Still here...

It seems like many quilt bloggers are scarce lately...it's such a wonderful busy time of year and doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.

I'm still around and working on a few things. Hope to have some quilty photos to share soon, but in the meantime here are a few shots from a recent weekend trip to Chicago.

It's like fabric, but cheaper!!

PAPER! Did you all know there was a world of gorgeous paper out there? I had no idea. This is going to cause a ruckas in my household - I'm gonna have to start a new hobbty.

I came across these lovelies this weekend. The designs are so cool. I even saw some Amy Butler embellishments.

My cardmaking skills are rather basic at the moment. I don't know that I'll ever get super fancy...I just like touching the pretty papers.

I also decided to take the Sunshine fabrics in a different direction. Here is the start of the new project, which is making me much happier. More to come.

Holy colorwash, Batman!

I finally decided to cut into my Sunshine fabrics. I know that when all your fabrics are from one line the result can be muted because the colors blend into one another. But, I wasn't prepared for this:

As yardage, the blues seemed to be distinct from each other, but when I cut them up into tiny pieces and sewed them back together they just got lost in each other.

So, I remade the block and I like this better.

On a side note, this is what happened when I first tried to take a photo of the blue block. Silly kitty.

Apple Picking!

This is exactly why I love living in the country. A gorgeous day, 66 degrees, lots of sun! We picked some yummy Cortlands and Jonathans. Now for some quilting.

50s dresses and stormy seas

I saw these dresses on Penny's blog ages ago and she sent me the patterns. They are going into a wall hanging for my mom for Christmas. I think I'm going to do a 50s theme for her presents this year. I've got a nice apron pattern and hope to find some retro fabric to make it from.



The other project I started this week is a little Storm at Sea wallhanging. I got these gorgeous fabrics from Dakota Cabin Quilts monthly treasure pack back in January. I am obessesed with Deadlist Catch on the Discovery Channel and decided to call this wintery work in progress "Bering Sea." It''s going to go slowly, I'm sure. I'm not really a paper-piecer and don't have much patience for it. But tackling these blocks by traditional peicing might be even more difficult.