Work in progress...

Okay. So here are my complete 10 blocks I mentioned in my Inspiration Workshop post.

So. Excited.

{Summer Snuggling} Week 1 - Inspiration Workshop

Maggie, the lovely crafter/blogger behind Gussy Sews, came up with a great inspiration workshop for the summer. While I usually don't have trouble finding inspiration and struggle more with inspiration ADD (read: multiple unfinished projects), I thought this might help bring some focus to all those 'great' ideas. I also LOVE seeing what inspires others and what they create with that inspiration.

This week's inspiration is "Handmade".

There is somethings sacred I believe about curling up with two tiny warm, sticky, summer bodies, one leggy, one chubby, underneath a blanket wrought with hard work and love from your own hands. Just as the Lord knit those two together in my womb, now I am able to smell their sweet hair and they lean on my chest, legs wrapped together under a cover of handmade family love. Quilts are so much more than just a piecing together of fabric and thread. They are a piecing together of us.

I recently discovered Film in the Fridge, and she has one of the largest quilt resumes I've seen in a while (not that I have spent that much time looking!) While my own quilt CV is a grand total of...wait for it...(almost) 1, (see inspiration ADD above), I have been seeing so many great modern quilt designs in the blogosphere that I have had a major itch to make one again!

I found this great fabric the other week and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

Now I know! The turquoise, orange, brown, tans and whites in my fabrics are the perfect ingredients in a lightweight quilt destined for summer snuggling. I just started piecing the top the other night after cutting my strips.

I already have about 10 blocks out of the 30 completed already (pics to come)! Here is how it's coming along. Yippee! I am following one of FITF's tutorial's. LOVE the design.

So here's my handmade inspiration photo, from FITF:

photo credit

Head over to the workshop at Gussy Sews to find some of your own inspiration and see what other's have found! (There's a button to the right on my sidebar for more info on how to join the workshop)

A little something new

In the midst of unpacking from our trip to Chicago as well as getting organized to pack up for our move, what am I doing? Crafting new items for the shop. Was this on my "to do" list? Certainly not. After a stressful few weeks though, I just needed a little "me time" to create. I have had the supplies and plans for these for months now, but just hadn't set aside the time to come up with the design.

First off is a fabric covered mini 3-ring binder. It seems in this tech-age, everything we do is on our smart phone. There is something about the tactile experience of writing something down that imprints the information on my brain better than any touch screen ever could. On any given day my mind is a whirl of things I need to get done, ideas for new projects, funny things my daughter just came up with, food I need to buy at the store, meal plans for the week, milestones my 9 mo. old son just reached, and so much more. Tuck this little binder wherever you need it most: your purse, laptop bag, car, diaper bag, anywhere! And the best part? It's filled with lined notebook paper you can refill to your heart's content.

Along the same lines, but on a smaller scale are the new notepad trios, decked out in cute cardstock. These two trios have a "Little Birdie" theme, one in dots and stripes and the other in a cute floral. I am a little crazy for things that COORDINATE (chalk it up to a mom that dressed all three of us kids to match). There is something about it that feels pulled together and organized. What a great little pad to stash in your purse or better yet, give this trio as a gift to that friend of yours that needs to know you're thinking of her. It seems I always am in need of little "somethings" to give to a girlfriend, hostess, teacher, or neighbor who has helped me out in some way or another. These should do the trick!

I'm sure there will be many more of these to come, but you'll just have to wait until we move and I get settled in my new craft room! I can already see in my mind's eye all the delights that will come out of that space.