Texas Teardrops Quilt Along Finished Top!

I can’t believe I finally finished the top to my Texas Teardrops QAL I participated in!

This is my FIRST quilt, and my FIRST QAL, and I am so glad I did it!! To find out more about it, you can visit The Quilting Lodge QAL page, or the Flickr group! There are a bunch more quilts posted in the Flickr group. The talent is amazing in there.

Here is what the top looks like.

I love the fabric I picked out! I think it turned out great! I got it from Jody at FabricShoppe,Modern Fabrics on Etsy. She is awesome, and I have to support my home of Minnesota, which makes me love her even more! I can put a post together of the fabrics I used in case anyone is interested in knowing what they all are. Unfortunately she is almost out of a most of these fabrics (and why wouldn’t she be, they are amazing) but she got some new stuff in, and I am in love with all of it! Now to decide what to make next!

I know my quilt is not perfect, but I kind of like that, since it is my first one. I still have a lot to learn, and now I need to learn how to actually quilt it! Let me know if you have any good websites to visit on how to do this, or online classes to take to learn the actual quilting process, or any tips or tricks I should know!

Thank you so much for all the love I have got along the way! You crafters are the best online community, and thank you for letting me be part of it with you all!

Next on my list to is prepare my house for my very first visitors to Hawaii!!

peace.love.dove.

Don’t trip over your husband

note to self. don’t trip over your husband.

This might happen.

And you might get it on the quilt you are working on…

You  might try baking soda and water, but what you really need is a tide to go pen… seriously…

I freaked out.

hopefully I fixed it! I was trying to get my husbands opinion on what fabric I should back the quilt with…

and yes, I tripped over him. He thought he was more injured than me, but then he saw my blood trail and felt bad very quickly!  But the quilt is saved!

peace.love.dove.

Texas Teardrop Quilt Top (minus border)

I am caught up! I borrowed my friends sewing machine to add the last couple pieces to this top! But now my sewing machine is dead, and I don’t know what to do about it.

Anyways, here is the top!

And for size reference, here it is on the bed.

I am so excited I have gotten so far on it! Next week I add the border!

peace.love.dove.

Texas Teardrop QAL update

I am trying my best, and I am almost caught up…

except I think my sewing machine hates me. For a little while I was doing great. I could feel my grandma’s presence, as I sewed. She was an amazing sewer. But as I almost finished the quilt top, I put the two corners on the wrong side, and then my sewing machine fully stopped. Nothing. So I have two corners to put on, which I will do tomorrow, at my friends house. Then off to find a sewing machine repair place on the island… if it costs more than $50, its probably best I get a new machine… so let me know what I should get… I want something for everyday sewing and good for quilting. Comment away, because I need some help. Right now I have a Singer Esteem that I got for my wedding 5 years ago.

Quilt Along… Here are some pictures

Squared up!

laid all out

rows done!

Attaching the rows!

Later this weekend I will show you the finished quilt top… minus the border, which hopefully I can get done if I fix my machine, or get a new one… I am so close.

Way too close. I love doing a quilt along, because I feel like I am actually going to finish something. I think it is the best way to do my first quilt. I am working on another quilt too, but I am going to finish this one, before I finish the other!

Now back to my vodka limeade… yeah, it was one of those kind of days. The sewing machine is still in pieces on the table…

peace.love.dove.

My Bella Blvd Warehouse Sale Box got here!

I was so excited to get my box! I actually missed the mailman and had to pick it up the next day at the post office. I wanted to open it the second I got in the car, but I decided to wait and take some pictures of it so I could show what I got.

So here we go!

Do you see how thick that stack is?? The top 9 pieces are labels, sticker and alpha sheets. But the others are paper!

The stickers and such.

The collections I got. Tail Waggers & Cat Naps, Midterm, Mr. Boy, Family Dynamix, Finally Fall, Sophisticates, Hello Beautiful, Camped Out, Spring Flings & Easter Things, Making the Team, Lovey Dovey, and Plastino.

80 sheets of paper!! I am so excited to get my UPS shipment today too! I ordered a paper cart/storage rack from Joanns.com. The worst thing about living in Hawaii is that we are so limited on selections… and what we can get costs and arm and a leg. Fingers crossed it gets here soon so I can get my craft room organized!!

Let me know if you ordered a box and what was in it! I am excited to see if they are all the same or different. I would say most of my papers were from Sophisticates and Midterm. But overall I like what I got and would totally do it again next year! Let me know if you hear of any other Warehouse boxes, because I love a good surprise!

Hope you have a crafty day! I am back at working on my QAL.

peace.love.dove.

Amy Tangerine Workshop!

I was lucky enough to get into the Amy Tangerine workshop at one of the Ben Franklin craft stores here in a Hawaii a couple weeks ago.

I will admit this was my very first workshop I have ever attended. I am so glad I went! We used her new line Yes Please to make a Happy Journal.

I wish I could say I finished the journal, but I have been super busy lately, and haven’t even had a chance to print off pictures to put in it. But I did get to meet Amy Tan!!

How cute his her baby bump! I got the front of my journal done! (and learned some new techniques!)

I also got Amy to sign my copy of her magazine that I actually won from Northridge publishing when it came out!

Oh I was so excited! I have never met a crafting “celebrity” before. I also met some new scrapbooking friends, which was so nice since most of my friends do no understand my obsession with paper. I hope I get to see them again! I really need to finish this journal soon too! I have hopes in the next upcoming weeks to do so. I just need to get settled a little more, and hope I can share with you the finished project very soon!

peace.love.dove.

Last Art Glitter Design Team Post!

So today is my last post being on the Art Glitter Design Team. In no means does that mean I will stop using glitter, because it is a part of my life. Today I wanted to share a story on why glitter is so important to me, you will see that after my quick little post.

Just a quick overview. I used the double glitter technique. I have also used this Dreamweavers stencil before too! To learn how to do this technique, check out THIS post. The only thing I changed was the colors of Art Glitter. Here are some pictures of the process.

I of course peeled it off of the stencil and added another color glitter over the top to get the final look! I then adhered it to a card!

Art Glitter Used:

#361 Cat Eyes Ultrafine Opaque, #355 Sunrise Ultrafine Opaque, #525 Brocade Microfine Opaque, #30 Royale Ultrafine Opaque, #282 Night Vision Ultrafine Opaque, #71 White Gold Ultrafine Opaque

Dreamweaver Stencil, LJ 849 Bare trees

Art Glitter Small Sticky Paper

Be sure to stop by the Art Glitter Blog to check out some party lights I made!

Now onto my glitter obsession background story:

Back in college, 2005 to be exact, it was my Senior Year. Winter was about start, and we had all got back from Thanksgiving break. Finals were coming up and we were all excited about where the new year was going to take us.

I was in a sorority, and there was about 60 of us in the house, and we were all super close. One day in particular plays over and over in my head.

One night, one of our sisters passed away in a hit and run car accident. She was walking. I want to spare any details about the situation, but it is a day I will never forget, it was just so very sad.

I had so many great memories with her. I had recently taken her back to Minnesota to catch the train over Thanksgiving break to visit her sister. She was such an amazing woman. She was beautiful and had the kindest heart. She was smart, part of a loving family, and always giving back to the community.

I will never forget walking outside later that day, because it was the first snow of the season. As a sorority girl, we used glitter in everything we could. Something magical was happening though. The snow looked like glitter, and at that second, we all knew that out dear friend was in Heaven, sprinkling glitter down on all of us. It was very moving. To this day every time I see glitter snow, I know she is there looking down on me. And glitter is so near and dear to my heart because of it.

I want to thank everyone at Art Glitter for this amazing opportunity to be on their design team. I will not be returning this year, since we just moved, and we really want to get settled in Hawaii (and enjoy our pool in our back yard). I will not stop using glitter. I will be experimenting with some new hobbies, and I hope you all continue to take this crafting journey with me! I look forward to seeing what the new design team will be sharing with us!

Quilt Along Update

So I am actually on track with the Texas Teardrop quilt along, and I am super excited about it! I thought I would share some pictures of my progress!

Here I am tracing out my applique onto the iron on things. Yep. That is the words I am going to use.

Close up!

My fabric choices. Except that I ended up taking out two of the pieces.

Cutting out the teardrops!

Teardrops cut!

All of the pieces are cut out!! I can’t believe I have even made it this far!! I have to cut out the white squares that they with be appliqued to, and pick out the color of thread to use! I have a few options, If you could comment on your suggestion let me know what you would pick!

1. Navy
2. Teal
3. Gray
4. Lime
5. White

Now I can work on getting my house together before we learn more about the next step!

peace.love.dove.