quilting flowers

i decided to really step outside the box on this one and do flower quilting. I had seen the idea on this blog - which also just happened to be posted on my birthday of quilting big, loopy flowers!

I know the pictures aren't the best but the sunlight helps show the flower with the dark thread. I absolutely loved doing these and I seem to be a lot better at flowers than stippling...

I think I may try this on a bigger quilt if i take the chance and do some bright, fun fabrics even though i have a house full of boys! It went fairly fast too. It does definitely use more thread and by the 3rd or 4th loop the center of the flowers become stiff with all of the stitches. I would like to try this in a variegated thread on a child's shirt without any extra fabric, but just the stitches as the pattern - hmmm....

A peek inside my Studio

I thought it might be fun to show you a little peek into my studio. I was taking some pictures this past weekend, and it was fairly clean, so a good time to snap some shots! Here is an overall view of the room with my sewing area and cutting table. In our home in Indiana I had turquoise walls, which I miss dearly. This is way bland for my taste, but it works for now!

A different view including my window overlooking the canal.

Some Scrapbooking Supplies / Stash

A jar with my leftover bindings / triangles left

My many colors of thread for appliqueing and the left-over spools...I don't have anything else to fill this jar just yet, and it's somewhat rewarding to know how much you've sewn and used your beloved machine!

Lots o' ribbon for crafting

And that's the tour! As my number of quilting projects grows I may need to find a new way of organizing. Believe it or not my fabric stash is limited to 1 large metal basket housed in our laundry room shelving. I have 1 small bag on the floor inside my cutting table where i throw my scraps. I have only made a handful of quilts (less than 10) so i don't have a need to color sort scraps or organize them further at this point. It has taken much willpower to keep my stash at this level...as you can tell my scrapbooking hobby didn't include the same willpower! I am living the motto 'less is more' and using what i have, as hard as it is!

i'm a winner!

One of my favorite things about reading blogs, besides the inspiration and friendships, is the chance at a random giveaway. You leave a comment and then cross your fingers all week in hopes that you've been chosen by the random generator. Do you comment first, last or somewhere in-between....what are my chances? I have left many comments and never won a quilt-blog giveaway until about 2 weeks ago!!! Not only did i win this giveaway, but I won something awesome!

I joined the Improv(e) Your Butt Challenge on Tallgrass Prairie Studio's Blog and by completing my weekly goal was able to enter to win part of her scrappy stash. After finding out I was the winner I will admit I stalked the mailbox / carrier for about 10 days and was so excited to find it in the post.

An overall view of my goody bag

A little bit better pic of each fabric. I can't decide what to do with these....the challenge is to exercise more regularly and the reward part was a piece of fabric for every mile completed - forming an improv project / quilt. I thought it would be perfect to use this stash to start my improv project.

My absolute favorite scrap!

The collection of my most favorite scraps out of the pile!