A Regency Mini

I FINALLY finished my Jane Austen mini quilt for an amazingly patient Suzanne. When she first suggested a private swap I was totally excited as I was already lucky enough to have her as a partner in a previous flickr swap when I got this little beauty.

Rainy Daze by Suzettra

But when she suggested a Jane Austen swap AND introduced me to the world of Pintrest I was ecstatic.  She made me the little beauty I shared with y'all on this weeks Inspiring Monday post and I made her this little regency mini.

I took the real silhouette of Jane Austen, inversed the color, and after downloading Jane Austen's actual handwriting digitized from her letters, put the first paragraph of Pride and Prejudice within the silhouette.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, hat a single man in possession of a large fortune, must be in a want of a wife.  However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering the neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of someone or other of their daughters."
- Jane Austen

Suzanne teaches English and is going to be using the book Pride and Prejudice in her classroom so I chose this passage.  Plus it is one of my favorite passages from the entire book due to the duality it reveals about the society at the time.  Men ran the world, women the house, and marriage was everything.  Yet, as seen here, women could also control men in times of courtship - at least in the minds of themselves and their mothers. 

Then I decided on a black binding to act like a frame, and a large satin ribbon to hang it instead of a back hanging piece.

I embroidered a scallop edge to mimic lace, and the bow was a sublime stitching pattern.  For the scallop's I made them by using notebook paper hole reinforcement stickers. I stuck the stickers to the quilt and then just embroidered around it. I thought it was one of my more resourceful moments!

For the quilting I knew it needed a lot of dense quilting but due to the oval shape would need different quilting styles on the different sections, thus the crosshatching and the straight lines on the outside border.

And I am so glad I rebinded this little baby. It still curves ever so slightly but I LOVE the effect of the pin dot. The idea was to mimic a frame while executing a traditional idea (the silhouette) with a modern flare (the colors and polka dots). I hope this makes a wonderful addition to Suzanne's mini quilt collection!

Told you guys I was a Jane Austen nerd.

Also, keep your eyes open for a giveaway to celebrate the blogs 1 year anniversary!

*hint hint wink wink*

A Cacophony of Color

Finished! Just in time! PHEW!

(Note to self....STOP PROCRASTINATING!)

Now I just got to finish up a couple of small goodies and this little baby will be in the mail to my partner!

I am calling it a Cacophony of Color because it consists of 27 (!!!) different Kona Cotton Colors!

And please don't ask me to list them as I have NO IDEA.

And yes, it is a plain non-pieced backing, but I just LOVE this fabric with the crosshatching!

Plus, all the colors was just to perfect to disturb by piecing it.

It should be off to my swap partner by Monday, so here's hoping they love it as much as I do!!

*FINGERS CROSSED*

*****

And speaking of awesome swaps check out the new Pretty {little} Pouch Swap!  

It's gonna be fantastic! Look at the inspiration...

Sign ups go from April 1st thru April 8th!

Christmas gifts still?? YES.

Is it almost February?

Yes.

Am I still giving out Christmas gifts?

Yes.

Hmmm........

Don't judge me!

These are a few that were recently gifted that I can now share!  First up some potholders for my dad who is a classic car buff. I think he was more amazed that I was able to quilt something for him as he thinks all my handmade stuff is interesting but girlie.





I also made some moleskine covers thanks to the amazingly easy to follow tutorial by Keyka Lou!





And finally a pincushion made for a friend who is now addicted to sewing and thankfully shares my crazy sense of humor! Idea completely taken from Badskirt Amy whom I gladly bow down to her and her talent!



Sadly though there will be about 2 more Christmas gifts posts as I have 2 quilts still to deliver! Yay for Christmas in almost February!

Inspiring Monday

This week I am sharing with you a gorgeous embroidery hoop I saw on Flickr.



This scrappy embroidery hoop is by Jednoiglec who blogs here.

Look at all the sweet details like the tiny buttons, the varying sizes of the hexagons, and the fussy cutting. Hope this inspires you as much as it does me!

Waka Waka Waka

For the HMQG we did a Secret Santa Ornament Swap and I got Sean, our Token Male member.

I decided to go old school.



I didn't include Pinky though as he is not a fan of pink. And of course I couldn't forget the ghosts alter egos...



These were so much fun to make and so easy! I was really pleased with how they came out and I think he liked them as well!

The fabric is called Black Ghosts by Timeless Treasures.

Anthropologie + Lust

So there is this store...perhaps you have heard of it...Anthropologie...



I have a slight obsession with this store.  I lust after almost every object they sell!  They put handmade accent tags on many of their products, have the most beautiful arrangement and decor.  Especially their window dressings! I mean look at this toadstools with hand stitched accents.



Inside is no different! check out these charm square garlands! I so want to make these for myself! Could you imagine Kona Cotton charm square garlands! Switch them out with Christmas fabrics during the holiday or florals in the spring! So many ideas!



Then in the kitchen section was an ENTIRE WALL of hand embroidered PAPER PLATES! Crazy right?! So imaginative and insanely awesome!



Here is a close up of another section!



All in all I was very good. I got the gift for my Modern Swappers partner that took me to the land of temptation in the first place, and maybe a little something for myself (I tried to resist but I couldn't!) Although I did manage to walk away from these - although it was CRAZY HARD!



Cute right?? That's why it was so hard to pass up on them but I was good! If you have never checked out their site or their catalog I highly recommend it!  So much inspiration! 

And sorry for the crappy photos, but I took them all from my iphone.  The inspiration was just too much to pass up even though I didn't have a good camera with me!

I've Got a Crush for my Partner!

Well partner your Scrappy Hoops Swap will be in the mail tomorrow! I am so excited for you to get them and all the lil goodies I have included with them! Here's a sneaky peek! (Sorry for the lil paper on the right one - had to cover up the monogram!)

Scrappy {Hoops} Swap is here!

One of the swaps I am participating in on Flickr is the Scrappy {Hoops} Swap where you create a scrappy embroidery hoop for your partner and cross your fingers that you stalked them well enough to know their preferences and they will like it!

I haven't quite finished my hoop for my partner, but it should be mailed off by the end of the week.  I did get my swap package from Suzanne though this past weekend and could not be happier with it!  I LOVE IT!  It was adorable both on the outside and inside.



My hoop was tied up with pretty ribbon and some matryoska doll fabric covered buttons which I adore.  I am thinking I will attach them to some hair ties for when I put my hair up in pig tails.



I also got some adorable Sublime Stitching Cowgirl embroidery patterns and floss.



But the best part though was this - 'Rainy Daze' - an embroidery based off an illustration that her brother did.  I adore it!



All in all it was a fantastic experience thus far and I am loving participating in these swaps and getting these amazing gifts! And I hope other are loving the packages I am sending just as much I am!

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween the museum I work at is having a family event for which I created a mini quilt and embroidery that will be raffled off. 









The embroidery is 'Pumpkin Girl', a Badbird pattern by Andrea Zuill.  The colors in the picture are a bit off though.  Her dress/socks/bow are actually plum and her skin is much brighter. 



I really enjoyed making these but am super nervous whoever gets them won't like them.  My fingers are crossed though!