Me And My Lover And Heart Studs

Happy Friday! Here is an upgraded look of yesterday's post - click HERE to check out my review of this polish - it's essence's 156 'Me & My Lover'. The heart studs are from KKCenterHK (N.NAIL Studs Heart White 6mm Nail Art Decorations [NNAIL-DRN628]). To read more about the heart studs, and how I use them, click HERE, and click HERE to check out this product.

I liked this look so much better before I put glitter on the hearts - the gold glitter was a bad match for this look, I liked it so much better just simple, white, as they are. What do you think?

Waking Up With Kona!

Welcome to Why Knot Kwilt!  Thank you so much for stopping by on your way through the "Wake Up to Kona" blog hop!!  

You may note that my stop may run more along the "good night, Kona" theme as I used the gorgeous Sunset line of  Robert Kauffman's Kona Solids along with Kona white solid for the background.

I also thought it most fitting to take photos of my quilt ... 

well, at sunset ... 

{grin}

I was able to assemble this quilt in one weekend ...

seriously! It probably took me longer to figure out which pattern to use than it did for me to actually make this sweet piece ...

that includes being plagued with a bugger of a cold and having my daughters and their sleep-over friends with me during the weekend!  

If that isn't endorsement enough on the ease of Amanda's patterns ... well ... {wink}

The quilt is backed with minkee fabric, so in an attempt to alleviate the difficulty of quilting, I did basic straight-line quilting and I chose to enhance the colors and white background by making a a scrappy binding from the remains of the fat quarters used for the quilt top.

Since those photos did not best show the full beauty of Amanda Murphy's Circus pattern found in her most recent book ... Color Essentials:

I did take a quick snapshot of the quilt top, pre-quilting, just to show the completed top.

Please forgive the quality of the photo, I really did mean to get another but this is the only one I was able to use for the blog today ... lighting and weather are tricky in our northern states at this time of year ...

Those of you making comparisons to Amanda's original pattern will note that I did not add the yo-yos and since I didn't add those, I turned the pointed triangles on the ends "into" the flying geese to better point attention to the center of the quilt and, since the receiver of this quilt was so very eager to start using it, skipping the yo-yos meant I could quilt and bind it quicker so she could take possession: 

And at the end of the day ... being wrapped in love is truly more important than getting every piece exactly right ... wouldn't you agree?

Again, I thank you for visiting.  My thanks to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for hosting this hop, Madame Samm for all your creativity, and to all my fellow Blog Hop participants so posting so very much inspiration!

Please be sure to visit our other hop stops for this day as I am sure they will have fun and creative works of art to share too!!

January 17

Why-Knot-Kwilt ~ you are here

Words & Stitches

Marla’s Crafts

Lisa In Port Hope

Transitions for Meee

One English Teacher

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Until next we get a chance to visit, 

I wish you all happy hearts!

Swatch: Essence Sparkle Sand Effect - Me And My Lover

If you don' know already, all three essence sparkle sand effect nail polishes are leaving, and two new shades are arriving (I already swatched the grey one on my blog: LINK). This polish is called '156 me & my lover'. You need to apply 2 coats. This one does have a sand texture, but not half as good as the grey one - it's a little bit sandy, but with quite a few bald spots. I'd recommend applying 2 thin coats to get a better sand texture. Removal of these polishes is difficult, you have to apply the same technique as when removing glitter.

Overall, this one is not a favorite of mine. I love sand effect, but this color is too much of a light-red for me to like it. The products is good, I just wish it was a darker shade. I like dark, rich colors. I hope essence will put out more darker sands - dark red, dark navy blue, etc. Right now this product is on sale (in Croatia essence products are on sale only in DM stores (not in Muller or in Kozmo yet), and Catrice are on sale in Muller stores).

Are you sad this product is leaving? Did you try out essence's sparkle sand effect polishes?

Discussion: New Essence Products - Nails

Hey everyone, and happy Tuesday! New Essence products will be available on February 10th, and I wanted to share my thoughts about them and hear what you think. And now for all the nail products! There are some really good ones!

Essence always offers a large selection of colors, and here are a few new ones. I'm trying to use the polishes in my collection, and am restraining myself from buying new 'ordinary' polishes - I only get sands and glitters now. So I think I'll pass these, I need to use the ones I already have.

Sadly the gray and the red essence sand effect polishes are leaving, and these two are arriving. I do not like the colors - I would love for essence to release darker sands - dark blue, dark red, dark purple, etc....so I'm not sure these two are for me. Maybe the pink one?

There are some fun glitters in here, glitter jewels collection is my favorite.

It would be interesting to see what does this 'feather effect' means. 101 dalmations is a fun topper, but since I've already got the similar polish by Maybelline, I will skip this one.

These are really cute pastel-nude polishes.

OMG VELVET POWDER - IN BLACK!!!!! How awesome! That is so amazing - I'll get it! Other glitter is not for me.

I never got into the whole 'magnet effect' thing. Did you?

The jewel sets look fun, but the DIY stickers is not my cup of tea.

Ok, I' am so trying out the sponge remover! And this cuticle cream - looks amazing!

The whole gel nails thing never hit me - I never have gel nails, I guess it's more for women who don't have time to do their nails, but still want them to look flawless for a longer period of time. Not for me. Seems too much work.

So that's it - all the new essence products. Did you make a to-buy list already? I think maybe they released too many items at once. There are a few good ones, and some 'what the hell'-ones as well. Let me know how you feel about these, and thanks for reading!

***Photos from the essence website.

Discussion: New Essence Products - Face, Lips And Body

Hey everyone, and happy Monday! New Essence products will be available on February 10th, and I wanted to share my thoughts about them and hear what you think. So let's get started!

Do I really need to say how obsessed I am with these blushes? They're so beautiful....I adore them. What a great new addition to the range! Gradient blushes are the cutest!

So these 5 boxes are coming out - they have instructions on how to use the products, etc. Personally, I'm not into them, but the shades that come with the eyebrow kit are really perfect - everything you need. The nude palette (the peach-colored one) seems to have the best color choice from the eyeshadow boxes.

I am so excited about this oil control make-up base. Catrice is releasing a similar product, and I hope at least one of them works. This might be an amazing product for a great price. The essence matt papers have always been amazing, so I have no doubt that this one will be great as well.

I've been using the original 'match 2 cover' and it's one of my favorite essence products. So I'm excited there will be more color choices, and I'll definitively get it. The cover stick just looks depressing.

Not for me, any of them. I guess I don't need them right now.

I think I've mentioned this before, lipgloss is not my up of tea. I like the design of the products, but I just don't use these.

So essence has removed the 'Stay Matt' Lip Creams, to replace them with these. I am excited about them, and can't wait to see if they're as good as the old ones. The packaging is better than the old ones, and I like the larger selection of nude shades.

I love the new lipstick packaging, and these two delicate shades might be just what I was looking for. Other stuff seems blah.

Lipglosses. Not my cup of tea. Great if you use these, but I just don't.

Now this I love - hair dye powder! I'll try the red one for sure, seems so much fun.

I actually have this products (the little star), because it was a part of an essence limited edition (I think it was 'Cute As Hell' collection), and it works really well. It's a fun idea. The hearts are adorable, better than the stars - I might cave in and get it.

Such gorgeous glitter - it's actually body glitter that's supposed to be used with the stickers below - now I'm not into body glitter, but I wonder if these could be used on nails - that might be fun. And I love the packaging - these look like so much fun. All three color combinations are breathtaking.

Yeah, fake tattoos, glitter tattoos - not for me. But the stickers might be fun.

All of these things above are so blah - plus that color is not for me - I don't like that shade of green.

So, what do you think of these? I'm obsessed with the gradient blushes, but there are a lot of new and exciting products coming out. Essence did good, hehe.

***Photos from the essence website.