11-3-13: Two more new quilts

I cannot believe November is already here.  Halloween is now over and Thanksgiving will be rolling right into town.  We have two new quilts to show off.  Maybe one of these will be a good Christmas present for someone you know?

Vintage chenille in pink and teal - and white!

 

 

 

Kensington fabrics from Riley Blake:

 

 

Large Bottles: 19
Hotel bottles: 24
Samples:  10
Thread Spools: 2

Grocery Bag Garbage: 25

I hope you're having a great Sunday!

10-27-1968....I mean 2013.....

Today is my birthday!  :-)

It has been a great weekend and day.  And I'll get to do some sewing once the Giants add another "W" to the record.  My fingers are crossed!

Another good part?  I have a brand new, bright, colorful BEAUTIFUL quilt done!  This is with Loulouthi fabrics:

I also have two vintage blue quilts to show off:

 And this brown and blue batik set was sold right after I posted it - now I have to make the second quilt!

My updated numbers on the "paring down product" is......

Large Bottles: 19
Hotel bottles: 23
Samples:  10
Thread Spools: 2

Grocery Bag Garbage: 24

I hope you're having a great Sunday!

9-22-13: New in our Shop...Vintage Chenille Quilts

Hello!  Sorry for my absence again....but I'm not too sure too many people have missed me judging by the number of "comments" I get on my posts!  ha ha ha

Wanted to show-off four newly finished vintage chenille quilts that are now listed in our shop.  These are truly a one-of-a-kind gift....maybe for that friend who decorates in shabby-chic decor?  Or something to cover your lap while on the couch?  Or a nursery?  Who would you say would be a good recipient?

 

And my civic-minded garbage, clearing out the stash tally update:

Large Bottles: 17
Hotel bottles: 20
Samples:  9
Thread Spools: 2

Grocery Bag Garbage: 18

Happy Sunday!

"Crafty Garden Mom" blog-post on Quilting

This is a GREAT blog-post on how Quilters, with all the time and craftmanship put into quilts, get undercut by mass-marketers.  This focuses on the retailer "Anthropologie", which I agree with the blogger, is NOT a cheap retailer as I would not shell-out $350 for a sundress. 

This is a sad-state-of-affairs for the quilters, but it is true....check out the post and please leave a comment!

8-5-13: Been too long

Hola!  I didn't realize it was back in May that I last updated my blog.  I get lazy with photoing in the summer because we do a couple nice craft fairs, so I'm usually sewing and saving as stock.  At the end of the fairs, THEN I will post to Etsy and our own web-store.  I figure, "why go through the effort when it could sell without?"

But, in the meantime, I did complete and post these two new items.  First, a table runner in RUBY fabrics designed by Bonnie and Clyde for Moda:

 The second is a vintage feedsack fabric quilt.  Great for a retro or farmhouse-chic baby nursery.....or as an accent quilt in your home:

Little Olive looks nervous because she was watching a bee and hoping it didn't get her while I was taking the picture! 

I also want to update my bottle count.  It is amazing that I still pick up a bag of garbage when I walk the dog!
Large Bottles: 13
Hotel bottles: 20
Samples:  6
Thread Spools: 2

Grocery Bag Garbage: 12

5-9-13: A New Batik Quilt!

Hello Quilt-fans -- Happy May!  And a Happy Happy Birthday to my niece Emilia who is 6 today!

I have not yet sewn with batik fabrics, and saw a gorgeous strip batik quilt that I instantly liked.  I then had the bee-in-my-bonnet to make a batik quilt.  I wanted beachy-batiks so I found "Tonga Treats" with blues, teals, and yellows.  I then went to Joanns to find a border and back fabric.  Here is the resulting top:

I will head out to my mom's this weekend so I can get the batting and finish it up.  Yay!  I'm hoping it sells at one of the beach fairs we do.  I think it would be great for a baby or toddler, but it is big enough to also work for an adult - or as a wall hanging.

I also want to update my bottle count:

Large Bottles: 11
Hotel bottles: 18
Samples:  5
Thread Spools: 1

Grocery Bag Garbage: 10

4/21/13: New Gift Sets!

Hola to those still reading me in Blog-Land!  The past few weeks I've been to Florida twice - and finished up those quilts I had posted the pictures of the tops - and then visited a friend.  I have no sewing to show for the weekend - boo!!  But I do have some new gift sets to show off....

I also want to update my bottle count:

Large Bottles: 10
Hotel bottles: 15
Samples:  4
Thread Spools: 1

Grocery Bag Garbage: 9

It's already 6:30 EST - no idea where this weekend went.  I'm hoping to be more productive in 5 days time!

3-24-13: Update that is Short and Sweet

Since Thursday night, I have been sidelined for a second time this winter season with some virus.  Today is my first day fever-free, but after spending a congested sleepless night, I still feel like crap.  To compound, Mr. Olive has been working all day, which is GREAT, but not so much when I'm not feeling 100%.  Little Olive is past her week-long fever.  I have been dying to make a black and white quilt top so the fastest I could do was the race quilt because I wasn't sure when I was going to hit-the-wall.  This is the fifteenth quilt top I've completed since the beginning of the year!  I'm so proud of myself!  :-)  I still have some fabric to sew-up, but I'm definitely past the half-way point.  This is Riley Blake's "Tuxedo" is the race quilt pattern:

Will be consulting with my partner as to border color - do we go with a pop of color? Red? Yellow? Green? Thoughts?  Happy Sunday!

3-17-13: Happy St. Patricks Day!

St. Patrick's Day!  I'm not Irish, but Mr. Olive's family is, so Little Olive is too.  I like to celebrate all holidays, but completely forgot to wear green today.  Sigh.  And I am too lazy to change.  For my weekend sewing accomplishments, I finished another lap quilt / throw quilt in Kate Spain's "Serenade" fabric line by MODA fabrics.  It is full of "woodsy" colors like burnt orange, slate blue, gray, browns, mustard yellow, but then has a twist of purple:

I am thinking to border it in an orange and then back and bind in a tan.  I'll have to see what my partner Mother Olive has to say on the subject!  Here is the beginning of the matching pillow sham, which will have borders and back to match the quilt:

Today, I put together a crib-quilt size top in Urban Chicks fabric line "Dream On" by MODA fabrics.  If this doesn't say "Spring Flowers" I don't know what does......such soft colors.  Here in Long Beach, March is still "like a lion" as we await "the lamb" and warmer temperatures:

I finished two medium sized handbags in fabrics I bought for my beach totes.  I usually like to get the beach totes and matching handbags done at the same time, but since I don't think I'm going to post these to Etsy, I thought I'd show them off here instead.  The outsides is this wild hot pink, brown, orange, blue funky paisley:

and the reverse with a pocket is a brown, pink, green, white stripe:

I think these will sell at the spring fairs we are doing, so I'm saving myself the listings by just holding onto them.  BUT, by all means, if YOU like and would want one, just let me know!  :-)  One of the beach totes will have this little lady acting as a guardian angel......Little Olive drew her on the inside of the paisley fabric and I had to spray ScotchGuard on her so she lasts:

On another note, as I've mentioned before, I've been bringing an extra grocery store plastic bag when I walk the dog to pick up garbage.  As long as I'm walking, and have to wait, I can clean up a small part of the neighborhood.  I've decided to add my garbage count to my list, the latest of which is:

Large Bottles: 7
Hotel bottles: 11
Samples:  4
Thread Spools: 1

Grocery Bag Garbage: 8

3-10-13: Sewing Progress

Mainly pictures this post since today will be a running-around day!  I did my first jelly roll "Race Quilt" in the "Loulouthi" fabrics (it was the only jelly roll I had on-hand).  I have seen entries of ladies finishing the quilt top in 35-40 minutes, so I timed myself.  I took 1 hour 15 minutes to finish this top, so I was happy with that time!  I first laid out all the strips in the end-to-end placement:

And the finished top ended up this way:

Mr. Olive really liked the result!  In addition, I bought borders and back fabric for a vintage feedsack quilt.  I wanted to finish it up, but my batting wasn't big enough.  I'm going to pick up batting today to get this one done next weekend:

I love love how it looks!  The back fabric is a bright orange, yellow, and cream floral.

I also got two new tote bags completed and posted to Etsy:

This is the first time I've used fabric with a black base.  I treated each side with Scotchguard.

I'm part-way through another quilt top, but not sure I'll get it done today...if so, I'll add pictures!

Happy Sunday!

Recycling Bottles and Fun Wine Cork Projects!

Over on "Sweet Greens" blog, author Jennie Lyon posted an entry with five fun things to do with wine corks.  Since my mom has a big jug of corks at her house, and I really liked her "monogram" idea, I'm linking to her post so I will always have it for reference!  Hope you go check it out too....


I haven't posted how I'm doing with using up my products and potions.....just so I don't loose track, here is where I'm at:

Large Bottles: 6
Hotel bottles: 9
Samples:  3
Thread Spools: 1

My cabinets and drawers in the bathroom are already feeling "lighter"!
(( I found the picture of the wine corks through Google search and link to Wikipedia))

FNSI: February 2013 Results!

Happy to have been able to participate in the first two Friday Night Sew-Ins hosted by "Handmade by Heidi".  In keeping with my new years resolution of sewing down my fabric stash and making a quilt top a weekend, I made a quilt top!  :-)  I used the Deb Strain fabric collection "Seascapes" put out by Moda.  It is all blues, teals, and white.  I wanted to take outdoor pictures today, but the New York weather isn't working with me so it was indoor pics or nothing:

 

I also decided to make a 4-patch with the remaining squares and once I pick out a border and back fabric, I'll also border and back the 4-patch to make a pillow cover.  The other pillow cover is from the leftover fabric from last weekend's quilt top in "Mama Said SEW" - the Sweetwater designed collection also put out by Moda:

Last but not least, I whipped up two little handbags with the rest of this beachy fabric.  I cut out three beach totes and the remnant was enough to make these:

 

 

Little Olive and her visiting friend were kind enough to model for me - ha ha ha.  I'm not sure I'm going to post these in the Etsy shop because I know I will sell them this summer at one of the handful of fairs we do.

Looking forward to seeing the results of other FNSI-ers!