Grrrrr @ Blogger!!!!!

GGggrrrrrrrr!!!!

Google blogger really irritates me!

I have tried (unsuccessfully) to leave comments for several bloggers this whole week. I keep getting an error message saying my account does not have ACCESS to leave comments!?

What is this all about??

Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't!

Anyone know how in the world to fix this???

grumble... mumble... dumb google... :(

More Finishes

Hi! Happy Monday! :)

Thought I would show you a few more of the finishes I got done this last week in my sewing binge!

Finally got this big one bound and washed. Yay!

This windowpane quilt was done using a kate spain charm pack and a few extras. I love how it came out! Wishing I was a better photographer, or had someone around during the day to hold this up! I made this for our family room couch to snuggle up in :)

 I gave it a white border to add a little more width. And it's bound in the same turquoise blue kate spain print you see in the photo above.

 The back i did in long strips, since i knew i would be straight line quilting... thought this would be fun :)  I used that same blue print, and word fabrics from barnatex. Sorry I didn't get a close up of those... but if you go a couple posts earlier, you can see the fabrics themselves. Happy to have it done!

 Now... onto a few other things I worked on last friday! My daughter is such a girly girl!!! And as she grows, she is only growing in height - so many clothes that still have good wear left in them can be modified into unique and fun girly things and in the process extend the life of some perfectly good clothes!

She's been runnin around in these faded jeans, with holes in the knees :)  Ok... i'm an 80's girl... so i actually like that look! :D

But the other day I noticed they were just starting to get a bit ratty, and not so cool anymore! LOL

So I hacked off the legs....

 And turned them into a cute pair of cuffed shorts!  Calli chose the print for the cuff, and then she saw a piece of tufted tweets purple chairs and said OOhhhh can we put these on the front??  She thinks those chairs are hilarious!  :)

 I also finished this pair. I just LOVVVEE THEM!!! :) And so does she!

This is sooo easy to do!!  And Calli just loves it when i do this to her jeans! It makes her feel SPECIAL! She's the only girl in her school that has boutique looking jeans with frills on the bottom! :D  Wishing I would have grabbed a picture of her wearing them! They look ADORABLE on her!

 Add a few special appliques and free motion them down.. and voila! Fun funky girl jeans! :)

 Here's another pair I made her last year. Two of the appliques got peeled off. LOL I hadn't figured out how to sew them down with my machine on that pair - so they were all hand sewn on. Yah... that doesn't hold up to kid wear! LOL! But she has practically worn these out she loves them so much!

 Somehow this little flower applique is still on the pocket!? Guessing it won't last much longer! LOL!

I love doing things like this for Calli ! And donchya know... she's still at the age where she thinks she has the coolest mom of all ! :D   I'm hanging on to that title for AS LONG AS I CAN!!!!! :)   All too soon, I will be the "old fashioned mom that doesn't know anything!"  Until then though... i still get to walk with her hand in hand, am begged to come help at school and have lunch with her, (she actually is begging me to home school her! lol) and i get to make her fun girly things that make her feel special! Aaaahhh... wish this time period could last forever!!

Bright blessings,

Bren :)

Well here is one finish this week :)

I started out making this for our neighbor boy who just turned one. But halfway through, I changed my mind, and instead I am making him one with words and bold blues, reds and greens :) I'm not quite done with it, but I'll be sure to show you when I get it finished!  This one is a baby quilt and it measures 45" x 50".

 And the back :)

 I used a fun lime green thread for quilting, and a grey kona for the binding. Figured it was busy enough as it was... it didn't need a print on the edges!  Just LOVE these kona colors!  I'm not a big blue person, but this Delft (?) is just gorgeous with the terragon!

 And this... well... this seems to be a new member of our family!

No, i don't normally take in strays. (yes i always WANT to. LOL But i can't help but hear my Dad yelling in my head - never never feed strays!!!)  But this guy... I couldn't help myself.  Someone abandoned him I think.  He had been coming around for a month or so, always sneaking into our garage and eating our cat's food.  We kept "pssting" him out and shooing him away.  Well, I was out pulling weeds one day, and there he is meowing like no ones business. And creeping ever so closer, telling me his life story.

I kept ignoring him... until he got so close that I could pet him. Oh MY WORD. He was skin and bones! :(

Literally.

And he is a BIG BOY! He stands a full hand taller than both of our female kitties - and his paws are huge! I keep calling him "Beefcake"  LOL

The kids have been calling him Socks :)

 Once I touched him I about broke down in tears. He was literally starving to death! How can anyone be soo cruel???

And he was soo skittish, but was so hungry, he was willing to overcome his fear of me, in hopes of food. There is just no way on this earth that I could turn my back on him. Dad's voice or not! Ticking off my cats or not. (they are VERY territorial, and one is total alpha and doesn't take any crap from any other animal! lol)  Sooo... i knew... i knew it wasn't going to go well once Pounce realized we were feeding this intruder! LOL

But somehow she knew. She wasn't happy about it. Oh no. But she knew he was starving, and she literally looked the other way and let him eat. (that is soooo NOT her M.O.!)

We put food and water on the front porch for him - not near our kitty's bowls in the garage. 

But he has since taken over ownership of us. He is such a LOVE.  Forever tangling himself in and out of our legs, head butting and begging for love! Ok. That was fine. I have more than enough love to go around!

Well... as any cat owner can attest... each cat has their own personality, their own routines, their favorite places to sleep, to stand guard, etc.

Mr. Beefcake has now decided that all the places that Pounce (the alpha) sleeps - is a great place for HIM to sleep too! And since she stands guard at the front door and at the garage door - he's taken over a few of her shifts for her. I'm guessing he's just trying to help her out - since she's ever vigilant, she must be tired, right?

Yah. Pounce isn't liking this one bit.

I don't think she sees it as a favor. At all.  LOL More like black goldilocks has moved into her house, eating from her bowl, and sleeping in HER bed!

He's conveniently IGNORING her. Because this is now HIS house.

Ho boy. Did I mention she's a queen bee and doesn't take crap from any animal? Not dogs, fox, racoons, or cats!  She's a bit of a studette. lol

So we'll see how this will go down. She's had about enough of looking the other way.

And Beefcake has finally put on a little (not nearly enough yet) weight. But I'm guessing Pounce thinks it's enough!

He keeps trying to come in the house.

I keep telling him no. For right now that is the boundry line. Come winter tho... ??

These two are gonna need to make nice first.

And THEN we'll introduce him to Lexi! LOL

(she just wants to play, ALL THE TIME, and kitties are fun to play with!)

sighhhh....

So no.. i don't regret feeding him. And i don't regret a minute of loving him.  But.. what have i gotten myself into????

xo

Bren

Goldy Girl

The many faces of my goldy girl :)

She was all about posing for the camera while i was trying to take pics of a couple finished quilts! So she is my feature pin up girl today :D

Yes, I'm still alive :)

The last few weeks have been hard. I have been spending every day packing up my mom's house.. decluttering, purging, packing and storing.  And then I spent the last 10 days deep cleaning every room. I am EXHAUSTED.

And of course, i had to go and throw my back out on the last day :(

But the house is now listed, and looks absolutely gorgeous! Yay!! 

I might post more in the next day or two, once I recouperate fully!

xo

Bren

Busy Week!

Well it's been a busy week! Woohoo!

Kids started school. Yes, we start VERY early! And no, I am one of the weird ones that is NOT happy about that. LOL

First day they were back in school, I got my triangle top put together! Woot! And it all worked out :)  Second day they were gone, I was gone most of the day to a doctor appointment and running errands. But my hubby took my sewing machine in to be fixed - AND picked it up for me!! *Happy Dance!!*

So I was able to finally finish quilting this windowpane quilt that has been staring at me for close to 3 months!!! Yay!!! It's now on the couch with binding on, and hand sewing begun! *More Happy Dancing!*

I tell ya, if straight line quilting was the only option, I don't think I would be a quilter! I LOVE free motion quilting - that is my favorite part actually. I could do it all day every day!  But straight line (or rather organic line) quilting on a big quilt is exhausting! Having to push the entire quilt through the machine every pass seems to take forever, and it's a full body workout!! :D    This one isn't even that big, at 74"x 78"! I did a straight line quilting  on my first two quilts and almost quit! And they were 90" x 80", and 108" x 92 ! So glad I didn't quit! LOL But this was just a reminder why I'm not fond of it. My shoulders are soooo sore!! LOL  I really really wanted long lines on this quilt, so it was worth it. Can't wait to get the binding done and get it washed up!!

Then yesterday, I helped out a friend who just bought a used RV and needed 4 big cushions recovered.  Took me about 7 hours to get the 4 of them all done. But they look great! And I made them with an overlap envelope style, so she can removed them and wash them if need be. I felt very accomplished!! LOL!!

But still needed to sew! (geez can you say withdrawls??!!)  So I started a baby quilt for a little boy - our neighbor's son is turning 1 year old in two weeks - plenty of time to whip up a little quilt for him for his birthday!

I just love love love so many of the boyish fabrics that are on the market! It was hard to choose which ones to use! I think I might put together an extra one, and put it up on etsy while I'm at it.

Also have plans to make a couple little girl quilts for etsy too. We'll see if i can stay on track, or if i get all sidetracked and start working on something else?! 

But this is what i'm working on today :)  

Tomorrow I'll be at Calli's school helping in the classroom, and of course eating lunch with her. LOL She's only been begging since the beginning of the week!  So sadly the summer mentality is quickly fleeting, and we are getting back in schedule of waking up early,  and it seems work work work just takes over at that point. Sad to see the summer go!

Hope you are having a very blessed week!!  Hopefully i'll have some finishes to show you soon!

xo

Bren

My Process. Am I a FREAK??

In the spirit of the process pledge, I thought I would share the challenges I just ran into!

I think there are (at least) 2 different kinds of quilters. Ones that do projects only with patterns, and follow every direction to the letter - and their quilts turn out perfectly! And then there are those that wing everything. They get an idea, do the math and set out to make it happen. Those quilts don't always turn out perfect, and you can generally count on struggles along the way. LOL

(as my best friend says - "I don't know why you have to do everything the HARD way!")

Yah. I don't know why either? LOL

It's in my genetic makeup, I guess! I enjoy the creative process of figuring out the puzzle. I enjoy taking an idea that might work, and turning it into something that does work! That is part of the fun for me - the challenge! (Yes, I can hear all of you shaking your heads at me. haha!) And yes, sometimes I even chastise myself, asking myself "why can't you just do something the EASY way for a change?" - answer? Cuz it's not as much fun!

Maybe it's because I followed patterns in doll making for soooo many years, and when I finally set out on my own, I was much happier, and had way better - and unique - results!? Regardless... that is how I function! :)

So I started this scrappy triangle "log cabin" quilt a while back. And I made the first 4 triangles however I felt like it. I soon realized that the angles of the triangles were not uniform. No where near it! Uh oh. lol So I started the rest with unified centers, thinking the end results would be unified. Well... um... duh... NO. Not when I was changing the widths of the strips and adding at whim! So, no biggie, right? They can always be sized down, trimmed, or added to, to make them uniform. So I made 20 blocks that way. Happy as a clam :)

Fast forward a month when I was finally able to pick this project up again. (and had forgotten that little tidbit!) I started adding sashing. Figured out how it would work best (or so i thought) and made rows. I added 6" wide sashing, and staggered the triangles - shooting for the straight bottom edges of the triangle to be lined up as my guide. OK. Seems reasonable, doesn't it? Yes... EXCEPT that each triangle had a slightly different ANGLE - so regardless of the straight sashing, none of the rows would come out the same - or neccessarily straight!! GULP. Did I realize this BEFORE I started sewing them together and trimming them down???

Oh. no. that. would. be. too. dang. easy.

geez

Look at the picture below. First of all... one of these things is not like the other! ruh roh!

Second of all... do you see how the second row, and 4th row kind of veer up or down and are not straight??

BIG uh oh!

Yes, some seam ripping will be in order. And resewing at adjusted angles for those two rows. Now, that retarded bottom row - everything bassackwards had me stressed, knowing the whole thing would have to be ripped apart. Well.. i had planned to do 5 rows of 4. But once I got it laid out this morning, and realized (duh) that i would need to put sashing in between the rows - probably another 6" to keep it uniform - my quilt just grew in length by 30"! And it wasn't as wide as I would like. So - onto plan B! I hadn't yet sewn the last row - very thankful for that! Scooched the bottom row over by one, and add another triangle - problem solved! :D Adding the extra triangles to each row will balance everything for the width and length the way I originally had hoped for - but apparently couldn't do correct math for! :) Now, just so you know, I DID consider making each triangle into a square block - oh yes... that probably would have been the proper approach to something like this. Because as we all know , squares are EASY to work with! LOL And in hindsight, I probably should have! But... now... don't laugh at me... I thought THIS WAY WOULD BE EASIER!! LOL Remember, i see puzzles. And in my mind, this angled sashing was the simpler approach and they could "nest". (sure, if you're working with tangrams - do you know what those are? My kids played with them when they were young. They're little wooden shapes that you put together to form designs.) Soo... anyway... apparently I chose the hard road without realizing it. Again. sigh. But have no doubt - this WILL come to fruition! I am nothing, if not tenacious!! LOL!!

And... for my own curiosity, I will probably make another triangle quilt. Probably smaller, and I will do everything opposite that I did with this one. I will be less "wing it and have fun" on the triangles - i'll make them more uniform. And I will square them up into their own blocks, and put them together that way. Just to see for myself, and perfect the whole process. Why you ask? Am I writing a pattern? Nope. Am I making this for someone else? Nope. Am I nuts? Yep, probably. LOL

Mostly because I need to CONQUER it. Master it. Know in my mind, undeniably which way is best, and know that I can do it. THEN, and only then, can I move on to the next challenge!

Am I a freak of nature??? Am I the only one that does this??

Seriously. Sometimes that's how it feels, when I am surrounded by people that are pattern followers. They all look at me like I have 8 eyes or something!

Please... tell me... are you a mutual freak? Do you have to conquer your ideas?? Or are you one of the smart ones that take the easier road, and end up with perfect quilts every time? Just so ya know... I'm a little jealous if you are!

LOL

xo

Bren

ps... does anyone know how to keep blogger from inserting these huge gaps in between paragraphs?? I haven't been able to figure that out - and it's driving me nuts!!

Congratulations to Traci !

Congratulations to Traci W !

The random number generator chose #16

You won the wordy fabric!

:D

Thank you to all that entered! I really enjoyed reading your words, and why you chose them!

Traci, please email me with your information and these fabrics will be wrapped and sent out to you asap!! Hope you enjoy them! :)

I am off to take my son to the doctor. Fun stuff! LOL

Hope you all have a wonderful day, and you are staying COOL!!! It's finally eased up here in Colorado - quite a bit actually. But from the sounds of it, many states are still struggling with this massive heat. :( Praying for rain!!!!

xo

Bren

Wordy Fabric Giveaway!

Like Wordy Fabrics?

I've been meaning to put up this giveaway for a while now! But time seems to have run away from me!

Sorry!!

But today is the day!

Here is a small collection of wordy fabrics. There are 4 - 1/4yd pieces of the blacks and greys, and 4 smaller 1/8th yd pieces of the ones laying sideways.

The one on the far left is Authentic in black, the next three to your right are all from Wordplay by Barnatex.

These four are also from the Authentic line by Sweetwater. (i LOVE them. And i do mean LOVE! LOL That is why there is only 1/8th cuts here! I only have 1/2 yrds left and some smaller of each of these - but i am willing to share a little! lol) I'm sure you will be able to chop them up and they will add just the right accent to something! :)

The grays in these Wordplay/Barnatex fabrics are so versatile!

Oh and speaking of Sweetwater... have you seen their new line??????? Oh my word! (no pun intended lol) it's like they designed it JUST FOR ME! I am panting in anticipation!!!

http://sweetwater.typepad.com/makelifesweet/2011/04/welcome-to-ourhometown.html

I have a thing for red and yellow together... i have a thing for polka dots... and i have a thing for words/letters. Yah. I know they were peeking into my sub concience when they designed these! LOL!

Anyway... enough about me!! If you would like to be the proud winner of these fun wordy fabrics, leave me a comment telling me your word of the year. What ONE word describes you the best this year? Or your intentions or has the most meaning to you right now?

Also, become a follower and let me know you are following!

I will choose the winner with the random generator on August 5th.

Please make sure your email is available in your blogger id, if not, please leave it in your comment. If i choose someone with no email, i will have to pick someone else!

Thanks so much! :)

Hope you have a very blessed day!

xo

Bren