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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I took the plunge

I took the plunge and gave in to try my hand at making hexies. I'm not sure that they are addictive, for me, as everyone says they are. They are fun and I do very much enjoy having something to do with my hands while watching tv. Here's what I've gotten done so far....

Hubby keeps asking me what I'm making. Honestly, I have no clue. As far as I know I'm still seeing if I enjoy it. So, this is where I need your assistance... What should I make? I have 1/2 yard of each blue and white cut into 2.5 inch hexies, but what do I make?

I Have Learned My Lesson...

As I hold my head down in shame I show you this picture. It is the lint out of my sewing machine from the past year (pictured next to a dirty quarter). I know, I know... I pulled a big no-no. I kept putting off cleaning out my machine because I was afraid of what I would find and that I wouldn't be able to put my machine back together. 

I did it. I succeeded. I am no longer afraid! My machine runs like new again and I have learned my lesson: Clean out your machine after each project.

A Look into my Sewing Room

I've been in the new house now for a couple months and kept promising that I would show all of you my new space. My sewing room is also my office space (not counting the large tv on another wall).  The previous house consisted of a very large bar (for entertaining purposes) that I had utilized. I have also attempted organization and have labeled the photos accordingly. Hope you enjoy.... click on the photo for larger view.

Entrance

Cutting Table
P.S. the curtains are the same lengths, but I have
to hang them weird...thus the diff lengths.

My Sewing Space

Design Board

Fabric

Storage

So, there you have it! Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. I have plenty of room to put stuff and move around. I can't think of anything I'm missing. What would you like to do differently about your sewing space?

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 Reveal

I have finally finished my 1st quilt! Yikes! I'm so excited!!! The quilt is a little larger then queen sized, but not as big as a king. I made it reversible as well. I like to have the darker colors in the fall/winter and brighter in the spring/summer.

 We've actually been using this on our bed for a week or so. Hubby was kind enough to tell me it was "snuggly." From him, that is a HUGE compliment. LOL

Off to finish up another project so I can get started on my quilt for The Naked Bed Challenge.  If you don't know what I'm talking about just click here and Cara Wilson at Cara Quilts and Sarah Fielke at The Last Piece will fill you in on everything you need to know. These two amazing ladies have made an idea into a reality! Seriously...go check it out and add your name to the linky! It's going to be a blast!

Eek!!

I cannot believe it's been almost a month since I've posted! Forgive me as I've been a bit down in the dumps and have been struggling for any bits of motivation I can find. I have however finished a few projects! I've also finished my first quilt and will post it at a later date, but here is what I've been working on since I've been MIA. (Sorry for the bad pics!)

Wrinkly slip cover for my loveseat! lol

Reversible, removable pillow covers.

I've also bought these amazing books!



Hope you all are enjoying Spring! Happy Sewing!

A New Companion

Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law I have added this to my sewing stuff. I'm so excited about it and yet scared at the same time! I've had it for a week and a half and have yet to do anything with it. I know, I'm bad. I will though!

Not a lot of sewing or crafting has been going on this week. I do have to finish a purse before this weekend though. I did send my quilt top off to get quilted. I cannot wait for it to get done!

Hope everyone has a great week! If you have any pointers about using a serger I would be very appreciative if you'd leave me a comment or shoot me an email to help me out!

Odds and Ends

Seems as though it has taken me a week to catch up on sleep, dirty laundry, and house cleaning from last weekend. I made my kids clean their room and somehow they'd managed to keep a basket and a half of dirty clothes in their rooms! No wonder why I couldn't find their clothes to wash and they complained every morning they had nothing to wear to school. Haha!

Friday I cleaned off my crafting/sewing area and got it all organized yet again. That night I sat down to add borders or frames to my quilt. First sewing I've done since last weekend! I thought I had my quilt done, but then I decided I'd like it just a little bit longer and wider, but I had no more material to continue with the 9 patch blocks. Last week, I had bought these fabrics to use as borders for my quilt. To make a long story short, the local quilt shop's measurements ended up sending me home (in my case out of state) with not enough fabric to go around my quilt like I had explained. I had planned to leave my quilt with my mother-in-law so it could get quilted, but I ended up bringing it home with me so I could finish the borders. Monday I went and bought more material, made some changes, and here's the final quilt top...

I'm thrilled with out it turned out! I have enough extra left over of the fabrics I can make shams for my bed as well! I'm sending it off to get quilted on Monday or Tuesday. I can't wait to get it back and all finished!

Hope ya'll have a wonderful rest of the weekend and if your in the area (like me) that's supposed to be getting bad storms w/possible tornadoes tonight...stay safe!

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!!

Dresden Pin Cushion

I tried my hand at two new things today. The first thing I did was try Dresden plates. If that's even the right term. LOL The second was a pin cushion. It was definitely an experience. Plus it was mini Dresden shapes. Much of it was done by hand since they were so small. Here's how it turned out...

 

I've been working on my quilt this weekend. I've only got 4 9 patch blocks done. It seems like such a slow go. Ugh! Hoping it'll go quicker though so I can get it done. 

Linked this post up to 

So go check it out! 

 

Until next time...sending creative dust your way!

Another Project Done!

Finally got the divider curtains done that I've been sitting on since September. I was so scared to cut into the fabric in fear of butchering it. The fabric is Cherish Nature by Deb Strain that I had bought a local quilt shop. I had no clue about fabric or designers or anything and just bought what I liked. It was the ONLY thing I liked in the shop. So I think I did pretty well. Here's the finished product hanging up. It's used to hide my laundry room.

 Below is a close up of the material.

I'm going to be making a couple tie backs with what little bit of the brown material I have left so that I can tie the curtains back when I'm doing laundry.  Off to go finish up the tie backs!

Have a great day!

What a Day with a Weekend Project

Maybe I should say Saturday project, but since we're rolling over into Sunday morning I'll call it a weekend project. I sewed my first purse. I screwed up a lot learned many lessons doing this bag. My seam ripper was my best friend the whole time. I cannot even fathom the amount of time I spent with my dear buddy. First, the purse I made...

Now, for what I learned:
1.) Patterns (even though they say easy) aren't always easy. They assume you have some clue of what you're doing.
2.) When sewing corners of the bottom of a purse or inside lining, don't fold the corners down like you're wrapping a Christmas present. Yeah it doesn't work! (Thank you Google...you are loved!)
3.) Taking 4 strips of material with corners cut to a slant and sewing them together to make them into a continuous piece...was more than my brain could comprehend. I ended up just doing it however I could to get it straight. (Thank you Google again for attempting to help me with this problem but with no success.)
4.) Metal claps go on the inside lining....not the outside of the purse. I have small cut holes where I messed up on the front.
5.) Sewing on a bias sucks booty!!! Especially when it's too small. I would've preferred a wider bias for this purse around the top b/c it didn't cover my not so perfect basting stitch in the back.
6.) The rough part of the fusible interfacing goes against the project...not the material you are covering it with to protect it. Took me 4 tries to get it right.

I'm sure there's more I learned, but I cannot think straight now. I did have two energy drinks before I started this purse. Took me about 5 hours or so. SO many issues! Now I think I'm going to make a matching checkbook cover and maybe a matching wallet. However, I won't be starting these tonight. Time to crash as my Princesses like to get up super early!

Sending creative vibes to all!

Thankful ear!

I've had earache for a few days now and didn't have a heating pad so I whipped up a rice bag, popped it in the microwave, and now my ear is feeling much better! It took me 20 mins from start to finish and my ear is definitely thanking me!



Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend! Looks like we are suppose to get us some snow tonight!

Sending creative vibes to all!!

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!

Quilt in Progress

I started quilting during the Thanksgiving holidays and I am totally and completely hooked! Here's the 9 patch quilt I'm working on and hope to get finished soon! I haven't worked on it in a few weeks though. I ordered a 1/4" quilting foot and a darning foot (I think I called it the right name. it's the one with the spring looking thing with the plastic circle on the foot) for my machine and have been waiting on them before I did more. I got them in about 2 weeks ago, but have been working on other projects. I'm going to my inlaws for Christmas and I'm taking my sewing machine and material (she sews too). Anways, here's my QIP (quilt in progress)...

Happy Crafting and Quilting! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Fabric, Oh My!!

I loaded up on fabric Sunday! Although it's Walmart fabric I got it at 50% off and I'm totally okay with that! LOL I think I ended up with 20+ yards. Here's what I got...(warning: crappy iphone pic)

I also got some sheer fabric as well as interfacing. Interfacing was .73/yard (yes that's seventy three cents)! I also caved in and bought a good cutting board..as u can see the big purple in the back as well as a large ruler! I have started my fabric stash...ooh and I have a little something extra coming in over the next couple of days! More pics soon!

Until next time!! Merry Christmas!!!!

ooh la la!

Check out this giveaway retromummy is having on her blog!! 20 fat quarters of the gorgeous Flower Sugar range from Lecien! 

Click the picture for retromummy's blog and enter her amazing giveaway!

I would LOVE to win this! I have NO stash what-so-ever! LOL I spend most of my time searching the net and drooling over fabric I wish I could own. haha! Good luck to everyone that enters!

Leaning tree and teacher's gifts

I have been on a crafting spree the last couple of weeks! I am working on a tissue paper tree and then made Christmas presents for 2 of my daughter's teachers.

I first saw the tree at Spunky Junky and fell INLOVE with it! While I have never done anything like this before I followed their awesome tutorial, which you can find here. I didn't have a cone form so I used a large poster board and rolled it up into a cone, hot glued it, and then cut the bottom even (hence mine ended up leaning, but I think it gives it character).

I ran out of tissue paper so I'm probably going to trim it down as you can see at the top. Also, the package of tissue paper I had bought actually changed in color on me and I didn't want to get back out to buy more so my bottom is a greener blue while the top is blue. My oldest daughter says it's a princess hat. LOL

I made pocket hand warmers with hand embroidered designs on them. I then put them in felt gift bags I made.  Both teachers got a set of two.

I'm working on one more project for my niece for Christmas. I'll post pictures When I'm finished.

Thanks for looking!! Merry Christmas!