Quilted Away!

I finished the quilting on my quilt! I am super excited! Now all that is left is the binding....I hear it is the trickiest part but I hope I catch on quick!

 I am in love. The colors are perfect and even though the quilting around the edges is a little crooked I am sure once I do the binding you won't be able to see it. I couldn't be more thrilled! I can't wait to start my next one!

I Have Caught the Vintage Bug

I was blog stalking this week during work. Don't judge you know you do it too! And since I have been doing alot of sewing lately I have been looking for some good quilting blogs to read. I love reading about what other people are making and seeing their pretty progress pictures. They are so inspiring! They make me want to call in sick and sew all day!

Anyways I have noticed a trend. Not on all the blogs I came across but a few of them. One of them is Pyrex. I guess I have never given enamel ware much thought since I don't have my own house or kitchen, but I was intrigued. I guess I never realized how PRETTY vintage colored Pyrex actually was. I fell in love and found out that alot of people are in love to. There is a whole community out there devoted to Pyrex! Haha who would have thought? My mom actually had a set and when I told I like it she gave it to me! Pretty huh?

The next thing is vintage sheets. Many quilters love to quilt with vintage sheets. I was looking at some pictures and they actually seem like a very nice fabric to work with. The colors are great and it seems like alot of them go together so it is easy to create a whole quilt with what you have without worrying about matching colors.

I started reading about it on a few blogs and found that many people find most of their stuff at thrift stores. This idea wasn't too bad. My Robert and I are trying to buy a house and quilting isn't exactly the cheapest hobby. Not too mention I would use the Pyrex in my new kitchen!

I had never been to a thrift store before. I am not really into wearing other peoples clothing, not that there is anything wrong with it...just never appealed to me. But that is what I think about when I think Thrift Store. So upon reading this little bit of information I decided that my interest was peaked enough to give them a shot. There are 2 on the highway on my way home from work and a few up where my Robert lives. I got out early on Friday and went to a few without much luck. I knew that stuff goes in and out of them all the time so I was not too concerned and told myself I would try again another time. Until I got to that last one....

EEEEE!!! Teal blue Pyrex! I looked it up and this is one of the more common patterns. Butterprint I think it was called, but I LOVE the color. This is the color I was hoping I would find the most. Any kind of beachy color makes me happy =) I might have spent too much on it at $12 but it was a consignment shop so the things there were a little more expensive and I had to have it!

 And this was my deal of the day! A perfectly nice, well working iron for $5! I have been needing a new iron (ours is sooooo old!) and this was just the perfect thing to find when I wasn't looking for it. All in all my first thrifting experience was a success.

But my second was even better! I found a Pyrex casserole dish with a teal pattern on it ( Meadow I think is what people call it) and the cutest little Pyrex creamer. The dish was $5 and the creamer $0.49! Can't beat that =) I also found some pretty sheets for $2.99. To be honest I have no I idea if they are vintage or not, but the colors are pretty and they will look great in a quilt....once I finish my first on successfully that is. I promised I would try to start any more until that one is finished, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared!

So I think I am going to stick to this thrifting thing. It is so much fun to be on the hunt for something! Especially these sheets, they will help bring the cost of my craft way down and if I can find a bunch of different ones I will be all set. Keeping my fingers crossed to find more stuff at the stores I know and to find more stores!

Making Progress

Haha! On Sunday I will start the quilting part! I am so excited...but I wish it was bigger so I could use it as a blanket for myself =( oh well....just gonna have to do another one! =)

The Cutest Things in the World

OMG I am loving my sewing machine! I am finding the cutest patterns for little bags and things that I am having a hard time picking what I would want to make first! I have very limited time to sew so when I pick a new project to sew I want it to be a.) quick enough to finish in an hour or two and b.) not so difficult that I will be pulling my hair out and end up wanting to throw my sewing machine out the window. The reason I want something quick is because since I am working on a little quilt I don't want to start any long, time consuming projects.

Enter the TEA WALLET! I thought the birds I was making were addictive! These things are soooo cute! They are like little credit card holders, but meant to carry your favorite tea around in your purse =). What an adorable concept. I am a big fan of tea, more so since I have been with the love of my life the last (almost) 10 years. He is OBSESSED with tea so I am going to whip up one of these for myself so I can bring along his favorites when we go out...this one I gave to a co-worker.

Here is my first tea wallet!

These are the pieces before I sewed them together. It was actually very easy until that point. I had to figure out how to get my sewing machine to sew through the thicker points in the fabric. I just used my manual wheel thing until it started feeding through easier. That seemed to work!

I love the coffee/tea/hot cocoa fabric. Could be any one of them lol. I have about a yard and three quarters so I am going to have to find some other things to use it for. Perhaps my first mug rug?? My quilting class is tonight so I am hoping we will get to the basting point so I can learn how to use my walking foot for quilting. Then I can start a mug rug! We will see. I will post pics of the progress tomorrow hopefully =)....I really want to start anoth quilt...one that is MUCH bigger then the one I am working on in class...but I know I have to be patient...not my strongest virtue I confess =P

New Hobbies

I have not been knitting. I know this is an awful truth, but no I have not been knitting. I finished the toe on one plain vanilla sock for my Robert and that is the extent of my knitting since my last post. I am deeply ashamed of myself because the reason for my non-knitting (besides a hellish year end at work and my wonderful Robert Gerard distracting me =P) is that I have taken up 2 new hobbies that are occupying my time.

One of them is working out. I am up at 5:15 in the morning, at the gym by 6, shower then go to work. It is right across the street so I don't need to go very far. I LOVE it. I didn't think I would like going to the gym by myself, but there was no more room at Rob's studio so I had no choice. It is actually very therapeutic. There is hardly anyone there and you can just get lost in the (incredibly hard) workouts. Not to mention it is an all women's gym so no weird pressure from men being around. Robert creates a new, harder work-out for me each month for both upper and lower body and I must admit it makes a huge difference. I am seeing crazy results, my clothes fit better and I am getting nice tone. If only I could will myself to stick to a decent diet I would be competition ready in no time! Haha but I digress =P

The second hobby I have taken up in a frenzy is SEWING!! OMG I signed up for a quilting class (and it was FREE!!) learned how to use my sewing machine properly and ever since I have been sewing and buying fabric and supplies like crazy! This is NOT OK! I can't be obsessed with so many different crafts! I dont have room for all the different stashes! Yarn, spinning fiber and now fabric?? When will the madness end! Hopefully not too soon, I am making some cute stuff as you can see...

Aren't these adorable? I love them! I have been making tons of them! I got the pattern from PatchworkPottery. Her crafts are incredible! I have been following her blog for a while and I really like her Esty shop too. One can only dream of reaching her level of talent but I love to look lol. Her's are much more precise and even but I still love mine =) I plan on making many more!

And then there are my quilting adventures. The place I am taking the class in is awesome. The women are so nice and friendly and everyone is so helpful! They LOVE teaching people which is always a plus since they will need alot of patience with me. I just needed the book and the materials and the class itself was free. I am already loving is sooooo much! Here is what I have so far.....

I started with this fabric and book....that is a picture of the quilt we are doing.

Cut it into 2.5" wide strips

Sewed 3 strips of each color palette together using 1/4" seams

Then cut the strips into 6.5" squares and arranged them how we wanted!

That is as far as we got until the next class which is on Tuesday. They have a sit and sew every sunday for 4 hours for $10 so I might go to that also and do some small stuff. It is hard at home to spread out so it would be good. I can't wait to sew the blocks together! But I don't want to do anything without supervision....would hate to mess up when it is already so pretty! I am in love with these colors....reminds me of the beach =)

So those are the reasons I have not been knitting. Tragic I know and I will certainly start again as soon as the thrill has dies down a bit. Tonight I am heading back to Joann Fabrics (it is on the way home from work which is dangerous) to buy a new tote for my fabric since my stash is getting pretty big now...I have a 40% off coupon haha.

Well I suppose I should get back to work. I am going to try to post alot more....if I have time between projects  =P