Sweetwater Week at Crazee Corners

I'm guest blogging over at Sharon of Crazee Corners blog again this month!! I feel so honored that she let me guest blog again. So glad that I didn't mess it up last time! Well, this is Sweetwater's month. I'm going to talk about using their Sunkissed line. I really was on the fence about this fabric and hadn't really planned on buying any.

*gasp* I actually said that and am being featured, how dare I?!?!

Please trust me and keep reading!

Well, as I was saying, I wasn't going to buy any. That is until, Brie and I created Misfit Quilters and we had our first doll quilt swap (DQS). I had Selina's name and the colors in Sunkissed matched the colors that she likes. So, I gave in and bought a fat quarter bundle of Sunkissed. I was kinda worried I wasn't going to like it and then what was I going to use it for after I finished the doll quilt. I got my package, opened it, and was amazed by the fabric. I LOVED it!!! Wow, how could it be that I was so on the fence and decided I wasn't going to buy and now I'm in love with it? I love how the fabric also had words with definitions like grow, sprout, hope, and sunshine just to name a few.

Each of the blocks in the doll quilt was chosen because they had a meaning that went along with them. You can read those meaning in this post. Now all that is left is to figure out whan I'm going to use the rest of my fabric for!

Happy Sewing!

Fave 5 Friday

My fellow Misfit, Sharon over at A Prairie Sunrise, started a Fave 5 Friday linky party. Woohoo. So I have decided to join in my first linky party. As long as I can remember because anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit scatter brained.

So without further ado, here are my Fave 5's from last week:

1. Sewing with my girlies. It was their first sewing experience on their new Hello Kitty sewing machine.

2. After kids go to bed movies with hubby. One this week that we watched was The Man from La Mancha. Blog post here.

3. Laundry hanging out on the line. (This isn't my yard, but I would LOVE to have a farm with a wide open view.)

3. Mt Dew...what can I say... :-)

5. Learning new embroidery stitches thanks to We Love French Knots blog!

Dare to Dream the Impossible Dream

The last few months has been filled with the dreaded "D" word...DRAMA...in the quilting world. Apparently People have a hard time accepting other's ideas, patterns, fabric designs, etc as personal works. There have been hurt feelings due to negative comments.

To those who seem to not have possitive things to say, didn't your mother ever tell you that if you don't have anything nice to day, don't say anything? Just because you don't personally like something doens't mean that you have to leave nasty comments. It's really simple: just DON'T READ IT. If it's not something that will hurt something, then why bother? Just ignore it. Is your life so miserable that you need to bring others down with  you? Sheesh...

Ok now that I have that out of the way I can get to the point of this post.

My husband and I were watching The Man from La Mancha last night. It's a musical featuring Peter O'Toole who plays Don Quixote and Sophia Loren. Don Quixote sings The Impossible Dream in the movie. I hadn't heard the song in a long while. This got me thinking. Why do so many people give up on their dreams? Why are we so easy to put down another person's dream? Why is it that when we grow up that we forget our dreams or cast them aside because they are "childish"? Are we just too afraid to pursue our dreams because we see all of the negativity and are afraid to be rejected? (Don't have to answer these, just questions to think about.)

My challenge to you is to Dream! Dream your "Impossible Dream" because you never know where it will take you and what you can accomplish until you try! Don't be afraid what others will think. Your dream is yours and your alone. At the end of the day what matters is that you are satisfied and happy with what you have done. Have the courage to face those who would bring the negativity, because there will always be someone who wants to hold you back or put down your dream. Do your best and most importably don't "grade" your work with others. Yours is an original!

Here are the lyrics to the song:

To dream ... the impossible dream ...

To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...

To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...

To run ... where the brave dare not go ...

To right ... the unrightable wrong ...

To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...

To try ... when your arms are too weary ...

To reach ... the unreachable star ...

This is my quest, to follow that star ...

No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...

To fight for the right, without question or pause ...

To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest,

That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,

when I'm laid to my rest ...

And the world will be better for this:

That one man, scorned and covered with scars,

Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,

To reach ... the unreachable star ...

And here is Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren singing The Impossible Dream.

The Misfit Quilter's Doll Quilt Swap

I had a lot of fun and a lil bit of a headache doing these blocks! I tried to pick ones that would not only be pretty with the fabrics, but also have a meaning behind them. I picked 6.5 inch blocks from the book Sylvia's Bridal Sampler. I used fabric from Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda. So, without further ado, here are my blocks in the following layout (left to right, top to bottom). I know some of these are going to be cheese, but that's just me sometimes. lol

Birds in the Air

I choose this block because you're never to old to reach for the sky or lay in the grass looking to the sky. I fussy cut the "birds" to read: plant, life, renew. You should always plant good habits, love, friendship, etc. Always remember to live your "life". Don't get weighed down by the past and negativity. Everything needs to be "renewed" once in a while.

Diamond Friendship

I fussy cut this block to read hope and its definition. We should all never give up hope. No matter how bad something might be, you are not alone and there is always hope. I thought that hope and friendship would go hand in hand.

Pinwheel

Ok so, really this one is just because we should always remember the kid inside of us. Remember the days when we would spend hours blowing into a pinwheel trying to see how fast we could make it spin.

Sister's Choice

Well, simply put, quilters are all sisters (or brothers) held together with a single common thread.

Weathervane

I kinda just thought this one was pretty. We must also be flexable and go where the wind takes us.

Bright Hopes

Same meaning as the "Diamond Friendship". We must always have hope for a better tomorrow.

Snail's Trail

In our fast paced, busy lives we must remember to slow down and enjoy the present. If we go through life too fast, we often miss the small moments that make up our lives.

Sylvia's Shooting Star

My gift to you, make a wish on your shooting star.

Shoo-Fly

"Shoo fly don't bother me." This is to remind you to swat away the negative and downers in life.

Rosebud

Here are some roses for you. Like many of these blocks, this is just another reminder to slow down and smell the roses and not to miss the little things.

Friendship Quilt

Just a thank you and I'm glad that we met and became friends.

Right Hand of Friendship

Last, but not least, I offer my hand to you. If you ever need anything, I will do my best to help (can't promise everything, but what I can do, I will try to do).

...and now, the whole quilt laid out.

(don't mind the mess)

What Inspires Me

Shawna from 1Choice4Quilting and the creator of the Quilting Book Club posted a question. Where do you find inspiration. I was sitting with my husband at his doctors appointment on the 9th floor of a building. At this height you get a pretty good view of the buildings around you. I started looking at them thinking: "Ooo I could make that into a quilt...or that..." It would be so easy to make any number of geometric shaped objects into quilts. Even non-geometric shapes can be turned into quilts. That just takes a little imagination and patience. So here is some of the inspiration I found:

I love the shape of the rocks and the grass growing between them. They had a whole little "garden oasis" in the middle of the busy hospital intersection.

The "smaller" building  and the one above it. The smaller one I though I could take the lighter colored row at the bottom and copy it where the roof is and that would be cute. The other one I liked how it had the column in the middle.

The blue building just really stuck out with the white dividing lines.

I really like how this one has the two different collumns on the sides and the seperate row on the bottom. Again, copy the bottom row on the roof.

Just a picture of lots of different shapes.

The building with the purple-ish windows really stuck out. Kinda a wonky type of quilt I would think.

I've always loved the blue doors in the curved archways.

This last one was taken as the Ohio River was flooding.

Here is a picture that my son brought home from school that when I saw it, I wanted to make it into a wall hanging.

I almost forgot to add my most recent inspiration. Oh my goodness, I have no clue how I could have forgotten something this awesome!!!! I am gong to make a TARDIS quilt! Yes, you heard me Doctor Who's TARDIS! *squee* I'm so excited!

(I'm a little late, the contest ended May 15th, but this is what inspired me.)