ay yi yi

Good Lord where has time gone?!  It's darn near September!  Just a little update post on life.

Found a new house!  Yay!  I love it!  Comes with a pool table(!), a jacuzzi style bath tub with a TV in the basement bathroom, 120" projection screen theater, full size wet bar, massive back yard, 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and the best part?  Landlord pays ALL utilities (except cable & net) and pays for the lawn service!  Been busy packing, moving, and working.  Leaves me NO time for fun :(  Oh, and best part?  Basement is red, very easy to convert it to my red/aqua room!

Lost my camera somewhere.  Brought it to work because we see some interesting characters passing by on the streets.  Just so you know, I would *NEVER* take pics of my patients, just the goof balls on the street.  Kinda like the dude bustin' some mad moves and rockin' it out as he walked down the street.  Or the random lady sitting on a garbage can yelling at random people for random stuff.  Or funny license plates (I DOOBIE anyone??).  Or the 7 rigs we had posted at the same hospital, still trying to figure that out.  Might have fallen out in the ambulance, might have fallen out in my car (which is a pit right now due to the move), might have fallen out somewhere random.  Don't know, I'm a sad panda.

My iPod won't sync with my computer thanks to the damage the ex did to it when he threw his tantrum.  Double sad panda.

Got my little quiltie from DQS9 today!!! yay!  But can't take pics of it's awesomeness due to the above.  Made a different one for my partner because I ended up buying fabrics that totally fit her better than my original.

My cat scratched the crap outta my pooch :(  She got him real good on 2 spots on his back, he's a hurtin' dude, I feel so bad for him.  Thank God they're pretty superficial.

I decided to do a hexi quilt.  I swapped for some awesome fabrics, I need to do about 952 more for a 50x60 quilt.  Guess what I do when waiting for a call??  Yep, get paid to sew hexies!!!  How can my job not rock?

My car hates me I'm convinced of it.

I nearly burned my frozen pizza writing this blog post.

Went to see my friend @ his treatment facility where he's getting help for his alcohol problem yesterday and I must say that I'm so proud of him.  He looks SO much better than when I saw him last and he's on the path to a new life.  He's one of my best friends and I love him to pieces.  He's a fireman and used to be a paramedic and he is the one responsible for giving me the kick in the pants to follow a life long (well, since about 6th grade) dream of mine to become a paramedic.  He let his license lapse but one of his goals is to get it back.  Right now he lives close to me, but once I move I'll be about 90 mins away and that makes me cry, I'll miss being able to just go over to his house on a whim.  His face absolutely lit up when he saw me yesterday and I hope he realizes I'm totally on his side.  I met him working at the nursing home a couple years ago.  I never thought I'd meet such a great person at work.  


Realized my ex is, and always will be, an ass bag.  That's all I'm sayin' about that one.  


Well, if you don't hear from me for a little while you'll know I'm still alive!  Now I'm off to Home Depot to get more keys cut before they close!

i guess we need a winner, huh?

And random.org gave us:

which belongs to:

Please email me using the contact me button at the top!  Congrats!

oh how I love my job!

***if you're looking for the giveaway click here!***

I got a job as a paramedic about a month ago, and finally now, after jumping through all the legal hoops and orientations, and stuff like that I'm now doing precepted shifts to change my license to a different system.  Well, even though I'm doing patient care I cannot be in the back of the ambulance during transport due to the systems rules & regs so I drive. 

Driving lights & sirens isn't as easy as it looks but man oh man do I *LOVE* the dirty looks I get from pedestrians trying to have a phone conversation and I pass by and just ruin their chats!  Or from other motorists when I have to drive into oncoming traffic, and yes, that happens A LOT!  Or the puzzled looks I get when I stop at a red light (company policy plus some people are plain idiots and think they don't have to stop) then continue.



But I have to say I absolutely LOVE the construction worker today that dropped everything to direct traffic and move the cars in front of me out of my way that were stopped b/c of a red light.  Mr. Construction Worker--thank you! you made my day a little better & got me to my patient a little quicker.

So, a little note from your friendly paramedic quilter--always pull to the right when you see/hear lights and sirens.  If you're in a left turn lane STAY there! I'll go around you, please do not make a left turn in front of me.  And if you're a pedestrian on foot please stay on the street corner, if you're on a bicycle and riding on the street please act like a car and pull to the right. 

modern fabrics--a list

How often do you see swaps or projects out there that require modern fabrics?  What exactly constitutes a modern fabric?  is it a designer? is it a color scheme? is it certain pattern? style? trend?!  Your head, probably like mine was spinning when I first heard the term 'modern fabric'. 

Typically when I think of 'modern' fabric the first thing that pops into my head is not your gramma's typical fabric!  No more drab muted colors (mauve and seafoam anyone?!), dainty flowery prints, intricate detailing, or limited choices.  Modern, to me, entails bold colors, contrast, daring color combinations, clean lines, simple detailing, and trendy.  Birds and owls are hot trends right now, therefore I would consider that more modern.  Polka dots are timeless but I would consider an organized polka dot pattern modern, or a polka dot pattern with more than 2 colors.  Big polka dots are also hot right now.

Color combinations is another thing that I think dictates modern.  A fabric with lime green, red, pink, and grey is not exactly something that sounds pretty on paper but when you see it, it looks stunning.  Red and aqua is another hot color combination.  Anything turquoise is hot too.  Colors are bright and vibrant.  

Certainly when you hear a designer's name it automatically sets off that lightbulb that it's a modern fabric.  Other designers that might not set off that 'modern lightbulb' can most definitely be considered modern, I think there are some designers that can create both modern and traditional fabrics.  And one thing to remember is that what's considered modern today might not be considered modern 5 years from now. 

I also think that when you pair modern fabrics with some very traditional style patterns you can create a gorgeous masterpiece and we're finding more and more of that happening.  My own Star Sampler Quilt Along is made using some very traditional patterns but as I'm putting together the tutorials along with the fabrics (I'm using Tula Pink's Plume) I'm stunned at how fabric choices can really up the ante so to speak. 

When trying to decide if something is a modern fabric or not ask yourself a couple questions.  How would I classify this color? is it bright, muted, drab?  What about the print on the fabric itself? is it fresh? timeless? crisp? unique?  Is it trendy? 

And remember this, not all modern fabric has to break the bank.  I have found some great quality fabric that fits all the modern 'standards' at Hobby Lobby for less than $5 a yard. You can also have fabric that looks modern and is of a crappy quality.  Just remember, when swapping, use high quality fabrics!

I hope this has helped to de-mystify modern fabrics for you!

Pattern Giveaway!

To make up for my lame blogging attempts I'm going to do a giveaway!

Up for grabs is a copy of my pattern Peaks and Valleys and 18 jelly roll strips from Moda Half Moon, there is only 1 black strip in the mini roll so it's mostly whites.

 

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment!

No need to become a follower, but if you do leave a comment and get an extra entry.  If you're already a follower you can leave a comment for an extra entry.  I'll pick a winner sometime on Saturday 8/21!

And if you don't win you can always purchase a pattern in my etsy shop for just $6!  Price lowered by $2!

keep your eyes peeled

Giveaway coming later today!

*star sampler* block 9

Block 9 is here! 

Here is what you will need:

From your SOLID (mine is brown):

• 8 - 2 1/2" squares
• 8 - 2 7/8" squares
• 2 - 3 1/4" squares

From PRINT 1 (mine is lime green fleur de lis):

• 4 - 2 7/8" squares cut diagonally to make 8 triangles
• 4 - 2 7/8" squares NOT cut diagonally

From PRINT 2 (mine is a combo of 3 prints, hot pink, pink feathers and lime green floral print)

• 4 - 2 7/8" squares (mine are the hot pink)
• 2 - 3 1/4" squares (mine are the pink feathers)
• 4 - 2 1/2" squares (mine are the lime green floral print) 

 
Now, start by marking a diagonal line on the back of all 8 of your solid 2 7/8" squares.  I don't have a photo of this since my line wasn't very noticeable on the back of my brown. 

Pair one solid 2 7/8" square with the 2 7/8" squares from Print 1 and Print 2.  Stitch a SCANT 1/4" seam on each side of the diagonal line. 

It's very important that this is a SCANT seam!!!  Each square in this block should measure 2 1/2", you can always trim them down if they're slightly too big, better too big than too small!

Now trim each of those blocks on the drawn line and press your HSTs open.

Now, repeat the above 2 steps with your 3 1/4" squares.

Next take the blocks you made with your 3 1/4" squares and cut them in half diagonally like this, do this to all the triangles so it will yield 8 total solid/print triangles:

Take your 8 triangles of Print 1 and pair it with the above pieces.

These blocks should resemble something like this:

Now lay out your entire block so it looks like this, your center pieces are the 2 1/2 inch squares from your Print 2!:

Note: each of row has 6 - 2 1/2" squares and there are 6 rows.  You should have 36 pieces total.


(pssst....mine isn't sewn together yet!  i laid it out on my desk right where my sewing machine goes to take the pic, and whoops I was too freakin' lazy to move them all to sew them!)

swap update

I've decided to cancel the swap.  With a very pathetic turn out it only makes sense.  Hopefully in the future we can revisit the idea but for now, I have to say it's over. 

Thanks to those who signed up, I appreciate it. 

Star sampler block 9 will be posted later today.