Down the Rabbit Hole . . .

 I've fallen hard back into papercrafting . . . I think it's the quick finish and the stress relief and the satisfaction that my hard work will (hopefully) bring a smile to someone's face for a moment or two.  I post most of my work over on my Instagram account, @theravenscraft, but I've recently started to be more social and join some card making groups which require a blog . . so time to dust off the beast!  

I love everything about this card - it's shabby chic to the max! My first time using embossing power and a bit of a fail but I decided to keep it anyways.  Seriously addicted to the blending brushes from Stampin' Up.  I'm going to have to order more, one for each color!  As you can see, blue got a workout!

I made this card for #GDP278.  I wish the colors were better in the picture.  It's for my co-worker Lindsey who was also my Valentine's Secret Pal.  She's a great teacher and I enjoy working with her so much!

Happy Creating Friends! Stay Safe!

 - Em

100 Quilts for Kids

This year I decided that I really wanted to put a dent in my WIPs, and what better way than to start with quilts that could go towards a good cause.  (As the original intent/purpose behind any of these quilts has long been forgotten!)  I had seen 100 Quilts for Kids when it was hosted by Katie Blakesly of Swim Bike Quilt, and was pleased to come across the IG post by Quilts in the Queue, who was again hosting it.  I got right to work and finished two quilts!!

This is from the Supernova Friendship Swap (block by Freshly Pieced) that my partner and I decided not to finish!!  I kind of wish we had - it looks great!

This is the second quilt I ever started.  I quilted half of it and then quit.  

My mom made this one with fabric donated by the Tampa Modern Quilt Guild - lots of random novelty charms!!  She was worried it was a wonky size but kids don't care!!

Of course my assistant had a little too much fun holding the quilts!

The Supernova Quilt is heading to The Florida Baptist Children's home, a local group home in Lakeland, and my mom's and the economy block are going to Project Linus via our LQS, which is a collection site!

Take care and Happy Sewing!

 - Em

Nerds Do Craft It Better!

I recently went through a phase where I signed up for every swap available on IG.  One of the swaps I signed up for was "Nerds Craft if Better" hosted by @jrshules.  My husband is an ultra-nerd, so I thought that perhaps if I put his nerdoms into the Google survey I would receive something wonderful and creative to put in his office area.  I had the pleasure of making something for @ellenlamb, who made a great mosaic and gave me tons of inspiration!!  I decided to try something new for me - letters!!

I was inspired by Blossom Hearts Quilts Easy ABC QAL and drew my letters out on graph paper, than did some research into my partner's nerdoms and found a symbol that represented each one of her favorites.  I also used my brain and quilted the mini before doing the applique - so glad I remembered to do this this time!!

I choose to do some stylilzed echo quilting in the letters so each one is different!  I really like how this turned out - even though I usually don't use text in my quilts, I may have to make one with some of my favorite phrases!

Do any of you uber nerds recognize the game I used as a background for the quilt?   It's my husbands!

April Finishes!

I've been super busy making bee blocks and swap items, so my products larger than 24" x 24" finished have been lacking, but with summer coming I'm looking forward to beginning and finishing some bigger projects!
Up first I have a baby quilt that I donated to project Linus.  I originally began this project last year for a former co-worker who was expecting.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend her shower and she needed to have the gifts at the shower.  (Don't get me started.) So I shelved the quilt and purchased a Target gift card.  This year, my guild, The Tampa Modern Quilt Guild is doing this WIP contest - I'm not really sure about the specifics, but I finished this quilt, donated my fat quarter, and am hopefully in some kind of drawing!

Yes, my husband is wearing white shorts, a white shirt, and black socks in this picture.

My next finish is a sweet baby quilt for a co-worker. I used the intersection tutorial from Film in the Fridge.  When I asked for the colors of the nursery, she actually sent a picture of a quilt from either Target or Pottery Barn.  However, since I knew mine would be better I went ahead and made one anyway!

I don't know why my husband enjoys being the "Quilt Creeper" so much!  We've been super busy and haven't had time to do our forays into nature for good quilt pics lately, but I'm hopeful things will slow down after May is over!

Scrappy Snuggler Top Complete

Waaay back in January I joined up in the #sewmystash2015 movement.  I've bought an embarrassingly large amount of fabric in the past year, and really hadn't done any selfish sewing - mostly items for swaps and bees.  My husband was thrilled when I explained the whole "shop my stash" idea!  (He is actually very supportive of my habit but also pointed out that my fabric expedit is full.)  I also noticed quite a few people beginning a #scrappylogcabinqal, so I decided to try it - I'm not a huge fan of random scrappiness, and my personal definition of "scrappy" would be prints from the same line.  After all, 2015 is all about trying new things!  So I raided my scrap bin for blues and cut out a ton of 2" strips, sorted them by light and dark, and got busy!

(Don't you love my husband's black socks and Crocs??)

I'm just going to quilt it allover with a large stiple and then the scrappy snuggler will grace our den sofa!

Amateur Hour Vol. 2

I'm so excited to write this post because I finished a huge project . . . and I finished it on time!!  Now, I should preface this by saying that I actually had 14 months to finish this quilt, but it took a looong time for inspiration to hit and the help of some good people for the project to be completed.

Yes, that's right, that is a giant queen plus sized Triple Irish Chain - oh yea!!!!!   That bad boy took me about four months from fabric completion to final thread clippings!  It took me forever to decide on a quilt pattern - I wavered between double wedding ring, jacob's ladder, and various star designs.  However, as the bride is Irish and had quite a few Irish traditions woven into the wedding ceremony, I thought it would be fitting.

I ran out of fabric twice - even though my friend Adelle helped me plan out the quilt on EQ7, my not-so-smart self wasn't able to purchase enough fabric.  Luckily, the design lent itself to a variety of teals and blues. 

The longarmer I had originally intended to quilt this for me was unable to meet my deadline, so i ended up doing the whole thing on my back up machine, a Bernina 380.  Yes, the Bernina 380 does only have 8 inches of throat space.  That's all I can really say here on a public domain.  As you can see, the quilting didn't go as well as expected, but I'll have a forever memory of this quilt and be reminded of my hard work every time I look at my left index finger.  (Fitting, right?)

 

Anyways, I learned a TON while working on this quilt and I think it won't be long before I move up from amateur to beginner quilter . . . . .

Explosive Stitching!

Or . . . .  Supernova Friendship Swap Update!  It's now July and we're into our third month of the swap.  (Just in case you're not familiar with the swap it's being hosted by One million stitches and is based on the Supernova block created by Lee at Freshly Pieced.)  My wonderful and terribly patient partner is Sarah at Berry Barn Designs.  She has done well with my inability to follow a pattern correctly or respond to emails in timely manners!!!  Probably because she is a former teacher and has littles.  (Not sure what that says about me since I am a teacher and definitely not a little . . )

I love getting real mail so much.  I told my husband I was expecting this when he went to get the mail.  He came in with the package tucked into his shirt just so he could see my sad (no package) to happy (package) to mad (who hides mail) face when he pulled it out.

Okay onto the EXCITING part!!  I received my blocks in the mail yesterday and they are beautiful!  I'm going through a serious solids/tone on tone phase right now in my color choices and am so pleased that we chose to stick with a warm pallette and choose different hues of four colors - orange, yellow, pink, and coral.  I sent Sarah my light yellow block last month, and she sent me TWO blocks - light and dark coral.

Light Coral

Dark Coral

Sarah's blocks were also nice and starched . . . mine were NOT.  We also included 25 things about ourselves that our partner may or may not know/wanted to know.   I loved receiving this list in the mail instead of email.  Here are some things about Sarah:

She was born and raised in Cape Cod. (Since I love watching storms roll in this is very cool to me!)

She wants not one, but two cats.

Her favorite color is purple and she likes stripes.  (I love that this is the opposite of me - I gravitate to gray and polka dots.  Is she a secret Kaffe Fassett fan??)

This quilt is going to be beautiful when it is done.   The next block for me goes out on July 15th, so it's time to start cutting!  Thanks Sarah - these are perfect!

xoxo,

Emily