Fabric Madness!

Yesterday, while finishing up laundry and website updates with my mom, my youngest sister asked the thing every budding crafter wants to hear: "So, what are you making me for my birthday?"

Love that kid. The three of us quickly decided on a quilt, and my mom offered (well, agreed to) pay for the fabric if I sewed it. Really? Someone wants to enable finance my sewing habit? Heck yes! We decided the quilt would be a joint birthday present from me and Mom, and then Dru will take it off to college with her. Seriously, I was a little verklempt.

Later (after Delaney and Trevor were in bed), I called my mom to show her the bundles I had picked out for Dru on FabricWorm. Somehow, it turned into a marathon conference call; me on one end, and Mom, Dru, and my step-dad, Randy (requesting a 50's bowling "Pins and Fins" quilt). Lets just say we got a little out of hand.






Now, instead of one birthday quilt, I have a birthday quilt for youngest sister Dru, 20yr Camping Trip Anniversary quilt, a birthday quilt for my mom, and a birthday quilt for 2nd oldest sister Blair. Gotta love FabricWorm for their bundles! Now I just have to get busy....

Baby Girl: Shower Invites

Tonight I'm flexing my graphic design muscles, and designing some fancy, trendy baby shower invites. Okay, so it's been a while since I've done graphic design, and I've surely never been trained in it. Mostly, I've taken free illustrations I've found via HowAboutOrange and added some fancy fonts. But I think they're pretty cool.

I'm trying not to make them TOO girly, since our baby shower is actually going to be more of a house party - with baby gifts. :D








I still need to come up with a couple more, then print some comps at work. All the people who are involved in the baby shower planning are busy busy people, and I'm not about to be the mom-to-be who sits there watching her friends slave away during the party. I'm definitely going to be involved, and the invitations are just the start.

Which one do you like?

DIY: Current projects

Man. I wish I had my fancy digital camera so I could take some teasing photos.

Anyway, right now I'm working on a mobile, cut out a million stars from 20yr old paper swatch books I got from my mom a couple weeks ago. I love the different textures of the expensive paper, and sitting there cutting and pasting reminded me of when I was a kid, using those swatch books instead of construction paper.



Also, I currently have some crazy neon pink striped fabric in the washing machine, a free-cycle gifty. I'm getting ready to tear apart my old pink sweater, and create a super simple baby quilt, just follow the lines of the stripey fabric. Guess it's time I learn to bind?

Trevor wants me to work on a blog of his - he's apparently taking full advantage of his flight benefits, and we're heading to every NHL stadium this season. I know, I know, I said "really, the same season we're going to have a new born?", but Trev doesn't ask for much, so I'm going to indulge him. Our 4yr anniversary was yesterday, and I'm still enamored with his spontaneity. So, he's blogging about his travels, and I'll need to help him with the blog design and such.

On that note, I think I'm going to major in graphic design. I've dabbled in English, Chiropractic, and business management, but nothing has stuck. So, I don't go to class, and just work all the time, haha. I've been immersed in graphic design my whole life, thru my mom. (She's a huge influence on my style and creativity, don't know if she knows) I get frustrated, because I'm not as good at is as I'd like to be. I can feel my way around the Adobe Suite, and PageMaker (from Journalism in HS) . It can only help me understand colors and form even better, and give me that daily creative outlet I'm desperately lacking at the moment.

Now I need to get off the computer, and work on that sweater-blankie project. I swore I'd complete *something* by the end of the night, and if tearing apart a favorite sweater is the one thing I accomplish, so be it!

Inspiration: Easy Quilts

So, I'm distracting myself from work woes tonight with home decor. I've found some super easy quilts recently, and have been saving everything as a link on Facebook. I still haven't finished the quilt hanging up in Delaney's room, when I told Trev I might just turn it into a baby quilt, he got all huffy, "That was supposed to be a cuddle quilt for us on the couch!" What a sweet boy :)

I have to admit, life is pretty stressful right now. It feels like every time we take a step forward, we have to take two back. Anybody know me from a past life? Maybe I was a jerk, and I'm just working off that karma, hah. Anyway, I need to just focus on things I can control, like an easy quilt :)

I've found some recently that look fun and simple... last thing I need is more stress!

Horizons Crib Quilt

Their color situation is super busy, and far too bright for my taste, but it's definitely quick,  and could adapt to a larger quilt very easily. They didn't do any actual "quilting", which leaves the door open for interpretation. 

Wedding Quilt from PurlBee

This is one of the first quilts I saw on AT when I got on this design kick a few months ago. I still love it, and while it's definitely not "simple", all the pieces are the same size, which means I could make a template and be done with it.

Purl Bee recently featured Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, which was one of the 4 books I picked up from the library when I saw the quilt I talked about above. This color wheel quilt is PERFECT, and, I can get all the supplies for $72, to make the massive quilt. LOVE it! This is something I'd make for myself, or even for my mommy, a graphic designer, from the days of REALLY cutting and pasting.

The Mix Tape

First of all, this quilt brings memories of that Dashboard Confessional album, and the song "The Mix Tape" by Jack's Mannequin (the artist formerly known as Something Corporate, who also wrote"Miss Delaney", where we got Baby's name from), AND it's super graphic and fun, and I love the idea of doing a quilt like this, something SO not traditional.

Hangin at the House

This one is awesome, of course. The applique brings me to something else...There's another one I've been searching the internet for, because I guess I didn't link it on Facebook the first time I saw it, but it's the easiest quilt, with the most impact, I've seen. Basically, the artist took a graphic fabric, orange flowers on white, and combined it with a simple white fabric, and made the flowers originate in a corner, then scatter across the rest of the quilt. They cut out the flowers, and appliqued them on the rest of the normal white fabric in a random pattern. Then, quilted around the flowers on the original fabric. Very fancy. Anybody know what I'm talking about??