Beauty Unseen

Have you ever just closed your eyes and tried to see the real beauty around you. Like the sun on your face, the breeze through your hair or the singing of the birds, the smell of the flowers, the laughter of a child, the softness of a kind word? Or did it take you somewhere further? Our Project Quilting Challenge this week was to be inspired by an amazing woman Annie Young. She's a painter, but not any painter she is blind. So, I read her blog, watched her videos and I had to put myself in her world and I was taken to a place I have never been. It made me ask myself "Does it  really matter if the bedspread matches the carpet or curtains, or if there is crown molding around the walls, or what color I'll wear today?" Unseen Beauty, This is what I named my project this week. I named it that because the MOST BEAUTIFUL of all things can't been seen at all, and that is LOVE, Many spend too much time worry about all the little things (they are just things) in our life that don't really even matter when we should be focusing on the most important things, that aren't things at all!!! So I wrote a little ditty to go with my piece this week.

Unseen Beauty!
Like rain to the flowers,
Is love to our souls.
Sow seeds of kindness,
and a beautiful garden you'll grow!

I chose this particular painting of Annie's for my inspiration because I thought the colors live in such great harmony and I wanted to keep it simple. I think that sometimes the simplest of things are the most beautiful. I used the batik with dots to look like rain, but I had to piece the backing to get 2 dots to come together to form the heart, which is the Beauty hidden within that could easily go unseen. 
They changed it up a little this week, and are asking everyone to vote. Our projects had to be posted by midnight Saturday the 9th, so I suppose the voting will start then or early Sunday morning. I'll be back with the link to that when it's up and running. I have nothing to link to right now. So if you would be so kind and go vote for your favorite.Also I'd like to remind you that you can  join in on this wonderful quilting challenge at any time.

  Today's post is brought to you the wonderful host of Project Quilting, Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams

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Hello everyone!  This is Kim from Persimon Dreams, and I’m so happy to be here sharing some exciting Project QUILTING news with you.  We are currently in the midst of Season 4.  The first two challenges inspired over 100 quilts to be created – so amazing!  The third challenge went up on Sunday, February 3^rd and I can’t wait to see what comes from it (still time for you to join in!)  

I personally love Project QUILTING because it has been extremely inspirational to me in my quilting journey.  I know I only have a week for the projects but it’s a great opportunity to give ideas in my mind a try – see what happens, try new techniques.  If it works…maybe I’ll do a bigger project that takes more time.  Project QUILTING has me creating pieces I never imagined before, it brought me out of the only making ‘what I think will sell’ and in turn, and the Project QUILTING community has been such an inspiration and support.

I have heard from many that they love watching along with Project QUILTING and the projects created from the challenges but they just can’t fit making a quilt in just one week.  That’s what my exciting news is all about today – a new *Bonus* Project QUILTING Challenge.  I’ve teamed up with a fabulous online fabric store – The Fat Quarter Shop to bring you all the Tradition Times Three bundle from the Fat Quarter Shop. Diane outlines what is required for this particular challenge. You must go to the Fat Quarter shop to buy the bundle in order to complete the challenge BUT the twist is – you have until May 30^th, 2013 to submit your challenge!  At that point, one of my girls will randomly draw a winner of $75 to use at the Fat Quarter Shop.  

I also wanted to share with you a few ways you can save on your fabric bundle.  First – head over to my blog and enter in the giveaway I posted today.

OR if you want to save 20% off your entire purchase of fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop check out this blog post to find the special code – good through February 10^th.

Thanks for having me and I hope to see you all with a quilt in one or more Project QUILTING Challenges.  Have a great rest of your week!

~Kim Lapacek

Finished Season 4 Challenge 2 My Favorite Color

For our 2nd challenge the theme was My favorite color and white. So I choose my favorite color, green. I have been using these challenges to complete projects that have been on my to-do list. I had a request for a make-up bag with several pockets. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to do this for my project. I knew once I got thinking about it, I was gonna have a problem putting the separator piece in with the boxed corners so the bag would be roomy and boy was I right. I had laid in bed at night thinking of how I would pull that one off and still have the bag fully lined with boxed corners and no seams. Knowing that boxing the corners would not only raise the bottom of the bag but also shorten the width on the bottom. I knew the bottom of the piece couldn't be stitch across the bottom until the corners were boxed. Because I would have to wait until the bottom of the bag was raised up to meet the middle piece. Hope that makes sense. So I had marked and cut my corners with a 1 3/4' square and placed my piece where it was about 1/4" below that line for when I stitched the bottom. Now, I've boxed corners before but never before sewing the bottom of the bag closed. That was tricky but went pretty well. I thought I had it all figured out, how I would get that in and still leave an opening for the turning. All was going well and then sure enough it happened. That's when I realized my piece that was to separate the bag was still too wide. I had figured for that but  I forgot to double it for both corners.  I had to rip it all out and do some trimming, another 3" off for the other side. I finally finagled that thing in there some how. I don't give up easily. If I do decide to make another one I have a new plan of execution. It wouldn't have been a problem but the boxed corners and that piece just didn't mix for me, because I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. I probably should have gooled it and could have found many ways of doing it. But it got done and that all that matters now.I made my first ever welted pocket (single bound and loved it). I put it on the outside of the bag for her lipstick, because that's something that gets used more often through out the day. I liked it so much, I decided I wanted to do another one, only with out any flap on the inside. Making welted pockets are my new favorite thing :) Then I did the simplest of pockets on the other side because I could make 2 pockets in one by stitching down the middle of one long pocket. Now I have 6 separate areas for make-up. I think that should be enough since she doesn't really wear that much make-up. I did make one major mistake, at least it's major for me and no one else would probably even notice if I didn't mention it. But, I really does bother me so I asked several people if they could see anything wrong with the back of the bag. Other the the pencil lines I drew on it to put the pocket in. I write on my stuff with pencil all the time. That didn't bother me because I always run my things through the wash any how so that will come right out. This mistake I'm afraid won't wash out. They never did spot the problem even after I had told them where it was. And to tell the truth it doesn't really show except in the pics. Why do pics always show you every little thing, even the smallest of threads you didn't clip close enough?? I know that others that sew and quilt will definitely notice that I put my pocket in on the wrong end of the back exterior fabric, causing the children on the toile to be standing on their heads. Yep, I was careful to cut my pieces all the right way then totally blew it when I put that pocket in. I think we've all done this at one time or another when working with directional fabric. I was disappointed but, I have found, that when you make something for someone they are so pleased to get it they never even notice or care about those things. They are usually just thrilled that you thought of them. Hey, I can say I'm happy with the way the zipper turned out. I've never done one in that method. I have always had both ends enclosed in the seams, but I wanted the bag to have a big mouth and it does. Over all I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I always learn from ever thing I try that's  new to me, besides, that and the smile it puts on someone face make it all worth the while. Since we have to give our project a name mines is called My Favorite Color Big Mouthed Make-up Bag, LOL!!

Making progress

Last night I got my fabrics pressed and some of the pieces cut. I'll have to cut the rest as I go along  because I'm not following a pattern. So, I'll just figure as I go. But I did get the front panel quilted and the monogrammed fused and stitched in place. Now, I working on the ric-rac trim, which seems to be giving me a bit of a fit. My first thought was to tuck it under but I didn't like the way it raised the edges of the white strip. Had I have known that, I would have placed a piece of pellon or interfacing behind the white and raised it forward and that would have solved that issue but since I already had it fused and stitched down, there was no going back. Next I went to stitch the ric-rac in place and seen very quickly that it was shifting on me and I wasn't happy with the way it was looking. So I ripped that out. My second thought was to used the ole glue stick trick but couldn't find mine anywhere. Must be one of the many things I left in Ga. I really need to make another trip down to get the rest of my things but I just keep putting that off. I prefer to travel when the weather is more predictable.That left me with only one other option that I could think of. That would be to pin it. It's terribly tiny and difficult to do but I managed to get it held tight. I just hope that when I remove the pins as I sew it doesn't shift under the foot. I don't sew over pins but might if I have too. If anyone can tell me a better way, please do. I tried other presser feet that had grooves on the underside to see if that might help but I didn't have much luck with that either. I'm thinking if all else fails I might try under wonder on it. Any suggestion are welcome. I'm also thing I might need to do a zig zag around the monogram, provided that the I can find a thread here in this small town that matches the green!

Still Green but not any green

The chartreuse I originally wanted to use. I finally found a piece that will work perfectly with it and I know exactly what I'll be making with it. Now, I just need to find a zipper!! I'm super excited because this was the fabric I so wanted to make this project with. Isn't it beautiful? I do love toile and in my favorite color. Yeah!!! Happy dance.

GREEN for me!!!

I could hardly wait to hear what our challenge was for this week. I was impatiently waiting and then it was written. This weeks challenge is "My favorite color". Ha, I had to think about that one. I have so many favorite colors. Can we just say I love color, all colors. But I do have a few favorites, so I had to narrow it down and think about what my favorite color really is. I know I love purple, but I really like the deep rich purples, not all purples. Then there is red, who doesn't love red. I know I do, especially mixed with other color. But there is a catch here, we can use only one other color in our project and that is white! So that made it easier for me because there is only one color that I have always loved no matter the shade, hue, tone, or what it is mixed with. And looking at my stash it easy to see it's GREEN for me. I love every possible shade of green there is. I almost went with a piece I've had for a long time that has a yellow under tone, one of my favorites but I have absolutely nothing that goes with it that doesn't have other colors in it and white just wouldn't do.I decided to go with ones that are fun and fresh and remind me of Spring.

Project Quilting Challenge

What is Project Quilting Challenge?  It's all explained here on  Kim site Persimon Dreams. It's like project runway with new challenges posted every other week and you have only one week to come up with your idea and complete the project of your choice. It's is fun to try new thing and be inspired. This is the first time I have participated. This is season 4 of the challenge. You can join at any time and if you can't complete a project for every challenge that's not a problem either. Hop on over and check it out. I would love if you played along with us. It so much fun and you end up with completed projects you might not have other wise got around to doing. There are some very creative quilted projects being made by all, so go have a look at them. You will be inspired!! The first challenge for season 4 was a square, in a square, in a square. You could interpret this anyway you liked as long as you started and completed your project during that week. When I first hear of the challenge of course the first thing that came to mind was a traditional square in a square. But I wanted to try something new, so I looked through my fabric for some inspiration and came across a few pieces my daughter had bought me many years ago. I never really knew what I was gonna do with them because they really didn't go with any thing else in my stash but looking at the bright colors separated by the black background made me think of a pic I had recently seen of some brilliant spiraling stained glass windows of a cathedral.  Ah ha windows are square and panes are sometimes square. I thought maybe I could just try to recreate this using fabric for my project. Now, I'm no artist but I gave it a shot and this is what I came up with. We had to name our projects so I thought I'd call mine "Things aren't always the way they appear" Because looking at the windows from below the weren't square at all, but in fact they are. I learned a few things while making this, so it was well worth the effort.Sorry that my pictures were taken at night but that when I get to do most of my sewing. I'll try to update with better pictures soon. The other thing this challenge inspired me to do was take every thing out of my sewing room and reorganize it. It didn't take me long to see the way I had it set up was not working well for me, but I love the arrangement now. I'll share pics of my space once I finish getting it all put back together.