one shabby chick

Popping in

Not much OK - no sewing going on right now.

I think I wore myself out for a while and my shoulder was really sore.

So I've been trying to rest it and have been doing lots of reading instead.

But I have got a few fun things in the mail lately.

This gorgeous notebook cover from SingAllYouWant:

Isn't it adorable?! I first saw them on Pinterest and she's finally opened up an Etsy shop!

And my first two Ringo Pie blocks from round 2:

LOVE!!

I have a few ipad/kindle covers to make so think it's time to get back in gear.

And there are lots of quilts to work on too!

I'm dying to make a few from this book:

And I still have one I need to finish up for my adorable nephew.

I also want to try and make this little bag for a beach purse for the summer:

And look at these fun rolls of Bella cotton that I got at Southern Fabrics - perfect for sashing!!

Almost forgot!! The winner of the Marmalade Fabrics giveaway is......

#55 - Maggie G! I've sent you an email!

OK I'm off to clean the house and fold some clothes..yep, I'm completely slacking!!

Oh and I'm not sure how much sewing (or laundry) I'll get done this summer since this is right down the road:

(yep, my son's been playing with the GoPro)

A new week

First off, I'm actually announcing a giveaway winner on the day I said!! Can you believe it?! OK the winner of the Gypsy Caravan charm pack is....

#23 - Valerie Boudier! I will send you an email soon!

Stay tuned tomorrow - there's a  fabulous giveaway from another new sponsor!

Finished up 3 custom orders and need to ship them off:

We had a great weekend...I worked on a bunch of pillows/iPad covers (I am finishing them up today hopefully) on Saturday and had some great food from the local farmer's market (and our friend's food stand).

Yesterday we had church and then came home and just lounged around. I was supposed to have a soccer game but a lot of people had plans so we were only going to have 9 at the most and who wants to play short on Mother's Day? So we forfeited the game and all got a Sunday off.

Hubs and I watched a few (3!!) movies - ha ha! The Vow, Underworld: Awakening and Contraband - and I even got a surprise dinner of Thai food (he had a friend deliver it for him - so sweet!).

(pay no attention to the fact that I STILL have not painted the kitchen - it's on the to-do list this summer!!)

My iPhone was my Mother's Day present but I couldn't help buying myself a little fabric goodness and it came today: a Suzuko Koseki bundle from this Etsy shop.

Now I have to decide what to make with it!

I have some iPad covers and guitar and camera straps going in to the shop in a bit - the pillows will be in there tomorrow at some point.

Hope everyone is off to a good week - my kids are excited as Friday we are heading here with our homeschool group!

This week

Got some new (to us) couches this past weekend.

And so you can all gasp in horror - this was our old couch:

I did have a cover over the seating part that I had made but still...apparently I'd rather buy fabric than a new couch - lol!

So we are enjoying the new couches and I've added a few more pillows to them - you know cause...

Playing around with new pilow ideas:

and I also started on some guitar and camera straps using these gorgeous feather fabrics.

And I'm working on some more ipad covers for the shop too.

But first I have to go to Costco (I have honestly been saying that every day for like a week now- but today I'm really going - ha ha!).

Stop by tomorrow as I have a new sponsor to announce and a fun giveaway!!

Saturday

We are supposed to be going to a wedding in a half hour but I'm not sure we are going to make it. Hubs is at the doctor with Bela...

She has an ear infection so she's on antibiotics and now it blossomed into some sort of mouth thing so she's at the doctor getting stronger antibiotics.

And I'm tired - helped all morning with our local AYSO registration.

But I did do a bit of sewing yesterday - well, a lot actually!

First I got this lovely charm pack in the mail on Thursday from the lovely folks over at Windham Fabrics.

I had gotten two charm packs of Echo a while back too but wasn't sure what to make with them so I just held on to them and waited. And I'm glad I did.

They blend together seamlessly and I had a quilt top in no time.

I just made big nine patch blocks and then auditioned two different sashing fabrics.

The grey was a clear winner and I pieced the back with the remaining grey I had, a Kona solid, the leftover charm squares plus a Summersville print and AH Heath in grey.

I also worked on Ashley's blocks/quilt for the Traveling Quilt bee.

John and Ashley had already made some blocks so I decided to put them all together and add a few fabrics here and there along with a few blocks as well.

I love it so far - can't wait to see how it grows and changes on the rest of its journey.

Speaking of Traveling Quilts - did you SEE my amazing ruler that Elizabeth made?? Oh my gosh - I am SO excited about that quilt!

And I'm still sewing away for the craft fair.

Made a couple more totes:

and am now working on some cute pencil cases using this tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar (whenever I go their website, I start singing the Mary Poppins song - lol!)

OK have a great weekend everyone...did I mention this lovely bundle arrived in the mail?

What we've been up to

Lots of school...not too much sewing.

Which does not bode well for the craft fair in two weeks.

(Oh and for all you locals - the craft fair is at Lanikai Beach Park on May 5th, 9am-3pm)

But I have officially finished all my custom orders so now it's craft fair sewing from here on out.

I finished up a pillowcase to go along with the twin quilt today.

She sent me a picture of two bird pillows that she wanted translated into a pillowcase.

I used some pink varigated #12 Aurifil to zigzag around the edges - it's really thick so looks like handstitching - I like the result.

And I finished up a kindle cover and an iPad cover too.

And I got a new toy to play with - I lost my phone on Easter and got this as an early Mother's Day present. I LOVE it!

And the camera is great too!

This is my boy before we cut his hair today (it's been a long time coming - and he agreed. He's been having a hard time keeping it clean while it's so long. You should have seen how much sand was in his scalp!!!):

And after:

I also made a couple wreaths for a baby shower on Friday:

And I'm sewing up a little bunting/banner tomorrow too. Just need to add the letters tomorrow.

Bela took a few pictures with my camera this afternoon - this is what they've been doing pretty much every day when Daddy gets home:

3 finished quilts

eekk! I finished all three of them - yeah!!

One is a custom order that will soon be heading to Australia - have to finish a pillowcase first.

It's narrow and long (50" x 90") but she wanted it to fit her daughter's twin bed and I made it just a bit bigger to account for shrinkage once I wash it (which I'm a little nervous to do with all that white! Picking up color catchers for the first time tomorrow just to be safe).

The back is just plain white and I used a Bella solid for the first time - really love the feel - just a bit softer than Kona.

The center square is a mix of prints - and the same prints are all along the edge as well. Really a fun design and it sews up pretty fast.

This one was just me playing with scraps and making a few little blocks. Then I thought it would be fun to use a polka dot instead of a solid as the background color.

The FMF blue print was a fun way to frame it all and add a pop of color.

I backed it with a super soft AMH flannel - love those flannels!!

And this last one is my most recent...the herringbone in Summerlove by Pat Bravo.

Love the colors in this one - really wishing I had made it bigger to snuggle under but I have a few baby showers coming up so it may end up as a gift - if I can part with it!

The back is just a few of the Summerlove fabrics pieced together.

And while I was snapping photos, these two were skateboarding.

sigh - I love this man so much - sorry I can't help myself....

and this little one is the only one who will stay still and let me take her picture anymore....

good and bad

We had a great weekend.

I sewed all day on Saturday - got on a bit of a "I need to finish this quilt now" kinda thing.

*edited to add: The fabrics I used in this quilt are Summerlove by Pat Bravo and the Kona solids I used are white, cyan, pink, sand and papaya. *

And I finished it all except for the binding.

* I started off using this pattern but then wanted the blocks to be bigger so I used this tutorial for the rest and then just cut them to different widths.

Sunday we woke up EARLY (4:20 am) and went down to Waimea Bay for our church's Sunrise Service. We help in Children's Ministry so we had to be there at 5:45 (we got there before 5:30 - ha ha!). Then we cleaned up and had a water baptism and I had to leave in a hurry to make it to my soccer game at 11:00. Only thing is, in my hurry, I LOST my cell phone.

I lost it somewhere at a public beach - got a ride with my sister so I know it's not in my car (or hers) - I had a ton of people looking for it and we couldn't find it. No one called me from it either so I think it's truly gone...

Oh well, I switched my number over to another one I have for now and if no one returns it....I may get an iPhone - silver lining for sure!!

OK - on to the winner of the giveaway....

#20 (that's my soccer jersey number) - Emily V!

Congrats - I'll send you an email soon!

I also sewed up a few more zip pouches and added them to the shop. I'm doing a craft fair in a month and need to get in gear for that.

Hubby has a soccer game tonight in town so I'm off to get ready! Guess not, third child down with wheezing/asthma and oldest has a bad cold - I'm staying home I guess...boo!

Coming Clean

No profound revelation just some things I've been thinking about.

I do hope I come across as an honest person on my blog - not fake or painting everything in cheery shades here.

(this is how I look most mornings)

I mean, I want my blog to be a happy place and I value my family's privacy so I don't post stuff like that here. But we still have life going on just like everyone else - I just don't choose to share much of it here.

I guess I'm just trying to say I'm a normal woman/mom - just like all of you. I struggle with juggling everything (which I fail at a lot), motherhood, LAUNDRY - ha ha!, insecurity, selfishness,  jealousy and all the other things in life.

And no, nothing bad is happening - just wanted to make sure you all knew that just cause we live in Hawaii, life isn't perfect :-)

But I do have an amazing husband...who loves the Lord and his family.

And 4 great kids - who I thank God for everyday.

And a wonderful family (and extended church family) and the Lord - He gives me the strength I need each day.

I've just been thinking of our little blogland here that we sewers/quilters have.

And the opportunity to meet a bunch of online friends in October.

I also think we all need to be a little nicer to each other.

And maybe I'm talking to the wrong crowd here since none of you have ever left me an unkind comment (which I thank you all for since I might just close my blog down should I ever get one - ha ha).

But lately I've been reading things around blogland and Flickr and they are just a little harsh or demanding - can't we just be a little more polite and kind? There are people on the other side of that screen - with real feelings.

If you want to know where someone bought a certain pattern/tool/fabric - ask them politely....don't demand to know where they got it. If people ask me politely I am more than happy to tell them...if they demand it, it makes my insides cringe.

If you use someone else's quilt or idea as inspiration - credit them for it - it's not that hard to do.

Just cause you don't like a fabric or quilt - that doesn't give you the right to say nasty things about it...My philosophy is don't say anything and move along - you aren't going to like every fabric line or quilt - that's one of the things that makes us all so special - we are all unique.

Kindness gets you pretty far I think....

Sorry to go on a little rant - just been thinking about this stuff lately.

I also pulled out all my ufos today and let me tell you - it's not pretty!

Here's the list:

4 - Quilts that need to be quilted (may send one off - it's huge)

10 - Quilts in progress (various stages)

2 - Weekender bags (all cut out)

3 - Aprons (all cut out)

A ton of little dresses (fabric already cut) - not even sure if I know which pattern I used!!

A bunch of quilt blocks - trying to use some of them up in a few baby quilts right now.

Any of you have lots of ufos? I need to make myself a deal to work on an ufo (or two) before I start any new project!

Shop Update

Popping in here to let you know I loaded some new iPad cases....

and word pillows into the shop tonight:

Hope everyone had a good April 1st....Hubby announced on FB that we are moving to Costa Rica (it was an April Fool's joke - his poor family bought it - I felt so bad!).

We ended the day at an awesome slip and slide b-day party...everyone is now exhausted!!

Beautiful Ending

This was how we ended our day yesterday....

I know..sorry! Especially to all of you that are looking out to snow-covered everything.

Hubs got home from work and we all decided to head down to the beach for a late-afternoon swim.

Well, the kids got in the water at least...

We met up with a few friends too.

Love those boys - they are adorable!

This one won't let me take his picture anymore so I have to be sneaky!

I brought my Habitat quilt down too and snapped some photos.

I need to branch out and start taking pictures of my quilts in places besides the back yard!

I think from now on my quilts are hitting the beach!

The quilting was all done by the lovely Angela Walters - isn't it amazing?

It's on the couch now...perfect size too - it's about 64" x 78".