Yes, I've been a bad, bad blogger.

Life is good, I've just been crazy busy.  I've been working, quilting, sewing, teaching sewing, gardening, working on my house, and serving on a very active PTA board for the first time in addition to my wife and mother responsibilities.  Sixth grade has been a major transition for my daughter, but she is doing really well in school and I'm so proud of her.

Photo from and great article Boston.com

The drought and weather here in Texas has been completely devastating. We've had the hottest and driest year in Texas history. Wildfires, dead and displaced cattle and livestock, withered crops, and parched soil. It's really heartbreaking and the outlook isn't good. Forecasters tell us the situation isn't going to improve anytime in the foreseeable future. I'm trying to think of something positive to end this paragraph with, but I'm completely at a loss. The impact of 2011 on our landscape, lives, and economy will be profound.

On a happier note, I finished a quilt! This is the quilt I started in my previous post. It's completely over the top and I just love it. This quilt is for my cousin's gorgeous daughter, Teagan. I wanted to make something as delightful as her smile.

I quilted it with bright colors of Perle cotton and tied it with some hot pink for a little extra hold. Everything except the binding is dots. I was surprised at how easy it was to pull a dots quilt together from my stash. I must have a serious love of polka-dots. 

Teagan evidently really likes her quilt and I hope she gets years and years of use from it.

So, if you are reading this, I'm guessing you haven't deleted me from your blog reader due to inactivity. I'm going to make an effort to post more regularly and I've got lots of fun things to post about. It's good to be back.   

I can't believe it's October! (And the giveaway winner!)

Thank you for all the well wishes regarding our move! Unfortunately, our house still isn't ready. I would complain about the builder, but he's my husband and I love him madly regardless of how long it's taking. Doing so much of the work ourselves takes longer, but stretches our dollars much further and in the end, that's a very good thing.

I won't bore you with details of our delays, such as of deluges of rain dumped on north Texas by a tropical storm (thanks, Hermine), broken sewer taps and dealing with the water department, or our current foe, the electric company. I won't bore you with the story of my 20 plus consecutive days with a headache, which is now gone thanks to some strong antibiotics for a sinus/ear infection and a round of steroids. (I hope I never have to take steroids again! They made my feel terrible.) Sorry, I guess I just bored you anyway.

We've probably got another week until we can move and I'm anxiously tapping my foot. Living with my mom has really been fun, but I want my stuff out of storage! I packed for about three weeks and we've been here almost six. I can hear my fabric crying out to me from the bottom of a massive stack of boxes.

I'll share a couple of construction shots of my favorite room in the new house, the kitchen!

My kitchen island without it's butcher block top and the floors pre-scraping and staining.

A corner of the kitchen with counters (absolute black granite) and backsplash (Cararra white marble). That hood is over the cooktop that still hasn't arrived. I'm so excited about cooking in that kitchen! I officially pledge to eat out less often after the move.

In crafty news, I've almost finished this quick baseball baby quilt for a shower on Sunday. It's not my really my style (sports), but I think it will be a home run with it's recipient. wha wha.

Alright, I know what you are thinking... get to the big news, Mel!

Oh, you mean who I'll be sending this bundle of happiness to?

That would be number 82...

Ashley who blogs at Our so called life!
And, wow, does she have some adorable kiddos!

I'll send you an email shortly, Ashley. I hope you enjoy the fabric!

Well I'm off to run some errands and seal the backsplash tile in the kitchen to prepare it for grouting. If anyone wants to help, come on over!

Can you believe it? I won!

Image from Spoonflower.com.

Thank you so much for your support in the Spoonflower fabric of the week contest! I'm so excited! I can't believe I actually won!

For those of you who asked about purchasing the 'Cheater Friday' fabric, here's the lowdown. Before a designer can sell their fabric on Spoonflower, they are required to order the fabric to serve as a proof (in the textile industry, it's called a strike-off). The designer should use the proof to ensure that the fabric prints as they intended and gives them the opportunity to make changes if necessary before the fabric is available for sale. Spoonflower's current lead time is about 20 days, so I wasn't able to get a proof prior to this fabric going on sale. Spoonflower is going to make the fabric available for sale today (before my proof ships) since I won the contest.

If you buy the fabric from Spoonflower before I see the proof, be aware that I can't vouch for how it turns out since I haven't seen it yet. Stephen also sent me a message to let me know that he's having to rotate the design, and I think that's actually going to modify the repeat, so you may not receive all 56 squares in a FQ.  I won't know for certain until I receive the proof.

Once I see the proof, I am going to order some yardage of the fabric. I'll probably sell some FQs myself since I would actually profit more by selling the fabric myself and you could purchase the FQs for less if you buy it from me after I buy yardage.

Image from Spoonflower's blog at www.blog.spoonflower.com.

[Edited to add - Spoonflower just uploaded some photos of the printed fabric to flickr here and here, and sent out the email. It's official!]

I'm still working on the Paintbox quilt when I steal a few minutes for myself. I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out and I love quilting with the perle cotton. I think I'm going to hand quilt the pinwheel sampler with perle cotton too.

I received a couple of questions about my quilting frame and you can see above, I'm just using a quilting hoop.  It's an Edmunds 14" quilting hoop which I purchased at my LQS. Quilting hoops differ from embroidery hoops in that they are much sturdier and the hoop is thicker (this one is 1" high or thick). I'd love to have a larger frame, but until we move and get settled, I'm going to stick with this small hoop and just continue to move it from block to block as I quilt.

As much as I'd love to stick around and chat, I've got to get to work. Thank you again for your kind words regarding the cheater fabric and especially for the votes! I would like to enter another Spoonflower contest, but I've set the standard a little high for myself after winning the first one I entered. I'm overloaded at the moment with work projects and I'm working against a tight deadline, so real work is having to take precedence this week over the fun stuff. I really want to do some more fun designs now!

Eighteen down. Sixty-two to go.

It's 2:15 p.m. I'm still in my pajamas. I ate a slice of leftover chocolate creme pie for breakfast because it was fast and required no preparation. I haven't had lunch yet. I'm neglecting the dishes in the kitchen and and the mess in the living room. Why?

Because I can't put this down! I started hand quilting the Paintbox quilt late last night and have been working on it all day today. I had to take a break to give my hands and elbow (ouch!) a brief rest.

Beep! Break's over. Only 62 blocks to go! I hope I finish before my fingers start to bleed and my elbow requires a brace, because bloody fingers and an arm brace are going to seriously slow me down.

Color Wheel Quilt

All finished! The binding went on yesterday and I washed it this morning.

This quilt was my first hand quilted project. I started it in February, and actually constructed it quickly, but would set it aside and only work on the hand quilting occasionally. 

My daughter took this and the first photo. I may have to use this one for my blog header. 

In case you are wondering, here are the facts. The fabrics came from my stash. It's quilted with Gütermann and YLI white cotton hand quilting thread. I used size 9 between quilting needles. I didn't prewash any of these fabrics, but I used a Shout Color Catcher in the wash. (Nothing bled.) I can't remember what kind of batting I used, but I think it's either Warm n' Natural or Hobbs Heirloom 80/20. I'm fairly certain I used Moda Bella solid white and I don't think it washed up as softly as Kona. I marked my stitching lines lightly with a very sharp No. 2 pencil and a long ruler. The lines that didn't come out during quilting came out in the wash.

I'm a total newbie at hand quilting, but I'm hooked. My sewing machine may be seeing a little less of me. I read your comments about hand quilting videos, so when I start hand quilting the Paintbox quilt, I'll shoot a little video. For beginners by a beginner. 

Have a lovely Monday!

Flea Market Fancy mini quilt

This little quilt is four firsts for me.

1. It's my first mini quilt, measuring 16.5" square.

2. The first quilt I've made using my Flea Market Fancy fabrics. 

3. The first hand quilted project I've finished. Emphasis on finished.

4. And, my first time to quilt with Pearl cotton. I used DMC size 8.

I got most of the quilting done poolside last night while Shea was at swim team. I probably looked like a dork quilting beside the pool (in the shade of course) but, oh well. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I really like quilting with the pearl cotton. It's quick and I love the look of the chunky stitches. 

I liked this little quilt last night when I finished it, but I love it this morning seeing it with fresh eyes. The quilting doesn't look as bad (crooked and uneven) as it seemed to me last night. I can't wait to hang this in my sewing room in the next house. There's something about it that makes me smile. I think it's the happy colors!

And, yes, the Flea Market Fancy is even better out of the stacks!