!  We had corned beef and cabbage for dinner, per tradition, and saw the first green in the grass in months!

And to leave you with something that makes me smile

It's so nice when we all get along! 

Linking up at Canoe Ridge Creations for Sew Modern Monday  

and with Sew Happy Geek's Manic Monday

I Won Something Awesome!

My day has just been brightened by a fantastic email. I won a giveaway!!

Red Pepper Quilts had a giveaway from Moona Fabrics of 10 fat quarters of Summerlove by Pat Bravo.  I entered it dreaming of all things summery and thinking I might as well go and buy some.  These giveaways have hundreds of entries and I can't remember a time in my life that I've won something...

The fabric was in and out of my online shopping carts all day!

And what did I find today in my inbox? I had to look twice...I won the 10 fat quarters!!!!

Check out this fabric...it's unbelievable! I have shopped at Moona Fabrics before and they are a wonderful place!  If you haven't visited them before, you should definitely check them out!

I'm so excited, now I get to flip through my quilting books and find the perfect pattern to use for these beautiful fabrics!  Stay tuned...I'll be sure to share pictures when they arrive!

a little about me...

I love when bloggers I'm reading post tidbits about themselves.  That makes it more personal and friendship-y to me.  I like it.  I haven't done much of this and realize that just by looking through my posts it's not too personal. 

I apologize. 

I hope to become more relateable and personal so you can all get to know me better...and I thought this might help for the blogger who has fallen upon having me as their "person" in the Covert Robin swap get to know me better too :)

Here's some help/random things about me:

I am a dog person
I am a Mac person
I am a diet coke person
I like blue, grey, oceany, beachy, summery colors
I am a stay at home mom with 2 kids
I love Modern Family, Psych, The Golden Girls, and 30 Rock
I am the housewife version of Liz Lemon (though I am taller and don't wear glasses...)
I get bored easily and have about 6 WIP's and at least 4 quilts I have fabric pulled for and want to cut and start
I got married when I was 19 and now we have 2 kids (our son came 2 weeks before I graduated college) and will hit our 5 year anniversary in May
I want to have at least 2 more kids but we're going to wait a while until the Mr. gets a little more school checked off
I am from Palo Alto, California and would love to move back...tomorrow if possible...(James Franco went to high school with my brother and Jeremy Lin was in the class after me...my only link to famous people...haha)
I don't like peanut butter or applesauce, bring on the Nutella!
I would love to decorate my home in a shabby chic way with a touch of modern, lots of white so the color pops, and a gas stove is a must (but we're renting so...someday?)
I am very shy...that's why I like this blogging thing...In person is a little scary for me...
I don't like talking on the phone
I love cooking and baking and the Food Network
I wear flats, not heels.
I am a chocoholic...seriously...
I don't like Twilight. 
I like the Hunger Games.
I love to read and have too many books...about a third of them are children's books.
I am not a morning person
I am not photogenic, I'd rather take the pictures than be in them. 
I have never made anything with a zipper
I have never made a pillow cover....or anything more than quilts of various sizes...
I'm not into fabric with licensed characters...I LOVE Aneela Hoey, Sarah Jane, and October Afternoon
My favorite fabric collections so far are Fly a Kite, and California Girl, and I'm looking forward to my order of Flea Market Fancy!!



Hope this helps a little! I'm pretty sure my Flickr is linked on the side of my blog, as is my Pinterest if you need more visuals!   

Fingers crossed I will have things to show you tomorrow!  I'm making good progress on my husband's quilt and need to go find some flannel for the back. 

Happy weekending to you!!

oops...

...I totally missed WIP Wednesday again...mainly because I hate uploading just a couple pics at a time to the computer...

BUT, I still wanted to share what I've been up to this week.

 I have FINALLY gotten the blocks cut for my husband's quilt.  This week he offered, out of the blue, to move the furniture so I can sandwich it up, cute right! I think he's a little anxious for me to finish it.

 This is what I came up with for the March block of the Books and Blocks Bee Too, which was a challenge for me.  I don't usually dream of these colors, and the middle fabric just isn't my style, but I wanted to make our March leader happy.  I'm happy with what I came up with.  That's the joy of being in a Bee, you get to make things you normally wouldn't make! 

This was for We Bee Modern March where our leader this time gave us free reign to do whatever block we wanted to.  Scary!  Too many options is always a good problem, but still a problem for me either way.  I need some kind of direction.  I asked what colors she likes and she said green and grey.  I think it turned out well and I'm really glad to have both of these blocks checked off my to-do list!

Oh, I also finished the HST block of the month too but didn't get a photo taken yet. Check!

I'm also participating in the Covert Robin swap and have been stalking my recipient's blog.  I'll tell you a secret: I'm super intimidated by their skill level!  Holy moly.  We're talking this is one super talented lady!  I figured out what I want to make and am now just waiting on the supplies.  I just hope she'll like it!!  

My Made in Cherry quilt is sandwiched and ready to quilt so I'll have that and (fingers crossed) my husband's quilt top to show you tomorrow!  

Happy Thursday!