We were here:

Now we're home.

It was fun. 

It was go, go, go.

I'm off on another trip tomorrow.

By myself.

No kids. 

No hubby.

I've been a busy girl.

Before I go though, I've got a question for you.  Do any of you notice that I have serious A.D.D. when it comes to projects?  You may see pictures of the start of a new project and then you won't see anything about it again until months later.  Well, I apologize for that.  I am not the type of quilter that starts and finishes a project before moving on to the next.  I am usually focused on 3 or 4 at a time.  I was just wondering if you're all keeping up with what's going on in this little head of mine or if you're thinking..."this girl is so all over the place.  She never finishes anything!  Where is that dresden quilt?  Where is that big zig zag quilt?  Where is that Heart quilt?"  Well.  They're here ~ in the back of my mind...on the back burner.  Just wondering if that bothered any of you? 

Maybe I'm not the best, most organized blogger.  I just blog about what ever suits my fancy that day.  And, if I don't have anything special to blog about(OR, I'm just really busy) then you may not hear from me for a few days.  Not too many things are planned here on "A Little Bit Biased".  If you're a follower of this blog, you get to see how I roll as a quilter.  I do a little of this and a little of that.  Quilts that have deadlines get pushed to the front of the line.  Otherwise, I just do what I feel like that day.  So, sometimes quilts take months or even a year to finish.  Sometimes they take weeks.  It just all depends.  And you get to see what ever it is that I'm up to in the meantime! :)

I've had a few deadlines as of late.  One project in particular I am very excited about.  It's my new favorite!  I'll show you what I've been up to very soon, but I can't show any pictures yet because someone special might see it before I give it to her.  Well, o.k. maybe I can give you just one tiny sneak peek...

Are you intrigued?

Old Fashioned

Thanks everyone for the well wishes!  I really appreciate it and I'm just so thankful that this wound is on my left hand instead of my right.  I can still type :) and do most everything.  I've found the hardest things to do [less one thumb] are the simple things, like, buttoning my pants and fastening my bra [I know, TMI :) but it's true!]

Anyways, as a family we're heading off to San Diego today!  I'm so excited and I know we'll be busy playing mostly, but we do have a 10-hour road trip ahead...sooo, I've been busy preparing some hand work to take along.  Applique is perfect for a quilter on the go!

I was involved in a block exchange in my quilt guild last year.  We made 9-patches, 4-patches and economy blocks over the span of 9 months or so (?).  The colors were browns, pinks and blues. 

With my 9-patches and some squares of muslin I made 13 large blocks [in a 9-patch setting].  Since the 9-patches used "shirtings" for the lighter color I thought this would keep with the old fashion look.

I knew I really wanted a lot of applique on this quilt, so I've been preparing lots of flowers and leaves using the freezer paper method and my bias tape maker to make vines.

This quilt is very scrappy so I'm bringing with me an assortment of thread colors to do all of the hand applique.

I am not a big hand quilter, but I think this style of quilt definitely merits it so I'm gearing up for a long-term project.  Any thoughts on what design to use for the hand-quilting or tips on how to get it ready to quilt?  I've thought of doing echo quilting around all of the applique but I am a little scared of that undertaking.  I would love to hear your advice!

Have a great week!

Highs and Lows

This could be considered a "low" but it was actually one of the funniest moments I've had in a long time.  Picture me: sprinting down the street in my running clothes [all by myself at 7:30 in the morning] with a shower cap on my head and a small towel wrapped around my shoulders like a shawl; held together with a "claw" clip.  Laughing. All. the. way. home. 

Again, I repeat, all by myself. 

Somehow, I think it's easier to pull a look like that "off" when you're with someone.  Sadly that wasn't an option this time.

As I left my friend/running partner/hair stylist's house this morning after she quickly put on an "all over color"  in my hair, I couldn't decide what I would rather be seen doing - walking or running [with a shower cap on my head]?  So I just decided to make a run for it!  Unfortunately, 2 cars passed me before I could get to my house around the corner. 

It was not one of my "coolest moments"... but it did make for some good laughs on my part.

 All that matters is that I was semi-permanently able to get rid of a lot of gray hairs.

The Low? 

[Due to the graphic nature of this description, continue reading only if your stomach can handle words like "blood gushing" and "crushed tomatoes" or if you are a grammar fanatic, beware of run on sentences ahead.]

Anyways, the low was probably when I decided to pry open the top of a tomato can that had not opened all of the way due to my lame can opener and sliced my thumb open and blood started gushing and crushed tomatoes flew everywhere and I started bawling hysterically and quickly rushed to the E.R. with my crew where I had to get a Tetnis shot and where I had to get injected with numbing "stuff" directly into the empty crater that use to be my thumb and where I had to get stitches, all for which I will then have to pay about as much as our $400 dentist appointment that my son and I incurred this morning in between the shower cap incident and me running off to work with a face that was half numb and well yeah...that was probably the low. 

You don't want to see pictures of the actual wound so here's where things stand as of right now:

Through all of that though, there came another high ~ sweet little kids who take darn good care of their mommy when she decides to foolish pry open metal cans with her bare hands and a husband who will take her to Cafe Rio when tomato soup no longer sounds good and pizza with tomato sauce also, will not cut it.

It really was a relatively good day. :)

P.S.  Sorry to sound like a drama queen and sorry for the terrible grammar in this post!  Please forgive!!! :)

Does anyone else see the potential in this?

O.K. So I am not a thrifter per say, but I came home with a little purchase today that my husband called "Junk".  I personally think this will be darling as my sewing/cutting table in my [soon to be] new sewing room.

$52 dollars for this little baby. 

It has two drop down leaves

[which I think are quite charming:)]

Cute spindley legs [I like to make up words...]

And it's white!  Perfect for the "white room" some of you might remember that I've been dreaming about!

Did I get ripped off?

My husband immediately saw the little chunk of wood that is missing on this drop down leaf:

I'm thinking it's no big deal, and besides, it adds character!

It also seems to be missing a coat of paint on the center section [or maybe some stain on the leaves].

That's easy enough to fix though [if I ever decide I need ONE MORE project.]

I thought it was a good price, but like I said, I am not a thrifter.  Any thoughts on that matter from any of you professional bargain hunters out there?

I am SUPER excited to get going on making over one of our extra bedrooms into a sewing room though!  Now...for paint colors...any suggestions? 

By the way, we're trying to decide if we're selling our house or taking it off the market.  So, I'm not rushing into anything here.  We'll have to see what happens in the next few weeks.

Anyways, ta ta for now!

Work in Progress

I'm basically caught up on this Block of the Month project. 

While the hubby was away at Scout Camp a couple of weeks ago, I was busy needle turning all 3 layers of the 8 flowers on this quilt for the May blocks. 

It was my first go at needle turn applique, but I just didn't have the time to prepare all of the pieces with freezer paper (like I normally do) so I decided to just dive right in.  It was fun!

        

Then I also had to catch up on June's blocks:

The pattern can be found HERE if you want to join in on the fun.

The Original Candy Hearts Quilt [Finished]

It's done.

I loooove the quilting on this. 

Nice and tight.

Ric rac sewn down.

Just.  Lovely.

Kayleen [if you're reading this], you're awesome!

I also love pictures of quilts.  So I took about a million.  Care to see a few?

I snuck onto my neighbors property to take these pictures.  Then I climbed [well, let's be honest, I trespassed] through the fence onto some horse property. Then the husband came home.  I got caught.  But it's o.k. cause I then got permission to walk around their yard to take even more pictures [I think I signed up to fix some kind of boat canopy-shade-thingy in the process though], but it's o.k. 

Anyways, here are a few of those pics:

 

 

The pieced back consists of some leftover polka dot fabric and charm squares from the quilt front, as well as a few other girly fabrics I had laying around.

Gotta have a binding shot for some reason...

I'm sure you all are out having fun this weekend, but I thought I'd post somethin' for those of you just takin' it easy.  If you're interested in the free tutorial for this quilt click HERE.  More details about this quilt are HERE.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!