Free-for-all Friday

That title really explains this post. It's kind of all over the place, sewing-wise.

First up, the commissioned quilt using the American Jane ABC fabric. The customer requested a disappearing nine-patch. We sat down the other day and I gave lots of options for fun and interesting designs, and he picked the design from the quilt sitting on my couch. I'm not complaining exactly, as a disappearing nine-patch is about as easy as it comes, but from a creative aspect I'd have liked something with a little more challenge. That being said, I hate these four blocks. HATE. Obviously this was just one block that I cut up to see how it looks, so the same fabrics are right next to each other [soooo many polka dots], but I think I'm despising how "primary color" it looks.

What's happening with the DWR this week? Nothing so far. My pile sits on my table, looking forlornly at me while I ignore it in favor of other more exciting things. Poor DWR. Hopefully I can work on it tonight as I have zero Friday night plans. 

Hundreds of HSTs to be trimmed. And trimming is bad for my soul. Seriously. It kills me a little, so I can only do 20 or 30 at a time before it feels like my brain is oozing out of my skull. I felt that way about calculus back in the day too.

And finally, some autumn care packages. I love sending packages. If money was no worry I'd constantly send packages to friends. This is why I love Christmas so much. I love picking things out for people that I know/hope that they'll love, packaging it up all pretty, and then waiting in anticipation for them to receive it. Seriously, is it Christmas yet? Anyways, my closest friends have slowly been moving out of the state for bigger and better things, so I thought I'd celebrate the season by sending out some goodies to them all. Variations on this package will be heading to Atlanta, LA, Berkeley, and Raleigh!

I hope I'm a florist in a future life. This is just some picks from the craft store [you often buy these to put in wreaths], some raffia to fill the jar, and a little twine to "tie" it all together. If you're not dying laughing at my wit...

I bought a 4-pack of flour sack towels at Target for $4 and embellished each end with a strip of patchwork. Simple!

To round it all off I made some simple hoop wall art with teensy scraps of autumn-colored fabrics and a touch of hand embroidery on natural colored Essex. Which is perfect, since today is Handmade Parade day at There and Back!

DWR Dilemma

"What the hell is that?"

That's the weather mapping that is over Orlando today. And no, I'm not in the little white section. Add in the fact that my car is at the shop and you've got a very dreary stuck-inside kind of day. A sewing kind of day!

So Jennifer and I have been working on DWR quilts, and cheering each other on. She's making hers out of Fandango, and I'm taking the opportunity to reduce my scrap bucket. Sadly, that meant that my cutting experience was probably a million times longer than hers, since I had to cut each piece individually.  I got 120 squares out of my tiny scraps without any apparent difference in the volume of the bucket!

I did have to supplement my stacks o' scraps with some yardage too.

Source

So here's where you come in! I'm having trouble deciding on my background fabric. The picture above is a DWR from a class at the workroom so you have an idea of what the final piece will look like.

Should I put my arcs made up of blue/green/grays/black&white prints on this background of the black and white pin dot...

...or this light blue and white pin dot?

Pictures are a little dull in color due to the aforementioned weather conditions, but hopefully you've got an idea of what it will look like. Help a girl out, and let me know what you think!

Bees, New Sewing Rooms, and a Giveaway

Things are still crazy around here, but such is life!

Clockwise from top left: Charlotte @ twelfthzodiac, Katie @ thereandback, Heather @ Crafting..., and me!

My first 3 bee blocks were in my mailbox on Saturday when I got home from chaperoning. I like all of them more than I like my own original block. Of course!

While I plan to have them in a vertical line, I think a whole quilt of scrappy triangles like this would be super awesome.

I'm going to be doing a sneak peek tidbit of my sewing room every day this week, with a final picture on Friday. Because that's more fun for me. And because it coincides nicely with....

...a giveaway!

I will also be showing a giveaway item each day! It's all for one monster giveaway to celebrate me having a sewing room so I can shut the door and forget to eat and emerge a tired but happy quilter. The actual giveaway entry day will be Friday, so make sure you come back that day, and feel free to keep up with the items that will go to the winner :)

The laptop case is my favorite project from Quilts and More. Just to be clear, I only buy quilting magazines for inspiration, so these both have all the pattern pages still attached, and have just been thumbed through.

The Quilting Arts magazine is more like a special edition magazine that is sturdier. It's chock-full of projects, including these adorable house ornaments. I know that these were super popular this past Christmas around the interwebz.

These stockings were the reason I bought the magazine, and they were my first sewing project after I got my machine. Except I sewed them by hand. And made it all up as I went along.

Now, while I personally am starting to sew Christmas things, and so thought the magazine might be useful to those of you who are also getting a jump-start on Christmas sewing, there are plenty of projects that are not holiday themed, such as these placemats by Alissa.

Check back in tomorrow for more items to go into the giveaway box, the requirements for entering, and some little projects that I've been working on :)