Fabric Rocks!

It is what captured my attention and made me dive head-long into quilting. This wonderful modern fabric is the reason I sew and therefore, the reason I began "My Full Color Life". I can't believe the fun I have had with this little blog. Now, it is definitely time to celebrate with you!!

So...I wanted to gift one of my followers with 5 half yard cuts of gorgeous, scrumptious eye-candy fabric. But which fabric??? I asked Lindsay over at Hawthorne Threads what was 'hot' right now. She is super helpful and sent me these pics. Aren't they gorgeous???

Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, the Citrine Collection

Heirloom by Joel Dewberry,  the Ruby Collection

Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, the Sapphire Collection

Delighted by the Quilted Fish in blue

and Moroccan Mirage by Khristian Howell in blue

All you have to do is decide which collection you like best, leave me a comment telling me why, and be one of my followers!! Hey! I narrowed it down to five choices, you gotta do the rest yourself!

The giveaway will be open until next Thursday morning at 6:00 am, CST. And if you would like to tell me why you chose it or how you think you'd like to use it, I'd love to hear. But you don't have to. I just want to say, thanks for caring enough to click 'follow'.

From Little Things...Progress

* NOTE: GIVEAWAY COMING!! Do you like fabric??? I hope so. I am still working on the details, so 'stay tuned'!!! :)


In my last post, I shared my fabrics and pattern for the Quilting Book Club assignment. Well, I found my tree trunk fabric.



This purple shot cotton is perfect. It plays well with the other fabrics and has purples, reds and pinks within it. Black fabric was too strident for me and all the browns I tried didn't work.



I really love this tree trunk. It is stylisticly appropriate with the pictorial, playful pattern and fabrics. (Yes, I used a permanent marker to draw around my pattern)



I spent several hours cutting, double checking and carefully labeling. I had to figure out the pattern and the fabrics for each section and didn't want to make a mistake!!



I am still working on those pesky 124 diamonds.

My fabric choice - Quilting Book Club assignment

I know I showed you these fun fabrics in my last post, but I didn't show you what I was going to make with them.



I love all things pictorial and geometric. And when you throw in 'whimsy' and fabulous color, I am a happy girl. This project is going to be incredibly ambitious to get done in 6 weeks. Especially with evening musical rehearsals beginning, but it is what I want to do. This project is not from a book, it is online with the Lecien company and is free. I do have Sarah's new book and have several things I want to make, but this pattern meets the assignment criteria of the assignment. It is me.

A Perfect Day (even with a bug in your tea)

A perfect day (even with a bug in your tea)

The weather is fabulous. Our back deck is an amazing place to sit, especially now, with the lovely temperatures we have been enjoying. The water is singing in our gurgling pot. The hummingbirds are giving us quite a show at the feeder. Did you know hummingbirds make sounds other than their wings humming?? For some reason I didn't remember that. Back to the perfect day. I got to sleep in...longer than I remember doing in a long, long time. My husband then made an amazing brunch and lattes, which we ate out on the back deck. I can hear the cicadas calling for fall and a woodpecker working off in the distance. There is virtually no wind, which is a miracle for Kansas!

And I finally got to sew last night!!!!!

That was wonderful enough, but I also have 100 followers on my little blog! 100!! Wow. I cannot even tell you how fun that is for me.

Now, I have known this little tidbit of news for awhile...and it needs to be celebrated!! So....there is going to be a giveaway!! I want it to be fun. Got any ideas??? I have some, but I would so love to hear yours, as well. What would be fun for you?

OK. Here's what I did last night:


Debbie, from our Bee Unique...Bee Knotty flickr bee, sent the lovely grey fabric and asked for a wild prints to make a star for her. This was the first block made on my new machine. Boy, did I ever use the seam ripper a ton!!! Don't know if it was the new machine or the fact that I have not sewn for longer than I care to admit! Do not want to repeat that (the high use of the seam ripper AND the long absence from 'really' sewing)!!!!


I chose to do a window pane block for Nancy for her month, also in the BUBK bee. If you click over to the pattern and decide to make one for yourself, be sure to check out the measurement on that bottom center piece. It is an inch too short (*see "seam ripper" above). I do not have a lot of Christmas fabric, and this pattern worked really well. She sent the red snowflake fabric. (You can see the open pattern of our dining table on the back deck with the sun coming through it.)


These are fabrics from Sarah Fielke's "From Little Things" line. They are part of an assignment from "The Quilting Book Club". We are often studying others to find out their likes in order to make something they love. Well, our task this time was to pick out a published pattern that we 'love', gather fabrics that are 'utterly us' and have it done in 6 weeks time. These are the fabrics I chose. I have 'accepted the fact' that I love all things that are sophisticatedly pictorial (not 'cute-sy' or sweet), geometric and full of color. I so want to be a 'grown up' in my quilting tastes. I enjoy, appreciate and purchase all different kinds of fabrics. But these are 'me', and that was the assignment. I love these representative birds and foliage and the variety of colors they come in. Although, I am not 'utterly' in love with the color range (I would be if they were jewel tones), they are still completely fabulous!


My Project Choice - Quilting Book Club assignment: Being a pictorial and geometric fan, when you throw in 'whimsy' and fabulous color, I am a happy girl. These trees are wonderful!

This project is going to be incredibly ambitious to get done in 6 weeks. I probably won't. Especially with evening musical rehearsals. But it is what I want to do. It is published online with the Lecien company and is free.

Now, back to my perfect day. I think I will take a nap. Then sew. Ah.....

Trucks and Tractors finish!

It is so much fun when your handmade gifts are appreciated! Especially when the recipient is two!!

Deacon saw this quilt, and did the big, round "oh...." and talked about getting cozy with it.

Oh...and he said he was excited. (Of course, the 'could' have been about the tricycle he also got, but I don't think so!)

Then he wanted to make a tunnel.

How rewarding!

Love that red flannel backing!

Perfect for getting 'cozy'....or making a tunnel!

I loved how the geometric fabrics washed up with the quilting!

This has been completed for quite some time, but had to wait until his birthday to post this, even though his mom and dad have seen it "in progress".

Happy Friday!

More Bee Fun!

I love the challenge of the flickr bees. They stretch me to try new things. Here is a block I did for Joan in our BUBK bee over on flickr. I enjoy her blog and think you will too.

I was inspired by this scrappy tiling tutorial on a another blog I enjoy. It was so fun to make. 

I find that I really enjoy the pictorial aspect of appliqué. Back in my 'other' crafting life, I was a weaver. I will have to show you some of my pictorial work from there sometime....

I would love to hear what inspires you!!

More Bee Fun!

I love the challenge of the flickr bees. They stretch me to try new things. Here is a block I did for Joan in our BUBK bee over on flickr. I enjoy her blog and think you will too.

I was inspired by this scrappy tiling tutorial on a another blog I enjoy. It was so fun to make. 

I find that I really enjoy the pictorial aspect of appliqué. Back in my 'other' crafting life, I was a weaver. I will have to show you some of my work sometime....

I would love to hear what inspires you!!

My little hexie nest

My little hexie nest, a photo by myfullcolorlife - Vickie on Flickr.

Unexpectedly spent a week with my MIL while she was in the hospital. She is now home (thank God) and I now know how to make hexies. Not crazy about the fabric--need something brighter--but this worked in a pinch!



This is the other part of my 'hexie nest'. I haven't worked on those hexies much till traveling to visit kiddos this weekend. The past two weeks my 'real life job' has been consuming my time. Don't believe me? Ask my hubby.

Bucket Hat Fun!

I saw this adorable hat in a blog I frequent and wanted one for my little guy!! I *heart* this fabric!!



So I bought this Bucket Hat pattern and made it for the little man. He was between two measurements, so I went with the bigger one. Isn't that tiny gingham adorable?



I have to learn how to adjust patterns!! It is a bit too big. Boo! Oh well, he will grow into it and it was really fun to make! Doncha know, it is all good!! (Did you hear the MinnesOta twang in the 'doncha know'? A couple of my choir girls spent a week at a camp in MinnesOta and were 'doncha know'ing us all through choir retreat. It stuck!)

Pumped!

Got to see my aunt. (Hi Joyce!) It was a nice surprise. In visiting with her, I found out she is quilting, as well, and we know some of the same quilt shops!! Kind of like having mutual friends...

It made me remember that I wanted to share my sweet bird quilt made by the gals from the Bee Unique Bee Knotty bee over on flickr. It has been a work in progress for quite some time, but time is what was needed to get it just perfect. And no, it is not finished yet!! Colorado called and we answered!

Got to bike ride with this guy and my kids.



And do a little bit of this (with that guy up there and my kids - Too bad the wind was not cooperating that day).



We got to look at this view.



And I got to spend some time with all the fam, and this little guy.



It was delightful.

But, before I left, I got to sash all the blocks in that wonderful pinky red fabric that photographs fluorescent, even though it isn't.



Then border them in black.



I did strip piecing.



Press (not iron) the heck out of them.



Put the rows together.



And finish all but the border.



I love flying geese (a story for another post!), so I decided to trial a flying geese border, since the plain fabric border (that would have been easy to do) looked blah. I found this web site that had a formula for fast flying geese that finish at 2"x 4", made a few and hung 'em on the design wall till the girls could see them and tell me what they thought. I really didn't need them to, cause they were perfect! So, I cut and marked my squares....



...and went to town.



I sewed and sewed.



Amazingly, I have enough left over to have some geese flying on the back of the quilt, too.



Strip piecing them was fun...really and truly!!!



My machine needed some TLC in the midst of it all.



I fussy cut some corner pieces.



Laid it all out on the tables....and ran out of time!



See it waiting patiently for my return?



Now...how in the world should I quilt it????