A little progress

Last night I finished my part on Hollie's quilt top. Tomorrow I am sending it on its way to Julie and working up my idea for Terrie's! Here is the sneak peek of Hollie's:

I hope she likes it!

I also made this hexie flower, for Maria in the Inchy Flower Swap. It was supposed to be sent last month, but obviously I am still playing catch up (so that means she will get more than just one)! Tonight I am making my flower for Jane and a couple for Maria.

I also made this block a few nights ago, but can only post a sneak peek for now! It is getting mailed off to my partner Charlene in our Block Swap Adventure! I hope she likes it!

Since I haven't a finish...

Since I don't actually have a finish to show (or really any true progress on anything!), I thought I would share some of the goodies I snatched up along my road trip:

First, in Houston on my last day in town I am getting ready to drop my good friend off at the airport when he says he has to drop something off at his friend's work, and he would just run in and back out really quick. We pull in and he directs me to a plaza, and then more specifically to the place called "It's a Stitch". I assumed it was an alterations shop until I parked and saw rows upon rows of fabric bolts!

"You bring me to a quilt shop and expect me to wait in the car?"

"Yes! I'll be quick"

So I waited and watched in my rear view as he went into the shop... That's when I noticed the Moda sticker on the door. I couldn't contain myself anymore! They had a rather large selection of precuts available, and I am definitely a sucker for them!

I grabbed a layer cake of Eden, a Central Park jelly roll (although I am now wishing I had grabbed two!), and two charm packs of Make Life. To be honest, I am not really sure if I actually mentally processed what I was grabbing or buying at that point. My defense is that I was being rushed and therefore I was under duress and pressure!

In Kansas City I went back to the store I loved most last time I was there: Harper's Fabric and Quilts. There I was just browsing, but I did see some pretty FQs that I just could not leave there! Let me remind you that all the stuff I bought last time, around Thanksgiving, is sitting mostly untouched still!

So hopefully tomorrow I will finally be ready to post some pictures of what I have been working on!

Finally!!

Whew! I am finally at my dad's in Chicago. I got here late (after midnight) the night before last, and I am STILL trying to find a place for everything. I need to get my sleep schedule back on track as well, because sleeping in until 2pm every day is great, but not practical! It was a good (albeit expensive, with the rising gas prices) trip, I made several stops along the way and saw many old friends-- Houston, Dallas/Longview, Springfield MO, Kansas City/Leavenworth, and St Louis were all stops! I even treated myself to a 20$ makeover (yes twenty dollars)! A haircut and a new color later and:

Ta Da! And actually, the cost was even lower than 20... I went to a GreatClips for the cut, and they had a special for all haircuts (excluding S&BD) for only 6.99, and then a friend did the coloring, so that was another 7$ or so... Can't beat that :) Unfortunately, being a fake redhead is hard to maintain! It has only been a week and a half since this picture was taken and it has faded a bit. Fixing that this weekend :)

Today, while out running a few small errands, I happened upon what is, as far as I know, the only quilt shop here in the small town we live in (I say Chicago, but truth is, I'm about an hour South of "the city"). The shop is called B & J Sewing Center, and I was SO surprised when I walked in. The shop looks small on the outside, but there were TONS of fabric bolts in there, walls of patterns and notions, shelves with precuts, etc. The owners, Barb and John, were both there and extremely friendly as well. Best part is, they are right down the street! I have a feeling I will be racking up those loyalty points in no time!

So, for today I just have some laundry to finish up, then breaking out the sewing machine. I have alot of catching up to do! I promise I haven't forgotten about any of my commitments, they will be on their way asap! Sew on!

Good and Fun- a Round Robin

*sigh*
I am always late these days.
ALMOST caught up though!
Here is my center for the Good and Fun Round Robin. I actually originally wanted the center stripes to be slanted, but as I started piecing them together I realized how horrible my math was and that if I did, not only would I be wasting alot of fabric, but it would be alot more work than I planned! I ended up just trimming it to a decent sized rectangle, but I actually love how it turned out.

Now that my center is different than what I envisioned/planned I am even MORE excited to see what Julie and the other gals come up with! AND don't worry, I included PLENTY PLENTY PLENTY of extra fabric to be played with :)

And on a side note/off topic, those of you who follow along know that I recently moved across town. Well, now I am moving across country. In two weeks. *gasp* When it rains it pours, right? The good news is that once I get home to Chicago, everything will settle down quite a bit. I'll be working less, be back in school, and surrounded by family. I can't wait :) BUT that means this next week I am going to be a sewing fiend to try to get everything I can done, not only this month, but also for March! Wish me luck :)

Block 8 is done!

Hard to believe we are already 2/3 done with the LCQA! Here is my block 8:I was iffy about using two of the same prints but different colors, but I love how it turned out! Only four more blocks to go!

Worst Blogger?

Okay maybe not THE worst, but I can't be far from it! Nearly two weeks since my last post... Well, alot has happened in the last two weeks, in my defense. First, my kids, my roommates, myself, and pretty much everyone else around me caught some horrible flu bug. I actually think it was some mutated flu virus, because this thing knocked all of us on our butts. Both of my roommates, my sister in law, and my daughter made visits to the ER.
(The hospital gown makes me look tan! Tee hee)

There was about 10 days straight that I couldn't even keep a meal down. I have gone down two jeans sizes in less than a month! That may be a good thing to some, but when all your jeans are falling off and you can't afford to go buy a whole new wardrobe right now it's not so great haha!

ANYWAY, with all that going on (plus work, spending time with my kiddos, my dad coming to visit, etc) I have managed to get a LITTLE bit of sewing done. I finished this block for Tamera as part of the Let's Bee Together group.

She gave directions for the main shoofly block, and said to make the sashing scrappy. It's on its way to her now, and I'm hoping she likes it!

Oh, and remember that block I sent to Linda last month for the Block Swap Adventure? Well, she posted a picture of the full block here. I forgot to take one before I sent it off, so you can see it there :)

More coming soon :)

iPod Touch Case

I was up late last night, (surprise surprise) and decided to clean the house. Our sink had been stopped up for the last two days due to the neighbors moving out and tossing who knows what down their drain. Since ours connects to theirs and the catch is on their side.... well, lets just say it was unpleasant :/ Dishes were piled everywhere... ugh... Anyway, all that is really unrelated to my reason for posting! Anyway, yesterday sink was finished, I was tired of the mess. I cleaned the whole house spotless last night. I was on a roll. Then I found my roommate's iPod Touch on the floor. Again. She also just tosses it in her purse constantly. I keep telling her it is going to get scratched or broken but she doesn't listen!

So... after I was done cleaning, I decided I wanted to make her an ipod case. I searched google for an ipod touch case tutorial but wasn't finding anything I really wanted to make. I thought about it for a second and then realized I really could figure it out on my own, so I just winged it. A mere 30 minutes or so later I had this:The "A" is because her name is Alicia. She had seen this fabric in my bin one day last week and mentioned she liked it, so I picked it out.

I quilted tiny pebbles around the A... Not bad, but I thought quilting something small like this would be easy, but boy was I wrong. I felt like I had less control! Also, at 2am I am sure my quilting skills weren't at their sharpest, but I still like how it looks!

By the time I got to the back I decided I was pebbled out, though, and decided to do a quick stipple!

The lining wasn't quilted in, I added that after the quilting, and finished it off with a snap closure. I then put her ipod in it and set it on the dining room table for when she got home. She loves it :)

And I am not sure why the color is a bit funky in the first and last picture... I still need to get a nice camera. This iPhone camera can only do so much :/