more from my mentor

aka, my mom.

So yes, we are suffering from Grandma Suzie withdrawl. My daughter has said on numerous occasions, "Grandma needs to come back to our house!" and we all agree!

Here are some the fun things she made during Sewing-fest 2009:

This shadow embroidery was a project she did with her quilt group. She pieced it and put it together one of the first nights we were here. I love how that embroidery on the back shades (hence the term shadow) the muslin. That and it's cute. I wish I would have hid it so she would have "accidentally" left it here.

If I remember correctly, this quilt pattern is called Yellow Brick Road. This was whipped up in an afternoon from 6 fat quarters and a bunch of strip piecing. It turned out very cute - it's a baby quilt size.

This is the same pattern only bigger and with brighter colors! I think it's adorable!

And look at all the cute kitties! This one is closer to a twin size and only used 12 fat quarters. Now that I've seen it done, I really need to make one myself.

mais, La piece de resistance. are you ready? This is a McCall's pattern (I think) It didn't look like much when I saw the drawing on the envelope, and I wasn't sure about the fabric choices, until I saw it!

yes! that whole thing is trimmed in bias tape. She worked it on there like she does it everyday! When I asked her to show me how you do it, it was another one of those moments, "things my mom thought she taught me....." you know the rest.

Speaking of which, did you know that store bought bias tape has one fold longer than the other? It's to use on the backside so you will catch the back when you are stitching on the top! You learn something new every day. And maybe now I won't hate working with bias tape!

She's amazing - now if I could just plug an external hard drive into her brain to download all the information that's in there....

sewing-fest 2009 comes to an end.

My mom left today. It was very sad. I thoroughly enjoyed having her here. We were so productive!! And the kids loved having someone else to read them bedtime stories. I'm boring now. My daughter kept saying, "but we want Grandma Suzie to stay with us!" Amen.

Between stories and outings and eating and trips to the fabric store, we managed to get a lot of sewing done! I got my quilt-along top put together. I really like it! I sent a picture of it to my husband and his comment was, "it's really colorful. And it looks like a lot of work." Well, it was! Thank you for noticing!

I'm sure he will love it come winter and we are watching a movie on the couch and he gets cold.

I finally got a bag made for my mom - It was about time!! Part of the problem was fabric selection. Once she got here and saw this in my stash it was a no-brainer. Chez Posh by Moda. If she hadn't chosen it, I might have used it for myself!

And because she's my mom, I let her design a second set of interior pockets specially sized for her doo-dads.

You know you have a fabric problem when you load some to be washed and think, Hey! I need to take a picture of that! It looks so pretty! On second thought, maybe it's just a blogging problem I have....

I also made some delicious blueberry scones from Cook's Illustrated. They are delightful! Here are the blueberries ready to be shaped into the triangles of joy. There's some lemon zest in the dough, just in case you were wondering.

My mom loves to bird watch and so I thought I would get a feeder to see if I could get the cardinals to come and visit. The first cheap feeder I bought was destroyed by a squirrel within the first week. This is a squirrel-proof one that is really cool! The cage on the outside of the feeder is spring loaded so that when the squirrel gets on it his weight lowers the leaves to cover the feeding holes. Nifty!! And look at all the fun birds that I didn't know were my neighbors.

And this picture reminds me of the idea I had for my Notion or Two quilt!

More Sewing-fest 2009 pictures to come. You have to see the apron she made! (but I have to upload the pictures first.)

ikea love

Do not read this post if you are not within driving distance to IKEA. I mean it! The surgeon general has warned that severe jealousy my ensue and be damaging to your health. I'm just sayin'.

Darn you, IKEA, why do you have to be so cute *and cheap!*!! Seriously.

and this chair? It was half-off in the as-is room. Just because it didn't have a box. I'm going back to buy more for our little table with all the mismatched chairs. Plus, I don't have to paint them. They come in white!

Oh? You like the bag? It's for my high school bff - She's going on a summer musical mission trip next week and needed a swanky bag to tour around Austria with.

After talking to her about what she would like I was having a hard time figuring what to do. Then, oh THEN! I saw this daisy print and it was a no-brainer. I found a darker coordinating print for the exterior.

I love these big pockets. You can fit your wallet in there so it doesn't get lost in the bottom of your bag. You can also put 2 packs of gum, 2 ziplocs of goldfish crackers, chapstick, lipgloss, scissors, 12 pens, diapers, wipes, a small cat and your digital camera in there. Not that I would know. I've just heard.... They key hook is my favorite part - you can always find them there.

Did you notice that everything in this post was blue, white and yellow? Not really planned.....


(and by the way - way to go USPS!! I put this in my own mailbox yesterday and it was in hers today!!)

a quilt for baby grant

My good friend just had another baby boy. I was excited to try something new in terms of a baby quilt. Now that I know how to properly use my walking foot and machine quilt in a straight line.

And I wanted to get my hands on some JUMBO ric rac! I was excited to find out she was decorating his room in green and brown - with monkeys!!

And I can't really help myself when it comes to stripey bindings!! If at all possible, it must be done!

I feel like doing a tutorial - is anyone interested in one for this quilt? It's super simple! And I did learn a few things. Like:

• Put the ric rac on right before you sew the binding on, after you have quilted, otherwise the ends fray so much they may not fit into the binding. I guess you could just use fray check on them too., but that would require some foresight. Which I seem to be lacking lately.
  
• Disappearing ink markers are great for marking quilt lines - but do it right before you sew, or you they may dissappear!
• If you think you have used too many pins to baste, you haven't. ADD MORE.

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Thanks for the nice comments on my photos and entering them into the photography show. Bad news is, they decided they had too many entries and by the time we got our forms in they had stopped accepting them. Oh well, one less thing to worry about! I'll try again next year.

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I'm really excited about my quilt along quilt - but I'm resisting the urge to post the photo of the blocks laid out. I really want to show it once the top is all sewn up! It's cute. I promise.

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I am really excited about an etsy order I made. Amy is a friend of mine and I'll tell you more about it all when it comes. So stay tuned! There may just be something in it for you!

in action

It's really fun to see some of the things I've made with their owners.

Exhibit A:

The bag was for my darling sister-in-law's cute sister. With a matching superstar tee for a kissable cutie pie! Those cheeks are killing me!

I didn't make the headband, but I want one!
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I've been working on some more bags and my quilt-along quilt. I haven't been feeling wordy lately, so I hope pictures will do.

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I'm still mulling over names for little gnomie.
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And I just entered a local photography show. It's kind of making me nervous, but I'm not really sure why. Maybe because I want to be different and artistic. But instead I've submitted a bunch of close-up flower pics, like this one:

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The extended business trip (read: deployment) is almost halfway over - it will be nice to hit that middle mark.

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I think this may be my most random post to date. That's just how I feel these days.

how does your garden grow?

sweet peas

and broccoli

some even with flowers! (oops - I think I should have picked this sooner....)

Red Lettuce

And lavender.

I love this method of gardening. If you have ever wanted to garden, but were too intimidated to try - this is a great way to start! This is my 3rd year and it's getting easier and better and more fun. It's like a science experiment all summer long. I learned last year not to plant 4 foot zinnias in my boxes, they leached everything out so my produce didn't produce!

If you are gardening and blogging about it, let me know! I love seeing what people are doing.

We will resume our regularly scheduled sewing after this. I've got a few blocks to sew together.

where's gnomie?

Can you see him?

He's trying to disguise himself as a red petunia!

I need a better name for him. Got any ideas?

a notion or two - may block

I think I'm addicted to wonder under. If given an opportunity to put an applique on a quilt block - I think I've taken it.

Mommymae's quilt this month is for her little boy who loves robots and the like. I hope the rocket is in line with the theme. In my attempt to be artistic it may not have the same pop as I had hoped for - but I didn't have many boy prints to choose from that fit the color scheme. The flame is half of a dahlia from the Farmers Market line!

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My sewing (and sometimes eating) table is full of fun things while my mom is here.

I'm pretty impressed we've been as productive as we have. I expect things to decrease dramatically when she leaves.

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I had the funniest dream last night. Actually it was this morning. When I WENT BACK TO SLEEP at 7 am because my saintly mother got up with the kids for me. ahhhhh, bliss.

Anyway, we had moved into a new rental and the owners were showing us around and had left a bunch of things there for us to use - like baby stuff and some furniture. Then I was checking out the basement and walked by a gleaming beautiful extended arm sewing machine! And then around the corner were 3 more! It took me a minute to process that I was going to have access to these machines and then I started hyperventilating I was so excited!! I then found out the owner had an etsy shop and made cute headbands and scarves to sell.

I think I've been reading to many blogs.

Or maybe there is a new sewing machine in my future. Or a house I like!

One can dream.

weekend sewing and gardening

Do you ever get so many projects going on in your head that you can't keep organized the projects you are actually doing - not to mention fixing meals, keeping the toys picked up, the kitchen cleaned and children happy? Oh man, I've been feeling a little more than disheveled lately. It's gardening season and I have all these sewing projects I want to finish too. But I find that I really can only do one project a day - and I have to figure out how to squeeze that in the middle of being a mother and homemaker. Does anyone have the secret? In the meantime, until I get it all figured out, I guess I'll just continue on in my happy creative messes!

And really, aren't these just happy fabrics!? I keep checking my reader for Week 3s instructions for Dana's Quilt-along. I finally got the strips cut out last night. Can't wait to start putting them together!

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A friend of mine asked me to help her make a bag for her oldest daughter who just had her first baby. I love the fabric they chose.

We spent a nice afternoon together chatting and sewing. And she made a beautiful bag! I love working with other people on projects. The way everyone sees things differently I get to do things I wouldn't have typically done myself.

You may have noticed that I'm drawn to bold patterns and bright colors - but I love this simple polka dot in a subdued turquoise and brown. So classic.

I have a bag problem. I really do want to keep every. single. one.

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Lastly - the garden. I was really tired of looking at this when I came home.

It used to look even worse - with clover and NO plants. I'm looking forward to those hydrangeas, gladiolas, and dahlias blooming.

But I needed some instant color. So one trip to the nursery and I came home with this!

And now that sad little patch looks just a little bit brighter. And who knew plants went on clearance? I got petunias for 25 cents for a 6 pack! Nice! And only because they were OVERwatered. I've let them dry out a bit....

This is my favorite spot. I love the bright orange and pink zinnias!

I can't wait to see it all as it grows and fills in! It's making me happier already.