izzy inspired

linus

2011-06-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

this is a very late quilt for a very special little boy! it's been hanging around my house waiting for me to get it to it's new owner, which will hopefully happen tonight.

mainly made with Echino and Kona solids, I am hoping it will make the perfect play mat/quilt for Linus.

the wind didn't really want to cooperate with me, but at least you can see all the bright colors flowing in the beautiful sun.

the wind kicked up before I could turn the quilt to picture the back, but you can catch a glimpse of it in this shot.

and just incase some of you are interested my far far away quilt is being featured today at Quilt Story.

creme de la creme

2011-05-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

There really hasn't been any sewing in my life at all...and even though I miss it, I am in a serious rut!

Luckily, my knitting groove is in full swing!

This pattern is by Veera Välimäki and is called the Stripe Study Shawl. I can't say enough about this pattern, beautifully written, perfect symmetry and a classic yet unique design.

As for the yarn (Madelinetosh eyre light)......amazing!! Soft and smooth like a mix of butter and heaven.

The colors used are Creme de la Menthe and Antler.

This will definatly be my favorite item to wear this spring/summer.

washed and in use

2011-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

The picture of the quilt being basted from my last post was the made for the Robert Kaufman Solids challenge that I participated in along side many quilters from the LAMQG.

I have been meaning to take pictures of it finished, but never seemed to have the time...then last weekend it started raining. Well needless to say, the quilt fell into the washer, then jumped into the dryer and has spent a good amount of time in the last week looking like this

I backed it with some amazingly warm AMH flannel, which makes this quilt a new fav for knitting on the sofa.

I wish I had taken pictures of it all laid out for you, mainly because of the crazy quilting I did on this one, it was quite intense. But the odds of that happening now are pretty slim. If Izzy and I aren't snuggled under it, then the boys are playing tug of war with it.

As for the knitting that is going on, well I have been working on my very first sweater. I chose a pattern by Melissa LeBarre called Tea Leaves. It is a really pretty cardigan that I have admired for a long time (and also plan on making one for Izzy). The yarn is Madtosh tosh dk merino, in french grey.

It is my first of 3 sweaters that I will be making in the Magnolia Society, that I joined last month. If you have never heard of it, you can read all about in on the Madelinetosh website. It really was my way of forcing myself into the world of knitting sweaters.

Now, seeing as how it is still raining and all the boys are in school, I am back to my sofa with Izzy to knit and read the day away...oh and snuggle, of course.

Simply thumpty thump

2011-03-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have tried for a long time to resist entering the world of Blythe...but then I saw my friend Jaime's girl. She has Simply Peppermint (named Pipa) and it was my first time seeing a Blythe doll in person. Needless to say, I could resist no longer...

Our girl arrived yesterday and I can't even express to you how excited Izzy was.

We adore her purple hair and sweet face...now we just need to decide on her name. We have narrowed it down to Violet or Viola.

Now I am off to make her a dress, we are not fond of the one she came in.....and maybe do a little clothes and shoe shopping. Well after I pry her out of Izzy's little hands...my daughter is in love.

wordless wednesday

2011-03-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

a few things....

2011-02-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

I have this amazing girlfriend, who happens to be the most generous and kind hearted person......so much so that she was willing to share some of her Wollmeise loot with me.

For those of you that don't know Wollmeise, it's like the FMF of the yarn world. I was so thrilled that I couldn't prevent myself from immediately winding it and starting a new project!

This beautiful yarn is a dream to knit with and I am so excited to be starting my first shawl. The pattern is called Trillian and can be found on Ravelry.

I also received an order in the mail of some new Madelinetosh......I have such a serious addiction to this yarn, I want it all!! It's all so YUMMY!

As for sewing, I did manage to make a few project bags for my girlfriend as a thank you.

I especially love the FMF bag and I actually used up a good amount of my small scraps.

Now, back to my needles....I have about a dozen projects in the works, I am definatly in a knitting frenzy.

2011-01-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

Let me start this post with saying that I hope everyone had a awesome holiday season!

I won't bore you all with the details of how busy the beginning of this year has been for me, or how I am stuck in one serious rut.....I will say that sometimes life gets a bit overwhelming and I am hoping to find my balance again soon. Until then, let me share with you a few pictures of some of my favorite knit projects I got done last week.

Izzy kept complaining that her little hands were cold, so I found this pattern on Ravelry and started knitting.

She loves them and I can't get over how cute they look on her sweet hands! The pattern is called the Mini-Me Magic Loop Mitts and was fun and easy to do.

Of course as soon as she had her mitts on she looked at me and said "Mama, I need a hat to match my puppets"....I know they aren't puppets, but I thought it was too cute to correct!

So I got busy and within the next day she had her matching set!!

Now her hands and head are snuggly warm...and even though our weekend included 75 degree spring like afternoons, she insisted on wearing them both.

The hat was also made with a Ravelry pattern that you can find here by Paulina Chin.

I have many other knit projects that are currently on needles and in progress, so you will be seeing more knitty things in the next few weeks.

I am hoping to find sewing time soon, but as I said I haven't found my balance yet and sewing isn't really something that I have found the time for.....since I can't shove my Bernina in a bag and take it with me where ever it is that my kids need to be!

Just incase anyone is curious, these are made with Madelinetosh tosh dk yarn and the color is back currant. An awesome yarn that I am currently obsessed with.

a christmas swap

2010-12-07T08:38:00.000-08:00

Last night at our monthly LAMQG meeting we enjoyed an awesome holiday swap.

My partner was Kelly, who asked for something that was Christmas themed. Now, I have to tell you this kinda stumped me at first, outside of stockings and advent calendars, I haven't sewn something holidayish. So after a bit of hum bugging I finally got to work. Kelly had mentioned that she kept two 20 inch throw pillows on her coach and with all the pillow inspiration I have been getting from Angela's blog, I decided to go for it.

Now I have to admit, this little flea market fancy hexagon christmas tree was not easy to part with.

I mean really, look how cute they looked on my sofa!!

Kelly really seemed to love them as much as I did, so it made it easier to say goodbye to these two babies. Besides.....look what I scored

six amazing placemats made for me by Alissa!!

I L-O-V-E them!!!

I am in awe of how she was able to make something for me that truly is "me", they are a perfect reflection of my home and style. She rocks!! The only thing is, no child will ever eat over the babies, oh no, mama will be pulling them off the table before dinner is served. I know this may defeat the purpose, but beauty just can not be comprised by ketchup or spaghetti sauce!

Now....back to all that holiday sewing that I am way behind on.

tree shoppin....

2010-12-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

what do your kids do when you are busy trying to find the perfect shaped christmas tree? for some reason, mine always end up doing this!

no pins.....

2010-11-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We spent ours up in the Bay Area (right outside of San Francisco for all of you who are not familiar with California) with family. We only go up a few times a year and it is always a joy when we do! It was also where this quilt found it's new home.

I made this quilt as a gift for my sister in laws birthday, which was back in August....but better late than never, right?

Since we were going up for Thanksgiving, I decided to rush it's finish so that I could give it to her in person.

Now normally I don't like to rush the finishing of a quilt, but this time actually forced me to try something that I haven't had the nerve to do yet...

machine bind an entire quilt with no pins!! I can't even tell you how exciting this was for me, the whole time I kept looking at my husband going "I can't believe I am actually doing this". Amazingly it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and took a fraction of the time it does when pinning. I didn't get a picture of me sewing it to the front of the quilt, but that was done without pins also.

Here is what it looked like when finished.

I didn't have enough time to picture the finished quilt before leaving, so we did it while my sister in law was out shopping, before giving it to her. I really love the simplicity of this quilt and have a feeling it is a style I will play with more in the future. In the beginning, I was nervous about leaving solid squares, but it turned out to be one of my favorite features of the quilt.

Quilted with diaginal lines in both directions, but not in similar patterns.

Which you could really see on the back of the quilt.

Just in case anyone is curious this quilt was made with Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line and Kona cotton in Ash and Snow. I have been on an Ash kick for awhile now, I think it may be time for me to give another solid a try!!

slow going

2010-11-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Just a few things that I am focusing on.....

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating

and have an awesome weekend to those who are not!

I don't wanna.....

2010-11-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sadly, this past friday was my birthday (Izzy thinks all birthdays are her's).

Why do I start the sentence with sadly you ask...well because it marked the start of my last year in my thirties. I know that for most people this is no big deal, but for me it was a hard. I have no desire to be 40!! I just don't like the sound of it....I like 30 something much better. So to make my self feel better, I took a birthday trip to the Purl warehouse here in Socal and bought myself these little pretties..

Liberty of London can chase away the worst of moods! That and my awesome husband taking me away for the weekend (without the children) made the fact that I was 39 feel much better. Although, I have warned everyone that next year we are skipping the day!! I don't wanna.....

I was able to sew up a few new ipad covers yesterday...

One or my sister, made with Heather Ross's Far Far Away 2 and lined with some Liberty to keep her screen nice and safe from scratches.

And a new one for me, made with some cool Echino.

The two together really represent the two of us really well....

I forgot to get pictures of the backs, but I incorporated the same zipper pocket on the back, like the one I made months ago.

I also knitted Izzy a new pair of socks last week. It was my first time knitting child size socks and I love it. They are a breeze to get through, since they are so small.

She loves them and wears them all the time, totally worth making!!

knit knack

2010-10-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe 3 weeks has passed since my last post....it really feels like it was a few days ago. Life in my world has been all about the kids and schedules. It has gotten quite busy with all boys full swing in their chosen sports and Izzy being at an age that she demands a bit more of my attention (in a good way).

I have been debating the ways I could lighten the load in my life....because honestly, time has become a precious commodity as of late. No matter how hard I look at the situation, I don't seem to be able to find a solution, so I have decided to give in to the fact that right now my family requires the majority of my time and attention. Why am I telling you this? Because it means less of ME time for now and sewing, blogging and spending time surfing all my favorite blogs falls under ME time.

I am not willing to give it all up (I enjoy my blog and all my blog friends WAY too much to let it go) but I am willing to cut back for as long as necessary to keep up with the real world, because as it turns out, having 3 teenage sons and a preschool daughter is very, very consuming....and I am not willing to miss one moment of it! I will blog as often as I can and keep up with everyone else's blogs as much as possible, but please understand if it's only once or twice a month!

And because no post should go without pictures, here are a few shots of the knit knacks I have finished. Knitting it such a great "on the go" craft that I am turning to it more and more these days to let out some creative frustration.

I finally finished my first pair of socks!!! This was a very satisfying accomplishment for me, not only because I finished, but because I taught myself how to read patterns and grids in the process. I found the pattern for these socks in "Socks from the toe up", these are the Van Dyke socks. I ordered Australian super wash merino wool to make these and it was so worth the postage!!

A new hat for Izzy! This hat was made using a pattern called "curly cabled helmet" by Sublime. The original patterns calls for ear flaps, but since the hat I crocheted her last fall had ear flaps I didn't want them on this one too. I am going to make her a pair of matching leg warmers in that deep purple next!!

This picture was just so sweet that I wanted to share. Izzy getting some love from her big brother Trenton. It warms my heart in ways I can't even express when I see my two babies together. There may be 10 years between them, but they are still two peas in a pod.

2010-09-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, there have never been handmade items that hang in my home (except for the few trimmings that my boys made that come out for the yearly christmas tree). It's not that I wouldn't hang them, it's just that I am the only one in my family who sews/crafts and I just don't have the desire to hang my own stuff.

With this said, I am so excited to show you the first handmade item to live on my walls.....

See that beautiful potholder?! Ashley made it for me a while ago and I have been eager to get it up in my kitchen. I can honestly say that it is the perfect match to my kitchen. All the greens and blues compliment the accessories that live on my counter tops, not to mention my tea kettle.

Thank you Ashley, it really brightens up my kitchen and makes me over look that fact that my kitchen is small and obviously built in the 70's!!

that girl is a genius

2010-09-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

A while back I stumbled onto Elizabeth's tutorial on how to make a TV tray pressing table. I loved the idea from the get, but it got put onto the long list "things I wanna make", which quite honestly never seems to get done. Then we moved, my sewing space shrank and neither one of my ironing boards seemed to work on a daily basis....so guess what popped into my mind this weekend??

My sister was kind enough to pick me up a tv tray, then after spray painting it white and soliciting my husband to help...I have a new ironing table. I have to tell you that that girl is a stroke of genius. This little table is not only the perfect solution to my creative space, but will also be a breeze to take with me to my weekend LAMQG sews. Small, portable, works great for piecing all my blocks and to top it off, it's cute. What more could a girl ask for?

Well, except for an entire sewing room filled with unlimited amounts of fabric and a pressing table big enough to press an entire quilt top at once....but we must live in reality, right?

Covered with a linen cotton blend by Lecien found at Fabricworm.

up to par

2010-09-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

I am not feeling up to par today....I think that staying up until the wee hours of the morning trying to get this quilt finished has caught up with me. I'm anxious to share it with you, but not really feeling the motivation to type...so forgive me if I am a bit blah today. The pictures aren't to great either....the sun didn't want to come out and I haven't really found a good place to take them yet.

It's actually upside down in this picture, but it was one of the few decent shots I got of it, so it will suffice. The details of this quilt are sad and long, including a weeks worth of paper piecing, a completely different quilt top, four attempts at quilting, more torn (no not ripped, literally torn) stitches than I can count and staying up til 5:30 in the morning to piece a new top at the very last minute.

It was all worth it to have created this beauty though. I enjoyed every late hour/early morning minute of piecing, quilting, basting and binding this quilt. It came together so nicely with no thought or plan but just going with the moment. I think that is just what works for me....whenever I plan a quilt I end up not really feeling/loving it. Weird I know, but it's me.

All folded and ready to be wrapped! It was actually hard for me to let this one go (really hard) but I was strong and gifted it to my girlfriend yesterday for her birthday and as always got my dose of satisfaction when she squealed with joy and got giddy over getting her very own quilt!

Fabric details: all patterned fabric is Hope Valley by Denise Schmidt

all solids are Kona cotton in Herb, Ash, and Snow

random images

2010-09-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have been busy working on a quilt that I hope to show you soon, but since it's not ready, I thought I would share some random images from this past week.

Izzy has been dressing herself on days that we aren't going anywhere besides the park! Which never seizes to make me smile!

My colored stacks for the Tokyo Map quilt along. I am waiting for one more package to come in the mail and then my collection will be complete.

891 kona cotton white 2 inch squares!! WHEW...that was some serious cutting.

and lastly, my current project all cut up and ready to sew.

I will be burning the midnight oil trying to get this finished by Saturday for a birthday gift.

trenton's quilt

2010-09-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Thankfully I was able to finish quilting Trenton's quilt before we moved. He was so excited to use it and hasn't let another person touch it since I handed it over to him.

This actually took me a few weeks to finish. It has lines going vertically, horizontally and lastly diagonally in both directions.

I absolutely adore the way the intersections on the border turned out...they make all the work worth it. I have acquired a recent love for complex straight line intersections.

This is a close up of Trenton's favorite block, not only because it is his hexagon block but because it was made with his favorite Quicksilver shirt (I literally had to pry it from his hands to get it out of his closet, even though it was 2 sizes too small). I think that he would of loved the quilt regardless, but this makes it extra special to him.

This is what he looks like everyday now. He comes home from school, grabs his quilt and stays wrapped in it all afternoon (even when it's hot out)....I have to tell you, seeing a quilt I made loved like this makes my heart explode with joy and reminds me why I love this medium!!

this. that and getting unpacked

2010-09-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Let me apologize for slacking on this blog for so long....I can't believe it's been over a month since my last posting!! We are finally all moved and mostly unpacked. I can honestly say that I completely under-estamated how hard this move would be!! It was completely overwhelming and had me feeling like my whole world was turned upside down!! I know in part that my personality didn't really help (I am a bit on the OCD side...and can't handle things being out of order) plus enrolling and registering the boys in 3 different schools, signing them up for athletics and starting my taxi services back in forth from the multiple practices a day. To top it off my husband has been going out of town for 3 days every week for work...it's a wonder that I'm not completely grey by now (just added some to the collection). I wish I could say that I am super woman and pulled it all off without a hitch, but sadly I am not, and apparently me and moving just don't get along!

But yesterday I finally turned a corner...the house isn't fully unpacked yet, but it's close and most importantly, Nina got unpacked!!

This is my new sewing corner...I am really looking forward to breaking it in!

Before I packed my machine up, I made her a new cover for the new location.

I was inspired by Megan's sewing machine cover to try my hand at the flying geese...and I just adore them! They were so fun to make (and a bit challenging) but most of all I just love looking at them!

For the inside of my cover I used a Kei pattern that I stashed a while ago with no purpose.

The quilting on it turned out really nice too....even despite the fact that some of my geese were flying a little crooked!!

Lastly, I couldn't resist the temptation of Oh Fransson's new quilt-a-long. I loved her original version of the Tokyo subway quilt...and the one she designed for the quilt-a-long is just irresistible. So, as soon as Nina was put on her perch, I started sorting my scraps.

Originally I wasn't going to buy any new fabric for this project, but with only 3 purple scraps and no purple stash, I have no choice but to buy some! Its one of those moments I wish I had a quilting neighbor that I could borrow a cup of scraps from (i've got plenty of sugar)!

something accomplished

2010-07-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

As you all know, we were scheduled to move last friday....but at the last minute, we decided to post-pone it for another three weeks. Now this of course means that life has been chaotic and stuck in limbo for me. I don't do good in limbo (chaos I can handle). We are now living in a 95% packed house with four kids and as if that wasn't enough....we have also had out of town guests for the last week. It's all about frozen pizza's and cereal at this point.

My saving grace is that I was leaving my sewing machine for the last minute pack up....so I can at least still spend some quality time with Nina to keep me sane.

Trenton's quilt top is finished....and we are both in love!! This was a complete collaboration between the two of us and the whole process just made me smile. I enjoyed seeing his choices and hearing his opinions along the way. I have never done a traditional square in a square quilt before, but love all the ones that I see (examples of a few of my favorites that inspired me here and here)...I also feel that it is a good staple pattern for a boy, Trenton agreed.

My boy has asked for a solid patterned backing verses a pieced one....so I will be basting this evening. I am really excited that it will be ready for his new bedroom before we move (so is he).

the softest ever

2010-07-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Theres something about moving into a new place that makes me want a fresh look. New colors to add an element of excitement to the change. So, last week during my faze of procrastination, I made the softest pillows ever...

Made with little folks voile on the front and essex cotton/linen blend in putty on the back. I find the voile fabrics a bit tedious to quilt with...but worth all the effort.

I went all out and did my first zippered pillows. I have always been too intimidated to try putting zippers in my pillows, but then I stumbled onto the best tutorial by Katie from Sew Katie Did. She made putting zippers in as easy as 1,2,3!

The pillows are so inviting that izzy couldn't resist the temptation of just jumping on the pile while I was trying to photograph them!

Then proceeded to roll around and bury herself in them! She always seems to do exactly what I want too, with no hesitations.

hexagon tips

2010-06-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick pop in post before I go back to my packing! I have had quite a few people ask me to share some tips on how I sew my hexagons. It took me a long time (months) to find a technique that worked for me and I encourage everyone to try several different stitches to find the one that works best for them.

First, I straight stitch along the edges of two hexagons, making sure to just skim the top of the paper inside. Making sure to pull my thread nice and snug. You want it to be as tight as possible without causing it to ripple.

Then once I reach the other side, I back (straight) stitch in the opposite holes of the original straight stitch...

When finished it will look like a solid line of stitches (please excuse my inconsistency, I am working on that part....luckily it doesn't really affect the outcome). The back stitch evens the tension of the original straight stitch and helps get rid of the tugs on the front of the hexagons.

And thats pretty much it. If you make sure your stitches are nice and tight it should look like this...

I do have to admit that it does add a little time onto making hexes when sewing this way. The whip stitch was much faster, but I couldn't get the tension on the fabric consistent enough not to tug on the front. The ladder stitch that Heather taught me was amazing, but I was WAY too slow at it to keep it up....but her technique is how I discovered that the tension on the fabric was the key (thanks again Heather).

Just a few extra notes:

I use a hand quilting thread (100% cotton by Gutermann) for extra strength. I kept breaking all the others when pulling tight to keep my tension right.

I use a quilter's knot in the beginning of all my threads. It is thick and strong enough not to pull through the fabric when pulling tight.

Last but not least...I only iron my hexes with the paper in place. Once you remove the paper ironing can pull on your fabric and stitches warping the end result. So once all my hexes are sewn together, I iron them one last time and then carefully remove all the paper.

Here is a block that I made in my down time this week for my son's quilt. I told him that the grey seeds prove my love for him!! I had a precious little of the FMF grey seeds for my hexagon quilt and sacrificed most of it for his quilt...now that is mother love or maybe just plain insanity!!

procrastinaiton

2010-06-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Instead of packing, as I should be, I decided to spend my time yesterday organizing my fabric. For some unknown reason to me, I have always kept my stash organized by cut. I almost always stash in half yards (mainly so I can afford to buy more, not because I prefer the cut), but also have a small collection of fat quarters and a few cuts of several yards (stashed either for sashing or backing).

This system has never worked out well, so I thought I would try the color approach on organization.

I have to be honest in saying that I think that I need to increase my stash of quilting cottons!! Doesn't it look a bit needing? Now this does not include my piles of "planned projects" to be:

All of these piles have quilts planned for them and are just waiting for me to get started on them!

Then there are my japanese prints, that I can't seem to blend in with all the others....so they stay piled separately.

I have also been collecting a stash for Isabella. Hopefully these will be cute little dresses, blouses and skirts for her, before the year is up.

Then lastly, the pride of my small stash, which I always keep in its own place for me to fondle and admire whenever I want...enchino.

Through this process, I also created a "I don't think I will ever use" pile. Sadly, because I do most of my shopping online...I have quite a few newer fabrics in here that I didn't really like once I received them. Then some of my older fabric stashes that I would not choose if I were shopping now.

What do y'all do with your de-stash?

I have always kept my fabric on a shelf by my sewing table, but with the move, I will be loosing space. I have been thinking of easy ways to store it all in a closet. The first solution that comes to mind is plastic bins. Which is why I thought separating by color might be better. Any suggestions?

and the winner is...

2010-06-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

My random number generator was up and ready to go this morning. Although, I don't think she understood why she was picking numbers out of a bag, she was just excited to do it!!

Here she is with her hand in the bag.....and the first number to be picked

was 84. Barb said:

"Oh my, so much work already done! I can see those 3 1/2" finished squares sewn into wonderful fabric for a summer skirt!"

The second number to be picked

was 19! Make do and mend quilts said:

"Ohh yes please, I was just bemoaning the fact that this is starting to get sold out everywhere and I don't have enough left over for a second little folks quilts! They would find a very welcome home with me!"

Thanks to everyone for all your fun comments.This was only my second give-away and I really enjoyed the process....and how excited everyone was to participate. I will be emailing the winners and mailing out there goodies tomorrow morning!

little folks anyone??

2010-06-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

What is a girl to do when she cuts to much of her favorite fabric? I have been so indecisive with my little folks voile quilt that I cut a bunch of 4x4 inch squares and then changed the layout of my quilt. So now I have an abundance of squares. I thought about planning a second quilt to use them all up....but have been looking at this fabric on my design wall for so long now, that I just don't have it in me. So what is my resolution? Whenever I don't know what to do with something, my first thought is "someone else will know exactly what to do with it"....and that led to....give-away.

I have two 4x4 charm packs up for grabs. The first charm pack has 10 of each pattern (14 voile and 6 dobby) and the second has 5 of each pattern. I know that someone out there will love this fabric and have the enthusiasm to make something incredible with it.

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment (with a way for me to contact you if you win). I will be using my own personal random generator, Isabella! She will pick 2 lucky numbers out of a hat on Monday, June 14. Sorry so long, but we are going to my nephews graduation in Northern Cali and won't be back until then. Oh, and everyone is welcome to enter, including all my fellow bloggers over seas!

home again

2010-06-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

I returned home from Portland with a serious loot of fabric!! So much actually that I had to buy a bag at the airport to put it all in (thank goodness my flight wasn't full otherwise I would have had to check it). Not only did I find some amazing fabric at Cool Cotton, but I also got to shop raid the shop with my blog pal Heather! I preempted her with "don't judge me on how much fabric I buy" because I had the "I am on vacation" free for all attitude! No holding back...I grabbed it all and bought it all!!

Here we are, proudly displaying all our loot (yes....all that fabric under my hand is mine). Now I have to tell you, Heather is a RIOT!! We talked non stop at such a rapid pace that I think we left all those around us spinning, only pausing long enough to take a breath of air and to let one another grab another bolt of fabric!

Now that I am back home, it is time for me to get to work on prepping for our move and making a quilt for my youngest son. He is moving into his own room for the first time when we move and has requested a new quilt for his bed. So between some of my finds in Portland and a recent order from Kerri's shop, Sewdeerlyloved, I think I have everything I need to get started.

i got it!

2010-06-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you...to everyone for all your tips and words of encouragement. I have finally got it! My stitches are looking much better, thanks to all the great advise and guidance.

Heather very patiently helped me get my ladder stitch down (finally)....and although it wielded great results, I was too slow at it. I think it would take me a few years to finish if I kept it up, so I have finally settled on a straight stitch. Mainly because I can actually move at an exceptable pace (i do however still think it will take me a year to finish). To get a little extra practice and to see what my hexes would look like quilted, I made this.......

This will be shipped out in the mail to a friend as a little surprise gift, hopefully she likes it! I am new to making potholders and need much improvement, so hopefully she doesn't mind it's imperfections!! There is a bit of decorative hand stitching on the inner edge...I am not sure it really shows up in the pictures but if it does, it was completely inspired by this binding, made by Red Pepper Quilts.

Outside of that, there hasn't been much sewing going on around here....and I fear there won't be for a while. I am off to Portland tomorrow for a 4 day visit with one of my dearest friends (YIPEE)! It is a mild stone for me, I have never left my family for such a long period of time before and am a bit nervous!! Although, I am looking forward to the R&R, pure girl time......and of course the shopping!! Any suggestions of shops that are a must see? Then it's graduations, trips to Disney, Knotts.....and a month of packing up our house. We are moving up to Orange County in July and after 6 years in this house, I think it will be quite a bit of work to get it all packed into boxes. So if I am not around much for the next few months, you know why!

hexes

2010-05-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

I have been hexing! I feel like I should follow that sentence up with "but Mom, all the other kids are doing it".

It all started when I stumbled upon a picture Ashley had posted of her new found hexagon addiction. Up until that point, I had resisted all temptation of falling into the hexagon world. But in Ashley's pictures, she didn't just have any hexagons.....she had flea market fancy hexagons. The two of those items combined was all I needed to see to start my new found obsession. Thanxs to some amazing and gracious ladies, ebay and etsy, I finally feel like I have enough FMF to make a throw size hex quilt (I have never been one to shop ebay...but in the last month my bidding has been off the hook).

I am pretty sure that I have every print from the fabric line accounted for, even if only by a couple of hexes. I decided to go with one inch hexagons, mainly because I think they are just soooo adorable at that size. I love the basting process and I don't even mind the hand stitching part. I find it all to be very relaxing and mobile. The mobile part is probably one of my favorite aspects of this new hobby. I can hex at the dentist, doctor, school, park....literally anywhere (although my poor knitting bag has been stuck in the corner for weeks now, totally untouched). I'd have to say the the only part of these little beauties I don't like, is seeing them all sewn together. Not because it isn't beautiful, but because of my own stitching. I have been practicing and practicing and practicing, but no matter how hard I try, I hate the way my stitching looks! I don't have any other sewers around me to ask, so I need to get some tips from all of you. My problem is that no matter what stitch I use, I can see the thread pulling on the fabric on the front. I don't know if this is normal, if I am pulling too tight, or if it has to do with something else that I am doing wrong! Here is an example:

See all those little tugs on the fabric....they are driving me CRAZY!! Is it suppose to look like that? Is there anything I can do not to get them? Any tips, suggestions or assurances that this is normal, would be greatly appreciated. I want to move past this so that I can actually feel comfortable enough to start piecing them together.

all covered up

2010-05-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

My ipad is all covered up and protected from little fingers!
I had so many different ideas on how to make my new cover and what I wanted it to look like, that it was really hard to decide on the final design. I tried to focus on what I wanted the cover to accomplish: keep it clean, hold in snug inside so it won't fall out into my handbag, allow me to charge it without taking it out of the case, have a place to keep my earphones and cleaning cloth, and lastly match the sleek modern design of the ipad itself.

With all that in mind, this is what I came up with:

I LOVE IT!! I knew I bought that Echino print the other month for a good reason (other than being too cute to resist). Its modern, matches my ipad and......

has a handy pocket on the back. This is the first zipper pocket I have ever done and I love the look and functionality of it! Luckily, since I had no idea how to do this myself, I found this great tutorial here.

The inside of the cover and the pocket is lined with a black and grey dot fabric that I found at Superbuzzy (which is one of my favorite online shopping sources), that matches perfectly.

The open top feature is easy to close and allows me to charge my ipad without removing it from the case first, so no dust settles during charging. Mission accomplished!!

far far away

2010-05-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is turning three next week and outside of wanting to cry all the time over this fact, I have been trying to prepare for the big day. I had been planning on replacing her first far far away quilt that I ended up donating to quilts for kids last year (she hadn't used it yet, and I really wanted to send as many quilts as possible) but just haven't gotten around to it.

Her birthday was the extra encouragement I needed to get it done. This time around I did something completely different and I am loving the outcome. Now, although I resisted the temptation of putting a dresden plate on the front.....I could not resist the back!!

I think this may very well be my favorite dresden thus far!

I completely blame my dresden addiction on Aneela...her blog was one of my first to read and where I first saw a dresden plate done in modern fabrics, I have been hooked ever since.

I have to confess something to you now (my head hung in shame) I don't label any of my quilts! I know, I know, I have been lectured more times than I can remember on this fact and I agree with all the reasons to label. Sadly for me, I have a bit of an eye distraction problem. I have tried several times to label a quilt, but end up pulling it off because it distracts my eye from the pattern of the quilt....which then drives me crazy. Outside of that, I am not good at making them. I CANNOT handle seeing my own handwriting on the label (even though I know this enhances the sentiment) and I am not a very skilled embroiderer. So I just skip it and I am fine with it. Until this quilt, I think because it is a birthday gift for Izzy I felt more pressure to label it......so I finally buckled down and made my first label! I hate it.....I think it totally takes away from the simplistic beauty of the quilt back and is a total distraction from the dresden plate. As much as I wanted to rip it off (i quilted over it on purpose to make it too hard to do) I like the fact that it tells her that I love her and when it was made. When she is my age and has a daughter of her own, she will be able to tell the story of this quilt and know exactly which birthday I made it for her. So even though I cringe every time I look at it, it stays.

I quilted it with a variegated thread and just adore the way it looks on the white sashing...I couldn't resist showing a picture of it.

happy mothers day

2010-05-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

happy mothers day...i hope that you all have a wonderfully relaxing day with your children and/or your moms. i know that some feel that mother's day is a bit too commercialized, but i personally will take a full day of spoiling from my family, without hesitation, no matter what the reason!

i will be spending part of my day playing with this new fun toy!

this ruler rocks

2010-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

My new 60 degree ruler finally came and it ROCKS!! It makes cutting the triangles for my hex quilt a breeze. It enables me to cut 5 triangles at a time....amazing. Since this was the first time I purchased anything but a straight ruler, I didn't really know if I would like it or not....and honestly I don't like it, I LOVE it. I am in awe of how easy it makes the whole process. Now, what I am not happy with (as I mentioned before) is the jelly roll. As soon as I started cutting I knew that it was the worst purchase choice (and will not be repeated). I am going to try to increase my seam allowance to ensure that the patterns match up properly, but I am not sure that it will correct the fact that the strips were cut so poorly. I have already deemed this quilt a beach quilt and that made me feel much better about the flaws that are sure to appear. My biggest fear is that because some of the triangles are smaller than they should be, that the centers will not close properly. O'well...all it really means is that I will have to make a second one, right?!

Besides, I have this nifty new ruler that I need to keep using!

Here are the hexes that are cut and up on the design wall already. Not at all in the layout that I'm planning, but just so that I can look at them and appreciate there cuteness!

a quilt-a-long

2010-04-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

I joined my first quilt along!!
The hexagon quilt-a-long is being hosted by the very talented and inspiring jaybird quilts....I just knew that I had to have one of these quilts to call my own, once I saw joan's (it literally made my jaw drop).

It only took me about two minutes to decide on using Joel Dewberry's fabric line: modern meadow. Instead of cutting into the pieces from this line that I already have stashed, I decided to order a jelly roll (my first one of those too).

I received the jelly roll at the end of last week and this morning I got to work. It didn't take long for me to pair, sew and press the strips together...but have yet to be sure the convenience of having purchased the fabric this way was worth it.

Most of the two inch strips were cut very crooked and a few even had little divots cut into the corners where the fabric was folded. I am not sure how much of this will affect the outcome of my hexagons, but it makes me really nervous since the points really do need to match up in this particular design.

Now I'm just waiting for the super cool 60 degree triangle ruler that I ordered to arrive and I will be ready for the next step!!

small distractions

2010-04-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get distracted from the task on hand? For some reason, I am having a hard time staying on task this week. I don't know if it's because my AMH quilt isn't living up to my expectations, or if it's because my daughter has been really needy this week.....all I know is that I keep finding myself doing everything except what I should be doing. The only good thing about getting distracted is the small items that come from it.

First up is a mini dresden plate (ok, I admit it...I am a little dresden addicted) on yet another doll quilt.

Originally this was supposed to be a thank you gift, but my sweet baby girl found it and claimed it as her own (to solidify this claim of property, she spilled juice all over it..therefore forcing me to wash it and coaxing me into letting her keep it). So I will have to make another.

Next: An owl pillow for my Izzy's reading chair.

I made this pillow in a desperate attempt to prevent myself from buying the owl pillow at Pottery Barn Kids....but it didn't quite do the job. I just don't love/like it. Izzy seems to like it (which is the only reason it hasn't been tossed into the donation pile) but I am just not convinced.

Lastly: these adorable little baskets for Izzy's stray crayons and little misc. toys.

I liked the first one so much that I had to make a second one! I used this tutorial over at Pink Penguin to make these little baskets and really enjoyed the process. Outside of giving me a great reason to use some of my Kokka ballerina fabrics, these baskets also gave me an excuse to cut into my Kona Essex cotton/linen blend. Which is slowly becoming my new favorite, staple, must have in stock, fabric. I currently own it in two colors: natural and putty (which is what i used) but have some more selections on the way from Sew Mama Sew. I am totally planning on making myself some of these baskets, only super sized...but won't even allow myself to get started on them until my quilt top is finished!!

not your normal cup of starbucks

2010-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about you, but I seem to have an abundance of pins (straight and safety). I never really know where or how to keep them but I do know that I need ALL of them (when basting or binding, I use a massive amount of pins). But what does one do with all those pins??

Today was the day for me to figure it out (plus it totally diverted my attention from my little folks quilt which is not coming along as nicely as I hoped).

Now a little known fact about me....i L-O-V-E starbucks, one could say that I am darn right addicted (the worst part is that I don't even drink coffee.....it's the chai that has me hooked)!! Well, I figured if it can keep me happy in the mornings....it could keep my pins happy all day long! So I went to starbucks...picked out a cute little mug...and got sewing.

FYI sewing the round wasn't as hard as i thought it would be.

I adore everything about my new pin mug!! All of the safety pins live on the bottom and my straight pins live on top....nice, cute and condensed.

I even went as far as filling the pincushion with crushed walnut shells to keep my straight pins nice and sharp. I will also be honest enough to tell you that a good portion of crushed shells now live inside my vacuum cleaner. Note to self: buy a funnel.

Although, I may buy a back up mug...because I am also really clumsy and that mug is porcelain.

I just got finished taking apart my first little folks quilt and am getting ready for round two....hopefully I will like it the second time around!!

my girl

2010-04-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Our holiday was full of deviled eggs, chocolate eggs, plastic eggs and ham.

The time I set aside for working on my quilt was quickly diverted to my girl! Now, I have to tell you that she takes her sewing very seriously.....

and stays very focused on her task.

(Don't worry, the needle has been removed to keep those little fingers safe!)

Last week Joan (wishes true and kind) had shared the idea with me of putting up a design wall for Isabella. All I can say is...thank you, thank you, thank you Joan. I initially liked the idea because of the cuteness factor, but as soon as it was up I loved the idea because of how much Izzy enjoyed her new found creative outlet.

She took to it immediately and surprised me with how long she was fully content designing.

(try not to gasp too hard over the fact that she has some of my little folks scraps, she was very gentle with them)

She spent her morning choosing fabric, pressing fabric, and putting it on her design wall...all with such intense purpose and determination. I loved every second of it!!

I made her fabric holder this weekend using the kidlet pattern (by JC handmade found here). I altered it in size then added straps to hang off the back of her chair, it works perfectly.

I couldn't resist making a second one for her coloring books....and to be honest, I think there will be a kidlet hanging from every door knob in my house by the end of the week! It is the perfect size and remedy for those miscellaneous things that really have no home.

fabric love

2010-04-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

Do you have fabric that you love so much that your almost scared to cut into it? Afraid that you won't have the ability to create something worthy of it's beauty? Petrified that you won't love it once it's cut up and sewn together? That said fabric for me is this pile of Little Folks by

Anna Maria Horner.

I'm not even sure what makes me love it so, the soft silkiness of the fabric, the gorgeous colors, or the fact that something about it reminds me of being a young girl...when my life was full of pigtails and pretty dresses.

My stash is finally large enough (and contains all of my favorites) for me to make something. I have even gone as far as sketching some of my ideas out, which I never do. I am nervous but feeling a tad bit determined. So I will keep my fingers crossed and hold my breath while I cut and pray that whatever comes of it will be something that I love as much as I do the fabric! Wish me luck!!

in a world full of dots

2010-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

My HST quilt is finally all done....wheeew! This one was a doozy. I have never named a quilt before, but after the amount of time I spent with this one I felt it was only appropriate to name it: In a World of Dots.

I know this isn't the best picture, due to all that shade, but I think it shows the quilting lines nicely. I did all the quilting in the white using lines spread out 1/2 inch apart, framing all those beautiful dots.

Now I have to be honest in telling you that this quilt almost didn't come to be. I found that even though I love seeing all the beautiful HST quilts in blog land...assembling one myself was quite tedious. There were times where I just wanted to throw in the towel...but all those dots, I couldn't just let them go to waste. So, thankfully, I pushed through it...and now have one of my favorite quilts ever!!

Here is some sun on the subject. I tried to get a shot of it laying on the ground, but my sweet little girl was not having it today. As soon as it hit the ground she was all over it, which means that like her Momma, she just can't get enough of this one. I will try again tomorrow. Now I must mention that this quilt was completely inspired by my favorite HST quilt (shown here) made by Cathy of Cabbage Quilts. If you haven't stopped by her blog before, you are in a treat...she is truly amazing!

wordless wednesday

2010-03-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

couldn't resist

2010-03-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Izzy and I were in desperate need of an outing today...something that would excite her enough to ease her into a nap, but mellow enough to not require a lot of preperation on my part. The logical resolution, shopping of course. We packed a baby doll, a snack and headed off to Target to check out all the new Liberty of London clothes I keep reading about. Now, I will be honest in saying that I am not much of a floral pattern buff...but my baby girl on the other hand cannot get enough of them. I was always known as somewhat of a tom-boy (nothing makes me happier than an oversized tee shirt and a good pair of sweats) my sweet baby girl on the other hand is as girly as girls go. It took her one glance at that rack to know that she was in love. Sadly, most of the dresses in her size were sold out, so she didn't get to go too wild. We walked out with one skirt, a swimsuit, a purse and a dress that she couldn't bear to take off after trying it on (seriously, they rung it up while it was on her). All and all a successful outing...she got excited, and happily fell asleep on the way home...and I didn't have to do much!!

Doesn't she look so peacefully cute sleeping in her new dress?! I couldn't resist sharing with all of you. The bad news is, now I think I might be hooked on the idea of making a quilt for her out of all Liberty of London fabrics.

Oh...and like icing on the cake, we also got a copy of The Princess and the Pea!!

purple dots

2010-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

I tend to take my daughter with me when I go fabric shopping. Now usually she is napping on these adventures....but on one of our trips she decided to stay awake for the event. As I was taking my time browsing fabric (looking for nothing in particular) my sweet baby girl decided to do some shopping of her own. She became very enamored with this purple dot fabric. Purple is a color that for some reason I do not ever pick up....but that cute face combined with her excitement of finding something she liked, gave me no choice but to buy it. With that said, after finishing my quilt the other day, I was really itching to do some more sewing, but not really ready to start another big project.....so....

another doll quilt was born. My daughter anxiously awaited her new quilt, coming over to check on it's progress periodically. As soon as I finished it, she snatched it up, ran to her bedroom and put it into her doll's cradle. I couldn't persuade her to let me take it back out to photograph....so I had to make do and take pictures of it in the cradle (although she did let me adjust it a bit so that is wasn't so crinkled up).

To my surprise, I love the way the purple dots look combined with all the other fabrics. I also have to admit that I love the pillow even more than the quilt!! I think my daughter feels the same way since she has been carrying the pillow around the house for the last few days.

Baby also seems to be quite happy with her new quilt! It didn't take Izzy long to find baby and snuggle her into her new quilt for a nap.

it's really done....

2010-02-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

My sister came over today to play with my daughter, so I took the opportunity to get some long awaited sewing done. I can't even express to you how excited I am to finally have this quilt finished. I started it way back in November of last year, and put it aside to get all my holiday sewing done, and never got back around to it. Sadly, my pictures aren't too great due to the grey clouds lingering over my yard....but I wasn't willing to wait any longer to share this one.

I have been wanting to do a larger quilt with Heather Ross Mermaids in dresden ever since I made my daughter this doll quilt.

I went with a bit of a different concept with the bigger one, but tried to give it the same feel as my daughters quilt. Originally I wanted to do a full dresden circle, but at the last minute decided to split it with the grey trim.... I am so glad that I did!

Besides the HR fabric, I used a Kona grey and a white, along with Kei dots in grey. The binding is a combo of Kei orange dots and brown dots. The center of the flower is done with a Denise Schmidt heavy weight fabric, and makes for a good contrast to all the other fabrics.

I adore the way it turned out and surprisingly love the brown/grey combo that I did in this quilt. It was one of those things that wasn't planned, but just turned out that way. I also love the little quarter dresden flower down in the right hand corner of the Kei grey dots square...another unplanned detail. Maybe this will break my sewing block and open up the door for more quilts.....well at least I will keep my fingers crossed that it will.

little things here and there

2010-02-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

Its February, and I'm still not into the swing of things. This year is just going slow when it comes to creating. Somedays I'm at peace with the fact that my life is to busy to squeeze in a lot of sewing, and others I miss it terribly. I have managed to find a few bits and pieces of time to work on a few projects...but the fact that I have been working on the same quilt since before the holidays is a bit discouraging.

What I have managed to finish is a cover for my kindle. I received my kindle for Christmas and instantly fell in love with it. I looked on the internet for a cover, but just couldn't decide on one....so I had to make one.

My kindle and itouch tend to travel together, so the pocket on the front of the cover was a perfect solution.

Now my two favorite items are safe from scratches and dirty fingers! My sister gave me the love bookmark as a gift and I think it accents the case perfectly, even though with a kindle the need of a bookmark is obsolete.

Other than the few moments of sewing I get, I have been reteaching myself how to knit. I am in awe of all those beautiful sock books and am determined to make some of my own. I have carpal tunnel in my right hand, which stopped me from knitting years ago, but since I don't like to give up on things easily....I am teaching myself to use my left hand to make most of the movements. I was taught to knit as a child, by my mother, who thankfully taught me to knit continental style. This makes training my left hand to do most of the work much easier.

Hopefully, I will have a new cute pair of socks to show shortly....and if I am really lucky, I will have a new quilt to share with all of you soon.

keeping it real...

2010-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in so long, mainly because I haven't had much creativity to share lately....and, well, I have been fully intwined in the lives of my children. I haven't even had much time to surf all my favorite blogs, but my daughter is sleeping....my sons are all at school, and i just got inspired!! Heather over at a la mode fabrics, posted a "keeping it real" post.....I LOVED IT! So I am breaking my dry spell with one of my own...

KEEPING IT REAL:

I fell in love with my husband from a far at the age of 15, but didn't meet him 'til I was 20. We got engaged after dating for 3 months, and have been married for 16 years now... I love him more than ever!!

This is the first picture of myself to be blogged!

We have 3 sons who all play football, even thou my husband was a swimmer/diver.

I don't think that my sons look anything alike, but they all look like me!

My oldest is a sophomore in highschool, and I have realized that being in highschool was much funner than having a child in highschool!!

There is only eighteen months in-between each of my sons, but there is 10 years between my youngest son and my daughter.

I love the way my daughter has her daddy wrapped around every little finger on both of her hands!

I adore the fact that my daughter has the same hair color and completion as my mother. Having her makes me feel like a piece of my mother is still with me!!

I am the sixth child of seven, I have four older brothers, one older sister, and a baby sister... who really isn't a baby anymore.

I love Pearl Jam, and think Eddie Vedder has the most amazing voice on earth.

I have been to more concerts than I can count and plan on going to as many as I can in the future. Although, the most awesome concert I've seen is the Dave Matthew's Band. I think that everyone needs to see him live at least once!!

I believe that motherhood is the most amazing, emotional, humbling, creative, exhausting and painful thing I, personally, will ever experience in my lifetime.

I don't cry very often, but when I do it feels liberating.

My new favorite toy is my Kindle.....i love to read!!

All of my sons are named after cities (Austin, Davis, and Trenton). My daughter was going to be named Kiera after a city in Australia, but my husband loved the name Isabella so much that we decided to forgo our trend of city names.....to the disappointment of all of those around us.

I go by my nickname Chris, from my middle name Christiena....but my birth/first name is Ayescha. An old German name that no one can pronounce.

I love all things Apple...and am currently obsessed with the new ipad!

My baby sister is my bestest best friend in the whole world!!

In this picture, (taken at my brother's wedding) we both had "one to many" together for the first time.....it was a blast!!

When I was young my mother use to tell me "Cut your hair all you want when you are young because one day you will be to old to get away with it"....2 years ago, I realized that I was too old to get away with it!!

It's time to pick up my eldest from school, so that is all the keeping it real for today!!

a crazy hat

2010-01-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

I found this wonderful pattern on Raverly by Leslie Nelle-Urinyi, for a freeform crochet hat....I couldn't resist it, all those bobbles and colors. I started as soon as it finished downloading with only one girl in mind......when it was finished we immediately had to rename it "the crazy hat" not only because the hat its self is kinda crazy, but because the girl in the hat went crazy as soon as it was put on her precious little head!!

I did alter the pattern a little to suit a toddler size head, then added the pom pom on the top and ties off of the ear flaps.

I have to honestly say that not only was this hat fun to make, it has quickly become one of my favorite crochet items to date...and Izzy LOVES her new hat with all her hearts delight!!

new year

2010-01-07T10:38:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was full of children and food, just the way I like it!! Now, I am slowly getting back into the routine of daily life...the boys are back to school, and Isabella and I are preparing for potty training. The year seems to be starting off in slow motion for me.

There has been no sewing going on in my house, I honestly miss it....but it has become quite difficult to persuade my little Bella to let me sew. She is in a cling to mommy mode, which I have totally indulged myself in. Since I have teenagers, I know how precious and short lived, these younger years of a childhood are. I have managed to get a bit of crocheting done though.

I finished this infinity scarf for my sister this week, as a late Christmas gift. I used a stitch pattern that I found on Raverly by mon petit violon. The original pattern was for a cowl, but I really liked the idea of an infinity scarf....the stitching worked out perfectly.

Then I decided to make a matching flower clip that she could either attach to the scarf or wear in her hair. Once that was done, I started working on this adorable hat for my daughter....

I found this pattern on a wonderful blog called Vallieskids. She has a few great hat patterns on her blog, that are not only adorable, but really easy to follow. Isabella loved her new hat, and now wants Mommy to maker her lots more!!

I love black and white photos, although I don't usually use them on my blog because you can't see the colors....but this one was meant to be.

hook holder

2009-12-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite gifts that I am giving this year is a yarn basket filled with wonderful yarns and books on how to crochet. A girl friend of mine has been wanting to learn, so I thought it would be a perfect gift to help her along. As a finishing touch, I decided to make her a hook holder.

Using dot patterns from Kei, Lecien, Denyse Schmidt, and other various companies I do not know the name of, to back the hooks. The main pattern is one of Echino's new fabrics called Ornament Turquoise, which is just scrumptious in person.

I made a few extra slots, so her collection of hooks has room to grow. To make this holder, I modified the colored pencil roll pattern from the book, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I love this book, it has so many wonderful ideas in it.

This was such a fun project that I decided to make one for myself. Currently my hooks live on the bottom of whatever bag my yarn is currently shoved into, so this was a necessity for me. I think I just need to learn to make everything in pairs, one to give away and one to keep. I know that is a bit selfish, but it's hard not to fall in love with the things we make.

2009-12-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone, I am so sorry that this is coming a day late....sadly the stomach flu hit my baby girl, and yesterday was spent in a sea of vomit. She is feeling better today, but still running a fever, so we aren't out of the woods yet. I hate it when my babies get sick, especially her because she is so young.

Our lucky winner is.....number 3, Aneela of Comfortstitching, who said:

do I want a potholder.........I think I need yours!!

It would look lovely hanging up in my kitchen:)

Aneela, I will email you to get all your info, I hope you enjoy your new potholder!!

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first giveaway

2009-12-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

My Guild meets once a month, and I really look forward to these meeting......there's nothing like being in a room of amazingly talented women who all love what you love. This months meeting was to include a Holiday pot holder swap. So on Monday, I was all ready with my potholder to go to my meeting, when my husband called letting me know that he lost his keys on one of his job sites and was stranded. So at the last minute, I had to cancel going to my meeting to bring that sweet hubby of mine the spare keys to his car. It was somewhat comical because I am the type of person who looses her keys (and have on many occasions) but my husband is not. He is far to on top of things to loose his keys....I blame it on the rain!! Needless to say, that leaves me with a potholder that needs a home, so I decided to turn it into my first blog giveaway.

Who is this giveaway for....well my wonderful followers of course. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed becoming part of this amazing online quilting community, and truly appriciate the comments left by all of those who stop by my blog. So if you are one of my followers and are interested in adding this potholder to your kitchen, then just leave me a comment. If you are not a follower of mine, then you can take part by becoming one and leaving a comment too! I will use the random number thingy magigy to pick a winner on Monday, December 14th. Good luck to all, and thank you for your support!!

a little girls quilt

2009-12-03T16:31:00.001-08:00

I finished the little girls quilt for Give a Kid a Quilt, and although the design is a simple one, I really like it. I think what makes me like it is the Joel Dewberry fabric in the center.....I adore those birds, too cute!. I will have to make a quilt for my daughter with that fabric someday. Some of the other prints include Heather Bailey and Amy Butler.

Now that I have both quilts done, I need to make a trip to the post office. I am really hoping that these two quilts find their way to their owners before Christmas.

quilting for a purpose

2009-12-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

While sipping on my extra hot Chai tea latte last week I stumbled upon something that really touched my heart. I was on the sometimes crafter's blog reading her feelings on an important issue...homeless children. I followed her link to the blog, Give a Kid a Quilt organized by Rachel (from 2nd avenue studio) and Christina (the sometimes crafter).....after reading for a few seconds, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be part of this amazing idea. They are collecting quilts to donate to homeless children, ok.....homeless children. I don't know if those two words hit you the way they did me, but just the thought makes my heart ache. So I immediately responded and told them to count me in. All other projects were put aside and I got to work!!

The reason I started quilting was to make something for my children that would represent me throughout their lives....something that would keep them warm and feeling safe when I couldn't. I get the most wonderful and fulfilling feeling when I make a quilt for someone that I love. What I learned this week is that I get that same feeling from making a quilt out of love for someone I don't know. I enjoyed making this one so much that I have decided to do another. This quilt was made with a little boy in mind, the next will have a little girl in mind.

I used some of my stashed fabrics for this quilt. The green dots are by Westminster, the orange and brown are from Denise Schmidt's Katie Jumprope line, the blue dots are Kei, the multi colored dots are by Alexander Henry and lastly the grey mushrooms are by Jay McCarroll. I am hoping that, when this quilt finds it's way to the little boy it is meant to belong to, it will supply him with warmth, comfort and hopefully a bit of safety.

sewing machine cover tutorial

2009-11-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

Ok....here it goes. Keep in mind this is my first time writing up a tutorial, so if you need more info or have questions, just let me know. I am a very visual person, so for the sake of this tutorial, I made a second cover for my daughters sewing machine. She plays with my old Kenmore with the needle removed, and loves every second of it....she doesn't even realize that she isn't really sewing!!

What you need:

-decorative block (if you want to use the flying geese, like mine, the tutorial for that block it here)

-about a 3/4 yard of fabric, you can piece use smaller pieces and just sew them together

-20" wide fusible interfacing (I used SF-101 by Pellon) enough to match the measurements of your sewing machine. I used about a yard.

-thread to match your choice of fabrics

-marking pen/straight pins

First you need to find the circumference of your sewing machine. I would recommend measuring at the bottom of your sewing machine, a lot of them are wider on the bottom. This machine is 40.5" around the bottom.

The second measurement you want is the height of your machine.

Like my son is demonstrating in this picture, you want to measure from one side over the top to the bottom of the other side. This machine's height measures at 25".

The first measurement will be used to determine the width of your fabric. You want to take the circumference of the machine divide it 2 and then add an inch for seam allowance. For example: this machine measured 40.5" divided by two is 20.25", I then added an inch for 21.25" as the final width measurement of my fabric. The height measurement will let you know how long your cover needs to be. I added an inch to this also.

Before cutting your fabric, you need to decide where you want your decorative block to be located. On my daughters cover I decided to center the decorative block, but on my original cover I offset the decorative block to the left. The decorative block is 11.25", each side panel is 5" wide and 26" long. I chose to put 2.75" of fabric underneath my block. Again, my decorative block is 11.25" + 2.75" below+ a 12" panel above the block to equal my needed length of 26".

I attached the top and bottom panels to my block first. Then the side panels.

Once my cover fabric was assembled, I ironed it to my fusible interfacing. I used interfacing to make my cover stiffer, but you could also choose to make an inner lining, if you wanted a softer look.

Then simply fold your cover in half and sew up both of the sides the sides together.

Then while wrong side out, slip the cover over your sewing machine to pin the corners.

Pin your corners down to the top of your sewing machine. Then slip the cover off and mark your sew lines on your two corners.

Once your corners are sewn closed, trim off the excess leaving a .25"seam.

Turn your cover right side out finish of your cover bottom by folding over the raw edge and pining it in place.

You can use any stitch you desire to finish off your edge, I chose decorative stitches to add a little added touch to my covers.

Your cover is now complete and ready to keep all that unwanted dust off of your treasured machine!

As a side note: I was asked for the measurements of the original cover I made. To be honest, when I made my original cover I did it all by eye, so don't have them. I added in the measuring techniques for this tutorial, with my son's help.

one more check off the list

2009-11-23T11:16:00.001-08:00

Since I am at a stand still with my HST quilt, I decided to get one of my Christmas list quilts done. I'm having a hard time staying focused on my Christmas sewing list, seeing as it is sunny and warm outside. It's one of the things about living in southern California that I will never get use to, every year I have to force myself to get holiday things done, because it never really feels like the holidays. I think it was all those white Christmas mornings in New York as a child that makes me associate Christmas with snow and cold. I successfully got myself into the mood last week, and am glad to have another check off on my list. A quilt for my sister....who has very different taste than I do. In order to make this quilt a reflection of her style, I had to go outside of my comfort zone and use red. The red fabric used is Kona cotton in Crimson.....and not at all a color I would ever choose to work with. I just kept telling myself "It's not for me, it's not for me". The layout of the quilt was inspired by one of my fellow guild members Terri and that part of the quilt I love. I will have to make one of these large wonky blocks, using only colors that I love, one day. I think it would be a good design for one of my boys.

I had a few request for a tutorial on my machine cover, I am hoping to have that finished and up by tomorrow. It will be my first tutorial and I want to make sure I take my time to do a good job.....I'm a bit nervous, but it is a really easy project, so the tutorial should be easy, right?!?!

a new cover and some random things

2009-11-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

I saw my first "geese in a circle" block the other day on Kerri's blog, Lovely Little Handmades, the other day....and needless to say, I was in awe!! I immediately followed her link to the tutorial by the Sometimes Crafter, and made one of my own. Once made, I had to find a purpose for it...with some quick sewing and about and hour of time, my Bernina had a new cover!!

I was able to make the whole cover using scraps left over from my last quilt, including those wonderful Alexander Henry dots that I am obsessed with.

Now Nina doesn't have to worry about dust anymore!!

As for the rest of my time, I have started a new quilt. That is, I have spent quite a bit of time sewing up some HST squares.

I am waiting on the post man to bring me the last 2 fabrics I ordered for this baby....it will be my first time quilting with HST squares, so I am pretty excited.

On another random note: I have a new obsession....Sulky 100% egyptian cotton blendables thread.

Before getting my Bernina, I always quilted in white....mainly to hide the fact that my old machine never stitched constantly. Now, my stitches are all even, and showing them off has become fun. These Blendables are nice, subtle, and add such a wonderful touch to my quilts. Like all things I become obsessed with, I need them all!!!

in love...

2009-11-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

OK, I admit it, I am in love. I didn't really know who I was making this quilt for, I just knew I wanted to make it. I fell in love with all these patterns when I made my daughter's apron, and decided then that I would eventually make a large quilt with them. Now that it is done, I know that it is MINE....ALL MINE!! Yes, I know I should give it to my daughter, but I love it!!

Because of the size of this quilt, 68x72, it was kinda hard to photograph the entire thing alone. Normally I would have that tall husband of mine hold it up, but he is at work, and I just can't wait to share!!

Now, even though this front turned out exactly how I had pictured in my mind, the back is actually my favorite part of this quilt.

Originally I had planned to have a solid backing on this quilt, but at the last minute changed my mind and threw this together. I adore the way it turned out. To top it all off, I had found these wonderful dots at my visit to Purl Soho last week!! They are from Alexander Henry, and are absolutely delicious, not to mention a perfect binding for this quilt.

The only complaint I have is the type of batting I chose to use. I decided to use Quilter's Dream batting for the first time....why I would try a new batting on a quilt like this, I don't know. It is soft, and great to work with, but when washed it crinkles A LOT!! Since this is such a geometrical design, I don't really like the crinkle effect that it has, but alas it is too late to change that!! So just to let all you know who haven't used that batting before, only use it if you want a lot of crinkle, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. I pressed it down after washing it so it photograph better, and I still think it is too crinkled.

block party quilt along

2009-11-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

These are my first two blocks for the Block Party Quilt Along. This is the first quilt along that I have participated in, and with the first block assignment, I did something new. I haven't done a star block before, or one so traditional. When I first saw it, I wasn't too sure how much I would enjoy making it....but it didn't take me long to figure out a way to make fun and a reflection of me.

I love the fact that even though these two blocks are identical, turning them in different directions really sets them apart from one another. I enjoyed making these blocks so much that I can't wait til the next block assignment!!!

You can see all the blocks being made at the Block Party flickr group.

Belle

2009-11-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

This week has been quite a hectic one, football season is coming to an end, and my daughter in discovering the world around her.....so needless to say, there hasn't been much sewing around here. I did manage to squeeze in completing this lovely embroidery pattern that I purchased from Aneela over at Comfortstitching. Her name is Belle, and my daughter fell in love with her while sitting on my lap reading Aneela's blog. Belle had to go blonde, to match my baby, and per my baby's request her dress had to be pink. I am thinking that Belle will find her way into a baby quilt for Izzy as soon as I get a chance to spend some quality time with my sewing machine.

quick and easy

2009-11-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was feeling the need to finish something. I get a bit antsy when I go to long without feeling that moment of accomplishment that I only get from completing a project. I had seen this cute bag tutorial over at Pink Penguin and decided to give it a whirl. It was the fix I was looking for...fun, easy and best of all quick!! I changed the size dimensions and came up with my own patchwork design to give it that personal touch.

I love it, and so does my baby girl. She snatched it out of my hands as soon as it was done, and claimed it as her own. I was unable to picture it before she confiscated it (and she was not willing to give it up), so you get the in use pictures today...instead of the laid out and made pretty pictures.

For some reason she filled it with all her little dishes that live in her kitchen, and was very pleased to have done so. It gave me the idea of making her cloth shopping bags that she can play with, which went on next weeks list of things to sew!

As for the quilt I am working on right now, well it's coming along very slowly. I decided to stay up late last night, after my family was nicely tucked into bed, and get the basting done. I have to move all the furniture in our living room to do this, so it goes much smoother in the quiet hours of night. Here is a sneak peak, don't mind the bad lighting, as I said, it was late.

Hopefully I will have it all quilted and binded by the weekend.

block party

2009-11-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

The girls over at Block Party are turning they're quilting bee into a quilt along! Outside of that, there is a lot of exciting things going on over in that part of the world. Alissa from Handmade by Alissa is co-writing a book with Kristin of Unraveled, in which the blocks and the world of modern quilting will be featured. I had the great pleasure of meeting Alissa last month at our first LA Modern Quilting Guild meeting. Not only is she incredibly talented....but wonderfully inspiring to be around. This book is sure to be a creation full of excitement and love for modern quilting. To kick off the quilt along they are having an incredible give-away full of beautiful fabrics.

I am so excited to see what our first block will be, and what amazing things come from everyone who participates.

Honey-bee

2009-11-01T15:12:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist sharing a picture of the cutest little honey-bee that graced my garden yesterday. She was feeling much better and smelling the flowers before flying off to find candy...

We did finally catch her and put her to bed after hours of flying around the neighborhood spreading cheer and joy!

organized chaos

2009-10-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

My next quilt is underway, but before I started, I had a bit of organizing to do. My family thinks this looks more chaotic than organized....but it is....organized that is! I am working with all my favorite fabric scraps, which I have been wanting to do for a while now. Sadly, my daughter isn't really up to sharing me with the sewing machine this week, so it is coming along very slowly. I think she is catching a cold and feels a bit more needy right now and naps aren't coming as easily these days. Maybe I will pull some late nights this weekend to get it done!!

a patterned quilt

2009-10-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Like most quilters, I am fully self taught. Up until about 4 months ago, I didn't even know what the names of different types of quilts were, or who Heather Ross, Denyse Schmidt, and Amy Butler were. Then I discovered flickr and the world of blogging. I have learned so much in the last few months about HST quilts, block quilts, log cabins...etc.

I do feel though that since I learned in the dark ages of no classes, books, or computer (not even a friend to learn from), there are some basics of quilting that could make my life easier (like basting with safety pins instead of straight pins...who knew). With that said, I gave myself the challenge of completing a quilt by pattern. I chose an Amy Butler pattern, from her new Softwares cd.

The name of this quilt is Aspen Branches...and I loved the pattern from the moment I saw it.

I do need to tell you that I did make some changes as I went. For example, the pattern has the stripes meeting in the middle on the seams, but I decided to off set them so that they wouldn't line up. The pattern only called for 9 different fabrics, I used 26. I also ended up putting on a boarder that was not called for. In all honesty, I can tell you that I did learn one thing....I don't like following patterns. I had a hard time being confined. I do love the quilt, and think it looks nice in its new home....

but I did not enjoy the process like I normally do. There is something to be said for going at it on your own and making up the rules as you go.

I love my blog reads and flickr addiction....I feel as though I learn so much more from reading blogs than I could ever learn from a pattern, in a class or a book. Besides, the talent found through these two sources is so amazing and inspiring...that I have a list a mile long of things I want to try. I am still determined to do Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl quilt, one day (I want to make it for my daughter's hope chest) and I am sure that there will be tempting patterns in the future, but on the whole it's just not my thing. I like trying to figure things out, and spending countless hours deciding where a block or fabric goes. It was a good experience though, and now I can say that I did it!! I am curious what everyone else's thoughts are on the subject.

As requested, a picture that shows the entire front of the quilt!! It has been used a lot since I originally posted this quilt, so it is a bit wrinkled.

carry all

2009-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

This month was the first meeting of the LA Modern Quilt Guild, and I am so excited to be part of this incredibly talented group of women. We all decided that next month we would bring a quilt to share with the group....so naturally my first thought was "I am going to need a carry all bag to drag to and from meetings". I received my new Amy Butler Love fabric last week, and couldn't resist using it for this project.

The pattern used for this bag is from Amy Butler's new Softwares project cd. I fell in love with the pattern because of the two different sized handles, so convenient. The eyelets were not called for in the pattern, I added those on, just to give it a more finished look.

I also love how big it is, measuring 15 x 16.5 inches, when finished. To take the picture, I folded two throw size quilts and stuffed them inside....they both fit in easily. I do think that maybe a large floral pattern might have looked better on this bag, but there's nothing to be done about that now!!

peace quilt

2009-10-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

My niece is 15 and her style is somewhere between bohemian and the days of peace signs and free love, you know the 60s. So my goal, to make her a quilt that would capture the feel of both of these worlds. As soon as I saw AMH fabric, I knew that it was a perfect match...bohemian for sure, but it needed a little something to give it that hippie feel.

I think that the peace signs were the perfect answer!

I decided to let all the patterns touch and intersect in order to keep it a bit more organic and colorful. All my left over scraps were used to make the binding, and I love the way that it blends into the pattern of the quilt. Once again, I used variegated thread for the quilting, and it really added to the feel of this quilt.

I am a machine binder, and usually end up with a clean stitch on the front edge of my binding, which looks nice, like I said, clean...but I have been wanting to perfect attaching the binding to the front first, that way the stitch would be on the back. I have tried over and over and had not found a perfect solution. Luckily, this world of blogging lets us learn from others and Red Pepper Quilts had the remedy for my dilemma. She had given the tip of stitching in the ditch on front of the quilt to catch the fold on the back....works like a dream!

This is the end result, I love it, and am SO thankful that she shared this wonderful tip.

AMH

2009-10-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

All my Anna Maria Horner fabric is cut, sewn into squares, pressed and trimmed...now its time to lay it all out and decide on the order of things. This last step tends to take me the longest, I have been known to spend hours moving squares around. I do it over and over again until I get that "this is it" feeling.

This is my trim off pile (I always sew my squares a 1/2 inch bigger than my desired size, then trim them after pressing...it lends to a cleaner finished product), I love the colors and patterns thrown together in these small strips. I think I may start saving them and using it all as confetti in gift bags.

Quilt Festival: Fall 2009

2009-10-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

The quilt I have chosen for the quilt festival was made for my daughter, Isabella. It was made with a combination of her infant dresses and all my scraps. I originally wanted the whole quilt to be made with her dresses, but found that I just couldn't cut into a lot of them....I really wanted her to have them for the day she has a daughter of her own. That is when my scraps came in handy. I also really wanted the quilt to have a warm patchwork feel to it, with a bit of modern thinking. Once, the top was finished and it was time to quilt, I realized that I didn't really want to distract the eye from the prints or the blocks, so I went old school and tied off using embroidery thread. I had never tied off a quilt before, and I am still not sure I like it, but I do love the simplicity of the overall look of the quilt. my daughter has spent countless hours loving it and dragging it around, so I feel like I accomplished the most important part of a quilt.

One of the main things I love about this quilt is that I really feel like it represents a time not only in my life but in my daughters life. A piece of history that she will one day share with a child of her own. I have pictures of her in all the dresses that I used in the quilt so she will be able to connect to that moment in time. I also incorporated a few pieces of her crib bedding, which will also add to the long term sentimental feel to it.

one large improv block!

2009-10-11T22:49:00.001-07:00

I was so inspired last week when I saw the improv blocks over at one flew over, that I really wanted do some of my own. Sadly, I was also ready to get to work on my Christmas list...first on the list was a quilt for my niece. I had already decided to make her quilt with Alexander Henry's Natura fabrics.... the dilemma....well the fabrics have REALLY large prints on them, that I REALLY didn't want to cut up into small pieces, what was a girl to do???? One REALLY large improv block of course!!

I have to say that this was the largest improv block I have ever done, measuring at 58 x 65. The happy and colorful fabrics were so much fun to work with and know that it will be the perfect quilt to keep my niece warm and snuggled up tight on cold nights.

I even had enough fabric to make the back pretty. Not another block, but I like the way the fabrics look in a stripped pattern also. The diagonal quilt lines were done using a pink and lavender variegated thread, that really added a subtle and beautiful touch to the quilt. Next on the list.....all that beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabric that I got last week, purchased with another niece in mind!

anna maria horner

2009-10-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

A bit of Anna Maria Horner goodness was delivered to my house today! It is such beautiful fabric and I can't wait to sink my hands into it. What to do....what to do.....

but first I have to finish up this project that I have going. Which, when finished, will be my first completed Christmas gift!! I have to tell you that this AH fabric is a dream to work with.

far far away

2009-10-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

My far far away quilt is finally done! It is a bit simpler than I thought it would be, but as soon as I started working with the fabric, I knew that I wanted the patterns to really be the focus. I love the way the stripped quilting turned out, even though it took quite a bit of time. The lines are about 3/4 of an inch apart, except for where the princess is. The wider stripe ensured that I wouldn't stitch though her face, and makes her stand out.

The dresden plate really gives this quilt a special touch, and makes a nice focal point. It was my first time rounding the edges instead of doing the points, and to my delight, I like the finished look. I was worried I wouldn't like the more appliqued look, but I don't mind it at all.

I finished the quilt off with a green and white polka dot pattern to offset the brown and pink.

The overall size is of a standard throw quilt 50x60, and makes perfect addition to the edge of my daughter's bed.

house of flu

2009-10-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

The flu bug hit our house this week. I had all three boys home from school, and we all went through the experience of being sick together. With fevers running high, it was actually the quietest my boys have ever been....my little princess on the other hand ran circles around all of us sickos. The post man did bring me some goodies to keep a smile on my face though! Hopefully, my far, far away quilt will be done by monday..and ready to share.

This munki munki fabric is sooooo wonderful in person. I found these little treasures at se wdeerlyloved, which is one of my favorite blog reads.

I also found this lovely Alexander Henry fabric at Fabricworm. I order a lot of my fabric there, they have a great selection and quick service.

cutting in

2009-09-26T10:33:00.001-07:00

I am finally cutting into my Far Far Away fabric. I absolutely LOVE this fabric and have enjoyed glancing at it every now an then, waiting for inspiration to strike. Well, inspiration has never come, but a reason for celebration has.

Yesterday my baby sister gifted me with this wonderful new sewing machine (Have I mentioned that I have the BEST baby sister in the whole world?!)!! So to welcome this new beaut into my life, we will make a Far Far Away quilt together. I am a bit nervous because as I mentioned, inspiration never came, so I am truly going to "wing it". Let the fabric speak to me as I go, and my new machine guide me though it. Wish me luck!!!

carried away

2009-09-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

My daughter has been sick for the last several days, so the computer and I haven't had much time together. Luckily, I have been able to sneak in some sewing!! This is a doll blanket to match Izzy's apron that I made her last week. Bitty Baby looked so cute wrapped up in it, that I kinda got carried away with the theme.

I decided that she needed accessories for her kitchen, and I had extra squares.... so.... I started with an oven mitt and pot holder...

that led to a kitchen hand towel,

which made me realize, that she needed a placemat for tea time.

At that point I felt the collection was complete!! She loves them all, but I think her favorite is the hand towel. It didn't take long for her to start washing her dishes and drying them with it.

patchwork apron

2009-09-18T10:52:00.001-07:00

My daughter loves to play in here kitchen...and I love to make her aprons to cook with. Yesterday, i wanted to sew, but wasn't quite ready to start a new quilt...so my natural response was to pull out a pattern that I had purchased the other week.

The pattern is by Indygo Junction, named Jane and Sally Apron. Now I have to tell you that I would not recommend this pattern to anyone. The instructions were useless and I ended up just looking at the front picture to figure out all the details. I did alter it a bit, by widening the scallops on the bottom. I adore the way it turned out, and Izzy is really excited about her new little apron!

I couldn't decide on one fabric for the ties, so ended up using two different fabrics....a detail that I really like, now that it is done. I also chose to fully line the apron so that the quilting of the squares would stand out a bit more.

I love the patterns together so much that I am already planning a matching doll blanket for her bitty baby.

2009-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I found my first pair of Munki Munki pajamas last night at Marshalls. Woohoo!! I don't think I have ever been so excited over a pair of pajamas before. Now, I am known in my family for my ability to cut up anything in my path, if I think it will work on a quilt. Tee-shirts, pants, pillow cases, dresses, etc. I have no limits....so this Munki Munki craze is perfect for me! I even know exactly what I am going to do with this fabric.

finally

2009-09-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Davis's quilt is finally finished!! I have to tell you that this was a tuff one to get through. I don't know if my machine has realized that it isn't a quilting machine, or if I am just lacking patience...but whatever it is, we struggled!! I haven't ever made so many mistakes on one project before, from fabric pinching to crooked lines, which meant it took way longer to finish.

I did try something new though, I attached my edging to the front first instead of the back. I always sew my edging by machine, and every time I think the back looks better than the front. I have to admit that I am pleased with the way it turned out.

All in all, I am just happy to be moving on, and that my son loves it. He is all rapped up (even though it is currently 80 degrees outside) and very content. His words of comfort to me as I explained to him all the mistakes "Mama, perfection isn't what is important, the fact that you made it for me is what matters". I love children, so forgiving.

This second quilt is actually quite old, but one of my favorites. I made it using some of my daughters baby clothes, scraps, and a few patterns I just couldn't resist. I loved the way the patterns flowed together so much that I decided to tie off instead of quilt. I usually don't like to do that, but in this case I think it added to the simple sweetness of the quilt. The blocks that are opposite of the string blocks were inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Aneela at comfortstitching. I just love her stuff and find her to be such a great source of insperation.

My daughter enjoys pulling through the house and into the car, and hopefully it will last long enough that her daughter will one day do the same.

new machine...

2009-09-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

Here it is, Monday....I have anxiously waited all weekend to quilt my beach quilt top, only to find myself frustrated and limited!! I know I have mentioned before that it is time for me to invest in a new machine, but I have trying to hold out until Christmas....now, I don't know how much more patience is in me!! I have spent the last few hours trying over and over to create this wave (that has been stuck in my head for awhile now), only to find myself pulling out numerous amounts of thread!! I am sure I am not the first to find themselves in this position. So what does a girl do?!?! I may just compromise with my machine on this quilt and stick with a straight stitch, but it is definitely time for a change. I have been trying to choose between a Janome and a Bernina, any suggestions on which would be a better choice?

basted and ready to go

2009-09-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

My quilt top is finished and ready to be basted!! I had a few hick-ups on this one.....mainly because my brain wasn't really working yesterday. I blame it on sleep depravation! Either way, I have a few seams that didn't really need to be. Fortunately, my son will never know the difference, and I will have to live with it. The overall look of the top is exactly what I was looking for, so that will have to be enough.

I am really excited about this Ross find last night. A twin size bed sheet that will be the backing of the quilt. I think the sharks are going to be the perfect touch! I am really excited to get quilting away,( I have an idea in my head to create a wave pattern in the stitching) but sadly it will have to wait until Monday. I am off for a weekend away with my husband, child free!! It sounds exciting, but if I know myself, I will miss them terribly after the first day!

another beach quilt

2009-09-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my 13 year old son asked me if I could make him a new snugly quilt. Now this is the boy that carried his first blanky for 3 years, so of course I got busy cutting and sewing. Luckily, I still had a lot of scraps left over from his bed quilt that I made a few months ago, so I didn't even have to run out and get anything. He loves nothing else than the ocean, and surfing....so I always keep that in mind when making things for him. I am hoping that when this quilt is complete it will not only keep him warm, but remind him of what he loves!

The post man brought me these little goodies yesterday!! I love them all, but would have to say that the daisy and dots are by far my favorite. I thought it was adorable when looking at it online, but in person it is FABULOUS (i have joined the world of freaks for Flea Market Fancy....I need it all)!!

raggedy owl giveaway

2009-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

I just entered my first giveaway.....I couldn't resist it. Raggedy Owl is giving away some of the cutest Heather Ross fabric, and i had to give it a shot. Oh...the things I could do, the possibilities are just too exciting to even think about!

labor day weekend

2009-09-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

At the start of this 4 day weekend I had a long, long list of projects I wanted to get too.....but I think my list was a bit too optimistic for a mom of 4. Between my boys football games, my families need to be at the beach, and my daughter's over all need of me, I did not accomplish much. I did, although, get to do a bit of organizing.

I am new to the world of "stashing" fabric. I was lucky enough to have two great quilt shops in town, so when a project would come up, I would just run out and pick up what I needed to do it. Sadly, within the last year both of these shops have closed their doors and I have resorted to internet fabric shopping. Who knew it was so fun....and so addicting?!?! A new obsession for my obsessive and compulsive personality.

Oh boy!

2009-09-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend's son has a birthday next week, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to use some of the wonderful "boy" prints in the world. Fabric (and not to mention my sewing) has come such a long way since my boys were little, so I truly enjoyed making this quilt. I loved the patterns, and their simplicity, so much that I didn't want to quilt on them, so I straight stitched through the white to add dimension to the quilt.

Although I love the way the overall finished product looks, I did realize while doing my quilting that it is time that I start looking into a new machine. I enjoy my brother machine, and have sentimental feelings for it because it was a gift from my husband, but it seems to have a hard time keeping the stitches consistent. Which isn't too big of a deal when piecing, but bugs me when I am quilting.

flea market fancy

2009-09-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

These are the only two pieces of this precious fabric that I have gotten my poor little hands on.....i would LOVE to have them all!

My first blog

2009-09-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I have spent countless hours roaming through blogs of many great women, finding inspiration and loving the creation of others. My younger sister always teases me and says...."you should start your own blog, instead of just looking at everyone elses, then you can inspire someone else". Now usually I just shew her away and go on with my day, but for some reason, this last time it stuck. So here I am, starting my first blog. I hope to share with the women who have inspired me, and maybe spread a bit myself.

As a quick intro, I am a mom of three sons who are 15, 13, and 12. And like many crazy couples my husband and I gave it a second whirl and got our beautiful little princess who in now 2 (born after 3 princes, she was born to rein). I am married to a man that dreams are made of and we raise our family together in beautiful Southern California. I love creativity....it is the sanity of my chaos. Whether it is painting, refinishing, scrapbooking, sewing or any other outlet that I discover, i love the feeling of accomplishment through my own fingers.