My string blocks have arrived!

YAY! So exciting! They're all sooo beautiful. I get my mail at my mother's house because I don't have a physical address at my apt. So the strings that I stitched are in a separate photo. Check them out. . aren't they awesome????

And here are my string blocks before I sent them out:

I still have quite a few of my neutral string blocks left from my UFO'd Roll Roll Cotton Boll. I'm sorry . . . yes, I gave up on it. I hang my head in shame. =c(

So I'm planning on using the Neutral string blocks along with these Colored ones from the swap. Wouldn't that make a cool quilt? Here's my neutral strings hanging on design wall:

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Also, I just finished a little project I am quite proud of. My mother, just got a new Macintosh computer. It's so cute!! But so complicated when she's spent the last 40 years perfecting her use of PC. I couldn't imagine going from PC to Mac. . . I doubt I could go very far. I might start small, like she did. . and get an iphone.

So the Mac came in this elaborate shipping box and LOTS of padding, but NO case for it! I took it upon myself to make her a little laptop carrier. I used THIS TUTORIAL from "sew mama sew."

The tutorial is actually for a plain laptop SLEEVE. But I altered it a bit, made it a QUILTED laptop carrier, complete with strap. If anyone would like a tutorial on this I would be happy to make one. It has no pockets even though I would have liked to have added some. I found that with these bags you can EITHER do quilting, OR add pockets. One or the other NOT both.

I asked my mom what colors she would like and LUCKY FOR ME she said black/white/maybe some red. WELLL I am currently working on a Red/White/Black quilt so I already had the fabric scraps ready to go! You can see my RED/WHITE/BLACK work-in-progress quilt HERE.

I was quite torn as to what to use for the lining. I kind of wanted something soft, or fuzzy. I went through my scraps of fleece, flannel, and fuzzies, and couldn't find anything to match. But then I remembered my Michael Miller KNIT black polka dot fabric that I used to make my friend Heather's dress ;c) I was kinda scared to use a knit for the lining, but I just added some Pellon fusible stablizer and I think it worked quite nicely. Here's some photos of the finished bag:

Oh and here's the dress I made for Heather using the same knit fabric by Michael Miller ;c)

Next Project - Spa Quads

Okay so yes, I do have several UFOs and MANY WIPs hanging in the back, but I want to start something NEWWWWWWWW.
Oh brother, I know.
Well, I just have the urge and I can't help myself! LOL
I have several black and red print Fat Quarters that I purchased at the IQF Cincinnati. They're calling my name I tell you!!!
SO! I have spent the last couple days pondering what to do with these fat quarters. . I originally thought about designing something myself, but I'm feeling kinda lazy right now. I'd rather just use someone else's pattern and then add my touch of sparkle with the quilting! So I choose a design that would let the quilting shine through. This pattern looks like it would finish rather quickly too. . .so less time piecing and more time quilting. Always a plus in my book!

If anyone would like to give this pattern a GO, CLICK HERE to go to the pattern from Windham Fabrics. All you need is 24 fat quarters. I have exactly 24 FQs of Black, White, and Red prints!! It's meant to be?! ;cP

So here's all my pretty fabrics I am going to use for the quilt. The top 3 fabrics will be borders... *maybe* lol

I would also just like to add that I very rarely PRINT anything. I'm very cheap ahem, I mean Frugal, so I like to save all the paper and ink I can in my quilting process.

Here I just wrote down the general idea of the quilt on a half sheet of paper. This is the basics and I should'nt have to pull the pattern .pdf back up.

Okay I'm going to get sewing! What's everyone else working on right now?? ;c)

UPDATED 7/7/2011 -

A have all my blocks done, but that will be another post - here's a photo of the 1st block completed:

***Updated 7.29.2011****

Finished all my blocks - Now I'm just trying to find a way to arrange them in a pleasing manner.