Ottoman complete...

Ahhh...I always love it when I get a project completed.

I've had an ottoman for many years now that no longer matches anything in my house. I bought a cover for it (the kind that's a "one size fits all") but it never looked very good.

I found a website with a really great pattern for a slipcover!!

So...took my old ottoman

...time and patience...

and 3 broken needles later....

another completed project...now I wish I still had more of this fabulous fabric!!!

Time out for some travel!

I love to travel...

This past weekend took me on a trip to one of my favorite cities and areas of N California, San Francisco/Napa/Sonoma. I must say it was really too short of a trip...packed full of good things...here are just a few pics for some memories...

Circles are really popular these days...I love polka dots...and I see pac-man here...

San Francisco view from my friends' fire escape...my first time ever standing on one!

I love this picture...this piece just grabs me...wish it was hanging in my own house!


I went to a CE course at Ramekins (a culinary school) in Sonoma...the food was delish...too bad I did not learn to cook...instead, talked teeth...

Love this pic too...red barns...I like! Napa area...

My printed blocks (closer)

Here are just a few of the printed blocks. I designed them using word on my computer...then just printed directly onto my fabric with my printer. My favorite turned out to be the pink on white and yellow on yellow...pink on yellow is cute too! :) So fun...

So many possibilities...

Bubble jet....I see many fun adventures ahead!! :) Photos on fabric...future!!

Using Bubble Jet...

I love Bubble jet!!! My imagination keeps sharing all kinds of fun things I can do with it now that I know I can print on my own fabric...whatever I want. So far the only limitation I find is the size of each piece I can print due to the size of my printer.

In the photo below I created a diagram of what my quilt might look like using EQ6...ahhh...can't wait to get my hands on EQ7 soon! :) Certainly made it much easier following a diagram when putting my blocks up on the design wall.

And here is Natilee's quilt...moving fabric around to see how I like the placement. It's so nice to have helpful eyes of friends who can point out placement! Thanks ladies!!! Loved sewing with you all tonight!! :)

I'll take some close-up shots of the blocks I designed and printed myself later! I think my favorites are still the 9-patches...fabric design could be quite fun...if only I had better software! I designed my blocks in word...too bad this photo doesn't show the true cuteness of this fabric!

The block on the bottom left is part of the label I'll put on the back...printing the photo turned out really nice...oh the possibilities!!! :)

Can't wait to show you, Tami...I need ideas for quilting it!!!

Trying something new...

It's always fun to try new things...

and there is a baby needing a quilt from me...!!!

(plus I needed a good reason to buy this adorable fabric! - you'll get to see it as this process continues!)

Printing on fabric...trying it out! So far I LOVE this! This piece is just my first sample but I am quite surprised at how it's turned out...just muslin. The next stage will actually use Bubble Jet to set the ink to the fabric...fabric gets treated first with the Bubble Jet and then run through the printer...also still playing with colors to see what I actually want to use. Lovin' freezer paper!!!

I can't wait to see how this is going to turn out! (should have taken pics during the day!!)

Another church dash complete and other stuff!

Another round of blocks complete. One more month to go on this block exchange. I'll have to take a picture of all the different blocks I get back from this exchange...so many different prints and colors!

I finished a few more colorful pillows a few weeks ago...haven't posted these yet. Still playing with which ones I'm grouping together and a few more to make. The bright colors are so cheery with my black and white. My favorite pillow so far is the black and white one. I just love the fabric so much... :)

Ahhh....and the start to another project for my living room. There is a lovely blue/yellow/green floral on cream patterned ottoman in the middle of my living room. It's getting a make-over!! It's had a tan ottoman cover on it for a while but looked terrible (the kind ordered from a magazine that say "one size fits all"!!) So far I've got the material cut and piping started. WOW...I haven't made piping for probably 7 yrs! (surprising I've even done it at all- I once had a bee in my bonnet to make a slipcover for a chair...it's never finished and of course matches nothing now so no reason to finish it!!)

I see my focus was not exactly on the point I wanted....perhaps a statement for many things in life!!

It's been a beautiful day...ended it with some fun at the annual Balloon Stampede Nightglow...

The language of beautiful

I stepped into my backyard long enough to take some photos this morning...it's cold out there!!! All week long I have been watching new growth on a specific tree. This tree has never done anything but dump needles all over beneath it for the past 3 yrs! Last fall it had a major trimming and vu-a-la...beautiful!

Recently I received a clothing ad booklet with the slogan... "The language of beautiful". I tore the page out and posted it on my fridge. Since then I've been thinking of this statement a lot - what is the language of beautiful? The next month another ad arrived...inside I found "treasure the beautiful".

I think this is my new theme for a while!! Growth is beautiful...