Seahabilitated

I don't know about you, but I think we all need a tropical vacation!  Imagine the salty water, the mist from the waves, the tropical ocean blues...now back to reality!  As much as we would love sunsets and palm trees, we have to be practical.  A vacation like that takes months and months of planning!  Thankfully with a little imagination, the perfect color combination and maybe a glass of wine or two, we can at least dream!

This colors in Seahabilitated has me pining away!  Bring on the surf!!  Kona Lapis, Sour Apple and a hint of Breakers!  Add in to the mix Anna Maria Horner's Loominus and honestly...I can't get enough!

Once I settled on a design, I ended up expanding on it with a bright border to tie in with the center.  Adding the geese and having them 'chase' around the quilt was an easy choice. 

It was fun to use some fabric that has been sitting around.  The colors are just strange enough together to work.

I'm becoming less scared of free motion quilting and much more willing to take chances. I'm not sure what you would call the quilting design, but it was fun to do.  The random funky flying geese came to me towards the end.  A little twist!

I have to say that I love the combination of of the green thread against the backing!  It may be my new favorite color combination!

Way back when I bought a scrap pack of Loominous at Anna Maria Horner's shop ~ Craft South. I've used it in a couple projects (small ones), but was lucky enough to have enough of four different colors to put in to this quilt.  Isn't it amazing how far you can make a few scraps go?!  I guess it helps when you are being frugal with them!

I'll bask in the fantasy of laying on a beautiful beach while looking at this one.  

Seahabilitated
36" x 36"

I rarely ever go anywhere, let alone on vacation.  My first choice is always the beach, tropical and sunny.  Where would your dream vacation be?  

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A Personal Touch

After finishing my Polaroid Blocks for a swap, the next step was preparing for a send off! Each one was to be tucked into a greeting card and popped in the mail.  The problem there...I didn't have any greeting cards on hand.  They aren't something I have readily available at home. That meant I needed to buy 19, or channel my inner creativity and make my own.

For some reason I have stacks of blank envelopes.  I'm not sure where they all came from, but there they were sitting for years.  When I saw how many there actually were, I knew I needed to come up with a clever idea.  

Thinking...thinking...thinking!  Then I saw it!   A glint, a shine, a sparkle caught my eye! Metallic card stock!  (Which had also been sitting around for years.)  Fantastic!  

Now what?  A simple something.  Not a lot, just a personal touch along with the Polaroid Blocks.  Of course it would involve fabric...of course!  I came up with a banner with flags!  

First off, I needed to cut my card stock to greeting card size.  Easily done with a paper cutter.  

After folding each one, I found just the right size 'tool' to make a curve for my banner flags.  I used my Hera marker and a pan lid.  

This gave the perfect curve and perfect guide to hang the flags.  I thought if I had used a pencil or marker, it would show when I attached the flags.

Now for the flags.  I found that the tip of my diamond ruler worked pretty good for the size and shape.  Quite some time ago I started cutting my scraps in to 2", 2 1/2" and 5" squares. So I pulled out the tote and grabbed a stack of random prints. 

There is glue involved!  But not enough to make a sticky, icky mess on the fingers!

I put a dab of glue at the top of the flags to secure them to the curve of the banner line.  I don't want them shifting for the final step and thought glue was so much better than my finger holding them down.

The final step, sew the suckers down!  A simple line of thread through the sewing machine was the finishing touch!  The needle in my machine needed to be changed, but not until after I finished the cards.  

That's it!  Nothing to it!  I made enough for the swap blocks, but plan on making more to have on hand.  I sometimes need a simple 'Thank You' , or 'Thinking of You'...or 'Hey You' card!  

Last night I addressed each envelope and happily tucked each Polaroid Block inside the cards.  They may not be fancy or Hallmark worthy...but they were lovingly made to add a personal touch and maybe, just maybe put a smile on someones face!  

Have you made greeting cards before?  I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and what you did!

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Scrap It Out

I've been playing around with my hand dyed scraps the past couple days. Trying to think of something spectacular to make.  Or just something. Until I can get back to the dye pots (hopefully mid-June), I've made it my mission to whittle down the scraps pile before I let myself have fun. 

Here is part of the scraps.  They don't look very impressive, pretty dull picture really.  I should have staged it and pulled the bright ones out!  

First, I have to start with something.  It's taken me days to get a couple ideas together and made.  There has been little time to work through the ideas.  

My husband and I decided it was time to cut down and dig out the bushes in the front of the house.  There is a total of six and they are the size of a mini cooper car!  The years have been good to them, but they have been having issues.  We weren't sure how awful it was going to be...so we took a chance. 

The first day we muscled one out and got a pretty good feel for the project.  In the process I got stung by a bee on my chin.  It was fine until yesterday.  All of the sudden it decided to swell up and itch. Honestly I feel like Dudley Do Right ~ although it doesn't look that bad! Just feels that bad!

Yesterday we got two pulled out.  I thought I made it through without injury only to hit myself in the shin with the shovel!  I bruise so easy and you can imagine the colors appearing right before my eyes, along with a sweet knot.  Visual:  think of Olive Oyl with goosebumps. (someone remembers, right?)

Today another two came out and I survived!  Just a blister and a few scratches!  Last day will be tomorrow!

Back to scraps...

I scraped together enough large pieces for a triangle baby quilt.  It will be layered and quilted at a later date!

I had pieces left from the edges of the triangles and many from previous triangle projects. Why not sew them together?  Make some Half Rectangles Triangles and see what sticks!

I ended up with several different sizes.  Seriously I haven't a clue what I'm making then or now!  But its fun and challenging!  

I could do something like this.

Or maybe even this.  This would involve partial seams though.  Do I want to go there again? You bet I do!  (at least to try it out)

Tried, easy and not too shabby!  I will make a tutorial for this one!  Still waiting for that brainstorm to hit ~ I'm leaning towards a sampler type quilt.

With my new found love of paper piecing, I wanted to try double geese.  These went together pretty quickly!

Medallion quilt?!  

Don't you love indecision?!  It is sometimes hard to have a concrete, solid plan. Being bound and determined to 'Scrap It Out' has its downside or up side?!  Depends on how you look at it.  Right now I'm playing and playing is good!  I'm on the up side today!

Who likes to 'Scrap It Out'?  Do you have a serious plan before starting?  

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Functional Scraps

Using scraps is a thrill.  When you can make something with those precious scraps, to me its not only exciting but rewarding as well.  The 'Scrap Movement' has hit full force in the blogging world.  At least is seems that way to me!  

My latest scrap buster involves pot holders.  Very functional, don't you think?  Its a great way to use scraps, get some color in your life and protect your table!  

These are still in the process of getting the binding sewn on.  Yes, by hand...I know, I know!

I'm a sucker for red and black.  I LOVE this set!  The quarter circle won me over. Seemingly simple, yet a lot going on.

Black and white with a subtle touch of red.  A while back I had an idea for a black, white and red quilt.  It never did come together for me.  So, I decided to use some of the pieces I made for these pot holders.  

This abstract design and color combination is very, very popular!  

...and lastly, stripes.  My nightly routine:  hand sewing the bindings!  

I realize that I have been going overboard on the red and black combination this month.  

I can't get enough...until now!  

I'm anxious to move on to a different color!  Something BRIGHT!!

Do you ever get 'hooked' on certain colors?  

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Putting Scraps To Use

Scraps are as much a part of quilting as water is to a fish!  Scraps, scraps, scraps.  We all have them, we all love them and we all wonder what to do with them.  Mine seem to multiply seemingly over night.  Do yours?!  At the end of every year I go through the agonizing sorting process.  Keep, use or toss.  I use to keep every little bit, and I mean every one.

I have been doing two things with my favorite scraps.  For the prints that I love and cannot part with, I have been cutting into 2 1/2" squares.  Solids have been cut into 5" squares. Both sizes are neatly stored for future projects!  Good start to the scrap pile.

My first scrap project are these red and black placemats.  There is something about that color combination that I like.  Classic.  Never out dated.  Making placemats is a perfect project for scraps.

I paired the red with black and began the piecing process.  Simple panels of red and black.

Strip piecing works great for these panels.  I never make any two a like.  I choose to pieces smaller pieces and mix and match so that each placemat is different.  I could save myself a lot of work...but then again I never seem to follow the easy path!

Red, black, red, black.  Repeat eight times!  

Eight done.  Eight different.  Eight the same.  I am still in the process of hand stitching the binding to the back, but they are well on their way to completion.

So.....why quit there?  I'm on a scrap mission!  I'm on a roll!  I decided a different color combination was in order! 

Orange, brown, gold...ewwww!  It sounds so dated don't you think?  Not necessarily.  I made a quilt using these colors.  You can check it out here.  The quilt is surrounded with off-white, but who wants white placemats?  Spills would be way too noticeable!  I'm going with a chocolate brown.  Perfect for spills and the perfect color to highlight the panels.

Using mostly Kaffe Fasset Shot Cottons, I began what I refer to as my 'mosaic' piecing. Each placemat gets 3 mosaics in 3 sizes.  Each different.  24 mosaics.  (going for the gold...8 placemats again!)  I am a big fan of the broken frame design.  The off-white not only sets the mosaics off, but the tiny brown frame makes this design for me.

I'm thinking the brown was a good choice.  What do you think?  At least they won't have to be washed as often as white!

There you have it!  Another 8 ready for the binding pile.  I didn't make a huge dent in my scraps.  I most likely never will.  Again...scraps are a part of quilting!

What do you do with your scraps?  I would love some to hear what they are!

Scrap:  a small piece or amount of something.  One that is left over after the greater amount is used.

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