Wanna win something cool?

I don't know why I'm sharing this news, because really, if you all signed up that hurts my chances of winning ... BUT, Amy is having an amazing giveaway where you have a chance to win a Go! Cutter!




Don't know what that is?  Head on over to her blog and check it out - the details and how to enter are there too.

Don't say I didn't ever do anything nice ...

I get by with a little help from my friends ...

I sent out the fabric yesterday for "Bee Addicted", since I'm now taking over June.  My idea was to have the girls do blocks for me based on Rita's block (pictured here).  However, what I failed to realize is that I suck at quilting math.

You might think that there's no difference, but oh yes there is!

I can add, subtract, multiply and divide about as good as the rest of you, but when it comes to seam allowances and things of that nature, I'm all of the sudden stupid.

You see, I sent out jelly roll strips of printed fabrics for the block, since they're already cut 2.5" wide.  I also sent out a 5" strip of Kona Bone for the solid.  What I didn't think of is that when you actually make the hst's (that's half-square triangles for you non-quilting peeps), your little square is no longer 2.5". 

DOH!

What I am lucky for, is that someone in our group caught my little mistake before the fabric even got to anyone.  She's also a killer quilting math person!  (Hi Debbie!)  So, Debbie was able to make proper cutting measurements for all of us and this is the result:

A thing of beauty isn't it?

What it boils down to is that you're going to cut a total of 16 solid squares at 2" and 16 printed squares, also at 2".  Then, you'll cut a total of 16 solid squares at 2.5" and again, 16 printed squares at 2.5".

To begin, take your 2.5" squares (16 solid, 16 printed) and make your hst blocks.  I like to follow Rachel's instructions here.  What I did differently is press open my seams rather than to one side.  I figured that since there were going to be so many seams close together, it might help with the bulk.  When you've sewn, cut, and pressed your hst's, cut them down to 2".  Now they're the same size as the rest of your fabrics.

Once that's done, constructing the block is a breeze.  See ...

And here's the finished back:

What you end up with is a block that measures 12.5" unfinished, rather than the 16.5" unfinished block that Rita made. 

So, there it is, a mini-tutorial compliments of Debbie and her fine quilting math skills!

Tutorial coming soon ...

In one of my quilting bees, it's my month in June.  I had thought about doing this block back in January, and time got away from me with everything that was going on in our little corner of the world.  So ... I was moved to October, but then the June person couldn't stay in the bee, so now I'm working the June month.  Cool, huh?  Did I lose anyone?   

Anyway, I'm going to have the girls working on this block:

Rita, from Red Pepper Quilts is where I first saw this block.  Now I'm seeing everyone on Flickr accomplishing it, but I contacted Rita anyway and asked if it would be okay to make a quick tutorial on this block on my blog for the girls in my bee.  She graciously gave me permission to do so.  Rita is awesome!  If you've never been to her blog, I highly suggest that you do so, and also check out her Flickr photostream.  You can be "oohing" and "ahhhing" for hours on end.

So, for all of my bee peeps, and the other followers I have here in blog land, you're in for a treat real soon, as I'll be posting a quick little tutorial on how to cut, piece, and make this beautiful block!

Check back soon - I hope to have this posted by Monday!

What I did on Mother's Day ...

I had a fantastic Mother's Day.  Did you?

The hubster went out and got us all donuts for breakfast (which I didn't need, but absolutely loved).  I played with the kids for a little bit, then got to hide out in the studio for a big chunk of the day. 

See ...

What does this mess mean? 

The creative juices were flowing today and I made several sparkly things - most of which will show up in the shop this week (sporadically, mind you).  So, make sure that you check out my Etsy shop throughout the week, because I'll be adding things just about everyday.

My hope is that once I've tapped the juices on the jewelry train, I can put this tote away again for a long time and work on some more quilting.  I've been working on squares for bees, but not much for myself ... although I am slowly working on one of these.  I'd like to make a few table runners or pillow slipcovers to put in the shop too.

So, what did you do for your Mother's Day?

I love beans ...

I've been seeing a lot of wreaths done with lima beans lately, so I thought it might be cool to do something with them as well.  However, I'm not very "wreathy" ... in fact, I don't know how to decorate a good wreath that is worthy of my front door, so I have this skinny, almost-falling-apart "thing" on my door now.  I think it used to be a nice circular grapevine wreath, but over the years somehow got stretched into the shape of an oval.  There's a lot to be desired there ... but anyway, moving back on to the lima beans ...

Since I've been changing the decor of the house, slowly transitioning into things that are more contemporary / primitive ... sort of like Pottery Barn meets an actual barn ... anyone know what I'm talking about?  No?

Well, I used to have this huge collage of photos hanging behind the couch.  Not lots of photos in individual frames mind you, just a bunch of photos in one frame.  You've seen them ... it's the lazy girl's way out of doing photos the right way.  I say lazy because we still have the collage hanging up (on a different wall), but the photos haven't been changed since the day I hung it the first time ... there are no pictures of Little M in there at all.  Yeah ... it might be time to do something about that.

So, now I have this big blank wall behind my couch.  I was thinking that it might be cool to do something with lima beans and showcase it on the wall.  And maybe later on down the road I'll hang some plates or something around it.  The jury is still out on that thought ...

Here is what I came up with:

And this is how I did it (in exactly this order):

Step 1: Get thee to a JoAnns and buy the biggest initial you can find in their cardboard section (you know, where they sell the boxes for decoupage and all that jazz).  They run about $8, but I used my coupon, so it was a score for me.

Step 2:  Go to the grocery store and buy yourself some lima beans.  I used the big fat ones and the baby lima beans.  The baby lima beans were good "gap fillers".

Step 3:  Take your supplies home, start gluing beans to the letter and realize after about 10 minutes that you're not cut out to use a glue gun.  The blisters on your fingers prove it.

Step 4:  Soak your blisters with some aloe gel.  You may or may not say bad words when you do this part (at least I did ... oops).

Step 5:  Call a friend who knows what they're doing with a glue gun and beg and bribe them to glue those suckers onto your God-forsaken letter for you.  (Thanks Glenna!!)  When they agree, get the supplies over to them before they have a chance to reconsider.

Step 6:  Wait patiently until your friend finishes the gluing for you.  This may take a while.  Your friend will probably get blisters of her own - be sympathetic, offer her some aloe.   ;o)

Step 7:  When you finally get that hot little letter in your hands, paint it, glaze it, or do whatever you like to it to make it your own.  Hang it up!

I thought long and hard about what I was going to do with my "S".  I was going to paint it initially because that's what I'd been seeing everyone else doing online.  But when I saw the work in person, the texture and the detail ... I just couldn't "cover" all of that, so I decided to let the beans shine in all their glory.  All I did was run an antiquing glaze over it, wiped it down, and let it dry.  Now, instead of looking like lima beans, it almost looks like it's covered in little rocks and pebbles.  I adore it - and I am so thankful to Glenna for doing all of that gluing for me - you are the bomb girl!

So, what do you think?  Do you like my "S"?  What else should I put on the wall?  Plates?  Photos?  Nothing??

Time Flies ...

Six years ago I went from having a super easy last name, to one that's constantly butchered and mutilated by strangers ... it's nice though when the telemarketers call, you can tell right away.  Sometimes I pretend I'm the cleaning lady, who just happens to have permission to answer the phone.  Anyway, I digress ... 

Six years ago today, we were having our rehearsal dinner.  Right now, as I type this.  The restaurant is no longer there - it's been changed into new restaurants twice since that night six years ago. 

In about 4 hours from now, I would've been going to one of my best friend's (at the time) house to stay the night.  I figured that way I wouldn't have to have the groom see me the morning of our wedding (bad luck and all).  Sadly, I am no longer on speaking terms with that friend.

In about 12 hours from now, I would be driving to Publix to pick up bagels for everyone at my parent's house.  All the girls were coming over to have their hair and makeup done ... and we left on time to get to the church.  I never wore makeup back then, but now I try to have a little lip gloss or mascara on at all times. 

I got married May 8, 2004 at approximately 2:30.  I say "approximately" loosely because the groom was late.  The limo driver apparently thought he knew a short cut to the church.  Either way, it was a beautiful, and simple, ceremony.

And now, six years later, I'm still just as much in love with my husband as I was back then (probably more so).  And I'm happy to say that my dress isn't so out of style that I'm embarrassed to show this (blurry) picture.    :o)

On a side note, my wedding inspired a business that I ran from home for nearly 4 years ... and it's still up and running, but with a new owner.  (waving - Hi Shelli!!) 

Aside from no longer working out of the house, I can say that a lot of other stuff has changed over the past six years as well.  But it all seems like it happened in a blink of an eye ...

Spring to Finish Challenge 2010

Okay, so I didn't participate in this last year because I wasn't really sewing or doing much of anything at that time.  However, I did manage to start seeing (and following) a lot of blogs because of the projects I had seen that were finished on Flickr.

This year, I get to participate! 

I have a couple of quilts that I'd like to finish (probably 4 to be exact) - although I'm willing to concede that by finish, I mean I will do the tops and then send them off to be quilted.  Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

I also (desperately) need to finish the media center that I started way back here.  The side cabinets have been a thorn in my side for the last 2 months.  Time to get motivated again.

And the studio ... now that it's "finished" I really need to get going in there with organizing things and decorating it the way I want it.  Hello gnomes ...

So, those are my goals.  And you'll see over on the left that my finishes as up to a big fat, 1.  That's because today I managed to finally make the ironing board cover that I wanted for my studio.  Yay me!

Now, if you have your own list of things to get done around your house ... whether they're crafty projects, painting projects, building, whatever - you can join here:  Tallgrass Prairie Studio.

I am humbled ...

Mr. Matt came to my house today and started doing this:

I am both amazed, and humbled, at how quick and efficient a tile guy can work when he knows what he's doing.  Mr. Matt is awesome (and if you're in my area and looking for any kind of work, let me know and I'll give you his info). 

To think that this room started like this, and is now becoming something so fantastic is just mind-boggling to me!  I was so overwhelmed before, thinking that I would be stuck with some God-awful ugly (and incorrectly built) room forever to work in - and quite frankly - refused to work in, because of how it was ... just ... wow.  That's about all I can say!

Mr. Matt thinks that he'll be done by Thursday, completely.  I can start moving stuff in very soon, after we have the AC guys come in and work their magic so that the room is cool this summer!  (Yeah, apparently the duct work is all kinds of messed up too) ...  *sigh*  If that gets fixed, that means I can finally yank off the foil from the skylight!!  YIPPEE!!

Comfort

My comfort zone was tested this month. 

In one of my bees, I was asked to make a block featuring pieced circles. 

Pieced.  Circles.

Now, some of you may not know this, but I only started quilting last August.  That's less than a year ago.  I'm doing well to manage straight lines and only recently started doing an awesome job (if I do say so myself) of matching points.  But pieced circles?  No thanks.  They weren't anywhere near anything on my quilting radar to try.

But, I didn't want to disappoint, and I was lucky enough that another bee member posted a link to an AWESOME curved piecing tutorial.  So, I cut out the fabric, set my machine to sew as slow as possible (in case I screwed up), and got started.

And about 8 hours later (remember that I'm dealing with a toddler here, and a preteen that's home for spring break) I had this bad boy in all it's circle-y glory:

That's right.  It turns out, I can do pieced circles.  Is it perfect?  Heck no.  But, it's a good starting point for me and I think that I just *might* try this again in the future ... a table runner perhaps, but probably on a larger scale.  Smaller circles are hard.

I hope you enjoy your block, Melissa.  I didn't really know if I liked the fabric choice at first (it shouldn't matter to me anyway since it's your block and your choice), but I think it totally reminds me of some of the Pottery Barn fabrics I've been seeing around.  Like this one:

Winner - a little bit late!

We had some toddler tantrums tonight, which totally took my mind off of the giveaway. 

As I was laying in bed, replaying the day's events in my mind, I realized that I had failed to choose a winner for the Mill House Inn honey bun strips!  Without further delay, I got up, logged in, and the random number generator chose the number THREE as the winner, which is Henny!

Henny also happens to be in one of the quilting bees that I'm in, so Henny is getting a nice little prize and I don't even have to bother her for her address (I already have it). 

So, congrats Henny - enjoy your prize!  And for the rest of you, stick around because with the studio remodel going on, I'm sure I'll find lots more crafty goodies to give away soon!