Of course, there's another quilt in progress over here...I mean isn't this how it's going? A new week, a new quilt taking shape. This one is destined to be a wallhanging for my craft room. I love Sweetwater's Reunion fabric line. I mean Hello isn't that bunting I see? One of my most favorite things! 

By the way - I may need a break after this one!
Oh, wait...there's still at least three more ready for making & on the list?!
Oh my.

{Our Creative Spaces}

    The Father's comfort to be exact.
    Mom & I were at it again! This time we made a quilt full of Psalms!

     The pattern & word fabric are both called Comfort Of Psalms, you get them together as a set. If you click 'Quilt Patterns' to the left on that page you'll see they have more printed fabric choices & quilt designs. The fabric is from the line Wildflowers V by Moda.

    Mom really fell in love with the small scale floral print with flower names, so our fabric choices all began with that. I like that it's got bright welcoming colors. Mom thinks it might be too bright to read as comforting, but I think anything that makes you smile is comforting - & cheery colors sure make me smile. :) Also, I love star blocks in every size, shape, & style so they make me smile too!

    Now that it's finished I'm really enjoying this quilt we're calling The Father's Comfort. However, I am not generally a fan of 'quilt -as-you-go' patterns, especially not when so many points need to match up. In getting the borders on and whatnot I was super afraid we would lose words & end up so far from square it would totally ruin the quilt. Luckily, with several bouts of taking out & re-sewing we got it close enough to look pretty square hung on the wall, and we didn't lose any words. Yay! 
    
    Keeping that in mind, not all the points are matched & some points of stars are blunted. Not an easy fix when it's already quilted. It really annoys me! If we make this pattern again we will not quilt-as-we-go. We'll go traditional and quilt it afterward so it will be a bit more lined up.  We did quickie binding on this too. Which is where you sew the binding to the back first & then wrap & machine stitch it to the front. (With traditional binding you sew the binding to the front & then wrap and handstitch it to the back.) With the quickie way you end up with some stitch lines on the back that aren't always beautiful, but for wall hanging projects I don't mind this.  

    I believe this lovely bit of comfort is destined for gifting! And, I sure hope they don't notice all those imperfections I see!

Easter is on it's way!

    Usually, we don't do anything super special for Easter, we don't give gifts, or have egg hunts. Just church & a family lunch at Grandma's. For some reason this year I've just been in the mood to make Easter baskets - mine are little cone shaped baskets. I took some 12 x12 scrapbook paper & folded it in half, added some adhesive to the outside of one short end & rolled it into a cone. I then cut the extra off at an angle & secured the end with more adhesive. I added twine handles by punching two holes on either side, I then threaded the twine through & tied a simple knot on the ends that will get hidden by whatever I fill them up with. Easy Peasy & pretty cute, I think.

    I've also been playing with a Wild Olive Button Buddies embroidery design Mollie offered in a workshop a couple of years ago. I made little felt needle books to add as a small handmade something in my baskets. I used pieces of felt & ribbon from my stash, so they're all unique & a little different. Now, I just have to go find some Cadbury Mini Eggs to sweeten things up even more! 

    What does your family do for Easter?

{Our Creative Spaces}
{Stash Bash}

Embroidery & quilty love with a vintage his & hers pattern!
Does anyone else think that guy looks like Doc Holliday? I called this little wall hanging 'Doc & Kate' because I do. Also, because Tombstone is my guy's favorite movie & I thought he's like it. :)

We've had this little shelf on our wall for a long while now. In an odd place, at the top of our stairs, holding a tea towel I especially liked the pattern of...Because you never know when you'll need to wipe your hands. And, also I couldn't bare to see the naked rod under the self while it waited for a bit o' hanging art-like craftiness. Well, I finally put that towel in the kitchen where it should be & have a new little lovely hanging there! Using scraps from my favorite Ruby wall hanging, of course!

Lest you start to think (or continue to think) that I am the only crafty person within these walls...
I'm not!
I might be more prolific in my crafting, but there is a crafty side to my guy! He's keeping to his mechanic like creativity in his crafting though, he's a model builder!

The reason we got the little shelf to begin with was to showcase his work.
And maybe mine too. :)
I decided that since I like to decorate with all my crafty eclectic love I really shouldn't be leaving him out. We should have a blend of our favorites instead of just mine. So, our house has a mesh of Him + Me.
Cars & crafts. -We're so goofy.
We found a way to combine our various loves in our relationship & in our home. This little spot really reflects us, together. Our home is a reflection of who we are, it's definitely not fancy or even cohesive in some cases...but, everywhere we look we see things we enjoy, things that make us smile, things we love. My goal is to make it more of these things & less or the other 'stuff'. Simple +Us. That's where we're headed!

But...mm...anyone else think this spot need a more retro car to go with my retro quilt-art?

Oh, yes. That's better.
He made that Nomad for me because I told him I dreamed of being 'all rock-a-billy style'. Like I said, we're so goofy! :)

    If you haven't heard about Becky Higgins' Project Life you might be missing out! It's a super easy, coordinated way to streamline how you document your life. I've been following how my pal Ali uses Project Life for a long time, then Cathy started using Project Life, & so does Elise. (OK so maybe they aren't really my friends but I like to think they would be if they got to know me! ;) ) With all these cool, creative people doing Project Life & just inspiring me so very much I decided this would be the year I tried it out. 

    I ordered the fancy photo pocket pages for which PL is kinda known. I ordered the Amber Edition Core Kit & Cardstock. I sat down & smiled at all the pretty colors & paper options & flipped though cards & thought about how I wanted to tackle this project. I decided that I didn't want to do the traditional weekly collection. Mostly because I didn't think I'd collect enough photos & stuff of life to do that & I figured I wouldn't maintain weekly momentum. So, I chose to go for a monthy glance at our lives & include the memories & stories I remembered to capture. This isn't like Week In The Life, I'm not trying to include every detail of what we do, but just get an overview & capture the larger stories. 

    I've started uploading my photos a month at a time (Aside from the things I document for you or the shop, etc.) & then I choose my favorites & print the whole month to work on during the next month of capturing. Or, atleast that's how it was gonna go until I had to wait for some sold out product to get rolling. But, now I'm rolling & I finished January's pages!

I included a 6 x 12 page among the PL Design A pages too...

The very last January page didn't need to be very big, so I added an 8.5 x 11 to include my final few photos...

    As I am finding my rhythm with this project & figuring out how I want things to look the style might change a bit. I'm letting each month be what it wants to be. I decided I wouldn't make a set number of pages or put any regulations on myself. I would just print the pictures I wanted to use & go for it. I have to say that it's much easier to get the stories told this way. Even the way I included our Las Vegas trip was satisfying. I don't feel like I need to go back and make more traditional pages or expand on what's in the album. That's so nice! It means I am staying 'caught up' with our story & that makes me feel less overwhelmed. It doesn't mean I can't go back and make more tradional pages as I feel compelled to, I can do that too, & add them in, & love the process of documenting any which way I want. So, for now, I'm really enjoying the Project Life way of documenting. Have you tried it yet?

    I made some changes to my online presence today. 
    I deleted my Pinterest account. 

    Oh, it was hard! Hard to say goodbye to all those beautiful pinned ideas. But, it was also the right thing for me to do. As you may already know there is a bit of controversy about Pinterest's Terms Of Service & artists maintaining the rights to their work & images. There's some issues with creators getting credit & people being able to reuse ideas & images as their own. I decided that, for me, I don't really want to worry about the legalities of all this, I don't want to feel odd about pinning or repinning and whatnot. So, to make life easy I just decided to delete my account & not worry about it. I'm not making choices for anyone but myself. I'm not condemning Pinterest or its users. I'm just making a personal choice for personal reasons. I do think that in time the creators of Pinterest will work all this out & put into place a system to protect artists or something to alleviate this problem. And, I might revisit my decision at that time. 

    For now, I'll stick with Flickr for my idea gathering like I had been doing previously.  It works just fine for me. In fact before I deleted my Pinterest account I opened up my boards & opened up Flickr & did a search for some of the themes I had so I could keep my favorite ideas favorites. Flickr didn't have everything I pinned, but they sure had a great deal of it & that's fine by me. It also helps that I have one less place to visit online, one less time waster to have for distraction.  

    I also went back to my 'Using A Pin' series of posts and change the titles to "Inspired To Create'. I tried to change all the links to go to the original web source for the ideas & change the wording to reflect that. (I added a disclaimer to the bottom of those posts in case I missed something in my rush through.) I'll still be doing more posts about using the creative ideas I accumulate & I'll keep up the 'Inspired To Create' theme. 

    Okie Doke. I think that's all I have to say about all that. :)

    The Update portion of this is for that sweet little boy I talked about last week! Compassion posted photos on Flickr of his journey to a whole heart! Fatao's surgery was a success! If you scroll through the various Compassion photos on Flickr you can follow Fatao's journey to India, to the hospital, his pre-surgery work-up, the surgery & into the recovery room. Technology is amazing! People coming together to save the adorable kiddo's life is amazing! Hooray for the love of the human race! Too often we hear about the hurt we cause each other. Not often enough do we hear about how we rush to the aid of each other. Here is one little boy that is surely & most definitely loved, by us, and by God. Yay!

Do you ever have problems when you create something?
Not problems with the process, or problems with the finishing, but problems with the liking after the creating.
I do. I did. This last week it was just that way.
I joined the Wild Olive Stitch Swap this month & I was so so excited! So excited that I got my partner & started stitching the very next day! I created a quirky bird for someone who likes bright colors & quirky animals...

Thhheeennnn, I decided I didn't like it as much as I had hoped to.
The little bird was more or less appliqued. I had a scrap of fabric with him on it & had been wanting to embroider him for a long time. I still think he is awfully cute. I had lots of fun stitching him. I just wasn't sure he was 'just right' to send out to someone else.
So, I decided to stitch up a second little bit o' art to see if I could get a little closer to the mark I was hoping to hit.

My second attempt was a busy little bee. I enjoy his hexi background & think he turned out a little better than the bird. I'm still not totally happy with him either. I decided I might never be absolutely in love with these little things so he's wrapped & ready to be winging his way to my partner. I hope she enjoys him. And, thinks he's just the right mix of bright & quirky. :)

Do you ever have that problem? Do you ever feel like you can't quite get where you want to be? If you do I hope you enjoy the process & embrace the 'not quite right'. There's joy in that too!
Now I'm off to do some more stitchin! I have some more swappin' to get ready for!

    There is a 6 year old with a broken heart & you could be apart of the amazing group of people helping to mend it!

    Today I learned about Fatao. An adorable little boy who lives in Bobo Dioulasso (southwest  Burkina Faso, Africa) with his father, mother and five siblings. I learned he likes to play soccer and ride bikes. I learned he wants to be a mechanic when he
grows up, just like his older brother. I learned that he has a hole in his heart, and without surgery he might never realize that dream. 

    Fatao has a condition called ventricular septal defect (VSD). He needs to go to India to have the surgery to correct it. The total cost of his surgery (including passport, visa, travel, the surgery itself and follow-up care) is $23,000 & his parents would never be able to afford it. His father struggles to provide for his family's day to day needs and his mother sells fritters to help support the family. Expensive heart surgery would be an impossible dream if not for the help & support of Compassion & loving people like you & me helping with donations. Even the smallest of donations add up to be an amazing gift. A gift that tells this little boy that we care about his broken heart & his big dreams. 

    I also learned today that any money raised above & beyond what is needed for Fatao will go to help other kids who need similar surgeries. I found out that Compassion's church partners have immediate access to $5000 through the Medical Assistance Fund. This money is for things beyond normal preventative care; like heart surgery, cancer, prosthetic limbs, traumatic injury, vision and hearing issues. But when the medical need is above & beyond that $5000 the child development centers have to take money from other areas of their budget to cover it. They can also submit a request to Compassion for additional funds, money that has to be raised so that children's lives can be saved. That's what we are doing here today. Saving a little boy's life.

    In a perfect world children would never get sick, they wouldn't have heart problems, they wouldn't get cancer. But, all of us know this is not a perfect world. We know that kids get sick all the time, they need trips to the doctor, & to the emergency room. We know that life isn't fair, & that it is hard. We know that sometimes there are things we just can't do alone. Sometimes we have to ask for help. So, on behalf of Fatao & his parents that's what I'm here today to do, ask for help. If you can donate that would be wonderful, if you can pray for them that would be glorious. Never underestimate the smallest gift or the awesome power of prayer!

    Thank you so very much!

    I began and finished a new wall hanging this week...
Introducing...Ruby Is A Star!
    Ruby measures 42 inches square. That's just a bit smaller than the pattern - because I changed how the large outer border is created. The pattern I used is called A Better Star For All Seasons, it's a Quilt In A Day pattern by Eleanor Burns. I thought I'd give you a little pattern review while I showed you Ruby...

    The pattern was pretty easy. I thought the construction of the stars seemed a little fussy but since I was not accustomed to that particular star block I wasn't sure how to streamline the process & get the exact same result. There is one large star & one small star that match, six pairs for the wall hanging, & each pair was made one at a time. I was worried about mixing up which fabric was for which start after all the time it took to sort them in the first place! There are a couple different versions to make the quilt; one planned out using 3 fabrics cut from yardage (& doing this would have made the star blocks much faster to cut), the second is for a scrappy version made with a layer cake and yardage cut from an additional three fabrics for borders. 

    I decided when I bought the pattern & layer cake together to see if I could use the layer cake for more than just the stars when I got into the process. The pattern said I could make 10 sets of stars out of a layer cake & since I knew I only needed 6 I also knew I'd have leftover fabric. I discovered I had plenty of fabric in the layer cake to use as two of the other cut yardage choices that were called for (& was glad I hadn't bought all the extra material from the start). The pattern called for some solid squares to be cut from a seperate plain fabric, I used 6  different layer cake fabrics for these squares instead. I also made a scrappy pieced wide border instead of making the wide border yet another additional cut of fabric. I didn't make this wide border the same width as the pattern called for - which is why Ruby measures  42 inches square instead of 45. I could have kept piecing the border until I got it wide enough to cover those extra inches, but I didn't think it needed that extra width. 

    (Boy, you can sure tell the sun was going down in the photo above!)

    After the stars were made the rest of the piecing was super easy and straight forward. The only other fabric I used was some plain white sheeting. The white sheeting covered the small inner border, the backing, & the binding. Ruby took me about 18 hours over two days. My mom helped me with some of the final piecing and sewing, and she did the quilting. We quilted it very simply, stitch-in-the-ditch around all the large stars, and on both sides of the narrow inner border. This is my favorite fabric collection so I didn't want anything taking away from that. It's all about Ruby!

    I do have one little complaint about this pattern...
In the section where it talks about squaring up the star points it only gives directions using a specific kind of ruler. Now, I realize that this is a way for Quilt In A Day to make money, they kinda make it seem like you have to own their particular ruler in order to complete the process, and so people go buy that ruler. If I had never made half square triangle blocks & didn't understand that I could square up in several different ways I might have been rushing out to get that ruler myself. I don't mind that they show you how to use their ruler & how it makes the squaring up process easier. I do, however, mind that they only give directions using that ruler. Because, really, you don't need it to make this quilt. They could have offered a couple different squaring up options. I have made a quilt from a pattern that gave me two options for how to create half square triangles; one using a special paper with lines to tell you exactly how to cut & sew, one was using a regular ole ruler. They gave me the option for the 'easy making' product, but didn't make it seem like a necessity. Quilt In A Day could have done something similar. That's just my two cents. 

    OK, since I have the complaint here, let me tell you something I do really like about this pattern... It's not a one trick pony.
Sometimes when you buy a quilt pattern you get a single quilt possibility figured out for you. But this one has two quilt sizes - a wall hanging & a lap, and two options for each (that planned piecing or scrappy piecing). It also has directions for 6 coordinating place mats & a table runner. It has great photos of the quilt made for four seasons as well. The whole booklet is wonderfully illustrated and easy to understand. So for 9 bucks you get much more than a single quilt to make, & I definitely like that!

    I'll leave you with a shot of what Ruby looks like in her home - on my wine painted wall! (Please ignore my fan pulls dangling in the way.) :)