Where's Your Breaking Point?

So I have been doing a ton of spring cleaning. Which has left no time for sewing :( 

I'm getting antsy! Doodling, thinking, creating in my mind and in my sleep. Mentally sewing while I'm washing blinds and baseboards! 

Isn't it funny how something that is so integral to our being makes itself known when its not getting enough? 

I mean... Think about it... If your body is lacking a vitamin, it lets you know! If your body is lacking sleep, it lets you know! If it needs food, your tummy growls and you get light headed - you KNOW that's what it's telling you.   I believe it's no different with mental and emotional needs. When women aren't getting enough affection, they get crabby and sad... Right?  Depression... Stress... Worry... All of them have "consequences" or reactions in our body.  And each of us being so different, we all have different levels of needs.

Those of us that NEED to create recognize the signs and symptoms when we're not fulfilling that need as well!  

It makes itself known in a variety of ways.  For me, my brain goes into overdrive - which can be such a good thing sometimes! Lol as long as you keep a journal or notebook of all the things that are percolating!  Because they will be long forgotten once you start back up! :) 

If I'm still not able to put my thoughts into action I start to get edgy.  Or maybe restless is a better word?  Discontent and irritation sets in. And then.... If I'm still not able to act on it, it shuts itself down and goes into sleep mode.  Literally, like starvation, the hunger pains go away. The desire goes away, but you are left wanting and unable to fulfill it.  Enter the artist's dry spells where lack of creative mojo as many of us call it, is just seemingly GONE.  And try as you might to get it ramped back up, it's elusive and hard to catch hold of.

I think we all hit that end result now and then. Why or how we get there is different for each of us. Sometimes it's because we are stagnant in our our art...not growing and learning and pursuing. Sometimes it's just because we haven't made time for it, and it slips away.  What ever the cause, we've all been there at one time or another, right? 

I'm a true believer of just making yourself do it when you're there. Just start something and push through. You'll likely hate the end result (because your mojo has gone missing) but it forces it to come out of hiding.  Sometimes it's almost a painful process watching yourself create crappy stuff! Lol but your eye, your creative soul knows its crap and starts screaming for the conductor to come back! Lol I hate being in that place! Hate it with a passion!

So all that to say, I am at the restless edgy stage and if I don't do something soon, it's going into hiding and that's where I'll be!  No.no.no.no.  Don't wanna! Lol!

I have been battling some serious health issues that force me out of commission for a couple weeks at a time. Extremely frustrating! And watching this creative starvation systematically play out every time has made me extremely aware of how it goes down!  And the truly frustrating part of it all, is I am fully loaded with awesome ideas, projects in the works and just rarin' to go! So if it goes away now, they all do too! Seemingly never to return!

So guess what I'm going to do today? Lol

I am going to MAKE time, and a good portion of it, to go disappear into my studio and get some motion happening!  That last wall that needs washing, and the sorting for the annual garage sale, and the laundry can wait for another day. I however don't think I can!  It's been three weeks of stagnation, and I think that may be all I can handle!  Praying my health issues allow for a good chunk of time before calling me back down!

And maybe I'll have something to show for it in the next week!

Xo

Bren

Toddler Boy Quilt

Finished this one last weekend, but finally getting around to taking pictures and listing it up on etsy.

This was such a fun little boys quilt to make - keeping it simple, with large offset blocks, the fabrics just scream BOY!! :)

I have a soft spot for all things boy. Tonka trucks. Legos. Oshkosh overalls. Little hiking boots. Sticks. Little boy haircuts. Yah, I could go on and on! 

So when I saw that fabric with the little helicopters and trucks on it by Tim and Beck, it was a must have! Then I found the black and white doodle one, and knew they were going in a quilt together! 

Simple. Sweet. Boy.

:) 

 I backed and bound it in Kona Poppy

 There's sweetwater mini chevrons, and summersville alphabet in aqua, the red white and blue stripe is also from Tim and Beck, and the black chalkboard math one is from the Berenstien Bears line I think. I forget the designer?

I was originally going to quilt it in figure 8's, with white thread but had issues with the red thread from the back showing on the top with the white thread!! Grrrr!! Blew all my plans out the window. No matter how many times I adjusted the tension, there was no getting around it!

So, ended up going with a medium gray aurifil, and red on the back and quilted it in a relaxed rectangle inny outy.  I actually love how it turned out, more I think, than I would have liked the figure 8's!

That's really all I finished this week.  Kinda pathetic huh? 

But, I have three more in the works! :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xo

Bren :)

Paper Piecing More Blocks

I've gotten a couple more blocks done for Bailey's quilt. These last four were really time consuming!

One block takes about 3-4 hours! Sheesh! 

These last two I did at the same time, so the same step repeated for all the pieces all at once. 8 pieces (triangles) per block. 88 pieces x 2 ! 

But I gotta say, they turned out pretty cool! 

Totally worth the time and effort :)

And, what's most important... Bailey loves them! 

These weren't so bad... only 56 pieces per block! :)

We've decided to include 2 more from the Don't Call Me Betsy BOM also. And that's it, since we are focusing more on nautical compass types than just stars.

These three I got from here, in case you're interested :)

Now I just have to make doubles of all the ones I've made. We're not sure on the layout yet. He suggested making 8 rows of all the same stars in each row. I'm thinking more helter skelter. lol  So once I get them done we'll lay them out and make a decision. I'll be sure to take a pic when we get to that point. At this rate, that might be in July! LOL!

And... amazingly enough.. I spent a day getting things listed in my etsy shop. Finally! Yay! 

Looking for a great Mother's Day gift??  I have several quilted zippered pouches (cosmetic type bags) listed, and they would get there in time :)   Take a peek!

We have snow upon snow upon snow here. I am SO SICK OF SNOW!

Our trees haven't even budded yet, much less have leaves! lol  All of our flowers have been killed before they were allowed to bloom. It doesn't look like spring is going to happen here in Colorado this year :( 

The kids get out for SUMMER break in two weeks! Wonder if it will be snowing then too??

grrrrrrrrr

Well... at least the sun is shining today! lol

Have a great one!

xo

Bren :)

Follow up in pics

 A quick update to yesterday's post... fresh out of the dryer! :) 

same corner with a wonky spiral :(  But look at the difference once it's washed! You don't hardly see that binding line! :)

Have a great day! 

I'm off to work on a little boy's sailboat quilt and the string quilt! :)

What I've Been Working On...

Well I've got the top of the string quilt put together! And it's not quite as big as I'd like it to be! And I'm not making 16 more blocks!!! LOL Mostly because I've run out of fabrics and just don't have enough. So, even though I'm not a big border girl, I think I will add borders to it in these solids to give it a little more width and make it a good size lap quilt! The bigger the better in my opinion! Nothing worse than a skimpy little quilt when you're cold, right? :)

I really like how it's coming out!!

Wish I could have gotten better pics of these!!  But the lighting just wasn't that great :(

I just finished up these two baby quilts, and they're getting ready to go in the wash right now!

The fish are pieced and the bubbles are appliqued.

Both are my own designs. I have a couple more in that aren't quite finished yet. Hoping to get them done this next week!

Sweet. Simple. Clean. Fresh.

Wouldn't they look cute in a nursery?

This one ... so simple! The stems and border are pieced, but the lollipop flowers are raw edge applique. So they will have soft edges once it's washed.

I tried a new binding technique on this one. I've been trying different ways to machine bind, for baby quilts. But I am just not happy with how they turn out! They look sloppy no matter how careful you are! And I can't stand sloppy looking sewing!  Soo... I end up ripping it all out and hand sewing them anyway! LOL! Kind of defeats the purpose, but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do! :)

But that doesn't mean I've given up. And I think I just struck gold with this one!! 

Amanda Jean's tutorial for it is here

The difference with this method, and I think why it worked for me, is because you attach the binding to the backside, and then flip it to the front and sew it down. This way your front binding looks clean and neat and you don't have an extra line of stitching on the front!! The line of stitching is on the back, and close enough to the binding (without constantly hitting it and going over) that it kind of just blends in and isn't obvious. Yay!!! This is the first time I have actually been HAPPY with a machine sewn binding!! 

I'm thinking I may start doing all my baby quilts this way, just for the durability factor since they get washed over and over! 

If you've been trying to find a technique that actually looks good and you've been frustrated with the results as I have, check this one out!!

xo

Bren

Awesome Trip

I was lucky enough to take a trip "home" to Santa Cruz at the end of March!!

My Dad's 70th birthday - wow! Where does the time go??

Although it was only for two days, we had such a fabulous time! It was the first time my father, my sister and I have all been together in a very long long time.  Oh man... how I've missed them! Our two days were jam packed full of awesome food, good wine, and so much laughter I thought my face might break! LOL  Nothing like getting family together, and the oddities and personalities play off of each other - and there's just no stopping! :) Did I say it was great? Yah, it truly was!

It's been about 10 years since I'd been back, and I had forgotten how beautiful it really is!

It took me YEARS to get over the homesickness of missing the ocean. Literally. About 6 years of living in Colorado, before I stopped longing for the waves, and the smell of the ocean. There is just something about it... that to me is home. The smell of the seaweed, the crisp clean air, the sound of the waves crashing, the sun glittering on the sea.... sigh. Yes. Now I miss it again!

Isn't it picturesque? 

This is West Cliff drive... I think I spent more time here than I did at home, during my teenage years! And of course, as a teenager, even though I loved it - I didn't truly appreciate how special of a place this was, and how lucky I was to grow up here!

sigh. I can hear it and smell it right now, as I'm writing this!

This is my amazing Dad!!! And yikes I look tres fat in this pic! :(

I'm not going to wax poetic over how awesome it was to see my Dad and my Sis... it'll be a struggle tho, trust me! :)

My father is a pretty incredible guy, and I miss not being able to spend time with him. He is an accomplished artist, hilarious, down to earth, and has more energy than I do!! I get all my weirdness from him! LOL 

You can take a peek into his art here - set aside a few hours to explore, you'll need it! :)

This is my gorgeous sister!!

Man... it's been too long!! LOL!

Did I mention my face and sides hurt from laughing so much? Yah.. between her and my dad I didn't stand a chance! 

She's amazing. I am so in awe of her. I want to be like her when I grow up!!

She thinks I'm silly to say that, but it's true.

We are completely opposite in temperment and life direction. (And yet so the same on all other levels.)

I settled down pretty early - domestic goddess and all that. lol  Had kids, and the last 20 years has pretty much revolved around them.. raising them, teaching them, playing with them, cleaning up after them and running them everywhere. lol  And my sanity has always been in creating. Whether it was folkart dolls, rug hooking or now quilting. Such an exciting life, eh?

But I count myself blessed. I wouldn't have it any other way!! 

My sister, is everything I am not. An insanely successful corporate salesperson, for the best known technical security company around. Very girly and all up on the newest beauty regimes, fashion and and what's in and what's not.  LOL I live in jeans, v-neck T's and flip flops! (yah I know. I could do better in that department! lol but for a mom on the go, that's what works... it's comfy and versatile! lol) 

We actually found out that weekend that she made number one - not just for her region, not just for the united states, but for the freaking GLOBE!!! Yah. SHE ROCKS!!! 

That should give you a hint on how incredibly smart and driven she is!

And that is the environment that she thrives in. Hard core, stressful high level sales. 

I often wonder if we were to have a Freaky Friday switcheroo how long I would last in her world? And her in mine? LOL  12 hours seems like it might be pushing it!! haha!

FAMILY

There is no better word that encompasses all emotions and incredible love that tie us all together!

I am so thankful for my family!!

xo

Bren

Stringing along...

What a mess! Piles of strips that started out all neat and tidy, always look like a jumbled mess after a little while! 

These are all the new Comma fabric line by Brigitte Heitland - (except  those two orange circle pieces in the right corner, and the piece of authentic black on the left - I decided after a bit of sewing and seeing the blocks come together that I needed more orange and black so threw those in the pile too)

Those strips  were sewn in varying widths into these.... along with flax linen for the one corner, and natural linen for the large stripe next to the white. I love the texture and "purity" of linen! There's something about it that just softens things up!

 And then those start forming blocks...  some large squares, and some floating little squares...

I kind of fell in love yesterday when I laid these out!!!  This is going to be one classy gorgeous quilt when it's done!!  

Granted, I have to order more natural colored linen, and make... ohh... 50 more squares! LOL! So it might be a while! :)
 xo
Bren :)

Quilty pictures!

Some fun quilty pictures!

Ok, several things to show you today! :) 

(someone remembered her camera! lol)

My long awaited DQS quilt came!! Yay!! Isn't this adorable??! 

Sorry the lighting was so poor - it was dark and snowing outside, but I couldn't wait to get a snapshot of it and thank my partner!

As soon as I decide where I'm hanging it, I will get a better shot! Isn't it just too cute? Well worth waiting for!! I love the texty fabric - and how she incorporated little black hexies (also text fabric)  and those eye glasses!! LOVE!! :)   And the center... just perfect! Bright, and cheery and HAPPY!! I love swapping, it's so much fun! This was made by Solidia (modernsewl on flikr) - Thank you again Solidia! <3 p="">

Onto other news, back in October (?) I started quilting for other people. And can I just say... I'm loving it? :)

Yes, I still get a bad case of nerves occasionally... thinking what have I gotten myself into? lol But for the most part, I am truly enjoying it! (And yes.. it makes me want a long arm even more! ha! But that's not going to happen in this decade!)  So work with what you have, right? 

I thought I would show you two quilts I recently finished for a customer during my introductory special (which was extended through Feburary). She brought me three darling quilts, and I thought I'd show you two of them.... 

This one she made for a friend's daughter(?) that had just redone her room in pinks and browns.. all the fabrics had a parisan theme, so I girlied it up even more with large swirls and feathers  in the large middle blocks and all the way around the borders :) This was a twin size, but it's laying on my table so you can only see a portion of it.

One of the other ones she brought me... 

This one was super fun and hell all at the same time! lol

Can you see why?

Originally I was just going to stitch in the ditch around the star blocks, and free motion daisys in the blue portion. But once that was done, it was obvious we couldn't just leave it like that! lol! 

Also she had suggested a whole daisy theme if I could manage it... and maybe outline a few of the daisys in the border...

 No, it's not perfect. But it turned out darn cute!! In the photo below, you can see, I stopped to check how things were looking, and took a quick snapshot. You can see down there on the border to the left - is not quilted, and to the right all the daisys have been stitched - it really made them pop, and they were soo 3 dimensional! It wouldn't have looked right if I had only done a few!

 See what I mean? ^^^ The top was stitched in turquoise thread, and the back was done in a lime green. It was fun fun fun!! I gotta say, I love free motion quilting!! I really do!! And it goes pretty quickly. But, give me a walking foot and straight lines (don't get me wrong - I love the way straight lines LOOK!) but holy cow they take a long time!!!  (*ahem..Dan.. if you're reading this.. straight lines are a lot lot lot faster on a long arm! lol just sayin!)
LOL... sorry ladies! I just figured he might want to know! :)

And last but not least, this is a baby quilt I made... I'm not really thrilled with it. (and no, it's not puke green, that's just how my lovely camera sees it! lol It's kona celery)

I quilted it in bubbles and waves around the bubbles. I tried a new technique on this, and while it wasn't perfect, I was able to work out the kinks  in my theory and make it work pretty smoothly!

Now I just need to bind it :) I'm hopeful that it will look way more awesome after being washed! 

And while I'm quilting away, do you know who's always by my side?

Ms. Dorkus Maximus!

She loves to "carpet swim"!  And she makes the funniest noises and grunts and groans while she's doing it, and as soon as I turn my head to look at her, she immediately looks at me and smiles! 

LOL!

Which in turn makes me laugh. Every. Time.!

And then she flips right side up and give me a cute face :)

ayup. I love her. Dork or not! :)

How can you not love this face??

Ok, that's all i have today! 

I'm working on a couple more customer quilts, and just thought I'd give my shoulders a little break :)

Hope you have a great day!

xo

Bren :)