Scrap Basket Sunday

My Scrap Basket Sunday is a bit pitiful today!  But I'm happy to participate because I'm hoping it will motivate me to get a move on some of these scrappy projects I have started and never finished.  One of those projects is my Crabapples quilt from Bonnie Hunter's book, Adventures with Leaders and Enders.

I began cutting out all these tiny squares about a year ago...shortly after Bonnie came to visit my quilt guild.  I was really motivated when I began cutting them.  I can't remember if I had cut all the fabric to make this quilt but I'm pretty sure there are enough squares here for all of the blocks!

It looks like so much but it is nothing compared to all of my scraps.  Here's a photo of my two scrap bins.  I cleaned up my sewing area yesterday and tried to put all of my piles of scraps into one area.

I told you I had a lot of scraps!  This isn't everything either...this was just the stuff I was motivated to actually put INTO the scrap bin.  Lol*  I did find a lot of fun scraps that I hadn't seen in a while though, that is always so fun!  I love to reminisce about the projects from when I first began quilting.  I tried to count in my head the other day how many quilts I've made - now not all of them were large bed sized quilts, but lap quilts, baby quilts, things I've sold, things I've given, quilts I've kept...it has to be somewhere around 100 quilts.

It was fun to play in the scraps today and I'm thankful to Kim over at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure for hosting our Scrap Basket Sundays.  It been so much fun to hop around blogland and see what others are working on...and it inspires me to make more quilts!

Just a Peek...

I can't show too much of this because it's...kind of a secret project.  But I just had to show a little bit of the quilting I'm doing...

Hope all is well and much sewing is happening in blogland...  :)

Custom Quilted Baby Quilt

This is what I've been working on the last two days - a baby quilt for Laura's Grand-baby.  I tried to make it special without going so fancy that Mommy would be afraid to use it.  She pieced together an adorable print with a coordinating blue border...the print is characters from that nursery rhyme, "Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle..."  You know the one!  I tried to incorporate items from the panel into the quilting, so I chose a spoon, clouds, and a moon...

Laura was very happy with this and I tell you it made my day.  She has to be the best customer ever...she is so easy to chat with, gets back with me right away, and gives me permission to play!!!

I had originally wanted to do straight lines to fill out the scallops but I was afraid it would make the quilt too stiff so I picked this wishbone quilting instead... I think that's what it's called!  I think it is just right because it looks sort of lacy but not too girly.

Between marking scallops and quilting this took me about a day and a half of working just about all day long!  Needless to say I have laundry piled to the ceiling and we've resorted to the kids eating cereal out of cups.  I suppose I should do some of those dishes...thank you again Laura for entrusting me with another of your beautiful quilts!

Thrift Shop Blogging Finds

Today was the day Hubby and I get to spend sometime together bumming around town.  We hit the local thrift shops...look at my score!

Any idea what this block is?  I'm guessing it's a kaleidoscope of some sort.  Stack n' whack?  It looks really familiar.  It's fun yet bittersweet when I find these in the bins at Goodwill.  The sad part is it was there for one of two reasons...the owner couldn't stand looking at it anymore, or what I suspect, somebody passed away. There was a huge stack of these - though two I found had some sort of yucky powdery mildew on them.  I tossed those but the rest seem intact and clean.  I think there's enough here to put together a pretty good sized quilt.  This fabric isn't old either...I recognize some of it being still in the store.

Look at some of those gorgeous blocks?  I believe it was meant to come home with me.  :)  I think this will make a really fun quilt to play with on the long arm.

OH!  Look at this little cute bit that was stuffed into the bag...isn't this cute?  I'm going to do something with it for my little sewing area.  :)

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my recent quilt.  Wheew it was a toughie to get through!  I had a lot of thread breaks and things weren't turning out at first how I wanted, so I got VERY frustrated.  My APQS forum pals really cheered me up and set me back on the right path, and I'm happy with the results.  I had so many nice compliments when I took it in tonight at quilt guild and that made my day.

Tonight and tomorrow I'm working on another of Laura's quilts.  She is so kind and trusting of me!  I've got some fun ideas planned for it and really excited to get started.

Hope all is well out there in blog land!  Happy Monday! :)

Finish!!

OH I'm so happy to be done with this!  I nearly had a nervous breakdown (minor exaggeration) over this quilt.  I am happy happy happy to be posting these pictures!  I am exhausted too so pictures...then sleep.  :)

Scrap Basket Sunday on Saturday

I'm linking up again with Kim from Kim's Big Quilting Adventure for her Scrap Basket Sunday project.  I actually made this a little earlier in the week but this is all from my scrap bin and what I made!  I've been trying to make a lot of little projects to help fund making some crafts for craft shows this fall.  My youngest is finally getting to an age I think I could tote her along with me.

The back is actually a re-purposed plaid shirt.  I used polyester batting too because I love that puffy quilting look.

I really need to try and make something bigger with my scraps!  I still don't have a quilt for my bed, but in my own defense we do have a King - so that's gonna be a really big quilt.  LOL*  I think after the bazillion projects I have in progress I might start on that.  :)

Quilt on the Frame and Refinished Chairs

I found an old quilt from a long time ago that I shared the pattern for on my blog...and guess what?  I have a long arm now so I can quilt it!  LOL*  For the record I could have quilted it just fine on my domestic, but it takes SO much longer and it's just a lot easier on the long arm.  I loaded this up last night so later today after I get some work done I'll start quilting it.

I've also been working on these chairs from our dining room kitchen...they were getting raggedy and just so ugly looking.  I have kiddos and they really USE our furniture.  I sanded them down outside on that gorgeous 80 degree day we had...

...and because the stain and polyurethane coat take so long to dry I'm still not done!  It's not the most professional staining...I have never stained anything really so I didn't know at all what I was doing.  You can see brush strokes pretty bad but, you know what?  It's a vast improvement on what I had before!  I finished coating the seat and back of the chair with two coats of polyurethane last night and today I'll put two coats on the legs and be done with the chairs.  Next week I've got to tackle the table.

I really loved working on these chairs.  Two of the most memorable smells from my childhood were the smell of my Mother's iron as she pressed her fabric for sewing and the smell of coffee mixed with polyurethane!!!  Isn't that funny?  My Dad was always working on some painting project and my Mom was always sewing.  It was wonderful to grow up in such a creative environment.  My Husband isn't so artsy but I'd like to think that I've got enough creativity for both of us...  ;)  I hope my kiddos have the same happy memories.

I've been crafting and working non-stop lately.  In addition to quilting quilts I'm hoping to attend some craft shows this fall so I'm starting to prepare.  Maybe just A craft show.  It depends on how much I can get made and how fast between my children's activities and all my own  hobbies!!!  My house is in a unique state of chaos right now!!!  So much needs to be done and dust bunnies are creeping out from under the furniture...so much to do, there aren't enough hours in the day for me!

Hope everyone in blog land is having a great weekend!

Refinished Lazy Susan

I'm SO happy with how this turned out, I had to share!  The only mistake I made was I used Mod Podge to seal this, and it was the same mixture I had used on the grubby candles...so there were little bits of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed in, and it left sort of a grainy feel on the lazy susan.  I'm going to use it more for decoration than function so I don't mind, but next time I'll mix up a fresh batch.

Here is the AFTER:

The BEFORE (well, after a light sanding):

This was one of my first refinish projects that actually turned out great!!!  I have refinished my kitchen cabinets before but I didn't seal them with anything - DUH!!!  I just didn't know you had to do that!  So I'm going to repaint them (I do this about every couple of months because without anything to seal them they get banged up quickly) and seal them.  My cupboards are black so I might add some of those awesome star appliques to a couple of them to tie in the theme too.

Next order of business is to sand and paint these chairs black.  I'm going to pick up a small can of paint sealer this weekend first.

My kitchen table legs will be painted too - and I think I'm just going to keep a cover over the table.  We have these AWFUL green tiles on top that I HATE!  I'm going to look this summer for a wooden top table at the sales and thrift shop.

OH - added these to the Etsy Shop...didn't they turn out great???!!!

More Prim Crafting

Lots of crafting happening here.  I've been quilting like a mad woman so recently I've been craving some non-quilt related creativity.  Yesterday the Husband and I made our weekly trip to the local thrift shops.  If you read my blog you know that this is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  We didn't find much but what we did manage to find were great buys.

I have been looking high and low for a nice sturdy lazy susan.  I wanted something with good solid "bones" that I could refinish, and for weeks nothing fit the bill until yesterday.  This lazy susan is perfect!  I forgot to take a before picture but I did take some just after I sanded it down.  It has ball bearings so it spins just beautifully and smooth.  I still need to give it a sanding to age it and then seal the paint, but already it is looking pretty and prim!

Here's a shot of it just after sanding it.  I don't have an electric sander so I'm saving up.  This was a bit of a pain by hand but it did the job.  I found the applique stars at Lowe's for $3.49.  I paid $1.69 for the lazy susan so, so far I've got a grand total of $5.18 into it.  I had the black paint in the cupboard and I've got a can of polyurethane in the laundry room that hopefully is still good!

I just glued the stars on with wood glue.  I let them sit a couple hours to harden up before I painted it black, then put two coats on when I finally did paint it.

I am so happy with how this is turning out!!!  I don't know why I'm feeling so into prims when the days are longer and the daffodils are blooming.  Isn't that just the way it goes?

I really loved those grubby candles and made bunches more...I think I'm going to bundle these up and sell them at Christmas time.  Now that the kiddos are a little bigger we might be able to make it to some craft shows.

I even thought I'd try grubbing up some tea lights...didn't these turn out great??!

They are so pretty lit up - the lights flicker.  These are going to add such great atmosphere this fall and winter.

Oh, my other small but great thrift store find, this little cast iron piece.  It's marked something like "The Great Outdoors" or something like that so I'm sure that it's not old, but I just love these.  I'm still not sure if I'll clean it up for use or just hang it on the wall.  It's a great size for decorating.

I'll post some finished pictures of the lazy susan when I get it all set up.  For now there's a big thunderstorm banging and blowing outside...I think I'd better turn off the computer!  

Happy Tuesday Bloggers!  ;)

A Quiet Sunday Morning...OOPS, I Meant Monday...

Monday is my Sunday.  The Husband is off from work and the kids are off to school...the baby is still waking up to morning cartoons and my coffee is nearly gone.  It's been such a wonderful slow and calm morning to wake up and appreciate that spring has just nearly sprung.

This cold I have picked up from the kids is relentless.  I haven't had one that knocked me on my rear like this in a long time.  We had big plans to run out of town for a day of shopping while the kiddos are at school but I think we'll stay close to home and run a few small errands instead.  I need calm and quiet.  I was up until 1 in the morning with a runny nose and my head full of sinus pressure!  Oh yuck!  I took an Ibuprofen and was able to get a little crafting/sewing accomplished.

I was able to get the runner finished and the binding attached.  I think I'm going to sell this one, but make another for myself.  I made these blocks a REALLY long time ago...sheesh, I was still pretty new to quilting. I didn't flatten the seams or do much of anything to reduce the bulk.  These days I would have swirled each intersection and pressed them open.  It was lumpy bumpy and pretty much a nightmare to quilt.  It's honestly not my best feathering but it still looks very pretty.  I don't know what it is about the quilting that just brings a quilt to life.

Of course like everyone else in the crafting universe I'm addicted to Pinterest.  Not quite at the level some are...but I find lots of inspiration there.  The only thing I find a bit frustrating is that now when I google certain things to get pictures for inspiration, it seems all the pictures are from Pinterest!  In any case I found this tutorial on how to make dirty grungy grubby looking primitive candles.  My Husband was pretty turned off at the process of this!!!  I thought they turned out great!  Nice and prim.  We are going to hit the thrift store while out today so I'm going to see if I can't find something to fix these up in and decorate with.

The tutorial said to mix Mod Podge with little water, a little acrylic paint to give it a dingy brown look, and then roll the candle in spices.  After that dries you're to add another layer of dingy glue.  The tapers didn't dry completely over night because they were laying on foil, I probably should have laid them across something.  But the mini-pillars look AWESOME!

Hopefully we can squeeze in the dollar store today, if I'm not feeling to sick, and I'll pick up some more spices.  I just used leftover cinnamon from the cupboard, and there wasn't very much.  I also added coffee grounds for a little more texture.  I also really like the ones I've seen that are dipped in wax then rolled in spices but that was more messy than I wanted to get!

They almost look like food while drying!!!  I had to keep it all in the center of the table as I was afraid my two year old would think I was making treats.  They smelled pretty yummy too...

Scrap Basket Sunday - on Saturday

  I am linking up over at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure for her Scrap Basket Sundays.  But...on Saturday.  Lol*  Well Saturday for me anyhow.  The Husband is off on Sundays so usually it's our family day, our grocery day, our do whatever we have to do because we couldn't fit it in during the rest of the week day.

Here's a little shot of what I'm working on...from the scrap bin...

...I'm in the middle of quilting it.  This one is also being quilted on the domestic.  I have two quilts waiting to be quilted and one that should be on it's way so the long arm is a bit tied up.  I wanted to squeeze in this runner I'm making from orphan blocks that were tossed into my never ending overflowing scrap bins.

I'm not kidding.  My scrap bins are taking over the house...

...this isn't even the half of it.  I have about four of these.  Eeep.  Just think of how much money in fabric is probably sitting in those bins.  I used to do block swaps so I have a few random blocks here and there that I didn't make and then I came across these that I did make...squished and tossed down in the bin.

I thought I might add some borders to it, quilt it up and put it on Etsy.  I think I had planned on making a whole quilt of these but I'm easily distracted.  Small projects suit me best!

Anybody remember that blue star fabric that was all the rage at one time?  I threw what had to be 3/4's of a yard of that in the scrap bin too.  I don't know if I thought it would come out of the bin all sewn up for me or what.  LOL*  It goes together well and fulfills my need to use up scraps...though I didn't even make a dent.

The daughters are being quiet which is a leaving me a little suspicious.  Chores are waiting for me so off I go. I would love to finish this up today...cross your fingers.  :)