April Lovely Year of Finishes - Skirt Finished!

I finally got my summer skirt all hemmed!  Why is it these little projects seem to go on the back burner for so long? 

 



This was my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  A nice new skirt to go strolling through Albuquerque and Santa Fe! 

 

 



Fabric Therapy (and other things)

Things are slowly calming down around here, so (hopefully) I'll be back to posting with my normal schedule!

My little household has been hit by some nasty bug that's been going around.  Luckily, it is starting to look like we are on the upside of it all.

The day before Easter Sunday we had just finished dinner and were getting ready to dye eggs when the phone rang.  It was my father-in-law saying he was at the airport and where were we?!  Um. Apparently my husband's side of the family forgot to tell us that he was coming.  I frantically started picking up the house and had the kiddos dye eggs while my husband went to pick his Dad up.

Amongst visitors and tending to an ill husband and kiddos, I did take a day to run to a fabric shop in town that I had never been to before.  They had quite a few prints that I have only been able to find online.  Here's what I bought.




From top to bottom: Simply Color by V and Co. for Moda, Noteworthy by Sweetwater, and
Spot On by Robert Kaufman 

Also, a little online fabric shopping.  I bought a few pieces from Hawthorne Threads and Pink Castle Fabrics.  Some of this fabric was bought for a specific purpose (as noted in the photos below - Pretty Princess Sew Along hosted by Cut to Pieces.)  Some was just because.

Alice in Wonderland dress: Polka Dot Stitches by Lori Holt in Clean White and
Tiny Gingham in Blue by Michael Miller

Rapunzel dress: from left to right - all from Michael Miller
Clown Stripe, Cotton Couture in Purple, Cotton Couture in Crocus
 and Cotton Couture in Blossom



Penguins in Blue by Nancy Wolfe for Kokka Japan and
 Headliner in Black from In The Doghouse

I first saw that penguin print on Don't Call Me Betsy and had to have it!  Luckily there was a 1/2 yard left in stock so I snagged it!

It seemed like a long time had gone by since I purchased any fabric, as everything I have been making lately, I've been trying to utilize what I already had in my stash!  It's nice to see some new prints mixed in with my current.

Tomorrow is the preschool's annual field trip out here to the ranch; then it's a weekend spent with my sewing machine!

Project Inventory/Summer Skirt

I'm a list maker.  My lists have lists - okay, not really.  But I do make lists for everything.

Over the weekend, as I was dreaming up new projects and looking at those forgotten ones in my works in progress basket, I decided to (yep, you guessed it) make a list.

I listed all my works in progress - I came up with 13! 

I listed new projects - I have 7 currently in mind.

Yikes!!

So let's get onto this month's Lovely Year of Finishes project - I decided on a quick finish for the month of April - finish my summer skirt I started in June of last year.  All I have to do is hem it to the right length and it's done.

How is your project inventory looking?

Star Quilt

I recently checked Denyse Schmidt's Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration out at the library. 

There were several projects in the book that I would do.  But before I had to return it, I did work on this star quilt.

Mine is not a scrappy star - though I really like the scrappy star.  I did mine with whatever fabric I had enough of.  A print background with some essex linen for the star.  I figure I would do some hand embroidery in the star to add something a little extra.

As I was going through my stash for this quilt, I have decided that I need larger pieces of solids.  Besides white, all my pieces are a fat quarter or smaller.  Definitley need to go fabric shopping!

So Much Going On...

Hello there.  It's been a while I know.  So much has happened in the past weeks, that my poor little blog was abandoned for a bit. 

Our one and only car's transmission went out one day while driving my son home from preschool.  Luckily, we made it home!  So we were out of a car for several days.  As you know, I live on a cattle ranch one hour away from Albuquerque/Santa Fe.  It's half an hour away from a gas station, grocery market, etc.  So, we borrowed one of the ranch vehicles to get us by those few days until we could figure out something else.

My dearest friend from college came to visit with her family.  She drove from Washington State down here to New Mexico with her hubby and three little ones.  We had such a great time, it's like we were never apart. 

Little princess pea (aka my 2 year old daughter), went through surgery and is now recovering.  She's such a little trooper!  Though she is not fond of taking medicines! 

Amongst all this, I did manage to finish my blue and neutral quilt!

Not Much Sewing

I haven't done a whole lot of sewing these past weekends, instead we drove up to Taos and hung out. 

 

 

I did make a trip to our local library and ordered a few books from Amazon.  I feel like I am currently in a bit of an inspirational rut (hence, the traveling around New Mexico on the weekends.) 

Perhaps this week will be a bit better.

WIP - Attacking those WIPS

I feel like I am making some progress on these long overdue WIPs.

My neutral and blue quilt is in the process of being basted.  Here's a photo of the back.  Still debating on how I am going to quilt this one.

A long time ago,  I showed these fabrics from Art Gallery that I wanted to use for Rachel's Colorbrick quilt.

Here they are finally all cut up.  I am waiting on some fabric for the sashing to come (sheesh - I thought I had enough of what I wanted to use, but apparently I used it for some other projects.)

This quilt was to be for me.  Really excited about this one!

And just because I needed a quick project.  I made this pen/pencil holder from the book Zakka Style.  Pens and pencils are always ending up at the bottom of my bags, this at least helps me to find them a little faster.

What are you working on this week?

Linking up to Freshly Pieced.