Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Adventures in Paper Piecing

I belong to a local quilt guild, which is awesome. I never make the classes or meetings because of my work hours, which sucks. My sister's do go, which brings me back to awesome because they keep me updated and teach me the techniques they learn.

On a recent Sister's Day at my sister Jan's house, she taught us paper piecing. Jean being a "Sew Outside of the Lines" kinda girl hated it. I loved it!

It just amazes me that all of the upside-down-backwards sewing can turn into something as cute as this:


Jan also showed us how to do these cool little coasters that will be the giveaway at the guild's upcoming Quilt Show in the fall:


So even though I don't participate in person, I was happy that I, at least, was able to contribute my coasters. We were asked to use fall/autumn colors, so that explains all of the oranges and browns, but I am going to do a set for my house, too, using my favorite fabrics.

always,
K

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Peep, Peep

I'm still here! I haven't been feeling very creative lately, so I haven't had much to share.
I was determined to get my mojo back in the last two weekends and it feels good to create again.
Here's the little guy that helped me:


He was inspired by a stuffed Peep that Jean and I saw in a little oountry store on our trip to Lancaster last month for the APQ Quilt Show. I used Jean's trick of upcycling the beaded filling from a thrifted beanie baby to weight him down and now he watches over me in my studio to make sure I actually do stuff instead of just leafing through magazines thinking about doing stuff!

I was also inspired by a flat screen TV cover I found on Flickr by Modernjax that was just too cute for words. (Do you all find inspiration on Flickr too? I've never been disappointed by scrolling through my groups there!)

Apparently modernjax's TV wasn't cable ready because she got those bars that mean the station is off the air. Since I have cable and can always find something on, I tuned my version, which I'm going to use as a computer monitor cover, to "This Old House":


I'm not quite done with it yet,it needs a few little touches, but I'm happy how it turned out. This was pretty out of the box for me. I don't normally just wing it when it comes to creating, I like to follow patterns. (A+B always equals C in my house or there is hell to pay! Welcome to the world of mild to moderate OCD)
Yesterday I wanted to do something, but not get too involved, so I made a Spring-y flour sack towel for my kitchen:



I'm glad to be back in the land of crafting! I hope to spend some more time in my studio today and have another post before too long.

always,
K