The Paper Piecing Epidemic

Last night's CMQG meeting reminded me I never shared with you this piece I did for LAST month.


I did a tutorial on paper piecing, and included this in the "alternative ways to use paper pieced blocks" category. The pattern is this one, and the goldfish embroidery is my own addition.

Speaking of CMQG, fellow member AnneMarie featured me at her blog today! Thanks, AnneMarie!

Hoop Up Round 2

I featured the embroideries I received in round 2 of Hoop Up here, but I never showed you what I made.

Theme: Quirky Creatures


I really wanted to do a squid for this one, and Dawn wanted it done in a monochromatic palette with charcoal. My favorite part was doing the French knot suckers.

Theme: Baby Girl Likes


This theme had a bit of 80s flair, which I was all over! June suggested rainbows, unicorns, cupcakes, princesses, etc. I dug out a piece of old stationary (which might have been my sister's, sorry Jen) and used it as inspiration.

Theme: Will Farrell Quotes


Anna Joy's husband is a big Will Farrell fan, so she requested a quote from one of his films with an image of him from that film. This one had me a bit apprehensive, but I ended up having such a good time researching and making this! I came up with a pretty good technique for taking a photo and altering it so I could trace it. I'm thinking this will come in handy for the 80s swap I just joined! The quote/image is from Blades of Glory. I had trouble deciding, but the other quote I was leaning toward is not necessarily safe for family! I can imagine that the quote I chose will bring up some uncomfortable topics anyway... ;-)

And I got one more piece to add to the mix. This beauty is by June, and is even more stunning in person.


I rearranged the hoops to make room, and now I am thinking I need to do one or two more in 4" hoops. Still deciding.


Maybe a small one on the teal linen?

My Dirty Little Secret

Wa-aa-aa-ay back at the end of February, Lynz gave me a blog award -- and then I had a bummer of a March. Now I am ready to do by duty by the Liebster Award...


"Ok, then, these are the *rules*: this award is meant to highlight small blogs. So the blogger receiving the award links back to the blogger who awarded him/her, and tags 3-5 people. For those I am about to award, I should also point out there is no obligation to continue this award. If this is not your cup of tea, don’t worry."

Thank you so much Lynz! I will do my best to hold up the high standard for which this Liebster Award is known!

I would like to nominate...April (who might be having a baby as I type this), Greta, & Jenn.

Also, Oona has bestowed on my the IAAT Award. This one is right up my alley...


From beangirl: These things have to start somewhere, right? Why not me? And I mean, I figure I can operate under the time-honored tradition of believing that what is highly annoying in others is totally fabulous in oneself. Ergo, another meme with which to blatantly promote oneself whilst simultaneously irritating the crap out of everyone else. Awesomeness.

OK, so before I answer the IAAT questions, I have to share with you my dirty little secret. Don't judge me.

I love shoes.

There I said it. I recently read that the average woman has 5 pairs of shoes. This seemed ridiculous to me so I did a little research, and found this article, that states the average woman owns 19 pairs of shoes. So I counted. Not including athletic shoes or flip flops, I have just over seventy pairs of shoes.

That seems like a lot. You're not judging me, right?


1) What size shoe do you wear? If you wear a size 7, can I borrow your shoes?
I wear size 10. No you cannot borrow them, I just read that the average human sweats a cup of liquid from their feet per day. Of course, most statistics I read aren't true (see above).

2) 30s or 60s?
Can I choose 50s? Really? Then how will I decide, cause I could be this or this.


3) Have you ever kissed someone you shouldn't have?
Well, it's probably not a great idea to kiss the dog, but she's so cute!

4) Have you ever been poisoned? Was it by the girlfriend of the person you kissed?? That is awesomely "Knot's Landing".
Damnit, no! Why is my life so boring! We're more Sesame Street than Knot's Landing around here.


5) Who's on your "Celebrity Free Pass" list (top 5)?
1. Hugh Jackman...He sings! He dances! He's Wolverine!
2. Ewan McGregor...He sings! He dances! He's Obi Wan!
3. Joshua Jackson (Pacey!!)
4. George Clooney...He's the closest thing we've got to Cary Grant...
5. Lifetime achievement award: Harry Connick, Jr. Since I was in 8th grade....

*edited to add* I laid in bed last night feeling bad that I forgot David Tennant. I mean, how will he go on knowing he's not on my list. So David Tennant is number 5 and Harry is in the lifetime achievement spot.

And this award calls for sassiness, so I am passing it on to: Courtney, Lynz & Michelle! Ladies, feel free to play along or skip it! But I do enjoy your sassiness! Thanks, Oona (who might have more shoes than I do!!)

Charming Cuckoo

Thanks for all your kind words about my Caravan fabric. I'm not completely giving up hope on it, just putting it away for a couple of weeks. I've got a couple of projects to start and finish in the next two weeks, so I had to get my sneak peak from last post done.

So without further ado:



Charming Cuckoo

When I saw the contest announcement for the March Moda Bake Shop Challenge, I knew it was kismet. I had just fallen head-over-heels in love with Hideaway. I quickly found a pattern on the Bake Shop called Charming Stars that seemed perfect.




The original pattern called for yardage to make the stars. I wanted to play up the gingham in the Hideaway line and I already had two charm packs. I was trying not to buy too much yardage, so I bought another charm pack. That meant getting really creative on how I sewed the stars to minimize waste, but it all worked out.




I knew I wanted to include embroidery in the quilt and was thinking I would have to design a cuckoo clock pattern. About a day later Aimee Ray released her cuckoo clock pattern. Kismet! I really drug out the stitching, which is why I ultimately missed the deadline for the contest (and somehow the linen I stitched on --originally the same white as the sashing-- became discolored), but I wouldn't love this as much without the embroidery so I am A-OK with it.




I happened to have a yard of the cute village print from the day I was introduced to the fabric, but I thought it needed a little something extra. These mini stars were just the ticket.




And I couldn't just meander around the embroidery, so I did a bit of stippling in each star and then quilted a series of chained circles in the sashing. I was thinking clocks but they look more like eggs. I'm A-OK with that, too.




Particularly because I think the quilted back is pretty cool. I talked myself into doing a solid piece of Kona for the backing -- this is meant to be a wall quilt, so the back won't be seen; Kona is cheaper than a good quality print, and little piecing means a fast backing! Now I'm really glad I did, and I'm thinking maybe someday I'll tackle a whole cloth quilt.




So Charming Cuckoo has me thinking April won't be se bad. I even got to take photos outside!


-- Post From My iPad

Don't let the door hit you....

March. BLARGH. What a crappy month.

I had a couple of disappointments at work, plus the world's shortest spring break. The weather has been super crazy -- it snowed TWICE this week!

I spent a bunch of time preparing my entry for Project Selvage. Maybe I was overconfident. Maybe I should have learned my lesson after Market. Regardless, I was not selected as a finalist.

Here's my entry, "Caravan."


Not coming soon to a store near you.

And I didn't finish my March Pattern Pact in time -- which I was also planning on entering in the Moda Bake Shop March contest. BLARGH.

Here's what should have been my entry, just needs to be bound before the official photo shoot...

So far, 35 hasn't been the best.