Gathered Clutch

A friend of mine recently moved away. She's the creative type who uses fabric to decorate, but didn't want to take it with her when she moved so I was the lucky recipient! I took 3 that she had hung together and re-purposed them into this clutch to send her as a "good luck, off to your new and exciting life" present, following the tutorial over on Noodlehead. I'm excited with the way it turned out and it was the perfect way to transform her material into something new. And it really wasn't too hard - the tutorial is easy to follow. I successfully used interfacing AND installed a zipper. Now on to one for myself!

What's an aunt to do?

Several months ago, I posted the quilt I made for my niece's 3rd birthday. It was a Fons and Porter kit - paper dolls. So when the 3 year old sent an email requesting more clothes for her quilt, I have no choice but to respond!

I followed this tutorial to make a little drawstring bag.

And loaded it up with the rest of the clothes ("and hats, yes please" so says the 3 year old)

sloooowly but surely

the quilting progresses on the birthday quilt. we're now 3 months late, certainly not my worst. could it be done this month?

Gorge Quilters' Guild Show

The guild show was last week and I got to spend an afternoon at the info table and taking in the sights (and buying stuff). There were some amazing pieces, pictured below.

This creation blew me away, and won best in show so obviously the judges were impressed as well. It was made by Mary Arnold.

The door looked so real and was embellished with beads that were the nails and a metal piece for the door handle.

This one was so warm and cozy. I have always liked the bear paw square. The description for this said she made it out of her dad's Pendleton Wool shirts.

Why I might consider learning to machine quilt. Look what you can do!!!! The blue ribbon is first place for the Mixed Technique category.

and the back! as amazing as the front!

This quilt won viewer's choice! And you can't tell here but it is hand quilted! Numerous comments on the voting cards noted that they were impressed with the hand quilting.

So precise. I am never that precise. Someday. . .

An amish quilt - also hand quilted! It was nice to see more hand quilting this year.

this was made from "molas" from an island near Panama.

And these were made from Guatemalan materials - the guild took a trip to Guatemala last year. I like these and the Panamanian quilt for their use of non traditional American fabric.

Finally I can post about this!

My husband turned 30 earlier this month. He's been haranging me for a quilt practically since I've known him. His birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity and after a few fits and starts, I settled on trying something geometric in the hopes that the trick to your eye would work. It kinda did. I pieced the top in a day and hand quilted like mad when he would go out of town for work. Had I gotten things together a little sooner and not gone out of town myself, I might have
finished. But, alas, I had to present it undone. And undone it remains. But, it did help teach me that I really can get stuff done if I focus. So, I'm feeling confident that it will be finished before summer is over.

inspiration on the computer screen

prepping and planning

strips

more strips

the finished top. it has the desired effect as a thumbnail photo. and if i did it again, i'd do much thinner strips and a more gradual progression. live and learn, i still like it

Hooded Baby Towel

A coworker of mine had her baby shower today. I made her a hooded baby towel and a couple of wash clothes. I conveniently found a tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, The Purl Bee, a few weeks ago. This is the same blog where I found the tutorial for the ties I made for all the boys in the wedding.

It was super easy to do - I used organic terry cloth and regular flannel (cause they didn't have any cute organic cotton). The only challenge was the stretch of the terry cloth but if you tell me you're having a baby any time soon, expect to get this as your gift.

trying to find a little hope

I'm participating in CraftHope's Project 8 - sending wash clothes and hand towels to those that are trying to save the animals in the gulf. I'm excited about this for a number of reasons - I've wanted to take part in one of their projects for a long time and had not been able to get it together, it's such a simple project that literally anyone can do it (I guess the one requirement might be that you know how to work scissors), and last but certainly not least, it's a little way to have a positive impact in what is going on with this oil spill. I've been thinking about all of the joyful times I have had both in and around our oceans, most recently snorkeling and scuba diving in Tahiti. We happened upon a sea turtle while snorkeling at one point and it was so beautiful and graceful - really just mesmerizing.

I encourage you to join up. If you don't have the time to do this, you can just send Dawn soap. The due date is July 3 but I'm pretty sure they are flexible - they are going to need supplies for a long long time. I bought diaper flannel - it was 100% cotton and cheap, and they don't need anything fancy so it seemed perfect. I'll post a picture of my donation once I've actually completed it.