Scrappy S-Munday

Block #13this would have been a clever title if i didn't mix up the date...

Just A Few Ingredients

1 - the DRESS is FINISHED. YEAH!
2 - but first there are engagement presents.3 - it always has a theme.4 - you pick a dress.5 - the flowers.6 - and the cake.7 - continue by picking 1 flower girl.8 - add 1 junior bridesmaid.9 - add 1 more junior bridesmaid and 1 bridesmaid.10 - mix well and gently fold in 2 still fairly young main ingredients.BEST WISHES TO STACI & FRANK AS THEY SOON BECOME MR. & MRS.



footnotes:
1 - made for Mom-O-Groom. will be professionally pressed.
2 - engagement quilt (started 6/07, pinned 7/07, not finished for party 8/07, finished for Thanksgiving 11/07). pinning helpers include Linda Belinda(my sis), Anna Banana(Groom's mom), Messy Karen(me) and Norababora(my niece). we all have bad-sweaty-summer-hair day. some of them did alot of complaining & some of them took alot of breaks. pic reflects only happiness that helping is over.
3 - Bride likes sunflowers. and paisley's. this girl has good taste.
4 - toilet paper contest. we won. no we didn't. the Bride elected all winners. no fair. we were robbed.
5 - Bride's sister making shower bouquet. ?--bridesmaid--?
6 - shower cake made with love by Messie Jessie.
7 - Messie Jessie's DD#2.
8 - Nora and Messie Jessie's DD#2.
9 - Nora and Groom's sister and Messie Jessie's DD#1.
10 - date of pic unknown. courtesy of Groom's sister.

p.s. - alterations are insane and invisible zippers are awesome.

Oh No Baby

here it is. before i washed it. a beautiful color & pattern combination.i have never done this thing where you luv your quilt even more after you wash it. i always wash my fabrics before i start cutting so i guess i luv my quilt the whole time i am working on it. but it really did come out of the dryer feeling soft & comfy.there was a little problem with my stitching that is going to require me to mend a quilt before i even use it. i skimped on my sewing line during the piecing process. there was more fraying than i expected & it came undone. i am not sad. this was a fun quilt for me. an experiment to take baby steps outside my comfort box. i was going to try to fix it as if it never happened. but it did happen. so i have decided to just mend it as you would for a loved quilt that had been used & worn. can you say "patch work". should i use the polka dot or the matching butterfly print. hmmm.

pamela joy wanted measurements - after washing - 34 in x 41 in.

LOL

today's post on Quilt Taffy made me laugh. i have a laptop. but after many long conversations with my service provider. in which it was clear i had no idea how this computer stuff worked. i pulled the plug on that modem. & just started plugging everything else in.been itching to start a new project. so you know what that means. better look around & find something you can finish. that's a rule. start one. start a few more. but something old has to get finished. so i did. on top of my computer is Knotty Baby i made before summer started. i always wash my fabric. but this has raw edges & should be washed after to get the right look. & that pile next to my computer is new fabric that i haven't touched because i need to finish a few more things. & i haven't wash that yet. it's all from the same fabric line. so i should relax. but it is driving me crazy that it is not washed yet.

found nephew yesterday waiting with a friend. they wanted to ride bikes to H.S. to watch older brother at football practice. but were waiting for little sister to come home from school first. since when has she been taking the bus. so i said yes. go. go. well first day of school. new bus run. it was hard not to be worried. outside with my camera waiting to take that photo of her stepping off the bus. that's me and Champ. the family dog. we were bored waiting for over an hour. found out the buses left really late. and then. she finally arrived. how come that bus isn't yellow. it wasn't yellow. so it wasn't the picture i was waiting for. ----for a better picture in a window see this one by Ming).a few years back i made these pillows for my Mom's birthday. i love to take pics of the kids. these were a collage of pre-digital photos & just copied onto fabric paper.i was reading some new blogs yesterday & found a cute pillow with photos on it that i liked. and they also made a cute album. i think it's time to make another pillow with new pictures.

Scrappy Sunday

Block #12
looking for Saturday giveaways has been helped me find stash treasures in need of gathering. always wanted to make an all-paisley-quilt. check out the old gems i uncovered this week. of course there are new ones hiding somewhere. the green on the right is a long dress not cotton but loaded with yardage.i'm looking for a pattern that will best show them off. two free patterns stand out. Garden Wall by Anna Maria Horner. and Simple Charm Quilt by Quilt Taffy. should i also buy some Garden Party fabric & Quilt Taffy charms. absolutely. hmmm. when. when. when.

Be Attitudes

i thought i would share progress on my Be Attitudes class. at first glance i thought it was a little Sunday school-ish. but it tugged at me every time i went to the store. & then i just had to sign up. i was allowed to come in the middle instead of waiting for a new session. truly a Be Attitude gesture. there is another book with more complicated blocks. & they have a Xmas book. i have an idea of what to do with the lettering i saw in the Xmas book. but i'm jumping ahead. i have more to learn.here's a peak at my Be Warm block. my Be Honest block. & the fabrics i'm starting with for my Be Prayerful block. might change this to Be Peaceful. don't ask. i had not started my embroidery until the end of today's class. it was just a practice piece. & this is what i was afraid of. i could get very addicted to this. luv it so much it's going to end up in a little project. tomorrow i'm going to pick up new box of zippies. this project is going to need organization.

this is for Messie Jessie. we should do this on your Tinkerbell quilts. add the girl's names. pink for D#1. purple for D#2. & then go ahead & hand quilt it. what do you think?

Please Try On Dress With New Sleeve!

i left Bruno's house this morning with this note attached to the fridge.yesterday i cut into the beautiful fabric. today i made a new sleeve. (crossing fingers that we're getting close). Sunday i will be sewing in an invisible zipper. it's easier for me to break down these activities. i don't possess any magical powers in dressmaking. or in fitting a garment that lays close to the body. just one step at a time. & try not to panic.

i didn't "show" at my Thimbleberries Club meeting. ya didn't think i was going to finish in time. did ya? i have finished all the short rows going across the quilt. & all the diagonal rows going thru the big blocks. but i still need to finish all the long rows going down the quilt. it should be finished soon as i will be running thru areas that have already been quilted. it's not very big. 45" x 60". if you're familiar with a Bento Box. i did 3 large blocks across & 4 large blocks down. so it's bigger than a wall. but smaller than a lap.

Show & Tell

a lovely surprise came in the mail today. a thank you card from Melanie of Jelly Bean Angel. & two fragrant lavender pillows. beautiful & handmade by Melanie herself. she even grows & dries her own lavender. i could get used to this. they smell so so good.even though i have sewn on half the binding. i haven't finished my Bento Box yet. i'm all over the place with the hand quilting. & don't know if i'm half done. or three-quarters done. but we have Show & Tell at tomorrow night's Thimbleberries Club. our email for this week said "if you don't show you'll have to tell". i would rather show. wouldn't you?

the Summer quilt would be a regular show. but the Bento quilt was on my UFO list submitted earlier this year. oh the pressure & work required to accomplish goals. will i be showing. or will i be telling.

while we're on the subject. here's a thank you card i received from micaela6955. her daughter was thrilled with the Tea Party Apron she won.& what day is it today. how come i still haven't RSVP'd for that Wedding. it had to be mailed by August what. une faux pas.

Bruno's House

i'm so anxious to finish this quilt soon that i dragged it along when i visited Bruno's House. & since he was missing his Mommy so much he just made himself as comfortable as he needed to.he was a little confused when i made him get up. but i had to turn the thing around to work in the opposite direction.& even though when i turned it around he only had a small space available to rest on. he just cozy-ied up real close. after all it was still plenty big enough for him.

Scrappy Sunday

i might not get to complete my block this Sunday. but wanted to show you some other scrappiness i have been working on.i picked out fabric to make sashing & posts for my Scrappy Sunday quilt. i think they're pretty. luv lime green. & when it's mixed with burgandy & white. can you tell i grew up in the 70's. oh yeah. and i finally decided to hand quilt my Bento Box that i made in a class probably a year ago.

i was supposed to stitch-in-ditch on machine. but i just don't like the awkwardness of machine quilting. & my new machine didn't come with a walking foot. & my old walking foot that i can't find they said would not work on the new machine. let's see don't really want to do it & it cost $100 for the foot i really don't want to use. it was an easy decision. so after doing my Summer Stash Challenge quilt with Perle 8 thread. i decided that i should do it again.

presto i already had one ready with pins in place. thought i was going to use a beige variegated color or a sage green. but just in case i was wrong i dragged it to the embroidery store to find thread color & i just had to pick this pinky peachy one. it's a perfect match for the backing so you can't see all my incomplete stitches that you get on back because needle, thread, & batting are so thick.

Ugly Duckling

my 1st fitting for the Mom-O-Groom dress went well. i forgot to take a pic of that fitting but i was very happy. inside i was jumping for joy. no major fitting issues. i had found some of my ugliest fabrics & made a muslin pretend dress.this is what i took to my 2nd fitting. it can be just as much work as the real dress. but i just can't cut into the fabric until i have worked out the kinks.

here is the major kink that i knew about when i said yes. the sleeves on the pattern needed to be changed. they were too short. too tight. & too puffy. the 1st sleeve was as per pattern. the 2nd was just longer. this is my 3rd sleeve.i needed to make it a bit longer (i said). i shouldn't have made it that wide (i said). & can we just get rid of the puffs (she said). o.k. i've got some work to do.

say abracadabra. & poof. the puffs are gone. if only it was that easy.

gotta go now. the Big Wedding is just around the corner.


this is for pamela joy - my fav pic of the Little Groom-2-B.

I Want To Just Give It Away

i'm going to do something that has been on my mind for quite awhile now. if i had quilters in my family i would offer it to them. but i don't. i have you. every Saturday morning for about six weeks i will post some pics of really nice fabrics in my stash. although i really love them i just need to find a better home for them. all you need to know before you check back is that they will more than likely all be prelaundered. i am a fanatic about this. everything i take home goes straight into the washing machine. i used to be a Tide with Bleach washer. but for my recent purchases. i put a tiny bit of Mrs. Meyers into a short wash. i can't tell them apart anymore. this is truly a selfish act. i am drowning in all my frivolous purchases over many years. & i sincerely want to finish some wonderful quilts before i kick the bucket. to finish some i have started. & to finish some i have not started.

if all goes well i might have to change by blogname from Messy Karen to........ just kidding. no matter how cleared up i get i will always be a little messy.

Scrappy Sunday

Block #11

Rest Of The Quilt Show Pics

i don't know how this guy didn't win.well the winner is pretty good.use up your scraps.a sunny combination of colors.beautiful.a cozy bedroom quilt.didn't know this pattern would work with a rainbow of colors.i call this one the busy quilter's log cabin. it works.insert your own memories.Halloween is coming.a scrappy stashbuster.check out the guitar quilting.an interesting use of cross stitching.i really did like this one.