paintbox quilt-along

I've decided to join in at Oh Frasson! for the Paintbox Quilt-Along. As soon as it was announced, I ordered my Kona roll-ups from Fabric Depot. Talk about yummy, I didn't want to unroll them! I bought the bright palette, classic palette, and the dark palette.

My first eight blocks.

I discovered I have very few monochromatic prints in my stash, so I'm hoping maybe the swaps thread over in the flickr pool will get going.  I've pulled quite a few more together, but I'm far short of the necessary 40 prints.

 

And, despite my careful "mise en place" technique...

this is what can happen when you are listening to Phoenix too loudly and not paying attention.

ice day crafting

It's cold in my part of Texas, really cold.  On the way to school this morning, it was 14 degrees.  It hasn't been that cold here since 1996.  School was cancelled yesterday because of ice, so when I saw this project at True Up, it sounded like a good way to waste some time.

It was fun, and my Sharpie collection finally came in handy for something other than labeling boxes.  I can't think of why I would ever have purchased a yellow Sharpie, but it was perfect for this!  The only bad thing; it is smelly with the rubbing alcohol and Sharpie thing going on and with the temperature being colder than its been in over a decade, I wasn't about to open a window or work outside.

When we finished the Sharpie circles, I pressed them with a warm iron (I read it will set the color), washed a couple to see if they bled (they didn't) and decided to do something with a few of them.

I made Shea another placemat.  I was loving it until I quilted it.  I don't like the quilting, but that's what I use these placemats for is trying new things.  I don't think I pinned it sufficiently, because I was having trouble with puckering, which I've never had before and I did use a walking foot.

I like the back better than the front.  Maybe the back should be the front.  I'm anxious to wash it and see how this quilting looks post-washing.

I've made placemats to try out pebble quilting and I turned my test string quilt block into a placemat.  I also tried sewing on a binding entirely by machine.  I'm going to stick with finishing bindings by hand, but I think Shea appreciates the fun colors under her waffles each morning, regardless of the binding technique used.  

I still need to bind the scrappy log cabin, but I've got another project I can't wait to start on.

My hubby bought me the Alabama Stitch Book for Christmas and I have my washed t-shirts ready to go.  I'm going to experiment with thread colors and see which one I like best.  I'm planning on making the skirt, black outside with magenta on the underside.

And then, this arrived!  I had to jump on the Hope Valley bandwagon.  I didn't want to miss this one like I did FMF.  I can already tell that it's going to be hard to cut into.  I'm going to have to find a project I really love for this yummy yardage!  I've got half-yards, so maybe I can stretch it out over a couple of projects... or maybe I should have bought full yards...

finished quilts

I was able to talk the hubby into holding my quilts for me so I could photograph them. I finished this first quilt earlier this year, but haven't taken a photo of it finished. It was my first quilt-along project, hosted by Amy at a commonplace life.  It's a little on the crazy bright side, but I was afraid to try the technique on any of my prized stash, so this is what I came up with from fabrics I had on hand.

Here's the finished pinata quilt.  It was a hit, Shea loves it.   I love the back.

I finished quilting the scrappy log cabin today, it just needs a binding!

new fabrics and a few projects

While I haven't made much progress on my UFO's, I am quilting the scrappy log cabin and hope to be finished with that soon.

I'm anxious to finish it up so I can start some new projects.  I bought some fabrics at IKEA that would like to use for tote bags.  It's home decor weight and the scale is huge.

Here are a couple of pretty bird prints from IKEA that I have no plans for yet.

And some Nicey Jane, a little Merry Christmas to me.

I did get a couple of last minute Christmas projects finished last week.  A necklace for my sister-in-law, cut from silver sheet.

And a table topper for my mom.  I used this tutorial and put Insul-Bright inside so hopefully she can use it for hot items too.

I can't believe 2010 is almost here!  Best wishes to you and yours for a happy new year!