More quilting bee blocks

I love my quilting bee. Don't i say that every month? I love the challenges that the "homework" presents and I love using my brain to make things I wasn't going to make otherwise.
Last night's task was to help Melissa make her pretty red and aqua baby quilt for her new baby. She specified that we should make 2 squares, both 14" and one of them needed to have circles. The other could be a favorite of ours...
Such wide open directions! I thought and thought. Because I've wanted to make some of those freezer paper circles that I've seen (but not attempted yet)... But I've also had these two raw edge circle patterns that I wanted to try... So in the end, I improvised. I practiced with my funny green and yellow throwaway fabrics and made a weird (but i like it) square with raw edge bubbles over a log-cabin-esque type background. Okay, but not quite tight enough for me to send out. So I just went for it. And made up this weird spectrum with a spinning wheel on it. I actually really like it. The end result is quite modern (not very "me", but I may want to pursue the idea further as a creative project, because a whole quilt of this would be cool)
I'd gotten an email from Melissa earlier in the week saying she was concerned that she'd not sent us enough fabric for our squares, and after my spectrum spinner square, well... There wasn't much left. When faced with that, i decided to make a Wonky Square for my other block because it's so much fun to make and also the best use of random scraps I know.

Collage prints

I've found a place to get museum quality giclee prints of my collages onto canvas. Up to now, I'd simply ordered small prints, and been pleased with the quality, but today I received 4 big canvases that I'd been waiting for. Three of these pictured are 20"x24" - and the other is something like 16"x20".
I've been asked to show my artwork as a featured artist in a one-night showcase at a gallery in September (the 18th, North Hollywood if you're interested!) so I used the occasion as an excuse to order these bigger prints of my collages.
It's kind of weird to make something so permanent from something that is as temporal as my junk mail collages. There's not much that's archival when it comes to junk mail and glue sticks, and I'm still working through the irony.

In the meantime, I'm considering making the giclee prints available in time to order for Christmas gifts. Any of my collages would be possibilities. I'm considering doing limited edition runs. Which specific collage would you consider owning?

Victory's Quilt

Another quilt I finished last week. This one was for my sister and is the first big (non-baby) sized quilt I've been willing to part with yet. The benefit of being my sister is that she gets the first of everything.

I bought the fabric in January at that craft and hobby show I attended because it screamed "your sister!" to me. And it is really her colors... 

In fact, as I was making it, I learned that I didn't have enough fabric in the two "layer cakes" I'd bought to make the quilt, and though I supplemented with some of my own favorites that I keep on hand here, there still wasn't enough. Until my sister, pregnant with her first boy (after 3 girls) asked me to make a new baby sling for her with some fabric she bought. There just happened to be exactly enough scraps from her sling to fit into this perfectly coordinating quilt and to complete it. So fun!

Oh, and another fun thing to note is that there wasn't enough of anything to use for the binding. So the stash got a little raid and an old patterned satin got used (bias tape makers rock). That turned out really great and I think there will be more satin bindings in my future.

She got this quilt at her baby shower on Sunday - which happened to also be her birthday...

Picnic blanket therapy

Yesterday was a tough one. We "almost" got to pick up an abandoned newborn at the hospital and the high and low emotions that we rode between the first call and the final one which said, "nope, the hospital's paperwork got messed up, we are so sorry, not your baby this time" - well, it's almost inexplicable.

I texted J after the final news... "I'll be sewing tonight" ... And this is what I used to process my confusion and clear my head...

These were a bunch of fabrics given to me by my mother in law and my hubby's two grandmothers (excluding the back) many years ago. I made the 5x5 grid as a practice piece when i was learning to sew and dreaming about quilting years ago and recently found it, neglected. I pieced it into this 60x60 picnic quilt with the other vintage fabrics and used the whole project as "stippling practice." it had been sitting, pieced and pinned until now, waiting for the next step. Last night I cranked it out and sewed and sewed... I finished the self-binding today just as I learned some great news... My much blogged about pal, Christy, gave birth to Cade around midnight last night. (remember his quilt?)
Happy news, sewing, prayer and time are all some of my greatest, brightest ways to cope with this crazy crazy ride.

An unexpected visitor

Remember my nesting pal that has already made it here on the blog a few weeks ago? J and I came home on Saturday and found him IN my office. (which has a door that is never opened, we've got no idea how or when he came into the house)
I was a total mess considering i'm terrified of birds... And it took us a solid half hour to get him outside. He ended up fine, made it back out, but needless to say - I'm still scratching my head.

Earrings on Etsy

If you've known me or my creations for a while, you know that I started off on my own many years ago when I left my textile design job to make handmade jewelry. It was a lot of fun, but a little hard on my hands to be wrapping wire for 8 hours a day.  I still have all my supplies, though, and lots of jewelry that I keep finding stashed places that I simply stopped putting out at sales, etc.

Today I've listed a few pairs of earrings on my etsy store - I used to sell these for $22-$30 each, but now I just want them out of the boxes and onto people.... So they are all less than $20.  Depending on how these sell, I might be coaxed to put some of my clearance necklaces onto etsy as well.  We shall see.

And I also have a sale on my profile charms, too... They're only $10 (because I am crazy like that) just for a week. snatch them up.... supplies are limited.

I have the coolest friends - Rachel, the Artistic Doctor

So I've written about my pal Amy on this blog a lot.  Last summer we worked a ton on fun projects for her wedding. One of the fun side effects of all that work was becoming friends with Amy's super great sisters.

Rachel (pictured here with me as we did the flowers for Amy's wedding) is not only a new doctor, but a super artistic and creative gal herself. She's multi-talented and SO fun to be with. One day, she even sent this awesome drawing in the mail to us!

This week she sent me these pictures of this awesome laptop bag that she made with scraps from my scrap bins.

 I was amazingly impressed,  and THEN when I read further, I realized she made this by hand! She doesn't have a sewing machine! Wow, Rachel, you rock. Great job!

another cutie in a onesie

I made this onesie for my friend a long time ago... now her baby is big enough to fit it!
super cute!

Red Dot Boutique - you've got my number.

My neighbor calls it the "Red Dot Boutique" - but let's face it, we all love Target, right?
A few weeks ago when I went in (mind you I was already aware of my attraction to their Liberty of London collections), there was a new collection right at the entrance to the store that caught my eye.
  It's called the Stephen Burrows Collection and it's inspired by the art of Harlem. How fun is that? Target, must you continue to entice me? (answer: yes.... apparently, they've got me pegged.)

I may not be a mod-type gal in my decor (even though I spent years in love with mid-century modern design as a textile designer in the Interior Design industry), but you can bet I'll wear it...

I bought this dress and the shirt below (looks cuter on than in this pic, trust me). I've worn them both already and been asked both times if I'd made them... I think they scream "LIBBY!"... but I won't be offended if you buy them too... After all, it is the "red dot boutique".

Ticker-Tape quilt for baby Maile

Those of you who see my flickr pics will know that this was done a little while ago... I didn't want to post about it until my friend who it was for actually received it. She's got it now.

 This is a ticker-tape style quilt that I made for a friend's new baby. The fabrics in it have a lot of sentiment, there are pieces that are new and vintage, pieces that she and I shopped for together, pieces from J's grandmothers, pieces from AJ's one receiving blanket that I held onto...  There are pieces from all over the world and many of them have deep meanings to both my friend and I.  I had so much fun making this quilt, I am sure that there are more ticker-tape style quilts in my future... it's a fast and fun way to quilt. Plus, the raw edges are really... well... edgy.

I sent this quilt with a note for my friend telling her that this quilt is not a fussy quilt. I am hoping that it gets stained, used and loved.  (I guess I hope that for all my quilts.)