Mimi's birthday gift

I've been dying to give this gift to Mimi. Today was her 7th birthday, but I have had this Hello Kitty Janome sewing machine (it's a legit machine!) for her for months.
You can see how excited I was to give it to her. She is super excited and also a little bit scared in a healthy way... she totally realizes this is serious. You can see that on her face too.
This pic says it all, doesn't it?

From Mimi's bday

Catching up on crafting.

After my kitchen remodel, the beginning of school, having Princess move in, and making my "voice" quilt, barfy kids.... I'm so behind on so many projects... Including Mimi's birthday party prep which is this Saturday. (oh did the wheels fall off the wagon there... Some invites never even made it out. Sigh)
Anyhow, I'm trying to catch up and today's chance involved making yarn Rapunzel braids (in every hair color!) while watching tball practice at the park.

Project Modern "Find Your Voice" challenge COMPLETED!

Wow. I finished. Here is my entry for the "find your voice" Project Modern Challenge. It took a little over a week and came so naturally to me, the whole thing felt right. Granted, there were months of sketches (they looked nothing like this) and nights and days spent with teachers and friends teaching me new techniques. (Hello, no straight lines, no rulers, quilting based on the composition...)
But when it came down to making this, no sewing has ever been more of a good fit. There were spontaneous decisions to be made the entire time (LOVE THAT).. and though it is a competition I am submitting it for, the winning is nit the point. I've been quilting for almost 3 years now. The entire time, I've been looking to find my personal "voice.". When I learned the purpose of this challenge, I knew I had to join the ranks and embrace the deadline as an impetus to search harder to find my style and especially to bridge the gap (finally) between my sewing and my artwork.
I'm so happy. If you look at the collage I used for inspiration, you can see, I've been able to combine my own artwork along with the passion I have for the quilts of Gee's Bend... And found a new groove.
Hooray!

WIP - project modern challenge. Almost done!

So between juggling 4 kids, a new school schedule, 3 birthday parties a weekend and one of our own to plan this coming weekend... I'm dealing with lots of foster stuff (each new placement requires extra, weekly social worker visits and inspections, and dr appts...). That should explain a little why I haven't written much of interest this past week.
But I LOVE deadlines. And my self-imposed deadline of having an entry to submit on Sept 30 for the Project Modern Challenge "FIND YOUR VOICE" contest has been so good for me.
To be honest, this quilt has only taken me about a week of sewing at night plus one full 5-hour LAMQG "weekend sew" day. Jay has been watching it come together, saying "this has come so naturally for you. It's hardly taken any time at all". He's right. And it's also been fun.
My art professor last semester told me that you know you've got your groove when you can look at a finished project and envision making another 100 in it's wake. And I'm suddenly bursting with composition ideas... Something I've NEVER had before.
It wasn't winning that motivated me to enter this competition... But the push it would be to do something I've been trying to do all along. And i truly believe i accomplished my goal. Which thrills me to no end.
So now all that is left is the binding. Three days of hand sewing edges and I'll get to show you the final product.

Bear clothes

Princess informed me that her bear, Lisa, was cold. So all work had to stop while we made Lisa a sweater dress and scarf today. I'm amazed that a bear would be cold in 80degree weather, but maybe her fur is only decorative.

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More scrap hairbows

My niece, Lanie, modeling her scrap hairbows that she and her mom made for her soccer team friends.

WIP - quilt top done!!!

Here it is! It may end up with another few inches down the side to make it a proper twin size quilt, but for the most part... It's done.
:)
Lots to do in 10 days though. (especially with 4 kids and a number of nighttime events to deal with, which cut into my only hours to sew) Deadline is sept 30... Eeeeek!

WIP - project modern

Oh wow, after this past month, I wondered if I'd ever get this far on Project Modern. But now that I've gotten this far, I know I will finish! Today was the weekend sew for LAMQG and I arrived at 12:15 and stayed until the end 5 hours later. I arrived with 4 blocks made and left with almost an entire quilt top completed. It was so relaxing and wonderful to be with friends, doing what I love most. J was a champ at home for 5 hours with 4 kids (and a neighbor, too!)...
As I was speaking to other women there, i was relating to them how composition can really be an issue for me. I love making small blocks, but what do I do with them? How can I put them together in a fresh way?
Instead of trying to make them fit together today, I just tried to make one block bigger and bigger until it swallowed the others - and suddenly, it was a cohesive piece...
My LAMQG pals were chock full of color and quilting ideas. I love working in a group. In a way it sometimes seems like there would be a weird stage fright that might hinder creative process, but I find after 15 years of studio art classes, the opposite occurs... I relax, get talking and just let go in a way I never can do when I'm alone.
Today was great. Can't wait to show you more.

Gifted vintage quilt for Nicole

My first hand-quilted quilt. I gave it to my dear friend and neighbor, Nicole, today. A few months ago she'd given me a big bundle of scraps and vintage pieces she had bought in Montana, but had never found a use for. I wanted to find the use for her and made this quilt top in one night. Then I spent the next 4 months quilting it for her by hand.

I had hoped to give it to her in time for summer picnics with her family, but we live in SoCal... Fall is a good picnic time too, right?