Wordless Wednesday

This and That and This

I gave the Basil plants a haircut last weekend.

I love it when THIS...

Becomes THAT...

Because I really love to eat it like THIS.

A new sewing project....sort of

There's been some real live sewing going on in the house this weekend. It feels AWESOME.

After cleaning the rug in my craftroom (due to a feline that shall remain nameless), I am back in the mood to get my creative space feeling more creative, and less.....ummmm OVERFLOWING WITH PILES OF STUFF.

This project was started a few weeks ago and then got left on the back burner to sit patiently and wait for our lives to slow down a bit. It finally happened.

I've been wanting to make an hourglass quilt for a while, and spent a few hours the past couple days getting it pieced.

I knew I wanted to use the leftover fabrics from this quilt, because the colors are not something I would normally lean toward, but feel that they work really well together. What I didn't do was any sort of math - what.so.ever. I just cut the fabric in 4.25" squares (not even sure where that measurement came from) and would see how they turned out. Duh.

Just so you know......4.25" squares cut up and pieced together in an hourglass pattern only make a 5" block. For those not paying attention, that's a 4.5" square finished.

IT WILL TAKE ABOUT A MILLION OF THESE TO MAKE A LAP QUILT.

So, it's going to be a table runner or wall hanging or doll quilt. Definitely something small.

Does anyone else tend to have 20/20 vision AFTER beginning a project?

Oops, I did it again.

I've joined my second online swap! I'm now an official member of the Doll Quilt Swap 7 (DQS7).

I'm not really a "doll" kind of girl, but I do have a couple of spots on my walls that need to have some eye candy added, and these smaller quilts also make fabulous wall hangings.

We've been asked to submit some samples of our style by adding to our Flickr Favorites, and boy did I have fun looking through everyone's uploads. I heart Flickr. If you have some random general idea of something stuck in your head, check out Flickr, I'm sure there's already a pic (or 100) of what you're trying to do. I use it a lot when I need inpiration for a project, it rocks.

Here's a few examples to give my future, as yet unnamed partner some ideas.

1. 4SQS Winter Quilt by Tami, 2. let the fence hold it, 3. patterns, 4. Spa, 5. GITF progress 4-18, 6. combinação de tecidos, 7. Hannah's quilt, 8. Flights of Fancy - Back, 9. Flights of Fancy - Front, 10. In the shop, 11. Triangles and Squares Quilt, 12. peek at hexes, 13. Plain Spoken Quilt with McCoy Pottery Inspiration, 14. sailboat quilt, 15. bento box, 16. Blue Bell, 17. Blue Bell, 18. Commisioned "Little Boy Blue", 19. Baby Quilt, 20. Front, 21. Mod Sampler Quilt-along, 22. Hannah's quilt, 23. Zigging Along, 24. Wounded Warrior quilt, 25. Garden quilt, 26. quilt top wip, 27. gum ball neapolitan, 28. Flea Market Fancy Close Up, 29. Spiderweb Quilt, Front, 30. Mini Mug Quilt - Greens, Browns, Yellow & Orange, 31. Spiderweb Quilt Progress, 32. Flea Market Fancy Quilt Front, 33. Zig Zag string quilt, 34. Green/pink Turning Twenty Again Quilt, 35. Red + White III, 36. modern grace hourglass

I've been a little busy...

Although, my husband would call it obsessed, neglectful, and probably a little selfish.

Now he's a true Jedi!

Last weekend we had Mr. Big's 7th birthday. It was a BLAST!!

He wanted to have a Star Wars party, because lately his whole world revolves around Star Wars. He's a typical boy. With a mom who likes to do very atypical birthday parties.

Yeah, I like to do big, themed, activity filled birthday parties. The kind that tend to bring out the manic, control freak, try to do it ALL (because I don't plan well) in two days kind of birthday parties. This year was especially trying for the rest of the family because I didn't actually get my birthday planning mojo until the weekend before. Yikes.

It. was. ugly.

But we pulled it off and it was awesome!

We started the party by giving all the kids Jedi tunics because they had some training to do! I made them each from a half yard of muslin with a 3 inch strip of brown broadcloth. Easy peasy.

First, we had a Pod Race. We had borrowed a couple of wagons from friends and they raced to the cones and switched, then came back. It was fun.
After completing the Pod Race, they all received lightsabers. I made the lightsabers from pool noodles with a PVC pipe inserted and then wrapped in duct tape. Each one cost less than a dollar to make, but they were A HIT!! The kids practiced with them for a while and we let them run loose, while we got everything ready for the next game, an obstacle course.

For the obstacle course, they had to go up the playset and slide down the pole, then go across a couple of balance beams. They rounded the corner and had to jump over a bench and then crawl under another bench. To show they made it all the way around they had to hit a bell (the Deathstar) that was hanging from the playset. It was crazy, but it was fun!

The kids played with the lightsabers some more while we got the cake and ice cream ready.

The cake was a big huge 4 ft lightsaber made from 6 loaf pans of cake, and everyone really liked it. It was perfect!

Gifts were opened, and the last gift was the Jedi robe I had made him the night before. (Did I mention my lack of planning?)

All in all, it was a fabulous day. I even got a "best birthday ever" from Mr. Big. Priceless.