Thursday, April 25, 2013

Really Random Thursday, 4/25/13

Let's get right to it. Mark and I were at the coast over the weekend. We had a little adventure Friday morning. I wanted to deliver a couple of quilt tops to Krista, who was visiting her family in Los Osos. She gave us great instructions on how to drive from Pismo Beach to Los Osos. The adventure became actually getting to the house. The city was doing a lot of sewer work on that street. We decided to park on the next street and hike behind all the houses, then walk around all the heavy equipment. We made it, and the quilt tops are safely in her hands.
That afternoon we saw "42." We highly recommend it.
An interesting sculpture in San Luis Obispo:
Seen in the local quilt shop in Pismo Beach:
Mark happened to take a fairly good picture of me. That is really rare. So I have changed my profile picture.
We had really lovely weather all weekend. We woke up on Monday morning to a grey sky. Which meant, as suspected, that the weather was going to be hot in Fresno. And it's only April!

But I came home to some amazing mail!

Stephanie   sent some orangey goodness for a little pick-me-up. It totally worked.
The quilt that will be in the Modern Bee book arrived back home, along with some goodies from Lindsay.
A cool pouch I ordered from Terri arrived,
along with something totally unexpected from her as well.

Seen in the parking lot by the local Barnes and Noble:
Speaking of Barnes and Noble, I had a great play date with these two the other morning. Nothing better than boys, books and baseball.
And later in the afternoon, time with this little ballerina.
I have an opportunity to contribute to a collaborative project. I'm a little nervous about coming up with something good enough to contribute.
Yep, that sounds about right...

Your turn.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

WIP Wednesday, 4/24/13

I finished sewing together Marcelle Goes to the Circus. I love it. The scraps of Oakshotts, along with dots, woven stripes, and the calming "galvanized" shot cotton around the pluses (all by Kaffe Fassett) combined in just the right way.
 
And it's been passed on to quilter extraordinaire, Krista. I can't even tell you how excited this makes me!
So then I started another little project with Oakshott's latest range,Impressions, a set of fat 1/8ths shot with white, making them all lovely pastels.

Does this ever happen to you? You visualize something in your head, do all the cutting, start the construction. And then realize it.is.not.going.to.work. Yeah, that's where I am at this point. Frustrating... Next time I will put the "vision" on paper before I start cutting.

Linking to Lee.

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Name Game: Fabric Mutt


I'm so happy to have Heidi here today, from Fabric Mutt. Aren't you anxious to see how she chose such an interesting name for her blog?

So, Heidi, how did you choose the name Fabric Mutt?
 
 I had been thinking about starting a blog for a few weeks, but I wasn't sure what to call it. I remember lying in bed one night and suddenly thinking, "Fabric Mutt." The more I turned it over in my mind, the more I loved it. My sewing education has come from here, there, and everywhere, so I'm definitely a mutt in that sense. I loved having some sort of theme to the blog -- it was fun to tie it in with the titles on my sidebar, and I loved designing the header which features one of our family dogs, Naomi, who passed away earlier this year. I also really liked that "fabric" was in my blog name. I think patterns and designs are foundational to a project, but it's the choice of fabric that always has the biggest impact on me. 

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?
 I'm sure there were other names that I considered, but they must not have been any good. I can't remember a single one of them!

Now that you are recognized by Fabric Mutt, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?
I'm very happy with the name. It's simple, fun, and approachable. I want people who visit my blog to feel welcome and comfortable no matter where they are in their skills. I'm coming up on my first anniversary of diving into sewing and starting this blog, and while I've grown so much this year, there's still so much more to learn and try. One of the things I love most about the online sewing community is the encouragement and joy that people have in sharing with each other. I've been so blessed by bloggers who were kind and generous with me as I was just starting out, and I want to be the same to other bloggers and readers, especially those who are beginners. It's been an amazing journey so far, and I know there are more great adventures to come!

 It's hard to believe Heidi has only been sewing for a year! She just finished a really great blog hop series called Girl Friday Sews, with lots of fabulous projects by a variety of bloggers, including this one by Heidi.
Don't forget to check it out here. So say hi to Heidi and look around--I think we can expect a lot of wonderful things from her in the future!


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Really Random Thursday, 4/18/13

This week has had some tough moments and my heart goes out to all those hurting, physically and emotionally, after the marathon in Boston. My first thought was of our CPA who does the tax work for Mark's fused glass business. Joanna has qualified the last several years to run. One of the newspaper articles stated that the bombs were scheduled to go off about four hours after the start, to cause the most devastation. Our local newspaper listed the times of all the runners from here in the valley, and Joanna's time was listed at 4:00:23. Fortunately, by the time I read that, her husband had emailed that she was okay.

So it almost seems frivolous to write about something random, after something so intentional. But maybe "random" can be a good thing.

We decided to make a little area in the front of our house where we can sit and relax in the evenings.

Before:
After (it still looks a little blah--it definitely needs some big flowerpots), but we have already spent some enjoyable time sitting out here:

Last week we attended Charlotte's school open house. We are so proud of this little girl--so smart, kind, and, yes, totally cute.
This is what Grandpa was doing with the boys while we looked at Charlotte's school work. I'm thankful that all three just love books.

A couple of nights later we got to spend the evening with them--ice cream and books--it doesn't get much better.
Heading to a store near you:
This issue has lots of great projects. If you haven't seen this specialty magazine yet, you really need to check it out (I think it's available this coming Tuesday). It's published by Interweave Press who also publishes Quilting Arts.

Here's what they have to say about this issue:
"Featuring contemporary projects of every type, Modern Patchwork is chock-full of fabulous gift ideas, a variety of quilt designs, exciting home-décor projects, items to enhance your cooking and dining experiences, plus totes and bags of all sorts! The quilts range from beginner to intermediate level, and include all types of piecing and patchwork. Clear step-by step instructions are provided for each project, with clear illustrations and step-by-step photography."
The exciting thing is that I submitted a pillow, it was accepted for publication and it is in this magazine!! Here it is in all its selvage-y goodness, although interestingly, the magazine people used the British spelling--selvedge. But who cares? I'm so excited to have it published! All of the selvages are flower-related (if you click on the photo you should be able to see them more clearly).
This was the first time I did a zipper closure for a pillow.
But that's not all!

My excitement kept building when I saw that the pillow was pictured in the Table of Contents (upper right corner).
I had quickly paged through the magazine, and so I didn't notice this until later when I read the letter from the editor:
This has encouraged me to think about submitting other projects, maybe even a quilt. The hardest part is waiting to see if it is accepted, and then waiting (for months) before you are able to share it with anyone!

Bonus: Anne Deister (SpringLeaf Studios), one of the Mid-Century Modern bee members, is on the COVER!! She made that very cool room divider/wall hanging out of circles.

I'll end with this. Certain family members (and you know who you are) probably wonder why I keep starting new projects when they are patiently waiting for their quilt to be completed have given up even asking me...

Your turn.



Monday, April 15, 2013

The Name Game: Seriously, I think it needs stitches

This is the truth--Kelli has one of my all-time favorite blog names. Ever.

So you can imagine my excitement when she said she would play The Name Game!

If you read her profile, you will find out that she is an RN, where she worked in a cardiac ICU for eight years--which gives her blog name a double meaning (and made me like it even more!). She is also a cancer survivor, living in California. The funny thing is that we will probably meet each other not in California but in Portland at quilt market, because I'm going (yay) and she is helping a friend who will have a booth there.


Kelli, how did you choose the name for your blog?



Since I am a nurse, I wanted to make my blog name a play on words, something to do with getting stitches.  Something catchy that could have a double meaning.  And it seems like I am always telling people who cut themselves really bad, "No really, I think you need stitches."  Or, "That looks like it might need stitches."  And the only quilting I'd ever done at the time had been hand quilting, which is all about "the stitches".  Also.. laughing really hard, as in.. "that had me in stitches."  Stitches could go so many ways, and eventually I settled on "Seriously..I think it needs stitches."
 

Were there other names you considered, and can you share any of them with us?
When I first started trying to come up with blog names, I wanted it to be "The Bee's Knees", b/c when I had my son, that's what I always told him.  "You're the bee's knees".  I was so in love with him.  But that was taken, as well as several other Bee-ish blog names.  I didn't realize how the word Bees was so prevalent in quilting and/or quilting blogs.  Then I decided to just switch over and look for something to do with stitches, since I was going to blog about crafty things, which seemed like a fun way to go, given my background.


Now that you are recognized by your blog name, are you happy with it, or do you wish you could change it to something else?

I am really happy with my blog name now, and wouldn't change it for the world.  It just seems to fit.  Life will always need stitches in one way or another, I figure. :D

Thanks so much for playing this week, Kelli! I can hardly wait to meet you in person.
 
Please go over to Kelli's blog, say hi and spend some time looking around.  You're sure to find something that will keep you in stitches!
 
Next week:
Heidi, Fabric Mutt
 
Is there a blog name you would like to know more about? Send me an email and I'll try to make it happen!