Sat.Ur.Day!!!

I love Saturday. I love a day where I can (sort of) do whatever I want. I have some sewing planned for today, but I usually like to have no plan and just fly by the seat of my pants (pajamas?).

I can't wait to start on some paper-piecing and some FMQ-ing on my broken dishes quilt. I also would love to have time to go to Joanne's to pick up some more Kona solids for my solids bee.

I got some lovely gifts for my birthday. I think people were under the impression that my "greeness" extended to my thumbs, because I got a huge geranium plant from work and my father got me an Italian Heather plant. Oh, and my mother-in-law got me a tiny rose plant that can be planted in the garden as well. I guess I have to work in the garden a little today. I also got a DVD of vol 1 of Pinky and the Brain and a DVD of Jab Tak Hai Jaan - a new (newer) Bollywood movie staring my favorite actor, Shahrukh Khan. Here is a clip:

I love Bollywood movies. They are long, so you feel like you get your monies worth, they have singing and dancing, they have really dramatic, soap-opera-type-melodramatic acting, which I love and they have SRK!!!

I hope to be able to watch some of my new movie today.

Happy Birthday!

Finishes and more

So... for the second month in a row I have forgotten to link back to the lovely year of finishes. I also failed to finish Penn's broken dishes quilt in April.

 I did manage make some bee blocks - one that I'm really proud of, too:

a paper-pieced star.

I was so inspired by making this block that I just signed up for a paper-piecing bee. I can't wait to see how these blocks turn out. The only thing that I don't like so much about paper-piecing is that the technique seems to waste a lot of fabric - or you end up with a lot of small, oddly shaped scraps to use up. I will have to start making something with all my scraps - a project for another day.

In other news, my birthday is tomorrow and my last day of work will be May 10th. I'm really excited to get back to being a stay-at-home-mom. I think Penelope likes the idea, too. We will have a great summer filled with swimming and going to the zoo and the aquarium and the children's museum, etc... I can't wait.

This month, I plan to finish Penn's broken dishes quilt - I know I've said it before, but I'm really gonna do it this time. Linking up to the Year of Lovely Finishes.

batik broken dishes quilt

Cheers!

WIP Wednesday

It's Work in Progress Wednesday and I'm stuck at work. I'd love to be at home sewing and knitting and enjoying the sunny day, but I'm here setting up webinars and video conferences. Sure, it all seems glamorous and wonderful, but it's not. It's not so easy bein' an IT professional/Green - whichever you prefer at this moment.

I think this is residual funk from Monday. I really need to get over this hump - what do I do?? I think I'm going to have to have another giveaway to get some more readers.

funkity funk-funk

And we have a winner...and stuck in the funk

Thank you to all who commented on my blog and entered to win the Comma charm pack. Mr. Random drew number 82 - Cloud 9. I have informed her and she will receive her prize later this week.

I had so much fun both doing the hop and the giveaway that I'm planning my next one. I hope that you will all come back and enter.

There were so many lovely comments about my April Showers mug rug that I'm feeling a little mug rug let down now. I have a few projects working, but I'm feeling a little less than inspired. Work is a little bit stressful, my pretty princess has been sick, we got a new (giant) puppy and sewing has not been something that I've wanted to do. I kinda wanna do this: 

giant arm knitting - doesn't this look amazing?

I started knitting some socks - something I usually love to do, but I hadn't made socks in a while and kinda forgot how. The second one will be much better.

Do any of you ever get the sewing blahs? What do you do to get out of your funk?

Sew uninspired.

It's raining, it's pouring... no, actually it's not.

I'm excited today to talk about two things that I've never done before. Today, I'm participating in my very first blog hop and I'm hosting my first ever give away of some of my favorite fabric. 

Firstly, my April Showers Mug Rug:

Undercover mug rug

pretty and functional

This mug rug was made with Piper by Dear Stella. It's a gorgeous fabric line with great color. So modern and chic, it's just screaming for me to make it into a full-size quilt.

This was my first foray into flying geese blocks. I liked making them a lot, I'm just bummed that I clipped off the points with the rest of my sewing. The "flippy corners" method that I learned on Fons and Porter seemed to not leave enough fabric at the top. I will have to try again - I'm sure it's user error and not anything that Marianne Fons did. I did some hand embroidery of the umbrella handles - I've been enjoying doing the hand stitching embellishments since I made my hexie pillow.

I used mono filament thread for the quilting on the front. I think it shines enough to make the straight line quilting look like raindrops. I'm very happy with this mug rug and I plan to use it at work.

And now on to the giveaway...

Please leave me a comment at the end of this blog post to win a charm pack of Comma. Just leave any old comment, or you could tell me what you would like to make with this lovely pack of 5" squares.

 Also, don't forget to check out all of the other bloggers on the hop today to see what they are up to.

Wednesday, April 17
Jen @ Quilter in the Closet
Marjorie @ Marjorie's Busy Corner
Elita @ A Pieceful Perspective
Green @ So Sew Green
Mara @ Greco Mara
Wendy @ Why Knot Kwilt?
Gmama Jane @ GrandMama's Stories
Debby @ Debby Kratovil Quilts
Britt-Inger @ Hill Valley Quilter
Connie @ Freemotion by the River
Beth @ Words and Stitches
Kathy @ iHeartSquishy

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to visit anytime.


I actually forgot to say that I will be choosing the winner of the charm pack on Monday, April 22 @ 3:00 PM so you have until then to leave me a contest to enter to win the lovely Comma charm squares. Good Luck!

Slowing down

I am slowing down on my sewing for this month. I seem to have a lull in the middle of the month where I don't accomplish much. I still need to finish Penelope's quilt. I hope to have a bit of time to work on it tomorrow before I have to go back to work on Monday.
Also, we adopted a puppy today and she will come home to us on Tuesday. I need to puppy-proof my house a bit since we haven't had a puppy for about 15 years.

Here she is - no name yet.

I did finish my April Showers mug rug in preparation for the blog hop - my day is Wednesday. I can't wait to show it off, I think it turned out great. I'm also planning a giveaway - so stay tuned for that.

Happy Sewing,

April Finishing Goal

Alright, alright, so I missed my goal setting for last month - I did complete a lot of stuff, though.

This month, I would love, love, love to finally finish quilting and bind Penelope's broken dishes quilt. I have basted it, it is just waiting to be quilted. I really want my girl to have a quilt that I made. Here is a photo of the top:

Broken Dishes flimsy (top) waiting for quilting/binding/finishing

I had a lot of fun making the top and I would love to make another broken dishes quilt in the future, but this one has been waiting around since October to be completed. It's kind of an albatross at this point. I will be so happy when it is completed.

So... here's to me and let's hope that I can finish this quilt this month!! Can I get a woot-woot?