Ten Day {It's Raining, It's Pouring}

It's still raining.  Which means the lighting hasn't been great for working on projects or taking photos of them for that matter.  So, I leave you with ten recent snaps from my camera... while I work on shaking off this funk.

Spooky Ghost Socks

Do you want to make a spooky sock ghost for your pup?  I bet you do... it's as easy as grabbing three socks that are ready to be turned into rags and a pair of scissors.   

(I know I show four socks in the picture, but I was able to make these with only three. Oh, I used the mister's old socks ... so they were nice and big!)

Take one of the socks and cut it in half the long way... like so.

Tie knots in the two halfs.  These are going to become ghost stuffing, so don't worry about how they look.  The knots give them a nice texture for chewing.

Shove the sock knots into another sock and push down to the toe.  Then also stuff this sock with the third sock.  These create the ghost head.

Cut off the bottom part of the sock and use that loop to twist around the ghost head (almost like a hair tie around a pony tail).  And last, feel free to draw a face on the sock -- which I know isn't for anyone but me.  Puppies don't seem to mind these with or without a face.

Then, find a cute puppy to share it with!!

Hmmm, which ghost should Katie pick?

And here are the spooky toys in action. 

They crack me up!!!  Hope you are having a wonderful Monday!

X Marks the Spot {done!}

This journey with Fandango fabric all started here.

But when we last left off... I was talking about quilting.  Next up was to square off the quilt.  With my batting being about 90 x 120 inches I realized my quilt was bigger than my batting.  Quick fix really.  I cut off three inches all the way around the quilt.  Finished size is about 90 by 90 square.

I put my cutting mat on the floor and chopped the piano key border in half.  And I must admit I like it much better this way!!

Then, I made up the binding.  It's a mix of this turquoise fabric and scraps from the boarder I cut off.  LOVE!!

The fabric is called Jewels of the Sea by Lonni Rossi for Andover Fabrics.  It's a good one!!

Then, I machine stitched the binding to the front.  And finished off the back with hand sewing.  Love that we got a bit of chilly weather over the weekend that made it fantastic to cuddle under a quilt in progress!

And here she is!!  X Marks the Spot.  All finished.  Fresh from the wash... and has already made her first trek out of the house to a quilt guild meeting.  

I have adored these colors from the start... something fresh and renewing about them.  Reminds me a bit of the changing seasons and it's funny how I could say this is really so spring with the bright yellow.  Or so summer with that amazing deep turquoise... but at the same time those peaches remind me of the leaves starting to change colors.  Funny how a quilt can have so much personality.

It seemed only fitting to take pictures of this quilt in the woods as I am entering it in the Celebrate Color party over at Stitched in Color.

I did minimal quilting.  It's hard to see but I have loose wiggly lines through the centers of each row... creating another x marks spot through each block.  It's simple and doesn't take away from the pattern or fabrics.

The back is pieced from scraps left over.  A few blocks here, a few big pieces of fabric there.  And I even made another X.  Cool, right?

Here you can see some of the binding .... mmmm... scrappy binding!!

And yes, have no fear... this quilt was quality control tested by the girls before it went out.

Katie approves!

Sammy, on the left, thinks it's pretty cool too!

And there you have it!!  Finished and ready to be loved!  This quilt was made for my sewing space... and I can see many sewing sessions with this cutie on my lap.  The quilt... not the dogs.

XOXO!

I will also be linking up with Fabric Tuesday over at Quiltstory for a little show and tell!

Mail Call!! {Thank you, Anita and Kelly!}

I also got a package recently from the amazing gals (and pups) over at Rhinestone Beagle.  A short while back we all got to celebrate their 100 follower milestone and I was the lucky winner of their incredible giveaway. 

Just look at the amazing package I got to open!  (apologizes for the bad lighting, but I was so excited to dig in)

Swoon!!  Notions and fabric, and buttons, and yarn goodies, a squishy owl, and handmade cards, and ricrac, and the coolest lion on a bag with an amazing quote EVER!  I'm feeling totally spoiled!!

Katie and Sammy even shared in the fun with awesome dog jerkies from Sadie, Mr. Biscuit, and Gidget.  They say a huge THANKYOU nom nom nom!!!  Here they are smiling for a treat.

I have to laugh at how serious Sammy gets when anything food is involved.

Here is a better shot of the front of the bag. 

I got to pick out my own animal to personalize the bag... and picked a lion.  And it's incredible and regal!!  And that quote just makes everyone smile! 

It reads, "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. --Aristotle"

SWOON!!

Oh, look what got packed into the bag?  Is that X Marks the Spot all finished and fresh from the dryer?  And where might that lovely be off to?  A quilting guild meeting?  Oh maybe?!

Looks good in there, doesn't it?  The handles were the perfect length for a large quilt too!!  And I got so many compliments at the meeting on my now quilt bag!!

And?  Guess what?  I will also have the pleasure of teaming up with these amazing ladies (and their pups) for a Spooktacular Craftathon in October.  Awesome right?  I'll let you know more when I have a date for my guest post :)

Ok, and yes, I will even show you the latest finish, Ms. X Marks the Spot..... tomorrow.

Sweet dreams!

Confetti: Dog Path in the Woods {part I}

You may remember my small art quilt titled Confetti? 

Well, it recently re-inspired me to search (and I don't always know where I'm headed) through the internet.  Searching the words 'confetti' and 'quilt'... and then later 'thread painting'... well, I'm still not sure of the path I took, but I landed on this incredible video featuring Noriko Endo on an episode of Simply Quilts.  Noriko is an amazing thread painting artist and quilt maker.  Seriously ahh-mazing!

Go watch her youtube video... there are actually three of them; here are links to the second and third ones, and then come back and tell me that you aren't incredibly inspired.

I was so inspired that I ran out for tulle asap and dug right into my first project.  I started by picking my photo...which I will show in a minute...and then picking corresponding scraps in the colors of the photo.

Since this technique uses fabric 'confetti' I started to make my own little palette piles.  Noriko shows using a rotary cutter... I simply used scissors to get the toothpick shaped pieces.

I assembled a backing and batting which would be my 'canvas.'  So giddy at this point!!!

Here is the picture I am trying to translate to fiber.  Any surprise that it's the woods and the pups? 

I didn't think so.  Since I practically live there in those woods and spend every free moment with those pups.

So here, we go.  Time to strategically sprinkle those confetti bits onto the canvas to create fiber magic!  I admit, I started out a bit careful and hesitant. 

It took a bit to relax, but when I did, I found myself not only having a lot of fun, but also that the colors were nicely placed.  Somehow the chaos was translating into something meaningful.

Aside: are you noticing a theme in my art lately?  Chaos seems to have firm control --- and I like it !!

I took another glance at my arrangement next to the picture.  Hmm... messy and mostly not recognizable.  Scary, but I kept pushing through before I could mentally bailout.

The next step is to cover the confetti arrangement with tulle.  Noriko recommends black tulle.  Of course I couldn't find black tulle, so took a chance with this light gray. 

It also took everything I had not to drape this on Sammy as a wedding veil.  Although, I still might at some point.

Ok, tulle is on and pinned in place.

I began my free motion quilting or thread painting.  I blocked out the bigger shapes like rocks and tree trunks and also did a line around the outer edge to hold in all those little scraps in an off white thread.  That was a good move as it allowed me to remove all the pins.

Then it was color time.  Lots of greens.

I'm not sure if you can see the difference, but I made swirls of green in all the forest and moss areas.

Here is the doodle after I added a lot of brown for the dirt/rocky/mossy/leafy path and some tree trunks.

Ok.  I admit I got to this point about two weeks ago and stopped.  Normal creating dislike sunk in.  I found it silly and bad.  I had thoughts of throwing it out.  It was my cue to myself to put the piece aside and let it simmer in my brain a few days.

And, thank goodness for simmering.... I'm in love again.  Renewed vigor!!  I have since done a bit more coloring... and I felt like it was time to start adding the pups.  I have cut them out of a textured white fabric and am pretty excited to add them on and keep on rolling.

Looking forward to sharing part II of this journey shortly!!  Oh, and I have to laugh... I have already picked out the next picture I want to stitch and decided that it will be even bigger.

Happy smiling and stitching!

{Dog Path quick update!}
{Dog Path in the Woods Completed!}