Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A whole lot of Somedays.

Someday, I will tell you all about JJ like I promised....but I don't have enough pictures gathered....

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Someday, my studio will be perfectly organized.  I took a "wack" (a Heidi-ism) at it yesterday.  Took me a whole day to get a whole lot of nothing done!

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Someday, my house will be completely decorated.

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Someday, my sewing machine will be here (sooner than later, though!)

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Someday, I will have nothing else to do but quilt, quilt, quilt, and quilt some more...

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But in the meantime.

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I just bought some fabric for a puffy quilt request.  

Waiting to hear if she likes them...



Could I have taken any worse pictures?
  I even took them outside!  
UGH!!!!




There!  Is that a bit better?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Bunny!!!

Meet Bunny...

Sharpie tie dye project




My third and "baby" for the 7 years until his baby sister and brother arrived recently. 

Our oldest thinks he is my favorite.


My First Customer


Let the record show that they are ALL my favorites.  
I love them more than any other kids!

Even though...the rest of the kids in the world are great too!

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9 years ago today,  Bunny arrived after a long day that started off with an induction.
  14 hours later, he finally made his appearance.  

The next morning, his big brothers arrived to meet him.
 


His biggest brother was practically squealing with excitement to meet him!


His other brother?  Did you see him hiding behind the chair above?

Yup...he was so THRILLED to meet the new baby.......


NOT!!!

Funny story, which is a favorite one of the boys.

When we brought him home, I set the car seat on the driveway. 

I was trying to do the whole "do not carry the new baby in your arms when you come home.  Greet your other children with empty arms so they don't feel replaced" thing.

I was prepared to give them big hugs and love...but they ran right by me.



The one that was screaming at the hospital was a whole new little boy.  


This is what  he said....

"Welcome home Jonathan.  This is your new home.  Come on inside to our house.  Come and see it."

  In the sweetest, angelic voice you ever heard.



They even pulled out some blankets to snuggle up with him that afternoon.


And he couldn't keep his hands off of his new baby brother...




He still can't.......at least not in a "good" way!

Tomorrow, I am going to tell you all about Jonathan and his passion....wait and see!!!!





Friday, May 27, 2011

Just a Dream?


Something is arriving to my local quilt shop next week:


  After realizing that my machine is possibly unrepairable, Dearest Hubby went to the quilt shop with me yesterday.  
It is the same place I bought my Baby Lock serger and embroidery machine.
I did a lot of research on Pfaff, Singer, and Viking.  No Janome dealers nearby so they weren't in the running.  The unfortunate news is that the first three machines I mentioned are now ALL owned by the same group of investors.  And, frankly, if you are a frequent follower of machine reviews, you might have heard that these investors have ruined what used to be really great machines!


Luckily, I met and fell in love with my newest gal.  
Bonus?
Hubby signed the dotted line.

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Meet Symphony.  

ALL IMAGES IN THIS POST ARE FROM BABYLOCK.COM



She is MINE!!!!
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She is not only gorgeous on the outside, but perfection on the inside!


She has an LCD Touch Screen (240x320)



She has 460 Built-in Stitches



She has Built-in Stitch Memory



She has USB Type B connection to upload any machine upgrades and save stitches to your PC.



She has an Advanced Pivoting Features.
  Follows curves and maneuvers around appliques without ANY difficulty.  The foot lifts just at the right moment.  No more messing with the presser foot lever.  Your two hands are free to guide your fabric.
No interruptions of your work!



Have I mentioned the Advanced Needle Threader and Cutter?



Or the Fabric Sensor System?  Do you frequently work with heavy fabrics and then switching to lighter fabric weights in one project?  It already knows!  Your stitch length will not change under pressure!



And have you ever wished you could sew sideways?

I sure do...patches, appliques on sleeves, appliques on pant legs.

This baby has a lateral stitch!!!!



Are you jealous?

Of my machine or my husband?

Now I won't get greedy just yet...but just so you know... these two machines are in my line of sight...


Crown Jewel (long arm machine)



and the
Embroidery Professional Plus



But I promise I will be patient and spend some time with my new girl. 

She is going to be a lot of fun to get to know!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Mine. Mine. Mine.

First off, I would like to say...when I am unable to sew...I can really can be up to no good.  

This project is a direct result of of me using up idle time!





We have a problem in our house. 




We have two measuring tapes.  
Both dear hubby and I use the tape measures for our various projects.  

After I realized I couldn't find "mine" the other day, I went on a hunt.  Yup.  I love a hunt!

This time, I found both of them up in Button's bedroom.  We are in the midst of decorating it.  I think he might have grabbed mine from my studio thinking it was his.

Now, I don't think we will have a problem! 





I just can't see him using the pink one.


Want to claim something in your house as yours?


Here is a real quick tutorial!

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Embellishing a Tool Tutorial
(and please note the tongue-in-cheek humor I have)

Supplies:

  E-6000 glue
Scrapbook paper
Gemstones
Flowers
Computer, Printer


I forgot to take a picture of the Magic Glos....you will see it later in the tutorial
  

I first pulled out a scrap piece of scrapbook paper from my stash.  You know me and my scrap hoarding problem!

I then went to my computer and made a circle shape and placed my name inside the circle.  I played around with the font and settled on "Zapfino" and played with the line styles.  

I then placed the paper into my printer.  I pulled out my circle cutter (luckily had was able to cut the circle to the exact same size as the label of the tape measure).  

When you choose your paper, hold it up to the light to see how transparent it is. I realized that I had a problem when I added the dimensional gloss.  I could see through to the label.



What a FAIL!!!!


Not good!  So I quickly reprinted my design on the paper and glued a piece of solid pink to the back. 



I then glued the new label onto the tape measure using the E-6000 glue.  Can I tell you that I never knew about this stuff until recently.  Feel like a duh! 

I guess this is what happens when I can't watch Carol Duvall anymore.  Remember her?  She moved from HGTV to DIY, but the show ended in 2009.  She always was up and up on the craft world.  I truly miss it!

Anyway, focus Heidi......

I started to add the gemstones.  I pulled them from my scrapbook stash.  They are a continuous line of gems with a sticky back and were really easy to work with on the curves.





You can also easily trim them by simply cutting between the gems with scissors.

I decided to add a flower, but realized that it was made of paper and didn't want it to bleed.  I added a few drops of the Dimensional Glos to keep the "bleeding" down.






Then I glued it to the paper with E-6000 glue.









I covered the whole thing with the dimensional gloss.





I couldn't take a picture of the process of poring....because I wanted to do it carefully.  And I think you get the idea.  It just takes a light squeeze.  But look how it makes a layer of hard covering.  It is almost like a piece of molded plastic.







Let me tell you how much I love this stuff!  There is no mixing of catalysts or powders.  And cure time?  Fast.  Like 5-15 minutes fast.  Of course, it really is for jewelry like this.






   And I swear I have a tutorial in the works for it.  Just haven't put my mind to it!



You simply place it out in the sun.  The gloss cures under UV light.  

And if you work at night, like I do most of the time....there is an easy answer to fix this problem.  A UV light
 I have this one:




 I swear, this project only took me 15 minutes from start to finish!  I left it out to cure for longer only because Button was hungry.

My only complaint?

I wish the actual "tape" was pink!



I think I just might do this again on some other items that wander out of my studio............

Monday, May 23, 2011

Not A Scrap Left Behind



I just couldn't bear to throw away my scraps from the Only These Diamonds For Me quilt.  I usually save them and pop them into another project like an applique, but I wanted to do something specifically for the outdoor area.

I was looking at the size and lo and behold, they were the exact length and width I needed for some quilted coasters.


I am a bit embarrassed to tell you that I had to go and look at my very own tutorial to make them.  I had forgotten the measurements!

Every bit of scraps were used!  Some for the back of the quilt.



and some for these coasters.


I particularly like the plain blue ones.  



There something special about simplicity that just speaks to me sometimes!

Now what to do with the two fat quarter stacks I have in those same fabrics.  I am thinking some throw pillows for the couch and chairs?

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A Difficult Day

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared."
~Buddha quote


Yesterday was probably one of the more difficult days that I have had in while.

Our oldest is graduating from 8th grade next week. 

Friday was the last day he got up with his little brothers and dress for the All School Mass.





At his last Mass, words and prayers were said.

 

The 8th graders' candles were lit.

 
 


Then the 8th graders passed the light to the 7th graders' candles.



 
They passed on their leadership and all the responsibility it entails.

 I cried when his light was blown out. 

Fortunately, they are eager to look to their future and light their candles somewhere new.






Next year, I will be only be dropping off two boys at the school that I love so very much.  

Yup, a very difficult day for this mom!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Only These Diamonds For Me

Hellooooo Diamonds.......





I am so happy with this new quilt!  
Amy at Creative Sides is hosting the Bloggers' Quilt Festival this Spring....GO CHECK IT OUT by clicking on the button below! 
There are some absolutely STUNNING quilts that can really give anyone some inspiration!






Now to the introduction to my last minute submission to this festival. 


Last year, we put a pool in our backyard.  After living in the Houston area for 8 years, we realized we could no longer survive one more year in the abominable heat without one!  When we designed it, we included a special tile in memory of our daughter, Jamie Lynn


This spring, I was sitting on the "beach" with our newest addition thinking of her as I looked at her "feet" on Mother's Day and discovered that I really loved the color that the blue portion of our pool is.  




I have been rattling color ideas for our backyard furniture and it all of a sudden hit me!  I would emphasize the already orange accents (see the orange/rust colored cushion?) with the blue color of our pool!! 





  Of course, my inspiration portion of my brain kicked in and immediately thought of a making quilt.  I wandered into my studio and discovered that I had Jelly Rolls in the colors I wanted to do.  How convenient that I would think of this in time for the Festival!  Don't you love when things just fall into place!

So I went to work this past weekend and finished the top.    In true Heidi-fashion, I finished this late last night burning the midnight oil. Not my best quilting job, but it will do.




And I swear, the quilt just looks wonky from this angle.  It really isn't THAT bad.  Perfect, NO!  The fence is actually lower than where I was standing.  I hate when a photo makes something worse!


Why do I love this quilt?  I love it because I was able to actually do it on my boys' sewing machine (only has straight and zigzag stitch) while my sewing machine is in the shop again.  I love that I was challenged that way!  I love that it was made from fabric I already had on hand.  I love that it will be the springboard for the rest of my outdoor furniture fabrics.  




And I love that every time I see it or use it, it will remind me of my darling daughter!  I have been having trouble sewing off and on anything since the fatal diagnosis of our daughter.  But I had  a realization that I could either sit around and waste the rest of my life in a pile of grief, or I could do what she can't...LIVE!  And sewing and crafting give my life zest!  I couldn't think of a better reason to love this quilt!!!

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