I love a rainy day!

This was just the weather I needed to finish up my "Awesome" lap quilt. I spent yesterday quilting, and have decided that stitching in the ditch is not for me. Today I finally made and attached the binding! After this quilt took a back seat for awhile it is finally finished. I'm not even sure when the bridal shower is where I will be giving this, but boy am I glad that it is done early!

Here are some more shots of the completed project:

Something Old, Something New and Something Insanely Bright!

I have an extended family. When my sister got married, we absorbed her in laws family as well. It's wonderful, we get along, and spend lots of holidays together. Lucky for her! My brother in law's brother (stick with me here) got engaged this summer. We love Audrey! My sister and I went with her to register and both of us are so excited about their wedding plans. For Christmas Audrey and Michael (fiance/brother in law's brother) gave me these adorable Christmas mugs. I was so touched. Then and there I knew I wanted to make her/them something special for their shower. Here's my work so far!

Here it is, finally ready to be quilted after it has been ironed about 10 times!

The fabric for the backing...next in line for more ironing!

Practice for the final touch!

In case I haven't mentioned it to EVERYONE....I LOVE my new sewing machine!!!!!!!!!

Which one of these things doesn't belong?

I have finally finished the blocks for my latest quilt and there is something odd...

Do you see it? Second to last row, third block in from the left. The insane bright pink! I may have to find it a new home? It's there screaming "I'm here and I'm BRIGHT pink!"

Maybe over on the side? I feel like this is a Where's Waldo on my quilt! I think I may leave that bright pink gal on the side as pictured above and start sewing these!

New Toys

I used to spend the majority of my time online doing things like checking out facebook, playing what I consider ridiculous, yet addicting games on facebook, or one of my still favorite online pastimes...looking at or buying fabric. Lately since I made this jump into the blogging world I spend more of my time reading other peoples blogs on sewing, quilting and crafting. I have to say I have learned so much about quilting from these blogs, check them out on the right side of my page...blogs I follow. I also find out so much about new sewing, crafting and quilting toys. I decided this weekend two things. Since it is Valentine's Day and I once again find myself unattached and I just had a birthday, I deserve to buy myself 2 presents. This is what I chose....

The I-Top, I can't wait to make some buttons to add to one of the Christmas quilts I am working on...yes I know....I said Christmas. What can I say? The holiday season got busy!

Yes! That's an Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter! I actually purchased it on Ebay, for a pretty fair price! I plan on checking out Joann's Fabric for Dies today when I go to pick up some button forms!

Valentines and Birthdays

So I decided to try this superfun activity with my kindergarten students from the Martha Stewart Sight:

http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/crayon-hearts

I let the children choose the colors and I did the ironing...safety safety!

They turned out adorable so we used them to decorate our classroom windows!

The kids loved watching the crayon melt in the wax paper!

I'm not the only craft one in the room! My teaching assistant and dear friend never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday for my birthday she made these AMAZING cupcakes. She knows I LOVE dragonflies!

Hopes of Spring

One of the downfalls of apartment/co-op living is no yard. Last year I achieved a beautiful deck container garden. It was truly a little oasis. My neighbor claimed he loved when the wind blew because he could smell all of the truly wonderful things growing there; basil, lavender, mint, peppermint, and rosemary among a few. It killed me as the fall came and only a few of my beauties made it to the inside. One of the most heart breaking things was my fig tree ( in an early growth stage) lost all of it's leaves and seemed to be dying. I have been nursing this tree ALL Fall and Winter. The other day during that horrendous ice storm....a few leaves popped out of a bud.

And, I also see a few more ready to come out as well. Few of my plants survived and I actually have a blueberry bush living outside still. Inside, I have a lemon verbena plant, rosemary, and lavender.

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A few weeks ago when I thought my poor fig wasn't going to make it, I bought another and while browsing on Amazon, I came across this little olive tree. I thought it would be perfect to join my collection. I'm already planning what else is going to join these darlings in my little garden!

Cut cut cutting away

So while waiting to muster up the courage to quilt the quilt top that I plan on giving as a gift I decided to jump into another project. I 've had two Verna Moda Charm Packs just waiting to be used...love them! I looked and looked and of course found the perfect quilt to make on The Moda Bakeshop Blog. I have to say, I'm a bakeshop groupie and a big fan of all of the chefs featured there. I chose this pattern:

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/10/ritzy-cracker-quilt.html

So I started cutting....I hate cutting! This project involves quite a bit of it!

This quilt also involves being immaculate with pressing your seams open. I've got a great system going and have completed a few blocks already tonight.

I love the blues in this collection...they remind me of a robin's egg! So excited to pull this one together. I actually have a bunch of Bliss charm packs that I may use to make this pattern again, but double in size for a bed spread. I guess I'll be teaching myself how to make pillow shams soon.

Ta-da finally finished.....

Naturally as soon as I got my new machine up and running I spent the whole entire icy day working on the first quilt top that I needed to finish.

It is very much imperfect...BUT it is finished and I LOVE it! I already have one that I have pieced and it needs to be quilted. That one is already about 100 times better than this one. It has to be it's a gift! So glad I splurged for this great new machine!

It's HERE!!!!!

Dear UPS Man,
Thank you for coming out in this HORRIBLE snow and ice to bring me something to play with on my second snow day at home!
Love,
Jill

So I posted Sunday that I was struggling over whether or not to buy a new machine that was more compatible with quilting. Well I decided to go for it and ordered a Janome Memory Craft 6500. Well I checked the sight this morning and it said the order was being processed. However, an hour ago there was a friendly UPS knock on my door and IT's HERE!

Wonky Scrappy Hearts

What to do with random fabric scraps?

I think you make hearts for Valentine's Day. Well you make wonky scrappy hearts!

I made enough of these wonky little lopsided scrappy hearts to hang from my dining room chandelier. It looks adorable shabby chic!

Hmmmmm.....what other projects can I work on in this crazy wintry weather?!