Waiting for the Weekend

I'm eagerly awaiting the weekend, even though I don't have the best of plans. I have a two day training to attend which makes it so that I can't thrift on Saturday morning. Bummer! Hopefully I'll still be able to sneak some stitching time in. I currently have four quilt tops ready to be finished. I just have to buy some batting and make the backs.



I've finally saved up enough yellow to make myself a quilt like the one that I made for my mom (my mom's quilt is below).



Here's my yellow stash:

Pink and Gray Throw

I scored this pink and gray cotton-like throw blanket thrifting over the weekend. It fits so perfectly with my Hot Pink Cross Quilt. I think that quilt is my most favorite quilt. It just looks so fun on the couch and I adore the quilting and the back. It's funny how I like many of the quilts that I make, but some of them I just like sooooo much more. This one definitely falls into the much more category.

Hope your having a wonderful week! We've had some gorgeous weather lately in New England!

Green Block Progress

I've still been really good about not buying new fabric. I've used up almost my entire stash earlier this year and have been accumulating vintage fabrics and sheets at yard sales.

This quilt is mainly from a dark green cotton sheet and bits and pieces of Amy Butler and Heather Ross Fabric. I'm going for a more graphic type of a quilt---- see what you think!

My Woodland Creatures

Here are some of my woodland creatures, all gathered together.







The bird is another hand painted piece that I found at a yard sale. Sadly the sale was outdoors and everything had been left out overnight. The paint sort of got smudged, but I still think it is lovely.

Oh yes, and a close up of one of the winter paintings I posted yesterday.

Winter Paintings

I've been smitten with lovely hand painted works lately. My mom actually was the one originally collecting them at local thrift stores. As her collection built so did mine. Here is a winter grouping of mine:







I can't wait to hang them.

Glimpse of the Weekend

This weekend I...

• thought about what to do with these shrunken wool skirts. I love vintage plaids these days... I'm thinking either a bag with leather belt handles or a wreath hung by a vintage leather belt.
• bookstore wandering
• easy going fall walks
• cleaning- ugg, guess it can't be all fun ...
• laundering some vintage fabrics
  

In Between Projects

Some in between projects that I have kicking around....

You may remember a sneak peak at this quilt. Originally inspired by this lovely creation.



Also, my little sewing tomato collection just keeps making the rounds. I scored this baby blue Dansk pot at a yard sale over the summer.





Lately I've been admiring the various industrial strength sewing machines on ebay. Beautiful and fascinating for me. I would love a heavy duty machine for sewing handles on bags and super think projects. Ebay's still a bit out of my price range, even though there looks to be some great repair-folks selling. Will have to cross my fingers that I can score one at a yard sale.

Oh, yeah one more thing. I've been thinking about sprucing up my sewing table in the corner here:



I'm thinking a nice bright coat of paint would make this table even more wonderful. It's a very sturdy sewing table, more sturdy than most foldable sewing tables that I've come across. The only down side, is the sewing machine pictured here on the table is no longer in action. So I can either keep using it is a sewing table that doesn't fold up or I can try to find a machine that fits.

I do love picking out paint colors though....

The Weekend

How did you make out this weekend? Any great finds?

I love this serving dish that I scooped up a few weeks back. On it rests a vintage leather wallet, my big sunglasses, and a Made by Hank purse. I adore her things, i just need to wait until she has a wristlet up. I need something to tie around my wrist or I would loose my purse everywhere.

We also found some new kids books and games. I've also been slowly adding more of my finds to the shop.

The Goods

I can't tell you all how nice it feels to be such warmly welcomed back! Thanks so much! I've always been super bad about responding back to people that leave comments, especially if their emails don't show up in the notification. From here on out I plan to do my best leaving responses back to you in the comments section.

Each comment warms my heart completely, so I want you all to know how much I appreciate them!

Last weekend we hit some church rummages and I scored tons of children's books and games. Since I recently started working in a school this is super helpful to score stuff cheap like this.



On our way back, our truck was super full but we couldn't help stopping at just one more yard sale. A couple of sweet old ladies were selling furniture they had bought 40 years ago while living in Germany. Lucky for me- they're totally my style.

I can't even tell you how nice matching sidetables makes me feel. Honestly, even though, ugg, I am almost the big three O, matching side tables sort of makes me feel like an adult. Funny because this week I just had a kiddo tell me I don't look like a teacher I look like a kid. Thanks. I think.





My vintage field guides. These are so incredibly fun to flip through. If you like these check out my etsy shop- just listed a couple.



I've been hanging onto this heavy weight cake stand and lid, trying to figure out what to do with it. I put a couple of my favorite plastic animals in it and it just worked on the night stands.

The New Start

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back! It's slow going and I'm adjusting to doing projects at a normal pace again. If I get to sew a little bit a few times a week I think that is a great thing.

I am truly sorry for the ladies in the quilt bees with me. I am very late for many reasons- one is, I admit it, I overcommited. The blocks started coming in two or three a month and often people hoped that we could stitch two blocks for them. I am a sucker for that since so many kindly did that unasked for my quilt bee month. The second reason is that I haven't had a sewing machine for a long, long time.

Luckily I had like ten of them all done just needed to be mailed. Those will be out today. Some of the other blocks I will be sewing the next few weeks.

Sorry for the boring updates! We'll be having more fun this week. Especially since i will be showing off what I consider to be the thrift store find of the season. Also, I have really fallen in love with vintage children's books so I will be posting some pics soon. I need to find a suitable little bookcase for my growing collection.

Anyway, a little sewing... This is a project that I've had partially cut and partially stitched for close to a year now.

Finding My Way Back to Betty Ninja

I've been slowing thinking the past few weeks about getting back to blogging here more. I was a little burnt out before. I was feeling a little over saturated with too much inspirations from all over the web. It was a little hard to get excited about stitching something without feeling like it has all been so overdone already.

Hope I'm not getting to down for everyone.



But I'm back and I'm feeling fresh again and I'm feeling like Betty Ninja might slowly morph into something more than just a quilting blog. Does that mean all my quilty friends won't like me anymore? I hope not, because I will certainly be quilting some more. It's just that I'm ready to start snapping shots more, and painting furniture more, and thrifting more.



At times thrifting was slim this summer, but the past week or two I've been finding great things. I think it's because I'm actually pausing and looking more carefully.



My old machine was broken and I just couldn't break down and pay the $100 bucks to have her fixed up again. Especially with her tendency to shock me with electricity while sewing.



So.. I scored this great brown Kenmore for $15 and it works. It took some fiddling and a bit of oil and some web searching. But she runs like a charm.



Anyway, I'm completely ready to feel inspired again. Ready for new challenges. By the way, I'm excited about this new site. I'll be whipping up some fun project for them soon. It just seems like fun.

Etsy Update

Thanks to all those stick around and pop over still. Sorry I've been so quiet lately!

How to Draw with a Light

Hi guys- sorry I've been away for so long, but ya know, summer beckons. I haven't been sewing much, mainly just playing outside. I've been rebuilding my fabric stash though. This way when the cold weather hits. I'll be set to stitch.

In the meantime, I thought some of you may be interested in this how to post over at my bettymountaingirl blog. It's a super fun way to make pics like these:

Fourth of July Hike

You guessed it- we decorated our backpacks for the hike. The Fourth of July has always been a favorite holiday for me. It's my birthday weekend for one and generally it involves barbecues and decorations and it just turns out to be a swell time.

This weekend we...

Did a lot of relaxing. I think we'll be trying it again next weekend too.

Flip Flops

I am in a pillow making mood these days. Made this fun pillow with leftovers from this quilt. I have also been experimenting with some fun ruffles for more pillows as seen on this fine etsy shop. I love her items!

Kids Rock

That's a horse in an alligator's mouth. Kids are awesome.

Over my Head

I have gotten in way over my head with this quilt bee stuff. It's sort of like rent, you really should avoid getting a month behind at all costs because it is basically impossible to catch up. My quilt bee blocks are behind- but at least my rent is up to date!