More DBJs

I've spent the last couple of days trying to catch up on my Dear Baby Jane Blocks. I am very, very far behind (like 15 out of 40 something), but I made a lot of progress this weekend. I really enjoy the paper piecing ones, but the appliqué has been giving me a really hard time. The great thing about this quilt is that it really helps you practice all sorts of techniques and I have been learning little by little. I also followed this tutorial by Anina to make my own little quilt picture and I am in love with doing it. It's so fun to see my progress. Also, it'll help me plan a little better. I wasn't really keeping track of which colors I was using for each block and as a consequence I have a lot of groupings of colors. Also, I was wondering if anyone had any more red or aqua fabrics to swap. I have plenty of fabrics to swap, or some vintage sheets. E-mail me if you're interested katiebhandbags@gmail.com . Now, I'm off to order some more background fabric. I definitely didn't get enough!

Thank you

Hi Friends,

It's been a rough couple of days, but we're doing o.k. over here. The laughs and smiles have not faded completely, and I know that these will get us through the rough times ahead. I, of course, wanted to thank you for all your support and prayers. They really do mean a lot to John and I, and I have read each several times. I wanted to share with you John's page. He is planning on keeping it up to date, but will be dependent on how well he is feeling once he starts treatment. You can go here and read it if you are interested.

I also wanted to mention that I have added some new things to my sidebar. There are some new widgets (what a weird word), from amazon and goolge Adsense. I never considering adding these before, but with this round of treatment, John will be taking leave from work and I am trying to make a little money here and there. I am only mentioning it because I don't want any of my readers to be upset or offended that I am adding it. Once John is back to work, I will in most likelihood remove it. I am not even sure if it'll even amount to anything, but we'll see.

Anyway, again thank you for everything. I'll be returning with some crafty things this week. I swear nothing cures the soul better than sewing.

ugh

Right now I can't even think of the right words to express how I'm feeling. Today, John had his 6 month check-up and after having such a good report last time, we found out that the tumor is growing again. There will be more chemo followed by radiation treatment. The doctors are optimistic in treating it this way, so we feel very positive about that. Tomorrow he will have a biopsy on the tumor, followed by several other tests next week. He'll start chemo at the end of next week. Last time, he had 6 treatments, this time he will have either 2 or 3 (followed by the radiation). It is unimaginable that this is happening again, but these are the cards we have been dealt and I plan to help John fight this in any way I can. So, if I am sparse around these parts, this is reason. Although John has ordered me to continue to sew and he understands it as therapy for me. I think John is planning to document this round on a separate blog of his own, and I will be sure to share it with you when he starts it. I know many of you will offer kind words of support and prayers and I just want to thank you all in advance. You all had a part in us healing last time and I know this time will be no different. Thank you, friends.

Doll Quilt Swap sneak peek and advice needed

Between finishing my zig-zag quilt and working on my Doll Quilt Swap quilt, I have quilting on the brain. I have a lot of old quilting books and there are so many ideas floating through my head. I started on my doll quilt a few nights ago after finally narrowing down my options. I ended up choosing a kaleidescope pattern which was inspired by an old quilt I had seen called a "strip circle." I really love how these blocks came out, but now I'm not sure if I want to remove the white corners and replace it with all black.

What do you think? I keep going back and forth and I just can't decide. I think the black makes the colors pop, but I also like the contrast the white brings.

It's really a sewing dilemma. Hopefully you guys will have some insight. I need it!

Zig-Zag Quilt

Sewing on my new machine has been nothing but amazing. I really love how smooth it is and its nice even stitches, both something my old machine was lacking. I had started this quilt at the beginning of July, hoping that I'd be able to finish it in time for my SILs 30th birthday. I greatly overestimated how fast I could put it all together and add that to broken sewing machine situation, and it sat out for a while before I bought my new Bernina. I finally finished it this morning and I have to say I wish that I weren't giving it as a gift. But, I know she'll really enjoy it so it is worth it in the end. The pattern, the zig-zag quilt, is from Denyse Schmidt's book, but I think it's a pretty standard pattern.

It's obvious that I didn't sew the seam allowance exactly because there are absolutely not points in the zig-zags. Oh well, I still really love how it came out. And for some reason, I really thought quilting zig-zags would be really easy, but let me assure you, having to stop and start at all those points was a pain in the butt.

I decided to use the cream for the rest of the quilt because I ran out of the chocolate brown solid. I was hoping that they would have the same color at Joann's, but they didn't, so cream was the next best option. I actually like this a lot because it makes the binding stand out. This was also my first time using bamboo batting and I can only say good things about it. It is soft but not too fluffy and gives the blanket a really nice feel. I haven't washed it yet, so I suppose that'll be the final test.

There are some more pictures on my flickr, if you're interested. There will be a lot more sewing posts this week. My sewing machine and I have been busy!

Sheet Goodness

I've been waiting patiently all week for this box to arrive on my doorstep. I could hardly contain my excitement when I went to check to the mail today and it was there! These are the FQs I received from the Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap.

I'm not sure how many exactly there are, but there's probably about 40. I can't remember how many I sent. Anyway, I can't wait to put these to good use. Any ideas on what to make? I'm thinking there might be a quilt, but I'm not sure what else. And didn't Elizabeth do such a cute job of packing these up? She was quite the hostess, there were 72 swappers and over 2,300 FQs for her to sort through. Crazy, right? Thank you, Elizabeth!

Tonight's Plan

Finishing up this super late birthday present

and gearing up for a new season of Project Runway. Could the night get any better?!?!

Hooray!

Yesterday I took a trip to G-Street Fabrics and met up with a very bad influence, Stephanie. It took me a while to decide, but I ended up coming home with a brand new sewing machine!! I was nervous to bring it home to John, but he was nothing but supportive of my new baby.

It was a great deal too, 35% off (originally $1099, on sale for $699). I think the only stipulation of me keeping it, is that I have to sew my little butt off. I still am feeling a little guilt for spending so much money, but it was such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up. It is really nice to have a new machine and I am just dying to hone my free motion quilting skills. Stephanie and I tried to yesterday at the store and it was a lot harder than it looked! I worked on a very belated gift for my SIL today and I have to say that I really like sewing on this.

A little side note : if you are participating in the swap, I sent out e-mails today. If you didn't get one, please send me an e-mail at seekatieswap@gmail.com

Sweet Finds

A few weeks ago, I discovered a new thrift store near my house. I knew it existed, but since I avoid driving on the beltway, I waited until the perfect opportunity arose to explore. My parents and sister came to visit, and they're just the type of people that appreciate such places (unlike some, John...) To my surprise, we found that it is not one, but two thrift stores together, in the same building. What a find! I didn't pick up much, as I'm trying to limit the amount of crap treasures I'm bringing into the house. Anyway, I was very excited to find a huge bag of vintage fabrics. Usually I have to question what the people are putting together in the bags. More often than not, I end up bringing home 5 ugly pieces for just 1 good piece of fabric. But this bag was different. It was filled with all these fabrics, most of them more than likely being vintage. Only one has something printed on the selvedge, which I'm having a hard time reading. This bunch is my favorite. I'm hoping to use these for my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap.

And don't forget. There's still time to sign-up for the fabric/sheet swap. You never know, you might get one of these vintage fabircs ;)

Just a reminder...

Sign-ups for the Vintage Sheet & Fabric Square Swap end tomorrow. If you're interested in participating, please e-mail me at seekatieswap@gmail.com . I'll be back tomorrow to show off some thrifted, vintage finds!

Vintage Sheet/Fabric Charm Square Swap Sign-Ups

It looks like enough of you are interested in a swap, so here are the details :

You will be put together in groups of 11, with one person being the swap mama. Each of you will choose 20 different fabrics and cut 10 6" squares from each fabric. These 200 squares will be sent to your swap mama, who will organize all the squares and send them back out to the members of the group. You will also enclose return postage for the box back to you. For this swap, you may choose to send vintage sheets or fabric squares. If you have a major preference over which one, please note that in your sign-up and I will try to organize the groups accordingly however best I can.

Sign-ups will end July 11th. Send outs will be by August 18th.

If you'd like to join, please send an e-mail to seekatieswap@gmail.com with the following:

Name:
Address:
Blog/Flickr:
preference for sheets or fabric

Sheet Square Swap

If you're interested in participating in a Sheet Square Swap (or maybe just a fabric square swap, or both), please leave a comment on this post so I can get an idea if enough people are interested. If there's more than 10 people, I'd need to know if anyone else would be willing to be a "swap mama". Here's how the swap would work:

A group would consist of 11 people (10 + 1 swap mama). Each person in the group would choose 20 fabrics (or sheets) and cut 10 6" squares of each fabric. That would amount to a total of 200 squares. You send your squares to your swap mama, and she in turn, organizes and assembles the 200 squares for each member and sends them out. Last year I did this same swap but we did 500 squares. I loved getting all those fabrics, but it was definitely a lot of cutting. I think 20 is much more manageable.

Please note that this is NOT a sign up for the swap. I just want to get an idea of how many people are interested. If enough are interested, I'll have sign-ups close sometime next week and mail out deadlines at the end of July/ beginning of august. If you are interested, please let me know the following:
would you be interested in swapping vintage sheets or fabrics, or both?
Is 20 different fabrics too much or just right?
Are you interested in being a "swap mama"?

Thanks!

Spoonflower!

I was totally psyched when my invitation for Spoonflower came a few weeks ago. I'm sure all of you have heard about it by now, but for those who haven't, it's this awesome new website that allows you to design and have your own fabric printed. I immediately started drawing and trying to think of designs. I have to give a lot of credit to those that design entire lines of fabric because it is quite challenging (well at least for me!) Anyway, when I finally decided on a drawing, I took a picture and played around with it in Gimp. I'm no computer expert and exploring Gimp was a lot of fun and easy. It's a free computer program similar to Adobe Photoshop. When I was done, I ordered a FQ of my design and I impatiently waited for it to get here. When it came, it was nicely wrapped with a wonderful handwritten note. There would have been pictures of that too, had I not ripped into the package. I'm sure you would have done the same thing ;) So, It came out pretty well, although I do wish that I had payed attention to the scale markers on their website. It would have been better had it been a smaller repeat pattern.

I'm not sure if I'll order more of this. I am, however, looking forward to creating more designs. I am so excited for this website and I can't wait to see how it evolves. It would be great if you could eventually buy other designer's fabrics. As it stands right now, the cost to print your own fabric would not be really cost effective to sell by the yard. But we'll see. The website is only in its beginning stages and I've read a lot of other great raves and reviews on it.

Sheets

Summertime is definitely "swap season" for me. I don't know what is it about summer, but I participate in far more swaps during this time than any other time in the year. Anyway, I've finally gotten my act together for the Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap. I was surprised at how many vintage sheets I had around the house. Of course, that didn't stop me from buying a few more. Here's what I'll be sending in.

I can't wait to see what I receive. You can see what other people sent in here in the flick pool. There are so many good ones in there!

Cutting up all those fat quarters reminded me a lot of the best swap ever (right, Sarah?) That swap was really great and I'm still using up my squares. I was thinking, is anyone interested in swap squares of vintage sheets? I had a lot of sheets that weren't quite big enough for fat quarters. The past swap (with the squares), went something like : 10 people cut 10 squares from 50 different fabrics, so each person ends up with 500 squares. Obviously we could play around with the quantities and such. If there's enough interest, I would definitely organize one. Alright, enough rambling for today. I thought maybe I'd sew tonight, but my DVD player and I have a date tonight with Weeds. Thank you netflix :)

Thank you, Oregon!

Hello, friends. I am finally getting back into the swing of things after our fabulous vacation. Oregon was such a beautiful place and I only wish we had more time to spend there. We spent about 3.5 days in Salem, which was such a fun city. It is quite hard to believe that is it actually a city, with its wide roads and old western charm. I thought I had forgotten my camera during that leg of our trip, and subsequently I have no pictures of my own of Salem. On Tuesday, after the rest of our family left, John, Isaiah and I drove up the down the coast to Lincoln City to visit the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

It was such an amazing experience and so different from the beaches we know here on the east coast. We were driving through mountains and suddenly the ocean appeared. No indication that we were even close. The water was soooo cold there and we even walked the beach in sweaters (well John didn't).

Tuesday night we drove up to Portland and spent two nights there. Wednesday we visited Multnomah and Wahkeena Falls. Both equally gorgeous in their own ways. The view from the bridge at Multnomah was spectacular and breaktaking. I think I must have said "wow" at least a thousand times.

After spending the morning there, we drove back to Portland to visit the Oregon Zoo followed by a quick visit to Josephine's Dry Goods and Knit/Purl. And you probably wouldn't believe me, but I managed to walk out of both stores without buying a thing! We ended the night by taking Isaiah to a see the Portland Beavers, a triple A team with a beautiful park right in Portland.

Before we left Thursday morning, we managed to squeeze in a little time to visit Powell's. I sure wish we had more time to spend in that place. Isaiah didn't even want to leave!

It was such a memorable, wonderful trip that it was really hard to leave. The weather was especially great and we did not have one rainy or too cold/ too hot day. I'm sure we'll make another visit there again. There are just so many things to see and do that it was impossible to cram it all into a short period.

The flight back was equally beautiful. This picture of Mt. Hood was taken from the airplane on our way out. Gorgeous, right?

It is good to be back though. Hopefully I'll have time to get to some crafty things and check out what you have all been doing. There's at least 600 posts to catch up on!

And we're off...

This last week has been such a blur. I've been busy shopping, packing, and cleaning in preparation for this trip. This morning I scrubbed as much of the house as I could and now I'm exhausted. When I was a kid, I always hating getting ready for a trip, because it would mean my mom running around like a crazy person telling us we had to clean up the house. My sister and I never understood, always replying "why are you cleaning?!? We're not even going to be here." But Mom, I get it now. Although my house is usually messy, I don't want to come back to a mess. I can't bear the thought of having to vacuum those tiny Isaiah crumbs when I get back. It's funny how we turn into our moms, isn't it?

Anyway, we'll be gone about a week. Hopefully I'll get a chance to enjoy all the goodness Portland has to offer. Wish me luck on our long adventure tonight. We'll be getting in at 11pm, which will be 2 am our time. I hope Isaiah (and I) survive!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Portland

Hi Everyone! Part of my absence this last week is because I'm getting ready for a big trip across country to Portland, Oregon. I am soo excited, I can hardly contain myself. It'll be my first trip to the west coast. We're going to John's cousin's wedding and we'll be seeing family we haven't seen in a while. John and I decided to stay a few days longer to check out the area. So my friends, I need some suggestions of places to visit. We'd love to see some wineries, crafty places, and any good things to do with kids. We'll actually be in Salem, but we're hoping to spend some time in Portland too. Oh, and any one out there know a good babysitter?

catching up on DBJ

Thanks for all the suggestions yesterday! I am seriously looking into buying a new machine, but it's quite the task. There are so many machines out there that it really is hard to narrow it down. Since my machine is not in working order right now, I took the opportunity to finish up some more blocks for the Dear Baby Jane quilt. I am far behind, but I am making progress. I think the two top ones are my favorite so far. If you look closely at the top right block, you can see it's bunnies. How cute, right?

These are all my blocks together so far. Geez, it looks like I have 14 or so blocks to catch up on. Hopefully I can get a few more done tonight, I already have 2 more in progress. Guess it wasn't such a good idea to get so far behind!

grrr

Dear Sewing Machine,

I really don't like having to write these letters to you. It make me very angry. You have served me well for over 5 years and probably even longer for someone else. But why, oh why, do you have to stop working properly when I'm in the middle of a project?!?! It really makes me feel like tossing you aside for a new, more equipped machine. And I just may have to. So, if you want to stick around, could you please magically start working again? Pretty please?

Thanks
Your proud but upset owner,
Katie


So yeah, I think the timing is off on my machine. The question is, should I have it fixed, or should I buy a new machine. This is an older machine, probably from the 70s or 80s that my mom picked up at a garage sale for $20. It has worked great for me, but I think I'm ready to upgrade, and this may be just the excuse I need. Although I don't really have the money to fork over for a really expensive one (or one at all for that matter). Do you guys have any good machine suggestions??

On another note, I have updated some things to my etsy shop. There are a few Dopp Kits for Father's Day and today I'll be uploading some more left overs from my craft fair in April. You think it could have taken me long enough, right?

Etsy Buy Handmade katiejean

reorganized

Last week turned out to be a little unannounced hiatus. Yet another week has gone by with barely any sewing accomplished. On Memorial Day, I decided to reorganize my sewing/dining room, which including moving around furniture and a quick trip to IKEA. You have to love an excuse to go to IKEA, right? I bought these two tables for my sewing area. The higher one has adjustable legs, and the smaller one can fit right under it. Perfect for a small space. I also hung the two shelves on the wall and organized some of the smaller sewing items into the red bins.

Luckily my MIL helped me, not once but twice last week. I sorted through a lot of my fabric and am planning to have a garage sale this weekend to sell some of it. Everything else got refolded and placed in the existing bins on the white bookcase.

Of course, right after everything was organized I felt the urge to sew right at that moment, and now it's a mess again. But at least I have a new space to play in! I have more to show this week, I promise :)

Oh, and did anyone else have trouble with blogger this morning? It was really driving me nuts!