Thursday, May 26, 2011

Introducing "Crossroads"




It's finished! Pieced, quilted, and bound. I really need a real camera to show the true colors of this quilt. One day...
This looks like it may be my only entry in the fair this year unless I can get some major inspiration along with some free time. There is another in the works but I'm at a loss for design. It'll hit me....I hope.

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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Transformed!

Okay, so this project was just plain fun. Thursday I had to get out of the house so I went to Goodwill. I had been wanting to "redo" something. So I went to the picture frames and found 3 that I thought had some potential. Here they are again in their original state.


I got them home and cleaned them up then sat them out and stared at them waiting for inspiration. Aha! I got up and started gathering all my painting supplies, scrapbook supplies and well, just supplies. Then I just created, one of my favorite things to "just" do. The hardest thing was to wait for the paint to dry!
The first one I took was the square one. I painted it a cherry brown and then cut a piece of thick scrapbook paper that matched and framed it without the glass and the matte. Actually, I started with the paper and then picked out the paint.


I think it looks very classic and modern at the same time.

Next was the most fun. The matte had 4 cutouts the same size but alternating landscapes. I sifted through my supplies and found some 3-D beach stickers. Some were too big for the space but I found 4 that would fit perfectly. Next I found two coordinating papers to break it up a little. I painted it white and while each coat dried, I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the frame and adhered the paper and the stickers to the cardboard using the matte as my reference. When I put it together it was cute but the white frame with the white matte was too.....well white. So I painted it a kinda beachy blue. Perfect!.....no not quite. I took sandpaper to the edges randomly and exposed some of the white paint to give it a slightly weathered look. I love it. Again I ditched the glass.


The weathered look doesn't show up well here in the lighting of my dining room with my iPhone. But it looks cool.

Finally the biggest frame. I had my paper picked out for it way before starting it while I was looking for one of the others. I had to cover with white first but had originally planned on painting it a citron green and an orange in the original style to match the paper but after painting 2 sides decided it looked better plain white. So after a few more coats of white paint I had finished. Except it was too much space. It needed something. I remembered an idea I had seen in a magazine that had framed a letter. I didn't have a letter in my plethera of eclectic supplies. So I had to wait. Mom and I went to Girl's Night at JoAnn's last night and had a great time, even met Suede (I had no idea who Suede was but supposedly someone from Project Runway. My mom has decided to get some blue for her hair as well)


Sorry random people that made it into my blog.

Where was I? Oh the letter. So I got home after midnight and painted the letter white. I haven't attatched it because, well all of these frames are for sale and someone may want a different letter or color. But you get the idea...



So here they are




Would you have recognized them? Now to figure out what to do with the glass!

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Friday, May 20, 2011

Not my planned blog

Well, I am almost finished with a project I started yesterday that I am super excited about. Unfortunately I need one more item to finish. Here's a teaser though. The before picture.....



Okay, and maybe an in progress picture...



But, I do have another thing to show you. It's my special place recipes go when they are loved.


Some I rewrite, others are just cut out, but here are a few pages from inside.










Well, you get the idea. I've almost filled this book up and I've got dozens waiting for their special place!

Happy....recipe keeping!

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Organized!

Okay, so the tittle of this blog may be a wee bit misleading. I'm far from being completely organized...BUT I have found a good way to keep one area organized. If your a quilter, designer, crafter, baker, cooking show host wanna be...anyone....anyone....anyway, I'm sure you tear ideas and recipes out of magazines. For the longest time these ripped out pages of future projects and delicacies were stuffed into drawers, folders, or just laying around with no way of knowing what I actually had. Plus, I found some from what had to be a late 80's early 90's magazine that made me wonder why I ever wanted to make that!
I finally have something to help me. A divided 3-ring binder. Sounds simple. Why didn't I think of this before? I have these as my current sections..."Want" "Ideas" "Recipes" "Buisness Ideas" and "Holiday Ideas". Beside my binder I keep a 3-hole punch and a paper cutter, for those times my tearing technique provides a less than straight edge.



I understand (I'll never get all of these things done) I just don't care!

So they're in the binder, and the magazine is in the recycle bin. Now what? Well my recipe section seems to get the most out of control. So while planning my grocery trip I go to my recipe section and pick out a couple to make. If I like it, it goes to the keeper folder (this is another monster that I'm getting under contol...see an upcoming blog). If I don't, well into the garbage it goes.

Just a little idea that I thought I'd share. You may say, "Well duh! I've done this for years. You're just now figuring this out?". Yes....I'm just now figuring this out.

Well I have 2 Country Living magazines to go through.

Oh, and my sewing, quilting, and painting magazines do not get torn up in general. Maybe if there's a gadget I want but I keep these as whole as possible. :)

Happy Tearing!


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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Delivery!

Well my two little lap/reading quilts have been delivered! My dear friend Shayna's two girls,
Sophie and Phoebe, finally got the shower gifts that were slightly delayed.



You have to just love that little pig Olivia! I hope to have a picture of them with the quilts soon....hint hint Shayna!

Sadly, I've been dealing with strep throat the past few days so I haven't been feeling like doing much of anything. But today I finally got to my sewing machine and trudged along on getting the cross quilt quilted. I gave up and just did stitch in the ditch. I hate doing it. It's so boring! I tried to stipple....it was a disaster! And it takes forever to pull out, which I know first hand after I did just that when I decided it looked like crap. Now I have to bind it. It'll have a feature post when it's done.

Happy crafting!

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Yay! More Time to Procrastinate!

Anyone who knows me knows I get things done in time normally....just in time. I am a procrastinator! Well I thought my quilt for the quilt show had to be done by May 18th. Turns out my registration form is all that has to be in by then. The quilt itself isn't to be delivered till June 15th! That's almost a month extra to procrastinate! Wooohooo!

So what do I do when I procrastinate? I start new projects, what else? My next quilt, besides the AH picture quilt is this cute little thing...






I hope to mail my 2 special reading/lap quilts on Monday. They are long overdue gifts for a dear friend. Then I'll post pictures.

Happy procrastinating!




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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Binding...shortcuts don't always take less time!

Well I thought I'd be smart and bind a little reading/lap quilt by cheating a bit. I made a double fold binding strip, sandwiched, and sewed. First of all the seam isn't the same distance from the edge on each side. Ok, no big deal. The big deal was the last stretch. How not to have a raw edge. My method from my normal way of all machine binding wasn't working out. Well an hour of lots of folding and cutting later I gave up. I did finish it today but I had to add a new piece and it still looks shoddy in my book. I'm not posting a picture of the quilts (I made 2 but only got crazy with the binding on the last one) just yet because they are surprises for a friend. I just hope the friend doesn't look too close!!


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