Delayed and Determined

I have been sick since Thursday with a bad cold and sometimes flu-ish symptoms. As I type this my head is throbbing, nose is stuffy and my sinuses are screaming. I hate whatever it is I have mostly because it kept me from getting anything done this weekend on my 3 swaps. Argh. So, here is what I'm behind in now:
1. fabric for iSPy Charm Swap purchased (what I was going to use didn't end up being enough) and cut and shipped

2. fabric for For the Love of Solids Swap sorted and ideas sketched. I've got some stuff on paper, but nothing i'm willing to show at this point. All i know is that I am likely making a pillow or 2 and something smaller. Although I could also make baskets/containers but they scare me with the pins required to keep them lined up - so not my style.

3. I did manage to pull some fabrics for the Mouthy Stitches Swap swap after getting my partner assignment Saturday or was it Sunday? Anywho, I know that will be in blues, oranges and some greys so luckily I have some of those colours in fun fabrics. I just have to decide now between a scrappy log cabin or paper pieced front and what style of pouch I'm making. I think I will need to order some zips as well, so I'm off to zipit to order supplies and look at the zipper pulls.

4. Finish up my strip pieced Innocent Crush quilt. I managed to score fat quarters for $1.50 and yardage for $6.00 from a canadian supplier I love - Pam at Mad About Patchwork.
I get annoyed at the price of shipping to Canada from US Etsy peeps and even some of the bigger US fabric shops. I know its not necessarily their fault with the prices, but adding $5 or more on top of the flat rate pack price is a bit much.

If I get anything properly sketched out I'll make sure to post it, but right now I'm just enjoying the rest since the only time me head & sinuses don't hurt is when I lie down. Bleh. The only benefit of this is that I have had several lovely days of snuggles with the dogs. Ruby & Crosby are lovely nursemaids - if only i could teach them to make me food.

FTLoS Assisgnment Received

I am so excited about my swap partner - i just checked out her mosaic which is one I really liked when I was looking at everyone else's ideas. Yeay!
It is a secret swap so I can't say who the partner is but rest assured I am going to make sure to take loads of pics for this project.

Colour Scheme Designer

Thanks to Ez at Creature Comforts I have been playing with the Colour Scheme Designer, and the Colour Palette Generator. They should both come in handy for the swaps I'm in if I need help coming up with colour schemes.

Sunday = For the love of Solids partner assignments

Jan 22 = Mouthy Stitches partner assignment

In the meantime I'll keep looking for tutorials and getting scraps ready.

Mouthy Stitches Zip Pouch Swap

Wow from none to 2 in a week!

I'm in a new swap organized by 3 bloggers I've been following for some time now
Susan from Canadian Abroad, Hadley from Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle and Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting.

I'm going to be so busy!
Check out the Swap info here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mouthystitches/

Here is my mosaic for better or worse - it is late and I had trouble deciding.

I think I've pinned everything on this inspiration board:
http://pinterest.com/allibright/

Now back to waiting for the swap partner assignments then the creating starts.

FTLoS Swap - Woo Hoo!

I'm an the list!
I'm so excited!
Great start to 2012 crafting.
I can't wait for more information.
I just squeaked in to the group too - number 98 of 100. Phew.

Thank you so much Susan for putting the information on your blog or I would have missed this!
http://canadianabroad-susan.blogspot.com/2012/01/for-love-of-solids.html

For the Love of Solids Swap

I'm keeping all of my fingers and toes crossed that I am accepted into my first ever swap. I'll understand if I'm not since part of their rules state you have to have been active in other swaps, but I thought it might be worth a shot - you've got to start somewhere.

I've been thinking of joining a swap for ages and finally took the plunge. Now on to coming up with an inspiration mosaic for the swap.

 Here are the things involved in the mosiac ( I think I'm missing some):
1. 2-tone drunk love - Denyse Schmidt
2. Birds of a Feather by Red Pepper Quilts
3. Michael Miller Violet, Lagoon, Meadow, Charcoal, Clementine
4. Solids Cabins - Ellison Lanes
5. Fish Baby Log Cabins - A Stitch in Dye
6. Flying Farfalle Quilt - Film in the Fridge
7. Gees Band Quilt 1945
8. Improv Block - Knit One Quilt Too
9. Improv Quilt - My Patchwork
10. Pint Sized Swap Quilt - badskirt
11. Prism Quilt - Fresh Lemons
12. Number Signs Quilt - Quilt Story
13. Chevron Quilt - my own
14. Scrappy Triangles - Film in the Fridge
15. Everything Coming Up Rainbows - Spotted Stone

I realized when I was looking at the blog that I never photographed my Getting Comfortable with Colour course wall hanging. It is still just a top basted to the batting - no finish on this yet because I can't decide how to finish it off for binding. The colours didn't photograph all that well, but here is a photo anyhow:

I did dazzle it up with my Elvis pin from my trip to Graceland - this photo gives you a better idea of the background fabric true colour:

It was the best class I've ever taken - I think I like theory classes much more that project classes. There is a huge age gap at the quilting shopd around my hometown so I am usually the youngest by decades at the classes I've taken which can be fun, but usually involves the other ladies rolling their eyes at my fabric and colour selections. The best is when Ki takes classes with me - we laugh together and I don't feel so out of place. Of course her stuff is always more amazing than what I can produce.
Here is her colour class finished product:

That's Ki's mum Jennifer holding the wall hanging. Ki & I were the first people finished in the class - we did these in less than an hour while everyone else was still having trouble not using rotary cutters and making perfect lines. Sometimes it pays to be different :)

I also really like Kiley's quilting, and how she does her signature:

As a bit of a side note: she makes these amazing scarves and hubster & I love love love ours:



She made our save the date and wedding invitations (inside) and cake toppers - I told you she was talented! Check out her work at her k-doodles blog.








I'll keep you posted if I'm accepted in the swap, and on my progress. Fingers & toes crossed.

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Challenge

I figured I should use some of my time off for some crafty blog reading time and came across the Blogger's choice Fat Quarter Bundle Challenge via Quokka Quilts. I've seen a few of the bloggers I follow creating their own bundles so I was excited to try my hand at it. I'm uber obsessed with 'novelty' fabrics and so I chose one I've been loving as the focal point Critter Community Brown Birds of a Feather:

From there I wanted fabrics that echoed the feather patterns and colours:

And a leaf print to pull out the tree element:

Then I just looked for colours/patterns I liked the look of with these et voila:

Here are the fabrics I used from (note to self - next time number selections on mosaic):
- Pure Elements Pure Orange Solid
- Crazy Daisy Yellow Rhythm
- Outfoxed Yellow and Olive Tossed Triangle
- Outfoxed Olive Fern Stripe
- Pure Elements Parisian Blue Solid
- Pure Organic Chartreuse Solid
- Pear Tree Bright Blue Waving Stripes
- Alien Friends Red Bubble Dot
- Critter Community Brown Birds of a Feather
- Get Together Green Hearts
- Mimosa Orange Chevron
- Anchors Away Orange Diamond Ikat
- Orange Crush Citrus Little Triangles
- Greenhouse Flannel Grass Buttonwood
(I didn't realize this was a flannel when i picked it for its leaf motif - oh well)
- Prince Charming Olive Green Scallop

Phew, that's the whole lot of them. That took a long time of testing out different fabrics to get this bundle and lots of searching to make sure I linked to the right fabrics. Now fingers crossed the judges like my selections.