Kaleidoscope

The sun peeked through the clouds for only a few minutes yesterday, but it was long enough for me to snap these pictures. Even still, they are a little dark.



The cute quilting job makes all the diffrence with this one. I wasn't sure how much I liked it before I had it quilted, but now it's one of my favorites!

The pattern is called Kaleidoscope by Cluck Cluck Sew. Eagle Mountain Quilting quilted it for me and she did a wonderful job!

Refinished Chairs

I gave my old kitchen chairs new life this week with a fresh coat of paint. I think they make for very bright and sunny porch chairs.


I started off with sandpaper, but quickly switched to an electric sander. I wanted to just rough up the surface before I applied the primer. The most satisfing part was sanding off the years of stuck-on food splatters and spills...GROSS!


I applied 2 coats of a spray paint primer by Valspar.



All spray paint is not created equal. The first spray paint I used was by Krylon, and though the red turned out ok, the green was horrible. I had to use two cans of the green (with the red and blue I only needed one) and I got a lot of drips. For the blue chair I used Valspar and it covered beautifully with one can.



My finished porch chairs (along with a little table from Ikea that cost a very reasonable 7.99$!). Just in time for Memorial day. I think will have lemonade and hotdogs on the porch this Monday.



My materials list...

100 grit sandpaper
electric sander, optional, but if you can get ahold of one it sure was quick.
white spray paint primer by Valspar (found at Lowes in the spray paint isle)
one can of Krylon Cherry Red Gloss spray paint
two cans of Krylon Ivy Leaf Gloss spray paint
one can of Valspar Mediterranean Gloss spray paint

I've thought about using a varnish on my chairs. I haven't yet, I may still... I'll have to let you know.

Rainy Days

Is it raining at your house? It is at mine. And has been, for months! My new swingset has not seen many children on it so far.

Time to get creative to keep the little ones from driving me CRAZY!
We made these wooden spoon dolls...


Teaching the kids about "sewing needle safety" :)


It's worth the mess if I get a few minutes break right?

I let them help themselves to my fabric scraps and leftover trims.

Here's another project we made that wasn't as big a hit, but still fun: eggshell mosaics. I even did a google search on mosaics, taught the kids some art history and brought up some pictures for inspiration (awesome parenting moment for me!)


Wish I would have thought of this craft right after Easter! Great way to use up all those colored egg shells.

International Quilt Market Spring 2011

I mentioned last week how I had got my hands on a ticket to International Quilt Market, another perk of working in a quilt store. I was able to find some time this weekend (not nearly enough time) and browse my way through all the many designers' booths containing all their newest patterns and fabric, most of which have not hit stores yet. It was fantastic!

My favorite was the Michael Miller booths. They went all out and I fell in love with every thing I saw! Above is a picture of new designer Sarah Jane's booth. You can get a sneak peak of her first fabric line HERE. My manager at Pine Needles introduced me to her blog just a couple weeks ago, I suppose after working with me for 4 years she's gotten to know my style and knew I would LOVE it.

Another favorite booth was Sandi Henderson's. I love everything she comes out with but this looks like it could be the best so far. Her booth was gorgous, and though I didn't get a picture :( you can check out a sneak peak of her newest fabric, Secret Garden, HERE (UPDATE: Scroll down to bottom of post for picture!)



Here is a picture of Fig Trees booth...


And a couple shots of Riley Blake...



I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. Not sure if that was because I was so overwhelmed or too intimidated. But it was a wonderful experience and now all there is to do is watch and wait for all this beautiful fabric to hit the stores, definitely the hard part!

UPDATE:
Here's the perfect picture (that I was not able to get) of Sandi Henderson's booth I was telling you about. I stole this pic from UCreate, go check out her blog post of Market, she also has some fantastic pictures of another favorite, Thimble Blossoms!

Hello again!

Wow, long time, no see guys! Sorry I've been absent from blogging for the last month. I wish I had some fantastic projects to show you all, but mostly I've just been hanging out with the family, putting in a few extra hours at work, and trying to drop a couple pounds before the summer (not working by the way, but I do feel stronger).

I did finish this quilt top...


The pattern is called Kaleidoscope by Cluck Cluck Sew and the fabric is Hideaway by Moda.

And took a wonderful trip with my oldest daughter and my mom to visit family in California.


(Those are dolphin fins in the background!)

My husband and father finished building this swingset just in time for Mothers Day...



Didn't they do a fantastic job!

And my most exciting news... I scored a ticket to International Quilt Market this weekend! I've never been before, and I have to admit, I'm a little nervous, but even more than that I'm super excited. Not sure what the protocol with picture taking is yet, but I'm definitely going to take the camera and start snapping pictures until they tell me to stop!