Pretty Summer Table

And it is summer, glorious, deep-toned summer,
The very crown of nature's changing year
When all her surging life is at its full.
Summer by Amy Lowell

There a trillions of projects on my wish list, but our new deck needed pretty summer dressings. Bright, light, and summer. I followed the Bolt Neighborhood tutorial, and really this could be a table cloth or a summer picnic blanket. 

I need to take some pictures when the deck comes out of the shade, so it shows off how bright and pretty it is. I used some fat quarter bundle I found at Jo Ann's- it caught my eye and matched the blue solid I had already fallen in love with. The only place I really differed from the tutorial is that I opted to machine quilt instead of tie. 

Of course, my summer table needs more color than that, so a few purl bee citrus coasters and some gorgeous flowers from my mother-in-law (to celebrate husband and my 2nd anniversary) and I think we have the perfect summer table. 

lovely. 

Summer, sweet Summer

Summer started for me- and with it, crafting time.
I've started a quilt (based on the pattern "Fenced In" in Elizabeth Hartman's book).
I'm just about done with a summer time table cloth (based on this tutorial from Bolt Neighborhood... pictures to come).
But true summer crafting has come in the form of felt and coasters. These bright colors bring out the summer in me, which is great, since summer has taken it's time coming here.

Having something to keep my hands busy and to make me feel productive and crafty has been fantastic. Thank you, once again, to purl bee for the inspiration and the tutorial. So many pictures and posts to come of the projects that are all starting. Sweet summer.

it's way over due..

I need to get my sewing space cleaned up so I'm inspired to sew in there... but every time I venture in I just get exhausted. No more excuses though, I've got the crafting bug bad. This week, I clean.

Spring Time

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail.
-Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins

Thanks to Purl Bee for some spring time crafting...spring time bunnies

 Hey little hoppers! Sweet whiskers! Wait... what's that... you have...

TAILS!!

Even crafted bunnies like some time in the grass.

Ahhh, they like each other. I better be careful... or soon I'll have more bunnies.

These are going to be a project for the after school craft club. Plenty of silly bunners coming soon.

Nothing more wonderful than a gift

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  ~Martin Luther

Today I handed off a labor of joy to some good good friends. A quilt as a wedding present- something I always hoped to do, and I finally have done it! And it felt great!

Based entirely off the wedding (invites, ceremony, dresses, flowers) I managed to get it to them only nine months after their wedding. But hey, I'm new at this quilting thing, so I get to take that long to finish something.
Here it is, just the quilt top pieces, partly sewn and pre quilting and such:

Can you see the embroidery hoop in the lower right corner? That's because I embroidered flower traced from the into 8 squares:

Husband designed a square for their names and wedding date:

And the back matched the color of the bridesmaid dresses, with some leftover blocks thrown in:

All pictures were taken post washing- so the crinkly goodness shows extreme. I free motion quilted this sucker, which was a first for such a large project. And it was fun! Really fun! I know there are lots of mistakes, but none that take away from the overall awesome-ness of the project.
Finally- the binding. I found the perfect striped binding online and couldn't get over the cute factor:

Not a great picture to show off the true cuteness of the binding. Just the same, I stand by my statement of cuteness.

Handing this off to our friends was the MOST fun I have ever had giving a gift. There is nothing like a quilt. NOTHING! So fun to make, so fun to give, so fun to use. Nothin' better.

Fabric Love

I've discovered a line of fabric I MUST own all of. This has never happend to me before. But I must own this. I'm so worried I won't get my hands on every last piece of it before it disapears off the shelves.

Prospect Park by Kitty Yoshida. Oh sweet fabric, you will be mine.

soon

I have a huge quilt coming together... but now pictures because its a gift for good friends and I'm going for the surprise factor.
But soon. It's keeping me plenty busy. With the hubby out of town for a few nights, I'm expecting to make some major progress.