Summer is here...wish I was at the beach!

Okay so this is my first post in a while.   Been out and about for a bit.   Thanks so much to everyone who commented after my last whine...ahem...I mean blog post.   I really did get down in the dumps after my festival fiasco.  But I can honestly say that looking back I had a fun with my friend and met some great people. 

So here goes....Quilty/Crafty Goals For JUNE!!!

1. Complete IPOD case for a friend
2..  Savannah gradation quilt- more on that later...lets just say I love this fabric!
3.  CLEAN my sewing room.  I moved from a very large attic room to a very small bedroom with a HUGE closet.  Carpet is very dirty and organization needs to happen.
4.  Complete several baby quilt tops to hold in reserve for those special little  bundles of joy that pop up from time to time.  
5.  utilize more scraps into quilts...I hate to throw away scraps and right now I have a steamer trunk full that need to be used.  

My Guy!!!!Finally Done!!!

My guy is done...and the quilt and the guy!!!

This awesome quilt was a graduation present for my son...who graduated from high school May 27th.  

Here's the quilt...

 Front

Back

And Here's "My guy"

Man am I glad that is over!  We sure are proud of our kid!

Quilty/Crafty Goals For March

Here are my quilty and crafty goals for March. Yes March is over...so shoot me I am now posting my March acomplishments to see how well I did.  March was a bit of a great month (made several sales on my etsy site) and then a bust with the disasterous festival that I did a booth at a week ago.   I am proud of myself for putting my work out there.  I may not seem like I am shy and reclusive but just posting my art and quilty goodness is hard for me.  

I can honestly say that I feel pretty good about what I accomplished in February.  I always put the bar way too high for myself anyway. Between 40 hour work week, 2-3 hours a day commuting back and forth to work and 3 days a week at the gym it doesn't leave me enough time to do all the crafting I want to do. 

So here goes....Quilty/Crafty Goals For March

1.  2 Iphone cases off the list since the craft show is over but will revisit sometime soon
2.  2 e reader cases *see #1
3.  Complete 10 coffee cozies  done :)
4.  Complete Nook Case for a Friend  done :)
5.  Complete 4th row of the "My Guy" quilt for my son. About 3/4th of the 4th row done...  almost there!
6.  10 pairs of Alabama and Auburn lego earrings done :)
7.  10 pairs of other lego earrings done :)
8.  banner for our booth at the Prattville Arts Festival done :)
9.  2 funky paintings not done...in progress
10. Complete 2 coin purses not done...in progress
11.  Try my hand at fabric post cards not done...in progress

12.  start putting together Savannah's quilt not done...in progress

So that is what I did and did not accomplish this month...glad it is over and that winter is winding down...spring has finally sprung!

Sara's Scrap Swap

I am so pleased with my swaps from the Sew Sara Sew Blog.

Her blog can be found here... http://sewsara.blogspot.com/ .



Ignore Cat Butt on Right :)

 I was lucky enough to be partnered with Laura from http://lauralovesquilting.blogspot.com/ and Monkia from http://mysweetprairie.blogspot.com/  .  I got home from work last week and surprise surprise...not one but TWO envelopes.  Both my swaps arrived on the same day.   Oh wow! I was totally overwhelmed at the glorious fabric these two fabulous swappers sent me!  My Mom in Law and I sat for an hour at the kitchen table pouring over them and then going back to our favorites.  I can't wait until I can put these beauties into a quilt.   Thanks so much ladies...I think my packages to you were woefully pitiful compared to yours!

Thanks again Ladies!!!

March is National Craft Month

Sandyquiltz asked in big tent quite a while ago what we would be doing to celebrate the crafty month.  Well my celebration this month included doing a festival where I was hoping to make a huge debut to the world.   Well guess what...

The festival was a total bust!!!

A volunteer showed up to tell me my cup cozies were unwelcome because "they were an art show and the cozies weren't art".   I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and barely contained my disdain since the guy in the booth next to me was selling Native American wares that were obviously store bought. I had no idea that my crafty art was not welcome I didn't see it anywhere on the application but who knows.  So my Lego earrings are "art" but a hand made from pattern to product cozy was not!!! I was allowed to keep them in a discreet place because she hadn't had the nerve to call me and let me know they didn't want them there.  I am so very glad I hadn't made any more of them...or the other quilty things like the change purses I was going to finish.    

I am sooooo not thick skinned enough to be doing all this apparently.  Would love to say that I didn't let it get to me but it so killed all the excitement I had for the day.

The show didn't prove to be good for my friend and I...we will not be back.   The economy is hard right now too...no one really seemed to be selling much. I had not a hope in the world of selling a thing but this was the first time I have ever shared my paintings with the world in this way and I had really hoped to get a lot of feedback on my art since I use a lot of odd things in my paintings.  That is my favorite part of the festivals is to talk with the artists to see what inspires them and how they go about making their pieces.   But I can count on one hand the number of people who asked about techniques or what things were used to create our pieces. 

But our booth looked okay :) for a newbie...

My friend Dottie made me an "earring tree" to put my Lego earrings on...






Left Table..

Right Table


And you HAVE to see this shirt...my friend Dottie took inspiration from one of my Kaffe Fasset quilting books...The Jeweled Squares Quilt from Kafe Fassett Patchwork



It is fabulous from top to bottom...hand painted and it took her over 5 years to finish!

I wish someone had bought it I am way too plus to wear this size large!

BRIGHT SPOT FOR THE DAY!!!

The lady in the booth to our right was selling the most wonderful wind chimes made of vintage housewares...leaning heavily towards old kitchen goods...they are one of the most creative things i have ever seen.  And with a massively windy day Saturday it was lovely to hear them chime all day long...Her name is Linda Holt and I can't find a website for her...I wish I could because not only were her wares wonderful but she was a super nice lady!!!

A really bad storm ended our day early and put us out of our misery....

But it was good weather for the ducks!!!

This one totally sucked the life outta me....

Hopefully I can gather my courage to do this again someday. 

NOTE...SOMEDAY!!!!

When my skin has thickened up properly!

Fail and Win!!!!

So I am turning my fail into a win.  This is the fail....  

leftover fabric from a baby quilt I designed especially for a friend.

I loved the fabrics and wanted to take the scraps and "throw" them together into a very lopsided and wonky quilt. 

Well...lets just say that it didn't work out....over the course of several months I patched and sewed and cut and made strips.  Then would lay them out and HATE the way it looked.  Would rip seams and move blocks until finally...this !@#$% project defeated me!

This UFO has been in my sewing room stacked in a plastic bin for over 2 years now just dying to get made.  I have been ignoring it to the best of my ability, only catching it glowering at me out of the corner of my eye occasionally.  

Now to the WIN...  Fast forward until the present when I was asked to make a Nook case by a friend.  "Make it pink and black with skulls...you know what i like". I couldn't run to get that plastic bin fast enough. I dumped it out on the floor and began to plan. 

Now honestly my case is a bit wonky and I have to do some major work to get a pattern I like but I think that I can honestly say that I turned a fail into a win!  Yeah me!!!!!!!!!!1

Treasured Notions

I was the lucky winner of the wonderful book "Treasured Notions" given away by

Liesl at the Liesl Made blog.  

Thanks Liesl!

Let me just say...I LOVE THE BOOK!!!! 

It is chock full of wonderful color pictures of so many different items.  Who knew that sequins used to be made of copper with silver plate on them?   This book has given me so many ideas of nifty projects to do with my stash of old notions. 

Liesl has a wonderful blog that I follow go see her here:  http://lieslmade.wordpress.com .

She has a great etsy shop with very simple yet chic looking items. I especially love her zippered makeup bags.  Go check it out here:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/liesl

Fabric

I would love to get some advice about some fabric that I inherited from my husband's grandmother.  It is very unusual and I am wondering how old it is....

Any ideas????

I have never seen anything quite so odd...basically would like to put it in my etsy shop but wanted to get some opinions about it before I did.

February has come and gone.....

Well it is March and I didn't meet all my February's Short Term Goals.  Don't you hate it when that happens!

Alot has been happening in my life hence the complete absence of podcasts.  My uncle died and my 96 year old grandmother has been sick and requiring round the clock care. We have been trying desperatly to get her into a nursing home but she will not go voluntarily so it will be an ongoing fight for a while.

Work has been the pits and our plumbing in our bathroom sprung a leak requiring us to take a large chunk of sheetrock out of the wall to discover the stupidity of the previous owners who tried to do a major plumbing repair on their own.    So I guess you could say life in general has been the suck for several weeks.

But everything is looking up.  We got the ceiling in the living room painted Sunday.  We got one of the ceiling fans replaced in there too.  

My wonderful hubby had a birthday this week and we had a great dinner and cookie cake to celebrate. 

So here is my February to do list....Lets see how i did :)

For February....

1. 10 coffee cozies for craft fair(have 4 ready to sew velcro on to them) up to 9 now!!!ALMOST THERE!!! Still need to sew the velcro on them which I will do when I have all of them done!!!
2. 2 iphone cases for craft fair
3. 2 kindle cases for craft fair. 
4. Get at least 1/2 a row of John's quilt hand quilted(This would put me at the halfway point).  Finished the 3rd row so I am well over the half mark!!! Yipee!!!
5. 30 pairs of earrings for craft fair. Done I have made 35 pair now!

Tomorrow night is catch up night where I get pics of all the nifty stuff I have been working on and then give you an update on what i hope to accomplish in March!

March Is Deep Vein Thrombosis(DVT) Awareness Month

March is DVT Awareness Month. Deep vein thrombosis can be a very serious problem for those it afflicts.   In worse case scenarios the clot can travel to your lungs(pulmonary embolism) and cause more serious complications including death.

Most of you probably don't know that in October of 2010 I was down for the count for a month with a blood clot in my left leg.  It was a shock to say the least since I had no warning signs before it struck suddenly. One minute I could walk and the next I was unable to bear weight on it at all.  I thought I had a pulled muscle until it didn't go away after a few days.   I was lucky my clot stayed put and after a few months of blood thinners and some sexy compression socks I am as good as new with very few repercussions.  Please go to http://www.thisisserious.org/ to asses your own risk factors and to try and prevent this from happening to you.

FREE SHIPPING!!!!

Enter Code 222oddball for free shipping in my etsy store.   Not much there right now but I plan on adding more items soon!

Sew Sara Scrap Swap!!!

http://sewsara.blogspot.com/2011/02/here-we-gosewsara-scrap-swap.html

I am participating in SewSara's scrap swap...please head over if you would like to join too!

Cup Cozies Part Two

I am putting more info on the cup cozies out there by request. 

Here is a pic of one laid out flat so you can see it better.

I took a starbucks cardboard cup holder and used it for a template cutting the quilt sandwich it slightly bigger and longer than the cardboard.  It needs to be bigger so you can allow for loss during quilting and then longer for the velcro to fasten easily.  

I hand quilted mine and then did a hand binding using standard storebought double fold quilt binding.  I cheated the mitered borders by making the angle and then easing the binding smooth in the straightaway.   

Once they are bound I put a a piece of velcro on the inside and out.  Some of them I have been sewing decorative ribbon on them as well. 

I have been using flannel for the inside of the cozies for more grip and insulation.  A cup cozy and a nifty reuseable cup are an awesome gift for the coffee fiend in your life. 

Hope this helps....let me know if I need to post more info!

Jabba the Cat Says Visit My Etsy Page!!!!!

Jabba the Cat...otherwise known as the Circe Monster.  This is her favorite sitting position.  

My Etsy shop is open!!! 

Okay so there is only one item in there...so shoot me.  Go take a look I will post more stuff soon. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/oddballcreations

Stay tuned I will be doing a giveaway soon.  Leave me comments to tell me what you would like to win...fabric? quilt book? earrings?  Hmmm... Inquiring minds would LOVE to know!

Happy Cheesefest...

To Celebrate the National Cheesefest (aka Valentine's Day as it is known outside my home)  my husband gave me a lovely gift Brie and Crackers.  Yes ladies I DID want the cheese(and did request no chocolate this year).  Giving cheese to each other is a tradition.  You see my wonderful husband and I met online and started chatting on February 14th...aka the day of LUV.   We both agreed that it was a silly holiday and deemed it the cheesefest.   We almost always give each other gifts that include cheese every Valentines day.   So silly it may be but to us it has become a tradition that will live on forever.  I have to run out to the store before he gets home and get him some Gouda. MMMM...cheese.

On another note I made him a rather large un-valentine this year.   I took one of our favorite books the Princess Bride and made it into a large valentine. 

You see I had found a little saying online that I loved.  It read:  "There are many great love stories...but ours is my favorite".  I took this saying and altered our favorite book.

The heart is cut out through the layers of the book with an exacto knife.  How I managed not to sever and artery is still a mystery to me.

The pictures are from our wedding day.  It's a crude valentine but I have left it with the book he is reading so that he will find it when he gets into bed tonight.  Hope he likes it. I can't tell you what a wonderful man I married and how lucky I am to have him in my life.  

I had the unfortunate luck to be really sick today.  Had to stay home from work and spent the morning trying to snooze away my fever and body aches.   I hope everyone else has a wonderful day and gets to celebrate with someone special.

Snow!!!

We had snow here last night.  For a few hours our neighborhood was blanketed in fluffy white snow.   My son and Ms. Lu the doggie had fun bouncing around in the dark playing fetch with snowballs.   Did I mention my dog is crazy about ice cubes?  Yes they are her favorite snack so a snowball was right up her alley.  

Alas the snow melted and my neighborhood is back to its dead grass and naked trees.  Leaves me waiting for the green of spring to arrive to make everything look cheery again.

My Other Obsession...

This is an "other" craft post. My latest "other" obsession is making earrings. Not just any earrings but Lego earrings. My sister and I saw them at a craft fair last year and she adored them so I made her a pair for Christmas. Now since I am committed to an art festival in March I am making them to sell there. I have made about 25 pairs so far.  Maybe someday I can get an etsy shop going too.

Wednesday WIP

John's "My Guy" Graduation Quilt that I swear no matter how many pics I take the greens wash to yellow.  Therefore I give you the "old" pic of the top before I started quilting.

Here is a woefully long list of my current WIP...
 WIP...or UFO...or Oh heck would you please get these dones????

1. Organize my stash
2. John's graduation quilt (I currently have 2 rows out of 5 quilted)
3. Savannah's graduation quilt (my son's girlfriend)
4. coffee cup cozies(for craft fair in March)
5. earrings(for craft fair in March)
6. ipod or i phone cases(for craft fair in March)
7. kindle and nook cases(for craft fair in March)
8. coin purses(for craft fair in March)
9. hand quilt baby quilt #1
10. hand quilt baby quilt #2
11. use up lots of tiny scraps that I have BOXES of
12. memory quilts for my mom and aunt (see # 10)
13. learn to make fabric post cards(see # 10)
14. Cross Stitched block to be made into quilt
15. several embroidery projects to be completed
16. unknown quilt for my brother in law for Christmas 2011
17. make a Christmas tree skirt for Christmas 2011
18. english paper pieced hexies...(this one may be a WIP for years since it will take a million of these babies to make a quilt)

February's Short Term Goals

1. 10 coffee cozies for craft fair(have 4 ready to sew velcro on to them)
2. 2 iphone cases for craft fair
3. 2 kindle cases for craft fair
4. Get at least 1/2 a row of John's quilt hand quilted(This would put me at the halfway point).
5. 30 pairs of earrings for craft fair.(I am up to 26 so getting close!)

Educational Goals for the Year:

1. Try at least one more advanced piecing technique
2. Learn to use my sewing machine more efficiently
3. Attempt Machine Quilting

Craft Room Upgrades

1. get an industrial strength sewing machine for making purses and totes
2. nice nifty shelves for my stash
3. get my sewing table cut out and put together

Monday Is Finally Over

Okay so it was a rainy Monday in my neck of the woods. Drizzly and damp and very cold but hey at least it is not snowing. That is for tomorrow night. For some reason we have had threats of winter weather here every week. That is not normal for the deep south. Was very busy this weekend so my idea to do a "way back weekend" post didn't get up and I got no crafting done this weekend. But the good news is that my son chose a great graphic design program and it was at the first school we looked at this weekend. He had done so much research (on his own I might add) that by the time we did the tour we knew it was the place for him. So here is a pic of one of my first quilting "experiments". I took fabric from my stash inherited from my Granny and tried some different quilt patterns by cutting squares and strips.

Friday...Finally!!!!

Ahh...deep sigh. It is finally Friday and it absolutely cannot come soon enough this week. My post yesterday was hampered by the fact that at lunch yesterday we started getting an un-forcasted mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Now for most of you I know that is not a huge deal but for me I live in Birmingham, Alabama area and lets just say that not only do we not have salt and sand trucks enough to go around we also have a huge lack of icy weather driving skills going on with the general population. Everyone must have left work at the same time...aka the same time I did desperate to not get stuck at work! There were over 150 wrecks on the roads in the Birmingham metro area. Took me almost 3 hours to get home and I am only 24 miles from work. What a night! My wonderful husband met me at the door, relieved I was home safe and sound. I can honestly say that my face did not mirror his joy. I was as irritated as a cat that has just been given a bath. I was exhausted when I got home mentally and physically so my blog post never materialized.

I did however get 2 more coffee cozies finished while sitting in the parking lot called Birmingham streets. This make 4 total that I have ready to sew the Velcro closures onto this weekend. Hoping to make 10 total for the Fountain City Arts Festival in Prattville, AL in March.

Today is the day!!!

Okay...big deep breath for me. I have been sitting on this blog since early January thinking I would have time to make it look like I wanted before putting it out there for all the world to see...but no more. The time is now. I have determined that this year is about doing the things that scare me(or scar me but hey we won't talk about that!). This is where i will share (and probably occasionally whine) my creative journey with you. Tomorrow I will post a pic of my current obsession the coffee cup cozy. :)

New New News!!!

My name is Jennifer Rutherford and this is my quirky quilty blog.   I am a busy working mom with a 17 year old eating me out of house and home and a wonderful hubby who tells me I cannot get another hobby until I have a warehouse to store everything in.  I love to quilt and craft.  Trying new things may not always work out but it is fun.  So welcome to the oddball...a little quilty, a little weird but always fun!