Yippee!!!

Check out my new toy. It's beautiful!

It's the brand new Cricut Expressions 2 with a touch screen. I can't wait to play with it. I ordered 3 cartridges before I even ordered the machine. I got a little carried away and needcd an ebay intervention. (I actually bought 4 cartridge, the same one twice.) I got a great discount plus some "free" money to pay for it. I dream about the things I want to do with it.

Sadly, it is still sealed in its box. Boo hoo hoo!

Here's why. At this point even the books and shelves are gone. The room is totally empty. We had some awesome rain a month ago which resulted in a lovely huge hole in the ceiling. It's now fixed but we needed to empty the room to avoid all the dry wall dust. Then we decided to empty it all the way to paint the ceiling and clean the carpet. Now that the carpet is done I think the walls need painting. We are tripping over an entire room. My poor hubby goes and lays on his cozy couch at night. It's half in the foyer, half in the dining room. It's sheltered by the huge, looming bookcases in the foyer. We can't walk down a hallway because of all the stuff. Too much stuff! We have to cut through the kitchen. I really, really want to play but I need to get creative with the room first!!

Drat...

Fall in Florida

We don't get much fall in Florida. I notice the weather change; I've lived here long enough. But the best way to pretend it's fall is to decorate for it. My Stampin' Up girl had a great class (come with me to the next one!) Here's my Halloween crow. I loved how it looked vintage.

Then we put poison labels on funny shaped bottles. I also finished the Spooky banner.

I love when the projects are finished before the season is over!

Easy?

Sometimes finishing a UFO is easy. Then I think if it is so easy why can't I get more done. I will look at it and think this would be easy to finish. Then I put it off. I wonder if I'm putting off the easy to really avoid the hard stuff. The stuff I want to do but am a little afraid I'm not good enough to do. So I just bury myself in thinking I need to take care of all these easy tasks. I'm hoping to do a few more "easy" projects, enough to clean off my craft room floor. Then I want to try some of this experimenting, some harder stuff.

I finished all of these in the last few weeks. My friend Jane started them all in a Thimbleberries club. She passed them on to me. I added borders, did some applique on a few, quilted them and bound them. They will help round off my craft table this weekend at the church's Fall Festival. Hopefully, I'll make some money!

Show and Tell

Working, working, working on those UFOs. Here was a charm pack wall hanging. It went together in no time but it sat because I wasn't sure I wanted to bind the funny angles. Then I got the idea to just sew it like a pillow and turn it right side out. Worked out fine. Plus, it is 100% finished.

Then there was my Christmas quilt. I had the brillant idea for my sewing group to do a block a month for a year and finish a quilt by the end of the year. I think they might think bad thoughts of me every time they look at their started quilts. I had a fat eighth pack of Christmas fabrics that I'd been hording and managed to use that and not need tons of other things, besides backing, background and chain fabrics. Like how it turned out!

I meander quilted the background. It made it heavy but it also make it go faster. That was a lot of quilt to machine quilt myself! Twisting it and shoving it through my machine really worked my arm and back muscles.

Here's a close up of the colors:

I've been busy. More pictures tomorrow!

How cute is this!

Isn't this adorable! That's me with the bald head. My brother is telling me he can show me how to do a better job. I've been playing a lot with old pictures and came across this one. What caught my eye, after the initial "ah, how sweet and funny" factor was the chair my brother is sitting on. That chair is now my sewing room chair, 40 years later.

My aunt (the one that taught me to quilt) helped me make this chair cover. How funny. I love old things, used things, repurposed things. I love the sense that I've saved it. I love that it has a history. Makes me feel like I'm part of history too.

Closets

Do you ever think about your closets? They can be wonderful (for hiding stuff) and scary (you hid stuff too long) and practical (where else should a vacuum live) and organized (nice even stacks of towels) and disasters (piles of clothes spilling off of shelves). I remember when I was little I had a closet with a long bar. That's what most closets were like back then. I was lucky and had a few little shelves built in on the side. You couldn't really see them because the clothes on the bar covered them. Those long shelves over the bar were to far out of my reach to be very helpful. In the olden days they had pegs for you to hook something on. Horror! No place to hide your messes. Nowadays we have closet systems. How amazing is that! We can arrange our closet to suit our every need. Take a minute to appreciate that blessing. :o)

I recently rearranged my bathroom linen closet and made it my fabric closet. I had all kinds of misc stuff in the closet. All of my fabrics---ok, not all, who could comprehend the all part---most of my quilting fabrics were in plastic tubs under my bed. It was efficient and practical. They were sorted by color and I could just slide out what I needed. Sounds good in theory but not as practical as I thought. Over time it just has not been working. I need to be able to look at several colors at once. Since I like scrap quilts that meant most colors at once. There would be no place to walk; every inch of the carpet would be covered. Cleaning it all up was even harder. Putting away fabrics I had pulled out was daunting. I decided I needed to be able to look at everything I had all at once. I dove in!

I made piles on my bed.

I made piles on the floor.

There was such a mess that I started to worry that I would never be able to reach the bottom, let alone finish. Then I worried that it wouldn't all fit. I realized I had more than I thought I did. Now it is heavenly. There's even wiggle room on the shelves.

Everything is sorted by color. I have a whole box of fabrics to "re-file". I'm trying really hard not to look at it too much. It makes me want to pick fabrics for a new project and I'm still working on completion issues.

A bonus to the whole process was that I found I had yardage that I had forgotten I even had. I'm trying to cure myself of my need to hold on to a piece of fabric and save it for the perfect project. I'm going to turn into one of those crazy hoarders (maybe I'm already there?) if I don't just USE IT! I'm going to try and sell some crafts at the church's fall festival in a few weeks. I need to take some of this yardage and make some bags or purses or something. I'm almost giddy thinking that I could empty one of the yardage tubs now under the bed. An empty tub would be a great place to organize something new...a new project..a new mess to hide...whatever I want.

Time, Time, Where does the time go?!

I've said this before (have I written it before?) but as a mommy I wish I had a super hero ring that would freeze time. What a dream! Think what you could do. Catch up on cleaning or crafting or whatever procrastinating project you have lying around. I also envision it as a quiet peaceful time since everyone but me is frozen.

A week ago I decided to make a jewelry holder. My partner in crime wanted to make something like it to store her cords---phone chargers, battery chargers, external hard drives. We saw a sample and decided we could make our own without a pattern. I even dug fabric out of the Goodwill bag. Easy peasy. Insert a snort, a roll of the eyes and a big heavy sigh here. I bought the plastic and it laid around for a month. I finally got tired of tripping over it so I decided to just do it. I hate how you start out to do an EASY project and it sucks up the ENTIRE day.

At least it is done! I have a store bought one that holds my bracelets and necklaces. Now I have this one to hold earrings and more bracelets. This one thing cleaned off the top of my vanity and two drawers.  

I love the clean top of the vanity. Wonder if it will stay that way? The project really stressed me out though by the end of the day that it took ALLLLLLL day. Sometimes I look at something and think it will be a quick thing and when it isn't I sometimes get so frustrated I set it aside. Hmmmm, is that how I end up with all these unfinished projects? At the very last minute I made myself finish this pin cushion so that I could feel like I did two whole things on this "quickie craft project day" (again with the snort, sigh and eye roll.) I love the look of it. Can you guess what the stand is?

It's a mattress spring. I'd like to find some more. You should hear my husband going on about finding an old (I translate into gross, dirty, stains of unknown origin) mattress and setting it on fire in a controled area, of course. Then being left with just the springs. Seriously, we are looking. That could be a whole new craft concept. Pyromania inspired crafting.

It's good to have friends!

It’s so good to have friends. Here’s my latest UFO.

Isn’t it great! I love it. It only took me ____years to finish it. I even made two; one to keep, one to sell. All that wool sorting (wool gathering?) did prove to be productive. I couldn’t have finished it (safely) without the help of my friend Elda.

I had everything perched precariously. I had to glue (with toxic stinky stuff) the tabs to the metal holder. This glue is wonderful in holding fabric to anything but I find it takes some time to set. I went through the pantry trying to find heavy things to clamp down on it so I didn’t have to hold it for the next hour (or even second because I have no patience for that kind of thing.) The ginger sauce and apricot preserves were the only heavy things with a small enough base to press just where I needed it. Then I had to use cans to hold those glass jars up. Glass, perched, precarious. Are you catching on? This was the day of the 3 day crop and I was worried someone would knock it over and I’d have a disaster. In my little mind I thought, Oh well it will mess up the floor but miss my project.

Then along comes Elda. She’s so smart! Look at her wonderful solution. Don’t think Duh! You were still focused on those cans and you know it. I’m wondering if it was her years teaching preschool, thus dealing with little brains…I guess that is how I compare.

I need to go get some more clothespins. I find them handy to hang things on my blinds (though I’ve faded a small quilt terribly once by doing that so only short term or paper things).  It gives you a quicky design wall. We use them for chip clips. You know those single socks? They aren’t alone. They have built a house out of those silly clothespins somewhere in the alternate dimension because I know we aren’t eating them but they just disappear…

Schedule, schedule, schedule

Some people might stay scheduling wrecks spontaneity but I've found it helps me get things done. Have I said this before? I really think it is my mommy mantra. I can be spontaneous but if I want to make progress with all these other people's schedules then I have to plan!

I went through my craft room last night and instead of letting myself get sucked in the busy work I started packing my craft bag. I decided if it was mindless and just needed to be cut I would take it to sewing tonight. Sewing is my once a week, meet with the girls, and work on whatever you want time. We work at the church where we have plenty of room and lots of light. And to be perfectly honest it is so much easier to cut there than to climb over my messes to get to my cutting table which is covered in piles of stuff that need to be shifted so I can cut which means more piles to climb over to get back to where ever I was. Did you get tired reading that sentence? That's how tired I get climbing over those piles. They are productive piles...

Each of these piles is a project. What am I doing starting new projects you ask? It is my therapy (that I probably need therapy for.) I had a great time a week or so ago with my friend wool shopping. We headed over to the quilt store with our sale coupon and there wasn't much there and what was there was overpriced. Off to Goodwill we went where we stumbled upon the 99 cents a pound room. It was a treasure hunt. I LOVE a good treasure hunt! We found all kinds of wool things. Now for less than we would have paid at the quilt store we got lots more variety, even if we did have to cut things up to get it. So of course, I needed to sort all my wool, which led to pulling pieces for certain projects, which led to this semi-organized pile of messes. Still therapeutic! I tell myself these are hand projects so it's different from the other unfinished things lying around. Now I can be productive at a PTO meeting. Right?

It did spur me on to finish these key chains. Flowers on one side, buttons on the other. I only started them last Christmas for the girls at sewing. They are a smidge crooked but I think that adds to the primitive quality. (How's that for crafter rationale?) Whatever, they are finished!! Finished! That is such a glorious word. Think how much room that frees up in my craft room...uh, none.

Last week I also scheduled scrapbook time. 3 straight days of it. I find that works best. You set up, leave it and come and go as the inspiration hits. I have others come too which keeps me on track. I finished (meaning I journaled!) the boys' school albums. Then I did 1995 and 1996. That is two more years. Doesn't that sound impressive. Now I need to do 2006 and that fills my last hole in our family life. That may make you roll your eyes but it sure thrills me. I'm getting organized and caught up and just when I think I will have reached crafter completion nirvana...I will have to get a job because I have a child approaching college. Sigh. Makes me want to go start another project!

School has started

I can't believe that school has started. I know I've disappeared from the blog world, again. I'd like to say I was busy working on all my summer resolutions but I'm not going to think about that. Not denial, just reality. No regrets. I know I got some things accomplished. I'm proud that I've moved forward. Moving forward is my happy reality.

I got a Sizzix Big Shot for Christmas. I love the silly thing in my dreams. In my dreams because I wasn't using it in my reality. I've been ordering new things. And more things. And still more things. I'll be looking through magazines or blogs and find more dies that I want/need. I've ordered from Sizzix and from Joanns.com. I've used my coupons at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I've ordered again (and again) from Joanns. I love getting packages! It brings me joy. I haven't surpassed my budget, yet. Ah, the joy.

I dropped the kiddos in North Carolina this summer and discovered a contest at the local shop. All I had to do was use my Tim Holtz dress form die to make something, anything. I didn't have a clue what I was going to do but I was entering! I thought I might even win, not because my work is so stellar, but just that I've found that people worry so much about competition that they don't enter.

I cleaned out my craft area but I still ended up at the kitchen table. I kept having to run upstairs, then into my room and then into the utility room. I've decided that my oldest needs to leave for college early I need his room for my new craft room. 

I loved playing with the dresses. I just need the figure for a dress like this.

Who knows what I'm going to do with them. One of them is for my mother's red and white sewing room. I had forgotten how fun it is to just play.

Here I am on display in the store. Fun! It's a start.

I even stamped a mailing label for the package. I was quite proud of it. Sad/funny thing was I ended up having to put the whole thing in a priority box. At least you are seeing it. It's a start! Now I need to get off the computer and go sort my vision for my fabric closet. I'll take pictures. Fingers crossed that it works!!

How's your summer progressing?

How's your summer progressing? I've heard some inspiring lists. I love how we can all inspire each other and keep the inspiration going. I did an artistic field trip this weekend.

I read that an artistic field trip can feed your creativity. I sure think it helps to open your mind.I'm not sure though which place inspired me more. I loved this great stamp store in Jacksonville. It reminded me how much I used to love to stamp.

I'm going to make some ATCs (artistic trading cards) for her next swap. Anyone else interested? What a fun way to gather art from all over. The shop lady let me take pictures too. More ideas! I'm still wishing for that ring that freezes time so I can get done all that I want to get done.

Can shopping be considered an artistic field trip? Haha! I can't wait to play with my new book. I'm going to try and make some of these ladies in fabric as well as one in paper. Maybe I'll teach a class on them..sometimes that thought propels me forward.

Keep working!!

Summer Bucket List

Today is the first day of summer vacation for my family. It started later than I expected since there was a loud, loud teenager party at my house the night before. Tonight we are having a family meeting. We are planning the summer timeline, trips we want to take, excursions, craft projects, home projects and whatever else.

The past few years I've used this great book as a guide to get us out of the house. If we don't do some planning we end up letting the day fly by and no one has left the house. So I'm excited about making plans tonight. I'm hoping we can all inspire each other. I'm probably living in a naive place but I can hope.

We have a vacation planned, a romantic grown up weekend discussed and almost committed to, a few week long camps set up. Now I want to get my cross country runner training (and maybe I can ride my bike along and work on my exercise goal.) I want to get my creative child actually doing some creating rather than just talking about it (like mother like child). I want to conquer some house projects that we've neglected because we've used the excuse of homework and too many other commitments.

I believe things don't just happen. We don't just get miraculous a-ha moments all the time. They do come unscripted and unexpectedly but sometimes you have to plan for the silliness or the adventure. You can't just wait around for it to happen. Otherwise, it's happening out in the real world while you are cemented to the couch!

What do you want to do this summer? Here's a rough start to my list:

Make homemade popsicles, basic ones, designer ones (with fruits and mixed up juices.)

Go through ALL the silly old magazines in the house (preferably while floating in the pool.)

Figure out how to mesh mine, my mother's and my grandmother's charm bracelets into something that means something and something that I will wear.

Purge at least one room a week (including all cabinets and closets.)

Take an artistic field trip once a week (even if one week that means looking at magazines in Barnes and Noble.)

Teach several card classes--make a stockpile, use up some supplies

Clear off the craft room tables and start being productive, a little something every day.

Learn how to transfer my videos to DVD.

Catch up the boys' school scrapbooks.

Catch up on our vacation albums.

Organize my itunes music into better playlists.

Use a picture to create a quilt or paper creation.

There's a start...I could go on but you probably don't want to read it all. Make your own. Type it up. Print it and cross things off. But don't stress about it. Have a friend help you accomplishs some of it. Share the fun. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Summer!

Spring is flying by!

Sorry I’ve fallen off the planet. I was trying to be good and motivated and motivating. I started out last month super inspired. So super inspired that I even spent some time with Jillian Michaels (on the exercise on demand channel). My Michael would ask me if I was going to channel Satan when I was putting off working out with her. I guess he sensed that she is not for the faint of heart. That phase has passed but I really want to get back with it. The practical me and the healthy me and the perfect me want to get back. But the real me (the one that exists) is putting it off. I understand that the world is supposed to end tomorrow, so I need to at least wait until after that to start over.

I have been finishing lots of UFOs! I decided that in the process of cleaning what better way to clean but to just pull what was on the top of the pile and deal. I’m really looking forward to uncovering something that I love. A few of these things were a chore. Like the last of these silly pails. I’m sick, sick, sick of pails! The little quilt I got at my quilt retreat sale for $3 for the pieces and the batting. I added backing and binding, sewed it and finished it. Pretty good for three bucks!

Then I added a closure and stacked some buttons for this.

I got it at the last quilt show for $1 or $2. It’s extra poufy but holds my mini light that I attach to my sewing machine, very handy. Cute colors. Not my usual, but very cheery.

I love the stacked buttons with the bead.

Next I unearthed these notebooks. I had one finished; now I have lots. I’m sick of them too but they are cute---more stacked buttons and some bright colors. I went to sew one and discovered that I had interfacing cut for five more. Sigh. I always start out overzealous. Discovered I had interfacing cut out for 2 matching bags. More sighs, more projects.

I finished these pouches in January but I wanted to show them off. The pattern was drawn on interfacing that I just had to iron on to fabric and then sew on the lines. Easy as it gets!

I had a few more cut and traced so I did these. I couldn’t decide if I thought they looked retro or cheap. Hmmmm, I think someone will like them. I had fun stacking more buttons. I love, love, love buttons! I want to make some vintage looking jewelry out of buttons but that's a whole 'nother post.

This one is the keeper. I love it!! I obsessed for a bit on the gears and watch and wings and then just committed. Finished! Time to go work on something else…

Win this quilt!

I worked like a crazy person to finish this before we left for spring break!

It felt so good to get it FINISHED! You can buy a raffle ticket to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Save our friend Nathan!! Count your blessings today.

I'm blessed today that I have a great husband so I don't have to work today. So I'm going to try and be a productive human being and go get some work done. Hopefully...

Eye candy

I saw the title Crazy Daisy and thought of my scattered daisy logo. I HATE yellow (notice the screaming capital letters)!! But this makes me happy.

 

The quilt (and the pattern) can be found on this blog: http://www.nelliesneedle.blogspot.com/ She designed it and sells the pattern. Is that enough copyright? It's an easy pattern with raw edge applique. I want to make one (not on yellow...that is the color of p_ _) and maybe without the raw edges. I want a little happiness today. Dreary weather...dreary people...too much drama...

I needed some eye candy, oh yeah, and that fudge round....

Remember those circles?

Remember those circles from a previous post? I've lost all track of time to know when that was. Here's the finished project...

I feel like I've been running in circles. This one was quick in that you quilted it as you sewed it together. I broke 4 machine needles and a seam ripper on it! I'm also really disappointed in how the white looks wrinklely (is that a word?) Ick! It's not fun to spend a lot of time (going in circles) on a project that you turn out not to like. I'm sure it will look fine folded up on the bottom of a bed but the lesson in this is it is done.

Be in the moment. I hear that all the time but I'm finally applying it to to my crafting and it helps. Say it again, "Be in the moment." Don't feel a need to fill it. Be in the project. Don't spend time thinking about the others that still need to be done. It is very peaceful. I'm even applying it to my ever increasing waistline. I'm exercising these days. I feel good. Progress isn't going to instantly show up so when I start to obsess on my non-bathing suit ready body I let it go. I'm trying. What more can I do?

Letting things go (when it works) makes life much more peaceful.

Now I need to get back to the next project:

I basted it last night and now need to get it quilted. Think I can do it today? Ha, not even if I had super hero powers but I can dream. This one is a raffle quilt for a friend's son Nathan and the Cystic Fibrosis fund. You can buy a chance!

Have a great day! Be in the moment!!

Project completion

Hi Blogland!

I wish I was posting progress of some kind every day but I have been working on a big project--sadly, not a craft project. It's almost done. By tomorrow it will be out of my house and I will be at peace. I'm savoring the anticipation of that. There are so many things that I want to be doing. I was glad to do this project. It was a service, it was an honor, on some level it was a blessing...but too much of the same thing can bore me. Adult Attention Deficit? Bipolar craft disorder? Bi means two (or something like that). Bicycle...two wheels. Right? You following along? So to me bipolar is two opposites. For me that's two crafts---sewing/quilting and paper crafts/scrapbooking. I need one or the other or it makes me crazy. Do you think that's the official diagnosis of bipolar disorder?

So fingers crossed I will get this all finished tonight and have no trouble sending it on the next part of its journey. Then I can pet the new fat quarters I bought today when I ran away from reality for the Tuesday Fat Quarter sale. I needed it. (Probably didn't need the fabric just needed the escape.)

Here is my last craft project that I completed just so you have some eye candy. It was assembly line crafting. I made them in the hopes of selling them at my quilt retreat:

In the beginning they looked like little top hats. I did Christmas pails, Valentine pails, country pails, a disco pail (seriously, the fabric makes me think disco)...

Now they look like they are coming together. I'm starting to wonder why I was doing this many. This is what happens when you set aside fabric and a pattern years ago. When you finally go to do it you can't remember what you were thinking but you think you must have been thinking something for a reason...yeah, I know, as confusing as my need for this many pails, I think.

So now I'm getting slap happy and thinking they would make gear shift cozies. Better than beer can cozies, don't you think?

Now they are all finished with coordinating buttons holding the handles on. I made 20 (again, why?...I have no answers...) Sadly, I didn't sell them all but now I have gift "bags" for gift giving or inventory for my next craft sale.

Now back to my project.

Back from the Honeybee's quilting retreat

The guilt was getting to me today. I kept feeling like I needed to be doing something I wasn’t. I snapped out of it because I was doing stuff. It didn't matter that it wasn't my taxes (unless you ask my husband, our accountant) or the church anniversary booklet that really needs to get to the printer's on Monday (Have I started it? Well, in my head I have.) Last week was very inspiring and today was MY Thursday. MY day to play. So I needed to remind myself that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

I'm fresh from the Honeybee's quilt retreat. I look forward to it every year. Here’s what I packed this year:

Notice this doesn't even include my suitcase. The tall bag was all things to sell, plus another smaller bag full of things to sell, my machine, my laptop, a table, and lots and lots of projects. Next year I need to remember one of my cropping lamps. Just the lightbulb (yes, I brought my own lightbulb) wasn't enough this year. I'm getting old and blind...

I'll share some classes, projects and other things I did for and at this weekend in the next few days. Here is the class that had the most prep.

I cut almost 400 squares. I started out with some 30's or 40's reproduction fabrics that I wanted to get rid of. My plan was to use up what I had for this scrap quilt. I cut and cut and then decided I needed a little orange and a tad bit more red and yellow...so much for using what I had. Off I went to the quilt store for a little more. Our teacher said that was using our fabric. We didn't have to use it up, just use it.

Then began more mass production. I sewed them into 96 4-patch blocks. They were all done and stacked neatly with my cut batting and white squares (96 of each of them too). Ironed nice and flat. It was fun to just pet them. I got to class and had to mess with the centers and re-iron all of them. Sigh...

Now the magic starts--fancy new templates, pins, sewing in circles. I stayed up after my roomie went to sleep. (Bless her snoring husband who trained her to sleep through noise. My machine was nothing compared to him. Teeheehee.) I ended up having to resew about 30 (Crap!) because my tension was off but I mangaged to have them all sewn and cut by the brunch the next day.

I sat at the brunch and listened to the guest speaker and turned my circles right side out. I had a lovely stack. Now I need to sew them all together. Can't wait to show you what they look like sewn together! Maybe tomorrow...It's amazing because you quilt as you sew so I can say it's almost done...almost...maybe...until I get distracted...