Re-finish

I cannot for the life of me find the "before" pictures of these dressers.  Let's just say they were stained a medium brown.  Not that pretty -- and the knobs were white ceramic.

I picked a blue that matched the baseball quilts in this room and just painted them.  I was planning to try to make my own blue stain, but since the previous stain didn't come all the way off, there were going to be darker patches in some places than others.  So paint it was.

I couldn't find any vertical pulls with the same measurements as these, so I didn't replace them.  They're not my favorite, but I just found some brass knobs with a similar patina and called it good.

The two little boys were previously using two (extremely) old two-drawer end tables and a plastic three-drawer storage thing.  Free dressers, $25 paint, $12 knobs = no more problems with space.  And no, their room is never this clean.

Rainbow Sherbet

This is an oldie.  The peach/orangey (large inside border) stripe was one of the first high-quality fabrics I ever purchased.  I bought it at the Dallas Quilt Show from one of the vendors.  My friend Judy is the one who took me, who helped me hone my quilting skills, who turned me into a fabric hoarder.  Okay, okay.  She gave me the nudge.  The hoarding was latent inside of me.

Anyway, I used that stripe as a jumping off point to choose colors for the rest of the quilt.  It started to remind me of rainbow sherbet, but now that it's all finished, it reminds me of fire (minus the green)

This center medallion was a Block of the Moment from Judy Martin.  It's not there now, but I printed it when it was.  Just to clarify, Judy Martin is not the Judy who took me to the Dallas Quilt Show.  (Ha!  I wish!)  She is amazing at putting patterns/blocks together.

I quilted a flower in each of the stars and spirals in the rest of the blocks.  I just did a loopy meander around the outer borders.  Sometimes I get in default and just do a stipple or a loop, but I really enjoy the quilts where I do deliberate things that accent the blocks themselves.  That just takes longer, and I have a ridiculous volume to try to whittle down.

In the name of using what I had (and also because by the time I got around to quilting it, the top had been finished for YEARS), I just found whatever matching random strips  that I had.  I don't love the back, but it'll do.  And it's one more quilt that I can take out of my brain.

This was a quilt where I mixed quality of fabrics, so we'll see how they fade.  Usually the cheaper fabrics fade more quickly, so I'm sure I'll see differences in that.  I made this at a when I didn't know better.  ;)  It feels really good to finish an older project, though, and it will still keep us warm!

Ruby Sparkle Punch

So after over a year of thinking I was going to link up to Amanda Jean's Finish-it-Up Friday, here I finally am with a finish.  This is Elizabeth Hartman's Sparkle Punch Quilt made from Bonnie and Camille's Ruby fabric line.

It is one of my favorites in appearance.  Of course, as always, I think I should have made it just a bit bigger. I'm guessing I'm not as tiny as Elizabeth is.  The QAL instructions say that it is 60x72, but I'm not sure I feel like mine is that big.  Maybe it is . . . but maybe it shrunk.  I don't prewash my fabrics.

That aside, I absolutely love all of her designs.  She has fun patterns and precise instructions.  I love my Sparkle Punch quilt.  It makes me happy to look at it.  It has such great energy.

I don't know why I let it sit around quilted but unbound for so long.  Indecision?  Yeah, we'll go with indecision.  Anybody else ever have trouble choosing binding and/or backing?  I'm good with the top, but then I get blocked sometimes.  I'm glad I went with the gray.  All the other colors were either too much or too little.  Hope you finished something this week!  :)

Yes, I did.

Last year I ordered a FQ pack of Flea Market Fancy.  I had missed it the first time around, and I was determined not to do so again.  I had seen all kinds of people doing the Scrappy Trip Around the World.  (Tutorial here.)  I decided I did not need to make one more scrap quilt at this juncture, since I have so many in progress already.  But then my eye fell on the FMF, and I decided to jump in.  I cut up all those FQs for this quilt, dontcha know.  (Amanda Jean will probably shudder in horror that I did that.  Either that or she'll be proud.)  I'm liking the way it's turning out.  Here's hoping I can break character and finish it.  ;)  Are you tripping yet?  You know you want to.

New Pillows

I know it has been a while since I posted, and I can't promise that I will be a regular poster in the future.  I hope to be, but I know how things go around here.  I want this to be the year of the finish, but I believe I've said that every year (except last year).  I'll just take it as it comes and see where I land.  I have some plans, but sometimes when I spend more time blogging, I get more ideas.  Then I end up starting more projects instead of finishing them.  I already have two ideas that I want to start that I am having to resist.  ;)  Anyway, I haven't photographed anything I've been working on this year yet, but here's something I haven't shown you before. 

The pillows on our couch needed some updating, so last year I made some new covers for them.  I did a pebble stitch for the yellow.

I thought I would be tricky on the green and try to free-hand it.  Not such a good showing.  I should have marked my lines.  

So I unpicked it all and decided on just organic straight-ish lines.  This is the same green, but it looks so different here.

The finished product.  This was before we painted the walls from that hideous blue it was when we moved in.

I got a new machine finally.  The old ones were non-cooperative all last year.  They weren't that cooperative in 2011 either, but I borrowed a machine from my friend (for 8 months) before we moved to CT.  The move really took things out of me, but hopefully, I am back in business.

Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Every time it rolls around, I think I will plan ahead, be ready, and finish a brand new quilt for Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Well, here we are again, and no new quilt is finished.  So you get to see this one again.  It is made from Elizabeth's Hedgerow Quilt pattern.

I have a friend who is hard to buy for, because she can just get what she wants/needs when she wants it.  She, however, LOVES Raggedy Ann and Andy.  I happened to find a FQ pack with them on it, so I just added to it to make the hedgerow blocks.  This is my lovely back, which I almost like more than the front.  I may have gone slightly overboard on making the blocks.  :)

I do like red/white/blue quilts a lot, but I feel like this one was too much the same and didn't have enough contrast w/in the blues and reds.  I learned (again) about how I am not as fond of super matchy-matchy quilts.  It's better when the colors are a little off from each other -- more visual interest.

I made the quilt 5 blocks x 6 blocks.  I had originally planned to make it 6x6, but I decided that was too big.  That's how the other 6 blocks ended up on the back.  I always go too big.  I seem to think bigger is better.  Finished quilt is 72 x 86.

Now go check out all the other great quilts in the festival!  I love this time of year!

http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/#comment-313063

(Sorry!  I couldn't get the link to work just on the button!  I swear I used to know how to do that!  :P)



Small Projects Sew-Along

I'm not going to lie.  New Blogger is freaking me out.  This is my first time using it, and I'm not sure how it'll turn out.  Amanda Jean is having a small projects sew-along for the month of May.  The button should be on my sidebar (if I can figure out how to get it there).  We're supposed to make a list and then post pics of what we have done in her flickr group.  So here's my list -- some photographed, some not.  And, in no particular order (except the Prom dress is of paramount importance).



1.  Prom Dress -- the silver one, but with sleeves added.  Somehow.

2.  Little Miss Shabby's embroidery squares from last year.  (Just the embroidery, not the whole quilt).

3.  Pajama pants for boy 2 (times two).
4.  Corduroy bag.
5.  Going Coastal bag.
6.  Throw pillows for my bed.
7.  Throw pillows for my mama's bed.

Now, I could probably go on and on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.  (Yes, look at the sidebar -- that ship has sailed.  I know.  I meant in the small-projects department.)  And, besides, I have to keep my list shorter than Amanda Jean's.  For once.  So, in the last-but-not-least category, I give you: 

8.  My first pair of knitted socks.  Pink and green camo-ish.  One down, one to go.  Then maybe, just maybe I can get to the other ones.  (I'm only showing two extra sock balls, but I really have 4.)

If I start the socks now, maybe they'll be done in time for NEXT winter.  Connecticut is so much colder than Texas.  Shocker, right?  :)  I hope you join in and finish up some of your smaller projects hanging around.