Friday, October 15, 2010

Thank you!

Just a quick post to say thanks...to all of you for your kind words and encouragement for my 1st gig as guest blogger over at Stash Manicure. Thanks for all the sweet comments and for those of you who became followers of my blog. I am overwhelmed at all the kindness.
Oh! And I'm still working on that tutorial...my regular job sure does cramp my quilty style ;)
Stay tuned!
Darlene :)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Color me honored...




Check out my 1st post as a "guest blogger" over at Stash Manicure! I'm SEW excited...and I just can't hide it! Ok, corny, I know. Couldn't resist. Thank you Madame Samm for having me!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Help!

This past May, my guild held an auction. Members had donated stuff to be auctioned off to benefit the guild and we sold tickets for $.25 and also $1.00 for bigger items. You could "shop"the tables and put a ticket in the sack for the items you hoped to "win". I spent $20 for tickets and had fun shopping. Here's what I won... This was actually in a crate. Not organized, just a bunch of scraps, stuffed in this crate. Some pretty good sized, but none very pretty. I've been looking at these piles since May and now I'm really starting to wonder...what am I gonna DO with all this fabric? I thought about just donating it back to the guild, but the charity quilts committee already seemed overwhelmed with fabric donations. I have been in the habit of only purchasing fabric when I actually have a project in mind. I had no project in mind when I put my quarter in the sack for this treasure...that's right, it was on the $.25 table. I guess I didn't really expect to win it. So I've decided I need help with this pile o' fabric. Maybe a scrappy pattern that would cut pieces small enough to camouflage the not-so-pretty fabrics? Any of my quilty friends have any ideas?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Instant gratification...

I've had a busy couple of weeks, and we're just getting started. Do you guys realize just how close Christmas is?! I still have several quilts with Christmas deadlines and I keep getting sidelined with other projects. I made a diaper bag in the same prints as Jorden's purse, but the pockets were different on the inside.I had some pretty good sized scraps left over from Hayden's bag and I've had this pattern for something like 6 months now, so I decided to give it a try. It was quick and easy and SO cute! So Hayden's mommy got a little bonus with her diaper bag.That's right, it's a camera case. It was so fun to make, I couldn't stop...I pulled out some more scraps and made 3 more!
Once I got that out of my system, it was time to get back to work...

I have several quilts on my "to-do" list that are going to take some time to get finished and I REALLY wanted instant gratification. So, I pulled out my "Book of Inspiration", a binder that I keep (actually, there's 2 of them now) full of patterns that I have found in quilting magazines. I love the inspiration I get from magazines, but don't like the clutter of having them pile up in my house. So I bought a binder and some plastic sheet protectors, and voila! My books of inspiration were born. When I'm feeling low on creative juices, I turn to the books.

I've been wanting to try this pattern by Julie Herman of Jaybird quilts that I found in the Aug/Sept edition of McCall's Quick Quilts. I have several jelly rolls lying around (I need a 12-step program for my addiction to pre-cuts) and this one only took 16 strips. I went ahead and used 5 more strips to make the binding, but that's still only 21 strips used...I could still make another one!It took me about 12 hrs to make...mostly because I have quilting ADD and had a hard time staying on task. And I DO have a family to take care of! Oh, who am I kidding? My sweet daughter made herself some mac & cheese and forced me to take a break long enough to eat some for dinner ;) Thank you Aimee! Originally, I was thinking it would be nice to have a little lap quilt to take to church with me. It's FREEZING at my church! I caught a glimpse of one of the thermostat's, and it was set on 65 degrees! Don't these people know, room temperature is 74!
I'm pretty sure when I have my 1st hot flash, I will finally be comfortable. But until then, I'll have to start bringing my own warmth to church. Now, after I made this one (which I do love by the way) I decided it really looks like a baby quilt. So I may need to make another one and give this one away...we'll see.
Also, I am working on a baby blanket for a friend who just had a baby boy. Using a Pure jelly roll...that's right, I said jelly roll. I told you I have a problem!
I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a couple of months and I thought it might make a good tutorial for beginning quilters. So, I'm working on my 1st tutorial. Yay! I'll post when it's finished.
One more little side note...has anybody noticed I also have a love for all things circle-ish? Circles and dots...I've definitely noticed a trend here.
Ok, now back to that Christmas list...
Have a blessed day!