Uppity-Mama

Mostly Mingle Baby Quilt

I went back to wavy lines for the quilting, as I'd done on my Christmas quilt.  I used this great new thread I picked up at the quilt show by Wonderfil.  The color I chose is variegated and looks like a creamsicle! Most of the fabric is Mingle by Monaluna. 

The Long Beach Quilt Show

I had so much fun Thursday night which was the "preview night" for the show.  I went with Lisa and we grabbed some mexican food and margaritas before it opened at 5.  That may partially account for my spending there, but really what else was I gonna do?!  Of course I am decked out in my LAMQG t-shirt and large tote bag!

I have some bad pictures and some good links to share with you.  

I love this antique quilt...doesn't that design look incredibly modern and yet kind of art deco?  Just 2 colors.  Love it.

My main objective at the show was to try out some longarm quilting machines.  Awe-some. I am insanely considering acquiring one of these and squishing it into my studio somehow.  Oh, how the needle just glides over the surface of the quilt.  NO basting is required when you use one of these puppies, either, and most have a stitch regulator which means that when I speed up or slow down, which I do often, the stitches still look even.  But the frame you use is huge and they are cost more than a pretty penny.  My favorite lines were Innova and Nolting.

Pretty awesome hawaiian quilt, don't you think?

I bought a fantastic iron.  It was pricey, although supposedly I got the quilt show special price...and the mini travel iron came with it.   I have been using it for 2 days now and it is amazing. 
And to complement my iron I got a Miracle cover for the ironing board.  It has always annoyed me how the fabric will stick to the cotton cover and make it difficult to shift.  This solves that problem completely, as well as others.
The only thing missing from the evening was my friend Capril.  She and Lisa had gone together last year and so she may have felt Capril's absence even more deeply than I did.  We both agreed that Capril would have loved the quilt below...it's oranges and feeling of sunshine along with the beautiful quilting would have been right up her alley.

Mira's Party

Mira turned 7!  As you may have read, we made the potholders for favors.  I wrapped each one around a wooden spoon and tied them with ric rac...then forgot to take a photo of them all in a bunch. :-(

We also made this garland out of paper plates:

The girls decorated aprons and chef hats...

 

 

They made pizza and cupcakes...

 

   

 and most Hawley parties are not complete without a bit of karaoke!

 

 

Best Family Photographer!

I can't believe how lucky we got.  We bid on a session with Mindy Pastel of Pastel Photography at a school auction this year and won it!  Here are a few samples from our session but definitely go see more of us and other families at her blog. 

She is truly amazing. 

 

 

 

Be a "Bad Joan"

So I met this great woman named Brooke.  She is one of the nicest people I've ever met.  She went out of her way to GIVE me a domain I wanted to acquire that she had.  She has an amazing site called BAD JOAN where she gathers and sells cool clothing from smaller, newer designers.  And the prices are incredible...  40 to 90% off retail!  She invited to come over and try things on and chat.  

This fabulous orange dress, a sweater, a Beth Springer bag, and a pair of earrings later, we chatted and she gave me some very inspired advice on starting a business.  (If you've been hanging around this blog long enough you may remember I wanted (still do) to open a sewing lounge.) Do yourself a favor and hop on over to Brooke's site and get yourself some groovy garments at a fraction of the cost! 

Gear Up

The lovely and uber talented Jane has created another fabulous logo (she did the one you see on the upper left for The Modern Quilt Guild).  Now, the Los Angeles chapter has our own logo and you can get your official LAMQG gear here.  Choose from a wide variety of items from water bottles to thongs.  My choices (for now)are the beach tote in mocha (I plan to fill it with fabric, etc. at the upcoming Long Beach Quilt Festival!) and a spaghetti tee. 

Potholders and Mira's First

Mira is going to have a cooking party for her 7th birthday.  We decided to make each girl a potholder.  I used this opportunity to try out a few new quilt block styles.  

 

And Mira made her first improvised log cabin block for her potholder. 

The machine pieced hexagon block was only accomplished by following the lovely Lady Harvatine tutorial, and I still need some practice on that one!

  For the dresden plate block I used a tutorial from Amy at Badskirt .

Big Laundry Bag, Big Brave Girl

Violet is going off to sleepaway camp on Catalina Island for a week.  It will be her first time away from us for more than a night which I think will be harder for me than for her.  She is such a brave girl...she doesn't know anyone else who is going and she doesn't care!  The camp focuses on marine biology---I'm a little jealous actually, I wanna go!

Here's the laundry bag we made for her to take.  I started out following the pattern in Amy Butler's In Stitches, but soon just did it my own way as I honestly couldn't quite figure out the instructions. 

 

Block Party Plaid

You guys should head over to the Block Party site.  Alissa put up a great tutorial for this fun "plaid" block.  Here's my first...it was so much fun to do that I'm sure more are coming!

Terri's Blocks

Terri's blocks were a fun challenge.  She wanted a "squares and stripes forever" theme.  Terri is a meticulous sewer so I hope these fit the bill.  I really enjoyed making them and I love her fabric choices.

The block below is my personal favorite.

 

Terri is from the Bricolage and Butter Bee which Jamie started.