Color Play Friday - Skywalker

Howdy Hon,

Before you start getting too excited, this is not about Star Wars in any way, shape or form.  Just didn't want to have you getting all hung up on Luke.  But this is about a jolly sweet guy.  Welcome to Color Play Friday !  Thanks to Lorinda and Trina we get to continue the fun of playing with colors and fabrics, without playing with our bank accounts.  You can learn more about Color Play Friday  by contacting them at Laurel, Poppy and Pine or In An Otter Life.  If you'd be interesting in joining along or just want to know how we do it each week AND see next week's photo check out Lorinda or Trina's blog.  By the way, we'd love to have you join us!

So what Skywalker am I referring to, why the horse, of course.  Teehee.  Lorinda met this sweet boy while in Eastern Washington.  The story is Skywalker was picking some beautiful red delicious apples.  He remembers the day being just perfect, not too hot outside and a beautiful sky above that appeared magically white at the moment.  Out of nowhere, his neighbors, Lorinda and the family, came over and started picking all the good apples and left poor Skywalker with all the rejects.  At least that's the way he tells it when I spoke to him earlier this week about his handsome profile shot.  You could clearly see Lorinda taking a perfectly good apple right from his mouth in the original photo.  Per Skywalker, this picture was photo shopped (sp?), he was not happy in the original photo.  He's sure Lorinda will disagree.  LOL, I know, this is what lack of sleep and running at full speed for over 30 hours will do to you.  If you believe that one I have a bridge I'd like to sale you.  Forgive me Lorinda.  <<wicked little grin>>

This is a sweet guy and he helped to create a very interesting picture for this week.  I decided I wanted to look for colors instead of going with the colors that immediately popped out at me.  Let's see how that worked out.  For me one of the beauties of  Color Play Friday is to play with color and try to see what I normally would not see if I had to actually choose the palette and buy the bundle.  It's also learning to balance color, I'm so off on that.  But as I've said, I tend to pick what I like and what I like together.  As long as the palette inspires some type of emotion in me, I have to go with it.  Even if it breaks the rules.  Yep, I'm a rebel baby, a Fabric Rebel.  Oh my gosh, I really need some sleep.

I present you this week's Color Play Friday - Skywalker, the horse who has the force with him, teehee.  Okay, I'm done, I'm going to get serious now.  This week I decided to use the story as told by Mr. Skywalker himself to help me discover my palette.  Then, I decided that since every fabric I migrate towards in a quilt shop happens to be from Moda Fabrics, I was going to play with another fabric company who's winning my heart these days.  I know that was a long sentence.  Feel free to correct it, I'm too tired.  Who is it?  It's Michael Miller Fabrics!  Funny thing, I read that he used to be under Moda.  Anyway, I absolutely love his fabrics.  I love some of his designers more than others, but as a whole I'm really drawn to them.  Soooooo, all my fabrics this week are coming from Michael Miller Fabrics.  Kinda my little Valentin's for the month.   

 Here's the picture of our star, my palette, and bundle: 

You can check out all these wonderful fabrics at the following links (psssst, of just go to Michael Millers site and check out everything.  That's what I did!)

summer ride

WEE WANDER by Sarah Jane

pixel plaid

PIXELISM

emerson

HARPER COLLECTION

butterfly blossoms

SEA HOLLY by Sarah Campbell

sweetie

SUZETTE

baby, the stars shine bright

BIRDS & THE BEES Collection by Tamara Kate

Of course I have to include a backing fabric.  I choose something I think our sweet boy would like, because in my mind the quilt would be for him.  

i wove you 

wait for it, 

wait for it, 

WOVE IT OR WEAVE IT

Rolling on the floor laughing out loud.  Don't you just love that, don't you just love him (I was referring to Skywalker just now, but you could easily love Michael Miller Fabrics to).  Ahhh, I told you I needed some sleep.  


You can see my past palette's and bundles here at this tab on the blog.  There are 7 participants this week, please take a moment to get check out each palette and fabric bundle.  It's so fun to see how we each interpret the picture with our palettes.  We each tell our own story, it's sooooo cool.  If you are on Instagram you can also look for us with the hashtag: #ColorPlayFriday.  

This week's participants are:

Steph @ Shimmy and More (thanks for stopping by)

Lorinda @ Laurel, Poppy and Pine

Trina @ In An Otter Life

Mindy @ Quilting Mayhem

Sarah @ Goer.org

Yvonne @ That's Sew Creative

Bethany @ Sew Not Perfect

Well that's it hon, thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon!

Love and Shimmies, 

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,