Pressed, Unwashed, Cut, and All Ready to Go!

I visited my local quilting store and found the perfect fabric for the "I Spy Charm Swap" that I am participating in. I was surprised to learn that the store actually had a few fabrics from Sarah Jane's Children at Play collection! This is one of my favorite fabric lines; I was this close to buying the entire collection at one point online. I must say touching those fabrics in person at the store was so surprisingly satisifying!

Anyway, here is the fabric I selected for the swap. What do you think!? It's by David Walker - Hopscotch, Girls at Play. It was love at first sight. This print was just too cute to pass up. Also, I think the tiny figures are perfect for the "I Spy" theme.

The girl on the bicycle is my favorite.

We were asked not to pre-wash the fabric, which meant, I immediately started pressing and cutting it into 5"x5" squares. One yard of fabric turned into 56 squares. Ah! So relaxing and rewarding. Can I just do that going forward!?

 56 squares all ready to go!

OK! I am shipping these off to Jennifer tomorrow. Can't wait to see what others have picked out.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Scraps!

Scraps are in this year! I love my scrap fabrics, but we all know how long it takes to save up enough scraps to make anything. Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts came up with a great swap idea where everyone purchases one yard of fabric, cuts them up into squares, mails these cut up fabrics to Jennifer, and she will collate them for everyone participating. Thank goodness I was fast! The list is now full. I have no idea how 55 people (including me) acted so fast. Now I need to find a cute fabric for this swap.

I am going through caffeine withdrawal (long story) and am having these throbbing headaches. I am not  going to be a happy camper this week.

Hello 2012!

I made a few of these tissue covers for friends. They are small, light and make perfect gifts for international recipients. I used Coco Stitch's very simple tutorial.

 

These covers are double sided.

I also finished making a project with tons of hexagons. I have no idea what to do with it, but I enjoyed piecing those hexagons together (no pictures, sorry).

I hardly knit at all, isn't it weird? I guess the weather just didn't get cold enough. 

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish all your dreams come true in 2012!

Holiday Update

I have about ten days off from work this holiday season, and I purposely didn't plan anything this time around. I want to relax, enjoy my house, spend time with my family, knit, sew, visit local coffee shops, and do things I like. It's the little things in life that make me so happy. Here is a quick update on my vacation so far.

I visited a local nursery and bought supplies to re-pot some of my plants. I transferred this plant from a tiny little pot into this bright yellow pot. Look at how much my plant has grown! There are so many buds and they are blooming!

These pots are bio-degradable. 

My orchid is also coming back to life. My mom bought me this orchid last winter, and I have just been watering these two "sticks." It's finally budding!

Yay!

I made some Aloha shirts using Hawaii fabric I purchased from my recent trip to Maui. I used Beyond the Reef Aloha Shirts pattern that I purchased from the same visit. I made these shirts smaller than what the pattern called for so I can turn them into magnets. I saw these magnets at the quilt shop and immediately knew I had to make them. 

Quilt shop's version.

My version; not sure I like the look with the white buttons.

My husband and I also went to the bowling alley, watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (really intense, I liked it), and went on lots of dinner dates :) 

By the way, my "things I want to make" list continues to grow, and it's stressing me out! LOL

I am looking forward to celebrating the start of 2012. I hope you are enjoying this special time of the year as well.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is less than two days away! Can you believe it?! It crept up on my so fast this year. I had no time to bake or send out greeting cards. Shame on me :(

We lit the fourth candle for Hanukkah tonight. I also haven't made Latkas, which is fried potato pancake; you eat it with apple sauce or sour cream. I love it!  Not sure what happened this year, but I just barely had enough time to keep up with everything.

I finished sewing up this little hot potholder tonight. I started back in September and have no clue why it took me three months to finally finish it. I used one layer of Insul~Bright insulated batting and one layer of regular cotton batting to prevent myself from burning. This insulated batting works really well. Give it a try if you are interested.

I forgot to take a photo of the backing. I used one of my favorite cupcake prints. 

This finished potholder did inspire me to bake tonight. I cheated and used Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Kit. This is the best and easiest sugar cookie kit out there. I always have a box of this in my pantry. The frosting that came with the kit did not cooperate with me this time; half of the cookies ended up with no frosting. But the cookies were still delicious!

They are disappearing as I type. 

Thank you for being such a supportive group of friends. I am so happy that I got to meet all of you through blogging. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to you. I look forward to continue sharing my projects with you in 2012!