Friday, March 16, 2012

Bronchitis is not for wimps!

February was a crazy month at "my real job". It was also pretty busy for my daughter at school, which usually translates into more homework. Very little sewing was done, very little knitting was done. At the end of the month, my daughter got sick - upper respiratory infection, a 5-day Z-pac and some nebulizer treatements later and she was right as rain. I caught a super bronchitis bug. It kicked my behind! It took a visit to 2 doctors and an urgent clinic, a Z-pac, other antibiotics after the Z-pac finished and I was still running a fever, then finally a ten day course of IV antibiotics to finally kick this bug out of my system!!! It knocked me on my behind. I could hardly take care of my responsibilities. I had to dig deep a couple of times, but I made it through!!

Now I want to sew, but first I must clean!!!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Friday Night Sew In - The Results!!




I think my first ever FNSI was a success :)
I didn't finish any projects, but I did make some good progress.
The first project I worked on was a pair of mug rugs. I used the tutorial from Don't call me Betsy: http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2011/09/mug-rug-madness-tetris-mug-rug.html
I've been cutting out the fabric for the last couple of weeks. Here's a picture:
I used Valentine's fabric to create the Tetris mug rugs. I like my mug rugs big, so I am going to add a couple of borders to these. This was my first time playing with pieces of fabric so small - they were 1.5 inch squares. I was intimidated at first, but it wasn't too bad.
Project #2 was my own design inspired by some of the mini-quilts on display at the Houston Quilt Festival. I have a lot of flair on my lanyard that I wear every day at work. They represent different projects I've worked on or meaningful events. My badge & lanyard combo have gotten quite heavy, but I still wanted to display my flair. When I saw the mini-quilts on display, I had a great idea. Here is one of the quilts that inspired me:
I decided to incorporate some hand embroidery in my version. Here is what I was able to do tonight:
I can't wait to finish this mini-quilt and add my flair to it!!!!
Jake approves of my work :)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Friday Night Sew In! Yippee!!!

Handmade by Heidi


I signed up for Friday Night Sew In!!! My first time ever!!! I'm so excited!!! I can't stop using exclamation points!!!!!!!!

One week from idea to finish :)


Inspiration struck when I was walking my dog two weeks ago. I had been cutting out fabric for two different projects - a wall hanging and a set of mug rugs. I always cut more fabric than I need, just in case I really screw up LOL! I get my inspiration from fabric or from a quilt pattern, sometimes my daughter inspires me too.
I rarely get to have that spark go from idea to finished piece in a week, but this time I got lucky :) Time and inspiration were on my side and this is the end result...
They are pretty big for mug rugs - 7.5 by 11 inches. But I had fun making them and that's all that matters for me :)
I also started a new knitting project this past week. I needed something to do with my hands. I blame the full moon we had :) Here's a sneak peek:
The yarn is Sensations Angel Hair that I picked up at JoAnn's. It feels really soft :) I'm using size 10 knitting needles and a simple knit stitch for this scarf. This is only my second knitting project and I don't feel like I've mastered the knit stitch yet :) But I'm working on it everyday and getting better and better!!
That is all for today - happy crafting everyone!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Busy, but not Sewing :(

Wow!! I'm sad to say that since I started this blog, I haven't had a lot of time to do any sewing. I have cut out some fabric and was able to sew together a couple new mug rugs, but not much else :(

I'll post some pictures of my recent efforts soon - hopefully tomorrow!!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Other Helpers


Here are two of my other helpers who like to supervise my work :)
Lucy is helping me with block placement.
Lucky is enjoying the back of one of my favorite quilts. They are sisters from a feral litter.

First Post!

So excited! This is my very first blog post!! I'm very new to blogging and relatively new to quilting. I completed my first quilt in 2007. I'm primarily self-taught - thanks to all of the great blogs that I follow!!!

OK, so I started this blog to get more involved in the online quilting community. Hopefully, I'll gain the courage to sign up for some swaps :)

My cat Jake, the daper boy in my header, supervises all of my quilts and other projects. He assesses my fabric selection and approves my block layout :) He is fascinated my the sewing machine and loves to sit on the completed projects!