Sneak Peek: Orange Crush

After two years of hording luxurious orange fabrics, I have started my orange quilt!


I will call it, "orange crush."



Here's a shot of the fabrics lined up before ironing.
After this photo, I bought three more orange prints from the local quilting shop.

Here are some of the patches lined up on the ironing board:

Oh, orange! How I love you!

Handmade Christmas: Fun Cloth Napkins & Vintage Napkin Rings

The cloth napkins and vintage (ebay) napkin rings were a big hit!

Bees & Apples

Birds

Baseballs

more Baseballs

Cherries

Pears

brown swirlies

blue, black, & green square bullseyes

Handmade Christmas: eyeglass cases

I've gifted almost all of the handmade gifts this year!
Here's the eyeglass cases. I followed the super-simple tutorial at Design Sponge.

Dark Waterfalls

Last week, I finished this quilt top. I'm pleased with how it turned out. There were lots of little pieces to iron on this one.

This quilt top has three different blocks: 4 patch, large 1/4 courthouse steps, small 1/4 courthouse steps.

I'll add flannel to the back side to make this especially naptakular.

Let me know what you think

UPDATE! Christmas challenge: 100% handmade

Today, I finished the last of the handmade Christmas goodies for my challenge.

My goal was 100% handmade.

I reached about 85% handmade this year.

Here's a sneak peek to some of the handmade gifts in handmade wrappers:

Iron Troubles

Last night, my trusty ol' iron bit it, sputtering yucky water on my project. Through tears, I managed to salvage my project and toss the iron to the recycle pile. I'm now in the market for a new iron. There are three contenders:

The Rowenta Pro - on sale at Joann's for $77 The Oliso 1000 - $100 at Allbrands.
The Classic Black and Decker, stainless plate, $30ish anywhere.

Send me your thoughts on this! I need one asap! Christmas is in 14 days and I'm not done ironing!

New Diana Lens!

Here's one of my first shots of Stella with the dreamy plastic diana lens from Lomography.

Dog Bed #6 - Red Faux Suede for Stella

Dog Bed #6 is for Stella.

I used santa-red (the shade doesn't show up in this first photo) faux suede material for a luxurious bed for Stella.

I ordered a custom-made size of foam and it is absolutely perfect!

It is "high density" and seems to have more body than the dog beds I've been buying annually for her. We'll see how long it lasts!

Here, the color comes in a little better.
The store did not have a super-long zipper in red, so I went with chocolate.
And next to the sofa, she'll be sleeping pretty!
Now, back to quilts!

29 days to Christmas... I'm wondering if I'll make the 100% handmade pledge this year?

Dog Bed #5

This fine specimen is for my mom's dog, CaseyJones.

She wanted "doggy" fabric... and got it!

The final measurement is 24x27. Which is much too small for my favorite model, Stella, to consider it naptastic.

Dragonflies Ready for Shipment!

Dragonfly Baby Quilt for a New Mother

A friend just had her first baby.

I think this blanky will welcome her to this world with warmth and style.

White chenille patches on the front and pink gingham on the back.

Can you see the dragonflies on the green pieces?

Scraptakular #2

More scrap than takular... patchy, nonetheless.
This was made from remnant squares, all from previous projects.
Perfect size for napping: 58x72


The scrap pile is dwindling.

Scraptakular #1, full photo

Here's a full-length shot of the Scraptakular #1.

It's a monster at 114 inches square.

Grams' potting table... in use!

The table is working out perfectly for sewing. It holds the serger and a few extra tools.

What a perfect fit in the studio!

Stash first: Project #1

Here's a sneak peek at the first scraptakular quilt top.
I'm hoping to use my "stash first" for my next few projects.
This top is almost all from my stash.


7 columns and 7 rows
There was a moment tonight that I wasn't liking the randomness.

After seeing it sewn together, I'm loving it!
(Stella prefers hiking days to sewing days. This is the "let's go outside and play" look that she's perfected.)

Stella's loving the kayak

The kayak worked out PERFECTLY!

New Sit on Top Kayak!

I bought it today!


I decided to go with the sit on top model for maximum doggy room.

It looks like it will be a great ride. I'll do some product-testing tomorrow on a lake with Stella.

The river-outfitter had some boats on hand - so I scored big. And, it's in my favorite colors: yellow-orange-red!

Below, you'll see the cutie-pie helping tie it down:

Grams' potting table... complete!

Grams' potting table is finally refinished! The drawer interior might get another coat of poly, so that will be photographed later.
The stripping, sanding, priming, painting, and reassembling are finished and I'm pleased.
There will be no more paint chips dropping from this piece.
Fancy new handle from Home Depot.
I kept the table top's rich patina.
Overall, I'm glad I chose to keep it white. Below are the "before" photos:

Stella's new gear!

Stella went to REI, too!

We scored a matching backpack and boots!

[guide gold, one our favorite colors]

Stella's worn a backpack and a lifejacket, so this backpack didn't bother her at all.

The boots, on the other hand....

She thought she couldn't walk! So she laid down and gave me the stink eye for about 40 minutes.

Finally, with coaxing from a doggie cookie, she was able to try out the boots.

She hates them so far.

Shopping at REI tonight

Although I have a canoe, I'm considering a kayak. Something to splash around in a lake or Class I/II, with Stella of course.

Something that loads easily onto the truck.

Something I can put her onto/into when we're in the water.

So far, it looks like the best option is a Sit-On-Top.

Now to decide if I should do a one or two person?

How long 'til I train her to stand on the bow, like in the picture above?

Email me if you have ideas on the right playboat for our needs.

9Patch for my Aunt...Oh-my-god-it's-PINK

I think that this is the pinkest I've ever sewn.
It's bright and oh-my-god-it's-pink pink.
She's going to love it!
The flannel on the back has stars - very warm and cozy.
I hope this quilt will see many naps....