Basketballs & Peacocks

Hello, there friends.  Long time no type at.  Man, I tell you, back to school really got the best of me.  They didn't want to go back and I didn't want the drama/ trauma to start up again.  It sunk me into a little bit of an artistic dry spell.  Okay, fine, I was depressed and stressed.  Not to mention people were quitting at work left and right.  Which, for me, means losing friends and gaining work.  Not a stressfree combo, just as the fall wedding season is underway.  Ok, boo hoo, I've had my moment.  Time to get on with the good stuff.

My co-worker Michelle asked me to make a quilt out of her daughters old basketball jerseys.  Now, this is my least favorite thing to do.  Mostly, because it's hard and I'm lazy.  I turn people down fairly regularly when they ask me to do t-shirt quilts but I like Michelle and we see a lot of each other at work.  She asked me back in the spring, if I remember right.  Maybe early summer.  I just got to it this last month.  Like I said, lazy.

Not to mention, it's sports.  I can't really get into it.  And, it's hard.  The stabilizer didn't want to stick to the jersey fabric very well.  I was worried about melting the rubberized numbers and logos.  That was also a problem when it came to quilting.  Then, the fact that Jessica is tiny.  I mean, tiny.  How this girl was good at basketball is beyond me.  Now she's doing volleyball.  She must be fierce.  Tiny and fierce.  The quilt started out to be super basic because that's all they asked for.  I couldn't leave it at basic.



I appliqued her name on the top.  Still pretty basic but at least it was something.  At first, I was going to use black metallic thread around the letters but I couldn't find black.  They had bronze which was the same color as the basketball fabric.  I thought it was going to be brilliant.  No.  It was NOT brilliant.  It was, in fact, super tacky.  So, I ended up with 10 billion tiny metallic threads all over my life.  Plain old black ended up being a better option.  I also cut out a little star in the A to match the Hoopstar logo.

Yes, this is laying on top of my car.  I happened to be waiting for Ethan at swimming class when I finished the binding.  Sometimes you just have to work with what you got.

I gave it to them yesterday and she seemed really happy.  I hope so.

Another thing that I've been putting off is my Taking Flight challenge quilt.  Our Guild President challenged us to make something with that theme.  I've been obsessed with peacocks lately.  I found a gorgeous stained glass peacock that I decided to make into a quilt.  Honestly, I'm going to be so pissed when this ends up being a mess.

I've just got a few basic layers started.  I'm very sceptical at this point.  I keep telling myself it'll get there but I'm not totally convinced.  There's going to be more feather detail, magnolia blossoms and at the very end, I'm going to bead and embellish the crap out of it.

There you have it.  Hopefully the beginning of a creative fall and winter.

Diamonds & Tiaras

I have been completely obsessed with pink and red as a color combo.  I realize this is unusual.  It's a bit much for the average person on daily basis.  But, it's so cute.  How can you not love it?  I seriously want to do a huge scrap quilt in pink and red.  Pink and red, everywhere.   It'll be fabulous.  But, for now, I settled for a table runner.

When, I was done, I felt like it needed a little something more.  What better than a crown?  Am I right?  Then, I topped it off with sparkly metallic thread.  Seriously channeling my inner princess that day.

 The diamonds were made using Edita Sitar's diamond templates and her strip piecing method.  Awhile back, I took a few days and sewed blocks of strips together to make her house quilt and with the left overs, I cut out some diamonds and triangles for "someday" projects.  I love the look of the strips but I don't think I'd do it the same way again.  There was a lot of seam on seam action going on.  Then, the solid fabric didn't like the seams being pressed to them.  Very uncooperative.

I finished another Vintage Christmas block.  I really ended up stitching and unstitching a whole bunch on this one.  The background got all crunchy when I put the buildings on.  My doors and windows are all crooked and it irritates me.  The roof on the bell tower is crooked, too.  I think I'm going to have to fix that.  Ugh.  Maybe, all together, the whole thing will be so cute that no one will notice how cock-eyed everything is.

Naturally, I was late getting my guild applique block of the month done.  Last month was the Morning Glory.  Next, is the Carnation.  It's going to be pink.  And, cute.

And now, to watch The Family Stone.  One of the best movies ever.