The lovely Sara over at SewSara had a brilliant idea and organized a huge scrap swap!  Swap scraps, I was in!  I decided to swap scraps with three different people (you could swap with up to five, but I know my limits!)  I dug through my mountains of scraps and sent off three batches to my recipients, and this is what I got in return:

This first photo is the scraps I received from Debbie.  I asked for a rainbow of colors and boy did she accomplish that task!  You can visit Debbie at her blog A Quilter's Table.  Quite a few of these scraps are going to end up in my Bottled Rainbows quilt.

The next two photos are the scraps that I received from Sara (yes, the lovely lady who hosted this scrap swap!)  I love the collection, and I absolutely adore the large chunk of IKEA fabric that she sent to me, it was quite the treat!  Click on the little mushroom below to go to her blog.

The last set of scraps I received were from Laura, she has a blog called Quilting Fun, you can visit her blog HERE.  She sent quite the array of fabrics, they are all so unique and pretty!  My favorites are on top, the purples/pinks and the turquoise/blue with the bees!

Thank you ladies for making this so fun and successful!  I hope Sara does this swap again, because it really was a fun experience, and a great way to meet new people out in the blogging community!

Happy Monday everyone!  Once again I joined up with Amy's Creative Side for her One Thing, One Week Challenge.  Last Monday I decided to set my weekly goal to accomplish one of my blocks for the Bottled Rainbows Quilt Along.  I honestly thought that the block would take longer than it actually did, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to whip this baby up in just one day!  What was surprising to me was the fact that it took me so long to figure out how I wanted to place my pieces of fabric onto the actual block, it took me hours!  It was like a puzzle that I didn't know how to solve.  Once I had the layout done, the zig-zag stitching went pretty quickly.  I was really pleased at how this block turned out, and even more pleased to use up some of my scraps!

This was my first time using a walking foot on my machine, first time using cotton batting, and first time using the quilt as you go method.  I love them all, the walking foot worked like a dream (once I realized not to fight it so much, and let it do the work!) No problems with the cotton batting, and so far the quilt as you go method is working out great!  This block really isn't as wrinkly as it looks, I guess the batting is making it look lumpy.  Now that I have completed this block, I am so excited to get working on all the rest!  Are you participating in the Bottled Rainbows Quilt Along, and if so, how is it coming along for you?  I can't wait to see everyone's blocks!  Thanks again, Amy for motivating me to get something accomplished!

My apologies, this post is rather long and a slight bit bitchy.  If you don't like bitchy...stop reading now! Oh, and you probably wouldn't like me, because I can be...
well you know....

Aren't they lovely?  I love them, I love the fabrics, I love the sizes, I love that I did a good job constructing them.  What don't I love?  The instructions on how to make these babies.  Let's start at the beginning.  I decided to make all six bags because I plan on storing all my little sewing supplies in them, possibly buttons in the smallest, zippers in one of the medium ones, and wip's in the biggest (that baby can hold a ton of stuff!)  I think the design of the pouch is great, I love the little tabs on the sides, I love that when they are open, the opening is so big and easily stays open on it's own.  On a whole I am really pleased with them.

I am going to start by saying that last year alone, I easily put in 200+ zippers in clutches, pouches and purses.  I am not a novice by any means, I'm not being a cocky jerk, I'm just saying....it isn't my first rodeo.  I shall also say that I thoroughly read all of the instructions in the book LIKE 10 TIMES.  The instructions start out simple enough, cut it out, interface the heck out of it, sew the panels together, make the little tabs, and put the zipper in.  Amy Butler's method of doing this was a little laborious, but honestly for a beginner, this is a great way of doing it without messing it up.  I thought the few diagrams were great.  Yes, you are sewing the same seam twice on each side, but this wasn't a big deal and easy enough.

Everything sounds peachy right?  WRONG.  So the next step involved top stitching a 1/4" seam across the top on each side of the zipper, starting and stopping 1/2" from the ends.  OK done.  Easy enough.  Now what?  Oh, I know flip the right sides toward each other, and have the two linings together, and yes, open the zipper half way.  Yes, I got it.  Stitch around the right side all the way up to the zipper teeth.  Then stitch around the lining fabric, all the way up to the zipper teeth (leave an opening for turning in the center bottom.)  Trim the bottom corners and trim the excess seams by the zipper ends and opening.  Here is my first complaint - Why in the heck am I trimming these bottom corners, when I will be making a gusset later?  Alright, a waste of time, but I got over it, no biggie, I don't know why I'm doing it, but OK, whatever.  I created the gussets, measured, struggled like heck to line up the side and bottom seams, especially on the x-small and mini bags, but it wasn't that big of deal.  Now it is time to flip those babies right side out!  Yeah, I am almost finished!

I turned my first one right side out through the opening at the bottom of the lining, poked the lining into the bag, and OH MY....WHAT THE HECK....THIS LOOKS LIKE CRAP.  All that stopping a 1/2" away from the zipper ends, what does that create?  A messy messy yuck area on both ends of the zipper on the inside of the pouch.  I really wish I had taken a photo of this yuck, but alas, I was too busy CURSING.  Since I had done as instructed (on the first one only, thank goodness) I had trimmed the extra fabric by the zipper.  Once it was turned right side out, I was left with this area of raw edges (with not enough fabric to turn under) and the ends of the zipper tape just sticking out.  OK, maybe I'm just picky or anal or whatever, but this was not acceptable.  What had I done wrong?  I re-read the instructions 10 MORE TIMES.  To this day, I still don't know what I did wrong.  I would LOVE to know, I'm sure it was something simple, and I will slap my forehead and scream NO WAY THAT WAS SO SIMPLE!

So what now?  I sealed the raw edges with Fray Check, once that had dried, I used a matching thread and whip stitched the heck out of it.  What was my solution for the rest of the bags?  Don't trim the fabric by the zipper ends!  Once I turned it inside out, I fought and wrestled with tucking in the zipper tape ends, then carefully turning in the lining to cover all that mess, and whip stitching the whole thing closed (See photo on the left, below.)  The zipper ends with the stopper weren't quite as bad, but I still whip stitched the opening to the zipper, so that there weren't any open holes (photo on the right, below.)   What I thought was the funniest, was at this point the directions say to stitch (on the right side) the side seams between the two separate top stitching areas to connect the two top stitched seams.  WHAT?  How in the heck am I supposed to stitch over this big jumble of crap? Somebody answer that please.  Oh well, I left it alone, so when you are looking at my bags (on the sides) there is a gap of top stitching, and yes it looks weird.  Really weird, and if you look on the inside of my bags at the zipper ends, that also looks really weird.  Can you tell that I was annoyed?

That all being said and done, they are complete, I love them, they will serve their purpose.  I feel truly sorry for everyone (beginner or advanced) who also struggled with this, I guess I am the type of person who just needs more pictures or something, but this project was seriously lacking something in the form of directions.  The worst part is, that now I am really worried about the complexity of the rest of the projects in this book.  If I got this frustrated with project #3, what am I going to think about project 9-12?  I guess only time can tell!  Until next time....

Two lovely ladies, Lindsay and Mary recently started a new website venture, Craft Buds, which is a site devoted to helping you grow your handmade business, plus lots of other cool things like tutorials, giveaways, and one of my new favorite features a weekly list of giveaways.  Anyone can add their giveaway to the site and I (or you) can visit and see a ton of giveaways that are currently going on in the blogging community right now!  You can visit the Giveaway Roundup HERE.  Neat idea, right?  I thought it was genius!

To celebrate the start of their new venture, Lindsay and Mary held a giveaway of two Sherbet Pips charm packs.  Well, you guessed it, I WON!  You should know by now my love for Sherbet Pips, so I was pretty ecstatic to have been picked as the winner.  The best part?  Lindsay contacted me Saturday to let me know that I had won, and shipped the same day, so I had these babies in my hands on Tuesday!  Super fast!  That made it even better!  Now I just have to decide what to make!  I really want to make myself my own lap quilt, but I am struggling trying to decide what pattern.  Any suggestions?
Make sure to hop on over to Craft Buds and see all the cool stuff that they have to offer!

Wednesday again?  Impossible!  I guess not, but time sure does fly!  This week I have no completed projects, oh well.  But, I did work on my Bottled Rainbows Quilt quite a bit.  I pieced together all of the blocks, cut out all the needed batting, and sorted through all my scraps and organized them by color.  That was quite a task.  I worked a little bit on my fabric stash organizing, but am honestly putting that project on hold for a bit, I'm tired of it.  I started making my light box, purchased all the pvc and pvc joints, plus the white fabric for it, maybe I can finish it up this next week and take some awesome photos!  I also picked out the fabrics for April's Style Stitches project (post to come at a later date.)  I shall sign off at this point, I'm off to do some sewing...

Finished Projects:
None - Boo!

Ongoing Projects:
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (60% complete)
Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt-Along
Advent Calender Quilt (Off to be Machine Quilted)
Making a Light Box (Supplies bought, partly assembled)
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Beautiful Balance Checkbook Cover (Fabrics Picked Out)

Other Random Projects: (These are not counted in my weekly stats!)
A Box Full of Alterations and Random "Fix It" Projects.
Roughly 150 + Items that are Finished and Need to Be Photographed for my Shop.

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 2
Completed Projects - 0
Currently in Progress - 5

Dream Projects On Hold For Now:
A Cathedral Window Quilt
Cutting into the stack of Home Dec fabric I just received to make Mary Rose Clutches.
Sock Monkey Quilt
Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt
Making a bunch of clutches from a new pattern that I have purchased.
Sewing for myself a bunch of new tops/shirts.
A quilt using my new collection of Sherbet Pips.
Considering the Super-Nova Quilt-Along

Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!

Do you ever blog hop?  Lately it seems like that is all I do!  In the process of blog hopping (or twitter or flickr) I stumbled across this lovely quilt-along and just couldn't resist.  First off it uses scraps, what could be better than that?  Secondly it is a rainbow of colors, how pretty!  This will be the first quilt-along that I have ever participated in, and also the first time that I have tried the quilt-as-you-go process, which I am super excited about trying.  Also the first time using cotton batting (ok, cotton/polyester blend, but at least I am trying it!)  That is a lot of firsts!

I have gathered all my supplies (or at least most of them) and have cut all the center pieces (the large white rectangles in the photo above.)  I have all my colorful strips cut and ready to sew, you can see all 16 lovely colors above.  I enjoyed cutting all the colorful strips, but really hated cutting the large white rectangles.  I guess it was because they were so large and my workspace is so small, the yardage was hanging off the table!  I have slowly been going through my scraps to see what matches each color and hope to wrap that up in the coming weeks.  I'm off to start sewing my blocks together!

P.S.  Have no clue what a ticker tape quilt is?  Click over HERE to find out!
Have no clue what quilt-as-you-go means?  Click HERE to find out!
Want to join in the Bottled Rainbows Quilt-Along?  Click on the first picture in this post!

I wish I could say that I accomplished lots and lots this past week, and though in a way I feel I did, in other ways I don't.  I did finish up March's Amy Butler's Style Stitches Origami Bags (all 6,) post to follow in a few days.  I organized more of my fabric stash, as seen in the photos below, and honestly am sick of working on it!  I may take a break for a while, and am almost out of comic book backing boards, meaning I have used 200 already, which makes me feel a little bit ill.  I have all my fabric for the Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt-Along, and am currently working on that project (post to come in a few days also!) So much suspense! 

Do you ever have that moment when the stars align and everything comes into place, and you realize that sometimes you just have to delegate that task that isn't getting done, or you just plain don't like doing?  Well it happened to me this past week and now that I have taken the plunge and decided to do it, I feel so much better, a burden has been lifted!  What am I talking about?  My Advent Calender Quilt.  It has been sitting on my work desk since November, basted together and just staring at me every day.  Now that the holidays have past, I don't have the motivation to work on it, honestly I don't mind quilting, but with a three year old constantly jumping all over me, lately I haven't enjoyed that task as much as I used to.  I don't think anyone likes being repeatedly poked with pins and needles!  So when things fell into place and I found someone to machine quilt it for me, I bit the bullet, packaged that baby up and shipped it off for someone else to work on! Whew! I am so glad to have that quilt off of my work station!  In a month or two when it has returned home, all I will have to do is sew on the binding.  Letting go and realizing that I can't be Super Woman all of the time (just most of the time) has been really freeing and I would highly recommend it!

Finished Projects:
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Origami Bag Set - 4 Pouches

Ongoing Projects:
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (55% complete)
Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt-Along
Advent Calender Quilt (Off to be Machine Quilted)

Other Random Projects: (These are not counted in my weekly stats!)
A Box Full of Alterations and Random "Fix It" Projects.
Roughly 150 + Items that are Finished and Need to Be Photographed for my Shop.

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 0
Completed Projects - 4
Currently in Progress - 3 (This number was 20 just over a month ago!)

Dream Projects On Hold For Now:
Making a Light Box
A Cathedral Window Quilt
Cutting into the stack of Home Dec fabric I just received to make Mary Rose Clutches.
Sock Monkey Quilt
Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt
Making a bunch of clutches from a new pattern that I have purchased.
Sewing for myself a bunch of new tops/shirts.
A quilt using my new collection of Sherbet Pips.
Considering the Super-Nova Quilt-Along (Am I CRAZY!) *NEW THIS WEEK

Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!

Wow, it has been a month since i started participating in Wip Wednesday, how time flies!  I wish I could say that this past week was really productive, but honestly it wasn't.  Unexpected internet problems, a funeral, and traveling out of town kept me from meeting all my goals, but that is life.  I did finish two of the six Amy Butler Origami Bags.  I also worked on the continuing organization of my fabric stash.  I did put a small dent in it, and created quite a few "mini" bolts, but I still have quite a bit to go through!

I did have one super exciting thing happen this past week....I finally got my hands on a fat quarter bundle of Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey!  I have been anxiously awaiting this fabric for quite some time, and was thrilled when I snagged a bundle from the Fat Quarter Shop.  Now I just need to figure out what to make with it!

Finished Projects:
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Origami Bag Set - 2 Pouches

Ongoing Projects:
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Origami Bag Set - 4 Pouches (80% finished)
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (25% complete)
Collecting supplies for Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt Along *NEW THIS WEEK
Advent Calender Quilt (Process of Quilting, 5% complete)

Other Random Projects: (These are not counted in my weekly stats!)
A Box Full of Alterations and Random "Fix It" Projects.
Roughly 150 + Items that are Finished and Need to Be Photographed for my Shop.

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 1
Completed Projects - 2
Currently in Progress - 7

Dream Projects On Hold For Now:
Making a Light Box
A Cathedral Window Quilt
Cutting into the stack of Home Dec fabric I just received to make Mary Rose Clutches.
Sock Monkey Quilt
Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt
Making a bunch of clutches from a new pattern that I have purchased.
Sewing for myself a bunch of new tops/shirts.
A quilt using my new collection of Sherbet Pips.

Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!

This month's bag is really six bags, and not really bags, but rather pouches.  I love them, I love pouches, and I love the fabric that I am going to use, so I am super excited about this month's project!  Amy Butler has named these pouches "Origami Bag Set" and it is a collection of pouches ranging in size from extra small to extra large.

The first step is to choose your fabric and get together the supplies needed (a.k.a. six zippers!)  I am using fabric designed by Heather Ross, it is from her Far Far Away II line of fabric for the exterior of these bags, and a simple muslin colored denim for the interior lining.  I am also throwing in a matching, green on green polka dot that I have no idea who designed (maybe Echino?) just to add another complimentary fabric to the group!

I had quite the productive week!  I finished up the nine Louise Pleated Wristlets that I had been working on, plus 10 wrist straps.  Glad to have those finished up, now let's see how long it takes me to get them listed in my shop!  I started a new project this week, I slowly began to organize my out of control fabric stash.  I am creating "mini" bolts that I am sure many of you have seen before, and am loving it!  The problem is, I thought I was making pretty good progress, and then I noticed that my unfolded pile didn't seem to be getting any smaller.  Oh well, I'm doing a little each day so I don't get burnt out on it.  I have been steadily working on my Amy Butler Origami Bags and hope to have them finished by next week!

Finished Projects:
9 OOAK Louise Pleated Wristlets

Ongoing Projects:
Amy Butler's Style Stitches Origami Bag Set - 6 Pouches (50% finished)
Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (5% complete) *NEW THIS WEEK
Advent Calender Quilt (Process of Quilting, 5% complete)

Other Random Projects: (These are not counted in my weekly stats!)
A Box Full of Alterations and Random "Fix It" Projects.
Roughly 150 + Items that are Finished and Need to Be Photographed for my Shop.

This Week's Stats:
New Projects - 1
Completed Projects - 9
Currently in Progress - 8

Dream Projects On Hold For Now:
Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt Along
Making a Light Box
A Cathedral Window Quilt
Cutting into the Stack of Home Dec Fabric I just received to make Mary Rose Clutches.
Sock Monkey Quilt
Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt
Making a bunch of clutches from a new pattern that I have purchased.
Sewing for myself a bunch of new tops/shirts.

Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!