Quilty Thursday - Mini Swaps & Color Map

Hello Loves,

This is the last post of the month, the last Thursday.  Today I thought I'd share some projects/swaps I have participated in the last few months. It's been a long emotional time for me the last few months and family stresses to worry about.  So I have really missed being in my sewing room.  Not to mention the on-line classes I was trying to take.  It felt so good to be in my sewing room and rediscovering my creative mind.  Outside of church my sewing room in my haven, my peace, my chance to get away from it all.  Nothing feels so refreshing as letting creative juices just take over the mind and heart.  Afterwards you have something tangible to hold and give or show to others.  The best is when you see what you created with your own two hands.  Makes me giddy!

I have loved being in my on-line quilting club and we have done some fun swaps over the year.  I thought I would share February's with you.  The rules were to create something that you discovered about your partner that was inspirational or something that they might find inspirational.  We got to chat over the course of the month via email.  She was honest about her life and it was great knowing I was not the only person who was not perfect in the club.  Although mentally I know we all have our struggles and personal issues to deal with.  But sometimes reading the posts you kind of feel maybe you aren't as together as others.  Why do we do that, compare ourselves.  And it happens to all of us, even those of us who know better.  Sigh, women are so complicated, lol.  Okay, back on topic.

Our mini quilts had to be 12 inches and quilted; how it was quilted was up to us.  We were allowed to be as traditional or as out of the box as we wanted.  We could also embellish however we wanted.

This is what my swap partner sent to me:

 

This is the front and backsideIt's too cute, I love it!

This is the front and backside of what I sent my swap partner:

(shhhhh, I just love this too, it had issues, but it I still love it.  I hope she does too!)

My mini, "Twinkle Twinkle" is completely personal to her story she shared with me, hence certain things were done in parts, not in wholes.  I sent her a recap of her story as I heard it and why I did each thing I did with the mini.  I hope she is able to enjoy it.  Of course I had to send a few goodies with it as well.  I need to do more projects that including hand embroidery so I can practice curves.

I was so thrilled with my first paper pieced old style singer sewing machine.  I love it.  It's done with this linen type charm park from Andover that I received in my Quilty box in January.  (I can't wait to get started on some more of my Quilty Box projects.)

Now there is also a Facebook group of people who are in the club or are just fans of the owner of the club, we also do swaps there.  It just happens that month was also a mini, anywhere from 16 to 20 inches.  This one is based on my secret partner's favorite colors, from what I could find.  

Here is the swap, front and back, that my swap partner sent me along with some other goodies:

  

This is what I sent my partner for the FB group, plus some goodies:

Front - Design Your Own Quilt Block from She Can Sew.

Back

And last but not least I want to share my Color Map from Spoonflower!  The Color Map has nearly 1500 color chips AND the corresponding hexadecimal codes!  By the way those same codes correspond to RGB colors.  So you don't have to look at your monitor and think you have this great color then when you have the fabric printed, it's a completely different shade than you thought.  You know I am still working on that perfect purple rabbit fabric, lol.  Yes, still.  I will have that fabric and this Color Map will not only help me do that, but it will also help me in planning out my Color Play Fridays!  Woot Woot, win win!  I can't wait to experiment with the map.

I order the Color Map, a smaller version, which I'm going to give away to some lucky person, and a swatch book of the various types of fabric they have.  I was pleased with the package.  Previously I'd ordered a swatch of my logo design from them to see how it would look so I was expecting to like my package this time as well.

Alright lovies, that's it for today Quilty Thursday!  I know I'll post them on the last Thursday of every month, but I'm still debating if I want to do twice a month with them.

I hope you have a long and relaxing weekend.  Take care hon.

Love and Shimmies,

Color Play Friday - Dry Sparkling Company

Howdy Hon,

Welcome to another round of  Color Play Friday!

I got the cutest little fabric postcard in the mail from a SWAP I am participating in.   I have been staring at it on my cutting table all day today as I finished a SWAP item for my on-line quilt club.  So that has gotten me through the day and made me smile quite a bit, it's so cute.  It's from a fabric postcard swap with the theme of Woodland.  I'll share it on Quilty Thursday, next week.  In that post I will also share from my quilt club swap.  I'll show what I received and what I sent.  It's funny the first paper piecing I've ever done and I'm giving it away, no worries though.  I made sure to photograph it.

But let's talk color!  Color Play Friday was created by Lorinda over at Laurel, Poppy, and Pine and her good friend Trina over at In An Otter Life.  They opened it for others to join the fun every week and here I am today, A Color Play Friday Girl, teehee.  If you'd like to get more details on CPF and how you can join the fun please contact the ladies at colorplayfriday@gmail.com.  They'll give you all the details including next week's photo.

Today's picture belongs to Trina and was taken at the Dry Sparkling Company in Seattle, Washington.  It looks very interesting.  I would love to hear how it went and did she get to taste anything.  There are so many new places added to my travel wish list thanks to Color Play Friday.

Let's take a look shall we.

Like to know about these awesome fabrics, see below:

Fairy Dreamland in Pink

Flower Fairies Fabric Collection

Michael Miller Fabrics

Kelp Forest in Blue

Mendo Collection by Heather Ross

Windham Fabrics

Text in Lime

L's Modern Basics Collection 

Lecien

The Wanderer in Raspberry

Chipper Collection by Tula Pink

FreeSpirit Fabrics

Butterflies in Grape Fizz

Butterflies Collection by Lizzy House

Andover Fabrics

Arrows in Coin

Arrow Flight Collection

Michael Miller Fabrics

I used Moda Fabrics Palette Builder 2.1 Powered by Playcrafts to decide on my color palette for the photos.  The builder gives me a selection of Moda Bella Solids, Aurifil Threads and Hex Values for each of the photos.   I then use those selections to search for my fabric bundles.  I like finding "different" styles of fabrics.  Yes, sometimes wild, but hey, that's the beauty of loving fabric!  I'll also be using their hashtag #modapalettebuilder, per their request.  It's the least I can do to say thank you for providing a great tool.  OH, that reminds me - on Quilty Thursday I'll also share the amazing Color Map I got from SpoonFlower.  Yes, I finally got to open it and take a good long look!

There you have it hon!  Now please go check out the other ladies who are playing this week.  It's exciting to see the same picture from different perspectives.  Don't forget if you would like to join us (that would be so awesome!) you can contact Lorinda and Trina @ colorplayfriday@gmail.com for all the details and next week's photo.

This week's players for ColorPlayFriday are:  

             Steph @ Shimmy and More (thank you so much for stopping by) 

                     Lorinda @ Laurel, Poppy, and Pine

                               Trina @ In An Otter Life

                                         Bethany @ Sew Not Perfect

                                                      Chrissy  @ Love Hazel Honey

                                                                                                                               Jennifer @ That's Sew Creative

                                                                                  Sarah S. @ 123 Quilt 
                                                                                                                         

You can also do a social media check for our palettes by using the hashtag #ColorPlayFriday.  You can check out my previous Color Play Friday posts here!


Love and Shimmies,

Wrap-It Wednesday

Howdy Hon,

Welcome to my little inspiration for those of us who love or are interested in wrapping our hair.  Whatever you reason, religion, fashion or just for fun.  This is where I share some of my results of just playing around with my scarves and pins until I find something that I like.   I hope you enjoy this little episode and I hope you can find inspiration in this series of posts.  

Since it's more about inspiring others to just play with their scarves I won't post a tutorial.  However, if you see a look that you would like to recreate just post on that post and I'll be happy to do a short tutorial showing you how I accomplished that look.

This beautiful geometric hijab is from Halimah Hijabs.  Her costumer service skills are excellent and the quality of her scarves are great.  I have not any problems with fading  or bleeding onto other items in the wash.  And the weight is great, especially when mixing them with an already heavy pashmina.    It was out of my comfort zone to order such a bold hijab for wrapping.  Did you notice the pop of lime green in some of the triangles and did I mentioned it had little tassels on the edges, LIME GREEN.  It was so much fun to wear this one!  Generally I had only used solid colors and tichels for wrapping.  I decided to step out there and try some some of the gorgeous scarves that were flashing across my screen.  Anddddd, I had a coupon code for Halimah Hijabs, courtesy of Nadira037 (I did a review on her sheet maxi skirt, if you haven't seen it look it up under Marvelous Monday).  So I ordered several hijabs.  I can't express to you how much I have enjoyed playing with my solids AND designed scarves, together.  This particular look was even more out of my comfort zone because the skirt was chevron and the scarf was geometric, with the little lime green tassels.

I felt so free and sassy that day, mixing patterns.  So here is this week's favorite:

There you have it.  Let me know what you think.  See you in the next post.

Love and Shimmies, 

Mystery Meat Monday

Hello Hon,

Here it is again, MONDAY!  A new day to begin a new week!  Another chance to make, life happen to make a difference, step out there on faith and make it happen.  Alright you pumped up yet?  I did that for me as well as for you!  Tee-hee you're welcome!

Last week was long, and exciting.  I got to teach a short Zumba(r) section for the fitness part of our Relief Society program at church.  I attended an awesome Jam Session and learn 4 good choreographys that I can use in my Zumba(r) Toning class.  I had an AWESOME dinner with my dear friend Shelley and two new friends Christa and Alisha, all of whom are Zumba(r) Instructors.  We laughed and ate, got to know each other better, made plans to meet up again, and talked shop!  It was wonderful.

So along the lines of staying healthy and practicing what I preach, today's recipes is a guilt free way to have a great breakfast.  It's really sweet and flavorful, but without sugar (did you know your brain responds to sugar the same way it responds to cocaine?!).  I was a big sugar person, I put it in any dish that I could get away with.  I have not kicked the habit completely, but I have cut down the use of it tremendously.  I don't put it in as many foods, only brown sugar, here and there and occasionally I'll use some white sugar.  Now I used Agave or honey for recipes and to sweet my herbal teas.

This breakfast recipe is so yummy, even my guys are enjoying it.  We have been doing it for months now.  If you follow me on social media your seen me stock our fridge with a week's work of this and our new lunch idea too.  So, are you ready to find out what it is?

Overnight Oatmeal!  Wait, don't make that face.  When I first heard of it and did some research I thought, "I don't even like my oatmeal to get room temperature and they want me to eat something that has sat overnight.  And it's cold?!   OH No no no!"  However, for the sake of doing something to increase our healthy eating habits I had to give it a try.  We rarely ate breakfast around here, even in high school I was never really a breakfast person.  Yet we were all taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  And since I was teaching ZT every week now, I had to make sure I had calories and energy to burn.  Plus now I have set a schedule to practice all my other specialties since I plan to use them with a new homeschool co-op, as well as apply at one or two places for classes, add back bellydance and start back teaching Basics, add yoga, plus walking and making FitBit challenges, so this girl really needs to start the day off healthy and energized.  So here you go hon, all the details.  Please don't dismiss it without giving it a try.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

Mystery Meat Monday:  Overnight Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/2 cup "Old Fashioned Oats"  (not steel cut, not 5 or 1 minute, must be Old Fashioned)
1/2 cup Milk of your choice (I am going to be switching to Almond milk for myself, honey refuses anything but whole milk)
1/2 cup  Greek Yogurt [or less, we found that we prefer about 2 1/2-3 tablespoons to be sufficient]  (I used Honey Vanilla, but you can use whatever flavor or plain;  I don't know about regular yogurt, but you can try it)
1 teaspoon Chia Seeds
1/2 banana, smashed
Chopped Fruit of your choice (I used frozen so I'd always have some on hand, but I'm sure fresh would be suitable as well)
1-1 1/2 Squeezes of the Honey Bear
Cinnamon

You will also need 8 oz. mason jars


Directions:

Layer the ingredients in the mason jar (or whatever has a tight seal really) in the order listed -

1. Old fashioned oats 

   

   Sorry, somehow we missed me measuring and pouring in this step.

   
   
2. Milk  
   
   
   
   
3. Greek Yogurt  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Chia Seeds  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Smashed Banana  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Fruit (if using frozen fruit like us, you should take it out of the freezer and let sit on the counter about 10 minutes BEFORE you start prepping.  this will allow it to soften [not thaw out] enough for you to cut them into smaller chunks)  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Cut the fruit into pieces that are small enough to top your oatmeal mix in the jar and give you a nice pop of fruit to swirl throughout you oatmeal after it has set overnight.  I take 2 -3 pieces of frozen fruit and cut them into little chunks

         7. Honey

I was distracted talking to my hubby so I mix up the order of the
Cinnamon and Honey.  But, it's okay it does not make or break
the meal.  I find that I have been doing it both ways, just depends
on how I feel that day.

         8. Sprinkle with Cinnamon

         9. Place inner lid followed by the outer ring to close your yummy breakfast up and place the jar in
        in the refreigerator for a long nights slumber (overnight)

Since I take everyone's order for specific flavors I mark the jars.
Red checkerboard mom's favorite color, Blue Camouflage the
teenag boy's favorite color, and Green with Owls hubby's
favorite, rather most liked color.   

        10. In the morning, get up, open the jar of deliciousness, mix it well.  Pull everything up and mix together and ENJOY!   Or, you can do like my husband and pop in microwave for 30 seconds (mind you his has been sitting in his lunch bag for an hour after he gets to work).  You don't want to go straight from the fridge to the microwave.  Know how I know that?!  Life experiences, sigh.  He then simple eats it layer by layer.  Yes, he does not mix it all together.  He said, "This way I get to enjoy each level of yumminess one flavor at a time for a pop of surprise to the taste buds."

Um, okay?  Whatever works for you honey.  As long as he enjoys it and requests it, I don't care how he eats it.  I just know he is eating a good healthy breakfast and not a handful of dark chocolate chips, you know the ones the rest of us use to bake cookies with.   Even the teenage boy likes these.

I definitely call this recipe a HIT for family goodness and good health.  I was surprisingly thrilled with the results.  Once you tweak the recipe to what you like you can start mixing fruits together.  Listed below are some of our favorites:

Singe Fruits

• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Pineapples
• Mangoes
• Blueberries
• Blackberries (be aware that the seeds can drive you mad sometimes)

Combination of Fruits

• Peaches with Strawberries
• Pineapples with Mangoes
• Peaches with Blackberries
• Basically Peaches with anything
• Berry Mix
• Apple Butter
• Peanut Butter

The options are endless, whatever you like try it out.  Right now I am good with what I have listed.  But as time goes on I'll definitely be experimenting with more items.  I have felt so much better after having one of these for breakfast.  They really fill you up and give you that boost to get the day rolling.

Thanks for checking in, Stop by for next week's Wrap-It-Wednesday and of course, Color Play Friday.

Love and Shimmies,