Sew Much 2 Luv

Cuteness times two!!!

2012-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having sewing girly stuff?

I made these 2 little sun dresses

with matching hats for Sofie and Evie.

I used Butterick B5017.

I removed those huge flowers after I took these pictures.

It just felt like over-kill.

Sometimes simpler is better.

Those huge flowers will not go to waste.

I will definitely use them on something in the future!

You may have noticed the cute little guy

in the background.

That's my youngest grandson Gabriel :)

He wanted so badly to be in the picture

to model his new hair cut.

Yes....he really is that stinkin adorable!

A Treasure Found :)

2012-02-22T18:33:00.000-08:00

The other day my Mom gave me a bag of embroidery floss

and another little bag filled with cardboard quilt templates

of all shapes and sizes.

My Mom lives in a Senior apartment complex

and she has some truly amazing neighbors!

One woman is 90 years old

and doesn't look

a day over 65

and she goes dancing every week

at the Senior Center!

How cool is that?????

These bags of goodies were given to her by Irene.

She is one of my Mom's friends that had lost her eyesight

to the point that she could no longer quilt or embroider.

In the bottom of the bag of quilting templates

I found this little hand quilted "treasure".

Probably one of the last works of art

this sweet lady worked on.

I just couldn't leave it sitting in a bag somewhere.

So I decided to make it into a

mug rug for her to use and enjoy :)

I used clear mono filament thread

to stitch along the hand stitched lines.

At the time I didn't know

that this dear lady had lost her sight.

My Mom was so happy to see it like this and said

that Irene will be able to "feel" the pattern :)

And she said that Irene has 2 daughters who will love

to have this piece of their Mom's artwork one day as well.

I love it when God brings a plan together like that!

King Arthur's new throne :)

2012-02-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

I love my cat,

but I do not love cat hair on my couch.

So yesterday I finally got around to making

a proper Cat Mat for my kitty.

I bought 5/8 of a yard of blue checkered flannel.

It cost me less than $3.00.

I cut it in half and placed the flannel

with the good sides facing each other.

Then I cut 2 pieces of Warm & Natural batting the same size

and placed them under the 2 layers of flannel.

I sewed all the way around the edges with a 5/8" seam

leaving a 5" opening on one side for turning.

When you turn it right side out

the batting is now sandwiched

between the layers of flannel.

I slip stitched the opening closed.

I did a 5/8" top stitch all the way around the edge and

machine appliqued a heart that I cut out of red fleece.

The finished size is 20" by 25".

The entire process took about 30 minutes.

Super easy.

It took Arthur all of 5 minutes to check it out.....

and decide that he likes it.....

and take a cat nap on it :)

Mission accomplished :)

Friday Night Sew In #11

2012-02-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

So here is my work in progress from this Friday night.

I'm almost finished with this little dress for Evie.

I'm also making one for Sofie and

they will have matching hats....of course :)

And since I had so much fun making

the Hometown mug rug for my Mom,

I decided to make one for my daughter as well.

She recently wrote a lovely blog post

about how much she loves her home,

so that inspired me to make

her mug rug with a little house on it.

I added a fun little Sweetwater label

that says "Home Sweet Hometown" :)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

I'm so bad at keeping secrets!

2012-02-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

If you read my blog on a regular basis

(yes....all 4 or 5 of you)

you'll remember that when Amy and I attended

a recent quilt show,

we joked about making

matching quilted jackets to wear to the next

Quilt Festival with Regena and Denise.

Clearly....that is NEVER going to happen.

But it got me thinking about

some fun personalized cup cozies for us to have.

I ordered these custom labels from Sweetwater.

This cup cozy pattern is my own.

I was planning on making it a free tutorial

but it's not easy peasy

because there is A LOT of pinning

to get the rick rack just right.

Maybe I'll post the tutorial without the rick rack

in the very near future.

Would anyone be interested?

I was planning on giving these to the girls as a surprise,

but clearly I can't wait until July.

Sorry ladies....

you'll just have to get them early!!!!

All the fabrics I used are from earlier

lines from Sweetwater.

There's so much buzz about "Hometown" and "Reunion"

by Sweetwater, which I also love!

But the older lines are fantastic too!

Here is some fabrics from "Sunkissed".

I see some really cute sun dresses

for Sofie and Evie in the future!

That gray & pink fabric is mine :)

And these are from "Make Life".

And because I hate to pay full price for anything,

I love that I can find these older fabrics

at around 6 bucks a yard on etsy and ebay.

I loves me a good deal!

The fabric is such wonderful quality

and it just makes me want to sew something fun!

I also love that you can find some great

co-ordinating labels on the Sweetwater etsy shop.

This is starting to sound like a commercial.

I promise I don't get anything from Sweetwater.

Scraptastic Tuesday :)

2012-02-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

As you can see,

I'm still trying to use up every tiny morsel

of my Hometown scraps.

This 6" Dresden was supposed to be

part of a pillow for my living room,

but I decided to make a mug rug for my Mom instead.

I love to give random gifties.

It makes me happy :)

Hope you're all having a lovely Valentine's Day!!!

February Blessings :)

2012-02-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, that I'm not much of a Valentines' Day girl.

Maybe because my birthday is 5 days before,

and my daughter's birthday is 2 days after.

And did I mention that she was born

on our 3rd wedding anniversary?

So with all that going on,

we have enough love to celebrate!

For some reason this cute fabric called out to me

when I was at Joann's the other day.

I fussy cut it into strips and then did

a sort of log cabin block and made this fun mug rug.

I figure that I always do my best to

"Sew in Love" whenever I am making something crafty :)

So it's not necessarily Valentines

and there are hearts and polka dots....nuf said!

For my birthday this year

I asked my Mom, my daughter and my daughter in law

if they would want to join me and we could all go

to Balboa beach for the day.

We packed our lunches and headed over there.

The weather was fantastic.

One of the very few times it wasn't raining

on my birthday.

Gotta love California.

The boys had such a great time in the sand and water!

And my Mom loves any excuse to hang out

with her 6 great-grandchildren!

Little Miss Sofie is 9 months old already!

And little Miss Evie is 7 1/2 months old!

Makes my Nana heart happy to see the boys

playing so nicely together!

I know these little ladies will be

best friends forever too!

The boys were excited to ride the ferry across

to the other side.

David has made this trip many times,

but for the other boys it was their first time :)

What a perfect way to spend my birthday!

And if that wasn't enough,

this little blog of mine was featured in

the "Best of the Web" post

over at Pocketchange Lifestyle Blog!

How fun is that?

They also have a really cool "tips"

section you can check out HERE

Almost done....

2012-02-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

This was my first time working with a jelly roll

and I have to say that I can't believe how much "fuzz"

comes off of those pinked edges.

I've been using one of those lint rollers

with the sticky paper to roll my clothes

every day when I'm done sewing.
Just look at all this fuzz and thread on the rug

outside my sewing room.

And that's just from 1 day!

I'm tracking it all over the house on the bottom of my socks.

I have to wear socks when I sew

because my feet get cold and I can't sew with shoes on.

I know, I know,

it's just me right?

Well now that I have most of the quilt top done,

I can vacuum and dust

and have a few days of clean floors

while I wait for the fabric for the border and binding

to get here from etsy.

Now it's time to clean my kitchen

and finish the laundry :)

1934 progress report :)

2012-02-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well I have 6 of my 12 blocks completed.

I'm having such a good time making these

because each one is different.

I don't really enjoy doing the same thing over and over.

The 4 blocks I made yesterday didn't require the special

45 degree ruler that these remaining blocks needed.

I went to M & L Yardage yesterday and found this little beauty.

All I knew was that I needed a 45 degree triangle ruler.

This was the only one they had.

So I bought it and brought it home.

It had a little folded paper with it that tells you how to use it.

I read it.

I read it again.

and again.

Still couldn't figure out what to do with it.

And then it came to me.....

YOUTUBE.com!!!

I went to YouTube and found

the Creative Grids 45 Triangle Strip Ruler

and in a matter of minutes I was amazed

at all the cool stuff you can do with this!

If you are planning on working with 2 1/2" strips

in a quilt, I highly recommend getting one of these!

Sampler love :)

2012-02-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

Years ago, before my wonderful hubby

"retired" me to a full time domestic goddess,

I worked in an office.

Every year at Christmas time we would

be overrun by sugary sweets.

Of course the favorite was the Sees Candies Sampler.

Some of those chocolates were to die for.

Some.....not so much.

I always hated those people....and you know who you are,

who would take a bite and if they didn't like it

they'd put it back in the box with a bite missing!

Like someone is really going to eat that one!

THROW IT AWAY PEOPLE!!!

Anywhoo...I had a girlfriend with long acrylic nails

who would stab the chocolates from underneath with one of her nails

to see if she wanted to eat it or not..

Can you say "gross"?????

So....about the idea of a sampler,

I am totally loving this sampler quilt I'm working on!

Every block is different and that is making it

VERY exciting!

It's fun learning how to do these blocks

one at a time!

The hard part is that I'm using a jelly roll

so I'm limited by the fabrics that came in the roll.

I had one strip of fabric that had graphics

and words that I was hoping would work

on this block

but as you can see,

it's like the one that somebody

took a bite out of

and put back in the box.

I took the entire block apart and decided to use

some of the leftover pieces to make it work.

Even with using 2 different scraps

I still like it better.

I can't wait to make the next 8 blocks

but I need to pick up a different ruler

so they will have to wait until tomorrow.

It's raining here today and the hubby took my car to work,

(no motorcycle on rainy days)

so that means I have to stay home....and sew :)

Poor me.

Finish it up February?

2012-02-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is my birthday week and my fabulous hubby

gave me cash to spend any way I like.

So naturally I bought fabric.

But you KNOW I'm going to make

that money go as far as I can!!!

I was on ebay the other night

and on a whim I bid $24.99 on a jelly roll

of Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934".

And quess what? I won!

So this beauty showed up on Saturday

and I could barely control myself to get started.

I'm making the sampler quilt on the cover of the book.

I have all the strips pressed and cut

and now it's time to get started piecing.

While I was cutting my lovely fabric

it occured to me that I have several quilt tops done

and I haven't even begun to finish them.

I need to get my butt in gear

and get them all finished.

I'm hoping to finish them all in February.

We'll see how that works out...ha!

I also started on a new cross stitch pattern

last night. I do love me some chickens!

This pattern is fun because the chickens are in front

of a row of quilts!

How perfect is that?

Anyone else have projects to finish in February?????

An old romance, rekindled.......

2012-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

My love for scrapbooking never died,

it just kind of went to sleep for a while.

I used to spend every waking moment scrapping

and dreaming of page layouts while I slept.

My daughter called my craft room

"the store" because she knew if she needed anything

most likely I would have it here.

For the past 2 weeks

I've felt patterned paper calling out to me.

So last night I answered the call!

I did this 2 page spread of photos from 2006.

Although I love the super cute pages

with 1 photo and tons of embellishments,

those are just not practical for me.

I have WAY too many photos for that.

I'm only 6 years and 4 grandchildren behind

*sigh*

And.....

I finished my "Bee Line" cross stitch last night.

I do love me some bees :)

Happy Birthday Gena!

2012-02-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

This coming Saturday my dear friend Gena is having a birthday :)

This is a milestone birthday as she turns 25!

(for the second time :)

I bought this retro kitchen fabric months ago

just waiting for her birthday to finally get here!

Don't you see fabric sometimes

and you just hear it screaming someones name?

No?

Just me then....

I bought some sage green canvas

for the body of the apron

and used orange cotton pin dots for the trim.

I used one of my Sweetwater labels

that says "life is good" on the hip.

I added some large sage green rick rack

because you can never have too much rick rack right?

I sure hope she likes it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GENA!!!!

Work in progress

2012-01-31T10:43:00.000-08:00

Isn't she cute? Only 6" tall :)

My very first Dresden!

I'm making a pillow for my living room

out of the scraps of my Hometown fabrics.

This is all I have left and I'm going to use every morsel!!!

Take a look at this fantastic table topper my friend Denise

made for me! How perfect is that?????

I also fed my addiction just a bit more this week.

Look what the mailman brought me!

I had to browse around over at Cotton Charm

one more time and picked up some more fabric

and 3 more patterns and 26 yards of rick rack.

(does that seem like a lot of rick rack?)

I quickly organized my rick rack and now it's ready

for whatever project might need just a little "something" :)

I'm pretty sure I'm done shopping....

for a while......

really :)

Today's lucky winner is.....

2012-01-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Corrine

Who said:

"I would love to do a Christmas in July sew along or a Valentine's one and a St. Patrick's one and a Spring Showers one, and Cinco de Mayo one (ok, one every month). Even though I've only done a few small "getting to know my machine's" projects I've enjoyed having that extra push to sew something each week!"

I just want to say "Thanks so much" to everyone who joined

the After Christmas Sew Along!

I had such a good time and it was motivating

to see all your awesome projects :)

I appreciate that you took the time

to let me know if you'd be interested

in the Christmas in July Sew Along.

I am already working on lining up some more fun prizes!

July will be here before we know it!!!

Another little Hometown project :)

2012-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

Please tell me that I'm not the only person

who uses a hand towel as a place to park a curling iron?

It's amazing what you can get used to

when you see it every day.

I mean...I can sew.

I don't have little children running amok in my home....

well not every day anyways :)

Now that I'm feeling better,

I really don't have an excuse any more.

I find myself looking at my home in a whole new way.

There are so many projects yet to do.

I took the Hometown scraps that were leftover

from my bathroom curtain and made this little quiltie

for my curling iron to rest upon :)

Now I have even smaller scraps left over

and I can't bring myself to throw away even the tiniest piece.

I'm just so in love with it.

You'll probably be seeing it popping up

in all kinds of fun little projects over here :)

What's on your "to-do" list around the house

that you're planning on for 2012?

The Winner for Week #4 is........

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Shreena5!

Congratulations!!!

Please email me with your contact information

to claim your $75.00 Gift Certificate

to the Fat Quarter Shop!

I so envy you right now!!!!

I can't believe 4 weeks have already gone by!

Thanks so much to everyone who played along!

You made this such a fun experience :)

And a special "Thanks" to all the

generous donors who offered such great prizes

and discount coupons!

Last day of the Sew Along & A New Giveaway!!!

2012-01-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's hard to believe that 4 weeks

have already gone by!

Tonight I'll be picking the winner of the

$75.00 Gift Certificate from Fat Quarter Shop!

You have until 10:00pm to post your projects

on the Week #4 Flickr Group.

Also, just a reminder,

don't forget to use those coupon codes

from the very generous etsy shops before they expire!

I hope you guys have been having fun!

I've been so impressed with all the great

projects I've seen on flickr!

You are all so talented!

I'm going to miss hearing from you guys!

I hope you'll still stop by and say "hello" from time to time!!!

My hubby asked me to make 2 more

cup cozies for the ladies who work in his office.

These are super FTS (fun to sew)

so yesterday I made the pink "Hello Kitty"

and the green & brown one for them.

I made the red one for me :)

I do loves me some hearts!

And now for the Giveaway:

This has been so much fun that I was

planning on doing "Christmas in July Sew Along"

as a way to get a jump start on Christmas gifts.

I'd like to know who would be interested in joining.

I also need to know if any of you have taken advantage

of the coupon discounts to the esty shops.

I'll be giving away a cup cozy

very similar to the red one shown above.

You have 2 chances to win it.

#1 - leave a comment and tell me if you would be interested

in the Christmas in July Sew Along

#2 - leave a comment telling me if you used the coupons

from any of the etsy shops during this sew along.

That's it. Easy peasy.

You have until Sunday night at midnight to enter.

I'll announce the winner on Monday morning.

Some Hometown Happiness!

2012-01-26T13:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it is at your house,

but over here my hubby and I need to agree on

the decor inside the house.

(Maybe that's why after 11 years the house is still not finished)

The problem is that I love red

and he loves blue.

It's not very often I run across things that incorporate both.

So when I found these bath towels at Marshal's

a while back, I knew I had to have them.

It was a way to bring some red into our only bathroom.

And then when I saw this line of fabrics

by Sweetwater called "Hometown"

I could have sworn I heard angels sing!!!

It's the perfect fabric for this tiny room!

I used red for the valance

and I pieced 6 different fabrics for the side panels.

I used french seams so that it would look neat

from the front and backside.

I pressed the enclosed seams to one side

and stitched them down.

I'm pretty happy with the results :)

I have one more small project to work on

for this bathroom.

Hopefully I'll have it done tomorrow

and I can post pictures.

A little more "Cozy" love :)

2012-01-25T08:39:00.000-08:00

After making the ~~cup cozies~~ "drink sleeves" for the guys yesterday,

(seriously......if the guys heard me call them "cup cozies",

they'd never use them!)

I wanted to get busy making 3 more

for some special ladies in my life.

This time I used a Sweetwater pattern that I found here.

It's a very simple pattern and I love the scalloped edges :)

The pattern calls for velcro,

but I like pony tail eleastic and buttons better.

The pink one was made using 6 leftover charm squares

that I cut in half and pieced together.

I'm always trying to find ways

to use up charm squares in little projects.

These labels are from the Sweetwater etsy shop.

They are high quality iron on labels

that come in a variety of styles

and I love the way they add something special!

And speaking of using up charm squares......

What do you use the leftover charms for?

I'd love it if you would share your ideas!

Life is too short......

2012-01-24T12:35:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that January is almost over!

These cups were supposed to be Christmas gifts

for my hubby, my son and my son in law.

Clearly that didn't happen!

So today I finally got them done.

I found a fat quarter of this awesome

Robert Kaufman cigar fabric months ago on ebay.

I paid too much for it,

but I haven't seen it before or since then

and it had Cuban cigars on it and my hubs is Cuban!

So that makes me feel a bit better about buying it.

Anyhoo.....

the guys get together at our house every

Friday night and smoke cigars outside

and talk about "man stuff".

I was able to fussy cut 2 "Cuban" cigar boxes

for my hubby and son

and 1 "Big Wolf" for my son in law :)

I used fusible fleece to pad them

and lightweight denim for the backing.

I bought the cups at Joann's.

I had these great wooden buttons in my stash

that I bought over 25 years ago,

so it was fun to give them a good home!

My hubby is VERY serious about his coffee

and would never use a cuff on his ginormous coffee mug,

but in the summer time he would use this for iced tea.

I have one on my cup like this and it really works

well to keep the cup from "sweating" while the ice melts.

And now for the most fun part of all......

I had these labels made over at the Sweetwater label website.

You can have custom labels made

in any quantity you like....and they are inexpensive too!

I had their moto "life is too short to smoke bad cigars"

printed along with the secret initials of their "group".

I can't tell you what they stand for

as I have been sworn to secrecy myself :)

Well that's it for today.

I think these would make great Valentine's gifties

for the hard to sew for men in your life!

And don't forget to post your projects

for the After Christmas Sew Along Week #4!

This is the final week!

Friday Night Sew In #10....The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.....

2012-01-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last night was my 10th Friday Night Sew In and I spent

the majority of the evening working on the borders

of my Hideaway Quilt.

I ended up having an allergic reaction to butternut squash

that made me cut my evening a bit short.

(weird....I know)

I finished the borders this morning.

From a distance, it looks pretty cute.

I've decided that I'm going to show you the

"wonk factor" up close and personal.

WARNING:

If you are squeamish...

you may want to cover your eyes....

Here's the good....

the bad.....

and the ugly.....

I learned a lot during the process of making this quilt

and I'd like to think that if I made the same quilt again today,

it would come out better.

That's what learning new things is all about :)

When I was a little girl and first learning to sew,

my mom (the professional seamstress) used to say to me

when I was disappointed about the outcome

of a garment that I sewed that was a bit wonky:

"walk fast and no one will notice" :)

Ah....words to live by!

The Winner for Week #3 is.......

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Nana's Treasures!

Congratulations!!!

Please email me with your address info

and I'll get your fabric and quilt pattern off to you!!!

The flickr group for week #4

is now open!

I can't believe that we are already

heading into our 4th week!

I hope you guys are enjoying

your time sewing!

Don't forget,

this week's prize is the big one!!!!

Will you win it?

(I know I can't.....dang it!!!)

Good luck everyone!

I can't wait to see what you guys post this week!

What a Fabulous Friday!!!

2012-01-20T16:23:00.000-08:00

Today was such a special treat for me!

I went to the Road to California Quilt Show

with my wonderful friend Amy :)

Can you believe the detail work in this applique quilt?

I really want to try to do applique this year...

but certainly not something of this scale!

This quilt was amazing in person!!!

I managed to get a picture of Amy shopping.

I got in trouble twice for taking pictures

in vendor's booths.

I didn't want to steal their patterns,

I just wanted pics of their beautiful work,

but I totally understand why they have to say no to photos.

Amy and I spent some time admiring

the many quilted vests & jackets worn

by the ladies at the convention.

Maybe we should wear some next year.....?

Or not?

I picked up a few patterns

and a couple of templates

and received a free f/q with one purchase.

I had a wonderful time!

So many beautiful things to see and buy.....

but I promised the hubby I'd be good :)

And tonight is the Friday Night Sew In

so I'll be working on my Hideaway quilt.

And just a reminder

that I'll be picking a winner at random

for Week #3

of the After Christmas Sew Along

tonight at 10:00pm and posting the winner

tomorrow morning!

My Tyrolean Train Wreck

2012-01-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

I am finished with stage 1 of my Hideaway quilt.

I still need to sash it and add the borders

and then hand quilt and bind it.

I am using the "Hot Cross Buns" pattern

from the Schnibbles Times Two book.

This Hideaway fabric with the coo coo clocks,

tiny deer, and chalets in the Alps,

just reminds me so much of Germany.

Maybe that's why I love it so much.

Anyhoo.....

This pattern has made me realize (once again)

that I can not expect perfection.

I've had to embrace the "wonkiness".

*sigh*

My lovely Hot Cross Buns are more of a "hot mess"

or if you prefer...

"My Tyrolean Train Wreck".

I'm showing the photo from a distance

so you can't easily see the severe "wonk factor".

I dream of a day where every intersection

of my quilts will meet........

(it could happen...right?)

In the meantime I will just enjoy the process.

And for some reason I really love

these little piles of fabric goodness

that come from squaring up my blocks.....

maybe it's just me?

And I thought I'd share this little Christmas house

that I stitched last night :)

And for those of you that are playing along

or just following along with the After Christmas Sew Along,

be sure to check out the flickr group for week #3.

There is some serious crafty goodness happening over there!

I've bookmarked a few fun projects myself :)

Won't you be my neighbor?

2012-01-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have a few new little homes

to add to my growing neighborhood :)

I have to admit...they are addicting.

I love that I can stitch them

sitting next to the hubs in the living room

while he watches his "blow them up - everyone dies" movies.

My quilt will not have 365 little houses

and it will only be a lap quilt.

I have it all planned out in my head

and we'll see if it turns out the way I hope it will.

In the meantime I started cutting the pieces

for my Hideaway quilt.

I love this fabric.

Reminds me of Germany

and the co-ordinating gingham just makes me happy!

I'm going to start piecing it today.

I can't wait!!!

I also wanted to mention

in case you hadn't noticed the flashing button

on the right-hand side of my screen,

but I've joined the Craftsy Block of the Month.

It's a free online course and each month

she'll be showing us how to do two different

kinds of blocks.

At the end we'll put it all together

in to one large quilt.

How cool is that?

I'm going to learn paper piecing

curved piecing, Dresden's and much more!

All free! Being new to quilting

I'm super excited to learn new things!

I haven't shown pics of the first 2 blocks

because I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of them.

I'm planning on making my quilt smaller

than the 20 blocks she'll be teaching on.

That way, I'll watch the videos each month

but only make the blocks I really like.

If you want to learn how to quilt

hop on over there and register!

The winner for Week #2 is.......

2012-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Suddenly Sandra!

She made this adorable bib :)

Congratulations Sandra!

Please email me with your contact info

to claim your fabric bundle.

I am really enjoying seeing all the great projects

that you guys are posting!

And I love all the new blogs

I've been finding out about because of this sew along!

I hope you guys

are having as much fun as I am!

The flickr group for week #3 is now open!

The prizes for week three are

this super Rolie Polie by Riley Blake

AND this quilt pattern by Cotton Way

Remember, anyone can join in at any time!

You can post pics of any sewing project

you are working on this week.

Please remember to check out

all the great etsy shops

that are offering discounts during the sew along!

For more details and all the coupon codes

for the After Christmas Sew Along click HERE.

Hi...I'm Karen and I'm a fabric-aholic :)

2012-01-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

It was a good day yesterday indeed :)

Just look what the mailman brought me!

There is something magical

about a brand new piece of fabric.

So many possibilities!

Sometimes you just want to admire it,

hold it for a little while,

and never really use it for anything

because you're afraid you'll mess it up

and won't be able to get any more.....

or maybe that's just me?

I mentioned to you last week that I found a great online shop

called CottonCharm.com that is having an amazing sale!

Layer cakes as low as $16.75?

Charm packs as low as $4.25?

Jumbo rick rack .72 cents a yard?

Moda yardage as low as $3.44 a yard?

I know right?????

And Kelly, the owner is the sweetest person!!!

Everything in the store is on sale!

I may have ordered twice already......

I may have more in my online shopping cart right now......

How adorable are these snowmen?

Sorry...I bought the last of what she had...

Besides admiring my new beauties yesterday, I did manage

to finish another basket liner for Evie's room.

I only have 1 left to cover

and I should finish it today.

For those of you who are playing along

with the After Christmas Sew Along

you have until 10:00pm tonight to post your projects

for the chance to win the 1/2 yard Riley Blake fabric bundle

generously donated by Bratpacks Fabrics!

I'll post the winner here tomorrow!

Good luck and have fun sewing!!!!

I'm a Basket Case!

2012-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

My little granddaughter Evie is 6 months old now

and my daughter bought a group of baskets on Craigslist

months ago for Evies' room.

She asked me to make liners for them

and these baskets (and 2 more)

have lived in my sewing room since then.

Now that the holidays are over

I am finally getting these done for her.

I used scraps of fabric left over from Evie's crib bedding.

Isn't it adorable?

It's Sugar & Spice by Riley Blake.

It feels good to finally get these done

and be able to send them on to their new home

before Evie turns 16!

(2 down and 2 more to go :)

And speaking of getting things done,

how are you guys doing with the After Christmas Sew Along?

Have you been checking out the

flickr group for week 2?

There is some amazing talent out there

and so many inspiring projects.

And don't forget to take advantage of all the great discounts

available during the sew along from these great etsy shops!

They have added some new items that you don't want to miss!

Who is going to win that awesome fabric bundle from Bratpacks fabrics?

Remember, anyone can join the fun at any time

and it's not a talent competition,

the winners are chosen at random!

Will it be you??????

Week 2 - After Christmas Sew Along!

2012-01-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone!

Have you guys been checking out all the amazing

fabric fabulousness on the flickr group last week?

I'm so inspired!

This week I'll be working on some more placemats

from the Sweetwater book.

This time the placemats will be for me!

I found this fantastic fabric at Fabric.com.

My dining room is red and yellow so this fabric

was just screaming my name!

It's not your traditional Christmas colors,

but it's perfect for my home!

I can't wait to get started!

It's a new week with new prizes and

a brand new flickr group for week #2.

There are already new posts over there

so make sure to check them out!

The prize for week 2 is that super fun 1/2 yd fabric bundle!!!

Even if you missed week #1

you are welcome to join in at any time!

You have until Friday night at 10:00pm

to post your pics for this week's random prize drawing.

I can't wait to see what you talented ladies are up to next!

Don't forget to check out the fabulous etsy shops

that are offering discounts for the duration of the sew along!

Also, when you ladies are posting your photos on flickr,

please feel free to add links to your blogs

so that we can visit you and get more details on your projects!

I love discovering new blogs and making new friends!

Most of all....have fun sewing!

The heat is on!

2012-01-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas Eve,

I made Pumpkin Black Bean Chicken Chili

for 15 people in my large slow cooker.

It was a hit with the family and chili is going to be

our new "tradition" for Christmas Eve.

I wanted to make a large "hot pad" to protect my table

from the heat of the slow cooker.

I had some red and green modern prints left over

from the Christmas Charm swap I was in

and I had planned on simply placing the 5" squares

next to each other and sashing around them....

boring...I know.

Then when I was on the flickr group

looking at all the cool pictures you guys posted,

I came across the 12 Days of Christmas

made by "Simonedk"

and she was kind enough to post the link to the pattern!

http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/

It's such a cool idea!

Every block has the same number as the 12 days of Christmas

beginning with 1 piece and ending with a 12 piece block!

So here is my version of a very large hot pad!

I used Insul-brite for the batting

and simple muslin for the backing.

I like the way the stitching shows the details of the blocks.

Don't look too closely at the "wonky factor" of my little blocks.

It's far from a masterpiece, but that's good because

I won't feel bad if someone spills Chili on it next Christmas Eve :)

And you're probably thinking.....

that's great and all....

but who won this week's prize!!!!

The lucky lady is Homeheart!

Please email me with your name and address!

You can find the link to my email if you click on my name

on the upper left hand side of the page.

Congratulations!!!!

The flickr group for week #2 is open!!!

My geese were too fat....who knew?

2012-01-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

I really hope you are all having fun

with the After Christmas Sew Along!

It's been so great to see all your projects on the flickr group

and read all the lovely posts of encouragement and praise!

I have to say that the friends I have met through blogging

are truely the sweetest people ever!

Well I've been really enjoying sewing with no deadlines!

I'm so excited that I finished my quilt top yesterday.

I just love this fabric (Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater)

I used a pattern from the book "Schnibbles Times Two".

(just found the book on clearance HERE

and also amazing prices on fabrics as well!!!)

I would have been done sooner,

but it turns out that my flying geese were a bit "fat" shall we say?

They were supposed to finish out at 2" by 3 1/2".

Mine were 2" by 3 3/4".

Being new to quilting, maybe someone can explain to me

what is the purpose is of a "scant" 1/4" seam.

Why not just stick to a regular 1/4"?????

My lovely quilting foot is 1/4"....not a scant 1/4"!!!!

A scant 1/4" sounds to me like you go just shy of a 1/4" seam.

Well that's what I did and my geese were a full 1/4" too wide.

I had to resew 104 seams!

I re-did them at a full 1/4" and they worked out fine after that.

I also finished 3 more little houses for my new neighborhood :)

Don't forget to hop over and add your projects

to the flickr group for week #1.

You have until tonight to enter your pictures.

The winner will be posted here tomorrow!

Good luck and happy sewing!!!

Nähvergnügen :)

2012-01-05T09:08:00.000-08:00

Does anyone remember the Volkswagon commercials where

the catch phrase was "Fähr Vergnügend"?

The way they pronounced it sounded like Far Fig-noogen.

What that means in German is the joy of driving.

Well the After Christmas Sew Along is all about

the joy of sewing (Nähvergnügen)!
Thanks to Frollein Pfau for the correct spelling!
I was going to ask my mom, but she didn't answer her phone this morning :)

I've had some email questions about whether or not

you have to play along all 4 weeks.

Or if this is a talent competition.

Or if you have to complete a project before you post pictures.

Here's the run down.

You don't have to play along all 4 weeks.

You are welcome to join in whenever you like

even if this is the first time you've ever

sewn anything. The prizes will go to random winners,

not the craftiest or most amazing projects.

It's open to all skill levels.

You can post pictures of work in progress if you like.

The whole idea for this sew along

is to remember the joy of sewing.

To sew because you love to sew.

Make what you want.

No rules. No deadlines.

Just us girls,

getting together

having some fun

and encouraging each other.

So make sure you stop by the flickr group

and leave some comments and share the love.

I'm headed over there right now!!!

How's it going?

2012-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I managed to get the 52 flying geese units done

for my table top quilt.

Flying what?????

I know right?

All this quilting stuff is still so new to me

but I'm having fun learning new things.

Gotta love youtube.

You can find out how to do anything there!

And this Countdown to Christmas fabric

just makes me happy!

Hopefully today I'll have some more time to work on it.

Have you checked out the flickr group yet?

There are some fun projects showing up over there!

Don't forget to add yours!

You have until Friday night to post your pics!

A while back I shared a link to a fantastic shop called

Crazy Annies Stitchin .

She has amazing deals

on cross stitch charts, floss and fabrics.

Well, she was having a giveaway on Facebook where you had to let her know what your favorite chart was on her site and if you won, she would send it to you. Well I was 1 of the 3 lucky winners! Not only did she send me the fun chart I wanted from Heart in Hand, but ALL these other goodies too!!! Look at all that floss! And all those charts! I was overwhelmed for sure!

If you love cross stitch, check out her shop.

Her prices are 50% off retail and she has great sales on top of those discounts as well!

Up until recently the only thing I ever won

was "honorable mention" in a poster contest

at the Library in 2nd grade.

I just figured I wasn't the "lucky winner" type.

But you know what?

If you never enter these giveaways, you never win!

So get those pictures posted for the After Christmas Sew Along

and it could be you that wins this time!

Never give up....Never Surrender!!!

2012-01-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

I did it!

I made 2 little houses that are actually 4" square!

The roof lines are good.

The spacing is good.

I actually enjoyed sewing them by hand!

(confession: I did the sashing by machine)

One of my favorite movies is "Galaxy Quest".

Being married for almost 32 years to a Star Trek fan

makes Galaxy Quest an even funnier movie.

There are so many references to Star Trek.

You can't watch it and not have the

"Never give up, Never Surrender"

stuck in your head.

It's hilarious!

If you've never seen it,

I highly recommend it :)

So what does that have to do with sewing?

Well I was about to give up and surrender

to these tiny houses.

My 2 earlier attempts were WAY beyond wonky

and were no where close to 4" squares.

If you remember, I made the first one by hand.

I stitched the 2nd one on my machine

and even my hubby asked me

"what happened to that 2nd one?"

You know it's bad when a man notices these things!

I tried sashing them in cute polka dots

but even that couldn't save them.

So maybe the 2 little houses on Wonky Lane

will become coasters for my sewing room.....

And today is the first "normal" day of the New Year.

The hubby is back at work and my daily life returns to normal.

I have all the pieces cut and ready to go

for my Countdown to Christmas table quilt.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have pictures to show you.

Hope you're all getting started on your projects!

I'll be checking the flickr group for pictures.

Tiny Houses Quilt Along - 1st House :)

2012-01-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

This is my first tiny house.

I'll admit that when I started the hand sewing,

I had already decided

that I was not enjoying the process at all.

But oddly, by the time it was done,

I fell in love with my little house!

I'm going to try the next one on my sewing machine

and see if I like it better.

I have prefection issues...I'll admit it.

But the "wonky factor" seems to lend a kind of charm.

We'll see if this little house is the first of many

or if I end up making a mug rug out of this one

and call it a day.

Week 1 - After Christmas Sew Along

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve!

So who is ready to sew?

I know I am!!!!

I'm getting ready to start sewing this table top quilt
from the book "Scnibbles Times Two".
I'm using 2 charm packs of Countdown to Christmas
by Sweetwater.

Here's the link to the flickr group for week #1.

You have until Friday night to post your pictures.

I will announce the winner of week #1

here on Saturday :)
I can't wait to see your pictures!
Feel free to let us know about your blog posts
so we can all visit your blogs and read about
your progress!

Good luck and happy sewing!!!!

May the blessings, bless us all!

2011-12-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

You're probably thinking....

"hey! You're not supposed to start the Sew Along

until January 2nd!"

Well I can't win any of the prizes,

so I can start whenever I want....neener neener!

I made a set of 6 place mats for my wonderful DIL out of these

bright modern prints from Robert Kaufman.

I used a pattern from my new book that I received just this week.

It's Sweetwater's Simple Home and it's 55% off

over at Connecting Threads.

It has 35 projects in it and I'm already trying to decide

which one to do next!

About 15 years ago we were at church one Sunday and a young girl was being baptized.

Her uncle was there and asked the Pastor if

he could say something after the baptism was over.

So immediately after the baptism, the Pastor had the uncle

come up to the microphone to share what was on his heart.

You could see that this man was not used to public speaking

and that in the emotion of the moment, he had completely forgotten what he wanted to say.

He stood there quiet for a moment and then he said,

"May the blessings bless us all!"

It was so cute!

It was clearly not what he had intended to share

that afternoon, but we liked it so much in our family

that we say it often :)

So this is one of those instances where that quote

comes into play for us again.

My son was doing an estimate last week

and called me to ask me

if I knew who Robert Kaufman was.

Hello? Um YES!!!

Turns out that's where he was

and he mentioned that his mom was into quilting

and the guy hands him this fat quarter "mega" bundle

to give me!

Yeah....40 fat quarters!!!!

My wonderful son brought me this lovely stack

on Friday night and now I've made a set of

Christmas place mats for his little family.

So once again,

the blessings have blessed us all!!!

I wish you all a VERY blessed New Year!

2012 After Christmas Sew Along

2011-12-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

Well here we go!

I'm so excited about all the generous people who are

supplying us with discount codes and fabulous prizes

to make this a really fun month of sewing!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

The Details:

The fun starts Monday January 2nd.

#1. Sew anything you like.

It can be Christmas themed or not.

I'll be sewing Christmas decor for my home

since I never have the time to do that.

Most of us are constantly sewing for others

and seldom get the chance to sew for ourselves.

You can even get a jump start on gifts

for next Christmas if you want to.

It's totally up to you.

#2. Every Monday, begining January 2nd for 4 weeks,

I will post a link to a flicker group

for you to share photos of your creations.

Each Monday there will be a completely new group

for that week only.

A winner will be chosen at random every Friday evening

and I will post the winner on

this blog on Saturday.

You can join in at any time!

That's it....easy peasy!

Just have fun!!!

The following is a list of fabulous etsy shops

that are offering discount codes

to all participants during the course of the Sew Along:

Zipit.etsy.com (coupon code) SEWMUCH2LUV is good for 15% off her already amazing prices on zippers!

I buy all my zippers from Zipit!

Yardbirdfabrics.etsy.com (coupon code) 20SEWMUCH2LUV is good for 20% off their entire shop!

They have lovely fabrics! Make sure to check them out!

LittleRedCottage.etsy.com (coupon code) SEWMUCH2LUV20 is good for 20% off the entire shop!

She has the cutest buttons and trims!

Her prices are already great and she has so much cute stuff!

Swellcloth.etsy.com (coupon code) SEWALONG10 is good for 10% off the entire shop!

Check out the gorgeous selection of fabrics and try not to drool!

Bratpacksfabrics.etsy.com (coupon code) JANLUV25 is good for free shipping on orders of $25.00 or more! She has a fantastic assortment of fabrics, notions and diaper making fabrics that you won't want to miss!

Sweetbobbinsfabric.etsy.com (coupon code) SEWALONG is good for 10% off the entire shop!

She has great fabrics, including holiday fabrics

and even diaper making fabrics!

Please note: these coupon codes do not include shipping (except where expressly noted)

And now on to the prizes!

WEEK #1

One lucky winner will receive this fantastic set of quilted

retro 50's coasters made by Regena of The Distracted Domestic!

She's got a really fun and informative blog so be sure to click the link and show her some love!

Week #1's winner will also receive a $15.00 gift certificate to Zipit!

It's really the only place you'll ever need for zippers!

How cool is that?

WEEK #2

One lucky winner will win this gorgeous 1/2 yard bundle of Riley Blake's Summer Song fabrics

from Bratpacks Fabrics on etsy!

You will receive 6 half yard cuts (3 yds total)

This fabric just makes me happy!

WEEK #3

One lucky winner will receive this Riley Blake's Rolie Polie

of Lola's Posies by Lila Tueller (24) 2 1/2" x 44" strips

Week #3's winner will also recieve this quilt pattern

by Cotton Way called Abudantly Blessed.

WEEK #4

One lucky winner will receive a $75.00 gift certificate

to the Fat Quarter Shop!

OMG!!!

Can you believe that?

I'm still amazed at their generosity!

Make you sure you hop on over to the Fat Quarter Shop

and start daydreaming about how you'll spend that $75.00.

Someone is going to win it.....it might as well be you!

And even if you don't win,

they are having a huge sale, so check it out!!!

Well, there you have it!

I personally can't wait to get started!

I've been cleaning out my sewing room and organizing my fabrics and patterns.

I just love the idea of sewing for the pure joy of it

and not having any deadlines or pressure!

So if you're interested in playing along,

grab a button and spread the word!

And if you have the time,

leave me a comment

and let me know what you are planning on sewing.

week 1 link here

week 2 link here

I got sidetracked.....

2011-12-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

It was my intention yesterday to clean up my sewing room

after all the sewing I've been doing for Christmas.

It's hard to even know what is under all the piles

of fabric that are covering every surface!

But I got sidetracked......

more than once yesterday.

Naturally.....

I decided to make these corduroy jumpers

for Evie and Sofie.

I used New Look 6016.

Then I realized that in the corner of my room

I've had these LARGE 24" pillows just waiting to be covered.

I was supposed to make the covers for my lovely DIL

months ago, and it just kept getting overlooked.

So it seemed to make sense to get them done

and make room by sending them to their new home :)

And then the mailman brought me these 2 gorgeous

sewing books that I purchased for 55% off

over at Connecting Threads.

So I had a bowl of pumpkin soup and some iced tea

and sat down to drool over my new babies!

I'm embarrassed to show you what a mess I've got going on

over here. Looks like a fabric bomb exploded in here!

I'm hoping that later today I'll have a nicely organized

sewing room and I'll finally find my missing seam ripper!

How can I start the After Christmas Sew Along in this chaos????

What does your sewing room look like after the holiday sewing?

A Few More Christmas Gifties :)

2011-12-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite time of year.

For our family, we don't see the Christmas tree until

Christmas Eve and we keep it up for at least 2 or 3 weeks after Christmas.

While others are taking down their decorations,

I get to really enjoy the beauty of it all

with no stress, just joy :)

I hope you have all enjoyed your time with

family and friends!

I just wanted to share a few more gifties

that I made and couldn't show until now.

I cross stitched the little Doxie and made it into

a zipper bag for my dear friend Amy :)

For my friend Denise, I made a "mug apron" organizer.

They are great for holding scissors, pens, & crafting supplies!

I used Simplicity 2450.

For my beautiful DIL, I made these fun potholders :)

I just fell in love with the fabric!

Right now I'm working on getting all the info together for

the After Christmas Sew Along.

We've got some great prizes from some very generous people

so look for that info to be posted on Friday!

Now I can show you a some of my Christmas projects :)

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Now that all the Christmas gifties have been recieved,

I can share the projects that I was busy working on!

I made these 2 messenger bags for my

beautiful daughter and beautiful daughter in law :)

I used this super FTS (fun to sew) pattern

by Keyka Lou! Her patterns are full of

photographs and although this messenger bag

has tons of wonderful details,

it really is simple to do when you follow

her easy to understand instructions.

You can click on the Keyka Lou button on the right

sidebar to go to her site and check out her

awesome bag patterns!

I also made the girls matching make-up bags

from my tutorial.

My nephew's girlfriend is a big fan

of Disney and she loves to bake!

I wanted to make her

a Minnie Mouse inspired apron

that was fun and didn't look frumpy.

I used the "Pretty Ditty Apron"

by Jamie Christina.

She LOVED it!

Isn't she gorgeous????

(My nephew is pretty handsome too....just sayin:)

And for those of you who were sweet

enough to ask...

Yes! They boys loved their Octo's :)

I'm sure the light up laser swords may have

had something to do with that,

but they did sleep with them

and bring them to church the next day

wearing their Octo-Squad t-shirts!

Made my Nana heart happy :)

I'll show more projects and photos from Christmas

tomorrow. And stay tuned for exciting details

on the After Christmas Sew Along that I will

post about this week!!!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!!

2011-12-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you to the "Octo-Squad"!!!!

They stand ready to serve and protect!

They fight crime and injustice!

They have laser swords that light up and make sound effects!

(I was so excited when I found the swords at the dollar store!)

They have masks and capes with their initials on the back!

(the fact that their initials are the same

as the boys who own them

is completely coincidental)

Meet George!

Meet Carl!

Meet Donald!

Meet Eddie!

For the Octo-Squad I used this free pattern from the Moda

website and you can find it here.

I even made Octo-Squad t-shirts for the boys!!!

I drew the Octopus on paper and then traced it onto

white fleece and used wonder under to steam it to the t-shirts.

Then I stitched them onto the t-shirts so that they wouldn't come

off in the wash. I used fabric paint for the wording.

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas!

I can't wait to get to church this morning and see the boys

in their new t-shirts!

Nana's super powers :)

2011-12-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Last year for Christmas I made 3 sets of tiny felt dinosaur playsets for my 3 oldest grandsons.

You can read more about them here.

I also made them canvas bags with their initials on them

to keep their tiny dinos contained :)

Last week while visiting the boys at their home,

I was told that some of the dinos

needed Nana's super powers of restoration.

It seems the boys have been watching a show called

"Kung Fu Dino Posse".

I know right?

The kung fu hasn't worked out so well for these guys!

You might think it makes me sad to see them like this,

but just the opposite is true.

I love love love that they actually play with them!!!

I've got no problem making them a few new friends :)

You might be wondering how in the world

can I compete with the

Kung Fu Dino Posse?

Well you will just have to wait and see......

here's a sneak peek of the goodness to come!!!!

Hope you're all having a fabulous week before Christmas!!!!

Friday Night Sew In #9

2011-12-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

First of all I just wanted to let you know

that I have exciting news

about the After Christmas Sew Along!

I've already had some wonderful responses from some

very generous friends

and merchants who will be donating

some of the prizes!

I'll have more details soon so make sure and check back often!

In the meantime, grab a button

and share the fun!!!

The more, the merrier!!!

On Friday night I was planning on sewing A LOT......

but I ran out of energy after I finished sewing this

business card case for my buddy Marcia's birthday :)

As soon as I saw this fabric I knew I had to use it

to make something for her.

She loves pink and she loves to sew!

I finished the tiny binding by hand and then sewed on the snaps.

I also started machine quilting another Christmas gift,

but the recipient reads this blog,

so I can't even show the fabric or it will give it away.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

The After Christmas Sew Along!

2011-12-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

"After Christmas"??????

It's not even Christmas yet!

You're probably thinking that I'm crazy right about now,

but there is a method to my madness.

If you are anything like me, you are WAY behind on your Christmas crafting and sewing again this year. And all those really fun projects that you wanted to make for yourself and your own home got pushed to the backburner while you try to crank out those Christmas gifts for everyone else.

I've been ooohing and ahhhing over all the cute table runners and Christmas quilts I've seen all over the sewing blogs and wished in my heart

that I had the time to make one or two of them for me :)

That's when the idea hit me!

Instead of an After Christmas Sale......

why not have an After Christmas Sew Along!

It's the perfect time of year to pick up holiday fabrics and notions at rock bottom prices and after Christmas you don't have the stress of getting things made by a certain deadline!

So here's the plan:

The fun starts January 1st and runs through the 26th.

I will set up a flicker group for you to show off your fabulousness :)

And YES...there will be prizes!!!!

Every Friday in January I will pick a winner at random from the flicker group and I'll post the winners the next day.

Even if you don't win a prize from me,

you'll finally have some new Christmas goodness for yourself!!!

So who is with me????

I'll post all the details next week so stay tuned

and grab a button for your blog to share the love :)

For all the details click HERE

Double the fun!

2011-12-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

What a fun project for a rainy day :) I had made a tiny version of this hat a few months back for little Ms. Evie to take on her trip to Michigan, but she's grown quite a bit since then and she needs a larger size. And now that the cold weather has actually come to Southern California, little Ms. Sofie needs a warm hat as well. I'm going to give them their hats this week instead of waiting for Christmas since we are having cold days and very cold nights right now. I can't wait to see them with their new hats on!

The pattern I used is McCalls M4682 view C. I made some big flowers to add some extra girly goodness :) Having 2 baby girls to sew for is really double the fun!!!

2012 Tiny House Quilt Along

2011-12-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have been drooling over all the gorgeous quilts I've seen on many different blogs that are the result of "quilt-alongs". I really wanted to find one to join in 2012 so that at the end of next year, I too would have a lovely new quilt just for me. I stumbled across this fantastic idea for a quilt that will be made up of 365 tiny 3" houses made from scraps so that no 2 are alike. These little houses are stitched together by hand so that's perfect for me to do while the hubs watches TV in the evening. The houses will be sashed together into a large quilt with one large house in the center (since 2012 is a leap year). This idea is the brain child of a very talented crafter named Jeanneke. Her blog is written in both Dutch and English. If you want to play along, just jump over HERE and click on her email near the top of the page to let her know that you want to join in the fun! On December 15th she will send you the pattern for the tiny houses. I can't wait to get started :)

Friday Night Sew In #8

2011-12-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first of two FNSI's for December.

It was fun and productive!

I now have both little jackets done for Sofie and Evie

for Christmas.

Evie's jacket is size 6 months and Sofie's is size 1.

Sofies's jacket is corduroy on the outside and soft flannel inside.

I used the same "Little Uptown Girl" pattern

by Make It Perfect.

I really love this little jacket :)

This time I left an opening on the bottom hemline

to make turning the jacket easier than pulling all

the bulk of the jacket through one tiny sleeve.

I closed the opening with a slip stitch.

I'm hoping to get a photo of the girls

in their jackets after Christmas.

I can almost see their cute little faces smiling back at me!

What did you work on?????

Have you joined the "Occupy" movement?

2011-12-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day to "Occupy Your Sewing Room" :)

It was fun to set aside a day to get some projects done.

I made this little jacket for my youngest granddaughter Evie.

I used "Little Uptown Girl" pattern by Make It Perfect.

The pattern comes with all the sizes from 0 to 5

which is awesome

but I have to admit (I'm lazy) and I don't enjoy tracing

all the pattern pieces onto wax paper before I can actually cut.

The way the pattern is done there are pieces on both sides

of the paper so you can't cut into it even if you wanted

the pattern for only one size.

It went together fairly quickly, but this pattern is for an intermediate to advanced sewer.

You have to have some knowledge on how things go together and how to finish certain things.

At the end of the project you sew both the outer

jacket and the lining together.

Then you pull the jacket to the right side

through one of these tiny sleeves.

It kind of reminded me of childbirth.

I love the finished project! I can't wait to see Evie's little face

smiling back at me from under that hood!

I have to cut the entire pattern again in the next size up

for little Ms. Sofie :)

Last year I made this fun Christmas apron for my daughter.

And yesterday I made this sassy Christmas apron for my daughter in law :)

I used the "Pretty Ditty Apron" pattern by Jamie Christina.

It's such a figure flattering apron.

I just might need to make one for myself next.....

It makes me happy to think of them making breakfast on Christmas morning wearing

these fun aprons :)

All in all it was a productive day!

I still have so much to do!

Hopefully I'll have more to show you tomorrow because tonight

is the Friday Night Sew In!

Are you playing along????

Just stitchin along :)

2011-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to fall in love with a pot holder?

Because I have to say....I'm truly "smitten" with this pair.

I don't know if you know this or not,

but I have a few chickens and roosters that show up

in my kitchen decor.....

just a few.....:)

I made all of these to list in my Etsy shop tomorrow morning.

The others that I had in the shop have already sold

and the 2 I made last week are spoken for.

After I list these, that will be it for this year

in the shop. I need to focus on Christmas gifties

for the family and friends.

I also had an order for 30 tissue covers

for a purple and gray wedding.

My customer told me that she is making favor bags out of muslin

and stamping the word "love" on the front.

So when I went to the fabric store, I grabbed a bolt of muslin

and started browsing around for things that would co-ordinate.

She likes vintage, so I thought using muslin colored linen

would tie in with that vintage feel and do my best

to find purple and gray fabrics that would appeal

to a lot of different personalities.

Hopefully she'll be happy.

Tomorrow I'll be "occupying my sewing room" all day.

I have projects already cut and ready to sew.

Also, the Friday Night Sew In is this week so that will give me

another opportunity to get some serious sewing done.

What are you trying to get done before Christmas????

What are you up to????

2011-12-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but I'm behind on my Christmas sewing schedule (as usual) again this year!

I found out about this fun blog event from my buddy

Cherise's blog "Sewingly Along".

What a fun way to spend an entire day sewing for Christmas

and having a chance to win some fun prizes as well!

First prize is a jelly roll of Strawberry Fields!

I so LOVE that collection!!!!

Click on the blog button on my sidebar and jump on over to

Cat Patches to read about the simple rules to play along

and lets all get some of those projects checked off our lists!

Tea Monster

2011-12-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 1/2 months I haven't consumed any food or drinks

that were not prepared in my own home.

I've been seeing an amazing nutritionist

that has been helping me to heal my body with

organic, non-inflammatory foods.

One of the biggest hurdles for me has been making sure

I'm prepared when I leave the house.

I just saw him yesterday and he gave me some new tools to take this new lifestyle to the next level...

out into the world! *gasp*

So in my on-going efforts to be prepared for most situations,

I decided that I needed a fun way to carry around

my tea bags and Stevia.

And what better way to make things fun than to have a

smiling Tea Monster in my purse????

I don't know about you...but that just makes me happy!

How about some potholders?

2011-11-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

Let's be brutally honest here....

Most of us have some pretty nasty potholders.

A little burned at the edges and covered in

*ew* old crusty spaghetti sauce or melted on cheese! (or both!)

Isn't it time for a fresh pair?

This is a pattern I've shared with you before and you can find the free download HERE.

I just love the sew4home website! So many cool free patterns.

Anyhoo....

this is super FTS (fun to sew) and they come

together fairly quickly.

I also love that you slide your hands inside these potholders

so I guess you'd actually have to call them oven mitts :)

And how about making some as Christmas gifties?

Make a few....you still have time!!!

I quilted these in a 1" grid pattern.

And I quilted these in 1" vertical stripes.

That's another thing I love about this pattern!

You can do whatever you like as far as the quilting goes!

How fun is that????

David's Quilt is done!

2011-11-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

David's birthday party is tomorrow morning and I'm very happy to say that I'm done with his quilt and matching pillowcase :) I can't wait for him to see it. He's 4 years old and still gets excited about things like this and he picked out the fabric so I know he's going to be happy!

The fabric is 100% organic cotton from Robert Kaufman's "Ready Set Go" collection :)

I used size 8 Perle cotton in co-ordinating colors to hand quilt it.

I love the patterns it made on the backside :)

And of course, I stitched a little note onto the back so that David can always remember that Nana stitched lots of love into his quilt :)

Only 4 Saturdays until Christmas Eve!!!!

2011-11-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

I almost had an anxiety attack when I typed the title today!

4 Saturdays????

I feel sooooo far behind. I need to get my planner out and go over my "to do" list!

I am happy to say that I finished this fun table topper for my Etsy shop this afternoon and I'll list in the next few days. I have a few more new items to list as well.

I realized that I enjoy the sewing , but I don't enjoy taking photos and resizing photos and listing items on Etsy....hmmmmmm

A few weeks ago I won 14 Christmas fat quarters and I was super happy to have them!

I used 2 of them on this topper.

The white background actually has little dots and dashes that remind me of snowballs.

The red and white stripe seemed perfect for the binding :)

I used solid red for the backing. Being new to quilting, I should have used red thread in the bobbin so that my wonky quilting wouldn't be so glaring on the backside.

I made a mental note for myself for next time :)

The pattern I used is called "Delightful" by Pieces of My Heart".

I used Christmas ribbon on the 3 ornaments

instead of using co-ordinating fabrics.

This is the f/q bundle I won!

Man I love the internet!!!

The rest of the fabrics for this topper came from my charm squares that I received from the Charming Christmas Swap. I "borrowed" my friend Amy's photo because I forgot to take a picture of mine. We received 56 different charms squares

and I used all the pinks and teals and few co-ordinating pieces for this project.

Now what will I do with the rest????

This photo was "borrowed" from my friend Amy :)

Friday Night Sew In #7

2011-11-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Last night's FNSI was totally fun! I was able to chat online with my buddy Regena while we were both working on our sewing projects! Hanging out with her is always a blast! Her blog is loads of fun too! You should go check it out

"The Distracted Domestic"

She's doing an apron giveaway challenge!

Go on over and check it out.....

I'll wait :)

She's fun, right?

So this is as far as I got last night.

I need to quilt this little table topper and bind it.

Maybe tomorrow after lunch I'll get a chance. We'll see :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Friday night!!!

I guess I needed stitches.....

2011-11-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

I was a bit bummed that I wasn't as productive this last month as I would have liked to be.

But then I realized that I've been doing a lot of cross stitch

for the holidays! That counts too right?

I just finished the "blessings abound" last night and it will be the focal point of a pillow for my couch.

I also completed 6 Christmas ornaments and a snowman that will also be used in a pillow.

I guess sometimes the stitching bug just hits me and my sewing machine has to be patient and wait it out. I'm almost done with the hand quilting on David's quilt and then I can bind it. Woo Hoo!

Clearly I'm not the lazy deadbeat I thought I was...

I just needed stitches :)

Preppin' for Friday Night!

2011-11-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

I recently received my 56 charm squares from the "Charming Christmas Fabric Swap" and after sorting through them

I realized that I had made 3 piles.

1. Fabrics that I loved :)

2. Fabrics that are cute, but not really my style

3. Fabrics that I would "gift" to someone else.

I'm pretty much a red and green girl when it comes to Christmas decor

The pinks and teals are very cute, but not really me.

So I rounded up all those fabrics and decided to make a

table topper for my Etsy shop. And since tomorrow night is the Friday Night Sew In,

it seems like a perfect time to do this project.

I laid out my fabrics and took a photo to remember my placement

and tomorrow I'll be ready to sew it all together!

This is the pattern I'm using.

It's called "Delightful" by Pieces of my Heart.

Wish me luck!!!!

Under Pressure....

2011-11-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

So I finally decided how I wanted to quilt the Hepto-copter quilt.

I got some great suggestions to machine quilt some

and hand quilt some.......

but I just love the look and feel of handquilting,

I seem to do my best work "under pressure"

so true to form, I'm hand quilting the entire quilt.

It needs to be done by Friday night

because David's party is Saturday morning.

No problem....right?

I did manage to get the 6 large squares done last night

while the hubby snoozed on the couch. (poor guy has a cold)

I have a feeling that David will be happy with it.

Isn't he adorable?

And yes, Evie is standing in front of him.

And yes, she is only 4 months old.

I guess someone forgot to tell her

that 4 month old babies don't stand up :)

David's "Hepto"copter Quilt :)

2011-11-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

My adorable grandson David is going to be 4 next week and his Mommy wanted to get him some new organic cotton bedding for his room. Most of what you can buy already made is pretty boring. I told my daughter that some of the top fabric designers are now offering organic cotton yardage. So I emailed her some options and after showing them to David, these are the prints he picked out! He loved the airplanes and "hepto"copters :) These prints are from the Robert Kaufman's "Ready, Set Go" collection. I added the solid orange organic cotton because orange is David's favorite color.

I didn't have a pattern for this quilt. I just drew up a sketch and did some math and it kind of "evolved" as I was going along. I made 9" blocks and added 3" sashing and then a 4" boarder. The finished size will be 42 x 54. I'll be backing it and binding it in solid orange. Now it's quilt sandwich time and my problem is that I really want to hand quilt it, but can I finish it by Saturday? I guess I'd better get busy!!!

Guess who won the apron????

2011-11-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

I just want to say "Thank You" to everyone who shared what they were thankful for.

It really touched my heart to read them!

The winner is:

Teresa !

who wrote:

"You sound like you have truly been blessed.

I feel most blessed by the love of God and having a wonderful family to share my life with.

Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches"

Quick Tip for Tuesday :)

2011-11-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

With the holidays quickly approaching I was contemplating buying new glasses, but I really don't have that in my budget right now. My glasses looked like someone had used them and then just put them back in my cabinet. I tried scrubbing them and I even tried my secret weapon - the magic eraser - but nothing seemed to be working. The hard water and dishwasher detergent residue left them looking "less than appetizing". I'm embarrassed to say that one actually looked like someone had a nice tall glass of milk and didn't even wipe it off before storing in my cabinet.

*EW*

I should have taken "before" and "after" pictures so you could really get the full effect, but I'll be honest, I'd rather poke myself in the eye than share that horror with you!

So HOW in the world did I get these glasses to sparkle like new you ask?

I soaked them in a bucket of regular white vinegar.

I paid $2.79 for a gallon of Target brand white vinegar and then after soaking them for about an hour or so I washed them with dish soap and warm water.

I decided to leave the one glass that looked like it had milk in it soaking in the vinegar over night.

Now all my glasses are holiday ready

and my tea kettle is de-limed

and the tray under the water dispenser in my refrigerator door is bright and clean and free of hard water deposits........

"So Thankful" Apron Giveaway!

2011-11-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that we are 7 Saturdays away from

Christmas Eve already!

This has been such a wonderful year for me personally and I have SO much to be grateful for!

I turned 50 this year. We welcomed 2 new baby girls into the family, just 6 weeks apart! It's going to be so much fun watching them grow up together! My mom just celebrated her 75th birthday in October. I've started on a journey of healing my Fibromyalgia through nutrition that has been crazy hard but has had truly amazing results so far. Just in this month alone 3 of my very favorite "boys" are celebrating their birthdays (one of them today.....Happy Birthday Elijah!!!) I have the most wonderful husband. He is truly my best friend. My family actually enjoys being together and we all love each other so much! We eat lunch together every Sunday after church.

My list could go on and on!

And I'm so thankful to all of you who read my blog !

It's so much fun to read your comments! I appreciate you all so much!

I've made some truly wonderful friends through this blog

and I am thankful for each of them

and what they mean in my life :)

And so with a thankful heart I've decided to give away this apron to one lucky winner!

Giveaway Rules:

1. You must be a follower of this blog and let me know that in your comment.

2. Leave a comment telling me what you are grateful for this year.

That's it! Easy Peasy.

You only need to enter once

and the winner will be chose at random.

You have until Wednesday November 9th to enter.

The winner will be announced Thursday November 10th.

Oh Thank Heaven....for little girls :)

2011-11-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you how much I love sewing for little girls???

Don't get me wrong, I love sewing dinosaurs and fun boy stuff too, but I've been waiting 7 years to get a chance to make some girlie goodness :)

I made this corduroy jumper for Sofia. I needed eight 1" buttons and being ~~cheap~~ frugal like I am, I couldn't see myself paying $15.00 for fun buttons on a dress she will grow out of in a few months.

So I was excited to find 1" buttons at M & L yardage in packages of 2 for .30 cents. The problem is that they were boring plain white buttons. So I decided to stack some cute red hearts on top of them to make them really stand out against the solid jumper. She has really cute tights with hearts on them that will match perfectly with this jumper.

("Nana" bought them for her before she was even born!)

Another cool thing about M & L yardage is that all their notions are 20% off everyday so I got all the buttons I needed for this jumper for only $3.72! Now that's more like it!!!

I'm making another one in the turquoise corduroy with the cherries on it for Evie.

Sofia :)

Evie :)

Our Branch of the Family Tree :)

2011-10-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a moment to share my beautiful family with you all.

It started with just the 2 of us and now there are 12!

This gorgeous man and I started dating 35 years ago this month.

We survived the hill tops and valleys of life and I can

honestly say that I love this man more each day

and couldn't imagine my life without him in it!

And look what we have to show for it :)

The 6 most precious grandchildren EVER!!!

These are my "boyz" :)

Can you believe that they actually asked me to make them ties to wear?

And Elijah, the oldest, wears his almost daily.....even with a t-shirt!

They are all so different and so wonderful!

Our handsome son and his beautiful wife and their fabulous "tribe" :)

Our beautiful daughter and her handsome hubby and their adorable little ones :)

I am so thankful to God for every second of every day

that I get to spend with my family :)

Just sharin' the love :)

2011-10-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a lovely "find" for those of you who love cross stitch like I do.

I stumbled across an awesome website called Crazy Annie's Stitchin. She buys out inventory from closed shops, out of print charts and overstock. She sells them at huge discounts! Right now she's having a sale until the 31st that every chart you buy, you get one free! I got these 10 charts for only $14.00 and $2.50 for shipping! I probably would have paid that much for just one or two of these. (Yes I know that 7 out of 10 are snowmen.......I'm a bit obsessed!) I placed my order on the 25th and I received it today (the 28th). She sells fabric as well and embroidery supplies too! She has Lizzie Kate, Bent Creek, Prarie Schooler and much more! I can't wait to get started on these!

It's Quilt Sandwich Time!

2011-10-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

I finished the quilt top for my aunt's quilt this morning and I have to say that I am going to have a hard time parting with it! I love this fabric so much. I need to think of something to do with it for my home too :)

Right now I need to sandwich this quilt

and start the hand quilting.

I'll need to pick up a few more colors

of Perle cotton floss to match.

I haven't decided yet exactly how I want the quilting to look.

So far this quilt has been a "let's see how it goes" project.

No pattern - just wingin' it :)

You can read more about these embroideries here.

Learning to quilt has definitely been a fun adventure and one I'm sure I'll continue for a long long time :)

Friday Night Sew In #6

2011-10-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Last night was another Friday Night Sew In. Every Friday night is pretty much a "sew in" for me because the men in my family gather and smoke cigars on Friday nights which leaves me to sew the night away. But it's nice to know that one Friday night each month, there are other crafty ladies doing the exact same thing :) This time around I started work on the quilt top for my Aunt's quilt. I've been dying to make a log cabin quilt and because the embroideries that I found in my garage from 37 years ago were an odd size, I decided that the log cabin would be perfect to feature them in the center. The finished size of each center turned out to be 5" x 7". I fell in love with these fabrics from Robert Kaufman. They are from two different collections, Daisies & Dots and Treasures & Tidbets. I loved the way they co-ordinated and the way they highlighted the colors in the embroideries. I bought some Kona cotton in "Snow" for the sashing. I finished 9 blocks last night so the sashing will have to wait for next week. I can't wait to get this all put together :)

I need.....I need.....I need......

2011-10-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever seen "What about Bob?" I'll admit that I've seen that movie WAY too many times! In our family we tend to use lines from movies in our everyday conversations. Well this week I have so many incomplete projects that I keep thinking of the line from that movie where "Bob" tells Dr. Marvin......."Gimme Gimme Gimme.....I need....I need....I need!!!!"

So here it is 9 Saturdays from Christmas Eve and I need all kinds of little things to finish up my projects this week. I made those 7 pacifier bags last week and I still need to get some snap fasteners before I can list them in my etsy shop. I made this cute little corduroy jumper for Sofie and I need 8 large buttons to finish it.

I have these 2 Christmas ornaments that I'm working on, but I need some Crescent floss and I don't have a needlework shop anywhere close, so hopefully today I'll get that and I can finish these up.

And I'm starting on 2 little jackets for my grand-daughters for Christmas. I have the fabric washed and ready to cut. But I need to get 1 1/4" button covers.

Hopefully next week I won't be so "needy" :)

I love it when a project is finished :)

2011-10-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

I had these 7 pacifier bags and leashes all cut out and ready to sew, but I've been putting it off. Not really sure why......

Today seemed like a great time to get them sewn so that I can list them in my shop tomorrow.

Good thing too, because I just sold my last girlie set about 5 minutes ago :)

Guess I better cut out some more girlie fabric...

Pin it!

2011-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

With Christmas just a few short weeks away I'm trying to think of some fun items for my Etsy shop. I stitched this little angel and then made her into a pin cushion.

I'm hoping that someone either loves cross stitch like I do, or has someone on their Christmas shopping list that loves cross stitch :) Either way works for me!

Now I have to decide what this little guy is going to become........

Boo to You!

2011-10-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

I probably should be doing something else today, but I found myself suddenly inspired to make this Halloween Mug Rug. The fun Halloween print fabric was included in a giveaway I won a few weeks ago over at The Sunflower Patch (Thanks Celynn!) and the "boo to you" patch came in the mail yesterday from my Sweetwater Label Crew for October. I love getting new labels and patterns every month! These fabrics and the label just seemed to scream out to me that they needed to get together :) I cut the body of the spider out of one of the scraps and then embroidered on his 8 legs and the thread he's hanging from. I went into my scrapbooking ribbon stash for the skeleton twill tape. This was a fun little project. Perfect for today when I really don't feel like doing too much of anything :)

Stitchin Season :)

2011-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned this before, but I tend to get bored easily. I think that's why I have multiple hobbies. I go for a few days or weeks deeply involved with something and then from one day to the next, I'm on to something else. A few weeks ago I went through serious withdrawals when my sewing machine went in for service, and now it's here and ready to go and I haven't done much sewing. I've been stitching instead. I finished the little tea pots yesterday. This is the top piece for a wooden tea caddy that I have on order. As soon as it arrives I can assemble it and I'll post pics of the completed project. I have also completed the embroidery pieces that I found in the garage that I started when I was 10 years old. I'm going to start cutting the fabric for the quilt that these will be a part of and hopefully finish it in time for Christmas. If not, my Mom is traveling to Germany again in April and she can take it with her and give it to her sister when she's there. I showed these to my Mom to ask her about them last Sunday because I noticed that some of the stitching on the boy was so far superior to the stitching that I had done, so I needed to know if she had done it or my grandmother had done it. She said that my grandmother had given me these patterns to stitch and that my mom had done some of the stitching on the boy. Now this gift will be even more special for my aunt! 3 generations of women in the family have had a part in this quilt for her. I love things like that!

10 more Saturdays.....

2011-10-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! I almost freaked out when I realized that there are only 10 more Saturdays until Christmas Eve! Last week was a blurr of activity and today I'm just relaxing and doing some cross stitching. Sometimes you just need a day to recover :)

A Tiny Hat & A Nutcracker :)

2011-10-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I enjoyed my stay-at-home-all-day-in-my-pajamas-rainy-day extravaganza!

I made this little hat for Evie. I used McCalls M4682 view D and then added the big flower that I made myself.

Little Evie is so petite that I had to use the x-small size

and make it even smaller :)

I can't wait to see her little face in this hat!

I also finished up the Nutcracker ornament. I found the pattern on ebay and since so many people have emailed me about the pattern, I've included a link HERE.

I felt that he needed a bit of "bling" so I used some gold seed beads to embelish his uniform before I stitched him up.

You can never have too much sparkle if you are going to be a Christmas ornament..right?

It's going to be hard to part with him and I really want to make some of the other ones included in the pattern, but I've misplaced it. I'm sure it's here somewhere.

Probably under a stack of fabric in my craft room.

But I'll look for it another day :)

I love rainy days!!!

2011-10-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that today it's raining outside

and I don't have to go anywhere!

I get to stay home, enjoy some hot tea and sew sew sew!

Maybe my whole rainy day love goes back to my elementary school days. We'd stay inside during our lunch break and play board games and "Heads Up 7 up" with our teacher :) Living in So California we didn't have many rainy days so it just always seemed special to me!

I have a few projects to work on today.

I haven't sewn anything this week at all!

*gasp*

I know....right?

I'll be making a hat & mittens for my tiny little Evie. They are headed for Michigan this week and she'll need to keep her little hands and ears warm :)

I cut out 6 new pacifier bags and leashes for the shop that I'd like to get listed this week and I purchased my 2 Christmas fabrics for the Charming Christmas Fabric Swap that I need to cut into 5" squares.

Should be a fun day!

Happy Birthday Mom :)

2011-10-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my Mom's 75th birthday. We all woke up early and headed to Laguna for family portraits at La Paz Park. It's been 3 years since the last time we did photos like these and since that time our family has grown a bit more :) My Mom's little family tree has grown to 17 people and we had so much fun taking pictures. I can't wait to see them when Ian, our awesome photographer has them ready for us! After our photo shoot, we all had a picnic lunch and headed to our homes for a few hours. Later everyone came by my house for a BBQ, cake and gifties!

Mom looks happy, don't you think?

The little boys are always close at hand to help out with the candles :)

I guess she liked her quilt :)

Happy 75th Birthday Mom!

I love you!

Just in the nick of time!

2011-09-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Yippie! I finished the "Happy Camper" quilt just in time for my Mom's 75th birthday on Saturday! I'm not gonna lie.....my fingers are sore from the hand quilting, but I love the look of the big stitches and the Perle Cotton thread :)

This quilt pattern is a free download from the Moda Bakeshop called "Boxed In"and you can find it HERE. This quilt finished out at 54" square. A nice size for a lap quilt. The fabrics are from the "Happy Camper" fabric collection by American Jane.

I love the backside too! I like the way the wonky squares look with the different color threads :)

I can just picture my Mom sitting in her comfy chair in the evenings doing her needlepoint with a cookie nearby and a cup of hot tea......all wrapped up in this happy bright quilt :)

A Little Christmas Charm :)

2011-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

I finished up the cross stitch work on my little Nutcracker ornament last night. Now I have to sew it into a tube shape and add the top and bottom circles and stuff it. It's going to be so cute! I love love love Nutcrackers!

Here's a better picture of what the finished ornaments look like :)

AND......

I know I said I wasn't going to join any more swaps until the beginning of the year, but.....

(and I blame it all on Cherise from Sewingly Along.......)

I'm joining the Christmas Fabric Charm Swap!

No sewing....just swapping 5" fabric squares from 2 yds of fabric (1 yd each of 2 fabrics) and in return I'll receive 112 charm squares of Christmas prints! How fun is that????

If you are interested...jump HERE and read the details and join the fun. But hurry....there is only room for 56 participants!