Number 3!

Yes! Really!

I'm so much happier with the yellow binding.

I quilted this one pretty sparingly and it's definitely much softer than many of my other quilts. Still searching for the perfect batting though.

I have nothing else even near finished, so number four is probably not going to happen any time soon.

(The fabric is Panache by Sanae for Moda.)

Hearts!

It's finish #2!

I wanted to make a heart cushion that would work after Valentine's Day as well.
Saw this on Amy's blog and used it as a starting point.

Many trials and tribulations later...




I got to make Prairie Points. Yay!

(Fabrics: Alphabet Soup Blue Gumball Stripe, Turquoise Dots, Garden Pindot - Spa, Turquoise Tonal Dots, Color Basic Small Dots)

Binding - Take 2

Better, right?

The yellow may be a little too bright, but this is it.

(Not) Finish #2

This should have been the celebration post for finish #2.
Alas, it's not to be.

After a lot of pondering, I chose a fabric for the binding.
Yes, it was kind of checkered/striped, but I thought it was a "forgiving" kind of check/stripe.
Not so.

The quilt has been sitting on the kitchen table for 2 days while I was trying to convince myself that it's OK.

It's not.

The seam ripper and I will be spending some quality time together today.

Almost to #2

Finish number 2 all squared up and ready for binding.

2012 - Finish #1!

When the power went out yesterday morning (for a full 14 hours!), I was in the middle of finishing the binding on the 12 Days of Christmas Quilt.
I'm a hard core quilter though. I just pulled my chair up close to the french doors and kept going.

This morning I can show off my first finish for 2012!

Yay!

I still have some 12 Days of Christmas fabric in the store (40% off until 1/21/12 to celebrate this finish.)
There is also a fabric bundle in the Etsy store. The sashing stripe is this fabric.

Snowed in!

By Seattle standards, that is. I have about 6" of snow in my back yard. (This photo was taken earlier this morning.)

A perfect day for quilting!

Quilting Day!

Today two quilts will hopefully be quilted!
By the end of the week I should have my first two finishes for 2012.
Yay!

(Some of you may recognize the top one as my quilt from SewConnected 3 back in 2009/2010.)

Backs

Today I'm making a couple of quilt backs with the aid of my little helper.

I have some time booked on a long-arm tomorrow.
Trying to make a dent in the WIPs.

I'd say that I've resolved not to start any new projects until I'm caught up, but we all know what'll happen to that plan...

There's an App for That

I've been absent from everybody's blogs the last year or so.
I can come up with all kinds of excuses but mostly it was because I couldn't have my reader on my home page any more. Out of sight, out of mind...

But...

I'm back!

Portable blog reading!

Yay!

(In case you were wondering - the lovely blog on the iPad is Karen's. You can always find a whole bunch of inspiration over there.)

2011 Books Read

I'm only posting this because I want to keep a record.
I'm definitely a little embarrased.
I did love "The Art of Racing in the Rain" though.

	David Baldacci The Whole Truth
	Elizabeth Berg The Last Time I Saw You
	Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain
	Anna Quindlen Every Last One

A Little Bare

When I "put Christmas away", I forgot to take a different runner out. Now I'm thinking I may have to make a new one...

Maybe a Strippy one.
Sure wish I hadn't sold this...

2011 - The Year of Nothing

I fondly remember the time long, long ago when I was prolific.
Then I became a little less so.
And a little less.
And then there was 2011. Same number of projects as in 2010.  Just MUCH smaller.

1. Garden Tea Party, 2. Street Scene Pillow Cover, 3. Bright-Side Quilt, 4. Poppy Field, 5. Summer Runner

My wish for 2012. At least 6 finished projects. At least three of them quilts. Not too much to ask, right?

The Winners Have Been Notified

The winners of the Blog Hop Party Giveaway have been notified and their prizes mailed.

No sewing or crafting of any kind is happening over here. Unless you consider DIY "crafting".

I Have Not Forgotten

About the Blog Hop Party, that is.
I will announce the winners before Christmas, I promise.

I've been very distracted by my bathroom remodeling project.

If you're at all interested in my trials and tribulations, I have a Flickr Set chronicling my progress.

A Quick Reminder

Entries for the Blog Hop Party giveaway close at midnight tonight. More than 300 entries so far! If you haven't entered yet, there is still time.

On a shop note, I have added a bunch of bolt-ends to the store. These are the last little bits off the bolts that are just taking up precious space around here, so I've priced them really low.

I've also added some happy fabric bundles to the Etsy shop:

Have a happy weekend!!

The Cost of Selling on Etsy

I, like many of you, love Etsy. This weekend I stumbled upon some lovely, neutral buttons. Many of them. Too many to keep.
So, I decided to list some of them in my Etsy store. Share the wealth, so to speak.

When I plan to list something, I always browse around to see what a reasonable price would be, based on similar items for sale.

I have noticed that some sellers may not take into account the cost of selling their items when they price them. I made the same mistake a couple of times and thought you may find it interesting to know, either as a buyer or a seller. Even if you're not looking to make money, it's nice to know that you're at least breaking even.

Example 1: 100 buttons for $2.50
Etsy Listing price: $0.20
Etsy commission: $0.09 (3.5%)
Paypal: $0.30 + $0.07 (2.9%)
Total cost to sell those buttons: $0.66 (26% of the listing price)
Money in your pocket: $1.84

Example 2: 3 yards of ribbon for $1.50
Etsy Listing price: $0.20
Etsy commission: $0.05 (3.5%)
Paypal: $0.30 + $0.04 (2.9%)
Total cost to sell the ribbon: $0.45 (30% of the listing price)
Money in your pocket: $1.05

Example 3: 1 yard of fabric for $9.25
Etsy Listing price: $0.20
Etsy commission: $0.32 (3.5%)
Paypal: $0.30 + $0.27 (2.9%)
Total cost to sell the fabric: $1.09 (12% of the listing price)
Money in your pocket: $8.16

Obviously the net effect is much larger for smaller items. Smaller items are what we most often list though...

(Edited to add:  I was just reminded that PayPal charges for the full amount, including the shipping. Accounting for the $1.75 shipping, the $2.50 buttons actually cost me $0.71 to sell! And the ribbon $0.50, which leaves me with $1 in my pocket, barely covering my cost - not to mention shipping supplies. Maybe I shouldn't have analyzed this...)

It's Christmas!!!! And Blog Hop Party Time!

As many of you probably know, Michele at the Quilting Gallery is leading the way in a GIANT Blog Hop Party with tons of giveaways. At last count she had almost 250 blogs participating.  The participating blogs will be listed over there tomorrow morning.

I figured "the more, the merrier..."

So....my contribution is this:

For one winner - pack of baby rick rack in EVERY COLOR!

For 2 winners - a 30's Charm Pack

For 4 winners - a twiddletails pattern of their choice.

Choose from:

or, of course,

Geese in the Forest

What do you have to do to win something?
For one chance, leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite color is.
For a second chance, hop on over to my Facebook page, and "Like" me over there.  Then come back and leave another post telling me. If you already like the Facebook page, just leave a second post lettting me know.

PLEASE make sure I have a way to contact you.  Quite a few giveaway winners have lost out in the past because their comments have no links.

(This giveaway ends at midnight PST on December 17th.)
Entries for the giveaway are now closed.

Focus, Focus, Focus

This seems to be my mantra lately.

Tax time is nearing, so during the day I'm doing this:

At night I've returned to the hexie quilt. It really looks like I'm only picking her up about once a year.

A conservative calculation has determined that I need AT LEAST 16 more "flowers" just to get her semi-square.

The (not so) Quick Tree Skirt

This was going to be a tutorial post for a quick little tree skirt. Two hours or so. Five hours later I was still not done.

If I hadn't decided to make my own bias binding...
Out of teenie scraps of fabric...

I could have showered, gotten dressed, driven to the store, bought some pre-made tape, had a leisurely lunch, and the project would still have been finished sooner than via the painful process I went through.

In short, what I did was:

Cut three circles - one out of focus fabric (from the 12 Days of Christmas collection), one out of batting, and one out of background fabric.
I folded the fabric in half and used a disappearing marker attached to a piece of string to draw a half circle.

Cut a little circle in the center.

Layered all three fabrics, pinned them together and stitched half an inch from the edge all around.  I also stitched two lines 1" apart from the center to the edge, so I could cut the opening without the layers shifting.

After that I made the aforementioned bias tape.  More than 100" of it!

Sewed on the tape.

Discovered that the hole in the top was too big and the skirt kept sliding down the tree trunk.  Inserted some elastic. Still too loose. Pulled the elastic tighter.  Yay!

Took probably an hour to figure out how to sew ties to the skirt. Don't ask...

Anyhow, I do like the way it turned out, so I suppose it was worth a lost Sunday.

(I made the little tree topper last year.  Instructions here.)