Nothing left to do but SEW, SEW, SEW!!!! (and fill you in with this REALLY long post)

Yep, I'm finally back to sewing. After a few crazy weeks of studying and writing and cramming and not sleeping and planning and organizing and thinking and hoping and praying and all that fun stuff, I finally get to sew again because I......

GRADUATED!!!!

(This is the face of someone who never has to go to school EVER again!)

And it is FANtastic!

I realized just how much I love making things with my own 2 hands.

It runs in the family, I think.

Check this out: as a graduation gift my Grandpa Paul made me this:

Made it. MADE it. As in, with his own two hands!

It's absolutely gorgeous.

You should see the inside! Well, you will, I'll have more pics once my camera decides to cooperate.

Isn't it amazing? He's awesome.

And my dad made me this:

It's the window seat I've been wanting in front of my strangely pushed out window for about 2 years now.

I still have to prime it and paint it, and make an awesome cushion for the top of it,

but it's just perfection.

There are two hinged doors on the top so I can use it for storage, too.

Not too shabby for a guy with only one eye, huh?

I'm not kidding.

My dad is blind in one eye (note the patch below) and the other one is notsogood.

But I love him to pieces. He came all the way from Virginia for the occasion!

(Love you, Dad!)- even though I know for a fact he doesn't read this...

And my little sister made this quilt:

It was her first one ever, if you can believe that.

I think it's made out of all 5 inch squares, except for the fussy-cut Antler Damask (Joel Dewberry) in the middle top and bottom.

Let's not forget my mom, however. She is super-duper creative. I don't have any picture proof on hand... but let's just say she built a log home.

Yup.

She did.

(With the aforementioned Grandpa Paul-and my Grandma Margaret-of course)

I will have photos of that soon.

ANYWAYS...

My point is that my whole family ROCKS!

Enough rambling about life stuff- let's get to the sewing part, shall we?

I'm working on an awesome quilt for a customer using these lovely fabrics:

From left to right: Floating Buds in Grey (Amy Butler), Marilyn in Grey (Tanya Whelan), Large Floral in Porcelain (Patricia Bravo), Wishing Flowers in Grey (My Mind's Eye), Fresh Poppies in Linen (Amy Butler), Arabesque in Ivory (Amy Butler) and Blossom Clusters in Grey (Patricia Bravo)

It's for a double bed and I'm using the

Disappearing 9 Patch Pattern

with 8 inch squares.

There's a great tutorial

here if you want to check it out.

I'm also working on this quilt (below) right now for a little girl.

I worked out a swap deal/agreement with Anna over at Branch and Birdie on Etsy.

It's a patchwork using Heather Ross' Mendocino line.

Then I added a white border and a hot pink border to frame it all in.

I love the barter system.

I think everyone should use it. They would be so much better off...

at least I would think so.

Here's a fun little surprise I added to the outside border.

I just love this fabric.

And mermaids.

Don't you?

... but wait! That's not it!

I'm also in the midst of putting together a nursery set for another customer using these pretty little fabrics:

If I had to describe it, I'd say it's a modern twist on the whole 'Shabby Chic' idea.

It's going to be adorable.

Here are the fabrics from top to bottom:

Bird Cage in Pink (Tula Pink, Plume)

Genie in Pink (Annette Tatum for Free Spirit, House)

Rose Bouquet in Sky Blue (Tanya Whelan, French Hatbox)

Picnic Parade in Pink Stripe (Tanya Whelan, French Hatbox)

Honeycomb in Pink (Joel Dewberry, Modern Meadow)

old fabric from my stash

Ta Dot in Candy (Michael Miller, Michael Miller House Designer)

Well, I think that's about it.

Not worrying about school is awesome. I got about 10 trillion things done today that I've been wanting to do for about a year.

Sad, I know.

I've got even more to share with you, but I've got to leave something for tomorrow's post :)

Go be awesome!