Make It Monday: Mini Quilt Swap

Good Evening Hon,

Technically, yes I know, Monday is gone.  But that is still the reason for this post, I made something and that's what I'm sharing.  Rather than coming up with a different name because it's a different day, I'll continue with what it should be, keep it simply, you know.  Life is already complicated enough, right?!

For our swap in my on-line quilting club (Crafty Gemini Quilting Club) we had to do mini quilts for the month of January.  The theme for the month was "challenge".  I decided I would challenge myself by using my swap partner's favorite colors only.  No matter what they were or how many there were.  Then I challenged myself to do a block I had never done, no traditional blocks.  And lastly, I challenge myself to do bit of free motion quilting (FMQ).

Although it's a design your own mini quilt, I got it from Sew Can She, it was a tutorial none the less.  Granted in the end you have the option of how to put the block together.  I decide to do 4 of these blocks and put them together to make a mini quilt.   Now, I meant to do each block differently (she covers that in the tutorial too).  However, I had Netflix playing in the "background" while trying to catch up on Hawaii 5-0 (the new one).  Wellllll, in my distraction, I simply made all the blocks the same and then sewed them all together.  Sigh,  well I was not going back at that point.  

It turned out great because I wanted my mini quilt to be somewhere around 18 inches.  I think it had to be between 15 - 20 inches.  Once they were incorrectly sewn together I thought of ripping it out and redoing.  But that was a task I was not prepared to take on so late in the game.  Because my son had a procedure to remove all 4 of his wisdom teeth and then I was down with migraines the following week, I was already late getting this project in the mail.  So I evened up my mini quilt, right at 18 inches, perfect.   To frame each original sqare I used part of  of a jelly roll.  I took some other strips from that roll and bound them together with my new binding gadget and made the binding for the quilt.  I wasn't sure how it was going to work because I ended up sewing 3 different strips together.  Although I tried to pick all the darker tones I was still worried about how it would look.  I machine stitched the binding this time and I hated it.  I am definitely a sew on with the machine and then bind the rest by hand type of girl.  But, it was done.  The next day I got that bad boy in the mail, priority 2-day, to my swap partner.

Notice my failure to mention the FMQ, that's because that is what is was! Urgh, it's too painful to talk about I hope she can still stand to look at it.  I used to be good enough at it to write my own name.  Back to the drawing board!  I hope she can find some use for it.  Here it is in all it's glory, lol:

The half-square triangles and bars can be placed in 
different ways around the main square.

This is the back of the mini quilt.

This is her mini quilt to me using my favorite colors, she also made me two headbands for fun! 

Mini quilt with the headbands.

Front 

Backing

There you have it loves.  

Have a great week and go check out that block.  I have a suspicion that everyone I know is going to be receiving a mini quilt.  

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Love and Shimmies, 

Color Play Friday - Tulip Festival

Howdy Hon,

Can I just say I am soooo glad to see the weekend!  I’m excited to have the opportunity to share in another segment of  Color Play Friday with some other great ladies.  It was nice to search for fabric considering I was somewhat down about fabric.  It turns out that my local Hancock’s is one of the stores that will be closing.  Bwaaaaaaaaa.  They are so close to me, spatially and emotionally, LOL.  I could always drop in on my way home and do a little pick-me-up browsing, okay, okay, buying.  I feel sad for all the employees I have come to appreciate and enjoy talking to on a regular basis.  I pray they are all able to find employment elsewhere with a minimum amount of time lapse.   Today was the first day of the closing sale.  I’m sorry to say it was not much of sale, considering the reason for the sale.  But I suppose that will change as it gets closer to having to exit the building. 

For some odd reason as I was reviewing purple fabrics it got stuck in my mind that I HAD to have purple rabbit fabric, but the right shade of purple and the right look for the rabbit.  I didn’t know what that was, but  I knew it wasn’t any of the options I’d come across already.  But once I was convinced that I had to have that purple fabric with rabbits there was no stopping me.  Not only did I HAVE to have rabbits on the fabric, it HAD to be the RIGHT shade of purple.  Sigh, after hours (I kid you not!  Yeah,bad time management there) I was on the verge of tears of frustration and I was highly disappointed.  Because I was stuck on finding the RIGHT shade of purple and the RIGHT rabbit look, I did extensive searches.  Near the end, I followed my last search which lead me to Spoonflower.  I thought surely if no commercial place had created the fabric I wanted then an individual must have.  Right?  

NO, lots of great purple rabbit fabric, but still not THE one I was searching for.  After another hour or so of searching on Spoonflower I went back to my original post for the purple fabric.  I must say I was a tad bit broken hearted.  Now my life’s mission is to design the RIGHT shade of purple fabric with the RIGHT bunny look before the year is out!  I WILL HAVE MY PURPLE BUNNY FABRIC.  I WILL! What? Who, me?  Obsessive, of course not.  Why would you think that?

  

Anywhooo, during my last search I did find the RIGHT fabric to express how I felt at the end of my purple bunny fabric search.

 This is a Furoshiki Japanese fabric, it’s Sharaku's 'The Actor' Motif.  And yes, it is cotton.  Only I was not acting.  By the way, I LOVE this eBay store.

Now that I've given you my own little connection with the this week's photo how about I let you check it out, along with my palette and fabric bundle!

I present to you my  Color Play Friday - Tulip Festival:

Here's all the information on the fabrics in my bundle, feel free go shopping, shhhhh I won't tell! 

Bicycles A/O Gray Metallic

Buttercream™ Cosette Collection

Floral Homestead Fabric with a Blue Background

By Juliana Horner

For Fabric Traditions

Merlot

Hoffman 1895 Hand Dyed Watercolors Bali Batik

Tamarack Trees Pine

Reclaimed West Collection by Judy Niemeyer's

For Timeless Treasures

Night Sky Butterfly - Navy

Moonlit Collection by Rashida Coleman-Hale

For Cotton & Steel

AllOver Peppers

By Jo-Ann Stores

( I warned you last week that I was the odd ball that could not behave when it comes to

Color Play Friday's.  I simple could not resist this print! )

I also could not resist throwing in a backing fabric this week (I do that from time to time).  I thought this would be a too precious as a backing fabric for this project bundle:

Moon Viewing Rabbit Circles 

Furoshiki Japanese Fabric

Yep, another Japanese fabric, which has rabbits.  Not purple, but rabbits.  It's also 100% cotton, and is perfectly okay to use with quilting.  Yeah!  Looks like it’s the only rabbit I am going to get in print this week. 

So there you have it my dear, the real life story of my Color Play Friday experience for this week.  If you'd like to participate in Color Play Friday, you can visit In An Otter Life or Laurel, Poppy and Pine for the rules, their contact information, and next week's photo.  If you are on Instagram you can search for o weekly palettes by using the hashtag “#ColorPlayFriday”. 

Here is a list of all the participants for this week so please head on over and check out their palettes/bundles for this week.  I love seeing how we can all be so different in our choices and sometimes so alike.  But it’s fun because we all interpret the feel of the pictures based on our own life experiences.  In the end, isn’t that really how we quilt.  We all know some of the same blocks yet our different life experiences make our palettes and fabric choices have different tones.  I love that about quilting and dancing!

Steph @ Shimmy and More 

(you're here now!)

Trina @ In An Otter LIfe

Lorinda @ Laurel, Poppy, and Pine

Mindy @ Quilting Mayhem

Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts

Bethany @ Sew Not Perfect

If you'd like to see my previous palettes/bundles you can check them out here on this tab.  Please do join us back here next week for another episode.

FYI:  Here is the fabulous recipe I spoke about last week.  No picture tutorial this time, because it’s simply and quick.  Like I said, this recipe has NEVER failed at any event and always gets compliments. 

Red Velvet Cake Cookies:

Ingredients:

Cake Mix (any flavor you like really, BUT Devil Food Cake is best as is Red Velvet)

8 oz. Cream Cheese

1 Stick of Butter

1 Egg

1 teaspoon of Vanilla

Powder Sugar

1. Blend together the cream cheese and butter first (I have learned that it’s much easier if you let them sit on the counter top for an hour or so to soften).
2. Then add the cake mix, egg and vanilla.
3. Mix well and refrigerate mix until it is firm (approximately 2 hours).
4. Form into balls and roll in powder sugar.
5. Bake on the top rack of the oven @350 for approximately 10 minutes.
6. I have also learned, when you take them out of the oven let the pain sit for 5 minutes.  Then place the cookies on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
7. I would also advise that you take this opportunity to eat a couple now, because that’s the only chance that you, the well deserved cook, will have to get some. 

For Valentine’s Day you can put a little dent in the top and gently squeeze the bottom to encourage it to take on a heart shape.  I’d love to see pictures if you try it!

Have a great weekend and happy Valentine’s Day!

Love and shimmies,

10" Slicer Periscope Replay

Check out @StephsgotitD's Tweet: https://twitter.com/StephsgotitD/status/697515406567854080?s=09

Color Play Friday - Hydrangea

Howdy Hon,

This has been a sickie two weeks!  After getting all four of the boys wisdom teeth pulled last week, I spent the better part of this week with migraines.  Finally the fog is starting to lift and I am joining the real world again.  And what a perfect day to do it on, cOLOR pLAY fRIDAY.  Yep, I'll feeling a little wacky, blame on the after effects.

If you are new to the blog and do not know what Color Play Friday is, you're in for a treat!  If you would like to see my previous Color Play Friday posts you can see them here.  You can find out more about it by visiting In An Otter Life or Laurel, Poppy and Pine for the rules, their contact information, and next week's photo.  We'd love to have you join us!

This week's photo belongs to Lorinda but was chosen by Trina.  When I first saw it, I really only saw some muted tones of pastels and long beautiful days on a farm someplace.  I imagined (you know I have to have a story line before I can create my palettes, teehee) I was sitting on the front porch swing sipping on a tall class of homemade lemonade, hand quilting my first hexi quilt.  My honey sitting on the front step strumming his guitar and singing the song he wrote to propose to me with.  My son and his friends out, way out, in the front yard in the pool, just hanging out and having a great day.  Everyone enjoying the gorgeous day with the nice breeze.  aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I was so relaxed envisioning this scene that I feel asleep (on the couch) before I finished typing this post, LOL.  But I am awake now.  Although I am a couple of hours late posting, I can tell you I slept like a baby for the first time in 2 weeks.

So what picture was used to put me in a much need rem sleep?  See for yourself.  Tell me what does it bring to mind for you?

Color Play Friday - Hydrangea

Disclaimer:  By the way, you should know that I did try to behave myself and think about things like color balance and print sizes....BUT, each time I did I found myself changing the colors right before I started to post them.  I'm sorry, in the end, I just have to go with what I like, which may not always be the 'rules' of quilting as determined by someone else.  For me quilting is about having a finished product that I adore and a journey that has brought me to new heights in my skill level.  AND above all, it has to bring me joy.  Besides, I remember being told in Red Hats Society, "Well behaved women rarely make history", LOL.  Here you go hon:

Here are my prints I used for my palette, you can click on the title for the link to each location I found these wonderful prints at:

Tangier Tile Blue

Migration Collections

For Michael Miller Fabrics

Fairy Frost Graphite

Fairy Frost Collections by M. E. Hordyszynski

For Michael Miller Fabrics

Leaves Pistachio

Garden Palette collection by Two Friends

For Benartex Fabrics

Iris Flower Batik

Artisan Batik Gazebo 2 Collection by Robert Kaufman

Red (Composer’s Words)

All That Jazz Collections by Chad Barrett

For Robert Kaufman Fabrics

 Breeze in Iris

Waterfront Park Collection by Violet Craft

For Michael Miller Fabrics

So there you have it loves.  Another palette another wonderful way to get away from the world and think fabrics, ooohhhhhhhhhh.

Don't forget to stop by and see the palettes of my fellow Color Play Friday bloggers:

Laurel, Poppy, and Pine

In An Otter Life

Quilting Mayhem 

Sarah Goer Quilts 

Sew Not Perfect 

Have a great weekend.  With Valentines day coming up I thought on Monday's Mystery Meat post I would share with you one of my favorite go to treats for special occasions.  I make it for family, friends, previous co-workers, meetings.  Whatever, they have ALWAYS been a hit at every event.   The preparation time is easy and the cook time is 10 minutes.  See ya back her on Monday, or next Color Play Friday.

Color Play Friday - Crab Pot Seattle, Washington

Well, it’s been a while Hon,   

I had a long post that was ready to go at top of year (and it’s still sitting there), but technical difficulties happened.  I still can’t get the sound to come through on the video.  So I just went on strike for a second, lol.  I HAD to walk away and REgroup.  More about that later in a Monday Madness post.  Today’s post is about something really fun.  Color Play Friday!  Woo-hoo, you know I love this opportunity to play with color and my imaginary future quilt projects.  Okay it may be waaayyyy in the future, but I will have it all documented right on my Color Play Friday page!  Color Play Friday began when Lorinda over at Laurel, Poppy and Pine and Trina over at In An Otter Life were talking and they ended up with this wonderful idea.  You can learn more about the guidelines we follow here and you can see my previous Color Play Friday posts on this page here.  They extended the offer to play to others and well, here we are.  This week there are a couple of reviews for you to go check out, since a couple more ladies have jumped on board. 

This week’s photo is soooo yummy, it belongs to Trina.  It is so bright and vivid.  Not only did staring at it make me hungry, but it sent me on this wild story in my mind.  I instantly saw colors with my favorite types of fabric, whimsical!  So this is yet another wacky color palette from the mind of another ‘Mad Hatter’.  Some of these I might not have chosen in real life, for fear of it being too much, but for Color Play Friday, I break the rules baby!

Once I had my color palette complete I started thinking of half square triangles.  Ummmmm….  Simple, right?  But that’s what came to me as I was staring at this wildly bright little collection of patterned fabrics.   I felt I had to tone it down a bit for the back side of my imaginary  future quilt though.  I have never been to Washington, but my goodness this makes me want to hop on a plan right now for a fun filled weekend loaded with good food.  Wonder what I came up with, check it out…

Crab Pot Seattle, Washington

Listed below are the places where I found each of these wonderful, expressive prints:

FoxtrotJewel - Norwegian Woods Too Collection

by Michael Miller

Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Cans Illustration

by Oxford Fabric

(hey, it's cotton, yes I did it!)

PirouetteOrange - Helen's Garden Collection

by Tamara Kate

for Michael Miller Fabrics

ChirpChirp

by MoMo

for Moda

Hello Sunshine Red - SweetheartCollection

by Michael Miller Fabrics 

for Michael Miller

Court

 by Timeless Treasures

So there you have it hon!  I hope you enjoyed seeing deep into the mind of a flower child lost in fabric space.  If you think you might like to join the fun by all means please contact Lorinda or Trina!  If you are interest in joining next week, here's Lorinda's picture, "Hydrangea".  You can start working on it today.

Color Play Friday is growing, please don’t forget to head on over and check out these ladies today:

                 Ø  Lorinda at http://www.Laurelpoppyandpine.com

                 Ø  Trina at http://www.inanotterlife.com

                 Ø  Mindy at https://quiltingmayhem.wordpress.com/

                 Ø  Yvonne at (quiltydream) http://thatssewcreative.blogspot.com/

Love and Shimmies,

Elim Nativity Project, each piece

MONDAY not forgotten, stupid forced updates

Hello Hon,

I have not forgotten Monday's post.  These stupid windows updates are being forced upon me and they've locked up my system since Sunday night.  I was able to get on only for a moment yesterday.   I walked away to help a visiting friend and the stupid thing started another update. That's 3 since Sunday and one last week.  I left it running last night hoping  toady it works be down.   Well,  it's almost lunch now and I'm still looking at 'everything is OK and where you left it' and ' don't turn off your computer'. With a big blue sky screen.  (Thankfully not the dark blue 'screen of death huh).  Sigh. As soon as this craziness let's me back into my own freaking system I'll be able to post.  I may figured I'd make this update so you know I'm still consistently posting,  yeah! I'm doing this with the app on my phone,  but it's hard to type more than a few lines.  Please forgive any typos hard to spot on a small screen. 

Let's just plan to meet back here tomorrow, as today dies not seem to be looking too bright to get to my files for posting.  My poor honey got caught for a little while also as we both have same laptops.  Arg!

Love and Shimmies,

Steph

Color Play Friday: Kris Kringle

Hello Hon,

Welcome back to Color Play Friday, a new reason to love Friday's.  It's good to be back focusing on something that brings me sheer joy.  I've missed it the last couple of weeks.  If you don't know what Color Play Friday is all about then check out my CPF Rules tab here for all the details of how we do it.

I should play catch up and finish the last 2 week's photos.  But to do that would interfere with me finishing this week's.  I definitely wan to get it done, especially since this will be the last one for this year.  There will not be color play on December 18th and 25th, which means no more color play for this year.  Yikes, I think I am going to have to play around with something to keep in the habit of posting on Fridays.  I can't not do anything, geez, that would be too long of a time for me to miss posting.  Umm, maybeeeee I will catch up on the two I missed for those two weeks.  I really did love that Frost photo and really wanted to do it.  Yeah, that sounds like a plan huh?  

Well let's get to this weeks photo.  It was chosen by Trina over at In An Otter Life and taken by Lorinda over at Laurel and Pine.  It's actually the perfect picture to end the year, considering this month is Christmas.  I love Christmas decorations and of course I love all things shiny and glittery.  

Here we go, Color Play Friday - Kris Kringle:

SilverMetallic Twisted Coils – Charcoal

Heavy Metal Collection by Whistler Studio

Windham Fabrics print

SnowflakeWendy Christmas Crystal

Loom Exquisite Textiles

GraphicChristmas Forest Green

Cuddle Plush Fabrics

Christmas Minions 

Cotton fabric for Bedding home textile,Sewing Tilda Doll

{After reading further down the page for this, I'm questioning the 'Cotton'.  I think it may be a blend.  But too late, I already love it and had to have it for this palette.  I searched and this was the only one I could find.  It says for 'bedding' well quilts go on beds, so there.  Anyway the reviews on the fabric we good, only one said it was thin, well lots of cotton is, sooooo.  Important thing here is that it's fabric that I love and this is my palette, soooooo, There it is!} 

ChristmasSpctacular

Cuddle Plush Fabrics

Bella Solids, Berrylicious

Bella Solid by Moda Fabrics

I thought the perfect backing for this seasonal quilt really just jumped out at me.  I had to search for a source for it.  I even saw a comment on Pinterest that said someone found it at JoAnne’s.  I have never seen it at my local store; but then again I am in Alabama, not the best fabric choices around.  I searched high and low for this fabric after seeing the picture of it.  It was simply inspiring after just coming off our annual nativity event.  But I could only find it on EBay.  The first listing had already sold out.  Well, I didn’t want to post a listing that had already sold out, you know, in case you loved it as much or more than I did.  So here is another listing I found for it.    

Russian Matryoshka Manger Scenic Dolls

Isn't that just darling, in my best Jenny Doan voice.  I love it!

That my loves is the last official Color Play Friday of the year 2015.  Make sure you head on over and check out Trina at In An Otter Life and Lorinda at Laurel and Pine to see their last color play of the year.  I can't wait to see what exciting choices they'll come up with the 2017.  Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure as I learned about quilting and in essence myself.  I look forward to sharing and getting to know you in the new year.  

Love and Shimmies, 

Yeah, Back on Blog

Hello Hon,


I am so thankful for things to have settled down.  Some were good and some were bad and some will have lasting, ummmm, situations.  But, I'm glad it has all died down and I can get back to some normal parts of life again.  One of the good things that happened was that I got the opportunity to work with our annual nativity exhibit again this year.  It was am amazing and beautiful experience.  So I am feeling good right now, having spent a week focusing on the most important birth of all time, the birth of Jesus Christ.  I got to display the whole Elim Nativity set with all the extra pieces!  I got some questions and interested buyers to follow up with this week. That was awesome sauce! Coming off that wonderful week, although I am dog tired, I am ready to get back to every day.

I am so excited to close the year out with you in the next 3 weeks by sharing a review on 2 new places to get cool gifts with product reviews; a quick little recipe we have been begging my hubby to make for us again.  Maybe by sharing it with you he'll be more inclined to make them again.  He knows I have to have some pictures for the blog; I'll show with you what was in my Quilty Box (which is still packed and sitting on my cutting table, sigh), including the new product from Vanessa Vargas; and my new calendar and previous calendars review, I will share some different types (along with a FREE calendar download and a sticker sheet, both for FREE download.   I designed them before I decided to buy the one I am so in love with).  Of course, I'll be back on task with Color Play Friday this week and Wrap It Wednesday is also back into play.  Ahhhhh, it's good to be home and focused again.

I can't believe it's the end of the year already!  So much to look forward to in the new year.  I hope you'll join me in the new year.  Thank you for stopping by during this year.  I appreciate every viewer, don't forget to follow so you'll be notified as soon as stuff posts.  Especially when I throw some surprise posts between the regular ones.

OH my word, I can't believe I almost forgot to mention this.  For the Marvelous  Monday's I was able to get some patterns to have for give aways.   I am super excited about that.  For many of the patterns that I review I will also give away (FREE) that same pattern, new and unopened!  Including one that has video access from guess who?!?!?!?!  The one and only darling herself Ms. Mimi G.  No worries, I accidently bought two of her tutorials.  When I realized I already hand one I contacted her and asked for permission to give away the second one I had bought.  She said YES!  Whoop whoop, so one of you is a very lucky person!

Love and Shimmies,