Soccer baby on the way...

This Sunday, my family is getting together for a baby shower.  My niece, Emily, is expecting a boy sometime in early March.  My birthday is March 5th, so I've told Emily that if she starts labor before the 5th, she must keep her legs together so her new son will be born on my birthday!  Now, we all know this isn't going to happen because my sister (Emily's mother) tried to tell me to do the same when my son was born.  Her birthday is Feb 13th and Mike was born on Feb 11th.  But, you know fair is fair and now Emily (gosh I hope she doesn't take that seriously) has to bear the family joke.  

Good little quilter that I am....I made her a baby quilt.   The father is into soccer big time, so I went a little overboard on the soccer theme.   Here's her quilt:

It's  a simple pattern...bright, and colorful.   Hope Emily likes it....and if she doesn't...well it might make a good blanket to bring to those soccer games in five years or so....and there's always the gift certificate that goes with it to help curb the cost of diapers.   

Sometimes you win and sometimes you really, really win...

Look what arrived in my mailbox yesterday:

It's some colorful hand-dyed eye candy.   I didn't just win one package of 4 fat quarters....there were two more packages besides.   Hmmm...I guess that means I'll actually have to cut into at least one since I have two more to put in the "I'm not touching that fabric with scissors" pile.  

I won these by participating in the Candy Cane Quilt Block Dash in December.  The fat quarter bundles are available at Ann's Fabrics & Crafts. 
What ever should I create with these?

Gotta get to that guild challenge...

I guess I'd better get sewing.  Our Friendship Star Guild challenge this year is titled "Diamonds are a girls best friend".   It's due March 1 if I want to have it considered as one of 8 quilts that may go to the Knoxville AQS show this year (that is if all 8 are good enough to be accepted by AQS)...a little later if I just want it in our yearly show in April.  The rules of this challenge are: (1) black background (2) must have at least 10 diamonds. 

It may still be a little hard to discern but the left side of the picture consists of some khaki shorts, two knees, two blue and white argyle socks, and a pair of tennis shoes.   To make sure there were at least 10 diamonds, I started by sewing diamonds on the background in copper metallic thread.  There's also a hand with a dog bisquit at the top.   Some feedback I received suggested I make the hand and biscuit bigger and maybe oversized, perhaps add some real shoe laces, and I've got a dog tag that'll hang from Misty's collar that says "Spoiled".  My name for the piece will be, "Say Please".  This is the phrase my son taught her to start her begging routine. 

 

All it needs now is a boat load of satin stitching, a little thread painting and/or shadowing with paint sticks, and a ton of quilting.  Regardless of the outcome, my husband and son have already laid claim to their Misty quilt.  I'm getting psyched up just thinking about stitching and embellishing this one.

A rare look inside my quilt cave....

I've seen so many of you organizing your quilt rooms since the new year that I felt I had to do something to mine.   So, I started with the stash:

Doesn't it look wonderful? 

Before I show you the rest of my quilt cave, I thought I'd warn you....organizing your stash sometimes results in a bigger mess elsewhere.  

I just love the shiny silver walls and wood rafters to hang stuff from.  All of you quilters that have quilt caves understand my love of hybernating here....well, and it being the only large part of the house I could comandeer.  Here's a look at my ironing table:

with a couple of preemie quilts hanging from a laundry hanger.   And no look at my quilt cave would be complete without a view of my design wall:

There it is, my $5 Wal-mart tablecloth that was attached to a drainage pipe with duck tape.   I know it's falling down, but it's my design wall.   OK, so my resolution this year is to tape it back up.  Seriously, all is well with the world now that my stash is organized.  Anyone who wants to come over now and help me organize the rest of my cave....go away....I'm sewing....I mean hibernating.

One more minute of daylight a day...

....at least that's what I keep telling myself that to beat winter hybernation.  After Christmas, I went into panic mode...worried about guild challenges (3 of them) due by March, getting the house back in order after the Christmas stampede, and moving my Mom by January 31st.   Notice what's first on my worry list?  I try to be a half full type of person, so I'm delighted that I've designed and glued fabric on one of the first challenges.   The Christmas stuff is all boxed and may stay that way for a long long time thanks to my niece volunteering to take over the Christmas stampede next year.   And, moving Mom in 15 degree weather...priceless!   At least I can use my sewing as therapy to get me through it.  So far, I've completed a few quilts for our service project workshops....2 Quilt As You Go Linus quilts, 2 tops, and a bunch of preemie blankets:

I'm not ready to share my challenge progresses here yet.   But, I finally got to my first meeting of the Metrothreads group and was able to get some welcome feedback from a group of local quilt artists.  In fact, if there is any tiny bit of fame in this vast internet blogging world, I got mentioned in another quilt blog: Check out Zebrapatterns weblog.   It is such a joy to create! 

I received one of those little notebooks from my hubby for Christmas and haven't transferred all my blogs over to it yet.  He thought it would be a good idea for me to keep up with my favorite blogs by following them while I'm watching TV at night.  It was a great idea because I'm finally able to keep up with all the blogs I like on a regular basis.   So, if you're following my blog regularly, please leave a comment on what's going on in your world, so I can be sure to keep up with your creative endeavors.