S is for Sampson

My friend received her pillow for the May Love in a Box swap. I included a scarf I made for her dog, Sampson, to match the pillow. Yes, that "cape" you saw on Duke was really a surprise for Sampson. Here are both in their new home!

I've been working on another gift, here's a peek. Just need to bind it.

Duke has been enjoying nap time with me as I try to rest my pinched nerve. It still burns. My husband is kind of "over it" so I'm doing my best to act normal, keeping my sudden screams to a minimum! It's like an electric shock to the chest!

Ok, done talking about it....

Did I mention the day before this pain started my teenage son got gasoline in his eyes and I rushed him to the hospital for care? He is fine now but what a scare that was. I'll add a picture here to give you an idea. His high school graduation is just around the corner and as class President he will speak at the ceremony. Exciting times!

Kris

Ouch

Well I went to the doctor and it's a pinched nerve on my right side. Hoping my meds kick in soon. I've had on again off again pain for three days. When i get it, its like an electric current...zaps me! My husband cut my strips for those curtains...no rotary cutting for me!

Since we are back to cloudy here, I took a better picture of those curtains. Here's another shot from inside the basement, sort of has the stained glass look. They are backed with a vintage sheet.

Rest time with Duke!

Kris

Memorial Day

We are thankful for our freedom!

Spending the day strolling the harbor, checking in at our Skate Shop and doing a bit of sewing. I finished the curtain! It's hard to photo because it's so sunny outside - yay!

Kris

Nautical Curtains

This morning I took down the curtains that hang above my washer and dryer in the basement. The window faces the driveway so every day when I pull in, I see the ugly, water stained curtain - time to fix that!! I put them in the washer and what do you know, they dissolved! They were literally in pieces that looked like shredded paper towels. Time to make new ones!

I did some cutting, went to a get together with some girl friends (remember crochet night? - those are the girls!) drank a bit of 14 hands wine - love that kind, came home and sewed my first strip wrong. ...Pick out the stitches and focus!

Playing with my layout now while Duke snoozes under the table. I love the nautical fabric with our old home. Our home was built in 1901.

I'm having muscle spasms on my right side so having to take more frequent sewing breaks. They come and go - and ouch they hurt! Do you ever sit down to sew and 3 hours later you wonder where the time went? Well that combined with a dull rotary cutter blade has caused me some issues. - the wine helped!

Happy Holiday Weekend!

Kris

Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. I had a good time reading your captions for Duke, modeling the S scarf. Random generator has spoken and the winner is Fern who said:

fernMay 25, 2012 4:52 PM
"Really Mom? Do I have to where the quilted super hero cape again?" -duke (by the way, Duke is ADORABLE!!!)


Fern I will be emailing you for your address!

We've had beautiful weather, sunny and 70, so not much sewing going on. Yesterday was the Gig Harbor Street Scramble, the largest urban orienteering event in the US. It was lots of fun. Registration is free, free tshirts for the first 200 that enter. We met up at the downtown park and maps with numbered locations were passed out to all. We then had equal time to plan our route and at 10:00 am the fire engines sounded and everyone took off. My son and his friend entered as team "Dos" and skateboarded their way around town. Duke and I were left in the dust, but duke did enjoy meeting as many dogs as he could with his royal sniff over (this can be embarrassing), and he was sporting his "candy coated pattern" scarf. :-) The end result was two happy boys who raced to the finish line 90 seconds late (15 point deduction) and tied for 2nd in their age group/category!

I really do love our harbor town.

Congratulations again to Fern! I will mail your loot off this week!

Kris

Give Away Time!

I am joining up with the sewmamasew giveaway! Yes today is the last day of the linky party - so if you want to win you have to enter, like now! Give away entries are to "end" at 5pm PST (or 8 hours from now) and the winner will be announced this weekend.  All are welcome to join in!

I am also celebrating my 100th post this week! 

Give Away Details:

3 fat quarters of yummy fabrics from

 The Quilt Asylum that I purchased on my trip to Texas,

 along with coordinating trim. 

To Enter:

Leave a comment with a "caption" for the following picture of Duke:

and for a second chance, 

follow my blog and leave me a comment letting me know that you do.

Thanks for all of the fun and encouragement you have given me during my first 100 posts.  I have enjoyed making new blogland friends who share a love of sewing! (and dogs!!)

Kris

Need a bigger design wall...

Thought I'd share some pics of the Prism quilt. I'm in the QAL - it's the colorful hexi button in my sidebar.

- I keep obsessively moving the triangles around

- I can't fit the magenta/ purple row without taping to the candlestick and window

- the tape is not holding

- I still have 2 outer rows to go

- I've been cutting more triangles as I hang them because "someone" didn't make enough of each color at the cutting stage!

- I had no idea it would be this big.

- I love it!



Kris

"S" is for SuperDog!

One of my IG friends thought Duke looked like "Super Dog" in this scarf. What a great description of Duke!

Have you joined the instagram bandwagon? Let's be friends! I am @dukesayssewwhat. Warning: it's totally fun and addicting. But much faster than a blog post!

To my PP QAL friends - how are your triangles coming along? I'm about to hang a sheet on the wall and see how they all look together. Can't wait! I'll post a picture on IG!

Quick WIP update:
Finished 3 small things from my Amanda Jean small things list, hurray!

Love in a Box May was shipped off today!

I'm on target in the PP QAL. Trying hard to stay that way!

I still need to make: kindle cases, tablecloth, 2 quilt backs/quilt them, pillows for my porch, baseball quilt may be a scratch- only 4 games left!

Now heeeere's Duke!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced! The button is in my sidebar. Go check out all the links!


Kris

May " Love in a Box " is a Pillow!

Today I made a pillow for my Love in a Box recipient for May.  If you follow this blog, you know all about the monthly swap I am in - if you  haven't heard about it, read the last post and you'll be all caught up!  This is for my friend, Laurie's sister.  Her living room colors are brown and green with a bit of yellow.  I hope she will like this combination of fabrics!  I had lots of fun making it. 

Duke was actually channeling ideas to me from his

 spot under my snuggie on the couch.

He was "thrilled" to be the pillow model!

I snapped this picture of it flat as a "mini" to show all of the fun fabrics.  I've never made a "mini" that stayed a mini before.  Hmm maybe I will...

But not this time! 

Moving on to my little artist, Jack, I thought I'd show you his most recent water color:

We are thinking about entering this one in a children's maritime themed art contest at our local museum.  I just love it!

Kris

SENIOR NERF WAR UPDATE:  Mitch's team lost :(

I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story!

www.quiltstory.blogspot.com

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

This is my first time to join the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! 

If "dog bed" was a  category, you can bet I would have entered this:

But I didn't see a category for dog beds!!  Oh darn!! 

So after careful consideration - I am entering my "Love in a Box" quilt!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the quilt with the sun

 coming through the window and Duke posing in front of it. 

What is Love in a Box?

The quilt was my gift to a High School friend, Laurie, that kicked off a "Love in a Box" swap.  Laurie's idea was to have a monthly care package exchange. (The idea being, it's fun to get something in the mail that shows someone you care - just because!)  A bunch of us signed up (all friends of Laurie's) and now each month we send "Love in a Box" and we also receive "Love in a Box" from someone else!  

For the first month - my person to send "to" was Laurie and I wanted to do something extra nice for her since this was all her idea.  The rules say to spend no more than 10-12 dollars.  I used my stash fabric and made her this quilt.  Okay I fudged the cost but I justified it since it was for Laurie, the leader of the swap! Laurie wrote up the rules, assigned names, and created a private Face Book page where we all communicate with each other. 

Since I was under a deadline, I actually FINISHED this quilt.  I am great at making quilt TOPS but not so good at completing them.  I was thrilled to finish one! You can read the original post here.

My favorite  part was the color plotting and piecing of this quilt.  I just love the vibrant colors.  I added lots of reds and pinks since it was a February Love in a Box gift.

 

As you can see, Duke was a big help!

Duke is showing me where to cut the batting...

Laurie is a kindergarten teacher so I used some bus fabric

 (above bottom right corner) as a shout out to Laurie!

In keeping with the "Love in a Box" theme, I quilted some

zig zag stitches around some of the boxes, randomly.  It's also straight line quilted.

Duke tested the quilt, of course!

And now I present, my quilt photographer assistant!! 

My teenager, just up from a nap, -look at that hair!- holding up the quilt for pictures!

What I received in February.

What I sent in March to a Cubs fan.

What I sent in April

What I received in March

I received beautiful frames in April (can't find the picture! ugh!)

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to go check out more blogs in the festival!

http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/

I'm off to work on a pillow for my June "Love in a Box"!

Kris