Testing, Testing....1, 2, 3

I couldn't help myself. I'm a sucker for pleats, so tested a second bag (there are 4 variations...see my first bag here) from Michelle's soon-to-be-released Pretty Pleats Tote pattern. I actually finished it at our girly weekend, and have been toting it around town ever since.

This time I went for the pleated center panel, and finally broke out my long-hoarded Echino Sunglasses print. I always knew I wanted to make a summer bag with it, but couldn't settle on a pattern. But you know what they say - good things come to those who wait! I honestly couldn't be happier with how this bag turned out...and I've been getting mad requests from friends & fam for one just like it (which is no surprise, because Michelle is a bag-designing genius!)

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I used "Woven in Navy" from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo line for the lining.

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"Sewing" Our Wild Oats

A group of us that bonded at the Sewing Summit last year have been planning a meet-up since the Fall. Our motley crew includes Angela, Kelly, Karen, Cherie, Ali, Michelle, Tracey, Kristie and Cara. When we were planning our little shindig, the priority was finding a central location that was wallet friendly. Being the awesome friend that she is, Ms. Kelly generously offered up the house she and her husband just bought outside of Nashville. They don't move in for another week or two, so we had to bring all the necessities like towels, air mattresses and toilet paper, which was actually pretty fun....like an indoor quilting camping trip! I'm kind of sad now we didn't attempt roasting marshmallows in her fireplace...although she probably isn't because the group of us are a fire hazard, lol

Only me, Cara, Kelly, Ali and Cherie were able to make it this time, but we're already planning one at the beginning of next year that will be bigger & better - woot woot! Most of us got in around 7:00 Friday night and we ate a late dinner at 55 South, so this is what the scene looked like when we got home. Online friends getting together, laying on air mattresses...and not talking...but typing to each other and the friends that couldn't make it via Facebook, lol! Well...except for me, because I'm too cheap to pay for an iPhone + plan, so I just laid there and drifted in and out of consciousness.

(I was too lazy to take photos most of the trip, so all of these are stolen from various members of our five-woman posse)

The next morning we had grand plans of hitting up all the local quilt shops (Kelly even had a printed list of the addresses and hours), but we hit the motherload at our first store and nixed the others. It was like Hoarders: Fabric Edition. The store was HUGE and there were thousands of fat quarters stuffed into every last nook and cranny, and even stacked along the walls in plastic bags. We got lucky and found a pocket of out-of-print Anna Maria Horner prints in those cubbies, so we literally yanked every single fat quarter out to make sure we didn't miss anything. There might have been screaming and dancing involved each time we found another hard-to-find print...

And then we started tackling the dozens of bags along the walls. Cara and I were crawling around on our hands and knees, and I'm pretty sure anyone who had the misfortune of walking up behind me got a healthy view of my butt crack...but I mean c'mon...who has time for pulling up their pants when Good Folks & Garden Party are at stake?!

Also, I'm pretty sure they hadn't swept or vacuumed for about a decade, because I was covered in dust bunnies by the time all was said and done.

 Some pre-checkout bartering...

Discovered this little gem on the inside of the front door as we were about to leave....which is pretty hilarious, because we were in there snapping photos and systematically taking apart their store for the better part of 3 hours...so they either didn't notice or didn't care.

And all that fabric hunting makes a gal pretty hungry, so we made a pit-stop at Mellow Mushroom pizza on the way home. YUM.

And there's really no point to this photo, other than the fact that it's my favorite one by far from the weekend. A mom at peace, in her PJ's, quilting, scooping up Apple Jacks with her bare hand, and reading some good ol' fashioned celebrity gossip. Cara and I shared a table, and I couldn't help but glance up at her every now and then because she looked so darn content :)

And to cap things off, here's some good ol' fashioned fabric porn. Because what's a quilty weekend without a beefcake fabric shot?

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Plugging Along

I managed to finish 2 more Tallahassee / Cherry Blossom blocks yesterday, which I should be happy about, but I can't help but be annoyed by my slow progress. I long for the days when I could marathon sew and finish this mini within a week! (*forlorn sigh*)

One thing I AM happy about is that pink Flea Market Fancy block. Even though that print wasn't included in the recent reprint, finally having my hands on a ton of new FMF has made me feel more free to use what's in my hoard.  It felt good to finally use my scrap of Pink Tiles for this project, because it looks so darn cute as a wee cherry blossom....much better than it did sitting folded on my shelf for years! Plus I like knowing that a good friend will eventually have this treasured fabric hanging on her wall :)

And I guess I can't be too crabby about my tortoise-like sewing, when I receive giant packages full of Orla Kiely goodness from dear college friends (you know, the one I have annual craft swaps with...here and here)! My friend Dana lives in NYC, and as she was strolling through town the other day, she stumbled across a shop with an ungodly amount of cheap Orla Kiely goods!!! Knowing I'm as obsessed with Orla as she is, she offered to be my personal shopper and pick up an extensive list of goodies for me :) 



I have to admit, a few hours after I clicked "send money" on Paypal, a little bit of buyer's remorse kicked in, because I went slightly crazy. But as soon as I felt the scarves for the first time yesterday, I knew I'd been right to get 5 of them! They have an amazing hand and feel like wrapping a cloud around your neck. And I mean, c'mon, they were only $12 each! Yes, you heard right - only TWELVE DOLLARS for Orla scarves that feel like heavenly clouds of fluff.  Ahhh.....





And the tank tops are pretty darn cute too. Can't beat $20 for a designer tank with a stick! I bought an extra of the bottom one so I can turn it into a pillow for my sewing room :)

And being the wise and all-knowing friend that she is, a tiny trio of chocolate bunnies from a fancy NYC chocolaterie was slipped into my package. Unfortunately, Mr. Dark Chocolate Bunny met an untimely demise before this photo was taken. RIP - you were delicious Mr. Bunny and a credit to your kind.

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The Cripple Surprise Group

I love my online quilty friends. They are about the kindest, funniest, and most fantastic group of gals I know.

Last week was about the worst week I've ever had in my adult life. Aside from the neck issues & sewing hiatus, there's just been a whole host of utter crap going on in my life (don't worry - me and the hubs are cool...we're an unstoppable team that competes against other teams...sorry, totally stole that line from an episode of The Office), and last week was the apex of it all. So after all was said and done, I put on my pj's Friday night, settled in on the sofa, and prepared to spend my 4-day Mardi Gras weekend wallowing in a fresh batch of eBooks and self-pity (Jacey was sweet enough to have sent me a hilarious Salt & Pepper themed Amazon giftcard). But come Saturday morning, there was a knock at my door and my mailman handed me what would turn out to be a complete ray of sunshine. My good friend (and ringleader) Kelly had secretly organized a "Cripple Surprise Group" for me on Flickr, and a big group of my crafty friends banded together to send a giant box of happiness.

I can't tell you how completely happy it makes me to have such an amazing group of friends in my life, and I feel blessed to know every single one of them. It gives me such a wonderful feeling of contentment to have caring friends like Angela, Jacey, Michelle, Kelly, Cherie, Elena and Kristie in my life. I'd had such a rotten week, and was so blown away by my coordinated box of crafty fun that I honestly burst into tears while I was opening it. Ray thought I was a complete lunatic because he walked in the living room and found me sitting on the sofa covered in tissue paper and crafts, crying my eyes out, and then I looked up at him and said in my snotty, puffy-faced cry voice (while gripping my new goods in my hands and gesturing wildly) "they made a cripple package Ray! my friends sent me a cripple package! they all wrote me notes and sewed things! look it's a handicapped quilter!"...therein commencing a new batch of crying...and he had that terrified husband look like oh god...i'm cornered and this could go either way....so then after a few seconds he cautiously asked me "sooooo....is that a good or a bad thing???" LOL.  I'm sure it wasn't a pretty picture to behold, because I'm a hideously ugly crier...my face gets all red and blotchy and I look like Mad Madam Mim in Sword in the Stone after she catches germy Merlin. 

My package contained all manner of beautiful things, and they even coordinated the colors to match my newest obsession - pink & navy. You ladies didn't miss a trick! :)

Let's take a tour of my new get-well goodies, shall we?

First there's a 20" Granny Square Pillow from Elena (which has already been claimed by Sir Whiskers - see above), and she was even sweet enough to include some money and a coupon to Joann's in my card so I could buy a pillow form. I also found a super cute sewing necklace from Forever 21 tucked in her package, which I proudly wore to our MQG meeting today :) Stylin' and profilin'...

Angela made me this adorable Scottie pincushion/voodoo doll. I'm leaning more toward voodoo doll, because Whiskers managed to snatch it out of the box and attempt to eat it within the hour *sigh*

Jacey - my movie-quoting partner in crime - made me about the darned cutest wall quilt on the planet. Her quilting is fabulous and gives it really a cool texture - wish you could feel it for yourselves because words don't do it justice :)

And Kelly - ohhhhh Kelly - she made me a coaster that nearly made me wet myself. I texted a picture of it to most of my family, and then took it in to work and showed nearly everyone in my office, lol!

And here's a picture of the rest of my haul. Jacey sent the pink & navy scraps, Kelly the nail polish, and Cherie and Michelle coordinated on embroidery items! Cherie got me a book that I absolutely love! I'd never seen it before, but it's filled with the sweetest patterns for all manner of critters, holidays, and day-to-day items. Michelle rounded out the fun by sending me tons of new needles and thread, which I desperately needed because my local store has a crappy selection of colors, plus all my needles are older than dirt and getting blunt.

And what are those other mystery items, you ask? Well my crazy other half in Canada, Kristie, put together a hilarious gag box filled with candy and irreverent humor. That journal is a scream (I censored it lest innocent eyes be offended), but I doubt Ray will let me out in public with it, because knowing me I'll make some kind of accidental scene by dropping it in church right in front of our pastor or some sweet white-haired grandma. But jealous journals aside, wanna hear something else that's hilarious? After I opened up that journal, moose pencil, and umbrella hat (which, according to Kristie, is to help shade my face from the scorching New Orleans sun), I found the pouch pictured below. After reading the note, feeling the shape of the contents, and taking into account the nature of the package (and Kristie)...hand to God...I thought she'd stuffed a bunch of condoms in there. I laughed for a good 2-3 minutes before I was even able to open the darn thing. 

...only to shake out the contents and realize I was the pervy one who thought a bunch of innocent square needle holders were condoms. My bad...guess I've been living in New Orleans for too long, lol ;)

I heart you my dear, dear friends. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and friendship :) And a big friendly squeeze as well to all my lovely readers - thanks for caring, and for checking in on me each week...it means a lot and makes the crappy days easier to bear whenever they come along :)

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Un-Adulterated Pity Party

Warning: be prepared for no small amount of whining. It's 3:00 in the morning, and I'm up on the sofa ready to start crying like a small disturbed child...again (the first breakdown was at 10pm). I have a pinched nerve in my neck/back again (this happened to me previously in the fall), except that it's waaaay worse this time. I'm no pansy, but this is seriously the most pain I've ever been in. No position is comfortable, my left arm is constantly half-numb (I'm typing with one hand right now), and even worse, I don't think I'll be able to get in to see a doctor any time soon, so I'm probably going to have to ride it out with no pain meds or muscle relaxers because I refuse to go to the Emergency Room and fork over a $200 copay. We recently switched over to Ray's health insurance from mine, and since the gym he works for is owned by a hospital, we have to change primary physicians to one within the hospital network because they only pay for in-network benefits. So yeah, wish me luck trying to get an appointment as a new patient, on the very day I'm calling. Before the weekend is over, I may convince Ray to club me over the head like a caveman so I can be unconscious until this is all over, lol!

To add insult to injury, I had the flu earlier this week, so the only bright spots of my week have been some seriously awesome packages I've received from friends. Kristie sent me a lovely winter package full of my favorite things - cookies, scottie dogs, and witty crafts :)

And there's no real reason for the following picture, but I'm in a lot of pain and wanted to look at something cute. Whiskers has taken to perching on top of the sofa cushions like a cat...because apparently it's not good enough to sit on a pile of quilts on the sofa cushions like a normal person. Life is hard. And yes, that is a giant pile of clothes he's laying on. Ray likes to use the corner of our sectional as a laundry basket. And in case you were wondering, those are Iron Man pajama pants you see. After 6 years, I've learned that married life is about picking your battles, and this is one I gave up a long time ago in favor of more important things, lol ;) Besides, it was 2 against one because Whiskers voted for the clothes to stay since he likes using them as a pillow.

And now back to awesome packages....

Got these in the mail from my friend Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics today...yesterday? Yeah, yesterday. It's 3 am.

Yum! I could eat these Ruby Sundae Stripes with a spoon!

And these are a few little ditties that tripped and fell into my Etsy shopping basket like that cruise ship captain...

Looking at these little trims makes me so happy *sigh*

And that's not all! Here in the Telschow family, we don't mess around when it comes to interfacing. I always wait to buy it until Joann puts it on sale for 50% off, because then I can get an additional 10% off with my VIP Card. I scored an entire 20 yd bolt of my favorite interfacing for $29 (including tax)...which breaks down to $1.45/yard.

So wish me luck on the shoulder this weekend (and feel free to mail me any controlled substances you have lying around, lol!) In a moment of pure weakness, I almost took some pain pills I found in the medicine cabinet leftover from Ray's wisdom tooth extraction back in 2008!!! My better judgement kicked in before I did anything rash though...

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Playing Catch-Up

Due to the massive number of Christmas presents I had to sew, I kind of unofficially took a break from blogging back in December, so there are a ton of things I never posted on here.

For starters, I received an adorable mug rug and an awesome bundle of scraps from Ulrike! She has the best fabric, and I love the charming little details she puts into everything she makes. I won a pillow in one of her blog giveaways a few years ago, and it's one of my favorite holiday items (the hubby loves it too).

And my favorite part? The hilariously accurate portrayal of me reaching for cookies, and Whiskers making off with a stocking. Both of those things happened numerous times over the holidays ;)

I honestly made out like a bandit this year, because my friend Kristy made me a lovely holiday item as well! She wanted to get her husband a special Kindle for Christmas that was only available in the U.S., so she had her purchase mailed to me and I forwarded it to Aussieland. As a thank you gift, she sent me this pillowcase and some chocolate treats. I was dumbfounded when I opened it because of all the intricate piecing and quilting - it must have taken her forever to do all that circular quilting!

And she even included one of my favorite holiday prints - the snowflake print from Happy Zombie's Holiday Happy line! I've been debating buying those prints for a while, but hadn't taken the plunge because I need more Christmas fabric like a hole in the head. But after seeing how cute they were sewn up in a project, I found some on clearance (for $5/yard) and bought 1/2 yards of the snowflake and triangle santa prints. Yay!

Since her package didn't arrive until after Christmas, I'm thinking about sneaking it onto the sofa because it's too lovely to put in storage for a whole year. I think I can get away with people not realizing it's a Christmas pillow, so long as they don't turn it over and expose the trees on the back!

Oh. And I have one more thing to show you. It's more of a confession, really. I went on a bit of a bender during the pre/post holiday sales...

But I'd like to officially blame Angela for the Safety Pin prints, because she posted about a shop that had them on clearance for $3.99/yard. I can't be held responsible for my decisions when informed about fabric that cheap.

My other splurge was in my friend Ayumi's shop. I bought those adorable laundry and baking fat quarters on the left, and because she's a sweetheart, she added all those cute scraps you see on the right! She is so, so nice and I love having email chats with her :) Isn't it wonderful when you get the chance to "meet" one of your crafting heros, and they're even nicer than you imagined?

That being said, you guys probably know what's coming next. The great post-Christmas fabric purge of 2012. I just put up a bunch of new listings in my Etsy shop including some cheap fat quarter bundles, an It's a Hoot Layer cake, and various cuts of fabric. I also put together about 5 scrap bundles because my bins are overflowing from all my recent sewing. They're organized by color, and what you see is what you get - I'm pretty generous with my scrap packs, and everything shown in the photo will be included in the bundle.

As always, you can use the code PLAIDSCOTTIE10 for 10% off anything in my shop :)

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