September 30, 2011

FOR REAL?!?! Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy baby!


I don't know how well you can see this but let me translate for you... Tiffany - that's me! - won a Go! Baby Giveaway!!! WOOO HOOO!!! Thank you so much Megan - looking forward to your email and soooooo looking forward to my Go! Baby coming to play! Still just as giddy today as when I read this on her blog yesterday :)

I've been getting a lot of crafting done lately - hopefully I will have a weekend post to show you with lots of pics! My last 3 charity quilts are quilted and ready for binding... the end is so close - thank goodness! :)

September 21, 2011

Willpower? What is that?

Its a good thing I have no interest in drugs, alcohol, smoking, or anything else that is bad for my health because I apparently have NO willpower! Maybe that weakness only applies to fluffy animals and fabric? Lets hope so!

... here is my dirty little secret I am ready to confess to you all...

I SIGNED UP FOR ANOTHER SWAP!

Yes, you can start throwing the rocks and heckling me now - especially after Monday's post about not signing up for anything new, espec. this specific swap... *sigh*

Here were my thoughts... " No ... no... maybe? ... no... AHHHH SIGNING UP RIGHT NOW!!" :)

So, here is my inspiration collage for the Pretty Little Pouch Swap:

PLPS Inspiration - Round 3

All addicts are good at justifying their habits, and here is my justification:

I have 2 more charity quilts to complete but I like working on something small in between.

Although I am still working on my Pillow Talk Swap item, I got 50% of the top done yesterday and I only
need about 3 or 4 more crafting sessions to finish it before Nov. 1st.

As my friend Bree pointed out... I am really making something for myself, since I will send this to someone and get something in return. As my husband pointed out, it still costs me shipping, and could be something awful... but who really thinks about that in a swap? You hope someone will do their best and take your mosaic and favorites into consideration and make something cute.

Its a chance to think outside the box, make something without personal expectations, experiment....
... and really, all this boils down to the fact that I'm weak weak weak and just really wanted to play along this round :)

Its a pouch.... one little pouch.... please don't judge me as harshly as I am judging myself hehehe. And please tell me I'm not the only weak one that signs up for WAY too much ;-)

WIP Wednesday!

I was a good little sewer last night and got a few projects worked on and did not get distracted by starting any new ones - go me! haha
1. Charity quilt #2 is now quilted and just needs binding. I have scaled back to just 4 quilts total so I only have 2 more to go, woo hoo! Those tops are ready and waiting which is a relief because I only have 4.5 more weeks to complete these quilts - yikes! :)

Owl and school theme on the front

Puppies and school buses on the back - love this fabric!

2. After I finished quilting the above project, I decided to start working on my Pillow Talk Swap pillow. It will be made up of 4 - 11inch blocks and 2 are now completed:

2 top blocks completed - except for the inside triangles for the center of the pillow

Full layout of the pillow - not sewn together

3. This was my practice block to figure out the sizing for the above pillow. It is a bit bigger than the above blocks, around 13 inches, so I think I will add a few fun borders and make it into a pillow for myself.


I think it will be a lovely pillow to go with my Sherbet Pips quilt that I started FOREVER ago and only have a few of these blocks completed for so far:

Sherbet pips WIP from June... one day my dear, one day you will get worked on :)

4. Do you remember the Rainbow Charms swap I participated in a few months ago? Yea... I barely do too because I participate in so many things and have so many projects going on all the time, haha. Anyway, before my grand Alaska adventure I started working on these fun coin strips using the charms I received in that swap, with a few substitutions. Here is what I have come up with so far:



Loving these coin rows, just not sure what I want to do with them! There are 4 of each set - enough for a baby blanket but I'd rather keep these for a personal project so I just don't know. I could make a throw blanket out of them with A LOT of solid surrounding them but I'm not sure how much I will love that either. So.... I guess I will just wait and see when inspiration strikes. Let me know if you have any suggestions! Each row is 5 inches wide and about 8.5 inches long I believe? 24 of these lovelies... what to do, what to do :)


5. And last but not least - something that I've been meaning to share but keep forgetting:
About a month or so ago I won some fabric in a blog giveaway! Super exciting to get free fabric but also exciting because its from Zen Chic and made by an awesome german designer whose modern quilting patterns I just love! Not sure what I will do with these lovelies when I have spare time (haha) to do some plotting:



And that my friends is all for today's WIP report. Now go and sew!

(Sadly there is no WIP Wednesday link up this week at Freshly Pieced because that dear woman is busy busy busy!)

September 20, 2011

Swap addiction!

My name is Tiffany Fischer and I am addicted to Flikr Swaps. Everyone who is addicted please raise your hand. If you are not raising your hand you are either missing out on something awesome, or you are a liar :) Seriously tho... no more swaps for me! I have a few I want to sign up for SO BAD, including the Pretty Little Pouch swap that starts tomorrow, but I just have to say NO! I am going to finish the Pillow Talk Swap, sign up for the next round of my bee, and that will be it until at least November. I have too much to do and too little time. *Sigh* Its a hard life I lead lol.

But, speaking of swaps.... my for the love of solids package arrived on Friday!!! I was so excited that I called my husband and made him check for me once he got home from work. It was not there yet but I told him if it did happen to arrive, please take pictures and text me. About an hour later I got a few texts and was all the more impatient to get home! I'm sure you can see why - this was the awesome swap swag waiting for me when I walked in the door!!!!:

FTLOS - Sweet Swag I received

Isn't my partner fantastic?! The pillow cover is fabulous - she copied a quilt pattern that I had put in my collage that I've been drooling over for a while. So nice having a mini replica of it on my couch! The back is lovely too and I love the idea of a zipper in the middle like that! It was SO much easier getting the pillow in than with an envelope back.

The hoop was such a great surprise too - her embroidery skills are fantastic! Its hanging up in my sewing room now, making me smile everytime I see it. And my little notions are just waiting for the perfect project to be used. You can bet that guttermann thread will only be used for quilting, not piecing, its so yummy I can hardly wait!! Thanks so much awesome partner!!! :)

As soon as I was sending my partner a flikr message to thank them, I got one from my partner too! She received her package on Friday afternoon as well and loved it. I'm so glad! It was one of my favorites and hard to give away but it seemed to fit her likes and taste so much, I was hoping she would love it too.

So that is the end of the FTLOS swap and I will not be signing up for round 2 unless it happens to start in Nov./Dec. and even then its iffy.

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Pillow Talk Swap however and that is in full swing now. Its so fun seeing all of the projects everyone is making! Here is what I put together for my partner this weekend:

PTSwap For my partner

I can't say I am in general a Loulouthi fan but I do like it in small doses as above. Someone had made similar Bee blocks to these above so I played with the sizing and center a bit to design a pillow cover out of it. Love this block, its one of my new favorites. I also made a Sherbet Pips practice block first to figure out the sizing - it may get a border and be made into a snuggly pillow I think :) - will add some pictures soon.

I was feeling a bit guilty for playing so much with these diamond blocks on Sunday so I forced myself to work on a charity quilt afterward. I got everything put together and quilted 75% of it last night so now I'm not feeling so bad :) Will show pictures once I finish it up tonight after work. Will do the binding this week and then I have 4 weeks to finish 2 more - woo hoo!

That is all for my show-and-tell WIPS from the weekend.

Here are a few random things on my to-do list - we will not even talk about all the WIPs I have waiting on me after these charity quilts get finished, yikes!

1. Baby blanket for my sister-in-law - already have a good pattern picked out and some great fabric. Will post pictures once it has been made and sent just in case anyone in the family sees this!

2. Argyle quilt for my hubby - I feel guilty for doing swaps and putting his blanket aside so that is another reason I will force myself to say NO to Flikr and YES to finishing WIPS haha.

3. Christmas throw blanket for me & hubby - I've been wanting one since I started quilting July 2010 and it just has not happened yet. I refuse to let 2 Christmases pass me by without a Christmas quilt to snuggle!

4. Finish at least 1 of my personal WIPS - I have so many lovely quilt tops and my favorite one is even based and ready to go! I have not as of yet finished a quilt for myself because I do so many projects for other people and I must must must have one of my own quilts to snuggle this year - hands down, must do!

And other than those 4 there are the random christmas presents for family and friends I am plotting... we'll see how far I get on that list :)

How about you? What are you dying to make? Do you have a manageble to-do list for the rest of the year? 102 days to go according to my office calander - yikes!


Linking up with:  sew many ways  {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations  







WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

September 11, 2011

I'm back!

Hi all! Back from Alaska in one piece! It was a fabulous vacation and we had a great time exploring and hanging out with my good friend. Will post more about it on my family blog this week and pass on the link if anyone is interested.

I was able to get some minor crafting done today and finished up the last block for my 4 x 5 Bee on Flikr:





I will admit that it is not my favorite out of the bunch... but I still think it is ok. What do you think? She chose Chartreuse green, yellow and aqua.

Here is the full set for this round:

4 x 5 Bee - round 1 for me

The top 2 are by far my favorite and somehow the first one with the hippo remained my favorite overall. I'll be a good girl and mail them out tomorrow instead of keeping them for my own quilt tho, hehe. I've really enjoyed this bee - will definitely be signing up for the next round in October.

While I was on vacation the Pillow Talk Swap 6 sign-ups opened and a blogger friend was nice enough to sign me up. Sooooo excited about this swap! Here is my inspiration mosaic for it:

Pillow Talk Swap

Can you tell I'm hoping for hexagons? haha. Even if not, whatever I get will be awesome because everyone is so talented in this group! Really hope I can bring my A game and create something wonderful for my partner. I have fabric coming later this week and lots of ideas brewing.

My swap package for the For the Love of Solids swap needs to go out tomorrow too. There are so many awesome projects in that swap picture pool, I can't wait to see what I will receive! Will be waiting in anticipation every day this week for the mail, I am sure :) Here is what I am sending my partner:


 The squirrel may seem a little random but I promise there is a reason behind it. Hoping my partner loves him as much as I do!

... so yea, 2 swaps completed, 1 in plotting mode and the second round of the 4 x 5 bee to start in November... all in all a productive month so far.

Speaking of productivity tho, I really need to kick it into high gear on my charity quilts project - all need to be finished by Oct. 22nd! I have 1 complete, 3 tops done, and 1 not started at all.... 6 more weeks, wish me luck!

Charity tops to quilt & finish:

Number 1 


Number 2

Number 3

Linking up with:  sew many ways  {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations  

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

September 1, 2011

4 x 5 Flikr Bee Blocks

Interestingly enough, I have 4 out of 5 blocks completed for my 4 x 5 Bee on Flikr... hrmmm. I don't think the name means that we only complete 4 tho haha... 1 more to go when we get back from our trip to Alaska next week.

Without further ado, here is block #4 - completed today after cleaning the apartment, before packing up my sewing room so it can be a guest room for the dog sitter:





Her colors were gray, yellow and aqua. I would not have picked those colors out myself but I love how this block turned out. The little whale in the center makes me so happy. I hope Lindsay likes it as much as I do!

The blocks do not have to be completed and mailed until October 15th but I'm trying to be ahead of schedule so here is the plan - help me stick to it! haha - Come home from Alaska on the 10th, make the block after church on the 11th - mail all 5 blocks to their new homes on the 12th. Hopefully I can stick to that... or at least get them out that week anyway.

This bee runs every quarter with a group of 6 people - so you make 5 blocks a quarter - same style but using each partner's color combination. Mine is aqua/orange/coal and 2 of the blocks I made for partners this round were the same colors... so tempting to keep them, hehe. Here is what I have completed so far:

I have also received 2 beautiful blocks - pictures to come next week along with my 5th and final block... I'll keep you in suspense for a bit, hehe.

So yea... Saturday we are packing up and heading to Alaska for a week. My friend is working on her PhD in Fairbanks so we will spend the week visiting her, camping in Denali National Park, and just generally enjoying a week off work. Can't ask for more than that - soooooo looking forward to friend time and vacation time and exploring a new cool state!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone - wishing you warm weather and a relaxing extended weekend!