Worthy Cause

If you have been following along for a while you know I work for a nonprofit that provides free surgeries to repair cleft lips.  I thought I would share with all of you a very cool app.  My charity has been lucky enough to partner with Johnson and Johnson for a while now and this app is just another piece in our partnership. But maybe helping with free surgeries isn't your thing-that's okay there are a lot of other great organizations that you can help as well.  Chances are you are sharing photos on instagram, facebook, and flickr anyway. Why not put those photos to work helping some great causes.  Here are a few of my favorites that have been donated this week.

The app is free and you can choose to share or just donate the photos through the app.  No mom you don't have to have facebook to participate in this one just download the app.  

WIP Wednesday

So we finally moved into our new digs at work.  I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to be out of what was defiantly a sick building and into a nice new space that is clean.  Better yet it's not an old warehouse so there is this thing called sunshine that actually makes it into the building.

I made a lot of good progress this week in the way of sewing and actually managed to finish up the top to my Sunny Trails quilt.  I really like this pattern and I'm a little disappointed that it's only baby size.  I don't know how I missed that when I decided to make this way back in 2011 but I guess now I have another baby quilt that will be finished and waiting should someone I know decide to have a little girl.

A few things about this pattern that aren't deal breakers but good to know.  The blocks actually rotate direction every other one but this isn't spelled out in the directions.  So if you are using a directional print like the text prints in the Sunkissed line I used you could end up with words going every other way.  Lucky for me I'm not the most patient person so I tried laying out my first row once I had four blocks made and saw the error.  So I made 10 blocks one way and 10 blocks the other so that the top went together nicely. There are photos of both blocks in the pattern but if you don't catch it you could wind up in trouble.

This was right after it was hung so I still have a lot
more treasures to fill it in

In other news the hubs helped me hang up the shelf in my sewing room.  It's hard to tell that it is a beautiful shade of pale aqua in the photos but I love it.  It gives me a place to put my quilting books and some gifts from some of my sewing friends.  I want to hang up a photo or two but it really does add so much to the space.

I was having a little too much fun on PicMonkey this week trying out the new Halloween effects and since I won't be back from Canada until the day before Halloween I thought I would go ahead and share my Zombie photo.  Besides Walking Dead is coming back this Sunday and its a favorite show for both the hubs and me so it seemed like a appropriate.

No we aren't really gray and covered in blood.

Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

Not So Sunny Trails

My birthday is in a little over a week and for some reason for the last few years I have freaked out about getting another year older.  Maybe it's because things are different then I expected them to be not bad just different.  Maybe it's because I start obsessing about all the things I still want to accomplish.  At any rate I tend to freak out.  Part of this years freak out has included this overwhelming need to finish outstanding projects.  I don't know why-maybe because I feel like I can't start new projects until some of the old ones are finished.

One of those projects that has been lingering around is my Sunny Trails quilt.  It's hard to believe I first started sewing these blocks back in 2011.  Sometimes I am amazed at just how long things have been sitting around unfinished.  I really thought this one was no more than a year old but in searching for the original post I found it in January 2011.  I started this quilt such a long time ago and unfortunately it has those stupid stitch and flip blocks in it and mine don't seem to be lining up.  I think that is one of the reasons I put this away to start with.  But now I have about half of the blocks made so I am sure I can finish this.

I think one of the hardest things is to pick up a project you worked on a long time ago.  As your skills improve you know these blocks aren't great.  But I love these fabrics and this pattern so I am just making it work.  Hopefully the quilting will make it a little less obvious and it won't be all bumpy lumpy.

Swaps!

I recently participated in several swaps.  Two of them were charm square swaps and I can't wait to make something amazing with my low volume charms and my Anna Marie Horner charms.  They are both going to be great projects at least in my mind but there are oh so many projects in front of those.

But I also had a chance to participate in two swaps where I made something special for someone else and in return got something made special just for me.  And let me tell you after not receiving a pillow in the swap I did with my local guild I had all but sworn off swaps.  These two packages more than made up for any bad experience I have ever had in a swap.  So I'm looking forward to participating in more swaps in 2014.

Look at this amazing sewing machine cover I got in the sewing room swap.  As soon as this one came up in the flickr pool I had added it to my favorites.  I mean whats not to love it has a patchwork sewing machine on one side and sew with a heart.  Plus it is made out of Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

Then in the Sew Sew Modern swap I got the best package of Christmas spirit you could ask for.  I've been in love with Camille's Christmas Stockings forever and have had them in my flickr favorites for a long time. So I was super excited when my swap partner actually made me a set of two for my little family.  She also sent a long a ton of great extra treats in the package.

WIP Wednesday & Catching Up

Whew where did the last month go?  It wasn't my intention to be gone for so long but things just got away from me.  The hubs ended up in the hospital-yes everything is okay now.  However, it just threw off my whole schedule.

I did finish up and mail out my two swaps packages.  The first is my Sew Sew Modern 3 package.  My partner asked for a market tote.  And I hope I didn't take one of the photos in her inspiration mosaic too much at face value but it was a fabric pull of yellow, gray, and teal.  I happen to think those colors look great together so I went for it in the market tote.  I also included several goodies for her.  I sent EOS lip balm in both of my most recent swaps.  Have you guys tried that stuff?  It looks a little funny because it is shaped like an egg and a lot of people will ask what you are doing.  But it gives you the softest lips.  They also make a really great shave cream just in case you wanted to know.

I totally forgot to snap a picture of my Sewing Room Swap package before I sent it out but I included a fabric hoop and wall hanging for my partner as well as lots of goodies.  That one had a long way to travel so I tried to keep it light weight but I hope my partner will still enjoy it.

Funny story-when I went to Target to get extra's for my packages they had these little magnetic boards in the dollar spot that were super cute.  So I picked one up for my partner when I got to the register they clerk scanned it and this big red box popped up on the screen and it wouldn't let her do anything else.  It said "DO NOT SELL PRODUCT!"  Talk about throwing you off.  I was like what does that mean-of course she had to wait for a manager who explained the item was to be pulled from the floor and so they weren't allowed to sell it.  Total bummer because they were super cute.  Impressive though because not only did she not let me buy mine she asked where I found it and immediately went and pulled them all from the shelf.

I also dropped three quilts off to the long arm.  One of them is a Christmas present so hopefully I will have it back in time.  The other two she told me I wouldn't get back until next year which is a little sad since one of them is my Swoon quilt.  But at least I know I will have some finished at the start of next year.

I found some Hello Betty in a shop on sale so I order enough to make up a backing for this little baby quilt. It's hard to believe I finished this quilt top in April of 2011.  I still don't have anyone in mind to receive it but I thought finding backing fabric from the same line after all this time was a good indication that I should rescue this one from the flimsy pile.

Now I can relax and start working on my next project.  Which my dad has told me has to be my mystery quilt.  My mom was finished with round 2 so we did open the envelopes for round 3 even though I wasn't to that point yet.  Overall I think it is going to be a pretty quilt when it's done.  I've seen lots of quilts in Chicopee around lately and I'm thinking I might need to make one too.  But I have so many quilts already planned and waiting or ones that need to be finished so I think maybe I should pull one of those out to work on.  Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.

WIP Wednesday

There hasn't been a whole lot of sewing going on in these parts.  I really need to buckle down and finish up my projects for the two swaps I currently working on.  I still need to make a market tote for one and another small item for the other.  The weather here has been crazy-it feels like fall outside so I was happy for the chance to work with some more muted fall colors.  I whipped up this little fabric hoop.  I wasn't sold on it so I posted this photo to flickr to get some feedback.

Turns out my partner liked it so I added some trim to the top and sewed a line through the patchwork to divide it into two pockets.  Still working out the back.  I'm not exactly sure the best way to finish it off but I'll figure it out.

Still haven't worked on that mystery quilt.  I know procrastination isn't exactly a stranger around here.  But I did sew up these blocks for a Piece of Cake quilt top.  I took Camille's class on craftsy so I figured I might as well make the rest of the patterns.  I had already made most of my Swoon blocks before signing up.

This one is going to be a Christmas present for family.  My husband's step brother and his wife.  They are one of the cutest couples I know and since they are living in Boston I really wanted to make them a quilt.  I've been debating what to make since they moved almost a year ago and finally landed on this.  Anyone have any great suggestions for backing?  All I had was a layer cake of authentic and after searching the web I haven't had any luck finding anyone who still has it.

That's it for me this week.  Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday

Somehow the weeks just keep speeding by and I feel like I have nothing to show you guys.  I took a little break from sewing this week to start to spruce up my sewing space.  Well I painted a shelf anyway.  I'm hoping that once it is hung I will have a place for some of my go to quilting books, precuts, and a few special treasures I like to keep in my space.  I'm also planning to hang some art on the walls-I have all of the tags from the precuts I have used in the past and I'm thinking a little shadow box or mosaic of them would be kind of cool.

So the shelf is actually a light aqua color-it's a little hard to tell in this bad iphone photo.  The color is Tropical Surf by Glidden just in case you wanted to know.  I was inspired to paint it light aqua by Camille's hutch.  She actually used a different color but when I was at the store I was afraid that shade would be too light and gray against my pale off white walls.  So I went with a color that had less grey and was a few shades darker.

In sewing news I did finish my Complications Quilt top.  Well maybe, it is done with the exception of the boarders which I decided to leave off.  Right now it is roughly 62 by 73.  I am thinking about adding a little more to two of the sides just to make it a little bigger.  What do you think?  Big enough for a lap quilt or does it need a little more?

The last tidbit of fun news here is that after a long search I finally found a bag of these chips.

I had been wanting to try them since the first commercial I saw.  Not a big fan but at least now I can stop looking for them in every store I walk into.

That's it for me this week.  Head on over the Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.