P.S.

I forgot to mention I also finished those blocks for my friend... Here is the finished product!

What a Week... or Two...

When I left for my vacation I had a happy relationship, a healthy daughter and a great job... When I returned my daughter was sick as a dog, my relationship was not so healthy and my job... non existent.

I was so focused on nursing Cadence back to health there was little time left to focus on the fact that pretty much everything else in my life was about to change... big time... AGAIN! Sigh... Im not gonna lie, it's a little scary. But Im old enough and wise enough now to know that I can handle this and as long as I stay focused everything will be just fine. With out struggle there is no growth. Or as Ledra would say " Thank God you were born a woman! That means you can do ANYTHING!"

So with Cadence at Disney, no job to go to and a relationship the was only hanging on by a thread I had a lot of time to think about where I am going and what I really want. The answer of course was simple  I want to wrap my arms around my daughter and never let her go (boy I missed her!) And I want to pour myself into my quilts in a way I have never done. I have out grown the image based style of my past and I can feel my subject matter moving in a much more personal direction. My life is overflowing with inspiration and after a year of nothing but custom orders Im really looking forward to this new phase.

Project number one is to finally nail down a color scheme for the Hoffman Challenge. I'm shooting for the "Best First Time Entry" award and I think I have a fair chance. After collecting fabrics for about 6 months this is the final cut.

I tried to use as many Hoffman batiks as I could find and I threw in some good old Jinny Beyer blenders, Fusions (of course) and a touch of Micheal Miller Fairy Frost. Oh and the blackberries because they're just plain awesome! If you haven't seen the focus fabric yet it looks like this...

Gorgeous right!?! But defiantly a challenge for me. Green is my favorite color but I rarely use anything that would fall in the "minty" category. I'm a jewel tone girl (as Im sure you know). I also made it tougher on myself by swearing up and down I WOULD NOT DO ASIAN! Everyones gonna do asian and I want to stand out! Shit I want to WIN! It doesn't have to be first place I just want a ribbon on my wall for once.

So anyways here's to the start of a new project, a new focus, a NEW JOB and a new happier healthier me! Oh and just to make you smile here is a beautiful picture of my girl loving the manta rays at Sea World.

Look at that face! <3<3<3

Views from Egersund...

The walk to town...

One of the many bridges...

The Historic Church...

The LOCALS! (aka Ivar's crazy old Uncle LOL)

And of COURSE the teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy fabric shop!

Color Wall!

Fat Quarters!

And Notions!

And this my friends is what Norway looks like at 9:30pm in May!

... I miss it already!

Stateside!

What a week! I'm happy to say my bout with homesickness quickly passed and my Norwegian adventure ended on a very high note =) I narrowly miss the Icelandic Volcano and made it home just in time to nurse Cadence back to health for a week. Poor thing had 102-103.5 for 3 days! Roseola was the culprit!

So anyways I'm home, the dust has settled and its time to get back to work! For the last month or so I have been putting off a very special project. I was asked to make a 12x12 block for a friend and the deadline was set for June 1st. Subject matter was completely up to me. I had brainstormed a ton of ideas but hadn't managed to come up with any thing really special. Then yesterday morning as I was waking up it finally hit me. With a mere five days to go I decided to make not one but THREE blocks! So I climbed out of bed and got started. I managed to bang out three patterns in the hour I had before leaving for work. I choose flowers that each held an important symbolism in my friends life. So here they are.... drumroll please!

THE DAHLIA!

THE DOGWOOD!

and THE VIOLET!

I of course was determined to use stash fabric for this project but when I came into Quilt and Sewing Center I couldn't resist the batiks! I mean just look at these colors! 

My boss Kiki helped me work out a few kinks with the colors and was kind enough to let me get some cutting and pasting done in my down time. So by quitting time I had all three blocks ready to go!

The thread choices were easy thanks to the 418 spools of Isacord to choose from at Q&S. My final choices were  2521 Fuschia, 5934 Moss Green, 5866 Herb Green, 0453 Army Drab, 2715 Pansy and 0970 Linen. I would chose a box full of jewel toned threads over a box of actual jewels ANYDAY! Well... unless of course I sold the jewels to buy more THREAD! That would be great too!

Woke up bright and early again this morning. It's amazing how well I sleep when I'm not freaking over a fever =) I packed Cadence up and sent her off for a week at Disney and Sea World with her Dad. After holding back a tearful goodbye I sat down to sew. Made it about halfway through the Dahlia before leaving for work today. 

Four days left and counting, so far so good! And I gotta tell you I am LOVING this Fuschia thread! It's on FIRE! Expect to see a lot more if it in future projects! 

Real Talk

So I'm in Norway and I keep trying to convince myself I'm having a fantastic time but the truth is I'm miserable. I miss Cadence so much it hurts!!! My boyfriend is being a jerk and I'm an emotional mess. If there is one thing I know about myself it's that I work well under pressure... my head is overflowing with inspirations... beautiful woman alone in paradise... bleeding hearts... things of that nature. And YES I'm being a little dramatic! But I'm an artist so it comes with the territory LOL! I'm just trying to keep myself together... pouring my emotions into my sketchbook and counting the days till I can hold my girl! God as my witness I will never leave my daughter or my sewing machine for this long again!

Greetings from Norway...

This is Norway!

...and Cesar! What a handsome dog!

Egersund has the most adorable little quilt shop! You can barely move but its wall to wall fabric. Here is a picture from my last visit in Jan... just imagine it without snow! 

A return visit to this little shop was of course number one on my to-do list. Norway is an amazing place to visit but its not cheap! Here is my $100 fabric score...

Yup thats it... just under 4 yards. But as we all know its not really about the price its the THRILL OF THE HUNT!!! I was a huntress on a mission and definitely made the most of my budget! 

Now this little town may not have a lot of fabric to choose from but one thing it does have is a TON of  SHEEP! This little guy greeted me on my morning walk!

And as we all know sheep means YARN! THIS my friends is the yarn shop! Wall to wall color! You could fit the whole quilt shop in this one corner!

This is my yarn score! Ohhhhh how I wish I could knit! 

Luckily my good friend Rose, an experienced knitter, is picking me up from the airport... I plan on bribing her with these goodies in return for a sweet little scarf! I have no shame!

Other than shopping I have spent a great deal of time eating, drinking and being MARY!

... And of course spending some serious R&R with my pet monkey... lol that's my man! <3<3<3

Did I forget to mention?

IM IN NORWAY! Went Norwegian fabric shopping today!