Thank you, I am blessed!

Happy 4th of July Everyone!  Warning this post is loaded with photos :)

I want to say a special Thank you to Dad and Rhonda for their support of my fabric addiction, and Mom for all of the lovely boxes filled with fabric.

Mrs. Bobbins

For my birthday Mom sent this little box of joy filled with fabric and a few birthday gifts for Katerina, Love you Mom.

How did you know that the kids have been begging for one of those worm things?

Dad and Rhonda gave me $40 for my birthday and I immediately bought some fabric, thread and stabilizer, all from one shop to save on the postage (crazy postage prices)

I got the little buttons on the bottom right of this photo from my favorite button company Button Mad, they are handmade buttons made by women in South Africa, and they are always beautiful.
And I made this...

It is a crib organizer that I have made for a friend of mine that is expecting a baby in September in Portland Oregon.  I asked people who have Pinterest to pin it for a Challenge and although I did not win a popular vote, at current I have 32 repins and 53 Likes, but I think it was less at the time of judging.  So I did not win the most pins, that belongs to this wonderful quilt.

Kelli Fannin of Seriously... .I think it needs stitches made it and not only is she a great quilter but she is also a great person, we had chatted before the challenge was due and I can see how she got almost 200 repins and 200 Likes, not only is it a fantastic quilt but she is a fantastic person.
Then there was the second and third most pinned and liked Pinterest projects, you can see them here.

And then there was the winners in the superlative categories:

1.  Most creative -  In the Mist of Falling Rain by Lynn Kline

2.  Best use of color -  Tumbling Hexies by Ramona Putnam

3.  Best technique - Pillow by Jana O'Brien

4.  Most creative use of thread - Quilted Table Runner by Susan Slusser

5.  Most functional - Crib Organizer and Diaper Clutch by Mara Capron

That's me #5, - JUDGES, JUDGES, thought my project deserved the prize for most functional, wow, really?  I love it don't get me wrong, it is what I wanted to make for my friend and is pretty cute.
See these baskets (the tutorial can be found here.)

Not only do they hang on the organizer from the buttonholes in the middle.

But they can also hang on your door knob, so you can have one in another room if you want.

And then the clutch I used the selvedge (the end piece of fabric that some people throw away) to create a strap.

It can hold a few diapers and the diaper wipes.

The panel I used my machine to quilt a vase filled with Cosmos, they mean Peaceful, because I hope the baby brings them peace and is peaceful!

So that is what I made, Katerina had great fun helping me photograph it.

The last 3 was another day and I told her stay right there (pic on left) but she couldn't resist coming in and checking it out again.

I wanted to give a special Thank you to friends and family who have supported me, THANK YOU!
A special Thank You to Lisa, Marjorie, Stacey and Fenna, I have little surprises coming in the mail for you.
And Thank you to AGF (Art Gallery Fabrics, love the texture and feel of their fabric) Angela Walters the designer of the panel and all of the sponsors of the Challenge and especially the Judges, hehe.

MARA

Sea Horse mini Quilt and a Giveaway!

I made something for the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge over at Ellison Lane!

My very own Sea Horse Wall Hanging!  The Challenge...First Wall Hanging and first 3D project, so cool!

Using the Selvages and scraps leftover from making my Anchors Aweigh Quilt and my Honeycomb Pillow.
I did some organic wavy lines and other stitching to hold down the selvages on both sides, sandwiching it between a piece of batting.  Then I used up my leftover binding from making the pillow and bound the wall hanging by sewing machine.

Front and Back, closeup of stitching

For the seahorse I stitched up a whole bunch of little squares trying to match them up to look like this picture.

source

I traced this to bondaweb and then ironed it onto my fabric and cut away the extra fabrics, then I ironed the seahorse to a piece of leftover blue fabric from my quilt and did some embroidery to empasize the spines on the Seahorse.

I ironed on a piece of iron of batting and tucked the blue fabric behind it and then blanket stitched the Seahorse to the quilted selvages.

Mostly Coral color way of Salt Water with a strip of Aqua Octopus selvage

Back of Pillow with Front of Wall Hanging.

Front of Pillow with Back of Wall Hanging.

Size 12 1/2 Square and the Seahorse 2 1/2 x 6 1/2, Love the Selvages.

Now I need your help, the tail is moveable as is my "seaweed" should I have the Seahorse tail in front of behind the seaweed.

In front of behind

Did you read through all of that and want to see the giveaway?
I love June, it's the Birthday month in my family, mine, my daughter's, my brothers and my mom's are all in June and I have a dozen of friends that also celebrate a June birthday, gotta love those Gemini's.  So to celebrate my daughter and I are giving away a fat quarter of fabric from each one of the dresses I have made for her.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I wish we could be here, but it has been very rainy the past weeks.

February Re-Cap-Anchors Aweigh

Did anyone get their First and Second Row completed of the Anchors Aweigh Quilt?

Row 2 hiding under there, blanket that I bought at IKEA and will be using for the back

Let's do a little re-cap of where we traveled in Corfu, we went to Ipsos Beach, Sidhari Beach, St. George beach.  Now I will take you to 2 popular beaches that I personally did not like, but feel I should include since a lot of people go to them.

Going from Agios Georgios south along a very narrow and scary roads you get to a very popular area called Paleokastritsa, once again if you are not a good driver it is suggested that you don't drive because some of these roads are like on cliffs.
I thought I took pictures of Paleokastritsa but I couldn't find them so I am borrowing from the internet, when we were there the beach was so packed that you couldn't even put a towel down, once again not for me.  It is a great place to go for lunch maybe if you can find parking.

source

source, this little tiny beach was packed with people, not room to even walk to the water.

The next beach we stayed at for 3 nights but only went down to the beach on one day, the day we arrived after that we drove around looking for better beaches, because this one was so rocky and even though we were staying in a hotel close by, it was a hike up a big hill after swimming and when you have 2 little kids to carry it's not so fun.  Parking was minimal and so we couldn't even just drive down and then drive back up.  If you don't have kids and enjoy a larger rock beach where the water gets deep pretty quick and there are small to medium waves then this beach is very nice, especially with the added bonus of lots of hotels around and tavernas.  In guidebooks and even on the internet it is said to be a sand beach, but on the year we went 2012, it was large rocks, I am guessing that in other years they may have dredged the bottom to get it to be sandy, this is just a guess though. 

Blue, Blue, Blue Waters

The kids did like throwing the rocks in the water, what kid wouldn't?

Agios Gordios, Corfu

With all of this traveling you could also just stay in Corfu Town and swim in this lovely cove right in the middle of the busy downtown, with it's small paved footpaths.

Corfu Town, Corfu

Oh did you want to see the Tula Pink Salt Water Aqua collection paired with V. and Co. Ombre Aqua.

do you see my little mess up.

I was asked how much background fabric I am using for my smaller version of the Anchor's Aweigh quilt.  I purchased 2 yards for each quilt, and cut them into 3 - 22 inch panels, I had 8 inches left over, (Caitlin over at I don't do dishes, is very generous in her cuts).  2 of the panels I cut from the middle 9.5 inches (don't forget I am using ombre fabric, this is making things a little different) for the sides (see picture above) then for the middle piece I cut that from the extra left over 8 inch piece.  The 3rd 22 inch piece I am cutting down the middle and then cutting out 8 inches on each side.
And if you missed the Salt Water Coral paired with Ombre Graphite Grey then you check out this post.
I am going to show you a cheater version of what I will be doing with the rest of the Rows tomorrow.

Octopus Love Scrap page

My Octopus Love scrap page, the edge of my fabric from Tula Pinks' Salt Water in the Coral colorway had part of the octopus cut off, so I couldn't use it for my quilt but I thought I could put it on a scrap book page along with a picture of an octopus grilling at a Taverna in Santorini.

Inside is a surprise pull out

For a recipe of my favorite way to cook octopus -  Octapodi Kokkinisto that you can find here. 

It is tied to another piece of Salt Water fabric and connected to a vellum tag sticker that I stamped on.  I also did a few heart stamps on the recipe card itself that is from the Minds Eye paper collection along with the 12x12 cardstock used for the background.

I totally got my inspiration for this pull out from several of the DT's on CCW, thank you so much for making my pages look more interesting, I love the inspiration and creativity I find there.

It was my first time using my sewing machine on paper, I hope I didn't mess up my needle, since I just used my regular sewing needle.

Every Day is a Special Day, is so true and I love the paper I used for the inside.

Every day is special and Every day I cook.

Linking up to Creative Craft World - February Challenge Scrap Map
and Scraptastic - First February Scrap Challenge, Every day life picture (in my instance a recipe)

And linking to a friends blogaversary celebration over at SIMPLESEW, hello Shirley, go check out her blog!

Anchors Aweigh

Are your ready to play with your fabric?
I fussy cut my octopus out, she is so cute.

4 inches all around fit the octopus perfect.

It fit best when I cut it out as a 4x4 inch block and then I was left with 2x4 in between each Octopus, so that makes 2 - 2 inch blocks.

In the above picture I haven't cut the anchor out yet.

Then I fussy cut the Anchor between making sure the middle of the anchor was at 1 inch and then cutting it 2 inches wide.

and Row 1 is done with 4 - 2 inch blocks at the bottom.

If you need the pattern you can find it here
Once again I am making 2 smaller quilts so I will be doing mine a little different from the pattern, if you want to do what I am doing then I can give more information, just let me know.

I have made a flickr group and if you would like to join just let me know in the comments section and I will send you an e-mail to join.

I will be working on Row 2 this week and will show you mine next Saturday, more QAL information can be found at the top of this blog on the Anchors Aweigh QAL page.

There is also another QAL going on and it starts February 18 and goes to March 25th, she is doing 1 Row a week and will be going into a more detailed way of sewing it up, she is also having a giveaway at the end of her QAL, so if you think you can make the timeline, you should definitely join up on that blog also. 

Linking up to:

Last Day to Enter the Giveaway!

This could be yours!

If you haven't entered in the giveaway, today is your last day, it will close on Wednesday January 23 at midnight West Coast America time (why this time, because it's the one I know best).  Make sure to enter in the proper blog post - you can find it here.

As I was cutting into the fabric that came in yesterday, I was not the only one petting it!  Both of my kids love fabric almost as much as I do, and my daughter (2 1/2) constantly playacts and she says to me "I'm sewing", really cute.

Petting the fabric

I have a color question for you?
For the Anchors Aweigh Quilt I am making 2 smaller versions 1 in Aqua and 1 in Coral, the back ground fabric is in question, I got the Simply Color Ombres in Graphite Grey and Aquatic Blue, which one looks best with what?

Grey or Blue?

Grey or Blue?

Greek Hexagon

Did you know that the word Hexagon is from the Greek language.  A Hexagon is a polygon with 6 sides, Latin hexagnum, from Greek hexagnos, having six angles.  But the crazy thing is that in Greek there is no H it is -

εξάγωνο derived from the word εξι (six)

I was lucky enough to be invited by Shirley at Simple Sew into a Hexagon Bee created by Stacey over at the Tilted Quilt.  I can't wait to get my hex on! and have made a Pinterest board with a lot of Hexagon info on it.