Spring to Finish

Well, since my pile of half done, to do and wip seems to grow each week from all those fantastic ideas floating around on all your blogs, I've joined in on the Spring to Finish project by Tallgrass Prairie Studio(yes, this is one of the fantastic idea inducing blogs). I love the idea of actually finishing all these little projects that seem to linger on my cutting mat.


Oh, and the added bonus to the finishing is that on April 30th I'll be able to leave a comment on Jacquie's post and be entered to win some fun prizes. Yep that's one entry per project. Alright, so here's my list of wip's that are on the table or completed since I signed up for this little adventure:


First up---Doll Quilt Swap 6~Done!! Labeled and everything, ready to go! :)

One Spring Garden Listmaker for a swap for some super cool woolsocks~
Done and done!

One lavender linen skirt with embellishments for Miss A(who has been
pestering me forever). Done!

One embroidered appliqued tea towel. Done!

One recycled overall ruffle dress (again for Miss A).

One clothesline mini quilt.

One snail tote.

One really late birthday gift for a friend. Oy.

One more embroidered tea towel.

So by my count that's four finishes and five more to go. You can laugh at me now. I know there's no way to finish the last five before Thursday but at least its a start at some finishes! :)
What's in your pile?

Inspiring

Inspiring, originally uploaded by spinster sister.1. Fence, 2. Art to use - pincushion, 3. Bird on a Nest Brooch, 4. Textile collage, 5. lonely heart, 6. fly bird cushion, 7. IMG_7293, 8. Cotton Friend - Inside, 9. IMG_8313, 10. alphabet blocks, 11. handstitched necklace - front, 12. "I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center." Kurt Vonnegut, 13. Front of Doll Quilt Swap #6, 14. Section of a mini quilt, 15. skitch - waiting for lambie, 16. My lovely Kaffe Fassett quilt top
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Holiday weekend plans,
company coming, nest cookies being made, family dinner with marshmallow peep smores made over a bonfire, bits of green reappearing, all the littles singing at Sunday morning service (some who may be afraid of embarrassing themselves), baskets filled, eggs dyed. Time to hang around and play together.
Happy Easter, happy Spring!

Seasonal Allergy Sufferers Look Away!

Ragweed is in the house!
That's what I call her anyway...my quilt for Denise for the Mini Quilt in a Bag Swap. You'll see why in a minute, really, I promise.


Denise sent me a Moda charm pack ( I think it was Fig and Plum?) to use for her quilt and I sent her one to use for mine. Which by the way, I'd love to show you because I know its going to be really amazing. Unfortunately the mailman is not cooperating this week and my package hasn't arrived yet. Darn it!

So Denise sent me this charm pack which of course was really pretty but, not colors I usually work with. Yep, that is why I do these swaps, to try things I wouldn't normally come up with on my own. And then, there was the oh holy cow, what am I going to do with this? Hey friend in Virginia, these are your kind of colors...what would you do?

Ideas were suggested, considered, chewed on and dare I say dreamed about. As my pal will not hesitate to tell you, every time I start one of these little projects there's a sketch, an inkling, a fair idea of where it will all end up. And for each of these projects, there is the moment when my friend will check out the pics she's finally pestered me into uploading to flickr and say, "I like it, but that looks nothing like what I thought you were going to do."

Yep, that's what friends are for.

And so, finally after all those inklings and dreams about colors and fabrics, we have ourselves a little Ragweed. Nowhere in the original plan was the sketch stitching that I tried for the first time, or the free motion quilting that I've finally figured out, or even that patchy border.

So, yeah, I think the whole swapping thing is working for me. Stretching what I'm comfortable making, leading me to try new techniques, meeting some really cool and talented people, and giving my friend something to make fun of me for. Because really without throwing her a bone like this once in a while, there really is nothing to pick on me about. Nothing. :)

Down the Bunny Trail

This started out as just one bunny, really it did. Just a simple little Easter decoration, just for fun. As is the case with bunnies though, they seem to be multiplying rapidly...I could make a couple for my favorite kids in Virginia and surprise them. No big deal, right?

Before the first bunny was finished, he was named and claimed by one of my own. The others rapidly followed his lead, and so I had requests for four bunnies just from my own peeps, including one with vampire fangs cause you know, that would make him cool enough for the twelve year old to want one.

Sitting on the porch finishing up bunny number three and the neighbor kids arrive...whatcha makin Jill? Can ya make one for me? and me? and me? Umm sure, why not?
Add to the list the two more requests from some little friends at church and we are up to eleven. Eleven little bunnies, yes little, and yes each of mine has lost their bunny at least three hundred times in the last two days. Each time, a tragedy that makes us all stop what we are doing and go on a bunny hunt.
So far all the runaway bunnies have been recovered and returned safely to their owner. If your feeling the need to make some tiny runaway bunnies of your own, you can get your free pattern here from My Little Mochi. Just a word of advice though, you may want to add a little ribbon hanger or pet id chip as my husband has suggested. Just in case the inevitable happens. :)