my fabric is staring at me

and saying quilt me! (or maybe that's the fever talking)

unfortunately that wont be happening anytime soon. I've been ridiculously sick. I take care of 2- 2 year olds and they've both had colds. They decided to share the love and give it to me. I spent all day yesterday in a fever induced haze.

I'm feeling alot better today but still pretty sick. I want to get back to normal. I want my apartment clean and work on some projects.

eh, getting healthy first is more important. I hope everyone else is having a better start to their weekend

the dollar a yard store

So when I went on my quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to go to another town about 15 minutes away and go to this fabric store. Well that's a loose term because it's not what you would traditionally think of when you hear fabric store and they sell clothes and belts and some other random stuff.

They get the fabric donated from the manufacturers sell it for .99 cents a yard and all the profits go to Shriner's Children hospital. So it's a total win-win. I get some awesome fabric and money gets donated to a very worth cause.

The whole places is like 5 or 6 different rooms in a little shopping area. There's cottons, rayon's,homespun's, dress fabrics, upholstery fabrics,buttons, laces,zippers, patches and just a huge variety of fabrics. You have to be willing to sort through it all,but it's a total treasure hunt. Most of the fabrics are on bolts but there's a couple of rooms with just boxes of random pre-cut fabrics.

Here's the fabric I ended up buying. The fabric on the left is a pre-cut piece I found that's about a yard. I think I'm going to turn it into a couple of scarfs. The fabric on the fight is gong to be turned into a table cloth and maybe some napkins.

Morning Fog Lifter

getting ready to baste, taking up my whole living room floor

There's this great coffee roasting company from near my home town and they make this great coffee bean called Morning fog lifter. My mom drinks it and turned me on to it and I think originally my grandma drank it. I have great memories of both my grandma and my mom grinding the beans, drinking their coffee and reading the morning paper.

I started collecting fabric for

a coffee themed quilt a few years ago from a now closed quilt shop here in San Francisco called black cat quilts. When I went to my first quilt retreat back in 2008 I grabbed the fabric and a pattern I got from another favorite quilt shop call Quiltin Cousins in Pismo Beach, Ca. With a few fabrics my mother-in-law let me raid from her stash I had fabric for a top.

3 years later I finally finished and gave it to my mom. Here it is:

Front

back

I love how it turned out and my mom loves it, so all in all a job well done

Memory Monday

This was a Christmas present from 2009 for my Mother-in-law. I used fabric from a variety of charm packs and this tutorial from V&Co.

Quilt Retreat

The room we were sewing in, there were about 22 women total

So the weekend of New Years I got a bee in my bonnet that I would like to go to the quilt retreat that my mother-in-law goes to every year. The problem(s)being that I had to work the Friday that it was starting and I had no idea if there were still any spots open.

well after asking my boss Monday if there was any way I could ge

t Friday off, I didn't find out until Wednesday that I could.I couldn't call the fabric store until late Wednesday night,after they closed. Well I found out Thursday Morning that indeed that still had a spot open. I got off at 5:30 Thursday evening, went home and frantically packed . left a little after 7:00 and got to the hotel at Midnight. I was so excited.

Other than finishing my moms quilt (I had no idea how long that would take)I had no idea what I would work on so I just grabbed a bunch of different potential projects. Well by the end of Friday I had my moms quilt quilted and the binding almost finished.

After finsihing my moms quilt Saturday I worked on my block for my swap and thats about all I got done that day. I ended up with a migraine and it took me forever to do one little block.

I ended up at the hotel for a nap to try and sleep it off. I got back in time

for dinner, a variety of soups and home made bread made by the owner of the shop. There was turkey chili,zucchini basil and my favorite baked potato. There was recipe cards for all the soups that I grabbed. I didn't think to take a picture until it was too late but I'll post the recipes another day.

Over all the retreat was amazing, the fabric shop has mostly older lines of fabric and sells everything for $6.00 a yard. I found some great pieces and even got some Kona solids. I finally figured out what to do with this fabric

We also got to a place that I guess is fabric store,everything is $1.00 a yard!!! That is a post all of its own though.

Ok this is long enough. On to the pictures...

Part of The Creation Station

Some of the fabric I got, love the one on the far right, I'm just sad that I was only able to get half a yard, the very last piece in the store.

my name tag and the cute little tote my mom gave me for my birthday

3 log cabin blocks i started for a table runner for a friend

Sneak peak for Robyn in Australia

Here is a sneak peak of my January Block for Block Swap adventures. My partner asked for a Friendship scrap block and the colors to be burgundy and creams. I worked on this at the retreat and boy did I have a hard time. I had a headache that turned into a migraine and I kept having to rip out seams like 2 or 3 times, I like the final product, but I hope she likes it.

by the numbers

1 Brown bag retreat

1 quilt completed and given to my mom (1 UFO off my list)

1 scrappy friendship block completed for block swap adventures

3 delicious peanut butter cookies eaten (2 more than I should of had, but so worth it)

3 days spent at this fabric shop

3 log cabin blocks started for a table runner

5 note cards finished for a friend (a very very late holiday gift)

5 family members hastily seen on my way out off town ,but i got hugs and my moms yummy food soooo worth it

18 yards of fabric bought (its alot, but there's a story)

25 women, some new and some old acquaintances

240 inches of binding sewn (oh boy was that a project)

572+ miles driven

lots of projects shared and memories made. I'll write a full post sometime this week with the full rundown. I even have recipes to share! Happy Monday

Memory Monday

These are from 2009, November I believe. I had a bridal shower and a baby shower on the same day if I remember correctly.

The brides colors were black, white and cranberry red. I took a photo album I had laying around and found this great print in my stash, I covered the album using spray adhesive. I bought some coordinating ribbon and voila a great wedding album.

The batik is a nursing cover and I had a hard time getting a decent picture of it. She was having a boy so I was trying to find something not too girly but still something the mom would enjoy wearing. I was happy with the result

Memory Monday

There's a few projects that I've finished that never made it on here that I thought I would post. Here's one of the only (if not the only) UFO projects I got completed in 2010. It was a housewarming present for some friends who bought there first house in the summer of 2009. I finished it in February of 2010

It's a table runner with a set of 4 napkins

This was a quilt as you go project and the pattern was inspired by a wonky french braid coupon clutch I had seen on Jaybird Quilts

Black Bean Dip

pretend there's a picture here. I forgot when it came out of the oven and then there was none left

I make this dip for the new years pot luck my church had last night. It's a go to recipe for parties, it's easy, quick and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand.

I got it from this book. The book is amazing, the principles in it have changed my thinking on so many things about being a woman of God, a wife and my home. It's actually a small group that we do a couple of times a year through my church and I'm hoping next time we do it I can host in my home. which will just make my heart so happy for so many reasons. It's written by Devi Titus and Marilyn Weiher which I have had the pleasure of meeting. They are such amazing and inspiring women of God.

Pittsburgh-Super bowl black bean dip with gold tortillas

1/2 chipotle peppers

3 cups cooked black beans (canned are fine)

1 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

12 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

grated cheese (Monterey jack and cheddar)

Puree chipotle peppers and half the black beans in a food processor

Combine pure with remaining ingredients except great cheese

Place in heatproof containers

Top with grated jack and chddar cheese and heat in oven or microwave till bubbly hot ( i usually do it at 350 for about 30-40 minutes)

Enjoy! this is always a crowd pleaser and there's very rarely leftovers. I sometimes use this as a base for a nacho bar and put out guacamole,lettuce, tomatoes and some ground beef mixed with taco seasoning and cheese, delicious!