Featured Etsy Blogger -- Two Zany Zebras

Well, if you had happened upon my blog, then you might have seen that this month's featured Etsy Blogger is Two Zany Zebras. Clicking on the link will take you right to her blog. Who is she? She is a stay at home mom in southern California living in an apparently crazy, wacky, zany world!

In her Etsy shop you will find adorable, and, of course, zany items like this:

which is not all that zany, and this:

which is!!

My Dream Space

This month's blog carnival topics had to do with either gardening (try very hard not to do any of this... love flowers... hate the gardening) or my dream space for working. I have decided to share my dream space, and while I did a post on this last year, I do have some new readers.

I have to confess that I'm a lucky girl and already have my dream space! The only thing that could make it better would be more windows, but since I'm in a walkout basement that won't ever happen. So, what does my space look like? Here's a photo of the sewing area:

It looks a little different right now because I've moved the printer on the right to a spot next to our family desktop computer to make it network friendly. If you were standing there looking at the sewing machine, and turned around, you would see a queen size bed. This room doubles as a guest room. It also has a TV which is nice to have on while I'm sewing, though I usually sew in silence.

Ok. Now you're looking at the sewing machine again and you see a door that leads into the space you see above. It's a large area with a concrete floor, and lots of storage shelves for the house. I've basically taken it over, laid some carpet remnants and built this awesome craft table. You can read about how it's made by clicking here.

I did discover that the plastic bins you see on the left didn't really work as fabric storage, and I'm in the process of revamping that system. I've sorted and folded by fabrics by color, and once I'm done I'll post a picture of how it looks now.

So, like I said, windows would be nice, but nobody bothers me down here, and I really have lots of space, so I can't complain!

Quilting Confessions

Ok, I confess, I haven't really made that many quilts. And I hadn't bought a jelly roll until last month. I made my first quilt in, um, 1984. It was a queen size lone star quilt, that I hand quilted. I made at least 3 more quilts that were also hand quilted. And then I stopped, because hand quilting just took so darn long.

But I love quilts, and love the piecing and the design, so I've gotten back into it. But I'm a planner and a matcher. I first stepped out of my comfort zone with my Sunburst quilted wall hanging that I strip pieced. And with the jelly roll (so yummy), I had to throw matching to the wind.

What's a jelly roll, you ask? Well, it's a collection of fabrics, all cut in 2-1/2" wide strips across the width of the fabric (42-44" long). The one I bought had 30 or so fabric strips, and no two were the same. I planned my design, but I had to just trust the colors to find their place. Full disclosure: I bought a book with patterns using jelly rolls, but I can't find it, so my design is based on one in the book, but is probably not exactly like it. And I'm making a table runner instead of a full size quilt.

The picture shows my first 4 blocks, and the part of the jelly roll that's left. Only 4 more, but with a twist, if that's possible. You'll have to wait and see. I'm pretty happy with my fabric combinations, and hope when they're all put together they have a real Bohemian effect.

More confessions to come...

One a Day Challenge Anniversary Sale

How fast a year goes by! It's the one year anniversary of a group I belong to on Etsy that calls themselves the Challengettes. So sit down in your favorite chair with your cozy quilt and check it out!

I'm offering 20% off everything in the Down the Street shop. In Elle Quilts, if you buy 1 item it is 10% off, 2 items is 15% off, and 3 or more items are 20% off.

Chrissy of Bittersweeets got us going last year on April 16 with the challenge to list one item every day for a month. Well, everything just clicked and we didn't want it to end, so here we are one year later. Have we all kept up that grueling pace? Not really, but we do what we can, have become great friends, and support each other through all the trials and tribulations that life throws at us, happy or sad.

We are almost all participating, so if you scroll down to the One a Day Challenge member list in the left side panel you will find links to all our shops. Or simply search dailychallenge. Check them out!