What I have been doing

Dear blog reader (both of you),

It has been over a month since I added to my blog.  Apologies for taking so long.  I have accomplished a few things that I would like to share with you.  As you may recall, I signed up for a UFO challenge with Nancy over at Patchwork Penquin.  http://patchworkpenguin.blogspot.com/  The first number chosen was 3 which meant I was to work on bazaar items.  This was not my first choice and had a little trouble getting motivated for it.  However, come bazaar time in October, I will be happy to have these little babies done.  My plan was to make 30 tissue holders and 30 fabric flower pins. 

Here's my progress:

This what a finished flower pin looks like.

The tissue holders are finished but unfortunately the flowers didn't quite make it.  Hopefully I will have them finished by the end of this month.

For those of you who are interested I will be posting a tutorial of the tissue holders.  http://stashslashproject.blogspot.com/2011/02/tissue-holder-tutorial.html  This would normally be a straight forward project but I managed to make a few severe mistakes along the way.  Can you say "Let's rip invisible stitches from 60 seams?"  From recently gained experience I can state that it is possible but not fun.

I also have a few "firsts" on my list of accomplishments this month.  I made my first fabric postcard and actually mailed it.  Still haven't heard if it made it to its destination or not.  It's a fussy project but lots of fun.  I will definitely be making more of these.  I would love to become involved in a postcard swap.

Joe and I made a trip to Nokomis, Florida to visit his grandmother and two aunts.  As a thank you gift for their hospitality I made two towels for them to use by the pool.  I purchased the bathing beauty fabric at a quilt shop while I was there.

I'm the lady in the green two-piece with the tatoo in the middle of my back.  I know that there is a name for a tatoo in this particular spot on the body but don't recall what it is.  I'll be mailing the towels tomorrow.  I hope they like them.

And, last but not least, I jumped into the world of working with selvage edges.  I love it.  It's amazing how those previously thought of as junk pieces become little artworks all of their own.  When digging through the selvage stash and deciding which one to use next, I found myself putting aside some "special" ones that I thought could be better used in a different project.  I even have a favorite edge.  It has "Rosie" on it.  You better believe that one will really go on something special and given proper treatment.  Here's my first selvage project.  It's a 12" bow-tie block.

This was good practice for me because my challenge for the month is to complete a selvage project.  I have one in mind but we'll see if it's the final choice.