A Little Visitor

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas Eve and staying nice and toasty. I've enjoyed the bliss and luxury of sewing all day casually and have made a lot of progress. The temperature really started dropping after about 10am and I think that’s what drove this little lizard to come visit me on my ironing board.





Thankfully the iron hadn’t been on recently, so it’s perfectly fine perching here in the sun. Later it moved on into the window and I’m told it lives around there. Probably nice, safe and warm being that it’s winter here now.







Miya kitty is anxiously awaiting morning and the opening of gifts. She's making sure nobody comes and peeks in the night. ;-) heh

Packing For The Holiday

Well tonight was a real whirl wind of things going on in the studio. While I’m a fairly organized person it still took a little bit to gather up the entire quilt project and get it packed up in some semblance of uncrushed so I can take it with me to work on over the holiday while visiting family.

I am being optimistic that I will be able to finish putting the top together in about a day and thus have been already planning out the next project since I’ll have a lot of free time to sew. Here is a smattering of fabrics from the ‘bin of holding’ which all need worked into something. Some are slated for clothes (like the polka dots, plaid and tulle) others will be quilts, decorative pillows or other projects.





Since I am still working out the finer details on what I want to work on first I am just packing the whole thing up and bringing it with me. You know how it would be if I didn’t; the perfect matching fabric for something would be left here at the house. Murphy’s Law never fails!

I can say though that this pile of scraps left over from my current quilting project is slated for a lap quilt, even if it doesn’t realize it just yet. I’ve been milling the idea around in my head off and on today trying to decide on my pattern design. I’m planning on ‘shooting from the hip’ on this one, so it’ll be a mix up of things. This is definitely one of those times I wish I had one of those cloth traveling design boards your fabric sticks to.




Well I think I’m ready to hit the door running when I get off work tomorrow; definitely planning on posting while the holiday sewing ensues!

Quilt In Progress

I’m excited to at last have some blog content put together to share. I have been in a bit of an art ‘funk’ so to speak but I am hoping that it is now broken and things will start to roll along somewhat smoothly.

For the last couple of months I have casually been working on this queen size scrap quilt top whenever a good chunk of time would lend it’s self. Now that cold weather is here and the holidays are quickly approaching I have been really antsy to see it come together. The last week has seen a flurry of activity in getting all of the blocks completed and strips sewn.





Tonight I have finished up a lot of pressing (I’m huge on pressing everything, call me crazy) and have started squaring things up and getting strips put together.



My original goal was to be done by Christmas Day so I could get some other sewing projects completed over the holiday free time, but when time was up tonight I am admitting that’s just not going to happen as there is too much to do with gifts still to wrap and packing to do for visiting family. So I’m planning on packing up the quilt and taking it with me to work on during the visit. If all goes well I will be able to finish up the top with time to spare for at least one other project. Hey, I’m being positive here! *chuckles*

Houston Quilt Market 2009

I had the delightful opportunity to attend this years Houston Quilt Market today and see all of the latest sewing/quilting fabrics, gadgets and gizmos. I wish I could have brought back half of the "Clover" booths products. I just love them so much! I will definitely be tracking down some of their butterfly yoyo makers and a couple of other things.



I do believe this was one of my favorite quilts from the Market floor. The pattern is from "The Quilt Company" and called "Sweet Tea". I picked up this pattern plus two others of theirs, "Lovebird Lane" (birdhouses) and "Heart and Home" (houses); all of which I'm really looking forward to working on this Winter. The ladies were a real delight to talk to and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.




This was another quilt on the Market floor which caught my eye. I'm not sure if it's the shade of purple on white I like so much or the interesting design. Either way I'm delighted to have spotted it.




I'm afraid I don't remember the company who's booth this was, but I really loved their 'carousel' sort of feeling in the design.


While at Market I was able to see two bag workshops by "Aunties Two". Watched her make both her "Diamond Island Tote" and "Bow n Go Bag" designs, which was absolutely mesmerizing! I was able to pick up both patterns and can't wait to finish up a couple other projects so I can get started on these.

I found some gorgeous silk ribbon flower broaches from "Hanah Silk Ribbon" over in booth #125. For those who are there tomorrow/Monday you should go take a look at what they have. They also had the most lovely ribbon vests which I would love to get or make one of these days. =)

I was there from 10am until around 4:30pm and was too tired after covering all of Market to walk over and look at all the gorgeous quilts that are on display on the other side of the show hall. I'm not sure if I'll try heading back tomorrow or just wait for Quilt Festival next weekend and go see them then even though it'll be a bit more crowded.

I had meant to take a lot more pictures while there, but I was so busy looking and taking it all in that I just didn't remember to do so very often. heh




While this is obviously not taken at Market ;-) , my kitties are enjoying the cooler weather of open windows. This is them all sleepy this morning before I headed off.

New Website Redesign Is Up

I've been working on giving my website a "face lift" and now have the new version up. You can view it at Clover Meadow Studio.

Searching for Golden Dreams

Today's inspiration:

You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself. - Diana Ross


Studying for my Adobe ACE certification is giving me a loss in sleep from getting caught up in so much in an evening. I get excited about new ways to do things and then I can't stop thinking about them. XD

I've started sculpting a new base for my horse head spoon rest design in preperation for making a mold. I like to think I'll have pictures to share of that sometime soon-ish.

Know where your going

Todays inspiration:
"You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there." - Yogi Berra

Classy Chic - Finished

Just finished up this Paint foal custom, now named Classy Chic. ^_^

Working on this extra tiny foal was a real challenge! Even though I've done the Stablemate size before, the foal is just so much smaller to hold on to.

Model: Breyer Stablemate Foal
Size in inches: 2 x 3/8W x 2L

Practice to Learn

Ah, this is so true of many things for most people, something I'm sure we can all work more on.

"Practise what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know." - Rembrandt

Quotes for furthur thought

Todays inspiration: "I want to reach that condensation of sensations that constitutes a picture." - Henri Matisse

Twitter-ised

I'm now on Twitter, so feel free to come join me! Do you tweet? If your not already a member of twitter you can follow my latest posts here in my blog sidebar. =)

Free Domestic Shipping for Etsy Shop Items

Hiya's all!

I'm excited to say that I am going to offer free shipping to folks in the USA for any item(s) in my Etsy shop. See, there is a perk for watching journal entries. ;-)

This free shipping offer will be good through June 7th.

If your interested in something not up in my Etsy shop just send me a private message.

Due to the exclusitivity of this offer I can not turn off the shipping on all items in my Etsy shop. To receive this offer please 'private message' me so I can post an item to Etsy reserved just for you!

In Progress - Classy Chic

I've had my new photo cube out giving it a spin and thought I would post a 'in progress' shot of what I hope to finish soon as I can nail down the time. Size: Breyer Stablemate