StarSparrow

Hangin' With My Gnomies

September was my month as Queen Bee in the Bee Modern Too group on Flickr. I've received all but one of the blocks back so far, and I couldn't wait to share how it's coming along! For my block I chose gnomes, mushrooms, and anything "gnomish". The gals in my group are great, and boy did they deliver! 

How cute is that?! Once I've got the final block, I'll add sashing and get this quilt top together. I'm not sure where I'll put it, but I know it'll be perfect wherever it ends up. Thanks for doing such a great job, fellow bees! 

I WON!!!

Peacock Quilt Detail, originally uploaded to Flickr by Tweedledee Designs.

Okay, so I never win anything. Ever. Except now my luck has apparently changed!
This morning I was checking my Google Reader feed as usual, catching up on a few of my favorite blogs, when suddenly I saw my name:

StarSparrow

in bold.

Along with the words "the winner is".

I squealed and shouted pretty loud. Loud enough for my sweet husband to come dashing into the room with a rolled up newspaper, ready to kill whatever spider or other creepy crawly I may have seen.

Thankfully, it was no spider, it was a peacock! A gorgeous peacock mini quilt! Angela is an incredibly talented quilt artist, and she did such an amazing job with this quilt. I cannot wait to get it and hang it up in my studio! I encourage you all to visit her blog and see some more of her work. She is just too talented for words.

Thanks so much Angela!

Oh, and today I also got the two blocks Angela sent me for the Bee Modern Too swap!

Does it get any cuter than this?! Look at the little guy on the right with his Disco fever legs!

A Roaming Gnome

Today I got the first of my gnome blocks back for the Bee Modern Too quilt block swap on Flickr. Dena did a great job on him, and I can't wait to get the other 10 blocks and finish this quilt, so I can "hang with my gnomies" (sorry for that, I couldn't resist).
I've been playing around some with display ideas for the suitcase. It just lends itself to so many possibilities! This won't be what the final display will look like, but it's really helping give me an idea of how many of each thing I need to make.
Last night while my brother and my husband had a Wii Sports showdown, I was putting the linings into, and pinning the wings onto, the 16 Chickadee Clutches I made the other day. Tomorrow I'll sew the wings and button eyes on, and then I can get Carpal Tunnel in my other hand cutting out more.
My thumb is still numb by the way. Saturday will be a full week. This is so not cool.

Today I made it to the fabric store again, and I came out with enough fabric to make a few more Chickadee Clutches and a few Owl Minis. I also came out with an order for a custom Chickadee! I'll be stitching that one up this weekend. It's going to have a skinny shoulder strap, so that will add an interesting touch. 

The Force is With Me, and My Thumb is Numb

The past few days have been pretty interesting! I think maybe the force is with me, or something. I got a phone call Friday from Intown Quilters informing me that I won a fat quarter bundle in a giveaway I entered the day before. Now today, in church, our pastor had us text him the word "Snickers" at the end of the sermon, with the first person to succeed winning a HUGE bag of about 2 dozen candy bars. I have his number saved in my phone, and I have a qwerty keyboard, so I won!
Having this golden touch comes at a price though, I believe. I woke up yesterday with my right thumb totally numb, with pins and needles when I touch anything. I can't write, I can't draw, I can't really grip anything due to the electric shock sensation when I do. After some research on numb right thumbs, I believe I know exactly what is going on. I have nerve damage, caused by the 364 pieces of fabric and batting I cut out Friday night for the 26 new Chickadee Clutches and Pouches I'm working on.
See..? And that's just SOME of it!
It's scary to think I could have caused nerve damage, but apparently that can happen from putting that type of strain on your hand for a prolonged period of time. I am told that if I take it easy, the sensation in my thumb could come back in a few weeks or months. Apparently this is quite common in people who spend some time cutting through thick materials with scissors.
Although this may slow me down, it won't stop me. I'll have J do all my pinning and cutting, and I'll continue to do the sewing, since I am able to do that. Hand sewing may take longer, and be more difficult, but I'm going to try to keep sewing the Chickadee linings in and wings on with that method, since the finish is more polished looking.

I did manage to make this on Thursday night (pre-nerve damage Friday) using some leftover Heather Ross scraps from the Far, Far Away II purse I made last week. It's stuffed with dried beans, and makes an excellent wrist cushion for when I'm using my computer's mouse.
I also got my mini quilt from piecefulchaos in the Quilt Swap Boot Camp group on Flickr. Hmm... I wonder how she could tell I love birds? I love the quilt, and it has found its place in the sun, proudly hanging in J's office. 
Here is the new computer I was telling you about! It's made my life so much simpler. It's fast, all-in-one, and touchscreen. It has biometric security (I'm not sure why I needed that, but it's fun and novel to have!), and thanks to my wonderful father-in-law, it has Photoshop 7 (thanks Dad!!).
It's incredible, this whole post has taken less than a hour (including the time to take the photos!), which with my old (slow) computer would have taken a whole afternoon.

I'm going to get back to work now, and try to sew up 26 linings, 26 Chickadee bodies, 26 tails, and 52 wings without using my thumb. This should be fun!

Quilt Swap Boot Camp Mini

 Here, finally, are the shots of the super-duper top secret mini quilt I've been hiding from you for the past month! I got word tonight that my swap partner on Flickr received it, so I can finally show the pictures without spoiling her surprise!  Out of all of the photos in her inspiration mosaic, these five stood out to me the most. I used the photo of the green chairs in the field as a springboard for the background, turning them into green and blue scallops. The goldfish I turned into a machine applique (with steam-a-seam, so it will keep its shape). The quilt still needed something, so I added some hand embroidery inspired by the undulating twists and swirls of the Dale Chihuly glass sculptures.
And ohmygoodness I love it. It was really hard to part with this one! So much love went into every single stitch!
I'm happy with how the hand embroidery turned out too, although that's not something I've done too much of before (except on otherwise boring jeans). I used a simple chain stitch because it works up quickly and easily, and handles curves well. 

Tomorrow I have a new computer coming in! A sweet little all-in-one touchscreen, so it should make my posts so much easier on this end. You do not want to know how long it takes me to write a single post on here, due to the black (or blue) screen of death, locking up, constant alerts, slow everything, etc. Basically, my laptop has the plague. It will be so refreshing to be able to blog from a fast (touchscreen!) computer with a webcam and tons of memory. Plus, my father in law gave me a copy of Adobe Photoshop 7 because he is the bomb. So, besides being the "Old Spice Man" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, click that link) of computers, it's also going to allow me to create much cooler pictures for your viewing pleasure.
I am beyond excited!