A shiny fabric surprise! [Thursday Think Tank]

Technically, it is still Thursday where I am.  And it isn't over yet.  So let me share my Think Tank and latest surprise with you all...  A huge long box arrived in the mail this week and I was so confused, what did I possibly order that would be sent along in a box that looks like it is holding skis?  

This is it...

Three laminates!  Whew hew!  Of course I had no idea they were going to be packaged this way but hey...whatever...it was a great surprise!

On the left is Anna Maria Horner's Lou Lou Thi, I absolutely adore this pattern.  That one is for my Miss V.  The fabric on the right is Amy Butler because Miss E insisted on pink pink pink!

And I've always had my eye on Tula Pink's Prince Charming...those frogs are even cooler in laminate with that slight shine.  I thought it was the perfect choice for Baby No. 3...especially as I bought this baby gift for him/her...

Jellycat Frog Tot

So how fitting is the Prince Charming Print???

Now what do I plan on doing with these laminates?  Haha, well I think I might have mentioned it before, but I am going to make zip pouches for each child for their dirty travel things...to have in the diaper bag, to throw in the suitcase...  Anyone with children can attest, organization is a tiny important thing to clutch to with two eager hands as life gets more hectic.  I spoke with the Mr. and he suggested I make the pouches large enough for them to continue using as adults, so I am thinking 12 x 12, maybe with squared off bottoms.  And, now that I am writing this, I think I shall make two each with colored zippers, Red for Dirty and Green for Clean, that way they can have one for packing toiletries and one for storing icky spilled on clothes!

Anyway, that is my weekly think...how about yours???

- rebecca lynne

Feel free to rattle off anything that has been brewing in your creative heads. It can be anything, quilting, home improvement, fashion, crafting, DIY gifts, cooking...whatever you have recently thought "hmmm, you know what I should create" is perfectly appropriate for the Think Tank. Have a blog? Grab the Thursday Think Tank button displayed on the right. Thanks to everyone who linked up last week. Just a small request: Please remember to Add a Link to Thursday Think Tank in your Blog Post - that way the other people in the Linky Party are being shared with your readers! Thank you!

Echo-o-o-o-o

I want to give a shout out to all the pregnant ladies out there who are doing there thing and getting stuff done without any hindrance.  I, on the other hand, have become a useless blob and the bigger I grow the further o-u-t my stomach becomes.  This was not the case with my first two who definitely grew wider and lower...this baby is just growing out.  My shirts don't cover everything anymore, they just hang over and never reach my pants at this point.  Hilarious.

So why all this information?  Well, reaching my sewing machine and maneuvering fabric these days is a challenge.  Luckily I can still sit at the computer and reach the keyboard without any problems so I was able to work out some ideas for a future quilt.  I know.  Just what I need.  Another quilt idea...ha!  Oh well, you have to take inspiration when it strikes right?

The Textile Santa (i.e. my mother-in-law) gifted to me a Fat Quarter set of Lotta Jansdotter's Echo line this Christmas.  I have been meaning to figure out a design to work with this fabric...which is just so amazing that it seems as though no pattern quite does it justice.  Seriously, the uncut fabric is just too gorgeous on its own.  But, today I thought I'd try to tackle a few ideas...here is my progression...

For starters here is the set.  I think this fabric really requires space, meaning a solid, to break it all up.  The quilts I've seen thus far use white and I think white is the best solution as there are too many shades of the other colors to make it work.

I began with the idea of playing around with a log cabin.  Maybe breaking it up by color and doing large box shapes.  But I got stuck pretty quickly.  Although looking at this now I think maybe it could work if I had just played with it a little more.  However, I don't know where the Pink would've fit in...

Then I started over using a 9 block layout.  Maybe breaking it up using an underlying grid would help?  Eh, but I wasn't really happy with any of the results with this either.

Then I remembered this design I had pinned from pinsandbobbins.  I have been saving my Hope Valley stash for just this design...but of course...haven't gotten to it yet! Anyway I thought maybe modifying the pattern a tad and doing large strips of the fabric with white between might work.  But it still wasn't working for me.  I want to describe it as cluttered?

Then I tried the same pattern using sashing in between thinking maybe it needed more white to break it up.  But...eh...still not doing it.  I feel like it looks too jumbled.  If anything more jumbled with the sashing than without in fact!  [I think it works better with a pattern like Hope Valley where all the colors work well together and the pattern on the fabric is small.]

After all this I went back to sleek, simple modern and remembered this quilt from inkandspindle.  So far, this is the design I like the most.  I think it showcases the fabrics best, uses them playfully, and utilizes the white space in an interesting way.  I think I could probably make the strips of patterned fabric larger and I am going to play around with how much white to use between the strips.  What do you think?  Any thoughts?

If anybody has a suggestion for an Echo quilt design please let me know!  I love seeing the different ideas out there and always appreciate your insight.  

- rebecca lynne

Etsy-holic

Recently I was asked to do a research project for my cousin and bride-to-be.  Like so many things I research, it brought me over to Etsy for ideas.  And as so often happens with Etsy - I got sucked in.  So, I thought I'd share with you some of the things that I've been coveting over on the handmade site while I was at it...

My mental train of thought was going something like this:
Matryoshkas, should I have 3 girls; a new bag for a new mama; I dream of a personalized iPad case for the iPad I don't have; gold jewelry is so in, so I should add some to my jewelry box and the filigree is dancing around in my head; 5 year wedding anniversary is approaching fast...

'Things on my mind' by LushCluster

Necklace, Babushka , Matryos... LHCollection $98.00	Matryoshkas Kokka Fabric in ... bertiesfabric $12.95	Hand Stitched Leather Tote, ... millandbird $400.00
14g faux filigree brass blad... discomedusa $67.00	SALE Gingko Leaf and Gold F... allisonmooney $45.00	Diamond Channel Stacking Wed... NetaJewelry $416.00
Green Jade and Turquoise Sta... fourhandsNYC $82.00	Ruby Star Shining by Melody ... sewlovefabrics $9.50	PEUT ETRE bracelet word on s... OhlalaLesMots $35.00
2 pcs- (1261-MG) NEW Matte G... EverLuxe $4.12	Personalized Envelope Card H... harlex $73.00	iPad Case - Mustard White Be... LittleGBoutiqu... $49.99

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio

Also, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce those of you who aren't aware of it to PicClick.  PicClick is a way to visually search Etsy, eBay, and even Craigslist.  Seriously...how cool is that?  Looking for some ideas but don't want to go through pages upon pages on one of those other websites?  Just plug in some keywords and look at the images that come up.,.it scrolls down endlessly through the images so you don't have to keep clicking to the next page.  Really great for doing research on jewelry ideas or fabric searches or, well, anything!  


For example...a search on handstamped jewelry:

With Mother's Day on the way now is not a bad time to start some online browsing...and if a few links should find their way into your Hubby's inbox so much the better...  Heh heh...  Happy online hunting!  Let me know if you find anything too good to pass up...

- rebecca lynne