Better late than never.

Sorry it's late this week. We've been (luckily) working a ton of overtime at work, so my blogging and sewing time has been drastically cut into. So, here it is... this week's


1. The Poet at Work on his new typewriter, 2. Flying Fish, this was nuts how they were jumping so high in the air, 3. Typewriter Keys, 4. Jason's first gar, 5. Royal Typewriter, a $12.50 estate sale find, 6. The Only Catch of the Day, 7. Typeku, a poem by Jason Toye, 8. The Glove's First Use

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

She's doing it again.

You must, must, must go check out the giveaway going on at Sheree's Alchemy right now. The colors of her scraps are ridiculously cheerful. There's also a lot of Amy Butler fabrics hiding in this week's box. So, go to the link above and enter yourself in the contest.





I'd love to get my hands on one of Sheree's boxes.

Ceci n'est pas une moustache

Jason grew a beard for the first time in a long time this winter. He grew so attached to it (pun intended, of course) that when he shaved it in May, he seemed uncomfortable to be seen without his beard.

We were doing the crossword puzzle the other night and somehow the word moustache was brought up. I can't remember whether it was a clue or an answer. I got this great idea to make a mustache mini-quilt.

Before I could really get started, I had to model my moustache.

I tried to get the cat to model it as well, but she would have none of it. She was more interested in a potential snuggle.

So, Rene Magritte has a painting (This is not a pipe) with a pipe. Magritte is one of Jason's favorite artists and I found his pipe painting funny. It was the perfect inspiration to create this wall hanging for our bathroom.


Ceci n'est pas une moustache translates to "This is not a moustache." Inspired by "This is not a pipe" by Magritte.

Happy Father's Day!

1. Alameda Beach, 2. Gingerbread Competition, 3. I want the little one on the end, 4. Carmel Beach

This week, my favorite thing is my dad.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Sheree's Alchemy

I just discovered this blog today. I'm totally jealous of her studio space. It looks like such a neat space to work in. She's doing a scrap box give-a-way.



She's stuffed a flat rate priority box full of scraps. They look all bright and cheerful just waiting for somebody to win them. There's 5 ways to enter and you have until June 24, 2009!

Please forgive my nerdiness...

I know I'm a nerd, but it's functional. Jason's grandma was at our apartment this past weekend and I was showing her around my studio and some of the things I make. She was so excited about this tool belt, it made me excited about it all over again. She liked it so much, she had Jason take these pictures and print them so she could make something similar for a friend of hers.



In my tool belt I keep my water/air soluble pens, a pencil, a pen, straight pins, a 6" ruler with the sliding plastic, my tape measurer, large scissors, small thread cutting scissors, my ipod and/or cell phone. It's so convenient to have all my utensils right where they belong and within reach. My efficiency has improved greatly since I've started wearing this.

It just kind of makes you feel good when you make something (especially when it's something dorky like this) and somebody likes it so much they want one.

No Longer a Dress

I blogged here about a dress I was going to attempt back on April 17th. Well, I made that dress and decided I didn't like it. I don't have your average upper torso. Mine is shorter and with a lot of baggage. So, while I thought the nice curved seams at the bust in the pattern I tried would work out nicely, they didn't. It sat really funny on me and looked terrible. So terrible in fact, that I didn't even take a picture before ripping it apart.

So, I ripped the torso off the dress, cut down the zipper and created this lovely skirt. Isn't it cute? I love the fabric. Only downfall: it wrinkles pretty badly.


Anyway... I'm pretty happy with it overall. There's definitely things I'll try different next time, but this is the first skirt/dress dissection I've ever attempted.

Omaha Quilt Show

Recently, my mom and I attended The Omaha Quilters' Guild 2009 Quilt Show Circle of Tradition... Then and Now. It was held at the UNO Sports Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

I wanted to share my favorite quilts with you. The photographs aren't the best, but the event took place in a giant inflated bubble, so the lighting wasn't great and the display method wasn't all that awesome either. Overall it was a really good show. There were some really spectacular pieces included in the show. So, without chattering too much more, here were my favorites from the 2009 Omaha Quilters' Guild Show.

Cinnamon & Ginger. Submitted to Show, Made, & Owned by Marcia Wragge. Professionally Quilted by Heidi Herring.


Out of My Slump. Submitted to Show, Made, & Owned by Pat Stava. Professionally Quilted by Aimee Mayhan. Quilt made in a class taken at Material Girl using Judy Neimeyer's "Sand Devil" pattern.


Circle of Life. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned & Machine Quilted by Cheri Walker. Made from a pattern by Jaqueline DeJonge.


Crazy Stars. Submitted to Show, Made & Owned by Dolores Morton. Professionally Quilted by Country Sampler. Quilt started in a Peg Pennell class in January 2004.


Eldest Son Climbs Mountain. Submitted to Show, Made, and Machine Quilted by Deborah Hickman. Owned by Andrew Hickman.


Double Nine Patch Flower Patch. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, and Machine Quilted by Dwynette Valenti. The pieced blocks are from a brown bag exchange with quilter's small group. Applique blocks and assembly of quilt by owner.


Golden Leaves. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, and Machine Quilted by Aimee Mahan. This is an original design inspired by turn of the century wallpaper motifs.


Oliver's Quilt. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, and Quilted by Karen Hill. Owned by Oliver Bitterman. Quilt was made in a class offered by Cindy Erickson at Bernina using a Buggy Barn pattern.


Garden Pool. Quilt by Janie Mountain Baker of Panorama City, California. This is part of the 2008 Hoffman Challenge.


The Winner's Circle. Quilt by Nancy B. Dickey of Magnolia, Texas. This is part of the 2008 Hoffman Challenge. It won 1st Place in Applique.


Hunting for Turtles: Memories from Childhood. Quilt by Patti Kupfere of Mesa, Arizona. This is part of the 2008 Hoffman Challenge. This is an original design.


Stained Glass Dragonfly. Quilt by Lana Sudheim of Bozeman, Montana. This is an original design.


Why Not Be an Optimist. Quilt by JaEileen Rose Bien of Ludington, MI. This is an original design.


Jet Stream. Quilt by Jennifer Holt of Bossier City, LA. This is an original design.


Boheme. Submitted to Show, Made & Owned by Dianne Thomas. Professionally Quilted by Colleen Noecker.


ABC Baby. Submitted to Show and Made by Mary Lou Zdan. Owned by Tasha & Jeff Zdan. Professionally Quilted by Barb VanTrump. Kit & pattern used to create quilt from Kanesville.


Black Magic. Original Design and Creation by Valeta Hensley of Flemington, Missouri.


A Year of Stars. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, and machine Quilted by Amy Roberson. Made from the one year Block of the Month paper piecing web site run by Carol Doak.


A Garden for the Baby. Submitted to Show, Made, and Machine Quilted by Judy Unrein. Owned by Baby Rohacik. Made from "Lollipop Ice" pattern by McKenna Regan.


Haunted Halloween. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, & Machine Quilted by Cindy Erickson.


Witches. Submitted to Show, Made, Owned, and Machine Quilted by DeAnne K. Mack. This was made from a Buggy Barn Design.

Detail shot from Witches.. Full quilt shown above.


Cabin in the Snow. Submitted to Show, Owned, & Machine Quilted by DeAnne K. Mack. Made from an unknown pattern.

Detail shot from Cabin in the Snow.. Full quilt shown above.

Detail shot from Cabin in the Snow.. Full quilt shown above.

June 15, 2009

1. Canoe Print, 2. Bedroom Prints, 3. Fish Print, 4. Bonsai, 5. Flowers, 6. Frame, 7. Alone at Last, 8. Buffett, 9. Little Dipper

I apologize for being absent recently. This weekend didn't go quite as anticipated and we somehow got a virus on the computer, so there was no blogging like I had planned. So, I'm working on the blog this evening and will hopefully be able to play catch-up with some of the blogs I've been meaning to post.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.
Little Jessie wants to play.

It's yucky out today. I wore my newly finished (last night) fun flowery skirt today because it was so sunny and cheerful this morning. Now my legs are cold. (Boo hoo!)

It's yucky out now; 59 degrees and pouring! That's not a nice June day.

If you're interested in seeing just how yucky it is here today, click here for Kansas City's Weather.

It looks like it will be stormy and rainy until at least Thursday sometime. Yuck!

Favorite Things

This week my favorite thing is fishing with Jason's family early on Saturday mornings. The photos above are from around 6 a.m.
1. Josh releasing one of his catches, 2. Jason reeling in, another. I think he had 6 fish on this morning excursion. 3. Jess and Fish, don't you love my hat? 4. Kevin's catch, the biggest of the day. 5. Jason rebating, 6. Boys rebating, 7. Jason and Fish, 8. It touched me, 9. Jason and Josh with fish. Don't you just love Jason's snack vest? Plenty of pockets for sandwiches and fruit snacks!

It all started with a dream...

and now it's completed!

This is the quilt I made for my friend's baby shower. The shower is tomorrow morning, so I finished this up just in time. I'm really happy with it for it being my first attempt at an applique like technique. There's definitely things I'll do differently next time, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

This is a photo of the full top. The finished size is about 3'-0"x4'-6".

The picture below is shot from right above the quilt looking up the tree trunk.

This next two are from right above the binding, looking up at the daffodils.


This is of the bird at the top of the quilt. The three birds in the quilt symbolize their family; mommy, daddy, and baby.

The flower shown here, a clementis, is probably my favorite part of the quilt. I love the amount of texture and delicacy that shows up in these.



The next two are of the leaves. Aren't the vein sort of things pretty neat?


This is the bird in the middle of the quilt.

I love how the tree bark wrinkled up when I washed it. I think it enhances the texture I implemented by quilting.


Don't you think the grass turned out nicely?

This is the baby bird at the bottom of the quilt. She's being watched over by mom and dad who are above. She's slightly smaller than the other two birds.

Here's a few photos of the back. I wanted all the thread on the back to be purple, so it would just look like a line drawing mirroring the front. Unfortunately, the stitches I used didn't necessarily follow my plan. I don't think it was a tension problem, but more of a stitch choice issue. This is one thing I'd definitely do differently next time around.




All in all I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. This is only the third time I've machine quilted anything and the first time I used my new machine to do it. It's the first time I've tried anything resembling applique. I think for being pretty new at these techniques, this is a pretty good accomplishment. I'm pretty happy with it and will definitely try something similar again. And just think... it all started with a dream I had.