Just playing.

Been playing with new fabric lines again...no not in person...in EQ7.  

The following three tops all use "Cuzco" by Kate Spain - due from Moda in October of 2012

This one makes me think of watching my Mom get ready for a night on the town.  I remember lying at the foot of her bed watching her get dolled up.  Should she wear pearls or gems tonight?

 Yummy - this setting make my mouth water, like thinking about a bag of Jolly Rancher Candies.  Hugs and Kisses make me smile.

I took the border off and extended the little beads of color.  I don't know how to draw it, but wouldn't this look great with a curved edge?

busy, Busy, BUsy, BUSy, BUSY

I've not posted in almost a week.  So like me....I post in spurts....such is the life of a Mommy.

I know I am a few weeks early for a KiMOS report...so I won't share all...yet...just know that I have been working on Killing Mama's Overwhelming Stash!


I have completed one quilt for this challenge.

A sneak peek of my new quilt

I have adopted a warrior's uniform.  This is available for purchase from Amy Bradley's shop.

Buy it here

AND

I have a new place to play with my crazy KiMOS ideas....my beloved built this for me yesterday.



A design wall that hangs like a curtain in front of the boys nasty bathroom.  LOL  I can pretend that it doesn't even exist!!

Made for less than $30 out of PVC pipe, a chain, a couple of hooks, shower curtain hangers, grommets, and 5 yards of fluffy flannel.

Weighted at the bottom with the left over chain.

Gotta love that man!!

Off to play with my new design wall.

My Sincerest Appologies

There are 621 entries in this seasons Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Something like a dozen different categories to vote for.

And

Only one me.



I can't vote for all of them.  I have only gotten through half of the posts, if that. 

I have now voted...and I love all of the quilts that I voted for...but I know that there are others that deserve my vote as well.

I based my vote on what I like....duh...and who wouldn't...and scanned all of the entries before picking.

My thought....I'd love to win...but to win someone has to vote...if someone has to vote...then I'd better vote...and so should you...polls are open until the 30th.

If you are having trouble selecting a winner my linky number is 199.  Just sayin'

Bloggers' Quilt Festival:: Spring 2012

Right out of the dryer...all crinkly and fresh!

I debated about which quilt to enter....and decided on this one. It's quiltology is as follows:

Designed by: Me, Cindy Sharp

Started: approximately April 20, 2012

Finished: approximately March 5, 2012

Size: 85"x85"

Fabrics used: basically anything crazy orange, including but not limited to selections from Half Moon Modern, Pezzy Prints, Collegiate prints; and Bella solids white, and ash grey; and bouquet print from Flea Market Fancy.

Quilter by: computer guided long arm in Kim Diamond's Pinwheel Posies design by me

My inspiration was this beautiful girl and her successful completion of a four year degree in Ag Communications from Oklahoma State University, and the occasion of her moving into her very first, very own home.

Amanda - sporting her school spirit....on her feet.

During the quilt's construction I learned a few things about myself and quilting.

Revelation #1: I ask the wrong questions. When I decided to make Amanda a quilt I asked her if she still liked orange and what color would she pair with it. What I should have asked is "If I made you a quilt, what color would it be?". Although she loves orange, she has decided to decorate her new home in a calmer pallet of aqua, grey, and white. Oops.

Amanda's new decor goal

Revelation #2: I like hand work. Not a huge surprise...but I really enjoyed making the blocks for this quilt. I tried making the petals with one of the fancy Dresden rulers on the market. It worked, but I didn't like the look of so many petals...there were 20. I ended up making my own paper template and using the newly purchased ruler as a straight edge. I sewed the petals together by machine, then appliqued them and their centers to 14" squares for the blocks of the quilt.

One of 16, this block has 12 different fabrics in it's petals.

Revelation #3: I like scrappy. I had a ton of fun finding all sorts of oranges to include in the quilt. There are sock monkeys and Pistol Pete, and chevrons, tiny scissors, crazy plaids and stripes. I was afraid that the blocks were going to glow in the dark...but the grey subdued them. Using grey thread to quilt it helped a bit too.

Photo shoot with assistance from the wind...sans border

Revelation #4: The right border makes all the difference. ...

Flea Market Fancy making a border audition...perfect I'd say.

...as do the right tools. To make the center circles I used Karen Kay Buckley's "Bigger Perfect Circles" templates, and a circle rotary cutter. Holy smokes, who'd a thought that circles could be so easy?!

Revelation #5: Well, I don't have the right words to say this, so I will just blurt it out....I can make something beautiful.

Pre-washing, a finished quilt in the sunshine.

I am sincerely proud of this quilt...I've made many...and they are serviceable...my boys love them. But this one is a stunner.

A step back...the finished quilt before it's first bath.

I hope you enjoyed seeing it! Now off to another entrant. Happy browsing.



Click here to return to the festival

Just a tad distracted....

This is what I've been up to. See the boy standing on the left wearing sweat pants and a black hoodie? That is my Noah! (He is an athletic trainer with the team.)

The Howard Hawks are ranked #5 in the NJCAA. They are currently playing in their regional finals in Lubbock, TX. The games are being televised on www.psblive.com. We can watch them in the living room.


We have to get past a few more teams...games to be played later this week...and then maybe the Hawks will be flying off to Grand Junction CO for the NJCAA World Series. I wanna go! I have never, ever, taken my boys out of school for special events....this might be an exception! Come on Hawks, Mama wants a road trip.

I delivered the bright orange quilt and pillow cases that I've been talking about. Here they are....in their new home atop Amanda's bed.

I even finished the flower I was working on. I ended up finishing it during the party...no one cared. ...and I hand sewed the petals into place rather than hot gluing them. (I wasn't thrilled with the glue idea any way.

It doesn't quite work for me, but the girl is happy, so I am too.

Not much else going on here....back to work....

....pretty isn't it?!

Buzz, buzzz, buzzzz

I'm working like a fuzzy buzzer trying to get the pillows done for my niece. We get to see her tomorrow afternoon!

Just as I was finishing this...

I got a note asking if I could make these....

I sent her a link to The Fat Quarter Shop....to see what fabrics tickled her fancy. She responded. Dh and I picked out enough fabric to make two pillows and one big flower.

So far today I've made these...

The covers are a little bit big, but they haven't been washed, and I haven't seen her pillow forms yet. Between fabric shrinkage and poof the covers should be fine.

I still have to figure out how to make the flower. I bought a pattern, but the flower is only 8" in diameter. Wouldn't that look lost on a 16" pillow?

I have these fabrics to work with. Sooooo, grey flower on turquoise pillow or turquoise flower on grey pillow?

While trying to figure out how to make the flower, I played around with one of those flower makers that are on the market. This is what I came up with.

Maybe a grouping of flowers would work....but it would be very different from what she asked for. As is this....

 

I made it from random scraps of Dresden petals. Once I applique the circles down I will try to make a flower for the last pillow by enlarging this pattern.

Wish me luck!

Kill it quick!

Ha!  Made you jump.

All kidding aside, some of us have a serious problem. 

I didn't take my Mom seriously when she told me about hers. 

This is her.  Isn't she cute?  I love my mama.

So, I spent the day with her on Tuesday last. (Would you believe she took me seriously when I said I would help her out?!)  I headed over early (It is a good 40 minute drive) and got there in plenty of time to hang out for a while before we headed to lunch.  We chit chatted a bit...and then she showed it to me.

Ya, ya.  I'd seen it before.  Really.  I didn't get it.  I dug right in to work on it.  After about two hours, I stood up, stretched my back, and said, "Oh, this is a bit overwhelming isn't it."  Sorry Mom.  I should have believed you.

Are the rest of you dying yet? 

Mom and I have been quilting together for over 20 years.  She crafted before that.  That woman has had a threaded needle in her hands as long as I can remember.

When Dad was alive the two of them would go on extended vacations in their gigantic RV.  It was his goal to hunt down every brick and mortar quilt shop on the continent and take her to it.  Oh yeah...he let her shop too.  (Can you see where this is going?)  They had one of those books with a listing and he would mark them off with a yellow highlighter when he found them.

When I say, "Oh Mom, guess what?!  There is a new quilt shop in......"  She says, "Been there.  Bought this." 

Mom is a very prolific quilter.  I've been quilting for her for almost 6 years now...hers are the quilts that I put off when someone has an emergency and/or that I experiment on.  (My momma will still love me even if she doesn't like my quilting.)  In that time I have done at least 95 different quilts for her.  (That doesn't include the ones I just do and never document because...well...it's Mom.)

Even with all of the quilts she has finished there is still one incredible, bottomless, pile of fabric at her house.  Stash is the wrong word for it.  I spent two hours and pulled fabrics for 6 quilts and it didn't make even a little dent.

The pile that I brought home...

While I was under the mammoth pile I teased her that we should start a "Kill Mom's Overwhelming Stash" challenge.  Once a month we have to make something from this Goliath.

I thought it might be fun to invite my friends to play along. 

The lighthouse collection

I'm not doing a give away...are you kidding...you probably have enough fabric...the idea is to kill the stash not feed it.

The winter woods collection

I am inviting you to play along with us.  Share your ideas, trials, and tips for stash killing (an activity normally referred to as "busting"  a stash - This stash is way to big to be busted.  It needs slaying!)

Link in today to let me know if you want to play along....or don't....but it would be fun to know who is playing along.

The garden collection

Then, a month from now we will link up again to see what everyone has done.

I'll see if I can't create a cool "KiMOS" Challenge button.  (Kill Momma's Overwhelming Stash" is too long to fit on a button.) Please feel free to take this image and wear it proudly on your blog.

To join the ranks of Stash Warriors link up here... I hope I see you in the trenches.

Simple Pleasures

I must be sick. Who take a photo of their dish cupboard?

Someone with new dishes?! We bought pretty dishes to go with our new house when we moved in....14 years ago. I loved them. Lately, they have been looking a bit shabby. When did they get all of those chips and where did the design get off to? I mentioned it to my dh, who casually asked me about my choice for replacing them. On a lark I said Fiesta Ware. Wouldn't it be fun to have dishes that didn't match at all so that they always matched no matter how many pieces got broken? He must have felt flush...cuz he bought a set of 12 place settings, each one a different color.

As I was putting them up this morning it suddenly dawned on me that the stack of crazy color made me happy. It is like a quilt I can eat off of. I find myself wondering which color I will have lunch on. After some reflection, I think these suit us just right now. My life has changed.

25 years ago, when I was newly married and just setting up house, everything was sweet and girly. Our home was decorated in Mauve and Colonial Blue.....a.k.a. Pink and blue.....designs had soft edges and were thematically hearts and bunnies...fancy embroidery....lace collars.

Enter the toddler years and three little boys....I veered toward the whimsical and steadfast. Bunnies and hearts were replaced by kites, cowboys, and sailing ships. My brick-a-brack disappeared and the china was replaced with wood and wrought iron. (Things that are harder to break.) My color scheme got darker and bolder. (Hides dirt better) My storage system from pretty shelving to rubbermaid. (Keeps out dust and dirt, and is easier for little hands to help with.)

Now....my boys are mostly grown. Our home isn't so much decorated as lived in. The walls are lined with quilts. (Still very hard to break, but with the added bonus of increased insulative properties) Big quilts, mini quilts, quilts on old extension ladders, quilts as table toppers and runners. Quilts and colors are everywhere I look, and everywhere I look I enjoy another little quilt, another color, another swapping friend. They make me happy. (Way better than Prozac or Ephexor or diet and exercise ever did.)

It is all so different than where I started. Different than what I expected, although I don't know what that was. All of this to say that having a plan is nice...but, in retrospect, enjoying the journey is better.


That is one reason why I don't participate in the various WIP and UFO projects in blog land. I don't want to spend my time bemoaning how much I didn't get done. How much my life isn't going according to plan. I trust that the one who made me has it all worked out. No matter what I accomplish, His plans are so much better, that even if it looks like crap I am confident that it will be glorious eventually. I trust Him far more than I trust me.

Thank You Jesus for bright colors and clothes that fit off of the rack, and my home that makes me smile...even through the dust and dog hair and stinky boy socks.

Condensation-erator

New free "pattern" page above. 

Just in time for those long hot days of summer.

  Make my "Condensation-erator" and

 keep your workspace free from nasty cup puddles.

One down...Hello...

Can you tell that I am busy waiting, waiting, waiting?

What do you think of the new look?  I'm sitting at my desk looking out the front windows....waiting for delivery men to appear.

I like the wider format....and the blue isn't as severe looking as the brown was.  Maybe this is a nice look for summer.


Oh look!  The FedEx man!!  One delivery down.


And, just in case you thought I hadn't noticed you, WELCOME to all of the new members to my blog.  It is so fun to see your little icons lining up at the top of my page.  What a hoot....and not one of you a relative.

If I could remember how I would say a special hello to the folks from Russia.  I find it interesting that there are so many followers from that vast part of the world.  When I was 12-14 years old I studied Russian.  All I can remember now  is "Ya nehz nieyu."  Which I just tried to spell phonetically...Oh wait.....google knows everything....Я не знаю.  It means "I don't know."   I wasn't a very good language (or spelling)  student.  (Or maybe it is just a sign of aging.  That was a few years ago....oh my I shouldn't have done the math.)   Regardless of my skill at languages, Приветствовать.  I welcome you heartily.

Ta-done!

It made it through the wash without incident. (Thank you God!)

Today I get to start something new....or work on something old....but mostly I get to wait for the delivery guys. We have all sorts of stuff on the way to the house today. How much you want to bet that none of it gets here before 3:30 this afternoon?

I really like this quilt. It makes me happy. I can imagine my niece in her new home, her first real home on her own, snuggled up in this happy quilt and feeling just a little less like her family is 300 miles away.

Yester-year progress....

It has been one month since Christine at Quilt Monster in My
Closet issued the challenge.

This is what I have accomplished.




That's it. One block. That is all I got done on my yester-year projects. But it is one more block than I had done a month ago.

This feels good. Thank you Christine!

 

All in a days work....

I worked on this quilt today while I did laundry.

I got the center all done and thought I would take a picture of it in the sunshine.

But the wind wasn't playing nice. Just as the shutter clicked the wind tossed the corner up.

So, I took it inside and put it on my bed.

I want to add a border.

Would you believe I bought 6 yards of this and it was 1/2 yard short of what I needed to make the back and border. I had to go back to the quilt shop. Ratz.

When I got home I had an email from my niece asking if I could make some pillows for her bed. This is her new color scheme.

Oh well. She is a great kid and will love what I have already made. The backing might even blend in, in the dark, with the lights out. And it is big enough for all of her 5' 10" and the dog too.