Dreaming...

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a giveaway over at http://quokkaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/12/bloggers-choice-fat-quarter-bundle.html that had me smile. I had to try! I've always wanted to design my own "Blogger's Choice" bundle, and today I got my chance! You have to pick 12 prints and 3 solids and make a mosaic of them. I really love the retro and woodsy feel I wound up with. It makes me smile :) And maybe one day I can buy the whole bunch :)

Here's the print names :)

1-Annie's Farm Stand Pink Ring Tone Yardage-Pink

2-Ruby Cotton Lime Sundae Yardage

3-Woodland Teal Toadstool Houses Yardage

4-Butterscotch & Roses Ruby Acorn Mosaic Yardage

5-Pear Tree Cream and Orange Allover Eggs Yardage

6-Circa 52 Organic Cream Woodland Party Yardage-CREAM

7-Kona Cotton Cardinal Yardage

8-Happy Mochi Yum Yum TangerineCandy Yardage

9-Sketch Aqua Screen Texture Yardage-Aqua

10-Kona Cotton Bubble Gum Yardage

11-Far Far Away III Plum Guitars Yardage

12-Sew Cherry Green Sew Dots Yardage-GREEN

13-Sweet on NYC Grey Swirl Yardage-GREY

14-Kona Cotton Banana Yardage

15-Folk Heart Red Floral Lattice Yardage

16-FQS Logo

To You and Yours~

and a Blessed New Year!

May the Reason for the Season fill your heart with peace and joy!

I hope it's filled with smiles, hugs, and those you love.

Winter Woolies :) eppppp!

I have been itching to buy the Winter Woolies pattern from Miss Kerry over at http://www.verykerryberry.blogspot.com! She is a paper piecing hero to me! I really want to focus and learn paper piecing more this coming year, and I love following her and seeing the amazing things she come up with :). Her skier is one of my favorite pieces ever!! I saw this pattern and knew I was destined to try it! I had to make a gift, well, didn't "have" to, wanted to make a gift for an incredible teacher we know and thought this would be perfect.

I increased the pattern by 200%. The pieces were still small- I can only imagine how tiny they would be in the normal size ratio :). But I loved it- so well written and explained. I have never used freezer paper- tried foundation piecing once and did not like it much. I looked at all of Kerry's tutorials on freezer paper piecing and went for it! I must say, I loved it! So much better and easier than foundation. I'm hooked!! :) Yipee!

The finished product is 12x24 inches and could be a wall hanging or a table topper. I don't have Christmas fabric, but wanted it more for general winter use anyway, so I loved the color combo I used :). I hope this teacher smiles when she gets it :). I think she will. Here it is:

The hat section - so fun and love the added button she suggests :)

The scarf section- I love all the stitching that brings the personality into the piece :)

The mitten section- such cuteness!

I backed it with a favorite vintage sheet- just the right amount of vintage yumminess added in :)

A Thrifing Chair

I love thrifting antiques that make my home more "cozy". My mom has a chair that I have always loved, and when I saw this:

I knew it would be close enough. It is an old rocker- so old, it leans back too far when you sit in it- how would you ever rock in this?? I am nervous I'll top over :) hehe! But I love how it looks in my front room.

It was covered in a gosh-awful print, from the 80's or 90's. I started ripping off layers of fabric, hoping to find a beautiful vintage print. I did, but it was so stained and soiled that washing would have torn it up. Drat! So, I got creative. I love corduroy and have an antique velvet chair in the same room this burnt rust color. I grabbed my matching corduroy, and since there was not a piece big enough, gave it a corduroy black strip for eye appeal. I really like how it turned out. And who can beat a free chair covering :) YAY!

Some Quilty Christmas Decorations

I LOVE Christmas and decorating!! You should see my house. Every room says "Christmas". There are nativity statues and displays and there are 5 large trees- from 6-12ft. So joyous!! As I have come to learn and love quilting so much, a few of the decorations now jump out at me. Here are two quilted that I appreciate even more:

And isn't this Santa so stinkin' ca-ute!! The same talented lady made them both, and they came out of her head (as far as I know)!! WOW! They really give the handmade sense of Christmas around here, and that's just how I like it :)!! Happy season to you all!

Vintage Fabric Finds :)

As you are well aware of, I LOVE thrifting- it has become something I can only let myself do once a week, or I would drag the family everyday! And homework must get done- hehe! The past few weeks I have found some wonderful sheets that I am busy putting FQs into my shop from. I also found some sheets that were added to "my" stash that will become quilt backs, etc. This one SCREAMED out at me as I walked past! Angela (http://www.cuttopieces.blogspot.com) says her fabric talks- well, then it only seems right that vintage sheets can also communicate. And this sheet SCREAMED!! :) It also jumped right into my cart! I adored Strawberry Shortcake when I was younger, and still love the original especially. I even have all of the scented dolls from my younger years out that I can grin at and remember the "good ole days"! Anyway, here it the screamer:

Isn't it just wondermous??!! I think it's gonna make a great quilt!

Another love of my dolly days was Cabbage Patch Kids- I had 13 of them- from twins to a Preemie, to an astronaut, to several boys, to an International one, and the list goes on! So when I saw this, it talked too! (Not screaming, but talked firmly) And jumped in the cart! :)

Such fun and such great memories!

Then I found 2 pieces of fabric that really made me smile. The first is a circus theme, and while I am not a fan of the circus, I loved some of the animals on it. They will be very fun once cut up and in a project!! The bird clinched the purchase! (and it was only $1.50 or something like that- not bad for almost 2 yards!)

And the other piece was this Disney print. The alphabet mixed with the pink background and characters was too darling to pass by! And it's a thicker weight fabric too! So fun!

The style is Very ME!

So along with all the sheets, there are bits and pieces of memories and glimpses of the past that make me smile! Hope you smiled some too!

My Goody Bag

I have been so stressed about getting my Goody Bag to my partner, and it's still crossing the ocean! I hope it gets to her soon! Almost 2 weeks in process! :) But mine came from {Safieh} this week and I LOVE it!! My partner researched me very well to know what I like. It's so perfect, I don't want to use it :) I have it hanging in my sewing half-room so I can see it and smile. She also made me this precious zipper pouch- LOVE zipper pouches too!! How awesome! And lots of pink scraps came in the package too! IT was a GREAT mail day!! (Smile)!

I had a great swap and look forward to more :)