Pretty Petals

The first day of Spring is in 8 days!  Yeah!  And there's snow in todays forecast.  What better way to bring a little sunshine and warmth into the house than flowers.  Cut flowers never last long enough, why not make a few of your own?!  I made this one from a tutorial over at Snowy Bliss.

Here's my changes to her lovely tute.  It's like a recipe...who can follow it exactly, I always alter to my tastes.  

Alteration #1, the yellow center is a 2 1/4 square of yellow fabric with a 3" square piece of batting folded in half twice. 

 My low temp glue gun made quick work of this.

Alteration #2  the tutorial has raw edge flowers, mine are sewn smooth edges.  Instead of placing fabrics wrong side together I placed mine right sides together, sewed on the scallop line that I drew with the bottom of a spray can.  Then pinked the edges and clipped into the point.  Turned it right side out and pressed.   My gathers were made the same.

Alteration #3  since the flower had raw edges on the bottom they needed to be covered. 

I drew a circle on a piece of muslin, layered it right sides together with the green print.  Sewed on the marked line, cut a small hole for turning right sides out.

 turned and pressed, cut a very tiny whole in the center to slip over the stem.  

 Alteration #4  I used a wire coat hanger for the stem.  With a pair of wire cutters it was easy to cut it to the length needed. 

Alteration #5  Wrapping(spiraling) the stem with a .50 piece of fabric.  Just a dab of hot glue at the top and then at the bottom.

This is my desk pen and pencil holder.  I glued 4 bobbins stacked together and then glued to the bottom of the vase.  (These bobbins don't fit any of my machines)  The center hole will support my flower stem.

 Tada!  She's Perky!  The plan was for a full vase of flowers, but I kinda like the whimsy of just the one flower and I can still use it for my pens.

~Lea Anne~

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A wee bit of Irish tutorials

There's no denying that my dads side of the family is just a wee bit Irish.  My grandmother on my dads side was about 5' tall with red hair.  One of the most happy go lucky little ole gals you could ever meet.  And she was a quilter in her later years.  Inspiring me in so many ways.  After digging through all my pictures for hours I could find no pictures of grandma.  However I did find this one of my cute little ole dad.  All he needs is a little green suit and a pot of gold.  He too has a wonderful spirit that people are drawn to.  My kids love to visit grandpa and listen to many stories that I've heard a million times.  Not only does dad have an amazing talent for telling stories, he also never forgets a name.  If you can't tell by now I'm a wee bit of a daddy's girl.  I could go on and on about his many wonderful talents and accomplishments.   How about instead I share a few Irish quilt projects that will make you dance a wee little jig!

What would I do without Pinterest?  It helps me to keep track of all the great free projects that I'd like to make.  Lindsy Weight over at Fort Worth fabric studio designed and shared a tutorial for this happy little pillow.  Just a wee bit cute!

Amanda aka Jedi Craft girl designed and shared her Lucky pillow.  This one has a zippered closure in the back and a wee bit more applique.  It's a fun way to learn a new skill such as installing a zipper.  

Although this ones not green it's 100% Irish.   You can find this great tutorial for an Irish Chain over at MessyJesse's.  Uses a wee bit of scraps in the  large 18.5 blocks.

So were you a wee bit inspired today?  Are you a wee bit tired of the phrase "wee bit"?   Well if you want a WEE BIT more inspirations just take a look at the linkies over at Free Motion by the River.    

~Lea Anne~

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Come on in!

Good Monday Morning!  Isn't it just a beautiful day?  The weatherman is calling for 62 degrees....WooHooo!  Might just need to crack a window or two and let in a little fresh air.  So while we wait for the thermometer to rise come on in, I just put on a pot of coffee.  Let me take you on a tour of what I've been up to.   WARNING:  I'm not finished with the makeover but I'm getting closer.  Much of last week was spent making the minis you see piled up on the cutting table and making covers for several wicker baskets.  See them?  They stand out with the big red bows.  All the cabinets and tables were wood color, painting them white has really made it brighter in here. Whatcha think about yellow for the walls?

 The ironing station...  I love that its on wheels and can be rolled over to my sewing table for extra support when piecing a quilt top.  The top is just a piece of covered plywood that can be lifted off easily and set aside.  And the little skirt hides my serger and embroidery machine.   The quilt rack still needs to come down and be relocated to the living room.  

 I recovered my chair and added gingham buttons.   Finally made a decision on the  new sewing machine cover.  I also made the pincushion/scrap bag.  The basket on the floor is for the cut away corners and scrap fabric that OCD will not allow in the trash.   All the white fabric you see in my studio was given to me.  2 Bolts! Thanks Aunt Betty! I've just enough left to cover one more basket.

Well I know what your thinking, wheres the 4th wall?  My quilt frame sits on it, and to be honest its a hideous mishmash of different colors of wood.  Nothing on the wall behind the frame, so really there's nothing to see over there...let me divert your attention to what's on the frame.  

 While trying to make quick work of a UFO, Freddy Kruger came in and stuck his hands in my back.  Hopefully the handful of over the counters painkillers will kick in and let me finish.   That is if me, myself and I will quit arguing over the quilting design.  I want to finish quick and keep it simple, but the other two want to quilt it to death.  I'm hoping that they hook up with Freddy and leave with the pain killers.

~Lea Anne~

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The reality is....

While going through my UFO's this week it hit me that over half of them were either quilt alongs or BOM's.  AH-HA!  I see a pattern emerging.  It's time to talk to the inner self and find out why.  Let me tell you that the inner self(child) has a lot of excuses.  What can you do other than deal with them.  It seems that interest is lost in the waiting game of these types of patterns.  We made the decision to no longer start them when they are posted.  Only save them, and then when quilt along or BOM is finished, if the desire to make the quilt is still there then I'll make it.  In the meantime the ones that have collected under my cutting table will be finished as is.  

This one I'm sure most of you recognize.  Its Lori Holts Quilty Fun.  My plan was to make the blocks in advance and wait for the setting instructions.  ADHD kicked in full force and I moved on to other things. 

One of the quilters that I follow posted a lovely quilt, completely quilted with this wiggle stitch you see below.   I wish I could find that quilters post to give her credit.  So if you're reading please send me an email so I can give you credit for inspiring me to use it.  I love it!

 Now the only problem with this stitch was me.  My quilt wasn't moving through as freely as it should, causing a distortion.    

 Not all the blocks in the quilt came from the book.  I had two hummingbird test blocks that needed a home.  With a little added sashing they fit right into the quilt.  You can find the free pattern at Red Pepper Quilts.  I bet you're wondering "Why two test blocks of the same pattern?"   Because one was paper pieced and the other was paperless paper piecing.  Paperless won this this test.  It's not really paperless, there just no paper to tear away.  

 The backing fabric is from a curtain  made for my daughter years ago.

 It feels really good having another finish, and one less UFO.

 Next UFO on the to-do list.  It's not a BOM or quilt along, but it is a cutie.  Why did I let this one set for so long! 

~Lea Anne~

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