FO: Avalon Squared and #500

My friends, what a fabulous way to celebrate my birthday today. This is post #500 on little old Jaceycraft. Woo! That's amazing. I know I'm talkative, but I'm impressed!
So, I would like to have some sort of giveaway to celebrate this, but I think I'll wait until the new year, especially since SMS Day was not so long ago (like, 2 weeks).

So, in the meantime, I can finally share my sister's quilt with you!

Here it is!! Avalon Squared. I've named it this for two reasons. The majority of the fabric is Avalon by Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics. Also, as I was trying to decide on a pattern that would let these bold prints shine, I came across a quilt called Avalon in Material Obsession. So, Avalon Squared!

I backed the quilt with an old sheet from the linen closet. I'm glad I used a solid, so that the quilting can shine. I quilted each block a little differently. The block on the right with the pebbling caused many uttered expletives. I broke three needles while doing the pebbles. Odd, since Ella's Bohus Pillow didn't give me any such troubles. I'm guess it was the weight of the quilt.

I used Joel Dewberry's Herringbone for the binding, and there's also an FQ of his Woodgrain in the quilt.

The quilt is approximately 60" x 80", so it's a great couch-size quilt.

It really was hard to let this go. These photos were taken by Jill. I finished Thursday (just three days before Christmas), and then we experienced several days of dreary weather. Jill was nice enough to snap some pictures yesterday and share them with me.

I also made some pillowcases to go along with the quilt!

I know I mentioned this before, but Jill is an amazing sister. She has made my 30th birthday something truly memorable. I feel so lucky to have love, support, understanding and friendship in you.
Thank you again, sister!

And happy new year to you all! Thanks for being a part of this space with me.

Wordless Wednesday: Bella

Happenings

I hope those of you that celebrate Christmas had a lovely one! My weekend was hectic, but very enjoyable. After traveling most of the weekend, I was happy to pull up to my house Sunday night. I had a few packages waiting for me when I arrived, so it was like Christmas all over again!

I received this special package from my good friend Rachel. She shared some homemade huckleberry jam, one of her signature calendars, and two skeins of Brooklyn Tweed Loft! Wow. Rachel is such an amazing person. I so admire that she loves her work, and I always enjoy seeing what crafty things she's doing. Thanks again, Rachel! I'm touched.

You may remember the Echino stag and Melody Miller tea cup pouches I made a few weeks ago? Those were for Rachel, along with one of my coffee (or tea) cozies)!

My other package was a large box of fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Half Moon Modern scissors and the green chevron print. These prints are so bright!

I also scored a layer cake of the amazing " A Stitch in Color", Malka's new Moda line. I have a small piece of her hand printed fabric, so I was anxious to see the Moda-printed line in person! It's vibrant, and I'm already dreaming up ways to use the prints.

I also got a couple of yards of Anna Maria Horner's beautiful new flannel, which I plan to quickly transform into new pillowcases. The thought of a flannel pillowcase seems cozy.

In other swap and gift news, I received my #ssswap last week. My secret santa was Megan!

She made me an adorable zipper pouch, and sent along some stitch markers and some homemade caramels (which have already been devoured!). Fun! Thanks, Megan. I love it all!

Last, but certainly not least, my pal Amy, made lots of these adorable pouches in different fabric combinations. She gave one to each attendee of the HMQG holiday. These are so cute, and I love the kitty print!

Well, that's all for today.
I managed to finish the big secret project, which was a quilt for my sister. She loves it, however, the weather was so dreary all weekend that no pictures exist yet!

She has promised to take some photos soon so that I can share the FO with you!

I've been thinking about my 2012 crafting goals, and I'll be sharing them with you soon.
Oh, and I have a small birthday this week, too. ;)

Talk soon!

2011 Goals: A look back and a video

I LOVE making lists. LOVE. Earlier this year, I made a list of goals for the year. As I make my list for 2012, I thought I'd share my results of this year's list.

2011 goals
1) No yarn purchases in 2011, with noted exceptions:

Result: Mostly win.

The only yarn I purchased this year was the Wollmeise Claudia offered to bring me (um, and I just bought a Sundara holiday gift bag. oops). The only other yarn stash additions were handspun offerings from Sara, Sam and Elizabeth.

2) Finish the Gray + Pink + Yellow quilt and make two additional quilts

Result:Total win. You can see my quilt set here, but I finished three large quilts and several minis this year.

3) Complete the swaps I've joined

Result: Again, Total win. I participated in three quilt bees and SIX public swaps. I also participated in several private swaps, which I'm now addicted to. You can see my swaps and bees set here.

4) Complete the two pairs of socks I've started, and two additional pairs

Result:Um, less than win. I knit one sock this year, and it was not a match for a previously knit sock. LAME.

5) Finish the colorwork hat I've started, and one additional colorwork project (I've got to get better at this!)
Result: Half win! I did complete my color work hat, which I love. But no new colorwork projects this year. Next year, for sure!

6) Finish both my CPH and the Gray Skies Cardigan

Result: FAIL. Yes, that deserved to be bolded. I didn't finish either one of these, although a little progress was made.

7) Knit Beatnik
Result: Nope. But I didn't buy yarn for it either, so that counts. A little.

8) Sew three garments for myself

Result: I made two skirts for myself, but I don't count it as a win, really.

9) Clean out and donate from closets, cabinets

Result: I made lots of progress in purging stuff this year. I hope to continue to do so, as I make the move to Elliott's house. Or, our house. ;)

10)Blog more often

Result: Total win. My post count for 2011 is just about double my 2010 count. I've been in this space more often, and I've enjoyed it!

11)Take more pictures

Result: I would say this is pretty much a win, although I have short-term plans to make a lightbox for myself. As the winter light takes over, I notice a drastic drop in the number of pictures I've taken.

12)Attend the Sewing Summit in October

Result: Yep! I did that!

13)Use fabric and yarn stash on projects I can enjoy

I guess this is a partial win. I've gotten better about making things I'll actually use. However, I still have an addiction to shawls, even though I've not found myself wearing them yet. 14)Exercise at least once a week

Result: Um, next question, please.

15)Finish Jill's house items

Result: I'd say I'm okay here. I still have some curtains to make for Jill, but she's gotten some fun handmade stuff this year. But I will stick to my word and finish the other curtains!

16)Travel

Result: No good here. I only went on one out-of-state trip (Utah). But at least it was a new-to-me place, and it was beautiful!

When I look at this list, it doesn't seem like I accomplished very much in 2011. Then I watch the video below (which is all thanks to C and her lovely 2011 video), and I think, "oh, yeah. I did some stuff."

Jaceycraft 2011 from Jacey Lucas on Vimeo.

I hope you'll watch it. And then I hope you'll make your own over at Pummelvision.
*Note: the very last image in the video has a swear word. I haven't blogged this yet, but I wanted to make a disclaimer.

If you'd rather peruse the photos, I made a Crafts in 2011 set.

Winner!

The winner of the SMS Giveaway day is Amy! Amy is blogless, but did leave an email address, and she's already responded to claim her new pouch and fabric.

I got a little stressed reading all of your comments. We all have a lot of finishing to do! Thank you all for entering.

I've been hard at work on a secret project for a loved one. I'll be able to share after Christmas!

I can share one crafty thing from the weekend.

I made two quick and easy appetizers for the Houston Modern Quilt Guild holiday party. I made cheese straws and mustard puffs. I think "mustard puffs" is a truly hilarious name for a food. Both of these recipes were very easy to make, and the results were delicious!

Our party was a huge success. And I'm excited to say that I'm the historian for our guild this year! Our group is a lot of fun, and I'm excited to be a part of it!

I'm working on a couple of end of year posts, so between that and some finishes, I have lots to talk about!

A few fun things

Here's one of the fun gifts I've gotten for my birthday this month. I actually got two of the same shirt (we're returning one); Elliott and my sister both had the same idea!

I have a new favorite cookie. These were incredible! They are Brown Sugar Cookies.

While I was working on the giveaway pouch, I made these pouches over the weekend for a good friend.

It's been fun playing with the Echino fabrics I've been hoarding saving!

I'm woefully behind on photographing my stash enhancements, but I did manage a photo of this Dear Stella. I just love those stars!

I've been hard at work on a secret project for a certain family member. I'm almost done, though. I'll be sharing it with you after it's opened on Christmas!

FO: Ella's Bohus Pillow

Looking for the giveaway post? Here it is!

Now that Ella has received her giveaway pillow, I can share it with you all! In her comment, Ella mentioned red, mulberry, mustardy brown and linen. Based on these colors, and from reading her blog, I had a pretty immediate vision of what I wanted to make. I remembered seeing the Bohus Pillow in a copy of Stitch Magazine (Summer 2011 issue). My only problem was that I didn't want Ella to have to buy a circle pillow form, or to make one. So I modified the design to be square.

Really I just used the templates Stitch provided, and improvised the rest.

I used some 1001 Peeps for the center star and the back pieces, and some Essex Linen for the background. The burgundy and mustard pieces are from the stash.

I hand quilted around the center piece with some Perle Cotton, and then machine quilted the rest.

This is an especially exciting project for me because it's my first time to use pebble quilting. You can tell where I started, in the top center. The stitches there are not quite the right tension and are a little messy. As I worked my way around, I could see and feel a difference in my stitching. I was floored when I finally started getting the rhythm of free motion!

When I finished, I had to really take a step back. This pillow is so much different than my normal style. In the end, I love it. I got to practice some unfamiliar techniques, like applique and free motion quilting.

I hope Ella loves her pillow!
I still have the third contest pillow to make, for Virginia. Hopefully, I'll have that to share before the end of the year, or in early January!

Giveaway: Echino Style

Once again, I'm excited to participate in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!

If you're new here, welcome!

I decided to share a little Echino with one lucky commenter.

This weekend, I took a break from my gifty to-do list, and made a little pouch. I love the little strap, and I used that same fabric for the lining.

With the pouch, I'm adding a fat quarter of the Echino London print in aqua.

I'm happy to ship this internationally!

One entry per person. To enter, just leave a comment telling me something you're hoping to accomplish or finish before December 31st.

You can enter until 3 PM CST on Friday, December 16th. I'll draw a winner over the weekend.

Thanks for visiting! I'll be back soon to share my latest pillow. Comments are now closed.

Seven things?

So, I mentioned here that Shannon passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me. Thank you so much, Shannon!

I've been trying to decide what seven facts about myself to share, and here's what I've come up with:

1) I have one sibling, Jill. She is incredible.
She is in the process of celebrating my upcoming birthday (that would be thirty, by the way) in a huge way. She sneakily contacted family and friends, and asked them all to celebrate my birthday with a thirty-day countdown to turning thirty.
Each day, I have a small gift and/or card to open.
It's overwhelmingly kind, and I feel so lucky to have her in my life. And I'm thrilled that she will be my Maid of Honor next year.

2) As a kid, I was a seriously picky eater. All I would eat is meat and potatoes, and carrots. I never thought that I would grow up to be such an adventurous eater, but here I am!

3) I've had two broken bones and both were a result of falling.
In second grade, I fell off a horse and broke my arm. In fourth grade, I fell out of a tree and broke my wrist.

4) I first learned to sew when I was younger than ten. My grandmother taught me to make scrunchies. I had such style, and scrunchies to match all of my outfits. Yep, I'm a nerd.

5) In periods of super craftiness, my sewing area often looks like this. Since this photo was taken, I have cleaned up a bit, but yeah. Messy.

6) I'm left handed, but with some sports and activities, I do better with my right hand.

7) I've never lived in another state but Texas. I've traveled a fair amount (with hopes for more in the future!), but it seems I'm pretty rooted here.

So, maybe you learned something new about me today!

Now, it's my turn to pass this award to a few of my favorite bloggers. I've made so many friendships through my blog, so this was a difficult choice. Today, I would like to share this award with:
Sara of The Knottygnome Knits - Sara spins, sews, knits, crochets, designs and embroiders. And she does all of these things very well.
Amanda of My Sewcial Hour - I met Amanda at the Sewing Summit, so I'm new to her blog. She's got a great sense of style, and I'm especially loving her Farmer's Wife quilt block progress (I think I'm going to have to start my own version next year, by the way...)
Nicke of Kiss Kiss Quilt - Nicke is a kindred spirit. She is hilarious and kind.
And finally
Tamiko of Patchwork Notes - Tamiko is so cool. Her Special Friend pillow is high on my to-make list for the new year.

So, that's it! Whew. Long post. Thanks for hanging in there!

Melissa's Quilt

As I was browsing through my flickrstream, I realized I never shared a collaborative quilt I helped Sara and Nicke make.

I made these blocks to contribute, and Sara assembled the blocks and quilted them beautifully.
This was a gift for our friend Melissa, who is expecting her second child. You can see the finished quilt here and also here.

These three girls were lots of fun in the Wonky Bee this year, and it was fun conspiring to make something special for Melissa!

Distraction (i.e. not on the to-do list)

Something has wormed into my brain and distracted me from my to-do list. I'm knitting the super lovely Stripe Study. To make it more fun, I'm knitting along with Rue, Lauren, Phoe, Minty, Wynk, and, well, anyone who wants to join in! If you'd like to join, we're mainly just keeping track of progress over on twitter, using the hash tag #stripestudy . I know we're tempting Rachel something fierce!

I knew the shawl would be enjoyable, because as I've already pointed out, I love knitting shawls. Even if I don't WEAR shawls often.

I'm using two stashed yarns for this. The aqua is Hazel Knits Sock in Beach Glass, and the brownish-gold is Sundara Sock Yarn in Ancient Place (I think? The color name is handwritten).

Yep! I'm hooked.
I've also been making progress on the list. I'm down to 12 items.

Sent: SS Swap

Well, I'm down to just fourteen items on my gifty list (and I should mention, some are commitments, not truly gifts)!

As mentioned here, I participated in the Secret Santa Swap that Sukie organized. And my partner received her swap last night, so it's safe to share the other details. You've already seen the fabric basket I made. My partner, Kaki requested red, white and aqua items, and is especially in love with the new(ish) Children at Play fabric line by Sarah Jane Studios. It just so happens that I had recently purchased a little of the pinwheel fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics, and with some more help from the stash, I knew Kaki was going to be happy.

Along with the basket, I made a little mug rug, featuring an embroidered pinwheel (which I drew). I also included the rest of the pinwheel fabric and some Ruby scallops (used on the mug rug and for the basket lining).

Based on her tweets last night, I am pretty sure Kaki is a happy girl!

Now, I just have to sit tight and see what my santa brings for me!

Eep!

My Magnolia Lane Mini is a finalist for the final month of Celebrate Color! I'm so excited!!

There's lots of great entries in each category; I'm interested to see which projects win this month!
If you haven't already, be sure to vote for your favorites!

Oh, also, I'm having a cookie making session with my mom and sister this weekend.
Do you have any MUST MAKE recipes to share?

I might have to make these this year...

FO: Stockings for Jill and Ryan

Whew! What a nice long weekend! For those of you in the states, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your families. I got a lot of time with my family and Elliott's. And yes, I'm engaged! I don't have any details to share on the when or how, but we know it will be sometime next year! For now, I'm just enjoying the feeling. I'll share more with you soon!

In the meantime, I crossed a couple of things off of my gifty list this weekend.

My sister asked me for Christmas stockings, personalized for her and her boyfriend, Ryan. Using Fabricworm's tutorial and some Alexander Henry Holiday Hoot fabric, I came up with some pretty fun stockings!

I worked on the embroidery over the holiday, and finished them up yesterday afternoon.

It's always fun to stitch up words in embroidery. And of course, Bella always likes to help.

The pattern was very easy to follow, and the second one came together better than the first.

I'm linking up today with Megan this morning!

Gifty to-do list, part #1

Let me preface this entry by saying, my list of things to finish before the end of the year is twenty-one items long.
And to answer your question, yes, I'm a little crazy for that.

However, I got down to business this past weekend, and was able to cross several tasks off the list.

Item #1: My November "Love" do.Good Stitches blocks
I'm in a new group this month, and Lee chose these fun asterisk blocks.

Item #2: I'm in a secret santa swap via twitter, hosted by Sukie, and I finished my first item over the weekend. There is a cost limit of $15 for the swap, which is a fun challenge! I used Ayumi's super adorable fabric basket tutorial. I want to make more of these. LOTS more.

Item #3 (in progress): I'm making stockings for Jill and Ryan this year.

I'll share more from the list throughout December. Hopefully, I can get everything finished in time!

What's on your gifty to-do list?

(nearly ) Wordless Wednesday

Details forthcoming!

FO: Kate's Plus Pillow

I finished the first of the giveaway pillows. Kate received her pillow this weekend, so now I can share it with you!

Kate adores green, and I just happen to have lots of green in the stash (I love it, too!).

I've been dying to try a plus quilt, and when I looked at Kate's favorites, I knew this would be a perfect excuse to do so.

Honestly, the layout is the only tricky part (and I can imagine doing so for a full quilt is pretty arduous, especially with curious kitties!). I LOVED making this! I used Essex Linen with the prints, which include a recently stashed Suzuko Koseki, some favorite dots (Amy Butler, Ta Dot and It's a Hoot!), Joel Dewberry faves, Leaf Dots, Sundae Stripe, etc. Ah, lots of favorites here, really!

I quilted the front, and resisted the urge to make this an envelope style pillow.

I installed a zipper, which I then had to rip out and try again. My first zipper looked nice, but was not big enough to wedge a pillow through! Ha. Lessons learned! So, a second zipper was installed, but next time, I'll stick with what I know!

I think Kate was really pleased with her pillow! It was especially fun to make this for her since I met her at Sewing Summit.

In other pillow giveaway news, the first winner that didn't respond sent me an email the same day I posted about the replacement winner.

Virginia had never won anything on a blog before, so I decided I will honor her winnings. So, two pillows left for the giveaway. I've started on the second pillow. Hopefully, I'll be able to share it in the next couple of weeks!

A surprise from Jessica

Do you know Jessica? I really enjoy her blog, and her adorable crafty style. She's made some really fun things for her kiddos, and I'm really in love with her recently finished Loulouthi Tiles quilt from Rachel's free pattern.

So, several weeks ago, I sent Jessica some patterns I received at the Sewing Summit. The patterns were for little girl's clothes, and I thought she would enjoy them.

Well, fast forward to Friday afternoon, I get a surprise package from Jessica. In a completely unexpected and generous gesture, she made me a fabulous mini quilt!

How fun is that??!??

She also included a very sweet note, so thanks again, Jessica. You completely made me day!!

Yesterday, I tried to spend some time cleaning up my sewing area, and that included hanging some of my recently acquired minis.

On this wall, we have the Solids swap quilt I received from Shape Moth, and Jessica's mini.

Above my sewing area, I have the Post-Summit swap mini I received from Di. I still have two more minis to hang, so my collection is steadily growing! Ah, happy walls.

I've got lots of sew-y progress to share with you asap!

Post-Summit Swap: Received

I have been so fortunate in the swaps I've participated in. The Post Summit Swap is definitely not an exception. Here is the mosaic I created as an inspiration for my partner:

Please click through to see image sources

And my partner, Diane totally rocked it!! She made me an adorable mini quilt in the always awesome grellow color scheme:

Please excuse the bad lighting, but you can see how gorgeous it is! And look at that little pouch! A kitty! What???
Here's a better shot of the pouch that Diane took. So yeah, I truly love these goodies she made me!

Thanks again, Diane! I intended to get it up on the wall this weekend, but hopefully, it will be hung sometime this week!

Misc. sewing ramblings

So, I never heard back from one of the pillow winners, and gave a deadline of Sunday. So, without further ado, the new winer is #7, Ella! Oh, and I'm hard at work on Kate's pillow. I hope to have that one in the mail this week! I'll share pictures once she receives it!

Also, I realized I hadn't shared my latest Swoon blocks with you. I finished these on my vacation a few weeks back.

Swoon #5, using Modern Meadow Plaid and Kona Teal Blue.

Swoon #6, using Modern Meadow Herringbone and AMH Innocent Crush "Maybe".

Only three blocks left to go! Woo!! Can't wait. I have high hopes to finish this lovely up before the end of the year (possible, but not probable!).

I also finished up Bottled Rainbows block #5, in what I think is Kona Caribbean. Love! Who knows when I'll finish this quilt? Not anytime soon, but I hope to get a block or two more done before the new year!