Baby’s Quilt Finished

It’s been almost exactly a year since I checked in here, and in just a week or two, I’ll have a baby. I’ve made some quilts this year — not too many — but somehow they never made it to here. I’ll have to try to catch up on that backlog. I have been documenting some of the pregnancy over at my other blog .

So, with a due date of January 19th, I wasn’t sure I’d get the baby’s quilt done. My fall quilting was devoted to remaking this quilt. 

Well, not quite remaking it. I took off one row of blocks to make it more compact. This was a quilt that I made for my sister two Christmases ago. Not long after that, she took it on a trip and shipped it home to reduce the amount of luggage that she had to carry. Despite a tracking number, the quilt never made it to her, and the post office was not helpful at all in helping us try to figure out where in Florida this quilt might have gone after it disappeared. She still had leftover fabric, so I surprised her this Christmas by remaking the quilt — and she says the post office shall never see it again.

After Christmas, it was time to get moving on the baby’s quilt — pronto. We don’t know whether we are having a boy or a girl, so I made a quilt that is gender neutral and fits in with our nursery colors – black, red, grey, and a little yellow. We have giraffes and elephants sprinkled into the room for a subtle jungle theme.

I wanted to base the quilt on this Valentine’s Day card that I bought a few years ago for Mark. I thought it was funny; I can’t remember if I had the quilt in mind from the beginning or if the idea occurred to me a little later.

Since I absolutely cannot freehand anything, even stick figures, I traced the giraffe onto a transparency sheet,  projected it onto the wall, and traced it out on the fusible webbing for the applique. I was definitely rocking it old school.

I rocked it old school when it came to the quilting too. I usually quilt in a wavy line, so I don’t have to keep the lines too straight. I thought a diamond pattern would be nice in this case. So, I pulled out my 1/4 inch quilters tape (an ancient roll of it) to keep me on track. The hubster gets a shout out here because having him to help tape all the lines saved tons of frustration (and he helped me square up the quilt too before I bound it).

And, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Each of the pieces of the giraffe’s mane is an individual little tag. I originally was going to use a few different types of ribbon for the mane, but then I found some old binding in my sewing room that was perfect. It was even more perfect once I realized what project it was left over from. A few years ago, I made a quilt for my grandma when she went through chemo treatments.  The fabric in the mane is the same fabric I used to build the bookshelf and bind her quilt. It was a happy accident that the baby’s quilt is linked to his or her great-grandma’s quilt.

In one of the quilts that I haven’t posted yet, I also learned that I like to quilt some messy sketch lines around my applique. I decided to do that in the giraffe spots, and I like the texture that it provided.

And, here’s the full quilt. All the fabrics were from my stash except for the spots. Go me! I’m getting nervous. This baby has taken one room, and when baby #2 eventually arrives, I’ll officially lose my sewing room. Time to start sewing through my stash. Tips for sewing with babies around are welcome 🙂 

Well, ok, I will admit that I was going to use that red herringbone from the binding on the back of the entire quilt, and I do love it on the binding. But, when I was out getting some fabric for my sister’s quilt and the giraffe spots, I found a background fabric that I could not resist.

Seriously, could any of you have resisted that background fabric?

So, now, I have one more quilt that I want to get finished for the rocker in the nursery. I plan to finally finish a triangle quilt that I was working on before I ever got married. I don’t have a guest room in those colors any more, but those are the nursery colors, so all is not lost. However, it’s nice that the most important quilt is finished. Now, it’s just waiting and waiting (and vacuuming and walking and doing whatever people say will get this baby to decide to appear). We want to meet our new arrival and let him or her stretch out on the new quilt.

Gift Quilting

I’m sure I don’t have to tell any of you out there that wedding planning takes up many free evenings and lots of mental energy. However, I was thinking the other night that someday I will kick myself for not documenting at least some of the journey leading up to the wedding. So, even though it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks filled with work and finishing up the wedding plans, I’m making a goal to try to get on here to post at least once a week. So, this is your warning. If you come around the next 46 days, 15 hours, and 55 minutes, you’ll see more wedding preparation updates than quilting. (Seriously, who’s counting though?)

First though, let me say that I have gotten some quilting done over the past couple of months. I have three and a half quilts to show for my credit, but all of them have been gifts for people who read my blog or see my Instagram posts, so I couldn’t show works in progress. You’ll notice from the hastily snapped photos that I didn’t leave much time to photograph the quilts either.

 

The first quilt that was gifted was for my cousin who had a baby this fall. Her mom passed away fairly recently, but one of my other aunts had some clothing and asked if I would be willing to make a quilt. I used the Storytime Squares pattern because I  already used it once and knew that it lets fabrics speak for themselves. I pulled the pink from my stash to try to make the quilt a little more girly.

 

The fabric selection got a little tricky because my aunt also wanted me to incorporate some sunflower fabric that the baby’s grandma was using in some items for the baby. It didn’t gel with any of the fabrics on the front, so I used it in moderation on the back and tried to pick a binding that would work for both sides. The quilting was the first time that I’ve used a wavy line on my machine. It was a nice strategy to fill the gap until I have time to sit down and learn free-motion quilting.

 

We had a lovely evening out at a local theater with Mark’s parents to celebrate his mom’s birthday, and I wanted my mom’s birthday to be special this year too. So, I decided that it was her turn for a quilted project. I remembered her liking my fabric pull for the Modern Trees quilt along, and she gets sentimental about ornaments that my sister and I have made in Christmases past, so I decided to resurrect the partially cut fabric for that project and get moving. In typical fashion, I finished the binding late at night at her house after she went to bed and then quickly wrapped up the gift.  Mark learned how a quilt is trimmed in an attempt to square up a project as I pulled to the finish line on this one. He’s the one who told me I’d better stop trimming or I was going to lose some trees 🙂 Next Christmas when it comes out of storage, I’ll have to try to get a better photo.

So, there’s my quilting that I have to show. Mark got a quilt too. I actually finished up my barn door quilt along quilt for him, but it turned out to be large enough to cover a double bed as a coverlet, and the weather was miserable by the time I finished, so we’ll grab photos of that sometime after it comes to roost here in 46 days, bringing its owner with it. Perhaps between now and the wedding, I can quilt a baby quilt for a baby who was born last summer (thank goodness for understanding friends) and can get to work on my sister’s beach quilt since sunshine and beach season will be here very soon after the wedding.

 

Painting class

A few friends from my community group at church gathered tonight in the garage of my art-teacher friend, Becca, to have a girls’ night out. Becca led us through creating a landscape painting, and it was intriguing to see how each of our paintings turned out so differently. I fully braced myself to be ready to throw the painting in the trash when I got home because I really struggle with drawing or painting. Stick figures stretch my skills. I’m not claiming my painting is a masterpiece, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. Of course, it also was nice to be doing something creative again.

Here are few process shots.

 

This one is the foundation. I didn’t quite know what I was going to do, but I accidentally made a spot in the sky too dark and gloomy, and then somehow it morphed into a tree and then I just went with it.

Then came my river. I was really digging it and then Becca pointed out the rivers don’t really ripple like that between the banks. I sort of tried to fix it, but my hands didn’t want to do what she was telling me to do. Plus, I was kinda had a painting crush on my ripples even if they defied nature. She said I should imagine what it would be like to tube down that river. It would be pretty turbulent, I’ll admit. I chalked up the desire to paint the ripples that way to the fact that in less than two weeks, I’m going rafting with Mark. He’s super excited, and I’m pretty nervous. Maybe my sub-conscious is coming out in my painting…

My friend Danielle also pointed out to me that my resistance to changing my painting should give me greater empathy with students when I’m tutoring them in writing and they really don’t want to change a paragraph that I think really needs to be axed. Sometimes it’s good to see life through a new lens.

Then, the painting hit a point where it seemed a little flat, and I could feel my creative energies flagging, so I ate a piece of peanut butter Boston cream cake. What in life isn’t improved with a little chocolate and peanut butter?

With my attention span and creative energies renewed, I went back to painting. Becca helped me fix where I had taken the advice to add the sun to my painting a little way too literally. She showed me how to shade my tree trunk, helped me add a branch, and then suggested adding a swing. I’m glad she suggested it because I wasn’t liking the big open span of blue until I added that. I’m drawn to landscapes that make me want to be inside them, and I would love to find a big tree next to a river. Mmm…I could swing all day with a nice book and a gentle breeze.

And, here’s the finished picture. I sliced off just a tiny bit of the right side, so I’m missing a tree trunk, I actually like it better with that tree cropped out like it is two photos above. Maybe I should make myself a cropped limited edition print. Wouldn’t it be nice if canvas could be edited like photography?

And, if anyone happens to be in the Lancaster, Pa, area, you should know that Becca is hosting a mother/daughter painting class at the end of July. You can check it out at her website if you’re interested. If she can get me from a stick figure to a painting in a couple hours, you know she’s got to be a good art teacher.

Blogger hop – go visit!

Hey, everyone, I’m not going to try to explain the lack of quilting progress other than to refer you to the picture of my living room and dining room that I just snapped minutes ago.

 

The dog walks around mostly looking like this.

Yeah, he just looks at me asking, “Is our life ending?” Every. day.

I tried to tell him the new house has central air and carpet that he can scratch his back on just like when he visits grandma, but it’s hard to reason with a dog. He’ll just have to hang in there for two more weeks.

I’ve promised myself on the quilting front to keep my fabrics for my two most pressing projects close at hand and in a well-labeled box. I’ll push hard the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday after I move to get as settled as possible, but after that, I’m quilting at least a couple hours a week. I don’t care if I have to do it in a purple sewing room still waiting for its new paint. I have to get back to some fabric. I’ve been coming up for air in the quilting word by trying to read blogs a little more often again, and that is nursing me through the withdraw for now.

Speaking of awesome blogs, the newest batch of participants in the New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop hosted by Beth at Plum and June have their posts up now. I just now finished reading the blogs from the last go round. Did I mention quilt withdraw symptoms?!?

Like last time, I don’t want to undermine anyone’s fabulous blog by leaving anyone out, but I thought it would be fun to highlight a few favorites from the last round (and one that I totally meant to post from the first round).

Let’s talk about Chelsea @ Patch the Giraffe. First, she loves giraffes, which makes her awesome — automatically. Second, she’s also a teacher, so we have more than quilting in common, even if she does teach math and no one would ever, ever, ever ask me to teach math. Ever. Seriously, one of the things I love about this blog hop is that participants are likely to just “click” with a few other bloggers. You’ll like their blog and you’ll feel like if that blogger lived next door, you’d invite her to coffee and then you’d go fabric shopping together. I’d invite Chelsea to coffee. I hope you join the hop and find some bloggers that you enjoy emailing about common interests.

I’m glad I finished tracking down the last of the links from last round, or I would have missed Kelsey @ Lovely and Enough. I found that she explores quilting through a slightly different lens than many other bloggers. She even got to do her senior college show though quilts inspired by one of her favorite verses in Proverbs. I love her eye for color and her integration of her faith into what she does. Oh yeah, Bloglovin’ feed, here you grow again.

I also just added Alice @ Blossom Quilts & Crafts to my Bloglovin’ feed. She’s getting ready to embark on FMQ and paper piecing adventures and so am I. I want to follow her journey.

And, finally, I can’t believe that I forgot Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl when I recapped the first round. I’m blaming it on having to blog from a hotel room in Louisville. Yvonne has been ridiculously helpful giving me honest feedback about how to improve my blog along with practical tips to fuel the improvements. She’s also ridiculously fun. If someone names a cat Puppy, then you know they have a sense of humor. Yvonne asked a fun get-to-know-you question when she introduced herself for the hop. She asked what quilting superhero we would want to be. After much contemplation, I decided I would want to be Prismatic Color Girl so I could create stunning color combinations for my quilts. Lo and behold, Yvonne sent me a link to this Etsy necklace at the shop Beijo Brasil.

Photo: Prismatic Color Wheel @ BeijoBrasil

Wouldn’t this just be the most absolutely perfect necklace for my quilting superhero persona? I think it’s a happy accident that I missed Yvonne the first time around because now I can tell you that you have to go see her Synesthetic Alphabet quilt. It’s one of those quilts that just makes me explode with joy that so much creativity and beauty can possibly exist on the planet. Read the process behind it too.

Then, go read the other blogs for this round of the hop. And, don’t give up on me. I will quilt again!

Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs

Liz @ Green Cheese Quilting

Janet @ Simply Pieced

Ruth @ Charly & Ben’s Crafty Corner

Kristyn @ Melon Patch Quilts

Jo @ Riddle and Whimsy

Linh @ Calling All Stitchers

Alida @ Tweety Loves Quilting

Rachel @ Quiltineering

Shauna @ Shauna’s World

Pam @ Sewing Wilde

Wendy @ Wendy’s Quilts and More

Jan @ The Colorful Fabriholic

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Lin @ Lin’s Quilts

Helga @ Green Mill Vintage

Kate @ Thread Everywhere

Cheryl @ Texas Quilting Gal

Jenn @ Sew Crafty Jenn

Heather @ QA Creations 

Cornelia @ Pieced With Love XOXO

 

 

 

My fabric world…in boxes

 

It’s about time I stopped in to show you what’s happening in my fabric world, which is actually nothing productive. My sewing space was all clean and organized while the house was being shown, and after the house sold in 5 days, I kept it nice and neat through the home inspections. Now it’s packing time, and the sewing room is a wreck!

I pulled this fabric out of the closet, and are you ready for a sad sight?

Now my fabric is in a box.

So. sad.

I am holding out fabric for two projects in hopes of getting packed up soon and being able to squeeze in just a little sewing before I move. Of course, finding a surface to sew on could start to get tricky. I’m about to find a new home for the desk in the sewing room where I set my machine, and since the dining room has become the place where I put all the packed boxes, the dining room table legs are coming off this weekend, and the table top is probably going to get tucked behind the love seat.

But, chin up, it was pretty exciting to see this sign out front when I met the home inspector a couple weeks ago to check the new place over. And, I think I’m feeling settled on a DIY murphy bed plan for the new guest bedroom/sewing room. Mark said he’d help me build it, so other than cutting a few shelves for the top of a closet in this house, removing an old rickety door and doing some yard work, the murphy bed will be our first project that we tackle together. Watch out world. I even had my dad supervise me using a circular saw the last time he was here to get me warmed up for the task.

So, that’s pretty much life around here. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not going to find a nice routine this summer. There will be no fulfilling my goal of trying out one sewing tutorial a week, no coffee on the back deck every morning, but these changes are exciting and the weekends have been filled with falling more and more in love with Mark as we spend the days at family weddings and amusement parks and football games. And, I’ll get back to the sewing machine — maybe even before the move because I have two projects that I want to complete for other people. But, even sans routine and with the exception of the slight heart palpitations due to all these half filled boxes strewn about me, I can’t complain. I’ll try to drop in here a few more times between now and July 23rd. Moving day!

 

 

 

More loves…new blogger hop

 

I have no quilt pictures this week because I’m traveling for work. I just reached the halfway point of a week of scoring Advanced Placement English essays. So, all day, I read and read and read essays. I keep before me the  motivation of buying a fridge for the new house with my paycheck. Also, since this is my tenth year of doing this, I’ve met some great people, and we enjoy going out in the evenings to have some fun. Tonight was our traditional Trader Joe’s trek. Guys, my nearest Trader Joe’s is at least an hour away. It’s quite tragic, and when I do get near one, I lose my senses and buy three variations of caramel and three versions of dark chocolate. You can judge, but I won’t be listening. It’s chocolate and caramel, and even if I manage to resist that, I just can’t contend with the clever packaging. Stop it Trader Joe’s with your cute typography and bright colors!

I’m really back here tonight to remind you that the 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop is up and running for the week.

I got to post last week, and then I made sure I hopped over to other blogger’s pages because posting is only a miniscule portion of the fun. The real fun is getting to know new bloggers. This hop is big, big, big. New hops lists are released only once a week, so you have time to explore.  I hope you visit everyone. To give you a taste of what you will find, I thought I’d give a shout out to a few of the bloggers who joined last week and then you can scroll down for this week’s hop stops.

Cynthia Brunz @ Cynthia Brunz Designs  – She might be my new hero and not even because of her quilts, which are lovely also. She told me that she used to manage rodeo cowboys, which pretty much makes her amazing! 

Vera @ Negligent Style – She posted the best introduction photo. So cute! Go meet her if you don’t follow her blog.

Sarah @ Smiles Too Loudly – If Vera has the best photo, I loved Sarah’s story about how she chose her blog name the best. One of the really fun parts of the hop is getting to know the bloggers behind the quilts and the blogs. 

Mary @ See Mary Quilt – Her quilting tips are golden. I want them on a plaque for my new sewing room space. Most of the bloggers are giving blogging and quilting tips, so that’s another reason to follow along with the hop.

Drowning in Fabric – This blogger is keeping it real by showing her mistakes. I love that; we all know that we make them, so we need to learn to not be afraid to talk about them. 

 

Linda @ Talking Lunchbox Quilts – It’s like Linda took my bucket list and made those quilts with her cute house and sailboats, AND she introduced me to the concept of stick figure quilts. I love stick figures, but it never occurred to me to put them onto a quilt. 

So, below is the list of the bloggers posting this week. I hope you have a blast meeting them. Seriously, grab some chocolate and caramel and go meet them.

• Chelsea @ Patch the Giraffe
• Carole @ Fresh off the Frame
• Camelia @ The Recovering Perfectionist
• Nurdan @ Hug-a-Bit Quilts
• Paula @ Mud, Pies, and Pins
• Lori @ Sew Psyched
• Kitty @ The Night Quilter
• Christina @ Wips and Tuts
• Diana @ Sew Crafty Chick
• Marcia @ Cozy Capatiller
• Judy @ Quilt Paradigm
• Jasmine @ Quilt Kisses
• Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts
• Elizabeth @ And Pins
• Daisy @ Ants to Sugar
• Rachael @ The Floral Suitcase
• Jennifer @ Never Just Jennifer
• Alice @ Blossom Quilts & Crafts
• Jill @ Pie Lady Quilts
• Kelsey @ Lovely and Enough
• Megan @ Sew Stitching Cute
• Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter

 

 

 

 

Find new (blog) loves

If you want to add some new blog loves to your blog feeds or email inbox, don’t miss the 2014 New Quilter’s Blog Hop that starts on June 4th. This blog hop is going to be huge, and it actually starts right here! Beth over at Plum and June started this blog hop and has taken on the monumental task of organizing four weeks of the hop that will stretch to mid-July. I’ve been interacting behind the scenes with the 2014 group of bloggers, and you’re not going to want to miss seeing their blogs. Drop back here on June 4th, and I’ll be posting the hop list for the week so you can go check out the bloggers.

I’ve been gearing up for the hop, so I’ve built a new front page. Forgive the slow load time; it’s going to improve soon because I’m learning to make all those pictures play nice.

Also, drumroll please…

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A post shared by Jessica Weleski (@oneenglishteacher)

I’ve joined Instagram. I just got an iPhone, and Instragram was one of the first apps that I put on it. Find me at @oneenglishteacher, but if I don’t comment on your photos just yet, sit tight. I’m going to be getting an Instragram tutorial from friends because I’m pretty klutzy about using it.

I started the post talking about blog loves, and I’ll end it talking about love. Today was 100% gorgeous here in Pennsylvania, which was an extra special blessing for friends who had an outdoor wedding on a dairy farm. It was a lovely afternoon celebrating with them.

 

Here’s Mark and I enjoying the evening. I’m nearly giddy that we’ll be celebrating our six month anniversary at the end of this week. Want to know how cool Mark is? When we went to the aquarium last month, he looked at a fish and told me, “That would make some great quilt colors.” You can be jealous, ladies, but you can’t have him 🙂

Beach quilt in the making

Remember the Pantone quilt still waiting to be quilted?

My sister said a few weeks before I posted it that she’d never want a quilt because quilts aren’t her thing. But, then I released this one, and she said, “Why couldn’t you make it bigger? I want one for the beach. It looks so modern.” And, so, I embarked on my first custom quilt order.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my sister and I went out fabric shopping. We started by finding one more solid and one nearly solid to pair with solid background fabric I ordered for her during an online clearance. I now have a crush on Michael Miller’s Painter’s Canvas. My sister got some for her project, and I picked up two yards for my own project (my only fabric purchase of the day).

I was worried that my sister had seen some hotel curtain fabric that she liked and that she had a vision in her mind that we couldn’t achieve. We started pulling fabrics though, and her wheels started to spin. First, she had to decide whether to go towards blue or teal. Then, she had to decide how much green, if any, to bring in. She was starting to pile up fabrics with a geometric vibe to them, and I was getting excited because they were fabrics that I would have picked and loved. Then, we went down an aisle lined with batiks on one side, and it was as if my sister had spotted fabric heaven. She went nuts. We all know the feeling — we find a bolt of fabric and could just stand there and pet it all day and maybe even give it a name. All the geometrics except for one bolt of ridiculously wonderful Mormor fabric that she couldn’t bear to give up went back to the shelves.

I’m normally not a fan of batiks, but my sister’s enthusiasm was contagious, and like I said, she does have an eye for color. I’m loving the beach vibe of this quilt. After my mom joined us for the weekend, we threw the background fabric on the floor, and my sister and mom started deciding how to lay out the squares. My only jobs were to cut fabric and to explain how to read a pattern (sort of). They ensuing scenario was hilarious. I explained that I would have to cut the background fabric into over 100 tiny pieces before I could start piecing everything back together. The response I got was, “What. Why can’t you just take your machine and zip over all these pieces? Zip, zip, zip. That seems way easier.” I don’t think they’ll be taking quilting lessons anytime soon…

It felt really weird not to select colors or have any say in the layout. My sister was very specific about how she wanted things done.

A few of the blocks even had directional squares pieces that my sister wants a certain way in the quilt, so I have a series of this type of photo in my camera with a number assigned to the block and a close-up to remember which way to piece the fabric.

Now my sister will most likely be slightly less quick to harass me about my fabric purchases since she knows what it’s like not to be able to put something back on the shelf, and spending the day designing a quilt with two of the women I love best in the world was a nice way to spend the holiday. The quilt is all tucked into numbered folders organized by block, but that’s as far as it got since I have to cut out hundreds of tiny pieces of background fabric…

Linking up at Work in Progress Wednesday since I’ve finally got a project underway!

 

First Paper Piecing Attempt

Ta-da!

Wait. Let’s try that again.

Ta-duh!

Here’s a picture of my first paper piecing attempt. Uh…it’s supposed to be an asterisk. Clearly, it does not look like an asterisk. I think it looks more like an abstract take on a stick figure. I made this attempt during a class that I took while I was at the Mid-Atlantic MOD quilting retreat at the beginning of April. Even though the piece itself totally didn’t work out, I’m still not disappointed. First, stick figures are cool. When you are a person of my artistic caliber (which is to say you can’t draw a straight line to save your life), then stick figures are the norm and you grow to have a fondness for them. Second, I know why this didn’t come together correctly. I failed to leave a 1/4 seam on my paper pieced sections, so when I joined the sections together, I lost the points that would have made the asterisk. In that sense, I learned from the class. I learned not to forget that 1/4 seam again. Third, I don’t learn very well just by seeing pictures in a book, and sometimes I even struggle to learn a totally new skill via blog tutorial or Youtube; I just need a live person looking over my shoulder who can answer questions in real time. So, even if I fell a little short on my first attempt, I feel far less intimidated to try again. As a matter of fact, I’m gathering my thoughts about my next project, and there is a very real possibility it might involve paper piecing. I’m just going to incorporate a few blocks so I don’t get overwhelmed, but yeah, I’m certainly not adverse to giving it another go.

So, if you have any paper piecing tips — things to do and things not to do — give me a shout out in the comments.

My sewing machine has been woefully quiet. The realtor is coming next Wednesday to list the house, so I spent today in my quilting space trying to corral all the fabrics and WIPs into some semblance of order. Yes, I see your heads nodding. Most of you know how quickly things can fall apart in a sewing room and how time consuming it is to put things back together. Wish me luck! I’ve still got work to do. Today’s task was emptying out these cabinets because I Craigslisted them and someone should drop by tomorrow to pick them up.

Whew! I have one more to lug down two flights of stairs and into the garage. I try to keep Craigslisters outside when possible for safety’s sake, but it sure has been handy to sell a few things. Yay for building a moving truck fund!

And, finally, I, of course, unearthed some finished projects that are listed in my Etsy shop. I’ve rather sell them than move them, so I have a little sale going on. Use coupon code moveit5 to save $5 off any purchase of $15 or more and use coupon code moveit10 to save $10 off any purchase of $45 or more.

Sunday Stash – Mom’s gift

Technically, this is Monday stash since I got this all typed up last night and then my internet went down. Plus, I was busy yesterday afternoon at the driving range proving to Mark that I am indeed very, very bad at golf. I told him that I was very bad at bowling and went on to set what I think was a lifetime best score in the first game I played with him. Then, I told him that I was very bad a corn hole, and we went on to beat several members of his family in a friendly little backyard competition. So, I suspect he figured I could drive a golf ball. But, nope, there was no redemption at golf. I’m really bad at it — like land 10 feet in front of me sometimes bad. 10,000  thank yous to anyone who posts a nice link to a Youtube golf tutorial in the comments….

Anyway, this Sunday stash is fitting since all of the fabrics today came from my mom and Mother’s Day just ended. Even though my sister and I are both moved out of the house, my mom is still constantly on the lookout to buy us little presents. Sometimes it’s something small like a pineapple corer or a microwave s’mores maker (even more awesome than it sounds). This time, just look at what she got!

She told me that she had bought a spring gift for me, and I opened the gift bag to find fabric! Teal and aqua fabric galore.

Her gift was super special because I’ve practically made her allergic to Joann fabrics by dragging her in there one too many times on a fabric hunt. But, she went in and even had to go to the cutting counter to buy the fabrics. Yep, my mom is awesome and so, so thoughtful. Her gifts are some of the best I receive because she knows me so well.

Yes, there was even more. A few of these are fat quarters, but a bunch of the fabrics are half yard cuts. Way to go, mom! Perfect sizes for so many projects.

Look at these elephants that she couldn’t resist. So adorable. I need to find the perfect project to showcase these.

And, my mom didn’t plan for this, but these fabrics are just perfect for the bee blocks that I showed off a few months ago. I decided life was too crazy to join the bee for another round, so I have to make 11 more blocks on my own — meaning I need a combined 66 different teal, yellow, and gray fabrics if I don’t want any repeats. Mom’s gift is going to definitely help in that quest. Plus, she also slipped in a gift card, so I can also pick up more fabrics as needed.

Here’s one of the bee blocks I received. See how fantastic the new fabrics are going to fit in?

Thanks, mom!

Linking up to Sunday stash being hosted @ Sewing by Moonlight this week.