I've been busy!

...but not busy sewing!

My mom and brother came in to town for a couple days this week. We went to Ikea which reminds me of all the pretty/shiny/artsy things I'd like to have in my future house. I successfully bought a dust pan, an apple corer, and two candles. Random.

The same day that they left, my friend Alexandra came to visit (after dropping off her fiance at the nearby airport). She's just moved to a place that's only 3 hours from me, rather than 10. It was great to see her and catch up after 5 years!! Some things don't change, and I'm glad that that friendship can be one of them!

Today was my first nap time all week to get something done... and I couldn't decide what to do. I've been wanting to make a sewing machine cover for Nancy (my machine)... I have it basically planned out except I'm so hesitant with picking fabrics. I think I've settled into the colors... having one side blues, the other side pinks, and the top lots of scraps. It will be bound in purple or green with ties of the same. I cut some fabric for it, and barely got started when I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not sure, I may mix up the colors, or just try it again later.

On to the productive part of my day! lol. I did manage to cut and prep the binding for Rosemarie's Quilt. It is pretty great, scrappy pinks and purples that were sent to me with the blocks from some very generous ladies! I can't wait to get it all sewn on!!

Annnnnd... I received these two sweet, amazing, perfectly for me mug rugs in the mail yesterday!! They come from Michelle (MichelleSews). I can't believe they're mine!!! I love them both! The purple one is just absolutely my colors! The scull one has teeny polka dotted piecing which makes my heart jump! DH has already stolen that one! lol. They're perfect!

Green Hair...

Hair dying is crafty right? Well regardless I'm posting pics since I'm really psyched about it!

Here's my hair after the first step, bleaching. The bleach worked really well! I think I wouldn't mind just having the tips bleached. :)

Here's step two, which was sitting with the Manic Panic Electric Lizard hair dye on my ends for about an hour. In retrospect I could have left it in much longer. I'll probably re-dye soon for a deeper color.

Here it is with it all washed out and after conditioning/sleeping on it. Perfection. :)

And I know what you're thinking. No this is not done for Halloween. Just for the thrill of having green hair for a while. I've got some hot pink dye, I'll likely add some streaks throughout my hair next week - since my friend is coming over to dye her hair pink.

Obligatory "bucket-head" picture.

By the way, my AMH Innocent Crush did come in a couple days ago. I keep staring at it. what is it that makes me so nervous to try something daring with pretty fabric? Soon I will. I just have to work up the nerve!

Wednesday Inspiration

1. Pillow Talk Swap, 2. Pillow 001, 3. Ticker Tape Quilt Detail, 4. Joules in Lavender, 5. Table Runner, 6. Scrappy mug rug package, 7. Trillium, 8. Fresh Modern Bee August, 9. Potholder Pass 4, 10. What a Bunch of Squares, 11. city purple, 12. UHG Swap Item 1, 13. Colorful Crafting with Jen: Rickie's Sashiko Pillow, 14. {Urban} Home Goods Swap, 15. SOS Day 20, 16. IMG_0241, 17. [5:365] Twinkle, twinkle, little star..., 18. Patchwork Quilt, 19. J Rogers Quilt, 20. Wonky Baby Stars - the Grey & Yellow version, 21. Tuesday pillow redux, 22. 9 blocks finished!, 23. Full(ish) view -- quilt top for hubby, 24. sideways cider, 25. the Godzilla shoo-fly quilt

I can't get enough of these. All my inspiration for upcoming projects! According to USPS.com I should be receiving my fq bundle of AMH's Innocent Crush today! I've never bought a fq stack right after a fabric line has been put out on the market. I'm excited. I'm hopefully going to make a sewing machine cover with some of it, with some other AMH's fabrics tonight. I"m not sure what layout I'll use. I am itching to start, but want to wait for those fabrics! I need to invest in some lighter grey fabrics. I love the solid, opaqueness of the Kona Coal, but I know I'm limiting my creativity with it. Maybe soon, too bad Joann's doesn't carry Kona Ash, or any other lighter greys! Also, I think tonight is going to be the night that I dye my hair green (just the tips). I'm so ready for that!

My first quilted pillow!!!

Last week I received my blocks from the Mod Bento Block Swap over on flickr. It's a central swap, so we all  made our blocks, quartered them, and sent them to the coordinator, who then mixes them up and sends you quarters from other peoples blocks. I'm so excited about the blocks I received; they go so well with the quarters of my own blocks that I kept. Since I'd only gotten the chance to make three full blocks (12 quarters) before the deadline, I decided to make them up into three pillows. Granted, I've never made a pillow before, but it turned out great!!

the quilting of the pillow top, as seen from the back/inside... getting better!

I did a meandering stipple on the front, layered with batting and muslin. My stippling is getting so much better since I quilted Rosemarie's Quilt. I had so much room on that quilt to perfect it! the back is all white (can you believe it, the first time I've sewn with white fabric; I resisted the urge to use grey!), and the opening edges overlap by about 5". The pillow form is 18" and the finished pillow top (before sewing to the back) was just a hair under 19". I think for my own future reference, I'd like to do french seams on the inside (heck even on the outside to look like piping?!) and take it in about a half an inch (finished top being 18.5").

I'm in love pretty much. :) Now all I need is a couch! lol... that one is a LOOONG story. All we have in our living room are rocking chairs (yes, three of them... even a toddler sized one!).

Now, go over to Quiltstory to see some Fabric Tuesday action!

Simple Dish Mat

 Today I whipped this up. So simple, so satisfying, and yet very useful! I used two fat quarters of Dulce fabric, given to me by my aunt for Christmas last year (awesome!!!), and a dish towel I got at walmart for a buck (since I don't have any old enough to be scrapped).

It's basically a 12" square bordered with a coordinating fabric. I was going to make mine 16" square, but my dish towel was a bit more narrow. I used the "pillowcase method" to bind it (aka the Birthing Method ---now that makes me laugh every time!). Simple, easy, start-finish (pics included) = half an hour! Maybe enough nap time left for a nice hot shower? lol. (tutorial here if you need one)

And FINALLY it was sunny enough to get some decent pics of my Scrappy Pincushion that I received from the swap. Ok so it was only two days ago that I received it, but still it seems like I've been holding out forever with this! I love it so much!!! It was made by Jennifer (greeneyedsilversmith on Flickr). She used my fav colors, green, grey, and purple. And she added some sweet little hand stitching in the middle there. It's already in use and I love the weight that the crushed walnut/lizard litter gives! It really is awesome!

Last night I had a dream about sewing...

In my dream I was at a blogging quilt/sewing retreat... at a fancy hotel type place. Strangely a lot of you bloggers were also Catholic (which it seems to me is not true, I think the Mormons have the corner on blogging and sewing) since we went to Mass together. It was amazing. In one part of the dream I realised I was talking to Rita, from Red Pepper Quilts (who actually as I read her bio right now is from Melbourne... not sure she'd travel so far for a quilt retreat?). LOL How crazy is that? It really makes me want to go on a quilt retreat, but it's just so expensive... there's one forming in Utah for next year... I'd love to go but I'm sure it's going to be much more pricey than I'd like!

Guess what!?!

Remember these?

Well they were well received, and my friend did indeed pay me for them. How odd is that? I've never done that before ever, get paid for making something. :) Well with that money (since I basically had all the materials on hand for these coasters, and mostly spend my time and energy on them) I just bought this!

A fat quarter bundle of AMH's brand spankin new Innocent Crush fabrics! Wow I've never ordered fabric so quickly after it has been released before! Exciting. And well... don't tell DH but I had to spend a little out of pocket for it... just a little. :) hehe. Can't wait to play with these!!! YUMMY! In case you were wondering I ordered them over at Hawthorne Threads, it's the best deal for the bundle of 11 FQ's that I could find. :)