Quilt Top Done

Here it is the quilt of scraps.  After cutting as many scraps as I could into 1.5 inch with strips, I started piecing this together.  The fabric is mostly randomly placed, however, the overall pattern of the giraffes was painstakingly drawn and measured.  So now the many many many 1 inch strips are positioned just so to make this lovely scene.  The overall dimensions are 36 across and 56 long.   There will be another one representing the night sky.  These two quilts each the same size will be a focal point on my living room wall.  It will be quite a statement at around 6 feet across.   I am happy with the way it turned out, and would you even guess that most of the seams actually match up!!!  Now I am not sure how I want to boarder this, if at all.  Any ideas, suggestions?  I can't wait to get started on the next one.

Project Scrap Busting

I am not sure if it was the 3 overflowing 18 gallon tubs of fabric, or just the need to organize. I did watch a show about hoarding, and I felt like I was a fabric hoarder. So time to do a project with the scraps. This came to me as I was sorting through some of the other piles of fabric. Why not do a 1 inch strip quilt. This is a 2 quilt project, one representing day, and the other night.  This project took some real planning on my part.  I drew it out the way I wanted, then got to work cutting strips.    Those are all the details I will give now, you will have to stay tuned for the reveal, which will be awhile. I have the first top 80% done.  I am very pleased with the project so far, but I must keep going, so it is off to the quilt room I go!

Sneak Peek

Well for all you readers here is a glimpse of my latest project. Since I have not finished it yet, I don't want to let out the details. When it is complete there will be the grand reveal of the entire project. For now, this picture will have to satisfy your project curiosities.

I took these fabrics from my stash. Wait until the reveal, I think you will like it.

Project finished

I just finished this cute little boys quilt for a friend. She is going to a shower soon, and this boy quilt will make a cute present. I wanted to try out those little fabric blocks, so I cut out some matching fabric from the quilt, and whipped one up! I will pop them both in the mail today! I hope they like it.

Inspiration

As I was wrapping M's sandwich in my reusable sandwich wrap that I got from IreneDesigns. I realized that I needed to have a snack bag too! So I went to the pantry grabbed a plastic sandwich bag from a dusty box way in the bag of the shelf, and went to the sewing room. I picked some fabric from the scrap bin and started measuring and cutting and within a few minutes the snack bag started to take shape. This one is two apples high, perfect for going on a picnic, or just your regular lunch. No more plastic snack bags, and the best part about it is you can wash it and either machine dry it or just hang it up to dry naturally. This does not have any Velcro to get tangled up in the wash, it is just the fold style that I remember using all through school.
I am thinking of making more for my etsy shop, but for now, I have something to pack a few snacks in for M's lunch so that he gets more than just a sandwich.

If anyone has any comments, or suggestions on the snack bag, please let me know! Of course, these are all handmade with recycled or vintage material. Just one more way to keep more out of the landfill. Thanks.

May Giveaway Day

I was just over at Sew Mama Sew! where I saw that she is organizing a great bunch of websites that are hosting giveaways. I am going to participate in the May Giveaway Day by hosting a giveaway for a fun reusable coffee sleeve. This eco-friendly coffee cozy is handmade by me and you can see others similar to it in my Etsy shop: Threadbeaur. These great reusable sleeves can save lots of cardboard sleeves from going to the landfills.
Think of your coffee consumption:
1 to go cup a day snuggled with a cardboard sleeve=7 per week, 364 per year!
That is on a light week! Compound that by the number of coffee drinkers around the world and the number becomes staggering! Make your daily cup of coffee a little more green, win this coffee sleeve! Read the fine print below the picture.



The rules of the game are simple. Go to my shop look at the items I have and tell me what you like. I am always looking for feedback on my shop. Please leave your email so that I can contact the winner. The drawing will be a random pick of all the entries that comment on this post. This giveaway will end on May 31st at Midnight. Winner will be announced on June 1st!!! Good luck to all!
This contest, however, is for US participants, due to the shipping costs.

Good Mail Day

Today I got out of work early and came home to play with the dog, and when we were out front I checked the mail. The mailbox was filled with great things. Mostly they were addressed to other parties in the house, but there was one small package for me.

Not too long ago I found a great blog that is always packed full of great ideas on promoting your business, and the blog has some great eye candy pictures from his shop, too! Timothy Adam Designs is a great etsy shop...his medium is metal. He is a fantastic metal artist, and that distinction is well deserved. He was one of the my first discoveries on Etsy, and his shop is among my "heart" shops in my Etsy account. So you can imagine my delight when I saw his monthly giveaway on Timothy Adam Desgin's blog. Since I frequent the blog, I decided to enter and see what happened. As chance would have it I WON!!! I was so excited to win such a fantastic prize, I wanted everyone to know. I told all my friends about this amazing metal creator. His ideas are fresh and the product stunning. So in the mail today I got this necklace. Orange is one of my favorite colors, so this necklace is perfect for me. The square orange pendant has great weight and fantastic color saturation. The necklace itself is amazing with the magnetic clasp, it is so easy to take on and off. This is going to be my all purpose necklace. If you live in the Chicagoland area you will be able to identify me by the orange square that will adorn my neck. I can't say enough about this jewelry, but don't just take my word for it, check out Timothy's Etsy shop to get one for yourself.

Bags of Beauty

What a feeling....I finished all 20 bags for the order. I took a few pictures because they looked so nice stacked up in a row.
I have been posting almost daily on Etsy, but the views are slow to come. I feel like the buyers are not out there shopping on the internet, or maybe not shopping at all. I wonder what the financial crisis will bring for holiday shopping. Will it be slow on etsy, or will more people turn to handmade goods? Will shoppers want to shop with the environment in mind, handmade goods in most cases have less impact on the environment when they are produced. See why handmade is better at this website!

Tell me what you think will happen this years holiday shopping season.

Project Un-Named

My latest project, is still unnamed. I started it a few days ago, and was in such a sewing frenzy, I made the 4 large blocks, and 3 small blocks in two days time.
The idea came to me as I was chatting on the phone, drawing out quilt patterns on paper. Then suddenly it appeared, the blocks with shadows tumbling down the paper, and it was perfect. The conversation ended, and the process of trying to piece the quilt started. My mind was whizzing, my pencil hardly keeping up, "I got it!" I said aloud, as if talking to a crowd. The only one there now, was the dog. She looked at me with her sad eyes, then rolled over with a sigh.
I grabbed my first color fabric and started cutting, and sewing, and I had a block done in no time. It was perfect. My favorite square I had ever made. Then more were following, I did not want to stop. The quilt is coming together, now I will applique the squares on to the starry night batik fabric that I got today. If only I could come up with a name.