Created my own printable triangle template!

I am currently working on a table runner for a wedding gift (Will show finished project hopefully this Saturday). I have been super busy and not been able to go to my local quilt store. Also, I'm pretty tight on money. As a designer I have Adobe Illustrator at my disposal so I calculated my own triangle block that I can print and then sew my blocks.

If you would like to download and use it for yourself, please go to my online store on Etsy.

I plan on making more printable triangles for 8", 6", 5", 3",  and 2" blocks soon.

Has it been 3 years?

Oh dear. I have seriously neglected my creative blog. But let me catch you up to what has been happening (in bullet points):

• Got caught up in a whirlwind of remodeling of my condo in Illinois and getting it rented out
• Moved back to my home state of Northern Virginia in 2013
• Got laid off in June 2014 while working remotely for my company
• Got a new job August 2014 and had to move again twice 
• first time because my new apartment had a serious toxic mold problem
• second time because the apartment had a serious roach infestation
• September 2014 to present has just been high paced involving a lot of downsizing of clutter and reorganizing my life

After I went through reorganizing my quilting projects and knitting/crochet projects, I finally decided to do nothing but finish UFOs (unfinished objects) that I either forgot I had or just never got around finishing.

I will be posting the finished objects that I have so far sometime this week.

Till then, have a great day!

Emergency Quilted Table Runner for my sister's birthday

My sister's birthday is this Monday and she's been hinting a long time now that she wants a quilt. I don't have a ton of time these day being self-employed. I just remembered I hadn't blogged in quite a while but I didn't realize how time flies. Haven't done much in creativity of late but I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing and I 'started' finishing up some quilts that have been waiting a long time to be quilted. I finally finished quilting Fred's little doggy blanket and am binding it right now.

Then I came across a bunch of purple fat quarters that I can't remember what I was going to do with them so I decided to pull out the AccuQuilt Go! machine and create a table runner for my sister's birthday present. I hate cutting so the die cutter helped cut quickly and focus all my time on sewing. Table runners are easy and can get put together fast! Not going to do anything fancy in terms of a quilt design since her birthday is coming up in a few days...Why I wait til the last minute is beyond me. Hopefully I can stall and make her happy until I can actually find time to finish the quilt I started a while back (she doesn't know about it yet).

I have to say, I forgot the satisfaction a person gets when a quilt top gets done!

Some Progress

Ah, the late nights knitting frantically while watching videos to keep me awake...

Yarn and fabric everywhere...

Looks like Christmas :)

Here's the baby hat I'm halfway done with and the adorable gift box the kit came in. This will make wrapping a snap.

Still working on the Navy Ruffle Scarf...

Ornaments...still waiting to get done

I am reminded of how  much I have and the joy I have in giving. It's just the process of getting the gifts done that forever taunt me.

And yes, I realize I haven't any pictures of the ruffle scarf or the ornaments...come back a bit later for those.

Holiday crafting overload...

Need I say more?

Here's a list of things I've done:

• Red ruffle scarf
• 2 Personalized felt ornaments

In progress:

• Navy blue ruffle scarf
• New born baby cap
• 1 personalized felt ornament
• 1 baby blanket

Then there's the "OMG I have to start these!":

• 3 Silk screened quotes on linen
• 4 personalized felt ornaments
• I don't know how many Christmas cards

I think several people will be getting their gifts a bit late this year. The ironic thing is I started in October, but business has been so good, I have had to put the crafting on the side and now I'm playing catch up. Last year business was slow, but there must be something in the air because now I can't remember when I've had a good solid 3 hours to work on the crafts. 

Last night would have been perfect, but I had forgotten to get goody bags for everyone in my small group bible study. So I ended up filling 18 goody bags which took about 2 1/2 hours to finish. I am reminded of this devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries on "An Overloaded Life", December 7, 2011. I think I really too much on this year and need to evaluate whether feeling overloaded is really worth it. This devotional really showed how I'm depriving myself and my family of God's blessings in life right now. Don't forget to give crazy love to your family this Christmas.

Stash, stash and more stash

So as an avid knitter, spinner and quilter, I need to reduce my stash. I will be adding some of my yarn and fabrics in my etsy store. Stay tuned...

Hello Winter?

Well, here's a pic with all the caps that I contributed to the cemo cap drive for Breast Cancer Awareness month with the exception of the green one. I am not good at remembering to take pictures.

On the scarf that I was knitting up for my sister's birthday, I will blocking tonight and will upload a picture as soon as it is blocked up.

I took a queue from the Yarn Harlot and decided to take inventory of all my yarn and unfinished objects (all started with good intentions). I am going to create kits for myself with a copy of the patterns that I will go with the yarn. I think organization is the key in figuring out what you have, what you can donate, sell, etc. That also gave me the idea to go through my sewing / quilting projects that still need to get finished or started. I will do inventory on all my fabric, set up kits and schedule them for completion or sell kits on my etsy site (which still needs inventory).

Why this sudden desire to sweep through everything? I need to get a sense of what I have so I don't go out and purchase more unless it's a necessity. All this to be a responsible steward of the resources the good Lord has put in my care to manage. Our church is doing a campaign to help members of our church who are really in desperate times and it make me appreciate all that I have already. I love giving because the gift of giving far out weighs receiving.

I hope anyone who reads this blog takes inventory of all that you have instead of being sad of what you don't have or want. I think you'll find you have a lot to be thankful for.