Using it...

I already feel like a quilting rockstar with my new design wall....I sort of have a drunken, haphazard mess of HST on the wall yet I feel like a genius??  LOL...

I wonder if they will stick on there all night long...or will I find a pile of HST on the floor tomorrow???  Hmmm....

Happy Quilting....

Awesome design wall...

Well, won't you look at that???  My very own design wall....We used the tutorial from Oh, Fransson...We cut the 4'x8' sheets of foam into 4'x6' sheets...and seamed together with duct tape.

My Dad...measuring....

Instead of just pushing the foam onto the nails, we dug out the back of the foam a bit and inserted these things that you put on the bottoms of chair legs...just so the design wall wouldn't slowly rip through the foam and slide down the wall--it is a wee bit heavy...

Seamed the front with duct tape....in retrospect, should have gone with clear tape...turns out that batting isn't as thick as you might think!!  LOL...

So here I am painting the center line so it doesn't show through the batting....I'm really not that fat...the camera adds about 30 pounds you know....

Ta da....final dimensions are 6' tall and 8' across....It is covered in Warm 'n White batting...stapled and taped on the back side....

Pretty frickin' awesome, huh??  Happy B-day to me....You know, I'm turning 39 again!!

Me and my dog Buddy....Trying out the Rosie the Riveter look...Rebecca says it's more like Aunt Jemima...what a hater!!!

Anyhow, that is all for now!!  There is no excuse for me not making something really awesome in the near future... maybe we can look forward to Design Wall posts...

Happy Quilting!

Vintage sheets...

...are an addiction!!  I just love the pics on Flickr (search for vintage sheet groups).  Every day the doorstep has a few packages--fat quarters from Etsy, sheets from Ebay...I need to stop, but I can't!!  Check it out...

I know there is a little bit of creep factor if you think about the fact that someone might have (most likely) slept on these sheets at some point in time.  But after a hot wash, some Oxyclean, Downy and Bounce....well, they are reborn!!  The colors can be soft or vivid (some sheets are sold new in the package)...  It is very interesting...maybe I'll do a FQ vintage sheet giveaway soon....

My last day of the design floor is today...tomorrow my Dad is going to help me set up my new design wall!!  I've always wanted one but never had the space.... Our new house has lots of rooms and I now have plenty of space in my sewing room.... Bite me Freddie Mac!!  This is the PITA quilt that I'm making for my Mom....LOL...Beware of free online patterns...you get what you pay for!!

I still love fabric from the quilt shop, but for an old-timer, trying something different is refreshing!!  Just wait and see what I make from my sheets....if I stop online shopping!!

Design table...

Damn, I need a design wall!!  Dad...help!  I bought the foam boards today at Home Depot and they wouldn't fit in the car...so I had to go back in and return them.  That sucked...LOL...

Here are some of my HST vintage sheet blocks on the table.  It was late at night and the lighting is bad, but you'll ge the picture...

Anyhow, how much fun is this?  So much fun that I've been online shopping for vintage sheets--I spent wayyyyy too much money this weekend on old linens!  I-must-stop-going-on-Ebay!  I read that people can find nice vintage sheets at their local thrift shops...I haven't had that experience.  I can find lots of shirts--but no cute vintage sheets.  None.  None.  So I'm forced to pay way TOO much online, but it is worth it, right??

Ryan had the flu all weekend so I stayed in and got some cutting, sewing and painting done (in between cleaning up vomit).  I almost thought that I was looking forward to returning to work tomorrow...but then I remembered what is like and the feeling passed!!

Happy sewing!

Vintage Sheet LOVE!

I'm so inspired by the Jeni's blog In Color Order... she is young, talented, has an obviously great understanding of color and she makes me want to go back and be 20-something again!!  Such energy and such a promising future in quilting, in my opinion...

Anyhow, I've been reading her posts about using vintage sheets for quilts and I decided to take the plunge.  Here are pics of my recent purchases...  Most have come from Etsy shops (search vintage sheets or vintage sheet fat quarters) and a few from Ebay.  Rebecca bought me some for my birthday and I bought some during a few late night online shopping expeditions...

It is definitely different than working with quilt shop cottons.  They smell like polyester when you iron them...but they don't need to be ironed coming out of the dryer.  They are different weights...depending on use, or original fabric.  I think most are part cotton/part poly... I really need some orange, green and purple to round out my stash.  I've also ordered full size sheets from Ebay for backings, borders, backgrounds, etc.

You know, I love working with the plaid shirt fabrics for manly quilts--this is the girly version of that idea, I think.  I'll let you see what I'm working on as soon as I get some more HSTs together!!

Happy Quilting....

Block Swap...

We are doing a Block Party-like swap at the LVMQG.  I made my blocks for Sharon...but I can't remember the name of the line of fabric??  Anyone???

There are actually two blocks there...they are not sewn up the center.  ;-)  This was an interesting block... What is that fabric???  Ack!!!

EDIT:  My friend Cola sent me the link to the fabric: From Little Things...Thanks, Cola!!!

http://www.sarahfielke.com/products/fromlittlethingsfabric/


The LVMQG is planning a retreat to Utah in about a month.  I need to get together some "kits" of my own so I have something to work on... I've never been on a retreat before but I'm sooooo excited!!

Happy Quilting...

My pillow!

The LVMQG hosted a pillow swap and all of our finished pillows were revealed last Thursday.  We each picked an "inspiration fat quarter" from Quiltique and exchanged it with another guild member.  My pillow was made by Sharon from Sew Extreme... I LOVE it!!  Mine is the one in the front, with the white background and pink/orange strips.  It looks like a books on a shelf to me... :-)

I'm sort of inspired to make another pillow for the guest room...we'll see when I can get the time to get that done!  I had to steal this photo from the LVMQG site because I never can seem to get a picture during the day when the light is good.  I usually blog at night and without a good daytime pic I'm screwed!  I wrote this post several days ago but with out the pic...well, what good is a post with no picture??

Thanks, Sharon!!