Peas In A Pod

UFO Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I missed posting for the past few days.  Every time I travel, I have really good intentions of staying on top of things...and every time, those intentions seem to get foiled.

Well, I'm in Colorado at the moment, and it's still only 10:34 pm here on Friday....so, I'm not too late on my Friday UFO update!  LOL.

At my Friday Night Sew In last week, I made more progress on this quilt.  You may remember that that the previous Friday Night Sew in, I had finished the blocks, laid it out, and started sewing it together.  I got most of the rest of the rows sewn together and on the quilt this time around.  I have one more row to sew on, and the top is done.  I have not been too careful in getting things to line up just so.  I am in "get-'er-done" mode.  But it's still turning out just fine.  I think I may just try to quilt this one myself.  It will be good practice.

Sorry the photo has a yellow cast....it was taken in the gymasium of the church where we do our Friday Night Sew Ins.

Hope on over to Susan's blog, Blackberry Creek, to see what everyone else is up to on their UFOs.  I love her red/pink pinwheels!

I probably won't be able to post much for the next few days.  I am in Denver at a professional conference. I am feeling a little uptight, because I have to give some major talks, chair an editorial board meeting, attend a meeting for a board I was just elected to, and I have lots of other stuff going on.  And, I always get to see a lot of former students who've moved on in their professional careers, old friends from graduate school, and wonderful colleagues whom I only get to see this one time a year.  It is really great. It is really exhausting.  And it is always inspring and uplifting for me.  I look forward to this conference every year.

But...there will be little time to post.  I am sorry I haven't gotten back to my last guild meeting, and I have many other things to share.  I'll get to them as I have a little down time this month!

I am also a little behind in responding to your comments.  I apologize.  I'll try to get caught up here shortly!

Talk to you all again soon!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  I hope it finds you all safe and happy.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Friday Night Sew In--May, 2011

Hi All,

Friday sure was a busy day.  First, I went to lunch with my blogger friends.  (I blogged that yesterday...)  Then, that night, I had a Friday Night Sew In!  Woo hoo!  I thought you'd like to see what everyone was working on!  There were some new people there, so I won't be able to remember everyone's name...even some people who've been there before.  But I'll do my best!

First, Holly had gone to California, and while she was there, she discovered that Purl Soho's yarn warehouse was only about 2 minutes from where her daughter lives.  She was all over that!  She showed us the awesome yarns she brought back, along with a new knitting bag.  The blue yarn you see there is SO soft!  Cashmere, if I remember correctly.  Some of it was baby alpaca and some even had camel hair in it!  She said it was an amazing place.  She spent two days there...one day to yarn shop and another to fabric shop.  (For those of you who don't know, Purl Soho is a yarn shop in Soho, New York.  They have an awesome blog called the Purl Bee.  I've reposted some of their posts here.)

She also bought this pattern, which I liked a lot.  I took a photo of it so I could remember it!

Mary (right?) was back at it...making her little project bags for knitting friends.  I showed you some she was working on at our last Friday Night Sew In also.  I like this fabric.

Karen was working on this prayer shawl.  A member of her family had died and she was making this for someone close to that person to comfort her.  But now she decided it looks like a table runner.  So, she's making it dual purpose.  I like the little wool applique she has added on there.  She is also adding little orange french knot berries near the flowers.  Very nice looking.

Cheri was working on this little snuggly rag quilt.  She was clipping all night.  I love all the colors of minky!  Isn't this going to be soft?!

You might remember this one from last time, too.  Look how much progress she's made on this!  I think it's beautiful!  I love this...it's for her 13-year-old daughter.

Holly was working on her little miniature quilt from the George Siciliano workshop.  Gorgeous.  I can't wait to start making mine!  Look how tiny some of those pieces are!

And how about this little lovely?  I love how it looks like watermelons.  The seeds are appliqued on there.

Cheryl was working on binding her scrap quilt.  This was a bunch of blocks from a round robin her quilting group had held.  It really turned out neat!

Laurie was working on this applique project.  All fusible.  She had it all fused by the end of the evening, and it looked really good.  I neglected to get a photo at the end though.  Sorry.

We had some young new sewers there.  One of them was sewing up this little piece.  Very lovely!

And her sister was working on a scarf she was knitting.  She got a lot done that night!

This was a little sampler quilt that needed binding.  I can't remember the backstory on this.  Sorry!

Here is a disappearing 9-patch that will be a lap quilt for someone in an old folks home.  Very nice!  I think it looks great!

One gal was working on this quilt, which she had finished.  She was basting it.  What a great place to do that kind of work!

Another knitter, who was putting together the sweater she had knitted on her knitting machine.

I think I showed this one last time, too.  But the top is finished, and it was getting basted.  She said she was going to quilt little mice running around the purple border inside.  What a cute idea!  I think this is adorable.  And the fabric line is the same as in the flower quilt above, if you'll notice!

Cheryl wasn't working on this, but she brought it so show us.  She finished her Tree of Life quilt.  Half of the applique is sewn down, the other half still needs to be done.

Her applique is so impeccable.  Her quilt is just gorgeous!

There were other things going on, but I didn't get pictures of it all.  I have a quilt I was working on, but I'll show it to you on Friday for my UFO update.  :-)

Things are really busy here. I will TRY to get a post up tomorrow, but I went to get my permanent crown on the other day, and it was so painful that the dentist thinks I need a root canal now.  I have to get evaluated for that tomorrow.  So, be thinking of me.  After the root canal I'll get the permanent crown.  Plus, I have about a million things that MUST be done tomorrow!  This is really messing up my schedule!

In sad news, my SIL Linda (SisLH) lost her dog of 11 years this morning.  I am so sad to hear that.  Gypsy was a good dog.  Please keep Linda in your thoughts.  We had a little sad news here, today, too.  But, I'll tell you about that later, I guess.  I feel like this is getting long, and I'm bummed out about it.  So, I don't feel like talking about it right now.

Better news...I updated the Health tab.  I lost a little more and am now down over 13 pounds.  Yay!  Wish it was coming off faster though.  Isn't that always the case?

Hope you are all doing well!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Friday Get Together in Marshall--Michigan Bloggers Get Together--Need Input

I have had so much going on, on the work, sewing, and home fronts, I'm not even sure to where to start!  I'll start with my day trip to Marshall to get together with some people I've met through blogging.

First, Caroll of The Attic Window and I met up and drove together to Marshall, MI for a fun girls' day out.  We went to the Marshall House to do some shopping (FABULOUS shop!).  There, we also met up with Mary, a gal who reads Caroll's blog and who wanted to meet her.  I was a pretty good girl while shopping.

I really wanted to get this book to make the quilt on the cover.  But I don't know when I would do it, so I was content to take a picture of it to remember the book.  Maybe I'll come back to it later, when I am actually ready to start on something like that!  It looks time consuming.  I did pick up some fat quarters and little stuff.

Then, we went to lunch at Schuler's Restaurant in Marshall.  There, we met up with Linda (The Quilted Pineapple) and a friend of hers, who I like to call my friend now (!), Patti.  Here we are after having a delicious lunch (yes, I stayed on my diet and had walleye!).  Left to right, we are Linda, Mary, Patti, me, and Caroll.  It was really great fun!

When I was at Marshall House, I was looking for some purse parts for an iPad carrier I'm going to make (I'll give you the link later).  They didn't have them at Marshall House, but the gal said, "You should try Sew Unique Threads.  Have you been there?"  Well, no I hadn't even heard of it! "It's right on your way home," the gal told me.  I looked at Caroll and asked if she was game for another stop on the way home.  Thankfully, Caroll was.

Here is the shop.   A little unassuming from the front, but it sure lives up to its name, let me tell you!  This little shop is in Battle Creek, MI, and it's just a couple of minutes off of I94, if you are ever traveling through.

This is what we were greeted with when we walked in...Lots of bright, modern fabrics that were very unique.  Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, etc.  LOVED IT!  And a whole bulletin board of those buttons made from tree branches (which I showed you I had picked up at a Battle Creek guild meeting).

To the right, more modern and bright fabric.  I noticed the little kimono pajamas from the Amy Butler baby book that had the pattern from which I made the Snuggie Wrap for my niece.  (The book is called Little Stitches for Little Ones, and I reviewed it here.)  Lots of other Amy Butler creations.  The entire store was like this.  Neat, tidy, great fabrics, and lots of wonderful samples all sewn up.  And she had a lot of purse handles and whatnot.

And right inside the door was this old sewing cabinet full of ric rac, cording for making fabric baskets, and...

Look at all these ribbons!  Really wide ones, too.  See the basket there and the one on the right?  They are full of belt fasteners.  See the belts made out of the ribbon draped over the wooden box?  Pretty neat stuff....Oh, and check out the pompom fringe....

And there was a button wall full of really awesome and unique buttons.  I took a close up photo of some, but I think my camera battery died, because it wasn't on there when I got home.  She also had Tsukineko inks, paintsticks, and all kinds of machine embroidery stuff.  Lots of great stuff for art quilting...Angelina fibers, glitter....  Lots to look at!  I really liked this shop and the gals who run it.  They were getting ready to go to a show in Lansing and were trying to pack stuff up, but they still helped us with whatever we needed and were so very friendly.  I will definitely come back to this shop for a visit.  I got on their e-mail list, too for their embroidery clubs (that could spell trouble).

After this, Caroll and I drove home.  We had been having a great conversation about an idea we have, and we want your input, especially if you are a Michigan blogger, blog reader, and/or sewer.  We are thinking of organizing a Michigan (or close by if you want to come!) blogger/sewer get together.  We think it would be fun to meet IRL (in real life) with all you wonderful people.  We're thinking of a long weekend (like come on Thursday night, stay Friday and Saturday, and head home on Sunday).  We thought it would be fun to have some speakers on topics like writing good blog content, taking better photos, using video in your blog, etc.  Also, maybe some little sewing projects, but we can't decide....maybe it should be more about blogging.  And maybe some stuff about how to start a blog or webpage for those of you who read blogs and want to come...

So, tell us what you think.  Please leave a comment about any or all of the following:

• Would you or your friends be interested in coming?
• What do you think this group should be called?
• Where should it be?  (We're thinking a central Michigan location, like Lansing.)
• When should it be?
• What kinds of topics would you like speakers to cover?
• What else are we forgetting?

Caroll and I thought we should start small in Michigan (but those of you who live in Indiana, Illinois, and so on who would want to come are certainly welcome!), but I could see this being popular and going bigger over time.  We'll worry about that later.  Tell us what you think of our idea.

Okay, tomorrow I'll show you Friday Night Sew In stuff, then we'll get back to last week's guild meeting.  Okay?

Whew!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Stitch in Time Doll update

Today is supposed to be the day I update you on my UFO progress.  Well, here is my update....I have no progress!  For the third week in a row!  I've just been too busy with other things.  BUT, tonight is Friday Night Sew in, and I'm going to take that quilt I started putting together last time (and haven't touched since).  Maybe I can get that top finished tonight.  We'll see.

So, in lieu of a UFO update, how about if I update you on my doll progress?  I have made some progress on her!

First, I beaded this little belt for her.  It was fun to do.  I splurged and used Swarovski crystals for the red ones.  They are really sparkly in person.  It sorta looks like a bracelet, doesn't it?  In fact, Colleen told us we could use a bracelet if we didn't feel like making this.  But I sorta like all this fussy little work.

Here it is on her.  It fits under her surcoat.

Then, I started on the hair.  I had two hanks of yarn I could use.  This is the lighter color.  Isn't this an interesting yarn?  I can't remember what it's called off the top of my head right now, but it's from Lion brand.  There's a little string wrapped around the yarn that gives it the bumpy texture.

I also had this color, but I forgot to take a photo of the whole hank before I used it.  I thought with her clothing and all, she would look better with darker hair.  I wrapped it around cardboard, as Colleen had instructed, and sewed the "part."

This part was pretty cool.  I used a felting needle to embed the hair into her head, right along the part.  I Just kept poking until the part I had sewn was no longer visible and it looked like a realistic part.  You can also see I unwisted the yarn some to make it more "hair"-like.

Wow!  That's some hairdo, girlfriend!  This is sort of what my hair looks like if I don't blow dry it and use the flat iron on it!  Seriously!  Okay, it's not as kinky, but it's pretty wavy and big!  (You can see I've also gotten her arms sewn on!)

I am actually farther than this.  I have the wimple on, and her hair is braded in it's little "do."  But I haven't taken a photo of that yet.  I am sort of stuck, because the gold stuff I have for putting in her hair is not the product that Colleen recommended, and everytime I try to make the little crispenettes (the little woven "bun caps" that will go over her braided buns), the stuff just falls apart.  So, I need to order some of the right stuff, because I cannot find it around here.  Once I get that, all I need to do is to add those, add the veil, and put her stitchery in her hands (which I've also started).  She is almost finished!

And just some gratuitous cuteness.  The day I took Sweet Pea with me to the quilt shop, I asked her if she wanted to stop and paint some pottery for fun.  Her eyes lit up, and she said, "Really?!"  It's about her favorite thing to do.  So, we went and painted something.  She has a special someone with a birthday coming up, so this is a birthday present for her.  She is getting really independent at this.  She knows exactly what to do.  I just sit there and watch.  She even gets mad if I try to help.  Quite the little artist!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  I am off to meet some Michigan blogger friends for lunch today.  I'm sure I'll have photos for you next week.  I'm really looking forward to it!  Yippee!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Well, at least my purse got to go to Market!

Hello Everyone!

You may remember that I talked about Spring Quilt Market going on last week.  For those of you who don't know what that is...every year there are two Quilt Markets....one in spring and one in fall.  The fall one is always in Houston, but the spring one travels around.  This year, it was in Salt Lake City.  This is where all the fabric designers show their new fabrics and patterns, and store owners go to buy their new merchandise for spring and fall.  You really can't go unless you are a store owner, a designer, etc.  This year, I had the chance to go, because Amanda Herring, The Quilted Fish, invited all of us on her design team to go.  I wanted to go so badly, I could taste it.  But I just couldn't squeeze any more travel in right now.  Maybe in fall, or maybe next spring.  (Fall is already getting really packed up with travel for me.)  But some members of the design team went, and they've been reporting on what a great time they had.

Remember a while back I gave you a little sneak peek at this?  Well, I didn't want to show the whole thing, because it was something I made for Amanda to take to Spring Market with her to display in her booth.  But I can show it now.

Here is the little purse I made out of her new fabric, Sugar and Spice (which, by the way I totally LOVE), hanging over a chair that Amanda reuphulstored with her new fabric and with other things that other designers made sitting on it.  Is it the cutest thing or what?!  (I mean the display, not my purse.)  I made the purse using my DSi pattern, but I made it a big-girl purse.  I am so excited that my purse got to be displayed at market, and see how Amanda put a sign on it with my name as the designer?!  So exciting!  She did this for all the girls' projects!  (By the way, this photo is courtesy of Sally, one of the other design team members.  You should go look at her blog posts to see more of the booth and more about Market.  To see the post about the booth and all the other designers' projects, click here.  Go here and here for her other posts.  Thanks, Sal, for letting me "borrow" this photo!)

Wanna see some close up shots of the purse that I took before sending it off?

Here it is!  My adaptations were...I added the little ruffled ribbon around the edge, I used this cute birdie embroidery, and I made the strap a lot longer (for an adult). 

I used it as an opportunity to practice some more free motion quilting.  Here is a picture from the lining inside, so you can really see the stitching.  I experimented with a new design.  I can't remember now what the design is called, but I got it from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.  It has become one of my favorites.  I really like it...perhaps because it's remniscient of feathers.

I used the snap closure, because it's become my favorite closure for this.  I also modified the pockets.  I made them from fabric, instead of lace, and I made them a little taller.  I also sewed them wider so they could accomodate a credit card or driver's license.

Or a gift card, or a coupon!  haha.  You can see I made a couple of pockets.

Here is the back.  I used this cute, red flower button.  I liked it.

Here is how it looks from the back when it's closed.  I like how it turned out.  Sweet Pea wanted it, but I wouldn't let her have it.  There were a few tears, but she got over it!

If you want to see the tutorial for how to make this purse, you can still get it on the Quilted Fish website.  Here is the link to that free tutorial and pattern (as well as all the other tutorials).

Cross your fingers that I get to go to Market next year and give you my OWN report!  (Oh, there was some other exciting news from Market, too, but I probably shouldn't share it yet, because it's so tentative.  I'll tell you more about it if it happens, okay?)

Before you run off, go check out my Health tab (it has magically reappeared!).  My two friends who are losing weight with me are going gang busters!  One has now lost 6 lbs and the other over 30!!!  Girls, you are keeping me motivated!  Thank you!

And finally, we saw the fox again this morning.  It was the mother we saw in our yard the other day.  I know she's the mother now, because she had 3 kits with her in our yard today!  I tried to capture it with the camera, but it was pretty dusky out still.  I don't know if they turned out.  I haven't had time to download the pictures yet.  I'll see how they turned out later.  But it was sure a great way to start the morning...eating my cereal and seeing something in the yard..."What's that in our yard?"  I thought it was the cats at first (I could see two).  But one looked too big and one looked too small to be our cats.  The smaller one was too big to be any of our kittens.  I asked Papa Pea, and he said, "Oh!  It's the fox family!"  All three of us went to the window to look.  We got to watch the kits run out of the woods on the side of the house, go across the yard, and head into the woods behind the house.  Mama sat and watched them go through the yard, and then went into the woods herself.  Just awesome.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with my blogger friends in Michigan and then Friday Night Sew In!  Good thing, because it's going to be a working weekend for me.

Until next time,

Mama Pea