Laughing at myself

Do you ever get so involved in your life that you just set things aside "for later"? Well I've pretty much done that with my blog. Between unpacking my crafting things and getting them put away, my daughters graduation from high school and the wedding that my entire family was in this past weekend (myself included, well I've been a little busy.

 On to new business; we're gearing up for our daughter to move into the dorms at Boston University this fall.  Our son will be starting at a new college in South Dakota. Lots of changed for our children who will soon be having birthdays- Son will be 21 and daughter will be 18- wow am I really old enough to have kids that age? I suppose that I am, LOL! The though of being "empty nesters" is there in the back of my noggin. Now I'm not converting any rooms into new crafting spaces or a home gym. They are how ever going to be my new decorating pallets. I have given the "guest room" the Americana theme but I can change that out to a girly pink theme in a heart beat!I've got a few ideas on what I want to do to our daughters room but I'll wait until she's moved into her dorm room before I rearrange anything in there.

Quilting, it's what I like to do

We all have things we like to do, I enjoy reading, riding my bike and gourmet cooking, those are things I do for relaxation. Now I'm also one that likes instant gratification- that's where my love of creating things for the home comes into play. I'm often asked if can make clothes, the answer to that question is "yes I can, but I prefer to make anything else- even dinner". Insert snarky laugh here. It's true that I can get so into a crafting or gardening project that I lose sense of time and leave my family to fend for themselves (that's when they call out for Pizza or Chinese Food).
 I've been working rather diligently for a while on my quilting. To say that I enjoy it is an understatement. I find that I can look at fabrics and visualize where they would go in a quilt design. I used to be one that played it safe when it came to fabrics; picking out tiny floral prints and staying quite traditional as far as fabrics are concerned. Well, I've pretty much blown that right out of the water these days. Large bold prints drawn me in like a moth to a flame, but I also like bold colors (ooh whee do I like bold colors). Hmm, then there's this batik phase I'm going through right now. I'm like a kid in a candy shop where fabric is concerned. Let me show you what I've been working on...

 This is my "Pink Project"- it took on a life of its own! I knew that I wanted to add green into it and not just any green either- it had to be a bright spring green. You'll also see that I have used the same green in several quilts (yes I really like this shade of green).

 This Peony fabric didn't just "speak" to me, it "sang" to me. I knew instantly what pattern I would use to showcase this fabric. I had so much fun creating this quilt. I had my pop music blasting and I was in heaven!

 The next 3 quilt tops I made using the same pattern. I wanted to use a bold prints for the focal point but at the same time I also wanted to use up some fabric scraps left over from other projects. This bright tropical colored one is for me, the 2nd and 3rd ones are gifts (one is for my daughter and the other one for a very close and dear friend of mine). Don't you just love those huge blossoms? I know that this was the design for them when I saw the fabric in the quilt shop.

 Here we go again- when I saw this bold fabric I knew what I wanted to create with it! The backing for this quilt is also that same bold print that I used in the large squares and border.

 Blue and White is something of an acquired taste that I picked up while living in England. It all started with Burleigh Pottery and took off from there! I have a display of Blue and White plates on the wall in our foyer that I bought at various thrift shops (no joke) and they looking phenomenal against the sunny yellow walls of they foyer. So where am I going with this...It's a 2 story foyer and that means a whole lot of wall space. I was in a quilt shop and saw this quilt design (it was done in gold, red and green fabrics) but I knew immediately that I wanted to make that design but to do it in blue and white fabrics. I added a fancy border to their design and here it is.

 I call this one- Sandie's Rose Garden. This is a quilt pattern that we bought while at a quilt show in Rapid City, South Dakota. I had my husband and daughter adapt the original design to fit a twin bed- that's what my daughter has on her bed (I'll show you all later). I was determined to use up my fat quarter stash and I managed to make a pretty good dent in it too! Even the backing fabric is from my stash!

 It's a little bit on the whimsical side and I had to have the kit when I saw it. I bought this a few years ago at a little quilt shop in Fair Oaks, California. There's this thing about "Old Fair Oaks", there are wild chickens all over the place. It's been like that since I first went there when I was in my teens. So of course with my fascination with chickens and the history of chickens running wild in the area- of course it was a "must have" kind of thing for me. A little bit of my California "home" in my home here in Massachusetts.

 My daughter asked me to make something special for her to give as a baby shower gift as one of her favorite teachers is having a baby. Here's what I came up with- Peter Rabbit in lattice. The backing fabric is a pretty shade of mottled pink. I'm going to "quilt" this one this week. I bought a Peter Rabbit Book by Beatrix Potter to go along with this. The word "adorable" comes to mind.

 Ah, my tulip project. I love bulb flowers! I've always planted bulbs in every garden I've ever had. This is going to be a table covering/wall hanging. I bought a square coffee table last year from a vintage shop and I've yet to refinish the table. But soon warmed weather will be here and you'll see the "other" things that I enjoy doing.

 

My first posting to my new blog

I'm starting a new blog because I'm one of those people that feels that things need to have a real purpose. I love to create things; paper, photographs, scraps of ribbon and lace, fabric and even with food. I have several other blogs going on that I kind of dropped because well, my scrapbooking/crafting room thing is in limbo at the moment.
 Moment, what a word. The fact is, I've not done one single paper crafting thing since before moving here from England 2 years ago. Every single paper crafting item be it a  paper cutter or a  rubber stamp, to my ink pads, ribbons and card stock not to mention albums and just everything needed to make cards and scarp book layouts is still packed away in boxes in my basement. The only thing I've allowed myself  to work with is my sewing machines, thread and fabrics. I've been keeping myself busy creating things...from quilted table runners to Halloween costumes, window treatments, tote bags, handbags and of course where would I be without my quilt tops? Heck I've got 16 of them finished and waiting to be stitched by the long arm machine. Yes, one could say that I've been doing a good job at keeping myself rather busy.