PERKY PETAL PROJECT...FINISHED!

This morning I finished the pillow back.  I was going to go out today and buy a 14" pillow (the size this cover needs).  However, I received an email this morning from Nancy Zieman about the 2015 Pillow Challenge she is running.  Not wanting to delay my entry, I stuffed a 16" pillow into the 14" cover.  The pillow is nice and firm (which I like), but the back envelope closure is pulling (which I don't like, lol).  I haven't decided if I am going to use this as a pillow, or if I am going to put 3M hangers on the back and hang it on my wall.  If I decide to use it as a pillow I will buy the appropriate form, lol. 

Voting in the contest begins on March 7th and ends on March 14th.  If anyone cares to vote for my pillow I would sincerely appreciate your support.  I would imagine you can access the voting on Nancy's website. (The link is on the right side of my webpage, near the top!)
 
Toodles...

MORE PERKY PETAL PROJECT...

Last week I was doodling some FMQ designs for the petals of my project. 

Today I quilted the design onto my petals.  On the first petal I drew the design with disappearing purple marker and tried to follow the lines.  It was actually MUCH easier just doing it free flow, so that is how I quilted the rest of the petals.  Unfortunately, the understated same-color thread I chose is impossible to see in a photo. 

After outlining the flower I used a loopy meandering pattern to quilt the background blocks.  I used a bright green called Lichen to do the quilting.  I may need a bit more practice with my loopy meander (I kept looping myself into a corner, lol) but I am really happy with how the project looks so far!  With this project I wasn't striving for perfection, just fun playing!

Tomorrow I hope to make the pillow backing for it.  I will hold off on sewing it together until my beading needles arrive and I determine if I want to add any more "bling".  This project has been completely "design as you go" (with the exception of the beading,,,I could SEE that in my head) and I am having a ball just "winging it".  It is making me HAPPY!  Goodness knows we could all use a bit more HAPPY in our lives!

Toodles...

FRUGAL FOCUS FEBRUARY (2/1/15)...

My goal for 2015 was to live a more deliberate, "thinking" lifestyle in order to reach our long-term goals.  Well, that was the INTENTION beginning January 1, 2015.  Unfortunately, an overabundance of family health issues, and feeling like "donkey doo-doo" most of the month, meant that my focus was otherwise occupied.  But, NO MORE!  It is time to FOCUS on FRUGALITY, paying down debt and increasing savings!

To keep my "eye on the prize" I made my own little vision board...my "dream house", my "dream studio" (Marcia's studio at grammyquilts.blogspot.com) and my "almost dream sewing machine".  I say "almost dream" because there is a newer, INCREDIBLE machine put out by BabyLock, but I question if I would spend the amount of money necessary to purchase it even if I had MILLIONS!  For now, a few steps up the sewing machine ladder will be my "dream".  

 

Yesterday morning I began my day with a quick shower.  I take a shower every day, and since I was not doing any physical labor...how dirty can I be?  I took the equivalent of a Navy shower with a hand made cotton washcloth (which is wearing like iron...much better than terry washcloths) and a shower gel that cost me $.25 for the bottle.  CHEAP!  I washed my hair with free shampoo and after drying off completely, slathered my dry skin with free lotion.  I then brushed my teeth with a free toothbrush from my dentist and toothpaste I had gotten free with a doubled coupon. 

Next, I made my breakfast...free coffee in a reusable K-cup (I turned the Keurig off immediately after brewing to reduce phantom draw) and a free pastry (a snack given to us by a relative). 

Since the weathermen were calling for another snow storm, Dear Hubby and I made a trip to our local Shop Rite to restock the house with food and other necessities.  Although I find some of ShopRite's  prices a bit high...their sales are PHENOMENAL!  Our best buys of the day were a pound of coffee for 8 cents, a package of napkins for 8 cents, a free prescription refill for Dear Hubby and one for me!  There were tons of other items on sale, but these were the true stand-outs.  Of note, Dear Hubby and I did the shopping ourselves because of the impending weather system.  In the future, no matter the weather, we will PAY to have the order delivered to our home!  The pain we suffered after our shopping definitely warranted the cost of delivery!  Frugality is saving money to spend it where you want or need... and delivery is definitely a NEED!

When we got home I scanned our receipt into ReceiptHog.  ReceiptHog is an online app that gives points for receipts scanned.  When I reach 1000 points I will qualify for a reward.  I have to shop anyway, so why not spend the few seconds needed to scan in the receipt?  Even if it takes a while to achieve, the reward in my pocket is still FREE!

 

Last evening I spent a couple of hours searching for the "bunny" in the 111 shops participating in the Fab Shop Hop.  For every bunny you find, you are entered into a drawing for a gift from that shop...in addition to some other wonderful prizes.  I have been participating in the Fab Shop Hop for several months now and have won several prizes.  I am very thankful to the shop owners who participate and give away such great prizes, especially when those prizes help me to continue sewing/quilting for the least amount of money possible.  

As soon as the Superbowl was over (sob, Seattle lost, sob) I climbed into bed...exhausted...but proud of my frugal accomplishments.  More tomorrow...

Toodles...

A SNEAK PEEK OF BEADY BLING...

LOL.  Okaaay...I'll be nice, lol........

Not perfect...but I'm okay with that.  It took me a good long while, but it was FUN...and I only needed 3 Band-Aids!  I think I will avoid sharp objects for a while, though, LOL.

Toodles...

CRAFT ROOM STORAGE...

If you do any type of sewing, quilting or crafting you know that finding an organized, cheap and accessible method of storing your supplies is not easy.

As a design element in my Perky Petal Project, I decided I wanted a bit of beaded "bling" added to the flower center.

When I was a kid in the '60s, beading was all the rage and I had a good supply of beading supplies.  Over the years, however, all of my embellishments were given away or trashed.  If I wanted to add a bit of "bling" to my project I was going to have to buy some supplies.  Using the LAST of my free gift cards I ordered an assortment of seed beads from Amazon.  Unfortunately, the clasp on the plastic box is not very tight and I had visions of my craft room strewn with teeny, tiny flecks of color.  I DO have a problem with dropping things! 

Wanting to keep all of my beading supplies in one place, I went searching through my stash of "containers" for something big enough to hold my new assortment and any other beads I may purchase in the future.  I found this plastic container that I have had for YEARS.  Controlled hoarding is a GOOD thing!

As a diabetic, I always keep a supply of glucose tablets in my purse and in both cars.  A low sugar spell can be dangerous and feels HORRIBLE!  After I empty a container of tablets, I remove the label and wash out the tube.  I have been tossing them into a box in my craft room closet.   I knew for sure I would find a problem that could be solved by these little tubes!

I placed my assorted beads and my supply of tubes into the plastic box.  As I buy more beads I will store them in the tubes.  I still have room to add several more empty tubes.

Over the weekend I began adding a little bit of beading to my project.  An online tutorial advised wetting your finger and dipping it into the beads, and then transferring the tiny little things to the sticky end of a post-it.  Their advice works wonderfully.  Since I don't have "beading needles", I have been using a small generic needle I found in my sewing box.  It isn't quite thin enough and there have been a lot of seed beads that won't fit over the eye of the needle.  I've been dropping them into a small Altoids tin to keep from trying the same beads over and over again.  Annoying, for sure.  I have beading needles on order, lol.

Everything fits well into the plastic box, but I needed something to keep the loose fitting lid closed.  I searched through my ribbons for something I could use to hold my beading kit shut.

With a few quick measurements, a bit of Liquid Stitch to hold the two ribbons together, and some free elastic I made a strap to hold everything in place.

My beading kit is cute, organized and "available" whenever I want to stitch a little beady goodness onto my sewing/quilting projects.  If I hadn't saved this plastic box years and years ago, I would not have had the perfect container to corral my supplies!

So, the moral of the story?  Save any and all decent containers that you find throughout your home.  Hoarding these little gems can provide the perfect storage for craft items and save TONS of money as you work to make your craft room neat and organized!

ME AND HERCULE...

Poirot, that is.  Like one of my favorite Agatha Christie characters, I, too, am drawn to things that are symmetric, perfect, and precise.  As a child I can remember "playing school" with my friends and ripping out page after page of writing when I found too many "mistakes".  Even my play had to conform to my strict standards!  At age SIX!  While neatness and perfectionistic tendencies can be a good thing (and are probably the reason my "little gray cells" did so well in school), they can also prevent one from venturing outside of the perfect and precise.  Ahem...ME...to a "T".

 However...I wasn't always so stifled.  The revelation that necessity really is the mother of invention (and creativity) had once led me to transform a cold and empty house into a home!  As a newlywed, I busied myself making our new house a warm and comfortable place to live.  We were on a tight budget and couldn't afford to buy furniture for more than our bedroom, kitchen and family room...and the family room consisted of only a sofa and loveseat.  No tables, no lamps...nothing.  The other rooms sat empty.  But it was "ours" and we loved it.  If I wanted our home "decorated", I would have to do it myself.  I painted, added trim to plain bath and kitchen towels, sewed curtains, and handcrafted almost all of our Christmas gifts.  My sewing machine, glue gun and paint brushes were in constant use.  I was "crafty" (as my mom would say) and loved the way my "personal touches" made the house warm and inviting.  Everywhere I looked, I saw me...peeking out from items lovingly crafted for our home.  I never saw "mistakes", only the love I poured into each item. 

Fast forward QUITE a few years, lol.  Our income grew, we moved to a bigger house and my free time diminished.  Life got in the way.  LIFE, mind you...not living.  I stopped crafting things for our home, and turned to mass produced, store bought items instead.  The decor in our house was "picture perfect"...always symmetric, coordinated and precise.  And if something I bought didn't meet my "high standards"?  I sent it back.  Only the "perfect" came into our house.  Our house looked great, but "making a home" was lost in the shuffle.   

Then, a little over three years ago I retired.  I once again had time for crafting...and I really wanted to learn to make quilts...WELL.  Unfortunately, the perfectionism that had grown over the years made the learning curve tough to handle.  I cannot begin to count the projects that I tossed midway through because my technique wasn't up to par.  Every quilt I gifted to my family came with an explanation of each and every little mistake I saw glaring back at me.  They didn't see mistakes, only the love I poured into the quilt.  It was me who had the problem. 

While my first several projects were quilted using the embroidery module on my Baby Lock (perfect and precise, you know), I wanted a variety and personalization that I couldn't find in "canned" patterns.  Much like the decorating in my home over the last 20+ years, I was limited to the vision of the designer.  But I wanted the freedom to BE the designer!  I wanted the visions in my head to exist in reality like they had in our first home so many years ago.  However, to accomplish this variety, I needed to learn Free Motion Quilting!  I tried.  Oh, how I tried.  With my hands on the sandwich and my foot on the pedal, I felt like I was jumping from a bike to a Ferrari.  Everything was moving way too fast and nothing I did was symmetric, perfect or precise!  Ahhhhh... Palpitations!

With practice, my FMQ improved some and I began to look for new and interesting designs to add to my projects.  And you know what?  I realized something REALLY important as I surfed the net.  Not all of the quilts I was seeing online were a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y perfect!  I could see a wobble here, a long stitch there.  And the thread painting and raw edge applique I saw over and over again consisted of wobbly lines, crossovers and every other "mistake" that set my teeth on edge.  Yet these women and men seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed creating their projects and were proud enough of their work to post it online!!  And it was PRETTY!  Maybe perfection isn't always necessary?  Maybe it ISN'T the outcome that is as important as the enjoyment of the process?!?  Huzzah!  Finally, a fact that rang true!

SO...  A few weeks ago I pulled some charm squares from my stash and set about to have some FUN!  I limited myself to only stash fabrics, hoping that once again necessity would beget creativity.  And it did!  As my project progressed I was having more and more FUN and finding more and more satisfaction in the outcome.  Today I put on my FMQ gloves and tried my hand at the imbalanced, imprecise, imperfect FMQ I had seen on line.  And you know what (again, lol)???  I LOVE IT and can't wait to do more!!!!!!  Oh, and I'm hoping to add a little bit of "beady" bling to the center of each circle!

What have I learned?  Life isn't about "obtaining".  It's about "living".  It isn't always about the "outcome".  It's about the "PROCESS".  And...if we cut ourselves enough slack...we may have more fun than we ever thought possible.  Relax.  Live.  Enjoy!

ORGANIZING LEFTOVER BINDING...

As quilters, we ALL have leftover scraps of binding after we complete a project!  I hate to admit it, but up until recently I had simply thrown away the leftovers, figuring I would never have a use for such small amounts of binding.  I know...I'm sorry  :o(

Then I learned about mug rugs, mini quilts, pieced bindings, etc.  There are so many uses for these tiny leftover bits!   So, I began to collect my leftovers in a small jar...but they were so MESSY LOOKING!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I. CAN'T. STAND. MESS!  What to do? 

A really CUTE solution was waiting for me at the Sizzix website!

After Christmas I began buying quilting supplies and fabric to use up the money left on numerous gift cards (set to expire in early 2015).  When I saw this shape cutting die I knew it would be PERFECT to corral all of my binding scraps, and my leftover pieces of ribbon!  I popped it into my shopping cart, paid using a free gift card and waited anxiously for my package to arrive.

This morning I used my die to cut a handful of "spools" out of card stock, and began measuring and winding my bindings.  I wrote all of the measurements in pencil so it would be easy to reuse my spools a few times before they became dogeared.

I secured the binding ends with a safety pin and dropped the spools into a large metal clasped container.   My bindings will stay safe, dust-free and, most importantly, AVAILABLE whenever I need just a small amount of binding to finish a sewing or quilting project.

Because I have more spools cut than binding leftovers, I used two large paperclips to secure the spools together and taped them to the underside of the container...without taping directly to the card stock.  I could have dropped the paper-clipped spools into the container with the bindings, but I don't want to have to go digging through my nicely wrapped binding every time I need another spool.  Had there been more leftover spools I probably would have placed them in a small clear bag and taped it to the lid.  Time will tell which method works best, but for now I have organized yet one more small item in my sewing room.  Another 2015 goal gets checked off the list!!!