Life is good!

So I haven't managed to set the sewing machine up in the new house.  I'm going through withdrawl.  I've got all these projects I want to do (some even for the house, like curtains for the bathroom!) and I can't sew a single stitch.  I'm starting to go a bit bonkers!  I may break down and put the machine on the dining room table for a bit.  Will have to take it down before DH sees it, but if he doesn't know, he can't get mad, now, can he??  He's still cranky about my craft room in general, so I will try not to rub salt in the woulds.  Maybe I could temporarily borrow a card table from Mom, just enough to get a fix in here and there.  I know she's got one somewhere.  And the pred is making me crazy.  Not helping the withdrawal symptoms any. 

Due to a strange confluence of events, I actually had well over an hour to spend at the fabric store yesterday.  By myself.  Nothing I had to get, nothing that needed to be done, just some time for me and the fabric and to see what inspiration happened to strike.  I ended up with some fabric for clothes for Isadora.  She's now definitely into Girl sized clothes, not the little kids clothes anymore, and I have been less than pleased with the style options when it comes to finding her things to wear.  Call me too prudish, but she DOESN'T belong in half of what they sell.  It is just not appropriate for a six year old!  She's not a small adult, she shouldn't be dressing in adult styles.  I want her dressing in styles that are appropriate for her age.  I'm finding that this means I have to spend a bit more and shop on-line (Land's End has really good kid stuff) or I have to spend a bit more and make stuff.  So I found a cute pattern for a su...

Oh, my goodness, I had no idea there was such a thing!  Really, quilting cruises ??? Bestill my heart.  :)  As much as I would love it, though, couldn't get hubby to ever agree to watch the kids for a week so I could go cruise on board a ship!  Not that I don't intend to try and convince him, of course...

So I finally started my first swoon block.  I've seen so many of these blocks around the quilting blog world.  I hope I'm not tired of them by the time I finish!  I do love the pattern, though, so hopefully I'll like the finished result as well.  I'm doing mine from batiks.  I have a ton of batik fat quarters (courtesy of the batik fat quarter of the month club from The Fat Quarter Shop ) so this seemed like a wonderful way to use them up.  They are mostly purples and greys.  I'll post a picture when I finish the first one!

Lily Pad Quilting!

Have finished another quilt top! Well, almost. :) I still have to put a 2.5 inch border along the top and along the bottom. The pattern is from Cozy Modern Quilts . I used a fat quarter bundle of Tea Party, and a Kona pink for the lattice pieces. I've been reading on several garment construction blogs about the importance of pressing seams flat, then open. Well, on this top I pressed flat before pressing to one side, and I really think it did make a difference. It didn't really add that much time at all to the pressing process, so I'll probably continue doing it, and hopefully it will continue to help!

Does anyone else find that planning out projects is almost as much fun as doing them? I love mixing and matching my fabrics, looking through pattern books, imagining the possibilities of it all. It's very therapeutic!