Needles and Pens

Not sure how it happened, but suddenly I have so many projects in varying stages, I don't know where to start! Maybe if I get them all listed here for Design Wall Monday , it'll help me to just pick one already . I have enough bug jar blocks for two baby quilts, and started sewing some rows together last week and auditioning fabrics for the "shelf." So far, I'm really liking the brights with these: Working with those inspired me to make some fruit jars, too, so one evening last week I made these. I may set them aside for awhile until I get a better variety of fruit prints... and I'm not sure I like the gold jar lids, either... I recently had almost six yards of Nascar fabric randomly "call to me" from my stash. Someone had given it to me several years ago, and I thought, "What will I ever do with Nascar fabric?" I thought about it for awhile and almost tucked it back away, but then I remembered Margaret's Hope Chest and the ...

... but only for the weekend. :o) (Added Friday, February 3: As busy as I was this week, turns out this is my only finish, so I'm linking up this post today with Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday and TGIFF at Missy Mac Creations .) While they were away, I had a fun night of sewing with my son's girlfriend. Her mom has been planning an outfit for her to dance in a powwow at the end of March, and they want to applique a Lone Star on the back of the dance shawl. Would I mind helping her with it? LoL Silly girl. It was my first attempt at a Lone Star, and I usually avoid sewing diamonds altogether, so I'll admit I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. Still, it couldn't hurt to try. We started out with this photo for inspiration. We both really liked the swirly layout of the colors, even though it would make the assembly a bit trickier. A little more Googling brought us to " The Challenge of a Lone Star Quilt ," an excellent tutorial (th...

Every so often, someone will ask me, “Why Needles and Pens ?” Since my blog appears to be all about sewing, shouldn’t it be “pins?” It makes sense, right? But the play on words was intentional. When I started this blog, I was at a crossroads, trying to decide if I should keep plugging away at freelance writing or delve headlong into my newfound love of quilting. I thought, perhaps, that I could do both... Needles AND Pens. It seems that the quilting won out. For the past ten years, I’ve been learning and playing and experimenting and creating art in a whole new medium – and loving it. I do so little writing these days, I can’t honestly call myself a writer anymore. Still, the urge to write – really write – resurfaces now and then, in the never-ending quest to discover God’s purpose for me in this life. (Yes, I’m 45 years old and still trying to figure out what I’ll be when I grow up!) I wonder if I’m making a mistake, virtually ignoring that writing gift. I wrestle with those t...

So this week I've been trying to play catch-up in the aftermath of my big January home project ... but mostly I've been floundering. Once I get my teeth into a big project, I will work like a fiend to get it finished, but when it's done I tend to stall out -- for days on end, it seems -- and go, "Now what?" Does that happen to you? Or are you able to just move smoothly on to the next thing? At any rate, I'm pretty well caught up on the household basics and had to give myself permission to slack off a bit, recharge, and wait for the next wave of motivation. And despite my slacking, I have a couple of small finishes for the week. In last year's "Get 'er Done" challenge, I was lucky enough to win one of the monthly prize drawings, a set of beautiful block-of-the-month kits from Jo-Ann fabrics, called "Floral Breeze." It was donated by my friend, Jude, who also has a set of her own. Hopefully we can keep each other encouraged to finis...

I just checked my email and got some fantastic news... I won the scrappy challenge drawing at Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting blog!! Which means Marcia will be doing some of her fabulous quilting... ...on my scrappy quilt top!! Woohoo! I'm SO excited!! I've never had one of my tops professionally quilted, so I just can't wait to see how it turns out. Thanks so much, Marcia!! You made my day!! :o)

Previous Posts on January's Project: Week One Progress Report Grandpa's Cradle Week Two Progress Report Pillows! My January Better Home Challenge project is done! I'm so excited to have this room, formerly a dumping ground, transformed into a useful and cozy guest room. I have some pictures to share, though the colors may seem a bit different from my "in progress" shots. My daughter is taking a digital photography class and her instructor discourages the use of flash -- so I gave it a try. It does produce a much softer look, though it took a lot more tries to get a sharp image. At any rate, all of my "after" pics are flash-free. What do you think? Here's the view as you walk into the room: And around the corner, the bookshelf holds (almost) all the children's books my kids have outgrown. My mother painted the butterfly painting years ago. The colors are perfect for this room! The closet corner: That yellow wall unit is par...

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here (and I have a camera now!) so there's lots to share on this Sew & Tell Friday . Late last Friday, I finished binding the quilt for the guest bed. (I blogged more about this on Monday, if you'd like to see all the details and pics .) And if you remember the cradle from last week's Sew & Tell , you know there had to be a matching cradle quilt, too: But the majority of this week has been all about pillows, pillows, pillows. First, the quilted pillow shams for the bed. I was down to the tail end of my green Fairy Frost, so I had to make it stretch for two shams -- thus the (maybe a little TOO busy) checkerboard pattern: Yeah, I definitely would have preferred solid green for the shams. Something was needed to break up all those squares... So I went on a throw pillow kick. I can't say enough great things about this zippered pillow tutorial from The House on Hill Road . It's super quick and easy, an...

Time for another progress report on my January "guest room" challenge, and I think I've set an all-time personal speed record on this one. The bed quilt is finished! I started on Monday with this: And here is the end result, finished on Friday. (Just out of curiosity, I kept track of my time. From cutting to piecing to pinning to quilting to binding -- 26 hours, 15 minutes.) I was lucky again fabric-wise. Halfway into making the blocks, I realized I was short of the cream print. (sigh) When I went back to the store for more -- the bolt was gone. (groan) BUT when I checked the remnant bin, I found the end of the bolt. (yes!) It was just over a half yard, and turned out to be exactly enough to finish the top. (whew!) Best $1.39 I ever spent. My only regret on this quilt, I wish it were just a bit wider, so it had a little more drop on the sides. Of course if it were, I wouldn't have had enough of that cream print, so... all for the best, I suppose. I...

Well, here it is Friday again, and though I've been sewing my poor fingers to the bone this week, I haven't quite finished the quilt for the guest room bed (and since my daughter took off for the weekend with the only working camera in the house, I couldn't share a picture if I had), BUT I do have one other little project in the works, and a tiny sewing finish was involved this week. When I had my first child in 1987, I was fortunate to inherit the cradle my grandpa slept in when was he born in 1890. He had many younger siblings, who most likely slept in it, too, but at some point it was stashed away someplace and forgotten. Thankfully someone had the foresight to hold onto it, and though it skipped two generations of use, it did stay in the family. The original stand was missing (probably why it was never passed down), but when I brought the cradle home, my husband's grandpa (who has since passed) was kind enough to build a stand so I could use it. I'm su...