15 minute a day check in

oh man...
what a month this has turned out to be.
i started last week trying to wrangle preschoolers with the time change and as of friday afternoon, i'm officially out of work until april 14th.
what? 
in the meantime, i'll be trying to make the best of it with a whole lot of sewing and cleaning in my room (yay for social distancing?) but i've already informed my mom that if this lockdown status gets any worse, i'm loading up my car and rolling everything to their place until things die down.  if i'm going to be shut in long term, i need some derpy cats in my life.
speaking of derpy cats...
ok, back to the point of this check in.
back at the start of march, instagram quilt month began, where i mentioned on my kick off post that i would be imposing the goal to sew for at least 15 minutes a day.  i thought it would be difficult to keep going, but with the number of UFO projects i was already behind on (january not finished, february not started and now it was march...) i could at least be consistent on something hoping to get one of those three done.
well... i'm pleased to say i have done something quilty involved for at least 15 minutes each of those days, most of them being more than an hour.  only one of those days so far has been spent not cutting or sewing, and that's because i was chatting it up with a fellow guild board member about what the heck we are going to do in order to keep our members thriving with everything being cancelled.
in addition to just the act of sewing, i have completed january's quilt top, a second quilt top that wasn't on my UFO list for some reason, got february's to the point of almost finished (it will probably get assembled today at my parent's since they have the floor space to lay out blocks)
now that we're in a strongly encouraged social distancing timeframe, i have a feeling that i'll probably be well caught up at the end of march, let alone by april 14th when i'm supposed to be back in the classroom. i also have some plans to work on a handful of things for our guild, so hopefully a lot of things will get checked off my ever growing "to do" list.
it is all a bit of a blur right now, so until i have a more solid plan for posts as the month goes on, i'll leave you with some pretty fabric i bought at quiltcon (and the glitter grunge came from local quilt shop swifty stitches).  stay tuned for another update post at the end of march!

april overview

i figured with it being april now, it was about time for an update post.  i've been doing well keeping you up to date with my fussy cut sampler at the end of each month, but there is so much more going on right now as well!  that first photo up there is a huge clue as well!
music quilts 2018
alas, all things must come to an end... sort of.
after 5 years of doing raffle quilts (10 quilts total) i will not be making any quilts for the camp this year.  my mom is no longer an employee of the camp, and was a driving force (and fabric purchaser) behind the quilt making.  that said, i still have a haul of music fabric that will be still receiving a life of its own this summer.  the first, seen above, is a special project for my the wife of my parent's high school band director.  ted webber was the band director at mira loma high school for my parents as well as a few of my uncles.  ted was half the driving force behind donner mine music camp, and passed away last august from leukemia.  as much as i remember ted being around when i was little, i remember his wife carol as well, and felt like she needed a little something in the best way i could deem possible.  i've selected fabrics in mira loma's school colors to be the main focus of the raspberry kiss block (i used the 12.5 size tutorial here) and they will be paired with the heart block from my tea & brie's pixelated paper hearts pattern.  as you can see, the music fabric will be the background of the quilt, being subtle but still relevant :)
the other quilt will be going to another employee of the camp that my mom worked with over the years.  she tried SO HARD each year to win the raffle, but did not succeed.  perhaps we'll have to get her a wonka bar with a golden ticket in it this year.  she makes some pretty dang good baked goods, so she's pretty deserving of a quilt!
finished quilts
that's right... i have not just one, but TWO finished projects that are going to be posted soon.  one was a quick project, but if you've been following me on instagram you'll know the other one has been a long time coming.
upcoming projects
now that my to finish list has died down, my eyes are now on projects up and coming to start.  i don't have any current deadlines until summer, so i have a little bit of a breather before cram time.  well, ideally i don't want to hit cram time.  perhaps i'll work in some more stash busting, since i keep ending up with more patterns to try out! 
other randoms
other things i have coming up include preschool open house, which is going to be an event in itself.  our theme again this year is "under the reading rainbow" but i've really taken in to looking at the ideas and plan to dive in to it deeper this year.  i've got a whole lot of great ideas, and i plan to share them should everything come together as my brain desires them to!
also, bullet journaling.
i've been intrigued by this concept of planning, tracking and motivating in a DIY sort of way.  is it taboo to start in the middle of the year?  middle being april, that is.  i guess a third is more like it?  anyways, i've been watching videos on this trying to wrap my brain around it looking to see if it is something i would be successful with... i suppose that it is crafty in it's own way!

blush & gold rose ruffle apron

that's right, another ruffle apron!
melissa got married a month ago, and prior to that we had her bridal shower!  as i have in the past, i decided to make her a ruffle apron that matched her wedding colors and add some girly-ness to the kitchen.  joanns had this perfect coordinating fabric that was in blush pink and ivory (also seen in navy on aileen & ben's argyle quilt) with little gold rose accenting to it that was so very melissa.  my sister was home for a week during that time, so stepped up to the plate and modeled this apron for me.
unfortunately, the link i had for this apron doesn't seem to work anymore :(
one tool that i'll say has made a world of difference for this apron is using a rolled hem foot on the edges of the ruffles.  they look SO much more crisp and clean than using a seam gauge.

disney mini quilt swap 2016 - peter pan

these past few months, i participated in my second ever instagram swap, and this was the one i had been waiting forever for!  i missed out on the first round of the disney mini quilt swap, and waited anxiously for a second round to be posted.  i spent forever dreaming of the up! quilt that was created, yearning for a chance to get my disney crafting on and then it finally happened.  i was signed up, and then assigned my partner and then it was time to get brainstorming.  she listed up and peter pan as her favorites, particularly for her baby's nursery.  i figured if i took the easy way out and made the house quilt i had been pining over, i just couldn't be able to give it away.  instead, i challenged myself and took on a peter pan themed idea and after i finally had my vision came up with a design of my own.  i went for the clock scene where peter flies off to neverland, sans darling children since i didn't want to overwhelm the mini quilt.  i took it to alaska with me, and did nothing.  it sat around for days, and nothing.  finally, inspiration hit and i was able to power through this mini quilt in the final hours before send out, and i couldn't imagine it looking any other way.  first off, here are the extras i made to go with it :)
lisa was in town for a little while in march, and she helped me power through this sew together bag. it totally helped having someone who had made one before walk me through getting it pieced together to know what the heck i was doing.  i also screen printed a onsie for the little baby to be.  my partner and her husband were not finding out the gender of the baby, so the up house was a perfect "neutral" tie in.  the sew together bag was made from colors she listed as her favorites, which i happened to find in the sprinkle line of cotton + steel.  i pretty much wanted to keep it for myself!
on to the mini quilt!
it clearly has a little bit of everything going on.
the clock face portion is paper pieced, while the body going down was a few pieces i just sewed together to give it some shape other than being a big square.  i added the sky to the side, and then got to cross stitching the numbers on the clock face.  the face of the clock was smaller than the cross stitch pattern i had found, so it took some creative measuring to get the numbers in a spot that made sense.  i created the clock hands on my own to figure out what time to make it so it somewhat matched the scene in the movie.  lastly, peter was appliqued on with some coordinating gold fabric left over from the quilt i made my sister for her wedding (to be blogged soon!) since a dark shadow wouldn't show up too well for the sky and the typical peter pan green just didn't blend well.  overall, i am very pleased with how this ended up!
and there you have it!
i don't know how many instagram swaps i'll be doing anytime soon, but if disney round 3 pops up, i'm sure i'll be in!

nerdy themed ruffle apron

some how, some way, my sister got a job at joann's this past holiday season.  they must know that we need the discount, and i was just too much awesomeness for them to handle when i applied a few years back.  besides, it has become apparent that the crafty world of joann's has begun to rub off on this sister of mine, and has inspired her to do some crafting of her own.  anyways, it was at her request that i make her an apron (since she doesn't sew) so that she doesn't have to wear the generic ones the store has.  knowing my favorite apron tutorial (which she has modeled three times now) i knew what i was going to make and just needed the fabric for it.  at one point it was going to be avengers themed i believe, but then this fabric was available in stores and we decided to go with it.  in case you weren't aware (or forgot) my sister is a physics major, so this overly nerdy themed fabric was perfect for her.  the polka dots were a good off set to separate the print without getting too crazy all over the place.
i managed to make this apron in an afternoon, after another cryptic "i made cookie dough..." texts, i figured i may as well get her fancied up for the last few months of working at joann's before she leaves for college.  it was so crazy to sew something that didn't involve quilting.... it went together quite quickly in one afternoon :)
it has been decided that the only flaw in this apron pattern is the lack of pockets.  which i suppose is really only a problem if you're trying to put a walkie talkie and/or a handheld somewhere instead of in your hands.  perhaps i'll have to revise this for the next fabric store employee i make this apron for.
workin' it
i've had some serious thoughts about making a few of these (generic enough) and offering them up on etsy.  i suppose i'll have to see how my summer looks after the next few days as i finish up finals and transition between school year to summer camp/dance recital/wedding season time.  but there you have it!  aileen's nerd-a-licious themed apron to love and squeeze and call her own.  and for kicks, here's a few links back to the previously made ruffle aprons:
green with envy
airplanes & postcards
nursing themed

the 2014 look back - completed projects list

i feel like 2014 just started, and here we are already looking at the end of the year.
pretty certain i've made more quilts this year than years prior, and i've become more and more pleased with each new venture.  i got braver with my block piecing, ventured in to paper piecing, and even auditioned for a sewing contest.  in total, 14 quilts were blogged this year, with only two of them being not done from start to finish in 2014.  maybe 2 1/2.
i quilted my first queen size quilt all by myself on my little machine.
i also made a quilt all for myself.  that is actually "me" sized.  which hasn't happened in years, if ever.
so here is a collection of every finished project posted in 2014 as lovely reminder of how much i churned out this year, and how much i can't wait to see where we are at next year :)
quilts & quilted items
joshua's t-shirt quilt
catvent 2013
amy & luke's quilt - pair of logs
the modern baby - baby natalie
mod chevron - baby everett
classic winnie the pooh daisy chain - baby jason
music themed triangle quilt
musical pinwheels
fun with flags - sewvivor sewalong
petite trellis - baby mark
pink & purple parallelograms
hexing around - sewvivor sewalong
coloradifornia camera quilt - sewvivor sewalong
where in the world? - map quilt
place mats & potholder set
quilt blocks
quilt block swap round 6
sewing projects
betsy & dillon's pillowcases
nurse themed ruffle apron
amy's keepsake garter
sweet retreat's little sister - sewvivor sewalong
andrew's olaf filled birthday
sarah & raymond's wedding pillowcases
christmas gift pillowcases
cross stitch
classic winnie the pooh - baby jason
paper crafts
amy's bridal shower invites

quilt block swap round 6: the blocks

the final send outs were just three weeks ago, and i'm now getting to blogging.  sounds about right.
i participated in my first craftster swap in years, and i have to say i thought it would be easy.  but i was wrong.  i thought a quilt block swap would be a piece of cake to have some crafting going while dealing with school work at the same time, but so many other things came up, and i easily got burnt out after my first few block sets.  i did managed to get them all finished in time the day before send outs, and they were on their merry little way.  here are all the blocks i created for this quilt block swap:
double aster
ribbon star
home town/state/country
cat block
garden fence
split 9 patch
quilter's choice - paper pieced
designer's personal pattern
and there you have it!
i think my favorite new block from this set has to be the ribbon star block.  while i had some serious "not reading the directions completely" issues and lots of seam ripping (with the help of my mom) it all came together in the end.  i also am quite pleased with the bigger of the star blocks from the paper piecing set.  which is a good thing, as i plan to use that pattern to make a quilt for my bed... still have a twin sized quilt on a queen sized bed.   soon enough that will change!
here's to hoping that in posting this, i'll be more inspired to get crafting again.
well, december is coming up, and i know i have some plans in store for the first 25 days of that.  it's just the act of getting there now.  ha!

andrew's olaf filled birthday

today is a dear friend of mine's birthday, and i had to take him out last night for some celebratory ice cream & present giving.  i'm sure i've talked about andrew before, but you should just know that he's fantastic in every way.  i picked him up last night, and we drove to cold stone for some delicious treats.  he played "dj" in my car with my ipod transmitter, which of course meant we listened to some frozen music.  we had our ice cream treats, and then he opened his present.  well, it's safe to say he was pretty dang excited.
this face says it all...
here we are, modeling presents in cold stone. super classy, right? i made him some shorts and a pillowcase since frozen is the big deal right now. his phone case is frozen, his watch is frozen, he stood in line for three hours in disneyland to meet anna & elsa... the list goes on. there was another item that was supposed to go with this "bedtime set" but it decided to not work right on short notice... there is always christmas though!
of course, we took some fun pictures together before heading back to my car for more dj-andrew... complete with a "life is a highway" guitar solo and "let it go" with hand motions. he cracks me up.
pulled up to his house, he looked at his watched and said "oh. bedtime." once i got home, patty had sent me that photo of andrew all dressed in his olaf best, ready for his last night as a 24 year old.  happy birthday, my dear andrew.  i hope 25 is just as awesome!  now stop calling yourself an old man... i'm not sure what that would make me if you are :)

pillowcases for the newest schuhs

when betsy & dillon tied the knot in november, i wanted something fabulous to give them that was one of a kind.  i didn't quite have the time to bust out an awesome quilt like i would have liked to, and i already made her a ruffle apron that i was stoked over how it turned out, and then i remembered something jenny told me awhile ago that made perfect sense for a wedding present.  betsy loves her pillowcases, and changed them on a daily basis.  and i just love to roam fabric stores, so i hunted for some fantastic "betsy-esque" colors to create some pillowcase sets for her & the husband man.  now the only bummer is that pillowcases don't really show much enthusiasm when being photographed, so try to show some excitement for them... okay?
i think the last one (blue & yellow) is my favorite.  the colors just blend so well together in all their complimentary color-ness.  but the green chevrons are also awesome... and i really like the shades of blue on the cuff of the top one.  okay, maybe it is a little hard for me to play favorites.  but my heart was filled up with happiness when betsy sent me a text gushing about how much she loved the pillowcase sets.
i can see myself making loads more of these pillowcases.  they went together so super easy and i love how all the seams are enclosed.  no frayed edges here!
pillowcase pattern found: here

giraffe "gatsby" quilt for baby charley

this is jessica.  jessica and i (along with elyse) grew up together down the road from each other.  alas, we have all gone separate ways (and states... literally) but still keep in touch thanks to the magical land of facebook.  this past summer cica moved off to new york, but not without announcing that she & hubby bryan were expecting their first baby together.  finding out it was a girl was so much fun... and i had a legit reason to go shopping.  i saw this fabric in stores before, but had no reason to use it.  until now.  cica is one of my fellow "tall friends" and these little giraffes were oh so cute and adorable. even more perfect, it wasn't overly pink, which didn't seem very cica to me. she was always a "blue" kind of girl. so this teal was just perfection.
it took me FOREVER to find a quilt pattern i really liked that wouldn't take away from the giraffe print. my grandma gave me a bunch of quilt magazines, and after flipping through them (and pinning 1000 things on pinterest) i found this "gatsby" quilt in the spring 2008 issue of easy quilts. and yes, easy was exactly what it was!
the squares just added in those pops of color to accent the little giraffes and keep the design simple and fun.  i like that the pink is in there as well, just to pop in that extra girly-ness without being too overwhelming.
yep. i still like you a lot, little giraffes. i'm gad i ended up with extra scraps of you for sure. and you'll have a place in my scrappy square quilt. that is a perpetual work in progress... hah.
i did the quilting myself on this one, since my grandma had just had hip surgery. it was quite the experience, but still a better attempt than what i had tried to do myself in the pasrt. still need more practice before going on to bigger, more monstrous quilts. oy. the thought is scary!
token binding photo. and cat fur. because anything that comes from my house gets a little bit of cat fur with it.
look at that quilting! boo yah! okay, it's a little exciting that it didn't turn out horrid. i did a "stitch in the ditch" method... but didn't stay in the ditch the whole time. oops. that will need practice... but it's still better than others and finally, remembering to use more of my little tags. i've gotten better at remembering those too.  i've got a bunch of projects coming up that may require them, so i'll have to locate the rest of them.
it's been so much fun seeing cica become a mommy, and i'm so bummed she is so far away.  but you know what that means?  potential field trip of summer 2014!  it's been bouncing in my head quite a bit, and i'm not sure if i'll fly or if i'll drive like i randomly thought to the other day, but i'm itching to get out there and see more of the country besides three western states.  and if it means seeing this fantastic new family of three as well, by all means... yes please!  i'm sure there will be more on planning that once the new year hits, so stay tuned :)
quilt pattern: "gatsby" from easy quilts spring 2008