Color Play Friday: 80's Skate Party

Hello Hon,

Guess what today it is?  Of course you know, it's FRIDAY!  Aren't you happy to see the weekend arrive?!  I am.  Tomorrow we are working on the floor of our chicken coop and then I'm going to scrub down my stove and counter tops.  The rest of the day will be dedicated deep conditioning my natural hair while sewing a fabulous outfit for Toastmaster's Conference red carpet night.  Wish me luck!  I have two outfits in mind.  If I'm really good and stay on task I'll have both ready to take with me.  If I don't stay on task it'll be interesting to see which one makes the journey with me.  Of course I'll post it for this month's Marvelous Monday!  

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.

I present this week's photo for ColorPlayFriday:

80's Skate Party

Today all my fabric choices were found at one place, Cook's Quilting site.  I found that Japanese fabrics and feel in love.  I really appreciate the beauty in their fabric.  I tried to pull all my choices from that fabric, but...it began to look at little dysfunctional for this color palette, LOL.  So I had to let it go on a couple of choices.  But I could not let go of the ones I had already chosen.  So if you'd like to know that information on this fabrics here you go:

Dawn Flower Fairies Sky

by Cicely Mary Barker 

for Michael Miller

Waves Red

by Kona Bay

Blue Water Texture, Reel It in

Marble Sunshine

by Moda

Bright Green with Spiral Patterns

by Timeless Treasures

I wanted the fabrics to reflect movement, because that was the way my brain interpreted the photo.  Action packed and fun.  So I tried to pick fabrics, in Japanese mostly, that were action or at least moving and flowing.  I love when a palette makes me sway back and forth and internalize the movement of the 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.

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.  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

                                         Mindy @ Quilting Mayhem

                                                   Bethany @ Sew Not Perfect

                                                             Jennifer @ Flickr

                                                                                                               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,

It's Marvelous Darlings

Howdy Hon,

Okay yesterday was my son's 18th birthday.  He's the youngest.   Wow, in case I don't feel old enough.  LOL.  I love my children, but I am so glad to see them all become adults.  I'm excited to see how they will shape their lives and become spouses and parents themselves.  Although I'm not your typical rocking chair, sit at home, and babysit while my children live like they have no parental responsibility kind of grandma,  I have loved and will continue to love spending time with my grandchildren grandma days of course.  But it will be fun to watch my youngest 2 children go through the experiences of weddings and marriages and babies.  I look forward to seeing them develop their own parenting skills.

Anyway, this got me to thinking how I also won't be dressing like a grandma.  You know that idea that some people tend to think of grandma's as.  Old flower house dresses, knee hi stockings, blue wigs and so forth.  I still want to dress nicely, not always to the nine's, but nicely when I go out.  (We won't talk about at home though...)  So I thought it might be fun to go through some of my looks, plus I was invited to do so and thought it was a cool idea.  It was great that the invite came when it did, as I was thinking about these things already.

I was recently inspired by Social Print Studio to bring together all of my favorite looks.  Their digital photo books are a great way to bring all your digital favorites to life.  Below are some of my favorite looks that made me feel like it was a MARVELOUS MONDAY kind of day.  I hope you enjoy and please feel free to share some of your Marvelous Monday kind of day looks, I would enjoy seeing them.

This is the young man who just became legal.  I love this picture my hubby captured of us in the church parking lot.

The first dress I made after not having sewn since that one shirt in high school. 

    

This cape is amazing, my mother brought it back to my grandmother from a another country, 
It's ALL PLEATED (except the shoulder area)!

This is a favorite headwrap I created
and love to wear with this skirt

This is my favorite skirt I have ever made!

Beach Babe, this picture made me feel way better than I felt
in a swimsuit in years.  Sometimes you just need to look
at something with a different pair of eyes to appreciate it!

Can you tell which is a painting on the wall and which is live?  Although this
was a casual day on a cruise ship I felt super cute in this picture.

Again on the cruise ship, I loved how I felt and looked for my anniversary dinner with my husband; so much that I made this picture the cover for my studio's blog site.  Don't you just love the Betty Boop fluffy slippers, lol?  
This was the end of the night and I had removed my heels already when we went back out.

And from this weekend at a Toastmasters Contest, the theme was
All That Glitters, but I don't want to be too over the top so I
went with this little number.  Love it.

Make sure you look at those pictures that remind you how great and how beautiful you are on a regular basis.  They help to drown out some of those negative things we can get into the bad habit of saying about ourselves and worst to ourselves.  

Love and Shimmies,

Just a Smile It's Friday Post!

Yes!!

It's here, Friday is here!  Unfortunately, I am not a participant in Color Play Friday today.  But, in keeping with some consistency I decided to go ahead and make a Friday post.  If you've visited the blog before you will immediately notice a change in the theme and tab layouts.

I decided it was really time for a new look.  I had been fighting the urge to do it.  This week it got the best of me.  I had to choose a new theme.  Which also lead me to the things I wanted to cover on the blog and how easy I wanted it to be to find what you are looking forward when searching for past post.  So you can see there are new tabs and an updated description at the top.

I like to write post as they are happening, but find that isn't always feasible.  So I will be working more on the scheduling of posts.  You'll notice in the updated note that not all the post topics will be due weekly, only Mondays and Fridays.  One of the Monday's has also been changed.  No longer will I do Monday Madness, that has now been changed to Monday Mock-Up.  Other posts are only biweekly, some monthly and two will post randomly as they occur.  I think I'll make up a little calendar to have permanently posted so it will be easy to see the schedule in the beginning.   I also have each topic labeled so you will be able to find it under it's tab.  If it's Monday of course all the Monday's will be on Monday tab, you can click on any specific label in Labels section in the side bar or use the search engine.  I think this will make it much easier to navigate around the site.

Here's a fun picture to leave you with, it is one of our little chicks.  She's the brave, daring and sassy one.  Her name is Miss Pearl.  She knew I was standing there in the room and then heard me talking to them.  I reach down to touch her but did not pick her up.  When I took my hand out she jumped on top of feeder and then up to the top of the board to try to get to me.  Yes, she is going to be quite a handful, LOL.  But I hope this little picture makes you smile as much as it made me smile.

And here is the whole crew together after some loving and a lunch.  Ahhh, yes, perfect naptime.

I hope you are having a great start to your weekend and I look forward to seeing you around in shimmy and more space!

Love and Shimmies,

Color Play Friday - Tulsa Rose Garden in Oklahoma

Howdy Hon,

It's another week down.  I made it through, you made it through.

I have been busy this week working on the 10" Slicer quilt top and my Fluorescent Lights quilt top (I'd previously called it Highlighter Quilt).  The tools and supplies for both of these projects came from my little Quilty Box subscriptions.  I am so far behind, but I am really excited to work towards catching up.  "Work" yeah, rightttttttt, tee-hee.  It feels so good to have those creative juices flowing again.  I'll share pictures of my latest projects on Quilty Thursday of next week.  (unless you follow me on social media, I'll post quick shots there, all those links are in the sidebar to the right.)

Well, you know what the end of the week brings.  That's right,  ColorPlayFriday!

What is ColorPlayFriday?  CPF 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!  Woot Woot.  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.

This week's photo is so sweet.  One single rose, shining and shouting to the world, "Look at me!  I am the beauty of bright sun-shining day!"  The color is just stunning.  I enjoyed searching this photo for my color palette this week!  I hope you enjoy the palette and bundle as much as I enjoyed playing with them. 

We present for your review  ColorPlayFriday - Tulsa Rose Garden in Oklahoma.  

  

If you'd like to see where I found these awesome prints or see them in a larger scale you can find them here:

Sheep LambsButtercup

Farm Animal Quilting Fabric

Fairy Cupcake Medley fabric TG64 Peach

Tina Givens

Free Spirit 

TailoredRose AT80 Coral

Annette Tatum fabric

Free Spirite

The Gallery Rust

Perfectly Paisley

Choice Fabrics

Leaf - Wine

Changing Seasons   

Kona Bay

Blender Fabric Pine Trees - Blue 

Enchanted Pines Collection 

by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

Olive - Darkest Olive

Nature's Studio collection by Classic Cottons of America - Exclusively Quilters

  

ManzanitaBranches 

Free Spirit Sewing

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.

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.  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

                                         Sarah S. @ 123 Quilt 

                                                    Jennifer @ Flickr                                                                   

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,

Color Play Friday - Rose Petals

Howdy Hon,

You know what day it is! Oh yeah baby, it time to play with some colors!

Welcome to another edition of Color Play Friday!

What is Color Play Friday, how do you play?  Well, CPF 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 we are today; enjoying another round of fun.  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 is brought to you by Lorinda, and believe it or not it's quite yummy I hear.  Usually I don't go for the monotone look with my palettes.  I like lots of rich regal colors.  But this time I decided to step out of my norm and go with a monotone palette.  Obviously I got a little off target towards the end, lol.  I tried.

We present to you this week's Color Play Friday - Rose Petals:

Now I have never thought to put rose petals in my salad, but thanks to Lorinda it's now on my bucket list.

Would you like to know where these this bundle came from:

Seahorses in Cream Pink

Mendocino Collection by Heather Ross

for Windham Fabrics

Fairy Frost Purple

by M.E. Hordyszynski

for Michael Millers Fabrics

Dottie's Friends in Orchid

Fruit Dots Collection by Melody Miller

for Cotton + Steel

Libs Stitches in Bordeaux

Blueberry Park Collection by Karen Lewis

for Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Eye of Jupituer

Nocturnal Merlot Collection by Walk With Magic Studio

for Spoonflower

Fruit Blossoms in Mint

Fruit Dots Collection by Melody Miller

for Cotton + Steel

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.

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.  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

                                         Mindy @ Quilting Mayhem

                                                   Yvonne @ That's Sew Creative

                                                             Christina  @ Love Hazel Honey

                                                                                                                                                Sarah S. @ 123 Quilt

                                                                                       Jennifer @ Flickr
                                                                                                                         

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,

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,