Mailbox and Basement Goodies!

Found something really fun in my mailbox this afternoon....a package from Amy of During Quiet Time! Her hubby does these amazing lathe turned seamrippers and Amy...the creative genius of the family...does EVERYTHING including printing on fabric!
Look at the adorable buttons she has on her business cards....go check out her blog and see for yourself....so much goodness....made During Quiet Time!:)

Last weekend...before the Earthquake and Hurricane...we went down to visit my folks...brought dad a lot of wood and trims....took home a bunch of treasures!

These two chairs were hanging in the garage..."Dad...can I have them?" YEP!:) Haven't decided if I am going to strip them or paint them...I have time.

There was one other chair hanging in the garage...

...the one on the right...awesome yes?:) I took the other one out of dad's workshop...I think it was the one he took his breaks on...I replaced it!:) I love all the bits of paint still on that one. I think I'll go ahead and finish stripping the other one. Check out the turnbuckle on the green one!

We brought home one other treasure....this bench that dad refinished for me...it is part of a banquet we took out of Don's granddaddy's house in Hampton, VA. Was this dreadful peach color...dad worked hard taking off many layers of paint. The seat lifts up for storage....this one and the mate are going in our mudroom. Thanks DAD!:) xoxo

See the little treasure sitting on top of the bench? That's the awesome quilt I received from my secret partner Kristy (Love Old Houses)at Doll Quilt Swap 11!

It's only 10 3/4" square! Those are some itty bitty HSTs!! Kristy included the squares from her first idea. I think I was a winner either way she went with this quilt!;) Thanks Kristy!

What to see another treasure in our basement?

Yep...it's a sailboat. Red and white with an aqua interior and a natural mast...love it!;) Maybe one day we'll take it out on the water!!

Lastly...these have been mailed to the boy....I wanted to try to make something that he and his band mate's could sell at their shows along with their LPs and t-shirts. I drew the owl/Hold Tight! on Paint and printed it on fabric and the skull...the boy drew that. I scanned it and put the band's name in the eye sockets...a few bits of scraps....some ribbon, a keyring...voila...Hold Tight! key fobs! They can always give them away too!:)

~d

Trees and Houses and Gourds...Oh MY!:)

Been playing with my bitties again...now I am all caught up...not a bitty left to be sewn together...PHEW!

November 2010 the Bitty Block Committee made houses...adorable houses....they hung in a bunch from my bulletin board. February we made trees...so freaking cute....they hung next to the houses. Until this past week! I was going to try to come up with some cute neighborhood with a cul-de-sac and an orchard and the Big Woods and Nob Hill for the (s)n0bbier neighborhood but in the end kept it simple...I'm glad I did!:) Plus it was going to end up huge! I made the castle block.

Around the same time we were doing the trees one of the group...who will remain nameless cause she is a trouble-maker...Flossieblossoms...had this wacky idea rolling around in her head and thus was born Out of Our Gourds! Each of us picked a veg and made it human....here is the motley lineup:

Billy the Kidney Bean (Quiltinkimmie)

Carroty Kid (Sandy in Buenos Aires)

Ludwig von Beet-hoven (Ruthiequilts)

Alexander the Grape (the crazy person)

Melon-y Griffith (EdyB1)

Tina Turnip (Fingers, Inc)

Lima Minnelli (LethargicLass)

Pablo Pea-casso (Spiced Coffee)

Beety Boop (Sewjo)

Black Scallion (Lucyellen06)

Dr. Pepper (me)

Squash Buckler (Marilynkb)

Grapeful Dead (Nanotchka)

Abraham Lin-corn (Hohnstreiterrific)

I printed the names on some fabric and put that next to each veggie because I figured we all weren't up to figuring them out...heheheh!:) Thanks Ladies!!!

So...now I am all caught up....I'm hoping to convince the gang that we need to do a bathroom theme...can't you see it...toothbrushes, tubs and toilets...OH MY!:)

On the Doll Quilt Swap 11 front I'm finished. I wasn't feeling it...I mean I really like it but it was outside my comfort zone being new to paper piecing so I'm not really satisfied with my workmanship. Everyone at DQS was so encouraging that I'm going to send it on. Hope my partner likes it!:)

Just for fun I made this little colorful thing out of some Makower Sew scraps that I brought home from work. I was just having fun sewing these weirdly cut strips together adding some Meadowsweet on the outside...looked cute as individual blocks....now I see from the photo that the Meadowsweet wasn't a great idea cause there are some wacky zig zags going on there! Alas I still think it is cute and was going to send it to one of my online buddies....think I still should?:)

~d

DQS 11 Peek et al!

Yep, it's Doll Quilt Swap 11 time and I was lucky enough to make the lottery. This round we are going back to their roots and making a true doll quilt using multiple repeating blocks...no art quilts. Above is the label for this wee quiltie...

...and this is the peek...4" Hexie Stars!;) So much fun...might even make a bigger quilt one day...of course with bigger stars! This is a secret swap so my partner has no idea this is for her...hope she likes it!

I just finished a One-on-One swap with the lovely Mandy from Australia. She made a mini she called girl pals for someone else and I begged her to do a swap with me and she graciously agreed. Lucky me!!:)

This is what will be winging it's way to Australia tomorrow...it's 9x12...the perfect size to fit in a mailer without folding! Hope you like it Mandy...that is if you peek!:)

Here is another peek of a couple of blocks from my secret project...I'm just having TOO much fun!;)

~d