National Quilting Day

Well, since it is National quilting Day, I thought it would be a great time to update my blog. I am sorry that I have been neglectful. I have thought of each of you daily, and kept meaning to share my progress on all my projects, but after I finally got my evening sewing done, I chose to immediately drift off to sleep instead of sharing what I have been creating. I promise to post more often, but will probably write a little less.

Here are some tips for Celebrating National Quilting Day

1. Step1

   To celebrate this age-old tradition of quilting, piece and quilt one quilt square. The quilt square could be made into a pillow, wall hanging, or added to other squares later on to make a complete quilt.

2. Step2

   Make National Quilting Day a special event. Gather your friends together to sew or hand quilt with you. Ask each friend to bring a finished project to share with the group.

3. Step3

   Consider combining all of the quilt blocks completed on that day into one quilt. Once the quilt was quilted and the binding completed, the quilt could be donated to a worthy cause.

4. Step4

   Visit quilt shops. Make the day a "quilt shop hop" all your own. Take a few friends along and make a day of it. Stop for lunch and then get lost in the next quilt shop!

5. Step5

   Sign up for a quilting class. Regardless if you are a beginner or an expert, there are quilting classes available. Take the day to learn a new technique.

6. Step6

   Wrap yourself up in your favorite quilt and watch a movie on National Quilting Day. This is a great way to celebrate if you're not a quilter. There's nothing like being wrapped up in a beautiful, cozy quilt.

   ___________________________

   I celebrated today by teaching the second part of a two part class. I only had 3 students, but they were all enthusiastic and ready to learn. Well, until we started paper piecing... then I mostly heard grumbling and slightly veiled comments that there needed to be an easier way. Thankfully, before I left, the ladies seemed to have a better grip on the paper piecing and were prepared to complete their quilts at home.

   
   Here is a picture of their quilts in progress. I forgot to take a picture of the ladies with their quilts, but I thought that they made great fabric choices. The one on the right, was photographed on a table instead of the design wall, causing the proportions to look a little bit strange.

   
   
   Also, I thought that today might be a great day to say a very long overdue thank you to Mary on Lake Pulaski. I was one of the recipients of her Pay It Forward Challenge. She made a beautiful table runner for each of us. I couldn't bear to put it away after Valentine's Day, But with the start of spring tomorrow it is time to decorate for Easter, and this will get lovingly stored away with some of my other quilts. Thank you so much Mary! Did I mention one of my favorite parts is the binding? I love all the fabrics being repeated around the edge.

   
   
   And because it is only 9pm, If I am lucky I will have just enough energy left tonight to sew a little something for me. I have been following the quilt-a-long hosted by Rachel at p.s. i quilt, and since it is Saturday, I am itching to make my next set of pinwheels. I love this week's block it is the most visually complex which usually increases my readiness to work on a project, but I think what I love the most these blocks is the simplicity. I can usually finish both color variations in a couple of hours, and that is with both the girls hanging around.

   I hope you got a chance to sew something. Leave me a comment and tell me about it. And if you want to enter a giveaway head over to Spun Sugar, and try and win a layer cake.

   Kami

   
   

The New Room

I am so excited about the newest addition to my craft room. When my hubby and I first went shopping for furniture for the room I expected a to have to take out a second morgage on the home to do what I wanted to. But I love my new table, and best of all-- so far the remodel has cost $115.

This is my new table, one of the one of those ultra trendy dining room tables that is a comfortable standing height. When we were shopping for a cabinet for the new big screen TV, we found this in the clearance section for $100. I will eventually get 2 backless barstools so that I can sit and work, and have a friend over to create also. Or a more likely scenario is both the girls can sit while I stand. And the table is so big if (when?) I loose the remote, I won't be able to turn on the TV anymore!

On the other side of the room is my new sewing space. Can you tell my design wall is exploding beyond the borders of the frame! I am hoping the new room will inspire me to finish some of these projects. A few of them are original patterns I need to finish so that mom and I can get them published, and I haven't made the time.

I also wanted to share the sweetest little boy quilts that I am working on. Both a cousin, and a friend from work are expecting boys, so I spent time this weekend working on quilts for both of them. I had the worst time picking out fabrics, but after an hour in my LQS I love what I came home with. The colors and style are exactly what I wanted.

That elusive quality of sophisticated and juvenile, romantic and boyish. The fabrics blend so well, it is hard to tell that there are really 4 different blues in this quilt from multiple fabric lines. This is another original pattern. Or I should correctly say this is an adaptation of an original pattern. I can't even follow my own patterns without adapting them to my current mood!

I chose to back the quilt with a soft microfiber? fabric. I wanted minki, but I was overwhelmed by how much I was already spending on fabric, and chose not to get it at the time. But, of course every LQS near me that sells minki was closed when I got off work tonight so I ended up at Babies-R-Us and found an appropriate soft backing that I could put on the one that gets delivered on Wed. The second quilt for my cousin I will probably go back to the LQS and get the minki I really want.

Have a great day,

Kami

Road to CA Part 2

I went to update my blog with pictures of my new craft room and a baby quilt I am making and realized that I still hadn't publised the rest of the pictures from Road to California. So I am posting these now and you will have to wait for this evening for all the skinny on my new room.

However, I have to say that the room is so awesome, that I want to be in there instead of in front of the big screen TV we just bought. Just don't tell that to my husband.

Kami

Road 2 California Quilt Show

I have come back from the Road 2 CA quilt show inspired to get started on the redesign my craft room. There were so many beautiful quilts on display. When I downloaded my camera tonight I was shocked to see that I had taken over 2oo pictures!

This first one is the Best of Show. The Faces were painted, but the most striking to me was the use of velvets for the blossoms (on the tree) roses, & pumpkin. If you click on the picture it should enlarge so that you can see it clearer.

I can honestly say that as beautiful as this one was it was not my favorite Best of Show. As part of the 15th anniversary celebration, Road 2 CA asked all the previous Best of Show winners to display their quilts again. So in no particular order, here are some of the other best of the best.

I didn't take full shots of many of them because I had already taken them, but I wish I could find in my old photos quickly the other pictures of this carousel horse. It was simply breathtaking, all of her curves lay perfectly flat with this stunning applique. Breathtaking.

To keep with the theme of "photo" pictures, here are some others I couldn't resist taking pictures of. The woman in the picture below is the quilter who

Most of the rest of these are traditional quilts, hopefully tomorrow after the Charger game I will get to post all of the more artist ones. That is if I am not to busy celebrating, I hope.

Enjoy, Kami

Makeover time!

I have been avoiding my craft room. It is hard to feel inspired when there are no clean surfaces on the tables, OR FLOORS! I spent 4 hours in there on Sat. and the room still qualifies as a landfill. Part of this is not my fault. (But, I am usually the one who just gives up and drops things in there to deal with later, thinking at least I can close the mess behind a door!)

My husband and I have spent the last 2 weeks redecorating the girls bedroom. Hmm, things needed to move out of there so we could paint, okay. Then after the furniture was rearranged, well we could finally move the desk which I used for scrapbooking into the girls room (it has been destined for there for years). Which meant I had to empty it. Uh oh, can you see where this is heading? Then the girls wanted their small table and chairs from the craft room back in their own room for tea parties with their dolls. Okay, but now what to do with their crayons, glues, stamps stickers... On top of all this, I volunteered to make some pillows for my office. All those supplies including big pillow forms are in there. Plus any quilts that I may have once upon a long long time ago been working on for me.

My solution is to walk in. Look around. Quickly shut the door again. And dream of little elves coming in while I sleep. So far it hasn't worked. So my question to you is now with 2 big pieces of furniture gone, and a desperate need for storage, what would you suggest for my craft room makeover?

I have considered a couple of kitchen cabinets, like these, with a workbench style table on top, (I thought I could make myself another desk, AND have more storage).

And/Or lots of wall shelves, for magazines, books, buttons....

hmm, but I have a lot of stuff, I might need baskets too.

How about a glass enclosed bookcase so that I could store fabric safely?

and it would be inspirational too.

Unfortunately, I really am not sure where to start and I am overwhelmed by the possibilities.

So back to my original question. What I would love to know from you is...

What do you love about the space you create in?

What can you not live without?

And what do you wish you could have?

Thanks for helping me get inspired

Kami

Its' Christmas time

Thank you all for your kind thoughts on my ankle. It is still really tender to the touch, but I am no longer walking with a visible limp! And the swelling is almost imperceptible now. I think dancing my be out this weekend, thankfully, I doubt the company Christmas party has any dancing anyway. Last I heard we were playing games. Makes sense for a game manufacturing company.

If you are interested in what we are promoting as the hot new game of our line up, head over to Amazon and check out Telestrations. I have played it with friends and it is just as funny as the reviews make it sound. It is even funnier when playing with someone who can't draw--the results are hysterical. Plus I like that everyone is engaged the entire time. I hate waiting for my turn to play.

Assuming that you are done with your shopping and your house is decorated, you are way ahead of me! It is beginning to feel a little like Christmas... spending 40 hours a week at the office has kept me from decorating as I would in years past. I got a few boxes with the girls Christmas houses down from the attic before Thanksgiving, but I haven't gotten back into the attic since to get anything else down to start decorating.


Thankfully, when I went up there last month I got down my Christmas quilts I made over the last 2 or 3 Christmases. This one is a Santa that is very loosely based off a pattern that my mom and I converted so that we could strip piece 5 of them at the same time. That is 5 for her and 5 for me. So we spent a couple of days, and pieced and quilted 10 of these Santas. I have since given the other 4 away, but it is nice to have one to remember the fun of getting togerther.

The tree is batiks knotted onto a flat dowel tucked into a pocket with a star velcroed on top.
We added yarn hair, belt buckles, and a 3 dimensional beard to give him more personality.




This next one is another mini quilt. It is 9" square to rest in my little mini quilt frame. I have a Christmas Star/Poinsettia that I designed that I have put in there for the past several years, but last year I decided I wanted a quilt to soften up the display of Nativity Scenes that I put out each year so I shrunk and tweaked a pattern to make it fit in the little square.

And finally the last quilt I want to share is one I just finished... with the intention of giving it away. I joined the Pay it Forward challenge in May and have just given the first quilt to a new home. This one is going to my friend Sarah. God has blessed her with 4 kids–3 of them boys. So I wanted to make her something soothing, that she wouldn't feel obligated to keep out since her home is small and I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed with more things within. It is so much fun making something for someone else because with every stitch you think of that person and how much you care for them. Her daughter and my eldest are "best friends" so it was truly a blessing that she signed up for my challenge.


For this quilt I followed a tutorial on Moda Bakeshop. If you aren't a regular visitor, then you are truly missing out. They have all sorts of ways to use the precuts of fabric that are so popular now.
This pattern was originally to be used with a layer cake (10" squares), but I fudged the recipe, and used a charm pack instead. The piece were very tiny, but I love to create little masterpieces.
This quilt finished at about 2 foot square, perfect for a table topper or a small wall.


I am still looking for 2 more participants in my pay it forward challenge if you want to participate, sign up in the comments, you just have to commit to making something handmade for 3 others within 6 months or a year.

Kami

The Couch Potato

I had so many things to do yesterday, I left the house early to to attend a card making class. I went with my mom and we had lots of fun, then dashed away to go Christmas shopping at one store before she had to go to an afternoon Christmas party up in Pasadena. I stayed longer to finish my shopping. I got so many gifts, and as I was leaving the store I found one more and had to go back to the counter to buy another.

So thinking of my excellent purchases, and thinking ahead to my final stop, and digging for my car keys... I forgot to look where I was walking. I saw the curb in my peripheral vision. But I missed it. I badly twisted my ankle, clutching desperately to the car next to me, I tried to regain my balance, only to find out the car was occupied by a young woman. Who thankfully was more concerned about me, than the fact that I could not let go of her car. Finally, I was able to hobble to my car, and since it is my left leg, I could skip every other errand and drive myself home.

I spent most of the afternoon resting on the couch and slowly puttering around the house, but the worst came when I had to go out last night. By the time we got home my ankle was the the size of half a tennis ball, and my pain threshhold had already been maxed out by an hour, and I could do nothing but collapse on the couch. AND my darling husband adamantly refused to give me more that the tablets specified on the motrin bottle for the pain--ONE! He finally, gave in a let me take a second one, thankfully. Today I can hobble around again, but I will once again be spending the day mostly on the couch.

Kami