This and That Part 1

Lately I find my crafty life is so much more than just quilting.  I have been quilting, but have also been dabbling in painting, non-quilty sewing, cooking, drawing and decorating. 

I live in a small town and I love the "small town-ness" of it.  That means we do fun stuff, unique to our community.  We are a college town, Stephen F. Austin State University is here, and we often combine small town happenings with SFASU events. 

We close down Main Street the Saturday before Halloween and have a very large community Halloween event called Scare on the Square and lots of Downtown decorating goes on.  It coincided with SFA's Homecoming, and their theme was "There's No Place Like Home".   I have been pretty much in charge of our office decorations for the past four years.  We have been known to decorate our building with a Star Wars theme, a saloon and an old movie theatre.  Well, since SFA's school color is Purple, we did a take-off of The Wizard of Oz with a purple brick road and witchy legs sticking out under the house with the opposing team's name on the bottom of her shoes.  And since the mascot for SFA is a Lumberjack, we dressed as lumberjacks with Oz elements.  I was a lumberjack scarecrow with a purple plaid shirt and had straw coming from my sleeves and pants legs.  Lumberjack Dorothy had ruby slippers and braids. Anyway, our "House" was a version of the major buildings you see as you drive onto SFA's beautiful, pine-tree lined Vista Drive, The Austin Building.  I painted and we installed a fake Austin Building on our building front and we put pine trees on our balcony posts.  (The middle is hinged and is the door to get into our office)

This is what the main entrance to the Austin looks like in real life (from a photo I found on SFA's website).

This is what our miniature version looked like.

Can you see the witchy legs sticking out at the bottom right of the building?

Well, here they are close up...

I Won, I Won, I Won....

Sue from Alderwood Quilts just sent me an email letting me know that I am the winner of her fabulous October Give-Away!!!  I have been a faithful follower of Sue's blog for  some time and love it.  You should go for a visit. 

I won a Boondoggle Ruler and pattern set by Bella Nonna Quilts.  I am so excited!!  This will be such a fun quilt to make.

Thank you so much, Sue.


Happy Quilting,

Laura

Lila Tueller Give-Away

I have admired Lila Tueller fabric designs for a very long time.  In fact--the very first pre-cut I ever purchased was a jellyroll of one Lila's designs.  She has wonderful patterns also.  And she has redesigned her Peasant Blouse pattern cover using her new fabric line.  (You need to go to her blog and take a look!!!!) In honor of this, she is also having a contest with a fabulous give-away.  Go to her blog:  Lila Tueller Designs and follow the directions to enter. 

Hello!

I really have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I have just too many things going on in my life, I guess.  I have wanted to feel like posting, but I just could not make myself do it.  I have visited the blogs I follow, but couldn't do my own.  I really do not know why, but I feel like I am over the hump.  Here is a little of what I have been up to....

3x6 Bee- Caretaker of a hive and Bee in a second hive



I made some little zippy bags requested by my daughters



I helped one daughter move and begin refinishing some furniture



I finished my Crazy Nines quilt from last year's Quilt Festival in Houston



I have watched one daughter play volleyball (which means lots of hours in the car and in uncomfortable seats and bleachers)
  (she is the one that just blocked that ball!!!!)


and I have been baking, baking, baking!  When my daughter went to college, I began taking treat bags to the team every time we went to watch them play.  We didn't make every game so when I could go, I always wanted to bake something for them.  They have loved it.  I can't believe this is the 4th year.  She will be finished with volleyball in November and college in May.  It has gone by so fast and we have loved every chance to see her play.  I have made cinnamon streusel mini-bundt cakes, pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, Frankenstein cake pops, and mummy-decorated pumpkin bread. 

(these were dubbed Franken-Elvis-es)      (these mummys will be delivered Saturday--                                                                       Shhhhh!)

And I traveled out of town with a family member to a
Dr.'s appointment.  WHEW!  I really am exhausted.  (I do work full-time, too)

(Oh, and somewhere in there I managed to fix a leaky water filter under the kitchen sink, clean everything under there, bleach the wet wood and wait for 3 days for it to dry.  Then I installed new lineoleum tiles and replaced the cleaning supplies I store under there)  

It is good to be back, and even though I have been very, very busy, I have done some really fun things.  I am not complaining at all, just letting you know where I have been and what I have been up to.

Hope everyone of you have been doing well, and that you will continue to follow me, even though I have been away.

Happy Quilting ;),

Laura

Aurifil Giveaway

There is an Aurifil Thread giveaway at Our Busy Little Bunch.  Run on over and check it out!

It's my Birthday (well, sort of)

I have been blogging now for a year.  That is amazing to me.  It has just flown by.  I want to thank everyone that has visited my blog and been so encouraging when leaving comments.  It has been a wonderful experience so far.

I received a fabulous package from Amanda at The Quilted Fish.   Beautiful fabrics from her line Sugar and Spice and some pretty buttons and crocheted flowers to match.  I will have such fun with all of it.



AND THIS WAS 2ND PLACE !!!!!   What a lucky girl I am.

Thank you Amanda.  I love it all.

Happy Quilting :),

Laura

A New Word and a Funny Story

     I had so much fun creating my Glamp for the Summer Camp hosted by Amanda at The Quilted Fish.  She gave me the kit and then let me enter it into a contest for prizes!!!  How Awesome is THAT????  THANK YOU AMANDA!!!!
     For a week anyone could go to The Quilted Fish and vote for their favorite Glamp.  (There were some really great ones entered in the contest and made by Amanda's creative team--you should go check them out!) 
     I had so many wonderful supporters during this contest.  My family, my friends, my co-workers, my 3x6 Bee friends, my Blog friends, and friends of all those who forwarded the link.  I appreciate all who participated!
  
Here's the Funny Story....
     My Aunt Jill also supported me throughout this contest, and this morning she asked me if I won.  I said that I got 2nd place and was so excited about it.  This was her response, "BOO!", to which I responded, "Not Boo, YAY!"  I really am so happy about 2nd place :).  First of all, Amazing Amanda blessed me with a Glamp Kit.  That in itself is a fantastic prize.  As if that weren't enough, she let me enter it into a contest.  And to top it off, I won even more prizes.  So, that's where the NEW WORD comes in.  My aunt and I both thought of this at the same time.  (Great Minds Really Do Think Alike, lol) 

Here it is:

BOOYAY--Its a semi-celebration.  She was dissapointed and I was Ecstatic, but when she realized I was so happy, she was too!

Thank you, again, Amanda.

Happy Quilting ;),

Laura

Glamp Voting

I entered a contest at The Quilted Fish.  The constest is for the best Glamp.  They are all awesome and it was sooooo simple to make.  Please go here http://www.thequiltedfish.typepad.com/ and vote for me.  I would love to win. 

I am #4.  Here is what mine looks like.

thanks, Laura

New Old Stuff

I have so many things to blog about but I just have to share this right now before I BUST!!  I have noticed a few "new" pieces of furniture in the windows of our local Goodwill store.  Well, I have been itching to go in and see what they were.  There was a bed, the strangest, coolest double amoire (I've never seen one of those before) and some other odds and ends.  I ended up getting these two side tables:

 I have been looking for one in this shape for a while. 

        I just thought this one was fun and funky.

I know I paid way too much for these, $24.99 each, and I realize things in our Goodwill seem VERY high compared to the prices I see people blog about all the time, but I think it goes to a good cause and it's still much cheaper than I could get a new table for.  Besides, these are perfect for a "shabby chic" redo!!

Next I found some vintage sheets.  I had checked there for some a couple of weeks ago and they didnt have any, so I was excited to find these:

Again, I feel like these were pricey, $4.99 each, compared to the $1-$3 i usually hear others paying, but I was glad to find them, so I got them anyway.

And while I was looking for the vintage sheets, I happened up this sweet and lovely piece of history....BONUS!!!    I never gave a second thought to whether or not I would buy it depending on the price.  I was going to have this no matter what!!!!  Here she is:

 

She is hand-pieced and hand-quilted.  There are several worn out spots, but I don't care.  I will repurpose her and love her forever.  It makes me sad to see something that had so much love put into it, tossed aside.  I think the $19.99 I paid for her was a bargain.  I rescued her and think this was my lucky day! 

I love my "NEW OLD STUFF".

Happy Quilting,

Laura

I'm Ba-ack!

It doesn't seem possible that it has been 2 months since my last post, but it has.  I have been out of touch with the blogworld, but not from life or sewing.    My last child graduated from high school. YAY, YAY, YAY!!!

 Here he is with his sisters.  We are so glad he is finished and ready to move on to the next phase of life.

It was so good to have everyone together for a little while.

I finished my May and June Le Petite projects on time.

Here is May... I used Modern Workshop and love how it turned out.  Pinwheels are a favorite of mine.

Here is June's entry...It is called Recess and I used Wonderland by MOMO.  I love this pattern and think I will make a full-sized quilt out of it someday.

I have soooo much more to share, and will post again soon, I promise!!!

Happy Fourth of July,

Laura

Brocante

I was a little late with my LePetite project for April, but I did finish it.  I got to the layout stage, and began to have doubts about the fabric choice I made, but continued anyway.  I am so glad I did.  Sometimes I am too close to what I am working on to really see it they way others will.  When I got it finished, I hung it on the wall and stood back to take a look and I like they way it turned out. 

Hope everyone had a happy May Day!

Happy Quilting ;).

Laura

Paper Piecing

I took a class last week on paper piecing using patterns from England Design Studios.  I have taken paper piecing classes before, but this method was very different.  I really enjoyed it and bought a pattern.  Here is what we worked on.

  I like the way it went together and how it allows you to piece absolutely any shape.  I plan to come up with some patterns of my own.

I took my mini iron to the paper piecing class with me and used a hand towel for an ironing mat.  When the class was over my iron was still hot.  (something I didn't think about until I was unplugging it.) I wrapped it in the hand towel and it was fine, but I decided I wanted a better solution to for an ironing pad and traveling with a hot iron.  Here is what I came up with.....

I made an ironing pad with Insul-Bright sandwiched between two layers of batting and then covered with fabric.

   I added a loop

   on one end and

two tabs with velcro

on the other end.

   Here is my ironing pad

with my mini iron



I put the loop over

the handle of the

hot iron

I rolled the iron

toward the center

and used one

tab with velcro

to secure the cord

I rolled the

iron over

once more

I used the other tab to wrap around the outside to secure the iron and cord



Playing around in the Sewing Room

I had a lazy weekend around the house, but managed to get some things done in the sewing room. 

First I have to show you the marvelous package of scraps that came from Sara at Sew Sara.  She organized a fantastic scrap swap and I had great swap partners.  I saw on her blog that she needed someone to take on another partner so I volunteered.  It turns out that she had already filled the extra spot, but suggested that we do an additional swap ourselves.  Here is what I received:

I know the picture is fuzzy, but believe me when I tell you it is an amazing collection of scraps.

And now on to the sewing...

My daughter was putting together a gift for a friend's 1 year-old and decided on a swimming theme.  I made a nametag for the basket of goodies and love the way it trned out!

  

I am working on a pillow that I have almost completed, and will share pictures when it is finished.  I made four stars for the Just One Star  project.  Two blue and two red. 

They went together well and I am so glad I participated in this project.  They will be mailed off to Moda tomorrow.  If you haven't participated in this yet, you still have time.  The deadline to get your block to Moda is May 1st.  If you want more information pleae go HERE.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend,

Happy Quilting ;)

Laura

The 11th Hour

Another last-minute finish!  This month's Le Petite project is called Endless Summer. 

I chose to make it out of City Weekend.  That fabric really grew on me over time and I decided to use it for this project.

 

The Endless Summer pattern was very easy to assemble.  Because I decided to make all nine of my blocks with different fabric combinations, It took a little planning to figure out how to cut the fabric. The pattern is written for cutting multiple blocks out of the same fabrics.  Once I wrote down my peices and their sizes, the cutting went pretty quickly.

Here is my first block.  I loved it immediately!

After the first one went together so smoothly, I was ready to finish up the others. 

These went together very quickly.

I finished all of them last night.

And I finished the rest of the assembly tonight.........At the 11th Hour!!! 

(please forgive me with the terrible pictures)

I am anxious to see all the other entries in the parade here and here tomorrow.  Go check them out!!!!

A Beautiful Rainbow!

I joined the Sew Sara Scrap Swap here and have received all my scraps. 

They are all treasured!  I have been given the most beautiful rainbow of scraps from the greatest swap partners ever!!!!  Here is what I received:

WOW!

Thank you so much, Riel, Debi, Jennifer, Becki and Robin.  These lovely ladies were very generous and I couldn't be more thrilled with the beautiful variety of color I received.  They came from New Brunswick, Canada and from Louisiana, Arizona, Michigan and Alabama in the US.

 I am going to try my hand at the Bottled Rainbows Quilt.  Check out the QAL here at Stiched in Color.

With all of these treasures, it will be gorgeous.

Supernova Quilt-Along

Well, it seems I can't avoid a challenge.  I have decided to take the plunge on another quilt-along.  I will be starting the Supernova Quilt-Along this week.  I am really excited about this because I love the design.  I will be using a Giddy jelly roll and a cream background.  I love the colors and think they will work well in groups for this project.  If you want to join in the fun, head over to Freshly Pieced to get all the details and fabric requirements. 

I have decided to use this Giddy jelly roll for my fabrics with a cream colored background.