The Nifty Foodie's Life

Man, I can’t help but LOVE Amy sometimes. No, not me. I mean, I do love ME, but really… I ::LOVE:: this Amy a lot, because her fabrics are so great!

A good while back, I took a quilting class in the NOLA area and the project was a simple fat quarter quilt. Thankfully, we got to choose our own fabrics, so when I saw the Amy Butler table in the shop, I went a little nuts. I wanted an Amy Butler quilt!

It took me way too long to choose the 6 fabrics that I wanted on the quilt, though. I’m really really slow when it comes to choosing fabric combinations, because I’m constantly second guessing myself. However, I’m super happy with the results, because I really love turquoise/aqua colors involved.

(I really need to work on taking nicer overall quilt pictures, eh? ::sigh::)

While making this quilt, I found that I totally fell in love with one particular fabric on this quilt.

I love this fabric SO much…so much. I ended up making it the backing and the binding for the quilt, and I bought additional yardage for projects. I’ll be nice and link to it. I just love the grey/taupe background with the aqua and chartreuse. It’s so spring-y and just lovely.

Here’s a picture of the binding against the other fabrics.

So so perfect.

I’m just so happy that this quilt is finally finished. It cheers me up when I stare at it, and since I’m cold in our house all the time (silly hubs), I’m staring at this quilt a lot!

Do any of y’all love Amy Butler fabrics as much as I do?

As a child, my Mom always made sure we ate well. We were always trying new fruits and vegetables, which I admit, has made me the veggie lover that I am today. However, a huge part of me always looked forward to…

Of course, dessert never happened until our dinners were finished. However, now that I’m an adult, I can follow this theory as much as I want.

I know I’m not alone here. ::hides Cadbury egg wrapper::

This was the first pillow cover that I’ve sewn. I really have to admit, it wasn’t bad at all. The most time-intensive part was stitching on the words…not the actual pillow cover!

I ended up submitted this pillow to Sew Mama Sew’s Pillow contest in the Words to Live By category. Cross your fingers for me? Ha!

How many of you think the way I do? Do you find yourself eating a cookie before dinner sometimes?

For a while, I’ve lusted over blogs that featured adorable vintage bedsheets being made into fabulous accessories and clothing. Each time I went to my local Goodwill, I really would NOT luck out. The sheets were heavily faded, stained or just plain ugly.

That was until last weekend.

Last weekend, I ventured out to the farmer’s market for some infamous Louisiana strawberries, only to leave empty handed since they sold out. After that, I went to a local produce stand to find strawberries, but theirs were $4/pint (heck no…not paying that). Feeling a bit defeated, I started driving home and noticed the Goodwill. I figured I might as well try.

BINGO! I found 3 sheets and a pillow case!! Aren’t the prints adorable, too?

The price? $7.

$7 for appx. 7 yards of fabric! I call that a deal, for sure!

My big plans with these sheets is to make the majority of the fabric into reusable grocery bags. I’ve been meaning to do this for quite a while, but didn’t want to spend $6-$7/yard on the fabric to make the bags, since you can buy them for cheaper than that.

However, the great thing about making these bags is that they will be cute, as well as convenient to use (they will fold up into their own little bag for easy storage in my car). Plus, I’ll get all of the warm fuzzies knowing that I made them. I love those warm fuzzies!

Have you sewn with vintage sheets before?

I absolutely cannot believe how my scraps I’ve accumulated over the year. So many fun projects, and when I look at these scraps, I can remember what I made with each piece of fabric. Ah, memories…I’m a sentimental junkie.

I thought about what to do with these scraps. Should I just trash them? I mean, they’re scraps, right?

However, The most difficult thing about throwing them away is that these scraps represent my first year of sewing. Uh, majorly sentimental, no?

So, I ::have:: to make something with these to remember my year with my Singer.

::enter Go! Baby machine::

I spent a better part of my evening cutting ALL of my 2010 (cotton) scraps into these itty bitty 2.5″ triangles. This picture is only half of the scraps, actually.

I’m making a 2010 quilt. A quilt is a great way to cuddle up and remember the year, right? I’m not sure about how I’m going to sew all of these baby triangles together yet, but that’s what grid paper is for!

And yes, I know this quilt is going to take quite some time, but I think the finished product will be definitely worth it.

Are you a sentimental junkie like me? Or do you think I’m insane to even go for this?

Ever since I quit my Etsy shop, I’ve been itching to get back into quilting. One of my weaknesses with quilting, however, is cutting straight lines. I always mess up on a few pieces after getting in a groove and there’s nothing more aggravating than re-cutting fabric!

Enter Accuquilt Go! Baby…

I’ve been lusting over this since I heard about the Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter. Unfortunately, at about $300, there was no way I was going to spend that much on a fabric cutter. After a while though, the Go! Baby came out, which retailed for HALF the amount of the Go!

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So, I used up some Christmas money and finally purchased it! I’m so excited to dig into my fabrics and make quilts again, now that cutting should be quicker and just overall, more efficient! I ended up buying this value pack as far as die cuts go.

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This cartridge cuts two 2 1/2″ triangles, one 2 1/2″ square, and one 4 1/2″ square. I have a big project in mind for those triangles involving this huge stash of scraps from 2010!

While you can’t really see the size of this, I will say the fabric fills up one drawer in this cabinet. Seriously…all scraps!

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By the way, this file cabinet is PERFECT for sewing. I store a good bit of fabrics (and scraps, obviously), notions, manuals and patterns in this thing. It doesn’t take up that much room either. It’s smaller than you think, and for $40, it’s quite a bargain for organizing!

I can’t wait to get my Go! Baby and get to cutting. I’m itching to make this quilt that I have in my head.

What kind of crafty things did you get for Christmas?