Borders and Bordering on Obsession

I can't decide if this is it for this quilt top or if it deserves some borders....

I pieced this simple top some time ago but just can't decide if it's done...arghh..

I keep coming back to thinking it would look really nice with an inner border, a thin pieced border, and an outer border...then I circle back to it's cute small and simple like this...

the top is made from charm packs of Sugar Pop by Liz Scott

what's a girl to do??

maybe I'll set it aside and let the to add or not to add decision marinate a little longer...

and

turn my attention to this stack of fabrics...

a rather large stack of various DS Quilts fabrics...and sadly this is not all of them...

or maybe these should be next??

yep...more gorgeous fabric by Ms. Schmidt I've been hoarding...these being a few Greenfield Hill prints I pulled out (ignore the lone Love print at the bottom)...

and i'll tell you I should probably make a few quilts out of these stacks...so I can make room for when Flea Market Fancy Legacy collection comes out this spring...

I...Can...Not...Wait...

you see I got into quilting after the original FMF was released and I have always loved FMF and Katie Jump Rope...

my biggest fabric hoarding misstep was passing up a Katie Jump Rope 1/8 yd bundle of the full line at a quilt show...I didn't realize that when I came back 2 minutes later it would be gone...

I can't tell you how many times I've kicked myself for that...did I mention it was also at a great price...no crazy markup like you see from time to time on these lines...

sigh...oh well...

okay..so I'm a little obsessed with Denise Schmidt Fabrics



It's Sew Awesome

I finally have a dedicated sewing and craft space!  It's pretty amazing...

The downside of having a dedicated sewing and craft room....the ability to close the door to hide the mess.

I had thought about unpacking all the boxes, organizing, and cleaning up before I took pictures for this post. But why not be honest and show you what it looks like right now....and posting the room looking like this  might make me clean and organize as I go because this is slightly embarassing.  It's a hope at least.

I have tons of storage and shelfing...

so you would think I would utilize it to store projects...

so my sewing and cutting tables wouldn't look like there is no actual work space...jeezzz...this is bad...my mom is going to be super embarassed I showed ya'll my place looking like this...because she taught me better, as she is uber organized.  I will tell you I have plans to finish unpacking and decorating my little studio...so this isn't the last you will see of my sewing space.

Oh...did you notice the newest edition to Red Dirt Girl World???  If you found it possible to look past the huge messing on my sewing table...

Yep...new machine!!!  Meet Emmy as I've dubbed her and boy oh boy is she A-MAZING!!  I should have upgraded a while ago...but I'll admit I was a little scared of a machine with so many stitches and options.  I was so silly because this girl makes life SEW easy!!

Have a good weekend ya'll!!

Flirty Girl

This quilt top is super simple....I thought that was perfect for the Innocent Crush (by one of my most favoritest designers Anna Maria Horner) fat quarters that I had sitting around. 

The resulting quilt top of simple bricks and smaller pieces thrown in randomly.  I think the simplicity really allows the vibrant flirty femininity of the fabrics to shine.

I haven't decided on a backing fabric yet...I'm thinking something simple maybe a solid with just a pieced line...what color would you suggest for the backing??  orange, pink, purple?

Vintage Fresh

I finished this quilt a while ago, but hadn't taken pictures of it...today seemed like a good evening for a quilt shoot...so Ry and I headed outside to snap some photos...

I love this quilt....it's such a gorgeous vintage color palette....

when I first saw this line, Dream On by Urban Chiks for Moda, I could not wait to get my hands on it....it reminded me of the old sheets we used to use out on the lawn and to build forts over chairs in the play room when we were growing up...

I added the scrappy middle border on a whim and think it really makes the quilt work....

I love all the colors in these fabrics...especially that deep yellow orange....which I used for the binding and is included in large stripes on the back...the backing fabrics were my two favorites from the line which i stashed quit a bit of, the blue and white stripe and the floral on blue....

Quilting is mirrored lines along the seams of the tumblers and straight lines in the inner and middle borders...

the outer border has a free motion quilted daisy chain which is really sweet and perfect for this quilt....

this quilt makes me smile and gets a lot of use...I've dubbed this quilt Vintage Fresh since those are the first two words it brings to mind....it's the perfect bright summery quilt!!

Happy 4th!!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Fouth of July!!

I got to enjoy some beautiful fireworks last night and I'm sure there will be more this evening!  And today I'm getting to work with this fun pile of fabric that just so happens to be perfect for the holiday!!

Happy BBQing and Fireworks everyone!!

Well Hello There

It's been a while ya'll....a long while since I've been blogging....

well I'm back...and I'll be trying to blog more regularly...

I've had this idea for a breakfast nook floating around in my head ever since I saw this chair...

I thought it would look really great with a modern round table and banquette seating with coordinating upholstery.  While I love this chair...it's a little bit more than I'd like to spend on a couple chairs and truth be told it doesn't look all that comfortable.  I prefer my chairs with a little more padding than this beauty looks to have.

But I still like the breakfast nook idea...so here's my breakfast nook idea board so far...

I love the idea of the Docksta table with a pair of Nils arm chairs upholstered in Amy Butler Soul Blossom Night Tree in Cilantro.  Then having an L shaped banquette made from Akurum wall cabinets built in for storage and topped with cushions upholstered in Waverly Tobago.  I'm alternating between thinking the Hampen rug is too much or just perfect to tie it all together.

What do ya'll think???

Currently

I'm working on another Circle Around quilt...

this one from Wee Woodland and Bella Solid in Weathered Teak by Moda and a light tangerine solid that I think is a Benatex fabric called Butternut....my mom picked out these fabrics and they are perfect...very fallish and warm...it's going to be a really great quilt and really big since I loved all the fabrics so much I just couldn't not include any...

I also recently had a birthday and couldn't resist buying this with my birthday money...

fat quarter set of the sweptaway palette of Innocent Crush by Anna Marie Horner...she's a genius...I am so in love with these fabrics....not that I don't love every line she creates....but this is by far my favorite...I bought some yardage too, and I don't think it'll be the last of this line that I buy...I've drawn up a couple quilt ideas, and I'm still mulling over which one is right...

gotta go...game one is on...gotta cheer for the local boys....Go Rangers....put the claw on 'em!!!

On my machine...

is this cute quilt...

yep...more stippling...I was thinking of straight line quilting this one...but...well...yeah...

this quilt was made from an Origins by Basic Grey Jelly Roll and Kona Cotton in Ash....I really loved Origins when I first saw it...and it took me a little while to come up with the right idea to show off what first caught my eye about the line...the range of colors...so I played with it on my design wall for a few days...and then it seemed perfect when I decided to play up a striated spectrum quality....arranging the strips from white to yellow to green to brown to black...and the Ash solid seemed like the perfect neutral border since there's gray in some of the prints...

and in case you wanted to see the whole quilt top...

I snapped this right after I had basted it...and I really like the grays and greens in the quilt and in the background...so I couldn't resist including it...

well I'm off to finish this one up...

I fell in love...

with this mini quilt...

so when I saw the quilt along I was so pumped....and couldn't wait to jump in...

so I started cutting....and cutting...and cutting some more....it's a lot of 2 in squares...

here's my first completed block...

I made one minor change in my blocks...I have the black "stop" squares in the subway lines instead of off to the side like the original mini and the quilt along blocks...

Quiltin Around

Circle Around Plume
Originally uploaded by reddirtgirldesigns

So sorry to have been missing for so long...but my laptop decided to stop functioning....and work has been busy....and I have been doing a lot of sewing and quilting...

so the blogging got neglected....sorry...but now I'm back!!

I finished this quilt a little while ago...and I'm so in love with it....I'm using the cooler weather as an excuse to snuggle under this is every chance I get...

it's Julie's Circle Around quilt pattern...done in Plume by the fabulous Tula Pink with Bella Solid in Snow...and it's binding is Crossweave in Flamingo...

and let me tell you I love how smooth and soft the Crossweave is...and I'll be using it for binding on quilts in the future...

I had a hard time deciding how to quilt this one and decided on meandering outside the circles...gives it just enought crinkle and makes the back super cute with unquilted circles...

did I mention how much I love love love this quilt????

Winners

So the winners of the FQs of Love are Jennifer, Chelly, and Blacksheep Bliss (Amber)!!!!

Congrats ladies....send me your addresses and i'll get these sent out to ya'll!!

and thanks for following!!

It's a celebration!!

I couldn't be more excited....it's been a little over a year since I started blogging!!

and as if that isn't exciting enough...

LilFriend has decided to join me here at Red Dirt Girl Designs....so let me introduce ya'll to Amber....she's super talented, fun, and a great friend....she's decided to become a blogger....and after chatting about it a little we thought she should start here...that means more posts and a little more variety....and an easy way for her to get her bearings here in blogland....

she'll be doin' a little get-to-know-me post so ya'll can get to know her a little better...

to celebrate my blogiversary and Amber joining the fun it's giveaway time....

to show some LOVE I'm giving away a fat quarter each of these Amy Butler Love prints...

betcha want to know how to win right??

you'll have 3 chances to enter...

1. Leave us a comment...just a hello is fine or what you'll make with these beautiful FQs!!

2.  Follow us...and leave us a comment letting us know you are!!

3.  Blog about our giveaway...and come on back and leave a comment about it!!

the giveaway will be open til Friday September 3rd at Midnight CST....I'll announce the 2 lucky winners picked randomly on Saturday September 4th....please make sure you include an email address if you are a no-reply I'd hate for you to miss out because I can't contact you!!

American Harbor

As promised here is a finished quilt...

I showed off these blocks a while back....

LilFriend asked if I would make a quilt for her mom's birthday....her mom's most favorite color palette is red, white, and blue...

so what better fabric line to use than Bar Harbor....and then I found the perfect pattern...that I only adapted slightly....I've misplace the magazine...so I'll add a reference to it as soon as it's been located...

so here is American Harbor...

it's the biggest quilt I've quilted to date....its about 63 x 58....

a closer look....

the back...originally I was going to back in only in the blue....but it was just not quite right...it need the red, white, and blue...it was super windy when I was trying to get these photos...

it's quilted in loops...it is so super crinkly....lots of texture...

and best of all....she loves it!!!

Coming soon...

a finished quilt....and a giveaway to celebrate my blog's anniversary!!

So I went shopping...

I went to a quilt shop in McKinney that I had heard really good things about...

and I was not disappointed.....

Happiness is Quilting rocks!!!

and I went a little crazy....I almost bought out the store...

here's just a few of the goodies I got...

happy fun Frolic charm packs....

adorable castle peeps...

fat quarter bundle...aren't they yummy...

fat eights of Hope Valley....can't wait to use this...

and a fun quilt I couldn't resist after seeing it popping up all over blogland...

Julie's Circle Around quilt in Plume with Moda Bella solid in Snow...

Weekend Rewind

I got an unexpected visit from my mom and grandma this weekend...as their A/C was out and it was way too hot in the house to stay there...they figured if they were going to be out of the house...they might as well make a trip to see me....which was really nice...

on Saturday we took a trip up to Durant, OK to the Choctaw Casino for a little slot machine fun and to check out the new resort...which looks pretty amazing....and the pool area looks super awesome...and I didn't lose any money...I left with what I went in with which for me is unusual....

After they headed back this morning, I started working on a project that has a deadline....I've got a month or so to finish it....and it's out of a great fabric line Bar Harbor and a super cute pattern....

here's the beginnings of the blocks.....the colors and pattern are so cute.....can't wait to finish this one up!!

Well Read Wednesday 2

the book for this week is a book by Jennifer Weiner....

if you haven't read anything by her...you should....

do you remember the movie a few years ago with Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine? In Her Shoes? That's based on a book by the same name by Jennifer Weiner...

she writes great emotion and humor in her books....and she focuses on relationships and how they affect the characters....all of her books are excellent...

the newest is no exception....I picked it up last week at B&N....and finished it over the weekend....

it's about two friends who had a falling out in high school and what happens when one of them shows up on the others doorstep years later needing her old friends help....

Current Inspiration

I have two books that are currently serving as my inspiration...

one book I've had around for a while and the other is brand new...

Joel Dewberry's book Sewn Spaces is just as awesome as his fabric lines!! Have ya'll gotten your hands on it yet?? You should go out and get it if you haven't...some really great projects...including some reversible fabric boxes that are just what I mentioned I need in the last post....

I've had Jelly Roll Quilts since I started on my quilting adventure...it was the first quilting book I purchased....

it was love at first sight for me with the Daisy Chain pattern...

so here is the progress so far...

all the strips are done...it's time to make the blocks...



I'm still really in love with this design...really really in love actually...

Weekend Rewind

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend....

mine was relaxing, yet productive...

I put the finishing touches on my bedroom spruce up...

pillows I started here, all done and on the bed..

I finished them with simple envelope style....in the opposing solid color from the solid on the front of each pillow...

here's a quick snapshot of my finished spruce up of my bedroom...

I added new white tables as nightstands...and simple lamps with different lamps shades as I didn't want everything to be all match-y match-y...isn't the Liberty of London shade on the right just adorable??

I'm super happy with the way it turned out...I think after looking at the pictures though that I need something over the bed since doing away with a headboard....and that it would be adorable to have fabric storage in the bright lime and fuchsia under the white nightstand for storage and to tie in the colors from the pillows...so guess that i'll be working this week??

after finishing up my room...I decided I deserved to pamper myself a bit by getting a manicure and pedicure...it was so relaxing...and the bright coral I choose for my nails and toes makes me smile

I also went to see 'Get Him To The Greek'....hilarious....and Russell Brand not only makes me laugh but I love his accent....

and this evening I'm enjoying The Next Food Network Star and Design Star....back to back...I'm in heaven...

and here is lil sneak peak at the fabrics in a quilt i'm working on...

Have a great Monday ya'll!!!