And so there is the world...

I've been pretty much hating work. It has been draining me and just plain sucking the life out of me.
Quit, you say! I agree completely, but here is where being an adult sets in. There are unfortunately bills to be paid and people who depend on me. By being so burnt out I feel like I'm letting everyone down.
This is also hard to express at home because I don't want to complain too much. And I don't want to make my fiancé feel put under pressure because he hasn't found a real job.
In this economy it's so hard to find a job that I feel like a brat complaining about the one I have while everyone desperately wants one.
And having interviewed for two jobs the feeling is weird too. I'm a bit afraid of starting a completely new job. Even though I am so unhappy here there is a bit of me that is scared of leaving, because I've been here so long.

I've also been feeling drained of creativity. I literally sat infront of a fabric panel for more than two hours (I'm serious, I checked the watch, not exaggerating) and couldn't think of a thing to do with it.
I just sat there and stared.

Oh, well, I guess it's back to putting on a brave/happy face for the rest of the world...

Apron

So part of this paperbag club is about challenging yourself and using fabrics you might never normally work with. And I HATED the fabric. Well, maybe hate is overstating it a bit, but it was definitely not my kind of thing at all!
I made a apron. Not a very flattering picture of myself either. >_<
After spending hours looking for the right apron pattern I gave up and just ended up doing my own version of one. I ended up giving away the apron to one of the members of the club.

My first quillow

I've been wanting to make a quillow for ever! A quillow is a quilt that has a pouch and folds up into a pillow.
So I finally tried one! I looked for patterns everywhere online and and kept coming back to the same website. This is the pattern I used. I believe that author's name is: Michele Bilyeu.
And again this was more of my extremely sloppy work! But it is also the first tester just to get an idea of the pattern and see how it works. I'm planing on making many more, but I do think I'll make them a bit bigger.
I'm planing on making a sweet fuzzy flannel one to take with me to Europe in July. Yes, even though I'm 24 I still need a blankie to feel safe when I'm alone. >_<
I think they would also make great gifts and you can customize them as much as you want too. :)

Here Charlie is wearing it as a hat-cape:

When you fold it up as the pillow this is what it looks like:

And here Noli is debating whether the pouch would be a nice little nest for her or not:

Hehe

Heart Appliqué - Reverse Appliqué

This is another project I made for the paper bag club I a part of. I think I explained it before, but essentially it's a club that a few other ladies are part of. Every month on the third Thursday we get an assortment of fabric equaling up to two yards. The assignment is to make something out of the fabric and using some of all of the fabrics in it. We can also always supplement it with fabrics of our own.
So here is the quilt I made out of it. I added a bunch of other fabrics of my own and bought more of the ones I was given.
I used appliqué and reverse appliqué. My fiancé Charlie actually say there and cut out 99% of the hearts for me. We used a double amount of squares and alternately sewed the cutout heart on a square, and then sewed the frame of the cut out heart and sewed that on a square, so that the background fabric showed through in the shape of a heart.

The fabric is all flannels and very fine corduroy. I used wool batting and flannel as the backing. So it's super cuddly and warm. It's all pretty sloppy work but now almost my favorite because it's so cuddly and soft it makes you feel safe, like being wrapped up in a warm hug. :)

My hug:

Cargo scarfs

I found this super cool scarf idea through the stumble upon app. They also have a website and you can install a toolbar Stumbled Upon. It's pretty cool, because they use the interest you tell them about and find new websites to introduce you to.
Aaaanyway the point I was making, is that I found this really cool Pattern through it.
The pattern is for a "cargo scarf", I.e. a scarf with little pockets for things like your wallet, etc. in effect eliminating the need to carry a purse on occasion.
Being thorough (or probably bored and procrastinating for something) I read through the comments as well as the pattern. Some commenters had really great ideas: adding a zippered pocket for little things you don't want to lose or change. Of course I had to add a zippered pocket to mine as well!
I decided to make this for my best friend Lauren. Her favorite color is purple, so I decided that was what I was going to use, but I wanted a soft flannel for the lining so it would feel nice against her neck. :)

Here is a picture of her finished scarf:
You can see a bit of the outside which I embellished with black lace, and the lining.

You can see I also added a carabiner hook so you can attach your keys to it. Above that is also elastic so you can put in pencils or pens. I also made some bigger loops so you can add a lipstick. :)

Here is a close up of the front/outside:

I am also part of a paper bag class, which is a class where once a month you get a bag with two yards of fabric, which could be any pattern, but will match up. The two yards can be composed of 2 half yards, three 2/3 of a yard, etc.
So I decided to make another cargo scarf. Realized that the fabric was a really great fit for my friend Brandy. So I decided to make her that scarf instead of a table runner (maybe next year). I added more trimming and beaded fringe to the bottom of it, in the hopes that she was less clumsy than I and wouldn't bean herself in the head with it like I would...
Haha, I am way too clumsy for words!!!
Here are some pics of that scarf:

I actually have no idea how to put in zippers correctly, I just mangled it somehow and it's staying putt.

...

Works for me I guess... >_<

This one is a bit fuzzy, but I'm putting it in because you can see that I decided to put the D-ring on the outside so you wouldn't have your keys knocking against you directly..

I used a decorative stitch to close the opening used to turn the scarf right side out. I hate doing slip stitch, so most of the time I'll cheat and use decorative stitches and say that's the way it had to be. Hehe

Rainbow Quilt

This is a quilt I've been wanting to make for quite some time! I've had the jelly rolls for a while, but have always had quilts for other people hat I've had to make first. But I decided it was finally time I made one or our bed. So here it is, the quilt top without borders:

The colors are a bit bleached out by the sun.
I'm going to use wool batting for this one and have it be for winter, and then make one that has white strips instead of black ones and use cotton batting for a more lightweight summer quilt.

Nola is puppy testing it!

I got the pattern for this quilt from this Book. That is a link to the book on amazon, and this is the title: Little Bits Quilting Bee: 20 Quilts Using Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, and Fat Quarters.
I adore this book! It has so many quilts in it that I would really like to make! I actually already made a quilt from this book on a previous occasion, Lisa's hot air balloon baby quilt, and wrote about it Here. :)

Jackie's Butterfly Quilt

My friend and coworker has been wanting a quilt for quite a long time. I always promised I'd make her one, but life kept happening. now I finally made it.
Butterflies are kind of her thing so that is the them I went with.

Here is the backing, it also has lots of butterflies:

I also made a little throw pillow to go with it.

This was my first quilt with partial seams. I gotta tell you, they tried to drive me insane. I think I ripped out the same border 2 even though it was right, just because I had turned it around the wrong way. But I did succeed and I'm pretty proud to have conquered a new skill. :)

Rice Heating Pads Tutorial

So this is one of the things I made everyone for Christmas to go into their gift baskets. They seem to be really popular and I got requests for more, so I figured I'd make a tutorial for them too. Actually a tutorial seems unnecessary since they are so easy to make, but here it is anyway, just in case.

What you will need is rice, fabric and a means to sew stuff together. I personally used essential lavender oil to scent my rice and it's been pretty popular. When I got a tooth removed I needed a hotpad to put on my face and made it unscented because it was a bit too intense to have that close to my face/nose.
I usually use just regular loose rice. I tried to make one once with boil in a bag rice because that's all we had. I do NOT recommend this! When I microwaved them they turned into puff rice.

So take your piece of fabric (it can be any shape, but for simplicity's sake I usually make rectangular ones. Either use two pieces and place them right sides together, or take one like I did and fold it in half right sides together like this:

Sew around it and leave a spot open to turn it. I like to make the opening not directly at one of the edges because it makes neater edges that way, but essentially however you feel like doing it will work out.

Turn it inside out and start filling it with rice, but only half full so it can move around in the pouch and it'll be easier to sew shut.

This is about how full I fill mine:

Then you can either be exceptional and sew it shut by hand with a slip stitch or be lazy like me and just sew the opening shut with your machine. When using the machine you can use a decorative stitch, zigzag, contrasting or blending thread, be creative!

Now you have your finished heating pad.

(In the picture above you can see my jar that I usually have filled with rice and some essential oils so I always have scented rice on hand.)