Today I'm Sewing with Nancy

Crafters Donna, Deb, and Barb and I are headed to Beaver Dam, WI for two days of Sewing with Nancy.

I'm mostly afraid of finding out just how creative I'm not, when I'm bombarded with adorable embroidery, accessories, tools, and patterns.

I couldn't even be bothered to sew a badge holder for my name tag and tickets. What a slacker! I'm blaming it on having been busy with other things, including a new project venture I'll hopefully be sharing tomorrow night when I get home. I'm waiting for some goodies to arrive in the mail.

Halfway to Nancy's!

Sometimes...it doesn't work

I started this chevron afghan not realizing how much of the colored yarn it would take, and quickly burned through four and a half skeins. I only have six.

A tour of my original source came up short, and the cheapest I could find it on eBay is seven skeins for $24.99. Ok...so actually that's a good price for what it retails for but I bought my original bag of six skeins for $6.99, so I was undecided about whether or not it's worth another $25.

After some hemming and hawing I just decided to go for it. Instead of buying it now, I bid $19.95 on the auction. With only five hours left, I went to bed, confident that I would win this yarn.

I didn't sleep well, and my husband and stepson got up at 2:30 AM to go turkey hunting, so I checked my phone and drat! Seriously? Here is a lot of yarn that is probably been re-listed numerous times, and the second I bid on it with five hours left, someone outbid me by 50 measly cents. I lost the auction and there is no more of this yarn of any quantity to be found on the rest of the Internet.

Apparently, it just wasn't in the stars for me to get that yarn. The only thing I can think to do is to finish the afghan in all white and hope I can make it long enough that it looks like the colored chevron is purposely only at one end.

Sometimes...it doesn't work.

Finishing what I start

I'm trying hard to finish projects I start before starting a new one. This particular project has made it difficult since I keep wanting to make the excuse that it's something I could work on when I can't work on anything else.

I can't cut quilt squares in the dentist's office or paint furniture on road trips or string beads on the deck while the sun sets. But I could work on this adorable off-white and rainbow stripe chevron afghan.

It's my first attempt at chevron and first attempt at afghan. (Is it just me or is this taking for-ev-er??? After this I'm sticking to washcloths and Swiffer covers.)

The Instagram photo doesn't quite do it justice, but never fear. I'll be back with better lighting when it's done.

Missing my Mini

A few weeks ago I said goodbye to my Acer Aspire mini laptop. I was trying to update some software when it crashed, and both my and professional attempts at fixing it were not to be had.

At first I was looking for a way to replace it, but the truth is with a desktop PC, iPad, iPod, and iPhone, I really didn't want to spend another $3-500 on a laptop. Surely I can handle most of my mobile work from my iPad, right?

Kindof.

The lack of Flash has become an issue since I can't upload photos on Squidoo lenses, Etsy, or Blogger using my iPad. There's a Blogger app but it's not flexible enough for my needs.

I thought that with not writing for Squidoo (as a community organizer, I still build lenses) I would be bored and looking for things to do. I've been busier in the last three weeks than I can handle and now I'm paying for it.

My simple little cold that I was suppressing with DayQuil has transformed into one of those gross monstroties that can only truly be knocked down with a decongestant. You know what that means. Sleepy time.

So today while I fight off a nap I'm brainstorming my mobile work options and catching up on bringing you photos from all the cool stuff I've been working on lately. Like this:

I whipped up this disappearing nine-patch for a silent auction at my church fundraiser. It's so bright and cheery...I really wanted to keep it! I'm excited to see someone else be as excited over winning it.

If you haven't been to CrafterBerly on Facebook, stop by! I often post little tidbits that don't make it to the full blog.

DIY Beaded Earrings and Zipper Pulls

I don't have a good history with beading. When I was younger I had a beading loom and spent hours weaving a needle through tiny misshapen seed beads in an attempt to create a flat bracelet. It just didn't work.

A few years ago I bought some beads to make a necklace for a friend. After several months I shipped her the pile of mangled wire and encouraged her to make it look useful.

So why on Earth did I think I could carry off some beaded jewelry this weekend in preparation for several birthday gifts? I don't know, but I made it happen!

Source: squidoo.com via Kimberly and CrafterBerly on Pinterest

I have so many photos and tips that I'll be able to make at least three more Squidoo lenses. The next one will be on remaking your existing dangly earrings by adding beads. I LOVE dangly earrings, but some are just old and boring. I added new beads to liven them up and they've been a hit so far.

I've already sold a few pairs of earrings I made, made two pairs commissioned by a friend, and am planning to post them on my Etsy shop, if I can ever get that going. Of all the things I thought I'd be good at and enjoy, beading was never one of them. Exciting!

Whatever it was about beading that I had to master, I think I finally did!

Virtual Quilt Show

So, I'm trying to be all tech savvy and post on the run, but my Blogger app is having nothing of it. Apparently I've been too busy doing nothing to notice that my last few posts haven't gone through. *sigh*

If they had, this is what you would have seen on March 21st:

*imagine it's still March*

Whew. What a weekend. While the quilt show was going on I was out of town for a church event. I did get to wake up at 5 and leave early so I could hit up a store for some fabric while I was over in "the big city." (As if I need more fabric...)

I wasn't able to see all the quilts but a few friends did take photos of mine. I don't have them all back so you'll have to settle for my partial iPhone pics for now.

The butterfly lattice quilt. This is one of the first quilts I started and got stuck on many times along the way. My friend Kate bought a bag of charm squares from eBay and many had duplicates. I pulled out the duplicates, cut them into triangles (two squares to make four triangles), and sewed them together in a lattice pattern. It's backed in butterfly fleece.

This is a photo of a half-finished Batik Borealis! Whew...what a piece of work this ended up being. If you look at how the blocks go together you'll see it takes several sections to create the visual star. I'm planning a pattern for this soon. Soon but later. Probably more so later, after I perfect the easiest way to piece it.

This is one of my favorites. It's the Baby Block Swap pattern using pink, white, and blue jelly roll strips. I finished this about a year ago and finally got it bound, just in time for my little goddaughter Savanah's first birthday in May!

This fuzzy pic is of a wall hanging I designed from a pillow panel. Sorry Erica...this was going to be for you, but Thad claimed it. I have some more hand quilting to do and then it's going in our living room on the wall. I'm super excited my husband thought this was awesome enough to display in our home!

This Painted Bricks quilt was a disaster-turned-favorite that started out as a totally different block, but since I like to make things up as I go and not measure before I get started, had to be transitioned into this gem. It's comprised of four fat-eighths bundles I bought from a clearance rack at JoAnn. Each bundle had eight tone-on-tone fabrics and were JUST BARELY actual fat eighths and just barely enough to make this quilt. It ended up much bigger than I expected, as do all my projects.

And, the much anticipated challenge quilt! This is the one I agonized over. The rough sketch was easy, but finishing the details took a while. I did a lot of standing-over-it-with-my-finger-on-my-chin-saying-"Hmmmmmmm..." I'll have more closeups and notes on this one later. I was just so glad to have it done and entered!

*Now pretend we're back to April 2nd*

Later this week my friend PhotographerVanessa is going to help me with some shots of the pink challenge quilt and beaded crafts I've been working on. It's a great Monday!

Signed, sealed, and delivered!

Last night the quilts were delivered and today is the quilt show. I won't be able to see it - I'm out of town for a church event - but I peeked at some of the entries that had come in.

Wow! Here I thought I was doing pretty well but some of the other quilts put me to shame.

There's always something to learn...