Mug Rug Swap - Round 4

I got involved in the Mug Rug swap on flickr just in time for round two.  (And I'll have to look back to see just what I've posted about that...)  I didn't really need another hobby, but I think I might be hooked.  They're great.  Tiny little quilts, big enough for a beverage and a snack.  Relatively quick to put together, small enough that you can experiment and they have the potential to be stinkin' cute.

...so I'm still going with the swap. ;)

This is a blind swap, so I'm not at liberty to name my partner just yet.  Soon.  For now, I'll say that I was a little bit stumped on what to do for her.  She gave some really great information and I didn't expect to get stuck, but I did.  I latched on to her love of "kitschy" and decided to run with it...only, how exactly would SHE define the word?  I did some flickr stalking and fabric eyeballing, and ended up with this selection:

(Warning: crappy night time cell phone photos ahead!)



The Alexander Henry chicken fabric was something that I came across at Joanne's and didn't even realize what it was.  But it tickled me, so I abandoned my previous kitschy idea and let the rooster lead.



I was pleased.  Sort of.

I posted the pictures as a sneak peek to the group (which is suggested).  It was well received.  But it just didn't feel quite right for it's intended owner.  I stalked some more.  I eyeballed some more.  I went back to my original plan (and ended up with another Alexander-Henry-found-at-Joanne's fabric), and then abandoned it again.

I settled on bunting.  Because it's kind of fun, the design appeared very clearly in my head and (most importantly), my partner says she likes bunting.

I posted another sneak peek.





These photos were also well received.  And I have it on good authority that the person I'm making this for will be pleased.  So I'm ecstatic.

My original binding plan (polka dots) really, really, really didn't work out.  WAY too busy.  So I settled on black.  I think it frames it nicely.

It's kind of hard to tell in the photo, but I've quilted the front with big fluffy clouds.  It seemed to fit. :)



The back is quilted separately, straight lines.  I didn't figure I could go wrong with a little straight line quilting.  And I totally stole the tagging idea from some of the other swappers.  Had a stamp made up and heat set the ink on twill tape.  Brilliant.  Tagging is normally pretty stressful, but I love this.  It's easy-peasy, and I think it's super cute, too.


And, this time, I've gathered a few things to round out the package.  In addition to the mug rug - which I hope she enjoys! - I'm sending a mug, some teas in flavors that her profile suggests that she'll enjoy, a tin of sentimental candies and an Arizona-themed postcard.  Can't wait to see what she thinks of it!

Today I Love...

...that we spent last night catching up with an old friend and her husband.  (Oddly enough, who also just made the Houston-to-Phoenix move!)

...that Bug requested tomatoes for lunch today, and we were able to walk out into the yard and pick some for him to eat.

...that I get to spend this afternoon ticking fun things off of my to-do list with my family.  (We have planned: library, fabric store, storage building.)

...summer skirts, and that I'm wearing pre-pregnancy clothes again!

And Christmas Begins...

You read that right...I said Christmas.  Please don't get disgusted and run away just yet!  I know how it sounds.  Really, I do.  I haaaaaaate when Christmas pops up in June.  (Seriously, I refuse to go into Hobby Lobby unless I absolutely have to now because, a few years back, I went in on June 6 and they had their *entire* Christmas section already set up.  It was heinous.)

But, I'm having a baby soon.  And I have a two year old.  And if I want to continue with the trend of keeping Christmas gifts about something other than cheap, crappy gifts that were bought in the spirit of consumerism (which isn't what Christmas is about at our house!), then I really kind of need to get started on it now.  Or, at least I need to start THINKING about it now.

So, I thought about it.  And I formed an idea that was starting to keep me up nights, so I figured I needed to act on it before either the idea disappeared or I turned into a zombie.  Either outcome being likely, of course.

In my head, I've termed it the Four Cousins project...because I basically plan to duplicate the idea for both of my kids and both of my sister's kids.  Easy-peasy, I think they'll like it, and goodness knows that similar-but-personalized gifts are good for siblings.

I browsed fabric (and spent litarally HOURS over at the Fat Quarter Shop) for two days before making up my mind.

For my newphew, I fell in love with Beep Bots.  For my niece, I really liked some of the On A Whim 2 fabrics.  For Bug, Robert Kaufman's Playday.  And Boo gets the Summer colorway of Moda's Love U line.

Now, what is all of this fabric going to become?  I'm afraid I'm not ready to spill the beans on that just yet.  But I'll post some sneak peeks after the fabric arrives. ;)

Show and Tell: Swap Goodies and Quilt In Process

A few things to show off today.  Mostly because I did so much actual work on the computer today that my brain feels scrambled.  I had to pull out some stuff I could actually TOUCH. ;)

First, some goodies from the Sew, Mama, Sew! fat quarter swap.  I've received three of the four fat quarters and just can't stand not showing them off. :)



Aren't they pretty?  I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite.  Thank you, ladies!!

This is the fabric that I sent out.  I hope my swap partners liked it.



I'm thinking that, just maybe, I've got a bit of a thing for bird fabric right now...

And speaking of.  I got the last of the print fabric that I need for the bedroom quilt!

I got more of "Birds" in brown and and "Blowing Leaves" in neutral from BratPacks.  I was so happy with how quickly the last order came (and her good prices!) that I couldn't resist ordering from her again.  (These are, of course, from Studio E's "Nature.ology" collection.)



And then I picked up "Feather Swirl" in brown and "Nature Weave" in turquoise from Creative Quilt Kits.  I was really happy with their pricing, communication and prompt delivery.  I'll definitely keep the site bookmarked for future reference.



I have to admit that I expected the "Nature Weave" print to be much more blue than it actually is in real life.  Every photo that I saw online looked very, very blue.  And when I pulled it out of the envelope it was most definitely much more green.  But Richard says he likes it (I was trying to work more blue into the quilt because it's his favorite color), so I guess it's all good.  It IS a pretty fabric.

This afternoon, I pulled out ALL of the prints and got them cut into fat quarters.



They still need to be pressed (again) and sorted, but I feel like I accomplished something by getting them cut.

Next step: picking the solid colors for the quilt top.  I'm waffling.  I need four yards each of neutral and contrasting colors, and I'm having a hard time deciding which colors to choose.  Cream and pale blue as neutrals?  Maybe brown instead of blue?  Just cream as the neutral and call brown, blue (two shades?) and green the contrasting colors?

...Too many options for this afternoon.

I'll play with the fabric a little more.  Sort the prints into pair combinations that I like.  Stare at them a little while.  It'll come to me.

Oh!  Bonus photo!

Bug insisted on taking pictures when I was done.  He got a nice version on his standard self-portrait.

Some of My Favorite Blogs

I don't have much to say today.

Well...I do, but I'm not quite ready to delve into that yet.  And I don't have pictures of the stuff I want to show off, and I'm feeling very pregnant-tired today.  So that leaves me with very little to say.

It's one of those all-I-want-to-do-is-sit-around-and-look-at-inspiring-websites days.

So I'll share some of my favorites.  :)

Sew,Mama, Sew - Always an amazing site for inspiration, ideas and tons and tons of tutorials.  This month is Quilt Month II, so there's lots of quilt-y goodness going on right now.  Be sure to check out the blog on Fridays and enter to win the weekly fabric giveaway!  (Ahem... They also have a store and forum, but I always get side-tracked by the blog.)

A Stitch in Dye - Malka - from here in Texas! - does some of the most beautiful work!  Her fabric and dying are breathtaking and I love, love, love how she uses color and visual texture in all of her projects.  I think I'd love to buy just about everything out of her Etsy shop.  I'm saving my pennies for some of her  fabric.  Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

See Katie Sew - Quilting, pretty fabric creations...what's not to love?  I'm currently working on convincing myself that I don't need to join in the vintage sheet swap.  I DON'T.  But...they're so pretty...

Juicy Bits - I don't think there's anything that Jessica doesn't do beautifully and at 115%.  Seriously.  Look at her photos.  Sewing, baking, crafting, birthday parties, she does it all and it all looks straight out of a magazine.  Takes my breath away.

Oh, Fransson! - I mentioned Elizabeth's blog the other day.  It's a haven of quilt-y goodness, amazing tutorials, quilt-a-longs and beautiful, beautiful work.  She's doing this week's Block-a-long at Sew, Mama, Sew, too.  Fun stuff!  (And be sure to check out her shop.  I bought the pattern for her Canasta quilts and will be eternally thankful for her easy-to-follow directions.  I'm not sure that even *I* will be able to muck up this quilt.)


There are other blogs that I love to frequent, but five links seems like a good place to stop for now.  I'll save the others for the moment. :)

Fabric Collecting

I can admit that I have a problem with fabric. I like it. A lot. I have way.too.much.fabric in my house. (As if there were such a thing!) But sometimes something calls to me and I have to take it home. And sometimes I end up spending a good long time admiring it before it tells me what it wants to become.

And, sometimes, the project comes first. Such is the case for our bedroom quilt.

As recently stated, I'm new to this whole quilting thing. But I'm hooked. The idea of doing a big, bed-sized quilt has been attractive - and really, really scary! - for awhile, but I've decided to take the plunge. To that end, I've chosen a pattern (one of the Canasta quilts from Oh, Fransson!) and started amassing fabric. It's going to be a process, because I know what I want but the idea of dropping that much money on that much fabric all at once makes me feel a little faint. To be honest, I'm not even going to *think* about backing fabric until the quilt top is finished...and that's a ways from happening.

So, I go admire my pretty new fabric now and again and look at pictures online trying to decide which bit to buy next.

Thus far, I've collected:



These are from Nature.ology by Studio E. Purchased from Bratpacks Fabrics awesome Etsy shop. The prints are: "Birds" in brown, "Blowing Leaves" in neutral, "Birds of a Feather" in brown and "Through the Forest" in turqiouse.



These are "Mingle Cocoa" by Robert Kauffman and "Words" in olive from the Nature.ology collection. Purchased from Fashionable Fabrics. (Who also has an Etsy shop, but I purchased these directly so that I could tweak the order request.)

Four yards total. Half of the printed fabric that I need for the quilt top. Once it's all here, I'll decide on coordinating solids and plan to buy that all at once. And then I can get this baby underway!

Until then...I'll just keep staring and petting and imagining how pretty the quilt will be when it's - someday - grown into a quilt.

(By the way, I highly recommend purchasing from both Bratpacks and Fashionable Fabrics! Both transactions went beautifully, with excellent communication, and I got the fabric really quickly. I'll definitely be shopping in both locations again! Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson! is also quite awesome. I am ADDICTED to her blog.)

Links:
Bratpack Fabric: http://www.etsy.com/shop/bratpacksfabrics
Fashionable Fabrics: http://www.fashionablefabrics.com/
Oh, Fransson! (Etsy shop): http://www.etsy.com/shop/OhFransson
Oh, Fransson! (blog): www.ohfransson.com