Focused on the Family

This weekend I had the pleasure of helping one of my cousins pick out the fabrics for her nursery.  We spent about 2 hours at Joann's and ended up with some beautiful fabrics that I hope she will be very pleased with.  I also made up a quilt pattern while we were there...but I cannot take all of the credit.  My aunt was trying to describe the pattern she was wanting to use to make the baby quilt and since I'm a draw me a picture kind of person, I envisioned something totally different.  They liked the way it sounded so we went home, sketched it up, and it was a hit!  I cannot wait to see the finished product.

 

I also thought you might like to see what happens when your child's Godmother takes him to a craft store.  We ended up going home with the elephant :)

 

 

While at the store, we also picked out fabric for a new purse for my aunt.  She had chosen a pattern the night before and I whipped it up for her on Sunday.  I love the way it turned out and hopefully it will fit nicely in the airplane (her one request).  Never thought that I would have someone make that a specification for something I was sewing.

 

 

I have to say that although I love the bag I absolutely loathe this pattern.  Probably the worst written pattern I have ever come across.  After a failed attempt (gifted to my mother-in-law of course :) ) and many alterations, it is definitely one of my favorites.

 

 

Lots of pockets are a must have!

 

 

 

I also FINALLY made Squeak a pacifier leash, only to realize that most of his pacifiers do not have a handle and cannot be used with it :(

 

 

 

My cousin had several requests for Baby Girl T.  This beanie being one of them.  I still need to find a baseball button for the center of the flower.  The stitches aren't perfect but since I pieced together a couple of different tutorials and basically had no idea what I was doing, I think it turned out great!  Still to make for her:  2 nursing covers & Huggs boots

 

 

I have been working on this in my spare time.

 

 

 

This fabric is for a project that I have been planning for over a year.  It is finally cut and ready to be put together.

 

 

I also finished the latest set of blocks for the How Far Will You Go QAL and have printed the templates for the new pattern for the Super Penguin QAL.

 

AND...........I finished my first ever full sized quilt! 

 

I started this quilt with the Vintage Holiday QAL hosted by Fabric Mutt but couldn't wait to finish it so I decided to work ahead a little bit (I always was a bit of an overachiever in school, guess some things never change).  This quilt is FAR from perfect:  when I bought the fleece for the backing the salesperson cut it very crooked and it was therefore too short on the bottom so instead of a uniform border all the way around, the bottom is about 1 1/2" as opposed to the 4" on all of the other sides.  And the back has some pretty obvious puckering (totally my fault, can't blame that on someone else).  One the positive side, I have a good idea of what I did wrong and how to fix it for next time and my mother in law loved it :)

 

 

Nursery...Better Late Than Never

Squeak turned 6 months old this last Monday and today I finally put the finishing touches on the nursery. It wasn't for lack of ideas or planning. The little guy came a few days early and totally threw my schedule off and I never caught up :)

When we started the walls were a color that is best described as prison cell grayish purple. and the trim was white.

 

 

We painted the walls a nice tan and the trim a dark brown.  Then we took a cheap black Wal-Mart bookcase, painted it to match the trim,and loaded it with books, toys, and all kinds of other goodies.

 

I put some cheap prints that I found in invisible frames to hang behind the glider and the changing table.   I made two quilts for the nursery (the first two that I ever made, gulp).  Both are very simple.  We keep one on the back of the glider and the other on the back of the crib.  The one draped over the front of the crib was handmade by my mother's boss as a present (LOVE IT!!!). 

 

I appliqued little woodland creatures on the changing pad cover that we received.  One of my favorite touches in the room is the little chain pull on the lamp that was given to us my Squeak's Godmother.

 

I found three library/book themed prints for behind the glider.

 

 

I made the tree by cutting fabric and leaves out of some of the fabrics that I use for the quilts then spraying it with fabric stiffener and ironing it to the wall.  I worked so much better than I could have imagined.   As a finishing touch I appliqued a hedgehog onto a pillow made of scraps left over from the quilts and tree.

 

The painting tape I used to stencil the closet bled pretty bad but somehow managed to make it look like it had purposefully been distressed and really worked well with the rest of the room. 

 

All of the shadowboxes on this wall have special meaning.  The top one was embroidered by me just for Squeak.  The one on the bottom left was made by an aunt using my Grandfather's old clothing.  And the third one has items from when Squeak was born:  The bracelets that both of us wore, the scissors used to cut the umbilical cord (uh, yuck?), the shirt he wore while in the hospital, etc.

 

I think it was worth the wait.

Trash to Treasure

I love going to Goodwill, thrift stores, and even garage sales when I have time.  You never know what you are going to come up with and it allows me to buy items that I normally could not or would not be willing to pay full price for.  Some of my latest finds

 

I plan on redoing my sewing space with gray, black, white, yellow and a hint of turquoise so I thought this little bunny would be the perfect little touch for one of the shelves.

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the owl.  I originally planned on painting and distressing him but I'm hesitant since he has such a lovely vintage look and I don't want to ruin him.  What would you do with him?

 

The rectangular box with little figures in it is another mystery.  It reminded me of my childhood and I had to have it.  Now I'm not sure what to do with it...

 

The chair pincushion will be getting the royal treatment with fabric paint and possibly some stenciling.

 

I did buy one other item, an amazing antique owl wall hanging with shelf.  It will definitely be needing a fresh coat of paint and some distressing and a fabric backing, then I will have to decide what else to do from there.

 

So many projects, so little time (sigh)...

New Items for the Shop...Finally!

I know that I'm a little late to the party, but I started on the How Far Will You Go QAL Blocks yesterday.  I almost got caught up.  Here are the ones I have finished so far:

 

The tutorial had all three of these blocks made the exact same way but I decided I wanted a little variety and made the center block with different fabrics for more contrast.

 

 

These two were also supposed to be identical...

 

I'm loving the way my fabrics are looking.

 

This piece was a lot of fun to put together!

 

I had promised myself I was going to only buy designer fabrics but when I saw these fat quarter bundles at JoAnn's I couldn't help myself.

 

Now the other projects that I finished...

 

 

The first craft project that I can remember doing was embroidery.  My mother taught me how when I was very young and I loved it.  I haven't done it in about 20 years but when I saw these I had to give it a shot!

 

I love all of the fun colors and anything with birds :)

 

A second attempt at the covered journals.

 

And finally, some new earbud pouches to add to the shop!

 

More to come!!!!

 

 

End of August

August is over and I feel as though I didn't accomplish much at all.  The amount of pictures and half finished projects cluttering up my office tell a different story.  Kale has started to crawl and now sleeps less than ever which cuts into my already limited sewing time.  My husband threw out the idea of possibly getting me set up in a brick and mortar store (my dream!) sometime in the foreseeable future.

Here are a few of the projects that I DID manage to complete:

The second set of blocks for the Super Penguin Quilt Along

 

I'm using all of my different scraps so it will be extremely colorful!

 

I decided to use muslin as the background.

 

I finally finished the pillow for the nursery.  I hand stitched the felt hedgehog applique a couple of months ago and couldn't decide what to do with it.  I thought this would be a good way to use up some of the Moda scraps I had left over from his quilts.

 

I arranged a trade with a lady on Etsy.  I'm getting an amazing Oklahoma necklace and a Happy Camper keychain and in return I sent her this cute carseat canopy.

 

She picked the pattern.

 

And the fabrics.  And I'm very happy with how it came out!

 

My items seem to be doing well at the boutique in Claremore.  After two weeks they had requested more of my small items.  So I sent them a bunch of Keyring Clutches and Earbud Pouches.

 

I also sent them two different styles of Trick or Treat Bags (which I forgot to take pictures of, oops).

 

And with my new found love of paper piecing I had to find a way to make some smaller items out of them.  I found a great tutorial on how to make a covered notebook and my first attempt came out pretty well.

 

These are only a few of the projects that I have completed.  I hope to have photos taken and posted of the rest tomorrow. 

 

Hope everyone has a great, safe Labor Day!

Halloween Treat Bags

I wanted to make something fun to send to Crafted to help people get in the Halloween spirit.  I picked up a bunch of fun fabrics at one of my local shops and sat down to figure out what to do with them.  Since I had only gotten a 1/4 yard of each print I was somewhat limited on what I could make.  I decided on two different styles of little trick or treat bags.

One is smaller and one continuous print but it has box corners to give it depth. 

The other is slightly larger with two different prints on the exterior.

I wasn't able to finish any of them last night.  I have the exteriors and the linings constructed and ready to sew together as soon as I get ribbon to use for the handles. 

Then its on to the Halloween quilt that I've been wanting to make for over a year :)

Quilt Along Love

I love all sew-a-long related.  I hadn't had much luck finding any this year.  The one I was participating in last year was put on hold due to a pregnancy and just started up again (which I am thrilled about!).  But one per month just wasn't going to cut it for me.  After looking around on some  of the blogs I follow I discovered quilt-a-longs...  I am now participating in the following:

Vintage Quilt-A-Long with Fabric Mutt
Zakka Sew-A-Long with LRStitched
Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew-A-Long with Bree @ My Crafty Crap
Super Penguin Quilt-A-Long with Pink Penguin

I'm definitely looking to make this list longer so let me know of any interesting ones that you come across! 

I have to admit that the Super Penguin Block 1 almost got the best of me. I have only done two quilts in the past and they were just 5 inch squares sewed together. I had no idea what I was doing at the time (and still don't). So when I came across the Super Penguin Quilt-A-Long and decided I HAD to participate, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After trying to figure it out on my own, wasting a lot of time, and much frustration, I was left with a slightly off kilter but okay looking section for my first block. After another false start, I decided to swallow my pride and Google how to use a pieced pattern. That helped a little and I managed to make yet another so-so looking section. Then came UTube...the next, and hardest, piece came off without a hitch, and now I'm hooked.

They still need a little bit of work and I wish I had chosen a more contrasting set of fabrics for the one on the right, but all in all I'm pretty pleased with how I have done on this so far.  There is one more section to block one that I hope to have made tonight so I can put the entire thing together.  I'm trying to use up some of my stash of scrap fabric so this will be a very colorful quilt by the time I'm done :)

I'm having some technical difficulties this morning (sounds better than I just can't figure it out, right?) so these pictures are not right side up.  They are the first two blocks for my Vintage Holiday Quilt.  I decided to go with traditional holiday fabrics.  They recommended using a light colored solid for the background but I couldn't resist this reindeer fabric when I saw it.  After looking at the flicker group photos and seeing other people's quilts, I may have to make another one using non-traditional Christmas fabrics. 

On a side note, I found these on Zulily the other day and decided I must try to make something similar!  I may even have to make a pair for myself...