Have you seen my sewing mojo?

I feel like I've lost my mojo a bit.  I've got about a third of the the binding left to sew on Swoon, but eh...  I did finish up a little wall hanging for Wee Monsieur's teacher with squares the kids decorated, but it's not exactly my best work.  I just threw some sashing around the squares the kids did.  I've gotten to the point on the postage stamp quilt where I just get all anxious about how to quilt it and then I set it aside and try to ignore it.  I just got some fabric for a special commission in the mail and should get started on that, but I'm just not feeling inspired.

I've been trying to do a little retail therapy, but even when I find fabric I like, I can't think of anything I'd want to make with it, so I don't buy anything.  Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever read?

Heather Ross

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but I'm completely obsessed with Heather Ross.  I remember years before I started sewing, running across Heather Ross's goldfish in bags fabric.  I thought it was the cutest stuff.  I didn't buy any because I didn't have a project for it or a sewing machine, so it seemed pointless.  Until a few months ago I still didn't own any Heather Ross fabric, because truth be told it's not really my sewing style.  I love her illustration style and sense of humor, but I tend to favor bold bright colors and I still try not to buy really specific fabric without any idea of what I will do with it.  Not to mention even her new fabric lines sell for about twice as much as regular quilt fabric.  Then Far Far Away 3 started going on sale and I might have bought some of that because it really makes me think of my mother as a little girl.  She never played with dolls, only model horses.  Then the flood gates opened and there's no stopping me, well there is a little stopping me.  I'm still not paying $60 bucks for a piece of a munki munki pant leg.  I just got a bunch of Rapunzel from a shop in New Zealand, which was literally the only place on the web that seemed to still have any.  I might also have gotten some Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.  I know a very cute little girl who loves Rapunzel, so I have a project planned already.

This brings me to the latest development, Heather Ross has a new fabric line coming out!!!  Nursery Versery should be available in June.  Yay!

PS if you happen to stumble across a Heather Ross Unicorn, let me know.

Balloon Flip Flops

We might have a little shoe problem around here.  By that I mean I have a problem with little shoes not that shoes are a little problem.  I recently did a google search for decorating flip flops to find a project for my little craft group.  I ran across this tutorial for balloon decorated flip flops.  I thought that was the perfect idea for fun summer flip flops.  I whipped up a pair for Baby Girl and to use as a demo.  I bought the flip flops at Target for $2.50 and I might have picked up a pair for myself as well.  I got the water balloons at the Dollar Store for $1 for 100 balloons.  $3.50 and about 40 minutes later, I had these.

 Baby Girl calls them Party Shoes and I can't argue with that.  She's got parties on the brain; yesterday was her birthday.  If you want to make your own, this is what I suggest you do.  The tutorial I found didn't have any specific directions other than to alternate the side the balloon opening was on.  Start in the center at the toe separator and work towards the back.  I tied the balloons in a simple square knot and snugged them up against each other.  I made the balloons quite dense, you could certainly use fewer balloons and make them less dense or just cluster the balloons on top.  I used all 100 balloons for these toddler sized flip flops.  I think you would need more than 100 balloons for adult sized ones.  You can always let the kids throw the extras at each other.  I was only able to find neon mixed colors, but Dollar Store and Target both had single color bags as well.

Swoon, so close

I picked up Swoon from the long arm quilter this morning.  All I need to do is bind it and it's done.  Of course binding a quilt this big is never as easy as it seems like it should be.  And I still need to decide which fabric I had picked for the binding.  Does anyone remember?  I don't.

To get these pictures I had to stand on the seat of the recliner, which kept trying to recline while I was taking pictures with the camera held above my head.  This is one BIG quilt.  Somewhere in the upload process the color got all washed out.  No idea what's up with that.

 I'm trying to show off the quilting here, but I can never get the right angle to show the stitching.

This is part of the back, but you can't see the quilting much better here.  It's a cool loopy swirl which we thought picked up on the loopy swirl print nicely.