Looking for something to do with small scraps of fabric? Check out this awesome tutorial by Oh Fransson! for map of the states quilt blocks.

For the life of me I cannot find the blog post that I talked about my progress on this project. Which sucks because I cannot remember what size block I was doing (would have been smart to make a template …). I know what size the finished blocks are, but I know there was some trimming involved.

Anywho, I took this project on for all the scraps of my favorite fabrics that I can’t bear to part with. I like things wonky, so I kicked it up a notch.  I also love white space (imagine that) so I added some relief to the craziness with some white strips of fabric.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to just be done with this project and finish it up with white on the top and bottom of the quilt, or if I’m going to keep going.  I think I’d like to keep going for 2 more rows, but I need to remember what size I was doing first. And I need to get my craft room organized.

Also, did I mention I started this project in March 2010?  And I haven’t touched it since … yeah …

WHICH REMINDS ME.  I need to start going to the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild meetings.  That *might* actually get me to finish all these poor WIP quilts I have. I seriously have 3 finished quilt tops that I’m too poor to get quilted and 4-6 in-progress quilts.

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This week’s Humpday Blog love goes to my friend Steph Hertel’s Turtle Soup blog.  Don’t confuse her with the yodeling sensation, Stefanie Hertel.

I don’t even know where to start! Steph is pretty much the perfected version of what I do at my blog … she makes things … creates things … designs things … bakes things … and is pretty amazing at it.  I met Stephanie through ISU’s graphic design program — and she is extremely talented.  She works for Hallmark, which is the most coveted job in our field (or at least in my eyes anyway!)

Here’s a random smattering of lovely things that Steph has created and blogged about … you should go check her out, and don’t forget to leave her some love!

Lovely tote bag Steph created a while back

Um, YUM. Peanut butter cup cookies! Oh yes — and she shares recipes as well.

Lovely Zucchini pasta

Seriously — she is a jack of all trades! Adorable felt flower pin …

Here’s a closeup of an adorable onesie she made

Here’s a little taste of some of her great design skills … an invite for her annual cookie party and what I’m guessing is the lovely packaging she created to go with it.

And … a beautiful quilt.

You must take 5 minutes and check her out! Definitely worth it, unless you don’t like looking at well-designed and yummy things. Then … um … why are you here?

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Oh boy.

In case you didn’t know, I hate the fair. It is absolutely NOT super-magical. Honestly, if I didn’t have to go for work, I wouldn’t go.  And I really should play state fair bingo when I do go (after my shift) because it would make the day so much more exciting.

Regardless: it’s over.

Well, my day there is anyway — the fair is still here for a few more days … blech.

First off, I must mention that I parked in front of the Slaughter residence. Yes. That is an epic last name. I wonder if they have a son around my age …

I got there and ran my shift at the Drake Day at the Fair tent. Check out the cool pix on our facebook! That was a lot of fun. My shift was slow, but we had a few awesome alums come through that made it totally worth while. Our theme this year was “Capture your love for Drake” and we were handing out pennants with a contest for the best fair photos with the pennant.  What a cool idea. Yay Drake!

I also worked at the VI building earlier that day and met a lady who graduated from Drake in 1930!  NINETEEN THIRTY.  She was amazing. She was an art teacher and a counselor for years. She also apparently has a golf cart with a bulldog on it that she wants to paint blue. Not just any blue, DRAKE BLUE. How cool!

Also, let me just say, I hate temporary tattoos. Most of my day was spent putting these on kids. Every time I put one on a kid, I felt like his mom was going to kill me. I had this one kid that asked for it on his FOREHEAD.  Seriously? I put another kid’s on the back of his neck. Honestly, he was out of room everywhere else. These kids went around to every station and got temporary tattoos. I’m sure to the delight of their parents.

Regardless. Adorable photo op!

Between my two shifts, I kind of geeked out over the quilts. I’m more of a fabric-a-holic than anything and the quilts at the fair never pique my interest as far as fabrics go, but damn. There is a lot of stitchery that goes into those quilts!

This one had a few fabrics I like and was a cute pattern.

Seriously. Look at that stitching!

All I have to say for this one is: wow. Those are a LOT of little tiny squares. This was a huge quilt. It didn’t even get an honorable mention. Really? Really.  I want to find out who did this so I can make him/her a ribbon because this is amazing.  Not as beautiful as some of the other quilts, but super amazing nonetheless. Can you imagine how much time and effort went into this? Seriously. CRAZY.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. Wait.  I almost finished my post here, but then I realized I didn’t mention food. You can’t blog about the Iowa State Fair without food, right? Yeah. Okay, so I’m a health nut. I found the ONE thing that probably won’t kill me (and it was cheap too!). I had an apple with caramel and peanuts. OM. NOM. and only 2 bucks! That’s cheap for fair food.

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My friend Adria, who got me into quilting, is having a reallllllly awesome sale right now on her quilts. She makes the most gorgeous modern quilts and has the BEST taste in fabric (I learned from the best!)  She just finished a custom robot quilt for a little boy named Jack.  She taught me most of my skills, so I thought I’d show some love.

Anyway, check the sale out. Tell her chimes sent you and she MIGHT give you an even better deal!

<3

Calee

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Hey all!

I’m going to be moving soon, and would like to move my inventory from my todiyfor etsy store. SO, I’ve decided to have a crazy sale!  If you mention this blog post or my tweet in a convo, I’ll even give you free shipping.

Here’s all the items I have on sale …

Off the Shoulder Korn Shirt — $10

Murderdolls Tiered Ruffle Skirt — $10

Music As a Weapon Off Shoulder Shirt — $10

Slipknot Iowa Zippered Lace Shirt — $25

Michael Jackson Beat It Necklace — $10

Deconstructed Heavy Metal Punk Quilt — $40

I’m pretty excited about this sale!

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I’ve been working through my fabric scraps and I came across the Heather Ross Mendocino scraps that Adria had given me a while back.  She had leftovers after making a really cool mendocino quilt.

Here are a few of my favorite ones … They’re 5″x6″

I’m going to add 5-6″ of white fabric around each block to make it look like they’re floating and make a larger quilt out of these.  So excited! 

If you want to see all the blocks, I’ve got them posted on Flickr.

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One of my favorite blogs, a la mode fabric, just turned one. She’s having a fabric giveaway of absolutely adorable fabrics (what else would you expect?).

My favorite, of course, being the blush mendocino set.

Anyway, go here for details! Contest ends February 28.

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I feel as if I may be neglecting my blog lately. Life has been busy and some surprises have recently caught me off guard.

However, I’m feeling kind of sassy today, so I’m announcing a Post-Labor Day Sale. Right now it encompasses one item: my hard rock quilt.

POST-LABOR DAY SALE Deconstructed Heavy Metal, Rock and Punk T Shirt quilt FREE SHIPPING

POST-LABOR DAY SALE Regular price: $125 Sale Price: $85 ——- This hardcore punky quilt is made from a collection of rock, punk and metal t-shirts. It’s embellished with fabric paint and embroidery. A deconstructivist approach was used to create this unique piece of art. T-shirts include: Slipknot Korn Static-X CGBG Lynyrd Skynyrd The Misfits … and many more Quilt measures 45×45 inches and the batting is warm and natural. The quilting is a traditional pattern and is in a slate grey thread. The binding is slate grey with a black backing. Fabric (aside from t-shirts) is 100% cotton. T-shirts are vintage and well-loved.

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Not the kind of lottery that involves money, unfortunately, but still awesome all the same!

I recently participated in FatQuarterShop.com‘s Jolly Jabber Block Lottery (see my entry here)… and I won!  I get 1/3 of the blocks sent in.

Here’s my bounty of blocks (you can only see the top one):

Not sure what I’m going to do with them but I’m sure I’ll come up with something crafty (probably not something approved by the makers of the blocks, but still).

ALSO — on the same day I won Iowa Girl Eats‘s Pure Bar Giveaway.  That means I get to try 4 flavors of Pure bars for free. How cool is that?  I think it’s pretty cool.

Wow. Lucky day, eh?

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A while back I was going to participate in a charm pack swap on craftster, but didn’t realize that I had to complete a swap before I can do two at a time … and I really wanted to rock the metal swap (which I blogged about earlier in the summer).

Anywho, I bought a buttload of fabric and made a bunch of charm packs to send out.  I decided today to make a quilt top (I have a 2nd one in the works) out of the charm packs I’d put together.

Enjoy!  There’s some Amy Butler, Michael Miller, Kaffe Fassett and MUCH more. 

I think I’m going to do an oatmeal/cream backing and do a pink polkadot border (from the Wonderland fabric set). I’m wanting to do an all-over stitching pattern with either stippling or some sort of floral.

I haven’t mustered up the courage to do the quilting myself, so I’ll be sending this off to a quilting lady to work her magic.

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