Hello World! And a Quilt!

Hello World!

Generic, huh? Yeah, I know. It seems like I keep hitting the repeat button super busy these days. I have started homeschooling my 3 school-aged children.

Would you believe I started that post March 20th? Sadly, I did, and I haven't been back. Like I mentioned already, I've been super busy. The Kids homeschooled all last semester, we started softball with J which took up 4-5 days a week for practice and ball games. Things have just started to settle down now, thankfully, just in time for school to start back at the end of the month. I still have to order curriculum for the girls and figure out a routine of some sorts to keep us all sane. I'm looking forward to it, though.

That's my update, now it's time for the good stuff, right? I FINALLY finished a quilt! This quilt was requested by L. She outgrew her original quilt (toddler sized). She picked out the design and the fabrics and all I did was assemble and quilt it. The pattern came from Ann Kelle's Christmas Trees Quilt. The fabrics were a pink bundle I bought from an online store (can't remember....been too long) and the backing fabrics came from my dear friend Jackie (jmmaxman - love you).

Front

Back

Binding

I have never done a pieced back quite like this before and I'm SO happy that I did it. I LOVE it so much!! If it wasn't for my little girl, I'd probably keep it for myself. Lol! So, here's to hoping my mojo is back and I can continue on with blogging and quilting. Oh, and if you see my sanity....send it back to me, k? Thanks!

P.S. Here's my little helper today while taking pics...can't believe he's 10 month's old already!

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Quilt Reveal

I have another quilt to reveal! Yay! I am super excited about this one because 1.) it came together super fast 2.) it was super easy 3.) I hand embroidered my DD's name and  4.) I machine quilted my first quilt! So, without further a due .....

Front

Hand Embroidery

Back

  I used the McKinely Quilt Pattern from OCD - Obsessive Crafting Disorder's blog. It has flowers on their version, but the more I thought about it being for a young child the more I realized it's just something else she'd tear up. I decided to leave that part off. I used Sherbit Pips charm pack with a light grey sashing, light pink accent and binding, and dark grey for backing.

I am ecstatic about the finished result! And feel such a huge accomplishment with the new things I tried. It was the first time I had tried my walking foot and it was so much easier than I thought. Basting was a new experience as well! i used 160 pins on this crib sized quilt!! Hehe

Thanks for stopping by to look! Happy Quilting!

My Slipcovers

It seems I've been working on these slipcovers forever! While they are not without major errors and are not by any means perfect... I am okay with how they turned out. Had to do rigging on some parts and just let it go. LOL However, for my first attempt I am happy with how they turned out.

Here's the before picture of my couch (the love seat matches but I have no pics of it)

And here's the after photos

I used canvas painters drop cloths from Walmart/Lowes to do both of these. I also replaced the ginormous pillows with bed pillows and covered them. I was tired of always finding all the pillows in the floor because they took up too much space on the couch. Best part?! NO more safari!!! LOL

Quilt in Snow

There's just something about making a quilt and having pictures of it in the snow. I'm not finished with my quilt yet, but I don't know if we'll be getting anymore snow so I took advantage of what we had to get a few pics. Most didn't turn out so good, but I like this one okay so it'll be the only one I share. This is my first quilt and I'm making it queen sized and this is only the top. :)

 

Comments would be appreciated! I have a few more rows to do and then it'll be ready to send off and get quilted. My biggest problem is trying to decide what back to use. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm pretty desperate at this point for ideas.

Sending warm and cozy vibes your way!!

Coloring Tote

I made a coloring tote for my 8 yr old niece for Christmas. I didn't have much fabric to chose from and had to use some my mother-in-law so graciously gave me to start my stash with, but I think it turned out ok. I started with the idea from A Girl and A Glue Gun. You can find her AWESOME coloring book and tutorial here. There were no measurements in her tutorial so I just kinda guessed and measured the same way she did. Here's how mine turned out...(warning: crappy iphone pics, esp the first one..bad bad lighting...i apologize now!)

 horrible lighting! it's actually two tones of pink. I wanted to put her initial on the front, but i totally screwed that up and got in over my head on that.

 one item of each. lol i was too lazy to fill it up for a photo.

 this side didn't take so much to fill up hehe

and the whole inside. not everything's straight, but the 8 year old won't notice (hopefully)

My niece carries a tote bag to church with her full of crayons and coloring books, so I thought this would work out perfect for her. My 7 year old DD has ooh'd and aah'd over it so I guess I'll be making her one. As anyone knows who has more than 1 child (esp DDs) if you make one something you have to make the others one as well. So I should have this down to perfection by the time I get the 4th one done (my niece and then my 3 DDs). 

Seems like everyone's blog I have been reading lately is posting about amazing homemade gifts, decorations, and even cookies. While I don't have any cookies to post or anything spectacular and profound to post or say I'll be leaving it at this. I'll be out of state without internet service starting today until next Tuesday or Wednesday. When I get back I plan to start my 2011 crafting resolution list. I see so many people posting these and feel inspired to do the same. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I wish all of you a safe and wonderful time!