T-shirt Quilt a la Anya

So, after months of having this idea in my head to make a t-shirt quilt, after spotting the idea on Pinterest, I finally took the plunge. 

Stack of 49 squares, cut to 14"

Iron on fusible lightweight nonwoven interfacing to the squares to make it  easier to sew together

Counting them and starting to lay them out, and see which ones need additions

After all the squares are edited and pieced, ironed out, then they get sewn into rows. Then sew the rows together.

Then comes the backing.  It has to be taught before you can pin your quilt top and batting to it. SO that's what the blue tape strips are. It's painters tap and removes easily from the floor and fabric. 

Then comes the quilt sandwich. This one happens to be the first one. I accidentally trimmed too much of the backing, during the first attempt, so, I had to purchase MORE backing fabric and do this again. Needless to say it took me 3 hours total to get to this point. 

You smooth it out and then trim the edges of the backing to about 2-3" from the quilt top. The batting was trimmed to an inch from the quilt top. 

Then to baste it with safety pins.  THIS sucked, big time. My finger tips were sore after doing this for 2 hours. 

Then after basting, you have to trim the backing even more, and I did to 1.75", and folded it over twice to make my binding for the quilt.  Then pinned. 

After binding comes to fun part.  For this quilt, I decided to tie it with embroidery floss.  I don't have a walking foot for my machine yet, but that is a work in progress for my next quilt. This tying took me a few nights to do, working 1-2 hours on it before bed. 

And this is the final  product.

I am looking forward to snuggling up under this during the fall and winter months, as this is super cozy, soft, and just right for a hot-bodied woman like myself. I know it's not perfect either, as I didn't know you were supposed to "Square" up your quilt before you put it in the quilt sandwich.  You live and learn...  After I was finished, and I put the quilt on my bed, my little boy said "MAMA this is like heaven. It's SO comfy. Can we stay here all day?"  I, of course, said YES!!  I mean, who wouldn't want to curl up to their favorite person and watch a movie under this cozy thing. :)

New goodies for my phone!

I have a minor love.... okay...  lemme start over.   I am OBSESSED with owls.  I love a owl Scentsy warmer, owl necklace, owl figurines/statues for my book shelf.  I'd love nothing more than to have my house speckled with owls but not plastered with them.   

So that said..  

I bought a Skinguardz owl skin for my new Samsung Galaxy S Blaze.  I also got a very pretty heart bling case for it.   I'm still waiting on this cobalt blue one..   I have issues with being clumsy, so I had to get a hard case for when I do happen to drop it and it needs protection from breaking.

I LOVE THESE BABIES! 

My son was jealous that I got to have cool sparkley things for my phone and his "phone" looks just boring green.    He also wanted part of my owl skin decal and i had to explain to him that I needed all of the parts so it would look right.   

I'm rather happy with them, and thankful for Amazon for getting me the best deals on all of my phone protective gear.  Now.. if I could only manage to find a decent stylus. 

God bless! 

Makeup Monday - BLUES

Makeup Monday!!  June is Blues..  I cannot elaborate enough how excited I am to take part in this lovely makeup challenge by A Brilliant Brunette.  Plus, it's my birthday today, and I always love making myself up for this day.    I didn't take a navy route with this.  I chose this awesome teal that's in the Wet'n'Wild 8 palette of the blue colors (I can't remember the name), and used a bronzey brown from a L'Oreal HIP duo in my crease.  Added some black liquid liner and mascara, and tight-lined my upper lashes. I also added some Red Cherry 747 M lashes.   The lip gloss is Brilliance from Bare Minerals.. which is a nude - pink with golden shimmer.  I don't like to wear foundation in the summer, so I used the Neutrogena tinted moisturizer and Paladio Rice Powder to set. Blush was a peachy pink, and I used a smidge of bronzer from the Physician's Formula Happy Booster Bronzer and Blush duo.   This was fun experience for me, as I have been lacking in playing with color this summer.

Bronzed Summer Eyes

I always seem to be taking a hint from a few of my favorite beauty tips given by magazines, or just some of my favorite makeup artists.   So, I did a bronzed eye with a pop of color under the lower lashline.  I think I'm in love and have found a new way for me to wear color without doing a totally dramatic eye.

I'm working on using a lot of my collection, instead of feeling like needing to get more makeup.
For Face:
Bare Minerals Medium Beige foundation and Mineral Veil

For Eyes:
Jesses Girl Eye Primer
Copper Bronze Ulta eyeshadow (lid)
Starlight Ulta eye (inner eyelid and corner)
Lorac baked eyeshadow in the dark brown shade (crease)
Loreal Double Extend Mascara in Black
Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Electric

Lips:
Covergirl Gloss Balm in Coral

Simple classic makeup

It seems the more and more I get into this hobby of mine (maybe obsession), the more I am beginning to appreciate a simple natural-ish eye and a red lip.   What sucks though is I haven't been able to find the right colors in lipstick form, so I've been using my lipliners as my color and then putting a balm over top as to keep them matte..  LOVE it!  

For eyes:
Bare Minerals Eyeshadow in Spellbound - lid
ELF Cool Bronzer (Darkest shade of brown) - crease
Wet N Wild Mega Eyes Dark Brown liquid eyeliner
Maybelline Stiletto Volumnious Mascara in Blackest Black

Lips:
Max Factor Vivid Impact Liner - #150, Ms. Right
Burts Bees lip balm with peppermint

No face except Neutrogena Tinted Moisturizer in Light/Medium
Blush - Max Factor - Color Genius Blush - #110, Peaches

:

Shimmery Mint Chocolate Chip

This is a look I did today when I wanted to finally try the sample I received when I bought from Beauty From the Earth cosmetics company.   I got a small little baggie of Elegant, which is a super shimmery sparkley minty green.  There's got to be at least 4 uses in the little baggie. 

Anywho, I paired it with the Wet N Wild Palette in Vanity, this bottom right brown, and came up with this look. 

Eyes:
Primer - Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Base - Wet N Wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadow pencil in Pixie
Beauty From the Earth shadow - Elegant
Wet N Wild Vanity Palette - Medium Golden Taupey Brown (matte side) and Shimmery Brown (bottom right), Creme (matte, top left) for highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 liner - Whiskey  (bottom lashes)
Wet N Wild Mega Eyes liquid liner - Dark Brown
Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara - Black Brown

Face:
Bare Minerals in Medium Beige foundation
Bare Minerals concealer - Summer Bisque
Wet N Wild matte Bronzzer - 701 (Light/Medium) contour
Covergirl Instant Cheekbones contouring blush-  Pearly Plum

Lips:
ELF Minty Lip Gloss - San Diego

(FISH FACE! - Dont make this face normally, but it was funny to my son.)

(Pardon the wet hair.. curls air dry)

**Disclaimer!!! I'm fully aware my eyebrows aren't groomed as beautifully as they should be (going to get fixed tomorrow, honest!), but school and my monster of a 3 year old come first, so there will be little hairs..  get over it ;)**

I normally don't go for greens, but ever since Halloween, I've been a bit more open to them, especially if I can manage a smokey eye with them.  Colors are fun!  Have a great time experimenting with it, because I know I do!

My ELF and Closeout Buys

I was super excited when I came home today from my little outing with my best friend, her daughter, and my son.  There is this little warehouse closeout store that sells brand new items with banged up packaging.   Well, I saw this sign that had makeup on sale 2 for $1 - - on Revlon, Jane, Almay, Covergirl, MAX FACTOR (discontinued as of 2010 in the US)..  

So I picked up a few things:

Almay Pure Blends blush in Orchid

Max Factor ColorGenius Blush in Peaches (#110)

Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara in Black Brown

Max Factor Lash Perfection mascara in Deep Blue

Max Factor Vivid Impact mascara in Vivid Blue (#910)
Max Factor trio eyeshadow in Toast to That
CoverGirl Outlast lipstain in Blossom (#410)
Max Factor Maxalicious Glitz lipgloss in On the Prowl.

Revlon Beyond Natural Defining Eye Pencil in Plumberry (08)

Swatches:

Top left: Plumberry Eye Defining Pencil

Top Right: CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain in Blossom

Bottom: Max Factor Maxlicious Lipgloss in On The Prowl



Then when I came home from our little excursion, my ELF package had arrived, and I was super happy about that.  I finally got my blending brush, my 2 lippies, and my bronzer, along with 6 packages of toe separators. (More on those after Christmas..).

Here is what I got from eyeslipsface.com:

Well, that is all. I didn't swatch the last batch because I misplaced my liquid lipstick in my car, so I will just leave it to your imagination until later one when I can do a lip swatch for you :) 

Thanks for reading!