Kiwi's Vintage Sheet Baby Quilt {Blogger's Quilt Festival}

It almost doesn't seem fair.  I've decided to enter Kiwi's quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival (yes - for a prize), and I didn't even make the blocks myself.* 

This quilt came together over a great period of time.  I got a bunch of beautiful blocks that I commissioned from my Bee Mates (I gotta get back into Bee Vintage again on the next go round . . . it was just too much fun and I've missed it) . . . and then there was a hiatus as I waited for the last few to trickle in.  As I recall, someone offered to angel the last few blocks for me.  I sat on them for over a year, stuck on my next move.

Then one day the design wall came down and this sweet quilt was born:

Initially, I brought the quilt upstairs to use on Kiwi's bed, but that little stinker still makes her way into mom and dad's bed every night somehow so it wasn't getting used as much as I would have liked.  In the end, I brought it downstairs to the living room where it now lives out in the open and is enjoyed every single day.

Quilting Detail

I'm so thankful that even though I don't belong to a local quilting guild or have friends close by that are into this stuff, through blogging and Flickr-ing I was able to find a quilting bee . . . with fellow lovers of vintage sheets at that!

Backing

If you want to see some closer shots of all of the blocks check out my Bee Vintage Flickr set here or read all of the posts I did related to it here.  Just for fun, here is a sample of the blocks I made for the other ladies in the Bee:

1. Starburst Block #2, 2. Starburst Block #1, 3. Mod Mosaic Vintage Sheet Block, 4. Quilter's Grid Block, 5. Let Them Eat Cake - for Jenny, 6. Not available, 7. 9 Patch #1 - For Tammie, 8. 9 Patch #2 - for Tammie

I'm excited to be part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival for the first time!  For all of you who are here for the first time, thanks for coming and checking out my quilt.  Voting is open from May 24th through the 30th.  We're up against some incredible competition, but it's all for fun anyway.  If you feel so inclined you may vote here starting on the 24th.

* No worries . . . the category I entered this quilt in is specifically for Group/Bee quilts.  You can find all of the entrants in my category right here.



Quilt Stats
Name: Kiwi's Vintage Sheet Baby Quilt
Block Design: You Are Here by Happy Zombie aka Monica Solario-Snow
Blocks made by the lovely ladies of Bee Vintage
Sashing/Backing/Binding/Block Design Choosing/Quilting done by me  ;)
Fabrics (except the sashing) are all vintage sheets
Batting: Warm and White

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Feeling Summer-y

I played around with some fabrics the other day so that I could enter a little giveaway sponsored by Sew Fresh Fabrics.  The theme was summer and this is the mosaic I came up with.  The one I showcased in the biggest box became the palette inspiration, and it just took off from there:

Clockwise from Top Left:  1) Urban Garden from Mecca for Moderns  2)   Spare Change in Vintage from Odds and Ends  3)   Big Sur from Camp Sur  4)   Dandelion in Orange from Flying Free  5)   Tickets in Parchment from 2wenty Thr3e      6)   Racoon Acacia from Scamper  7)   Cross Country from Next Stop  8)   Bloomsbury in Aqua from Summersville Spring  9)   Camper Rally from Camp Sur  10)   Ni-Co Bikes in Pink  11)   Captured from Next Stop  12)  Sunburst in Orange from Scamper

If you want a chance to win a 12 Fat Quarter bundle of your choice, submit your own mosaic of 12 fabrics with a "summer" theme to Sew Fresh Fabrics Flickr group by the end of May. 

P.S.  I am not getting any spiff or extra entry for mentioning this to you.  This post is a combination of "It's been awhile since I blogged" and "whenever I play with fabrics I want to share it with you".  Plus, if I don't win I have to admit I'd feel kind of awesome if one of my readers did.  Good luck, everyone!  Hope you're having a great week.  :)

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I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You

Is that stupid song stuck in your head now?  Mine too.  I'm so sorry.

Anyhoo . . .

I decided awhile back that I really ought to make myself a new purse.  The one I've been sporting about town is still in good shape/useable, but it's pretty small and doesn't hold more than my wallet, a pen, and a bunch of receipts I keep forgetting to take out of there.

Now, I may be a fabric-aholic but I'm no purse-anista . . . I want one purse.  I want it to be the right size (not too big and obviously not too small), the right amount of pockets, and if I'm going to make the effort to sew it myself it's got to be done in the right fabric.   Is there such a thing?

No really, I have been wondering because I've been thinking about it for about a year now.

A few weeks ago I was doing some fabric perusing online (you don't think I'm crazy enough to take all 3 of my kids into the fabric store with me, do you?!), and re-discovered this gem:

It's Anna Maria Horner's Summer Totem (in Tart) from her LouLouThi collection.  (Yes, this is not a new collection . . . I KNOW.)  After saying to myself, "I forgot about this one . . . I love it I love it I love it I love it!" I ordered a purse-sized chunk.  How odd I felt when I opened the package a week later and immediately started auditioning it for new throw pillows for my couches, new curtains for my kitchen, and as a possible shower curtain for my bathroom.

What about my purse?!

But seriously, I have discovered that Summer Totem is my very own Sue the Napkin.  It honestly, could go in any room of my house.  It's like I had this fabric in my head for the last 7 years as I picked out the comforter on my bed (seriously, every color up there), our crazy red couch, the paint colors for my kitchen (that muted yellow) and curtains for my living room (teal).

Which brings me to my bathroom.  Yes, upstairs we have a half bathroom that the previous homeowner made by stealing a closet from one of the bedrooms.  It's little, but it gets the job done.  A toilet, a pedestal sink, bada-bing bada-boom you can do your business in there.

Because it was so little, Mr. Skooks and I were a little hesitant skeered to put any real color on the walls.  No one wants to feel like they're sitting on the throne in a cave.  As a result, we had one coat of the most boring salmon pink beige color on the walls since we moved in.  Mr. Skooks literally rolled it on, we both frowned, and the project was abandoned for 2 YEARS.  We just could not figure out what the world to do in there to bring some life to the space without overwhelming it completely.

Fast forward to last weekend (and after 8,000 hours on Pinterest) I ran across this image:

Source: lovelifeatleadora.blogspot.com via Skooks' Playground on Pinterest

We have a very slim budget for home projects and we weren't trying to replicate the room, but it gave us a jumping off point.  Mr. Skooks put up some trim in the corners of the room, a little molding about 3/4 of the way up the wall, and we just did it.  White on the bottom and this mermaid-y color on top.  Previously the mirror had been antique white (el cheapo score from Hob Lob not long after we moved in because we needed something in there), but we wanted a nice contrast so we picked up a test pot of a red called Barn and put about 3 or 4 coats over the frame of the mirror.  The shelf/bin/rack thingy is from TJMaxx . . . I wanted something slim in there that could hold some hand towels and the kids toothpaste and stuff.  Nothing major.  I'm sure it's meant to be a magazine rack or file holder or something.  Whatevs.

I'd still like to get some art work up on the walls somewhere, but I'm digging the look as is in the meantime.

The room gets no natural light so the picture looks like turd (I was standing in the hallway to get this super tight shot), but you get the idea.   I would have loved to move that mirror down a scoche (I thought that was a word, but spellcheck is not recognizing it - ah well), but that outlet is in the dumbest place on earth so this arrangement is how it has to be.

I'm not a home decor blogger so there is no before/after pictures to wow you.  And honestly, after 2 years of waiting to see some work done on this room, I wasn't going to slow Mr. Skooks down with "process" photos.  For the before you can just close your eyes and imagine a plain tan box with an off-white mirror, a toilet, and a pedestal sink.  Cause that's all it was.

So anyway, back to the point I was trying to make an hour ago . . . what to do with Summer Totem?  Should I make the purse, or embrace it as my signature home fabric and find something else?  Decisions decisions.



Paint Colors (more for my reference than yours):
-Top: Sweet Rhapsody by Behr (490A-3)
-Bottom: Ultra Pure White by Behr (W-B-500)
-Mirror: Barn by Martha Stewart

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Patchwork . . . PLEASE!

Someday I will find a way to save up enough money and travel to Japan where I will learn paper-piecing at the feet of the master.  Until that far off date, I've got this:

source

I've never been so excited about a book that I've bothered to preorder it, but several months ago I actually did.  Patchwork Please! will get me over my fear of paper piecing (I've decided!), and it arrived last week.  SO MUCH CUTENESS!  I haven't made anything from it yet, so no pictures to share, but Amazon has a good "look inside" preview here. 

I'm getting excited for the Zakka Along for Patchwork, Please! . . . I've been itching to sew up some little goodies since I first cracked the book, and it would be fun to do some of these projects "with" those participating.  With that being said, my time to sew has been limited lately (um . . . can you tell?!) so we'll just say I'm going to do my best and leave it at that for now.

Anyone else planning on joining the Zakka Along?  What have you been working on lately?

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Google Reader - - Gone?!

Just like my attic (um . . . and my basement), my Google Reader could use a bit of a cleaning.  I have been a reader of blogs for so many years that my Reader has been filled to RIDICULOUS capacity since forever. 

But let's be real.  It's not like I *actually read* everything in there.  To me, using a reader is like having as many free magazine subscriptions as you could ever want.  I have them sorted by type so I can pick and choose what kind of reading I'm in the mood for.  That's great and all, but it's still just too much.

So thank you, Google, for forcing me to have to go through each and every one of them to figure out which are worth saving since there is no way I am going to continue with ALL of them on a new platform.  Wait, what?  Didn't you hear?  Google Reader is GOING AWAY FOREVER. 

I'm looking into Bloglovin right now as my new reader of choice, but I may end up going back to Bloglines if it becomes to headache-y to figure out Bloglovin.  Who has been reading long enough to remember when Bloglines said they were going away and then didn't, but I had already migrated over to Google Reader??

1,000,000,000 points to you if you have.  No really . . . you win.  :)

If'n you're in the same predicament as I am, and you're interested in keeping up with my little ole self on Bloglovin, click below.

Oh - - and as I did the last time this happened, I was thinking I might give a shout out to my favorite reads for a couple posts.  Because we all have more time in our days to read more blogs, yes?  ;)

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