New stash and an embroidery finish

You know, I haven't cheated once on my yarn stash pact for 2011. Not once. I have acquired two new skeins since January 1: one was the handspun gift from Sarah (in exchange for my sewing machine) and the second was the recently won skein of Silk Lace from Sundara (but that's another post).

On the entirely different hand, fabric purchases in 2011? Well, let's just say I have a very healthy stash, and I'm okay with that. Melissa and I were just talking about this. I don't feel any guilt over fabric purchases, because I'm sewing often and more fabric can be used quickly (versus yarn). I'm way behind on taking pictures of the stash, but here are a couple of my recent purchases:

FQ set of the Outside Oslo line, by Jessica Jones, purchased from Pink Chalk Fabrics

Summersville hand printed fabrics, purchased on etsy

I'll share some more new stash in the coming weeks.

I finished my second embroider-bee block last night. I really love the way the words turned out.

To make this, I:
cut a template balloon out of freezer paper,
cut out the shapes from interface-fused fabric,
glued them on to my backing fabric, and
stitched them in place.

I wrote out the words and then just traced them in thread.

Very fun, and a pretty quick project. I used scraps to match the stitching, and hopefully, the recipient will love it!

I hope you're enjoying your Saturday. I know I am!

June Project Spectrum: a focus on green

Well, May came and went with very little red crafting. I am still working on the Hedera socks, but I am off to a slow start for Project Spectrum.

I've started brainstorming for June, the month of green.

I created this mosaic (I just love making mosaics!) of some of my favorite green flickr inspirations. Please click through to see picture sources.

I hope to work more on this new quilting project:

I'm making a Map of the States quilt. After trying this block back in February, I decided I would love an entire quilt of scrappy squares.

My inspiration started with the Magnolia Lane line, by Laura Gunn.

I love her bold florals, and especially the Painter's Canvas prints. I think they pair nicely with the other prints I've chosen. There's a little Kumari Gardens, Valori Wells, Amy Butler, and Joel Dewberry.

This picture I took in Berkeley last December is also inspiring to me. Ah, I wish it was as cool as that rainy day, instead of 100 degrees. Well, we can't have everything!

Have a great weekend!

More owl pouches

I stitched up three more owl pouches over the weekend, and I'll be sending out all the goodies to my winners tomorrow. I've been toying with the idea of making some of these little guys to sell on etsy, since Keyka Lou allows her patterns to be used for this purpose, as long as credit is given. With a full time job, I'm not sure it's really feasible, but I may give it a try. Winners, check your mailboxes soon for these little guys! I think the red and aqua one is my favorite. Big surprise, I know!

Oh, I also recently finished the May do.Good Stitches quilt blocks. These circles are pretty ingenious! You can find the tutorial here. I really enjoyed making these.