March 2013 | Go-Go Kim

sewing + social media + so much more

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Last minute baskets!

We are on our second set of kids.  The first two boys are grown and gone, one married to the most wonderful woman in the world and has two of the cutest boys in existence and the other is a meteorologist serving in the U.S. Air Force.  We have done the bunny thing over the years A LOT so I kinda get lazy and wait until the last minute to drag my happy self out to do the Bunny shopping.  And things have changed over the years. There is just so much to choose from and I honestly get a bit over whelmed by ALL of the STUFF to buy.  When the boys were little, I would buy some sort of reusable container that they could then store cars, crayons or LEGO in, new play dough, a few candies an airplane and some new crayons.  I am all about the simple when it comes to Easter. But at Target everything was BIG and honestly none of it looked worth the prices they were asking, with the exception of the Cadbury Eggs.

I came home with the few basket stuffings but no baskets...sigh...

Y'all know I have been loving Pinterest lately!  I think it is possibly the finest collection of  all the stuff I  want to do in one place!  So, I did a search for fabric Easter Baskets and TA DA...this great tutorial on Sew Lux showed up!!!!  It is easy and quick.  If you do not have a basket today...make one NOW!

Katy's basket has Tula Pink The Birds and the Bees ladybugs, Dear Stella Play Date dots and Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope ( I LOVE THE BAG) and Adam chose some very bold dots and stripes from the Riley Blake Pieces of Hope collection.  I used my favorite Pellon CraftFuse and 50/50 cotton soy batting.  I love my Aurifil 40wt, perfect colors and sews like a dream!





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Monday, March 25, 2013

Baby quilt top finished with help from Quilty friends!

I had a great Saturday! I was sunny and warm and full of things to do!

A friend of mine had a baby last week and so I really wanted  to make her a quilt toot sweet for the new bundle of joy!  I remembered my Hat Box blocks (tutorial here) that I made enough of last year for a baby quilt but somehow just were placed into the wip bin for some reason.


 I ran across some of the blocks last week but there were some missing.  Not sure what happened to all of them so I put the ones I did find up on the Wall of Shame ( the place where I keep some of my wips to remind me not to start too many things) and was overwhelmed for a minute or two. GAH! I have many things that I need to finish!

I posted this pic on Instagram and the FABULOUS Pat Sloan said "@gogokim not shame! Sew them all into one quilt!"

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE PAT SLOAN!!!!!! Her fabulous quilty brain is only surpassed by her AWESOME kindness! Thank you Pat!!!!!



So shame thrown off my back, I was able to start the process of putting this together. This was the first step and then I had to move stuff here and there and add some touches...



and I ended up with this BEAUTY!  I really am digging this quilt!


And what photo shoot would not be complete without a PHOTOBOMB!!!!





I wish that someone would have emailed Mother Nature to tell her that Spring was last week! Yesterday afternoon the weather went back to winter so I think I will sit at my machine today and work on some quilting ideas for the new quilt top!




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Friday, March 22, 2013

Pin Happy!

Okay, I admit this week I have had a wee bit of a pinning issue.  Pinterest is just TOO easy and TOO much fun! It is all the stuff that everyone else is doing that I wish I were...but I am not...

At least not yet, I will remain hopeful that someday I will get to all those creative pins and sew everything on my Things I want to sew...NOW! board like...




This super cute dress for warmer days from Adventures in Dressmaking

Here is the link


Or maybe Sara's Aeroplane Bag.  I did order the fabric for this from Sew Mama Sew's AMAZING $6 fabric sale!



If I am feeling SUPER energetic I may dabble in some Awesome Quilts


I LOVE this one by Vanessa from Vand Co.

 Photo from VandCo. site

Or this colorful lovely from Red Pepper Quilts

Photo from Red Pepper Quilts

For now, I think I will take in all the Just really cool stuff, let all the color and ideas fill my brain to get my creative juices flowing...

Look at this adorable vintage fabric dragonfly...
 The only link available


I am over the moon about this chair from Fiber and Fire

Photo from Fiber and Fire site


This one with just makes me so HAPPY!
Photo from Flickr 

So, if you are on Pinterest look me up and  pin some great stuff to feed my frenzy of seeking out inspiration for all the things I should be doing and not just pinning ;o)
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Monday, March 18, 2013

Crazy season!

It went from cold to warm and back to COLD here with snow last night...Spring in VA is just CRAZY!!!!

I have been busy doing a lot of things and feel like I have done nothing at all! Don't you hate when that happens?


I did finally make something with my very first Viewmaster block.  This is the very very first one, the one in the tutorial came a few versions after this one, it is the original.  I have had it just sitting and doing nothing so I decided to make a little pillow with it. I think it is super cute other than the fact that sometimes when I see it out of the corner of my eye it looks a wee bit like a boob...maybe that is just me.

If you do make the Viewmaster block ( or any other project you make using one of my tutorials) please post it into my Flickr Group, I LOVE seeing your projects!!!!!


I was also able to finish the Aurifil Designer BOM by Jeni at In Color Order. It is call the Boxer and is very cool! I used Kate Spain Serenade and will be for the entire quilt.


Since it was snowing again, the kids were off from school so I dragged them to Downtown to walk around and get some energy out.

They were so thrilled :o)

We have a real old time pharmacy! The nicest people work there!!!!

that still makes rose water :o)

We saw this beautiful red door


Went to some antique shops and Adam found his favorite

and I found mine

Stopped into Hyperion for a coffee for me and hot chocolate and a muffin for the kids

some quick snuggles

and back to hoping winter will be a distant memory very soon!

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Liberty of London pincushion and Bernina attachment praise!

Do you have one of these gray things on your machine and wonder WTH is THAT and why does it POP off all the time?





Jump back to last week, before the snow. I was thinking I wanted to do more practice with free motion quilting and challenge myself to more designs, get more comfortable with the feel and do a real quilt.  I asked some of my quilty friends ( I love them) and Teri Lucas suggested a presser foot that I do not have.  I popped into my local quilt shop Quilt and Sew and talked to Kiki and she showed me what they had available. They did not have the foot I was searching for but they did order it!!!  The other suggestion was this attachment made for the Bernina.  I already have two sets of glasses and was skeptical that this would make a difference, I was WRONG!





That thing is the cover is for this attachment!

The set comes with three different magnification lenses, an adapter and the big gray circle is for hand held use.

It helps SO MUCH!



I have a very very very small stash of Liberty of London charms. I bought some a couple of years ago and then Katy from The Littlest Thistle sent me a bag that she made for me with some more inside last year , AWESOME GIFT! 


I wanted to try the new attachment out and decided to make a super cute small New York Beauty pincushion for someone special. This was the perfect way to practice since I needed to use 1/8 in seams on this tiny beauty.  Here is how much clearer it made sewing for me!



I think it turned out PERFECT! 





 The back is not so perfect but that is because I needed to stuff it a little bit more. I did the paper piecing with Aurifil 50wt and the topstitching with a beautiful 28wt. All the Liberty of London are the yummy lawn fabrics.  I did add a some Pellon Shape -Flex to the back of the top for lots of pin use without damaging the lawn. Shape flex is so light that the feel of the fabric that you are fusing it to remains the same but is gives it some OOMPH!  I will say it again...I LOVE me some MAGIC IN THE MIDDLE!!!!!

I am very happy with my purchase, I love my Bernina!  I hope that my friend will enjoy her pincushion and I look forward to getting my new foot and exploring into the world of free motion quilting with a dhm.

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

The QuiltCon Finale! {photo overload}

Now that the snow is gone and we have power again, I can finish up the Quiltcon fun!


(I had to, it was like hand shadows on the projector screen in high school)

There were so many quilts that it was HARD to be able to take photos of each every one, go to lectures and see the booths too. The quilts and the quilting was really STUNNING!  If you could not attend this Quiltcon, make sure to mark your calendar and plan on being at the next!


Lynn Harris
This quilt was really on the top of my list.  Simple, beautiful and HAPPY!






Angela Walters quilt was really fantastic. It reminds me of Vertigo.  I was completely drawn in!





Dan Rouse you are a FREAKIN ROCK STAR!  The back of this quilt is just as fantastic as the front!








Thomas Knauer and Lisa Sipes






Patty Simmons quilt with perfect curved piecing, so beautiful!






 And of course the Best in Show by Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Lisa Sipes!  I need to borrow a big shot since
 I was a dork and just stood there starting at it and forgot to take an actual photo of the full quilt!

But I was standing there staring at it and waiting to get a full shot while other people were looking at it.  
There was a man with his wife and HE was showing her all the intricate quuilting that Lisa did 
( I swear she has some sort of elves working for her) and told his wife to take photos of the quilting detail.

This is the photo I did remember to take...I am GOBSMACKED!





Keep you eyes open!!!!  There may or may not be a QUILT A LONG coming up soon to a blog near you for 
this Tula Pink Beauty!!!!!




So just to wrap things up I want to share a couple more more stories and shots from Austin because Austin and the crazy, fun, kind and awesome people that live there need to know they are really appreciated!  At least by this Go-Go Girl :o)

My diet is an odd one, I am gluten and sugar free and also vegan.  I do not ask others to eat the way I do and do not judge the way others eat.  I eat this way for medical reasons and it really works for me.  Eating out can be a kind of challenge in a different city but Austin has MANY places to eat and they embrace those "different" eaters as one of their own!!!!! 

On Thursday night the gals and I decided to follow Katie to a place her sister in law said was a MUST GO TO for authentic Austin food.  SO we started walking...in the wrong direction but finally got going in the right direction and after a bit ended up here



TRAILER PARK WHAT!?!?!?! OMG!!! LOL!!!! I was skeptical about this but was willing to give it a go, with a little nudge from Katie ;o)



Great menu and really great food!!


All the gals were fed and happy!!!!  HAPPY QUILTERS Katie, Christa, Faith, Holly and Lee ( with NO FOOD in her mouth ;o) )




Love the artwork!!!!!





The next night we were meeting up again but there was some confusion about where to eat so I ended up going 
for a little walk to the local CVS for Aqua Net, it was the night of the 80's party and NOTHING holds big hair better
 than AQUANET!
I was able to see some local sights on my walk and take in the color of the area...did I happen to mention...
I LOVE AUSTIN!


This is possibly my most favorite thing in Austin. I saw it on the way in from the airport and was afraid I missed getting a closer look.  I lived in San Diego for almost all of my adult life and Texas for a couple of years too.  I was raised in the Southeast but so much of who I am is in the Southwest and this really struck me.



This SHOULD  be a fabric!  It is a painted Indian food truck. The colors were so beautiful!!!  Reminds me of an Alexander Henry print...ALL of Austin reminds me of an Alexander Henry print,LOL!



This is a guitar sculpture in the middle of the sidewalk.  Again, LOVE the COLOR!!!!



These shoes were great!  Simple outfit POP of color shoes!



I realized the time and still had to eat and do my hair so I saw a nice lady on the next corner ( yes, I talk to people
 of street corners) and after chatting for a bit I asked if she knew a place for an air eater like me to quick find 
something to eat.
She took me into the restaurant she was dining at with her friends, introduced me to all of them ( I LOVE THIS PLACE)
and then they  came up with P.F. Chang's which was right down the street!
Did I mention the people in Austin are AMAZING!?!?!

I walked down the street and was shown to the bar to put in my takeout order. 



When I said howdy to the barkeep, T.J., I asked him all my usual food questions and he was so kind as to tell me 
about an off menu item for aireaters!  He made sure it was everything I needed and had them add extra veggies 
for me!  Excellent service and BRAVO to P.F. Chang's for accommdating all types of food needs!!! He even made
sure I had gluten free soy sauce!
So, if you visit and need good food and great service , go see this guy!




Finally...the PARTY!  
I will just put in a few parting party shots because it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  Almost everyone dressed up and looked 
80's, it was pretty cool!  It was funny when I walked into the hotel elevator and the couple stared at me in my 
BIG hair, PINK open toe high heels and leopard print coat. I smiled and said " Don't worry, I am not a hooker, 
I am going to an 80's party".  They laughed and told me I looked perfect,LOL!

The PARTY gals!!!!! 


 


All the FABULOUS clothes! Rashida Coleman-Hale and Melody Miller  looking perfect!

Hi Angela, thanks for dancing with me :o)

Sukie and Lee getting serious!


Lots of dancing!

What!?!? Michael Jackson!!!!! Sukie did the part up RIGHT!


This may be my favorite of the night! Monica made an 1880's outfit for her 80's costume!!!! She is so BRILLIANT!



The next day it was time to go home.  I packed my big red bag with all the necessary items.


and sadly hopped on the plane back to the winter in VA.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to the Modern Quilt Guild and Austin for a great time and an enormous amount of 
NEW inspiration!
Until next time...


( yes, I really bought the shirt) 
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