First Day....

I finished the top and pieced the back for Challenge #1 quilt, but no show until its completely done, that's how I decided. My weekend plans changed a bit, so the amount of sewing I thought I would get done was limited. Also, I've had something with my right arm, knot in the muscle that would only go away after several hours with heating pad and gentle massage. This has been going on for more then a year every time I get too busy with my hands in the kitchen or around the house. It is very frustrating because it means I can only wash so many dishes at the time, or only clean the house part by part, which does not get me far. I know it sounds like a great excuse, but believe me, it's not. :)
Sewing doesn't hurt though..I am not sure about quilting a large quilt :(

Today was my first day at school as a graduate student. I am really excited to see what all this would bring. I know I need to get ready for a lot of reading, writing, and more reading..

And so tonight, instead of tackling the quilt, I will rather sit in my favorite spot on the sofa with my heating pad, articles to read and yummy mandarins.

I am going to leave you a link with a pretty cool video that explain just a bit what I do..

I use tools like they present in the video to study plants and tree's spatial distribution and how factors such as climate change affect their growth, spread, and regeneration.. and such...:)

I guess, I just wanted you to know...

Progress...

I am moving along with my first 2010 quilt. I hoping to start quilting this weekend or possibly tomorrow. I was a bit concerned since these are not the usual colors I like to work with and not all of them together, but I am liking what I see so far. Don't you love it when you discover new combinations of color?



I am enjoying to be back in the rhythm of cut, pin, sew and iron, cut, pin, sew and....



Thanks to Emily, I have joined the group Cancer is Sew Done. More sewing for a great cause and checking out new blogs. I have already found some great new ones.




Visit Cancer is Sew Done

Challenge #1

What?
- to make a quilt

Inspiration?
- the quilt is a past due Christmas present; it should match this Ikea fabric that is used for window treatments in the room where the quilt will reside



Pattern?
- after searching on line, I have decided for Denyse Schmidt's Hop, Skip and a Jump like this one


Material?
- as my challenge this year requests, no buying of a material allowed, so I searched my stash and found these



- my initial thought was to use only solids, which I think would look great, but I am not allowed, so what else to do?
- the recipient of this quilt loves bright colors and crazy patterns, so she should like these


I can't wait to see how this turns out, but first - the laundry.

PS: Oh, and that cute sleepy ace on the sofa? Our new addition - Zora.

One last finish of 2009...

I had this quilt top done for almost two years , well without the appliqué on it. It all started when I decided it's time to learn how to quilt my own finished tops and was looking for some inspirational quilting patterns. This way before I even tried free motion quilting, so an interesting straight lines, that was all I was looking for. I flipped through a book in Borders (I don't remember exactly, but it could be Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) where I found the inspiration for this one. There is not much of a pattern, but I loved the quilting of the one in the book, which was a simple square spiral starting in the middle going to the sides of the quilt.



Unfortunately, you can't see it on the pictures for two reasons mainly. One, the pictures were taken with my phone and two, the fabric in the middle is re-purposed window treatment and therefore was washed many times already, which explains the lack of crinkles. However, I loved the way this turned out, but for whatever reason this quilt sat unfinished for two years. It was sometimes in September when I realized that it would be a perfect fit for my future mother-in-law's living room. I made these two pillows for her last year for Christmas.



So the only thing I had to do was somehow marry the quilt to the pillows. I decided for yo-yo flowers appliqué. The stem is a simple vintage ric-rac which I bought about a year ago in the thrift shop and the leaves are from left over fleece that I used two winters ago for our dog's coat. Backing fabric is one of many given to me by friends and family of some past quilters and binding was another thrift store find from about two years ago.



I love when my thrifted purchases wait and find their perfect place one day.
So, I guess this quilt could count in for my challenge except it was done in 2009.

Challenging...

Hello 2010!

As I said, I have a lots of ideas in mind for crafting this year. I was inspired by one of my Christmas presents. Many of you probably already seen the movie Julie & Julia or read either one of the books that are out there. Well, until this holidays, I did not. And so, as I watched my copy of the movie while my own blog have been abandoned for couple of months, I decided to change something.
I finished watching the movie on Christmas Eve, well it was 4 am so technically it was the Christmas Day, my head swelled up with ideas and questions of how could I inspire myself to keep blogging and sewing even though time and money are going to be tight in 2010?
It didn't take me too long..., but I kept it simple.. Now, I have no desire to write a book or making a movie, oh no. All I am in for is an inspiration, something that will keep me going when another crazy semester starts and my free time shrinks to almost nothing as well as my energy level.

So here is my challenge:

Use up as much as possible and only the existing fabric and material, meaning what is home, here, ready for me to use.
And yes, there is plenty for me to do for a whole year, believe me.

I am working on my "to do" list that I can hang somewhere near.
Also, this challenge of not buying any new material can't affect the quality of the projects/ quilts crafted, rather should make them unique and more interesting.
I feel that my challenge is not going to be the fact of not buying anything new, since as I mentioned, I will have to use my grad student resources for survival only. However, the challenging part should be the one of creating with what I have. How will I do when I will miss that perfect shade of green or need more of the color/ pattern I already have. I do understand that certain sewing supplies will be needed as my current stash will dwindle down, such as, thread and batting, but maybe I will try to focus on the quilt tops then and wait with quilting as resources will allow.

So, wish me luck!

...and another year is over

2009 for me, was the year of transition:

• the year, that I started surrounded by my close family after being apart for a long long time, at least for a few days
  
• the year that started very well on the crafting front, but ended very poorly
• the year of the best harvest ever in our little garden
• the year of many firsts: first fishing trip, first salsa made, first research trip ever, first time in Canada, first time kayaking, jumping of the cliffs, first real presentation on the conference, first time grad student
• the year when new plans were made
• the year, when one career ended and the new is starting
• the year that I abandoned my blog for the longest time ever...

..., but even-though managed to create something.

The year that will be over in several hours...

Right now I am full of expectations on what is waiting for me in 2010, since I already learned not to plan too hard...
However, I have a lot in mind for this little space of mine and hope I can share...

Let's start fresh tomorrow...

100th post and a giveaway winner...

I would like to thank you for participating in my first, but definitely not last giveaway. I enjoyed reading your comments and the various ideas for those fun fabrics.



I cut 22 different fabrics in various amounts from quarter yard to about a half yard.
I used the random number generator to find...

The winner ....Bumble Beans

I am sending you an email as I am writing this. I sure hope you will enjoy these.

I spent my weekend preparing for a big camping trip to Canada, but I was able to harvest whatever was in the garden and produce some yummy salsa.

Now is 1am and I am leaving tomorrow early morning. I will be missing from this space for couple of weeks, but will be back full of motivation. I am taking along my new toy to keep my hands busy on those long rainy days - yo-yo maker. On that later...