one shabby chick

Spending lots of time getting nothing done

That's how it feels lately - but I know it's not true.

Working on projects and thinking about doing 1 or 2 craft fairs at Christmas-time and what I will make for them...

I made up a skirt for Bela just like the other one...I am so in love with it...I'm working up the courage to try one for myself.

I splurged at the beginning of September and got a couple dresses for the girls from Matilda Jane's new line - oh my goodness, they are SO cute!

My mom is going to surprise them and take them to see Beauty and the Beast this weekend - and they can wear their new dresses!

I think you and I were always meant to be

Cannot stop singing this song...I just love it.

On Sunday Hubby and I both had early (soccer) games (he's playing this season too and is killing it - scoring lots of goals) so my parents took the kids with them to church and we rode together.

It was fun...going to the soccer field together. His games are all super early so I haven't gotten to see him play yet but he has a couple later ones and some night ones coming up.

Anyway, we were listening to the song and he looked over at me and said, "We were always meant to be, weren't we?". And I said, "Yep...that's why I love this song SO much - makes me think of us."

So when I was sewing up my little mug rug I kept looking at it, thinking about that song and us...

of course the two little people (actually there are 3 people but we'll ignore that third person) are upside down (and I was too lazy to fix it when I noticed it) but they are still on there.

And so is "love story" which took a little more work than I had planned and kinda made the binding a little funky - but oh, well...

I love it and it has a little place right next to me at the computer...

And I just have to share this picture...he came home from soccer yesterday and showered and put on his pjs...and walked out like this...such a funny kid!

I should be folding laundry

Seems to be a repetitive thing lately....I should be folding the mountains of laundry but instead I cleaned out the pantry....

And then surfed through Google Reader where this post popped up.

Then I was out and about in blogland reading Anna's (aka Noodlehead) blog and stumbled onto this shop....which untimately led to this:

I combined both the tutorial and the pattern for this one - only have one yard of knit so I'll have to get some more (or head to the thrift store) before I can try out the patterns I bought...love the leggings!

I used 4 fat quarters for the panels and it ended up a little short since I forgot to take into account that the cotton doesn't stretch and had to cut the waist opening bigger - next time I'll just make a bigger size.

I love it though! Got the cute elastic on Ebay and have been wanting to use it for something - I am thinking about even making myself one although that will require a lot more than 4 fat quarters!

And as you have probably guessed - got some new fabric in the mail today:

And a mug rug - missed out on the amazing swap going on on Flikr so I decided I'd make on for myself.

and these are on my design wall...

I'm thinking a little sashing and I'll have two baby quilts for the Christmas craft fair season....

More eye candy

Sorry to all of you on a fabric diet...

I saw Ashley's post on her Hoot charm packs and so I hopped over to Ebay and this great store and got myself a couple charm packs and my first-ever (shocking I know) jelly rolls!

This fun package came in the mail today too - Heather Ross' new line - Macaroni Love Story by Spoonflower in cotton sateen. I'm splitting some yardage with Kirsten....

The cotton sateen is SO much softer and a little thicker than the regular cotton - glad we went this route even though it's more expensive..but it is wider (56")

All the new fabric inspired me to get going on Tara's block for A Notion or Two.

She gave us a link to this blog as her inspiration and I loved the union jack wall banner - so this is my interpretation of it. I used this tutorial and just changed it a little.

And Baby Mason's mom asked me to make a little taggie blanket for him...so here it is:

and a recent picture of the little guy - he's doing great and is now tube/antibiotics/picc line-free!

I just love his little exclamation mark on his tummy :-)

I'm off to a conference tomorrow night and Saturday and then soccer on Sunday - so you probably won't hear from me until next week - hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Innocent crush

It's here....apparently making a very early debut.

I snatched up a few yards - would love to buy a ton more but am trying to be good about spending!

It's available at Hawthorne Threads and looks like they have a good stock of it - but I'm sure it will go quickly!

Can't wait to get my hands on some of the velveteen but don't think that's going to be out until December!

Making progress...

on all my quilting bee blocks - just have 4 more 3x6 blocks to go (and they are SO late!!).

This block is for a new bee I'm in - Ringo Pie - and I must say, I'm completely intimidated by the talent in it! Amazing bunch of ladies!

This one is a little different as we are all using fabric we have on hand (definitely saves on postage!). We each have a month and are coming up with a theme which everyone then uses to make our blocks - glad mine is a bit away so I have some time to think about my theme. Kerry has October and her theme was "collections" so I went with books.

I knew I wanted to use some selvedges as the book "spines" and it came out pretty much how I wanted it to...you can check everyone's blocks out in the Flikr group - there are only a few right now but they are pretty amazing!

I made these next two for Sarah for A Notion or Two...and somehow got completely off on my piecing...had to add a whole other row to make them the right size...Apparently simple patchwork is just too difficult for me - ugh!

The next two are for Cristin from the Bee-autiful Bee...she wanted string blocks with white in the center and green on one side and blue on the other...can't wait to see this quilt - love the way the squares are going to be two different colors!

I also made a flying geese block (tried to anyway) for Dena for the Block Swap bee. As you can tell, I need some practice with flying geese!

And my final block is for the Busy Bees. Tacha gave us a mosaic of some different inspiration pictures and I loved this one.

Wasn't sure how to go about it so I used some freezer paper and drew up a pattern using this method from Elizabeth.

It didn't turn out exactly as I hoped but I still like it and hope Tacha does too...

Guess everyone's busy

But at least Sarah played along with me :-)

Been feeling lonely over here all by myself - no modern quilting group to go to....no blogging buddies to meet up with...don't you all feel sorry for me? :-)

I did get an amazing package today - a gorgeous quilt from the Urban Home Goods Swap!

It was made by Berrie and it is so cute! I absolutely love it!

Look at all the cute fabrics she used....

I finished up the disappearing nine patch quilt on Friday night...

And got it delivered on Saturday - the customer loved it! She ordered it for her daughter's 2nd birthday.

Getting to know all about you

Randi has a fun post up on her blog and I thought I'd continue it here.

So if you want to play along you can add your answers to the following questions in the comments:

What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go? 

What are your favorite hobbies? 

Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.

 
If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?

What is one crazy thing that you would just love to do?

What was your favorite TV show when you were growing up?

Name the most famous person you've had a face to face encounter with.

Here are my answers:

What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime? hmm...finally get all the laundry done - ha ha! Actually I would love to just grow old with my husband - is that too corny or not lofty enough...

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go? I'd love to go to Italy - on a food tour :-)

What are your favorite hobbies? Quilting and soccer

Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours - hmm - Not sure I have a unique habit....I have turned into quite the procrastinator when it comes to sewing..haven't always been like that. And I have a pretty big mouth and say things I shouldn't but am quick to apologize :-)

** edited to add - every few months I like to re-arrange my furniture - I'm sure that goes into the quirky/crazy category of habits!

If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it? Pay off debt and probably take my whole family on a fun vacation...then take my time/pray about what to do with the rest.

What is one crazy thing that you would just love to do? I'm not sure I'm up for crazy anymore...but it would be fun to RV around the US for a few months with just our family - I'd love to do that and with all 6 of us in a van that could be crazy!

What was your favorite TV show when you were growing up? We watched the A-team and MacGyver a lot....and the Cosby show.

Name the most famous person you've had a face to face encounter with. John Locke from Lost - we were at the beach and talked to him for a bit...super nice guy! And they may not be famous to everyone but I met a few of the girls on the US Women's Soccer Team when they were visiting here a couple years ago...

And I've posted a lot of pictures of myself and the family lately but here's another one....

OK can't wait to hear your answers!

Just the binding

Have to finish up the binding on this quilt and then deliver it this weekend.

This was a great size to quilt - 50" x 60". Still fairly big but not too unmanageable.

And I bought these great elastic waistbands off Ebay and am just waiting for some free-time so I can make a skirt or two for the girls...

I am done with all my swaps - yeah! and now just need to work on quilting bee blocks!

Moody

Man, I've been so moody lately - not sure why...which makes me not want to sew but with swap deadlines and a couple custom orders I have to sew!

We had a birthday party on Saturday so I whipped up a tote for the birthday girl.

and I finally finished my DQS9 quilt and packaged it all up - without taking a final picture....{sigh}

Now I just have to work on some quilting bee blocks.

I started on the 3 x 6 Bee blocks - here's the first two:

And I have the backing made for this quilt and need to get it quilted up tomorrow:

ok off to ballet and then soccer...busy day!