Professional Pics

Wow, looks like my blog has been quit neglected lately!

I am torn because of "weirdo's" on the internet, and needing to protect my family.  I am also not a fan of blogs that you have to sign in to read, and they are not helpful for attempting to run a business.

I know there are some of you who only come here to see pics of my kids, and what's going on in our family- and I am sorry.  I will attempt to set up a private page for family photos, but from now on this blog will be for business purposes only, and of course- crafty ideas, and recipes.

As you can see, I've got a beautiful new banner for my blog, thanks to my friend Lorna Carman, of Lorna Carman Photography!  She recently did a photo shoot of my quilts to post on Etsy.com, and I absolutely love the results!  You'll notice the same banner is also now displayed on my Etsy page.

I also purchased hand-made labels from another shop on Etsy, and it's so much fun to be able to add them.

And I guess that's all for now, folks!  I wasn't able to finish uploading all the photos, because I've supposedly reached my quota of 1GB free for pictures.  Hmmm.... If you'd like to see more, check out the listings on my Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/calicosinbloom

Finish-it-up Friday!

My favorite blog, Crazy Mom Quilts, has been doing a "finish-it-up-Friday" post, and I decided it was perfect timing!  I've been sorting all my scraps and stash, trying to finish up projects and get some order.  I've noticed that sewing is much more enjoyable when the house is clean, chores are finished, and unfinished projects are finished.

This is a quilt I mentioned here, that I put together at last year's quilt retreat.  I'm going again this month, and decided it was time to get it off the shelf of unfinished projects.

This week I added some borders and quilted it.  I just finished hand-sewing the binding to the back this afternoon.

 It would fit right into our living room.

Can you tell what colors I like?

 My picture helper.

 The backing.

 Another helper.

 The breeze was also helping.

I finally got the guts to go through my color-sorted scrap bins, and cut them up.  I now have a bin of 2.5inch strips, another bin of 2inch strips, some quilt blocks cut from 1.5inch strips, a bin of squares(5, 4.5, and 4inch), and now they might actually get used!  Determined to use up what I have before buying new, and packing for this year's retreat will be simpler.  Just take my tubs, and bags of unfinished projects!

Expect to see some more log-cabin quilts this fall.  I still consider them my favorite block.  There are so many things you can do with them!

This entire quilt was made from scraps/stash, and many of them my not-so-favorite fabrics.  I love the overall effect, glad I didn't get rid of them!

The quilt is now in the wash, to get crinkly and see how much it shrinks.  I used Polyester batting this time, which is a favorite around here because it's warmer.  The current measurements are 72.5 x 100 inches, and I am recording it for future reference.  Should make a nice twin-size, Levi has already claimed it. ;)