Check out this Give Away!!

Go see Traci here and enter her Give-away!!!

Before and After Wall hanging

I totally forgot to take the before picture of this ugly wall hanging until after I did the first coat of blue around the edge.
I found this hideous piece of "art" at the thrift store for 50 cents. Had no idea what I'd do with it - but brought it home anyway!

Fast forward about a month to October 18, 2009. A 2 o'clock baby shower and no gift. I had planned on a quilt...but ran out of time (good thing - mom-to be got like 5 quilts) . So I hauled out this press board covered frame-less circa 1985 painting thingy and got to work early that morning. The result was kinda cute and I think mom-to-be really liked it.

It was a challenge because the nursery's theme was Americana - red white and blue..however I don't have a lot of supplies in the Americana theme. So I went girly American....

I think I might be doing this kind of thing a lot now... The picture doesn't do it justice...truly.

Canvas Painting

I took a canvas painting class at my local scrapbook store...and this was the result. I am feeling pretty good about my first foray into canvas painting to display photos...it's like a scrapbook page art. I hope to get better with practice.

Work in progress

It's been a while since I have tackled another quilt besides the CSQ method that I love so much. But a camo baby quilt is in the works...

the green stripe on the right is a off kilter center divider for more blocks on the right side....plugging along.

Calendar Blocks - so stinkin' cute!

I found the tutorial for this cute little project here...It was so easy and such fun to make. Tessah helped me with the stickers on the blocks... Inking the paper made all the difference. Our Girl Scout Troop is doing a craft Bazaar on Nov. 14 - we will be making mini - ones of these to sell. I'll post those pics later :)

PLease Vote for me!

I recently entered a t-shirt re-do contest. Winner can receive a $999.99 new sewing machine. Votes cast here:

You can help me win. I entered 2 items. I made the funky scarf

and the "Grease" bag. Don't feel obligated to vote for me...but I'd love the support.

Thanks

Retro Stool Re-Do

I picked up this AWESOME stool at Bishop's Attic in Anchorage for 6 bucks! Had some left over fabric from the $1 grab bag (you may recognize it from the checkbook cover) - add some aqua spray paint and...VOILA! I love love love this so so much I could scream! This was how I spent my birthday weekend. Thrift store shopping and re-purposing my finds! YAY!

Checkbook Cover

I found this outer fabric in a grab bag at a thrift store. I used the lining fabric last year for an apron. This is for my friend, Hannah for her birthday - woah - I know a lot of September birthdays.

Cowboy Bag

I made this bucket tote bag for my friend Michelle for her birthday. She is a total horse girl! Hope she likes it :)

Little Pin Cushion

I got this pattern at my local quilt shop and made this adorable pin cushion for my friend, Liz for her birthday. I hope she isn't looking at my blog :) And I hope she doesn't hate pink.

My apple bag - full of goodies...

Our Fall Rally for TOPS was Saturday and our instructions were to bring a full lunch bag to auction off as a fundraiser. Due to time restraints it was changed to a lunch bag swap. We all drew numbers and then proceeded to the table to chose our lunch. I was thrilled and pleased when my lunch bag was chosen first - YAY! I scored too - my lunch was in an old school Tupperware container - I love old well-loved retro stuff :)

Green Fairy Quilt Charity

My blogger friend Judi, at Green Fairy Quilts (see button to the right) went to Romania in early September to visit orphanages and give the kids their own quilts. She sent a shout out in August that she was a few quilts short. I had my buggy CSQ quilt almost finished. It was planned for my high school girlfriend, Maura's new baby Alistair. So I emailed Maura to tell her the situation. So, with Maura's blessing, I shipped Alistair's quilt off to Judi in Utah who took it to Romania and gave it to a little one living in an orphanage.


You can see Judi's eloquent posting about her trip on her blog, along with the video highlight of her trip here My quilt is shown given to a little boy in this video at minute 6:01! That was exciting to see!

Thanks Maura and Alistair!

Cool Give-Away at the Room Remix

Who doesn't love shopping! Pop over to PK's blog Room Remix and enter her giveaway for $35 gift card somewhere....(she lets you choose if you win) Her giveaway is in honor of 100 followers. Lucky her :) I have 3!

Here is a little bag I made in one afternoon! It's call the Lindie Bag and it was a free pattern I got here at CraftApple. On Saturday, my TOPS group is having the fall rally...an annual fun get together. It's a Back to School theme. We are supposed to bring a school picture of ourselves from our younger days and and also bring your sack lunch. The you donate the lunch bag and everyone bids on a lunch to eat at the lunch auction. Its a pretty cool fundraiser. I made this little bag for my lunch sack. I hope it gets lots of bids - depends, I suppose on what I put in it :)

My Baby is 10 years old today!!!!

Happy Birthday Jake.

It hardly seems possible that my youngest is 10 today. This is the kid who always greets me at the door when I get home with a smile and asks me if I need help. He tells me he loves me everyday at least once and when I say I love you he tells me he loves me more. 10 years - sigh. Only 8 left :(

Mish Mash CSQ

Here is my latest CSQ! I love this method so much and am thrilled and flattered that Martguerita McManus, the co-author of the book(with her daughter Sarah Raffuse)- Crazy Shortcut Quilts - asked me to join a group of quilters she is training to teach this method in thier areas all over the country. Tomorrow night is my quilt guild's education fair....where we vote on what classes we want to feature for 2010. I will show this sample, and hope people vote so I can begin my teaching career for this awesome quilting method. I have had mixed reactions to the fabrics I chose...many traditional quilters think my eye for colors is too crazy and unconventional....can't help what I like. I tend to shy away from neutrals and traditional colors. This quilt is a mish mash of scraps I had and ended up being way smaller than most of my CSQs have been. A normal baby quilt in this method that I do is approx. 39" square. This measured in at 28.5" square - perfect for a wall hanging or bambino. The cherry, paisley, brown swirly, and pink/aqua floral, as well as the green sashing fabrics are all scraps from aprons I made last year.

Front

Back

Front vs. Back

Wish me luck on my new endeavor in the quilt teacher world.

Paperbag Photo Album

I spent last night with Tessah, her friend Brooke, and Jakob making paper bag photo albums. The previous weekend the girls and I went to the David Archuleta concert at the fair. We met my friend Sharon there with her girls and I snapped some pics. I decided I would make my album for her as a little memento of the crazy fun night we had. It was fun!!
I got the idea for these albums at http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/ but my local scrapbook store also had them - so I don't really feel like I am presenting this idea as my own :)

Online Quilt retreat at Susan's Blog

I am trying to find the time to sew this Labor Day weekend and a blogger friend - Hi Susan - is hosting an online sewing retreat - so that gave me the perfect reason to sit down at the machine. I am working on finishing this pinky/greeny/brown tiny crazy shortcut quilt I started with scraps from my stash with no recipient in mind. I am going to make a sample for when I eventually teach this method (if I get my butt in gear) -

~ check out the other bloggers in on this retreat at http://www.susanround.com/

Tomorrow I will be sewing at the Alaska State Fair with the Valley Quilt Guild. So hopefully I finish this mini CSQ!

2nd entry for T-shirt Re-do Contest

Here - I cut up an old t-shirt into 4" squares - sewed them together - and "couched" on some funky yarn - and I ended up with a pretty cool looking scarf. These scarfs are all the rage these days. So - hope one of my entries brings me a first place :)
I think that after the contest is closed, everyone should be able to vote on the website. I'll keep you posted.


P.S. isn't Tessah a great model?

"Grease" T-Shirt Re-Do

I entered a contest where you had to re-vamp a T-shirt in pop culture style. Here is the little bag that I came up with - Hope I win!!!! Grand Prize is $1000 Babylock Sewing Machine. Used left over scraps from Dane's quilt. All the black fabric and the "Grease" logo are from the t-shirt. You can enter up to 3 times, I plan on submitting 2 more entries.

What'dya think?

School themed centerpieces

Last May, my Alaska BF, Lisa, threw a party for her Hubby in honor of his college graduation from UAA. She needed a school theme for centerpieces - because his degree is in Elementary Education. I scoured the web for an idea and found this great blog - which I now check out every day.

http://littleantdesign.blogspot.com/

Here was how Lisa's turned out. (Green & Gold - UAA colors) - I think she did great!!!

Another Fun Diaper Cake

My sis-in-law, Jamey, is planning a baby shower for her friend Misty. So she asked if I'd make her a diaper cake - love it.

Finally Finished CSQ - Bug Quilt for Charity

So - yesterday I finished a Crazy Shortcut Quilt (CSQ) I started back in March - or maybe February. It was actually my first attempt at this method. It was intended for my high school friend, Maura's new baby, Alistair. With my dad's illness and death this spring/summer, my quilting took a nosedive. But a blogger friend, Judi, at Green Fairy Quilts is heading to Romania to donate quilts to an orphanage....that was the fuel I needed to finish. MAURA - I promise Alistair will get a cute quilt soon. XOXXO
Here it is:

Green Fairy Quilts Give-Away

Check out this blog for a great give-away!!! I'm getting ready to send a baby quilt to Judi of Green Fairy Quilts to take on her upcoming Charity trip to Romania - click the button below to the right to check out her charity and go here:

http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com

to enter her giveaway! Happy Birthday to her baby!!!

I WON A GIVE-AWAY

YAY!! See the button to the right to sign up for www.quiltinggallery.com's Friday Give-Away. I won the cute Whoopsie Daisy pattern. You can see it on their website www.thequiltedfishpatterns.com - yipeee!!!

Funky Jewlery Organizer - PART ONE

For the past 20 years - my jewelry has lived in a messy ball in my bathroom drawer...but I recently acquired some pretty nice pieces and I thought, HMMMMM ---- I'm about to be 35 - time to quit keeping my accessories like I did when I was 15.

So, I got a 50 cent frame at a thrift store; spray painted and distressed it, raided my fabric/batting and ribbon stash - put it all together - added some upholstery tacks and ~VOILA~ earring/pin holder. On Deck - necklace and bracelet holder...stay tuned :)

Exciting Charity - BeadforLife

Hi All - OK today I am featuring a handmade goody - that WAS NOT made by me. This beautiful necklace and bracelet set was crafted by Ugandan women. These impoverished women, many who are HIV+, make the beads out of recycled paper, then craft the jewelry. See the website for more info - you don't have to buy from the website either - you can host a BeadParty. Check it out...

www.BeadforLife.org

$11.00 bathroom facelift

BEFORE - PLAIN WHITE BATHROOM - boring!!!
Add one can of mis-tinted paint from
Fred Meyer for only FIVE BUCKS!!!

PLUS a cool new shower curtain - I purchased for 6 bucks (also at Freddy's) And VIOLA - a great cheap bathrooom facelift!!!
...........this is the kids' bathroom by the way - I'm not sure a Camp Rock theme in our bathroom is the way to go!!!

Thrift Store Re-do

BEFORE......

We found this chair at a used furniture store - we thought it would be great in Tessah's room....so Brent sanded it and painted it black - and I recovered the ottoman cushion with sparkly fabric (T loves bats and Halloween stuff - go figure) and got some funky shiny purple and orange plaid fabric for the chair. I can't wait until she gets home to see it :)
AFTER................

I'm back!!! Sorry I've been away so long!!!

So I haven't really done any crafts, quilting or postings for a while...and I hope I haven't driven away my loyal followers. My father had been terminally ill and passed away peacefully on July 9, 2009 - so I have been a traveling like crazy. But now I'm back and hope to get some quilting done and posted on here....

Me and my Dad - circa 1979

Finally Finished CSQ - for Alora

I signed up for a Crazy Shortcut Quilts class in April...It is for my newest Niece Alora - she was born in September. But she will eventually have a twin sized bed - in the house Jamey and Mike had built - crossed fingers for a closing soon!!! I am really happy with the way it all turned out. It took 40 fat quarters and 1 1/2 yards for sashing and binding. I also made a matching pillowcase.....

Teacher Gifts

I needed 3 teacher gifts this year...Jakob's Mr. Carson, Tessah's Mrs. Caole & Mrs. Mastroyanis -

Tessah desperately wanted to give Mrs. M. an apron... but I could not make 2 - not enough time...so I reworkd a PartyLite candle for Mrs. Caole.

Mr. Carson was a bit more difficult, but I jazzed up jar I had laying around and in the morning we will go to the store and fill it with candy....I'm tired.