Again Mommy Again!

Redo on my sis in law's quilt

2010-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here is the first take on the quilt I mentioned. The Kaffe Fassett one. Well, I hated this one. I like the concept and I like the stars but that pink is so LOUD! So, I took it off and wallah! Much better.My sister in law seems to love it. I made it for her wedding shower gift. I would have given it as a wedding gift but her brother - my hubby- insists on cash. Its an Asian thing. Or a big brother thing. I am working on my DQS9 right now. I can't wait to show it to you. And I got mine the other day. LOVE it! I'll have to show you later though. Its evening and the lighting in my house is awful for pictures. Hope you have a great day! Oh, do any of you know about night terrors? MY daughter in having them. They are totally freaky so I of course want to stop them. Thanks.

My Little Piggy

2010-06-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Before I started working on my Sis in Law's quilt I caught up on all the quilting bees. I wasn't as far behind as I thought except for the above one from March. I forgot to take pictures of all the rest of them. This a Cathedral Window. Not overly difficult but there is no way I would make a whole quilt this way. Maybe a nice pillow. Here is a tutorial if you want to try it out.

I also wanted to introduce you to my little piggy. My mom was having fun with pincushions and this is my favorite one. He actually gets used although I feel bad poking him in the face. Poor guy.

Why aren't my quilts ever the right size?

2010-06-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

My sister in law is getting married this September and I wanted to make her a quilt. My hubby wants to give his little sis cash for their gift so I decided I would make the quilt for her Wedding Shower. That gave me a months less time to procrastinate so I got started. I figure if I can have it done by this Friday I can take it to get quilted and the turn around is about three weeks and that would give me a week so sew on the binding. So here is my start.

Is it loud enough? I was just fascinated with the Coats and Clark advertisement that featured this quilt. Its Kaffe Fassett's Hot Diamonds.

But I am not one to have this much color in my life. I like color but as you can see this is a lot of color. My Sister in Law and her fiance are not afraid of color. She's an interior designer and he does some sort of design . He creates chandeliers and light fixtures for some of the rich and famous. Anyway, they have an orange wall in their living room so I figured this would be a great lap quilt. So, here is my problem. I sewed everything together and according to the template if I made the large diamond, 144 pieces, 12 rows up, 12 down the quilt would be like 54x90 inches (that's a lap quilt to me). Some how the quilt is only like 59x56. I don't know how it happened. I swear I used every piece and I even had extra that I used. So, I am going to add a 15 inch border and make it a Queen Size quilt. I can never make my quilts the right size. Oh well. When I am all done I will take a completed picture to share. I like it but it sure is LOUD! I hope she likes it.

Oh and Diamonds are not that easy. Way too much brain power needed. You can't just line the seams up and sew. It has to be off slightly so it lines up right. Luckily, I figured it out on my third row of where the placement needed to be. I think I might have to make myself a diamond quilt now.

Madeline Quilt

2010-06-09T13:44:00.001-07:00

This is actually my mom's. I was at her house and we went shopping and I bought this pattern. I had been thinking about it for a while. Well, my mother stole it as soon as we went home and made herself this. Now it is supposed to be much larger (like 27" x 39") but she made it for a 12x12 frame. She just didn't enlarge the pattern. I think she actually shrunk it a bit. I think its adorable. I might have to make a small one for Doll Quilt Swap 9. Great little scrap buster.

Tea Towel #1

2010-06-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

We are going on a trip to Hawaii to visit a friend and the sun and I realized that the friend that we are visiting is having her birthday a couple of days before we arrive so I wanted to bring her a little something so I thought I would make her a couple of tea towels. Also, this is a great little project for sitting and waiting during ballet or tee ball or swim lessons and kids are so fascinated by it. This is the first one. I bought pattern from etsy but it is no longer posted so here is her blog. I am making one more which I should finish this week of a little girl on a swing in a tree from the same artist. I think I want to make myself a set so like 3 or four. I would use some of these patterns (probably the one with the butterflies) and this one ( the tree), the one I will show you next week and the one above. I need new cute towels. I bought the towels themselves at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup, WA earlier this year. I couldn't tell you more than that though.

Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap

2010-06-01T16:55:00.001-07:00

I really liked this Embroidery Mini Quilt Swap held over at Quilting Gallery. It was fun to see how one design could look so different. Here is mine. You can check more out at flikr. I also love these small embroideries because they are perfect to take to swim lessons or tee ball. What else am I going to do for a half hour or so. I can only facebook or play tetris for so long on my phone. :) I think next I am going to do a set of dish towels. That is if I can find where I put the dish towels I bought several months ago for this project!

Oh, Doll Quilt Swap 9 is on its way for sign ups. I saw it late so I hope I made it in.

Phew, it's done!

2010-06-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know what convinced me to make this but I did. I had seen the pattern numerous times and wanted to make it but it seemed above my skill level. Well, my mom and I were shopping and she said she would help me make it if I wanted so that's what we did. I made the Amy Butler Weekender bag with the help of my mom. The only thing my mom did was help me translate the instructions, guide me and I made her sew the outside bag together although I could have done it but it got really thick and I was using her sewing machine and I didn't want to be the one to break it. We only broke one presser foot! At least it wasn't her $10,000 machine! It actually wasn't horribly difficult to make just a lot of it to make. I can't wait to use it! We did make a few changes. I added pockets on the inside and instead of making a stiff base we only used the false bottom. I put all the stiffener in the false bottom and used Velcro to hold the false bottom in place. I still plan to put some sort of closure on the outside pocket. I haven't decided but I think I will need something to hold its shape.

The fabric is Anna Maria Horner's home dec fabric and the lining is just a light colored bottom weight. The trim and the side pockets are a black bottom weight.

Would I recommend making this bag? I guess it would depend on how badly you want something unique. The supplies cost maybe $75 and the labor...add about 15 or so hours to that. But I do love my new bag!

I'm awful...

2010-05-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

First, I must apologize for my awful blogging. Part of my problem is I haven't done anything news worthy. The other part is I take pictures with my phone and check the Internet on my phone but the phone doesn't allow me to post pictures to blogger or flickr. Its really annoying. I hope they fix that soon so I can post at a moments notice if so inspired.

So what I have done. I went to a recycled fashion show or rather a trash show. It was the 10th Annual Re Store Trash Fashion Show. The Re Store is a store in town that will come to your construction site or you can take stuff to them. They will tear your house a apart and salvage 95% of the housing materials to be reused. Its pretty awesome. To the fashion show...The people are so creative and some if it wasn't made out of trash bags and would be really hot, I would think of wearing it. Enjoy the pictures. I apologize for the quality of some. The top one is made of inter tubes and newspaper. The second is of old umbrellas, third, onion bags, and finally, paper off a table at one of those restaurants you get to doodle on. People were extremely creative. I only posted the mellower ones! One of the ladies brought her kimono that was in Ripley's Believe It or Not.

I also made a few dolls. I used the Jane pattern from Bit of Whimsy. They are pretty simple to make. The first one below I donated to the Kids Safe Whatcom County Fair. The Trauma department at the hospital that I share an office with was one of the sponsors so I thought I would nice. I was lucky to see the recipient of the doll. I hope they like it!

The second doll was for M's friend who had a birthday. We were at Target looking for a present and I asked M if she would like it if I made her friend one and her response was, "Yeah, even though you haven't made mine yet." I'm such a bad mom. Its on my list. :) I also made a doll quilt too but I forgot to take a picture.

I am working on some other projects. Don't give up on my blog yet. I figure when I am FINALLY done with my job I will be able to focus on my projects and my blog. I have 2 months left - word of advice never give 6 months notice - the waiting for the end is torture. Oh, and they haven't posted the job yet! I can't wait to be done. I have a huge list of things I want to get done and start! Thank you to those who have stuck around.

A Few Blocks and Exciting News.

2010-03-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

So here are a few blocks I made for some quilting bees I am in. I don't remember whose is whose. I took these with my phone and they have been there a while. Which is why the aren't the best photos. They are really simple blocks. Its hard for me to think really big when I see the amount of fabric I get. Okay - its just hard for me to decide.

This one she was going for complicated versus simple. I did little string blocks and lots of white. I think I over did the simple but I didn't have enough fabric to do too much.

This one was a 9 patch block. You sew nine squares together and then cut directly down the middle of the block and the other direction and turn two of the four squares and sew them back together. Kind of ingenious.

The third was do anything you like going along the lines of a quilt she liked. She sent a link to the quilt photo and we just winged it. I added the orange and sent her a little extra to incorporate it into her quilt somewhere so it didn't stand out. I really hated cutting those little mermaids heads in half but I had no choice.

This one is actually the starts of a mini quilt. I hated it so I folded it up and put it away. I know - I should have just finished it - I may have liked it.

So did I tell you I quit my job? I gave my notice last month. I have till June 30th. Its the busiest time of the year and I am the only one that does my job so it would have been very cruel of me to leave any sooner. Plus they take forever to hire so I figured I'd give tons of notice because after June 30th nothing happens until August. So what am I going to do with all my free time? Well, sew of course. Reorganize our house - my hubby and I are getting claustrophobic. We have a very small house and lots of junk. And exercise, I need to get healthier and not working I won't have an excuse, right? We will see how long it takes me before I get bored. My daughter will be in Kindergarten so she won't be around to entertain me. :) Sad, isn't it.

Mini Quilts Galore

2010-03-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

So I signed up for three mini quilt swaps at one time. I know I am a glutton for punishment. I just love doing them so much. So, the first one was for STUD (Swap Till I Drop). The theme was "Love is in the Air" I tried a couple of different things but after I made this I was so pleased with it. It looks so cute. The picture really doesn't give it justice. That's a vintage button in the middle. I was going to make a heart but I thought the button actually looked better. Almost broke my machine putting it on. I was too lazy to hand sew it and it jammed with lots of thread and the mini quilt stuck to the machine. Disaster but I freed it with no injuries.

The Second swap was the Winter Themed Mini Quilt. Its through the quilting bloggers link on the side. I wasn't in the snowy mood. We have had phenomenal weather here and the beautiful black skies with the large moons really inspired me and then I found an article in a really old Quilting Arts magazine that I tried to copy. I, of course, didn't come close but I was pretty happy with it. I hope my swap buddy likes it. She is in the Netherlands with no blog so hopefully she will send me an email when she gets it.My third one was for Doll Quilt Swap 8. My partner really likes saturated colors with a white contrast and I wanted to play with curvy sewing that I learned in the Jean Well's class I took in November. My husband was unimpressed with it but my mom said it looked great and she was impressed with my sewing. Who should I trust? Non sewing hubby who is always brutally honest or my Mom who has years of experience but wants to encourage me? I think I will wait to see what my swap buddy thinks. :)Tonight I am going to start on a mini quilt for myself but using purples and a Kaffe Fasset print. Wish me luck. I hate cutting into fabric with no real idea of what I want to do plus I can't get any more of that fabric until November when the Quilt Show is back in town.

Hope all of you are well and I apologize for my absence. Now I have to turn off my computer before I check my work email. Its a bad habit I have. Really it is!

Testing My Phone

2010-03-03T20:52:00.001-08:00

I haven't been very good at blogging lately since I never turn my computer on now that I have my droid. If i can post pictures I will be extremely happy with this app and you'll get sick of me. :)

So apparently I can't post pictures that aren't from a url. Hmmm...bummer.

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

2010-01-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

So, I also participated in the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Gallery. I received my swap yesterday and I LOVE it. I got it from Carmen at Chunky Dunk Quilts. I could not wait to put it up. My mom had given me these cool quilt racks for my birthday this weekend so I wanted to use them. I went to my hall closet where I keep my girly drill (it was a small one perfect for little things around the house) and I totally got distracted looking for it and cleaned my closet. And to make it even worse - I cleaned off a whole shelf and my first thought was "oh, I could put fabric in here." My husband would kill me since I have huge shelves in our guest room full of fabric! By the way, I never found my girly drill which means my husband used it. I wonder where it is. I guess I will clean the hall closet looking for it tonight! Or I could just get a screw driver and screw it in by hand. I'll have to take photos of them and show you. You will want the racks too! Plus my mom made me a wall hanging which I will have to show you the picture of once I hang it.

If you haven't heard yet - head over to Etsy and do some shopping in the Craft Hope section. All proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders - Haiti. They are taking donations as well through today. But the least you could do it check it out. I ended up buying a couple of pdf patterns.

My Favorites Mosaic

2010-01-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

As I said before I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8 and incase my partner is stalking me - I thought I would put a mosiac of my flikr favorites. I have a lot so forgive me. I could just add tons more too! I apologize to all those that I didn't credit too. If you check out my favorites on flikr - samcrawley - you can find who it is. I just couldn't figure it out today. Sorry! Just one of those days.

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

2010-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my Fall Inspired Mini Quilt. I wasn't feeling it. I actually made two. One had trees and then this one. I wasn't feeling the other one even more. Now that this one is done I actually like it. I don't know if you can tell but the apple is similar to one in the apple fabric. I thought it would be cute. I just felt like I could have done more but I think if I did - it would have been too much. Simple is better sometimes. Now I just have to get it in the mail before Monday. I think I can, I think I can. :)

I also just signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 8. I really like the doll quilt swaps. I feel so accomplished when I finish my little piece of artwork. If you have done quilting bees before - you should try one of these out. Its too late for these two but you can also try STUD. They do it monthly. You just have to catch it on the right day. I think I even got my mom hooked on it. Check out hers. I couldn't figure out how to steal her picture but it is pretty cool.

Have a great day!

Anna aka Grandma, GM, Nana

2010-01-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

My grandmother passed away last week. Its been a fight for her the past 6 months so I am happy for her that she was able to pass. She hated being sick. She had never really been sick until she turned 90 so 90 years of good health, she hated not being healthy anymore. Everyone who needed to be there was there and was able to say their good byes and all the adults are doing okay. My daughter is doing better. She had a rough time to start. She was pretty close to her Nana.

To commemorate my grandma, I am going to overload you with pictures of her through the years.

This is my Grandma and Grandpa. They met on the Conney Island bumper cares when my grandma drove over his hat. When he returned from the war they wed two weeks later and the city girl who never left New York moved to the other side of the country with a man she barely knew. This is my favorite picture. I always knew my grandma as a farm girl. She never got gussied up or wore a lot of jewelry and in this she looks like a model.

My Grandma and Uncle Jerry. Poor kid wearing a dress. :)

M and her Nana. The two of them were troublemakers. I'd take them shopping and they would disappear or I would catch them running down the aisles at Costco.

More trouble making. She started my brother's addiction to chocolate.

The whole family annoying her at once. We loved annoying her. She had a great sense of humor.

Thanks for letting me share my grandma with you.

Happy New Year!!

2009-12-31T10:59:00.000-08:00

2009 is about to end and 2010 is about to begin. An end to my early 30's and a beginning to my mid 30's. Man, time is flying. My kid will be in kindergarten this upcoming year and I have been with Quoc for 13 years. Wow!

Well, Christmas was really nice. We had it at my house this year. Its always at my mom's but since my Grandma has been ill she didn't want her to travel. It was probably a good thing. A couple of days before x-mas she had another episode and ended up in the hospital for 5 days. So, we had less people at our house and we went to the hospital a few times that day. Quoc and I ended up getting her an electronic picture frame. She really liked it. She didn't really complain which she always does. Her only complaint was that there were too many pictures of her. I have to admit there were. I used the file on my computer from her birthday and I of course used a lot of her. I'll have to create a new file for her with less of her and more of everyone else.

M made out like a bandit. I try not to get her a lot of toys but she is the only child so she gets way spoiled and this and her birthday are the only time we buy toys. Don't get me wrong - she gets stuff from the dollar store but I mean like real gifts over 10 bucks. She got one of these Alive Husky's. So cute. Ahh man, I was just linking it and I could have saved money if I got it on Amazon. Darn. Oh well, she loves it. She also got a Leapster 2. That one is cheaper from the Leapfrog website. Anyway, that game system has been great especially with all the time we spend at the hospital and the nursing home. She is thoroughly entertained. And it really is educational. My mom made her x-mas dress and M got a dress for one of her dolls. She has always wanted a dress just like hers so my mom made it happen. They were both very cute. (excuse the awful picture - we weren't going out so M's hair was a mess and I took it with my phone. Quoc got a Flip video camera for his birthday so we have video of everything but I forgot to take pictures - oops) My mom also made a ton of Barbie cloths. She messed up though. She was using vintage patterns from when I was a kid and using my old Barbies as models but the Barbies of today have smaller boobs so half of the strapless dresses fell off. My poor mother. We might have to sort some out and leave some at my mom's house where my dolls are and some that won't fall off at our house where the new Barbies are.

Me, I got a jewelry box, necklace and a lamp. I think my mother was trying to tell me I need better light for sewing. She is so good with the hints. Not.

My brother cooked dinner. He is a great cook plus he makes it look pretty. My food is good but not great and its not pretty.

So, onto my new year's crafty project. I am doing the Fall Inspired Mini Quilt and so here is my idea so far. Appliqued trees. And depending on the fabric a couple of leaves on the side out of this batik I have. What do you think? It will probably change. It has like 10 times already and I haven't even picked out the fabric. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do and other times - I have no clue. Its one of the latter this time. The fun of trying to be crafty and playing with my markers. :)

This will make you laugh. So M started drawing people this past week or so. So she was drawing a picture of grandma. She drew a circle and then she put these lines on both of the insides. I asked her what that was. She ran over to Grandma and touched her face, "These." "You mean wrinkles?" "YES." OH MY GOSH, my brother and I were laughing so hard. My poor mother. The honesty of kids.

I hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY new year!

Not a Very Crafty Christmas

2009-12-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have been having no luck. Seriously...I am trying hard to be crafty but it is not working. First I wanted to make scarves but couldn't find fabric to match (Thanks Michelle - totally going to try grey), then I was going to make these bubble pouches and put some Govida, Frango and Lindt chocolate in it for my office mates, I cut them out, bought everything I needed but then when I was getting ready to sew them together - I can't find the hair elastics that I bought to hook on the buttons. I am getting some more today and then I am sure I will find them.

Then I was going to make these little calendars for my daughter's preschool teachers (there are 10 of them so I wanted something useful but not to expensive) but after M and I drove to 7 different stores in our town looking for the little calendar - I had to order them on line and may not get them in time (might just make as a New Year's gift).Then I was making cookies - since my Grandma is usually the Christmas Cookie Goddess, I had to step up and make them- and the spritz first were deformed but I got that fixed and then I burnt half of them. I did make her traditional Italian cookies yesterday (all 12 dozen) and they turned out so I am 4: 1 on my Christmas crafts/cookie. I should have taken pictures but I wanted to pack them up before I ate too many. :) I have never had them fresh and they are so good fresh. I had to text my brother and brag that I was eating the cookies and he had none. He is looking forward to his stale portion on Christmas.

Oh, and I lost our Christmas cards. I bought the photo cards at Costco, filled out the envelopes but I can't find the cards. Help me...please. So everyone will get those in the new years as well.

On a side note that will make you grossed out but chuckle at the same time - my 91 year old grandma shared a little secret thought she had (I know not so secret any more) - She said, "did you know I have wrinkles on my butt?!" Oh, to get old.

Oh, also you should check this out. I know of Kwanzaa but had never really read anything about it to know much more than its an "African" heritage holiday and it goes for like 7 days but that was all I knew. There was this short post you should read. I wish we all celebrated this sort of thing. All the tenants really should fit in all our lives. Anyway...a little Kwanzaa education for you.

Oh, the very top picture is M and her friends decorating cookies at a friend's house. I didn't make the cookies - thank goodness. The kids would have been so disappointed!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful day off of work whether you celebrate the day or not.

I lied

2009-12-17T15:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, only a little. I said I would be posting about the scarves I was making. Well, I made the tops then I got so frustrated I threw it to the side. Why so frustrated? Well, the top is mainly dark purples so I wanted a dark purple fleece or flannel for the back. All I could find was bright purple. Do you know where I could get some dark purple flannel or fleece? I wasn't happy with black. I would really appreciate your help and then I could really finish them. :) Thanks.

I'm Back Again and so Quickly

2009-12-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

My brother asked me to make him so bags for gifts for x-mas. I said sure as long as he pays for the fabric. I always buy excess fabric so that is how I receive my payment. So, first is the above bag. I made two, one for him and one for myself. I ended up not liking the size of it for me so I think I will send it to my aunt in Texas after I change the button that is. I am not liking it. This bag is from Artsycraftybabe. It is a free pattern of hers called the Phoebe bag. The flowers are hers too. No creativity on my part. :)

This bag is from a vintage McCall's pattern that I acquired from my mother. Its from the late 70's. I like it. Super roomy. I made myself one too. (I have to test them out, right? And I needed a Halloween bag.) This is for my brother's friend who is going to school so she needs room for books and loves skulls. I love this fabric. I got it here at Pink Chalk Fabric. They deliver super fast. I highly recommend them. The buttons are also vintage from my great aunt Oska's collection of buttons.I made two buttercup bags designed by Made By Rae. I thought I messed up on the purply one so I made the maroon one. I put snaps on it and then I couldn't sew around the edge and it really needed it so I was super frustrated. Then the next day I realized, duh, I have a big hole in the bag still. Why not take the snaps off, sew the edge and put the snaps back. I am so dumb sometimes. The purply green one is from Amy Butler's LOVE collection. I made the handle shorter and since is was so wide I folded it in so it has a little peek a boo effect. The maroon is from Anna Maria Horner. I again used a vintage button. I really love that one. I thought about not sending it but I sent a photo of the fabrics to my brother so I kind of have too. I am sending him one extra bag with the intentions of him returning one so I hope its that one.Finally, I made an Amy Butler Swing Bag. I have so gotten my money's worth out of this pattern. I have like four of them for myself and I made one for every one of my friends. Much use. In fact, I have made 4 out of this exact fabric. Its Amy Butler's Nigella line. Love it. I get compliments still when I use mine. This is the pattern that sucked me into making bags. When I was looking at the link I was eyeing another one...hmmm....

My next project is making skinny scarves. I broke my ruler so I need get another one before I continue but maybe I can share this weekend with you. That is what everyone is getting this year. Skinny scarves made with kimono silk and fleece. Odd combo, huh? Its gonna work, really. :)

Wow - its been awhile

2009-12-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

I have been so preoccupied with my grandma and the holidays that I haven't had a chance to blog at all. We really haven't done anything but holiday stuff. M and I saw the Nutcracker and we made gingerbread houses, had a sleep over and more. Nothing too exciting to share. But I did finish my quilt blocks for the three bees I am in. I forgot to take pictures of all of them but here are a few. Check in tomorrow for the bags I made. :) Oh, I threw in a couple of my kid too. The first one is at the Nutcracker. My mom made M's dress and the next is Gingerbread making. You can't tell but she is wearing a Grinch t-shirt. She picked it out herself. Nut.

So Much to Say

2009-11-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

First, We went to Great Wolf Lodge for a little vacation. That place is AWESOME! If you have any in your area you should go. The only one on the west coast is here in Washington but there are a ton in the east. It has indoor water slides, a craft room for kids, a teen room, a build a bear type station, a build your own crocs station, and a game called Magi quest where you buy this wand and game and run around the 5 floors fighting dragons and collecting ruins. M and Quoc had a blast. Above is M helping a fairy.

Then, I took a class Monday from Jean Wells. It was her Intuitive Design class. She has a book on it but the class was so inspiring. She taught us how to make wavy lines and to sew without a ruler. Plus ways to inspire yourself and create ideas that you love. Then she showed us how to finish our quilts off with a technique from her book but since changed how she does it. Man, I hated to see the day end. Below are some of her quilts I wanted to run away with but thought the other 25 participants would catch me. You have to check out her book out and definitely take a class from her if you can. She is over at the Stitching Post in Oregon if you are in the area. She luckily came to Bellingham for this one though. I am so excited to get something made for myself. I hope my family likes it cus its what they will probably get for x-mas. :)

We love Halloween!

2009-11-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Here we are. Our 12th Halloween together. Why would I know something random like that? Because we love Halloween. We have every Halloween picture on our wall- year round! So here we are; a gypsy, A vampire and a fairy princess.

We went trick or treating with our friends and their kids. My friend is a genius and lined her daughter's princess costume with fleece. Awesome! No coat required. We totally lucked out and a storm came through the night before and wiped all the clouds away. We had a clear sky and it was pretty warm. Yea, for Trick or treating. M got like 5 full size candy bars!

We are going to Great Wolf Lodge this week. We are really excited! A water park indoors, spas, games, food. It should be a blast! We haven't gone on a vacation well since I was preggers with M and really it didn't count. It was an overnight bus trip to Paris. Not much romance with a bus full of people. :) Then again, not much romance water sliding with a four year old. :) But we will LOVE it!

My New Bag and a Few complaints

2009-10-26T19:11:00.001-07:00

Here is my new bag. I was making it for my brother to give as x-mas gifts but I decided to make myself one for Halloween since I had exactly enough fabric. I absolutely love this fabric. I'm not one to wear skeletons or skulls other than Halloween but my brother's friend is. The pattern is an old 1970's pattern I acquired from my mother a while back. It is a great way to display your favorite fabric. The handle is supposed to be tied but I find that it usually isn't that comfortable so I sewed them together and put some red buttons on. I wanted turquoise but I wasn't going to go to the store for buttons when I have like 5 billion at home. Red will do. The inside has one pocket that was fussy cut so that it had a little picture on it. So far I love it! Like my fancy pen with my name on it. I bought one for my niece for her 15th birthday. I think she was more excited over the pen than the 50 bucks we gave her. Kids. So weird. I also made a mini quilt for STUD but I can't show it yet. Soon. It is very cute.So here are my complaints. One, MY WASHER DIED MID CYCLE. So I have a washer full of wet cloths and water. So annoying. Second, I know I live in Washington and we are known for rain but oh my goodness, we have been getting so much! I can't believe it! I guess that is what happens when you have a virtually perfect summer with record heat. So, I guess I won't complain. :) Plus my grandma is in the hospital again. I hope your day is going better than mine. I pulled out the Mike's Hard Berry Drink. Yumm...

Bags Galore

2009-10-18T19:22:00.001-07:00

I got very motivated this weekend and made some bags. Both of these are for ladies in my office. I just kind of well, hate this bag so I was lacking motivation to make it. Its my design - I really can't blame anyone. It might be that I have been carrying the same bag in different colors for months and I am sick of it. Why I didn't make myself a new one you ask? Well, I needed to make these first. :)
This second bag is for my friend Kris who is a sewer but you know, never any time, so she asked me to make it for her friend whose a sewer as well. It came as a kit so I just had to follow directions. It was supposed to have free motion quiting on it but I am not very good at that so I embellished the wand with shiny beads. Each sewn individually so they shouldn't fall off...I hope. My mom made the saying for me on her machine since mine isn't so high tech.

The Wicked Witch side I traced the hat and the band on the hat. If I knew how to do trapunto that would have been cool. I have the panels too so I may make myself one as well. Oh, I didn't take pictures of the inside but it is lined with yellow fabric with ruby slippers on it and has pockets made from stills of the film on the same panel. Its lined with eco-felt. I am not overly familiar with it but I really liked the stiffness of it. I wonder if it washes well. The handles are webbing.
So this last bag...I know...its not done yet, was made from scraps I had. I'm calling it my library bag. I need to go back to the fabric store and see if I can get more red to line it and make the handles. I seriously used every scrap. Look at the flower- scraps. The flower is removable. Its one of the Kanashi flowers from this book.
Scraps. See the line at the top. I didn't have enough to make it the whole size so I improvised. I actually like it. I would have made it a bigger strip but...scraps. That is all I had. :)

I should have been working on the bag my mom asked me to make or the four bags my brother commissioned for x-mas but oh well. The Library bag was way more fun and took me like a half hour.

Now I need to work on quilting bee blocks. :)

Baby Quilt and WIP

2009-10-07T16:53:00.001-07:00

So here are the two quilts I mentioned earlier. This one is the baby quilt for my friend.

Here is a close up of the rainy day girls. I ordered it in purple or blue but they sent me the pink. I was sort of bummed but I guess it all worked out. They are super cute. Honestly, I bought it to make myself something.

This is the back. I didn't know the baby's name but it really needed something so I quickly hand embroidered a rainy day umbrella.

Here is my WIP. Its a lime green and yellow string quilt. I love it. My hubby even loved it. Too bad it doesn't match anything in our house. As you can see on the top is white. I still have to do a white border all around and then I will bind it in one of the lime green fabrics. Back, you ask, got me. Not that far. :) I'm really happy with how it is turning out. I was thinking about selling it on etsy. It would be my first quilt. It all depends, of course, on the final quality. I won't sell anything that I am not fully proud of. I am sure you all understand. :)

Dresses, dresses and a miniquilt

2009-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been that long since I posted. I still haven't taken a picture of the two quilts I made. Okay one quilt, one top. The weather has turned so I don't have many options since my camera is dying and doesn't take indoor pictures very well. Any suggestions for a new camera? I keep reading reviews but then I read a bad one and decide to keep looking. But either way here are some pictures of other things I made. :)

I love this little dress. I saw it and had to make it and I am not someone who makes cloths for their child. Besides the one's I am showing you - I have only made one other dress for her and calling it make is a stretch since it was this funky wrap dress. I'm not even going to try to explain it - it was a weird, super simple design. Anyway, this dress is the Kyoko dress from Modkids. I got it at PinkChalkFabrics. Super fast delivery. M is going to wear it at her great grandma's 91st birthday party or maybe to meet my sister in law's soon to be in laws. She wants my hubby and me to come to be buffers for her parents. They can be odd as all parents can be.

Here is the second dress. I know, I was totally motivated. So weird. This one M really wanted a purple dress so I used all stash fabric. I was so proud of myself for not buying more. The kyoko dress I had to buy the turquoise but I had the black part. It is intended for a play dress. In fact, she already stained it the first day she wore it. It is really big and airy which I think she loves. She loves to be a naked baby. And she hates when I say naked baby since she is not a baby! This is the Syndey dress from Modkids as well. It has a pointed hood (or the option to make a rounded one) and you can have short sleeves or make it a shirt. My kid likes dresses. Oh and it is supposed to have a strip work bottom but I just did one fabric. The fabric was crazy enough.

Here is my mini quilt from Doll Quilt Swap 7. I was so excited to get it. I love the quilting and it smells really good. Her blog is at Craftalittle. I love it. My daughter ran around the house with it with a roll of tape trying to find a place to put it up. I think I am going to put it up in the hallway since I have nothing there yet. Don't worry - I'm not taping it. I think it is taped to my desk right now.

Here is the back.

A couple more projects

2009-09-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

The beginnings of my string quilt. I had all these yellow and lime greens. Its almost all the way put together and it looks awesome. I just haven't gotten a photo yet.

A tutu for my little one. It turned out very cute. I looked for the photo of her last year that was adorable but I can't find it. Here's the tutorial for the tutu. it is super simple. You can make hundreds of them and charge like 40 bucks for them. That's about what they cost on etsy and the ballet supply store and they are made the exact same way - I kid you not. How annoying.

M is loving preschool .They already went on a field trip to Western Washington University to look at dinosaur poop. How cool. I wish I could have gone but nooo...I had to work. Stupid job keeping me from looking at dinosaur poop. :)

I also finished a quickie baby quilt. I was supposed to see my friend this weekend but she is the worst for keeping plans so it didn't happen. I still have to take a photo before i mail it.

Hope the new school year it going well for you!

Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt Swap

2009-09-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

I got my first mini quilt. I am so excited. It went right on my wall. It was made by Kim at Sunshine Girl. She is new to the world of blogging. Its nice to see someone newer than me and she is opening an etsy shop. Keep checking for her great items. It looks like a ton of awesome buttercup bags will be there soon!

Isn't this the cutest fabric ever! I am jealous that I don't have any. Well, any uncut. At least I can enjoy it on my wall. Thank you Kim!!!

And of course a picture of my child on her first day of preschool. I know it is just like day care but she was so proud of herself and being a big kid. She picked out all her cloths and hair accessories for her first day. It actually brought a tear to my eye - my baby is growing up. I was also totally corny and made her cookies so she would have warm cookies on her first day of school. Don't worry- I am no June Cleaver. They were Tollhouse premade dough. :) She won't know the difference.

I have a ton of projects to show you but I am going to spread them out but as a hint - I have another quilt block done, two quilts, a tutu. I have been so busy and motivated!

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-09-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

I finished another block. YEA! Now I have one that I am waiting for more fabric and one that I am avoiding. The one I am avoiding I am going to start. It is my goal to finish that one this weekend so I can do something for myself. I need to make a skirt for M, a couple of bags, and I want to make a string quilt. Wish me luck!

More Quilting Bee Blocks

2009-09-03T09:03:00.001-07:00

Anna's Block, originally uploaded by samcrawley.
Another Quilting Bee block done. This one is for Anna. She wanted something scrappy so I made the Silent Star from Eleanor Burn's Victory Quilts book. I had to call my mom and tell her it was a bit odd I was confused by a beginners block. It was just figuring out what Eleanor Burns meant in her instructions. She has a different way of doing things. Quite simple once I figured it out and I think the block turned out nice so I am happy. I hope Anna likes it.

This block is for Amy. She wanted a square inside a square and only three fabrics. Seems simple enough except I don't think I had enough fabric. All I have left is some purple and nothing even usable of the others. I am not happy with this block. I emailed Amy to see if she liked it, otherwise I am taking it apart tonight and trying again. I want to carry the circles across although it will cut the tree and I will make the purple block bigger. Or I could raise the tree higher and cut off the top. I will have to get the ruler out and figure out if I have enough fabric. I hope it works if I do it or I am screwed. Hopefully, Amy doesn't like it so I can redo it.

After these I have two blocks left. One is do whatever and the other I have to make a basket on point. I'm kind of intimidated by that one which is why I got so far behind. I like to do things in order and I should have done that one a long time ago so I didn't do the others. Just stared at the envelopes. It will be done this weekend. Maybe even tonight. We will see. :)

Mini Quilt and Some Blocks

2009-09-02T08:31:00.001-07:00

More pictures....

Here is my mini quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 7. The change I made was added three dots to the center of the big tree. My Grandma suggested it and after I did it - I loved it. It filled in enough white space to make me happy.

Here is the back. I shrunk it down. Okay, not on purpose. I prefer the new look but I used chalk to make the quilting lines and the chalk would not come off! I washed it 6 times, I used Shout, OxiClean and Grandma's Secret Spot Remover. Finally, it came out enough but I got the shrunken worn look. Its okay. I think it looks better on the back than the front. It makes the quilting stand out on the back. By the way, the pattern is my dessert plate, 8.5 inches and I just traced it many times. No pattern. No rhyme or reason.

And a quilt block for one of the bees I am in. I figured I should really get them done. This is for Kathy in Pieced Together Quilting Bee. She wanted a log cabin block. I hope she likes it.

Here is Edith's in Pieced Together Quilting Bee. She wanted something that evoked circles. What's more circlee (is that a word?) than the drunkards path? I hope she likes it. Its really loud!

My goal is to finish the rest of the blocks this weekend. I'm sure everyone would like their blocks back. Fall is here so its time to buckle down. :)

Lots of pictures and a video

2009-08-31T17:30:00.001-07:00

I have tons of pictures I want to share but I guess I will spread them out.
First, is my mom's baby quilt. She brought it up for me to take a picture for her. It is really adorable. I hope the recipients like it.

Close up...
My hubby is such a good dad. Not ashamed to have a little girl. Here he is laying in my daughter's bed brushing Barbie's hair. I'm surprised he could get in it with all the stuffed animals there.

We went to my father in law's work picnic. He retired years ago but he still goes and they put on a great picnic. M was so excited to ride a pony. "Mommy, it's a real horse!!!" Why, yes it is. Isn't she smart? :)

Finally, we finally got the video from her dance recital in June. She is the one on the very end to the right. Totally doing her own thing. They are all so cute!

I'll stop now and save some pictures for later in the week. My life isn't that interesting. I have to spread it out.

Is This Summery Enough?

2009-08-23T12:57:00.001-07:00

Here is my Doll Quilt for the Good Ol' Summertime Doll Quilt Swap. I am so happy to be done (almost). All I have to do is sew on the name patch and my mom is mailing one to me tomorrow. I don't have a sewing machine with embroidery so she is quite helpful.
So, this is a dresden plate enlarged to 22 inches. I used the EQ5 program to get the pattern. Then I sewed on a back to cover up the yuck and I used a dinner plate to measure the center. The "seeds" are mini yoyos. I had to make over a hundred and then sewed them together. That's what took to most time. I know I said it was going to be a sun but I had to make some changes when it looked more like a sunflower than a sun. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to make a tutorial for it. It was super simple. I thought I would go crazy until I started and it was a snap. I am waiting for the patch for the other one too and then I just have to sew on the binding.
I have one quilt block cut for the quilting bees. Slowly I will catch up. :)

What to do in the hot sun???

2009-08-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

We have had the most amazing weather this summer. Last summer we had like two and a half weeks of run through the sprinkler sun. This year- WOW! Like two and a half weeks of cloud and rain and that is all! We folks here in Bellingham do not weather well in the heat. Most places and homes do not have air conditioning. Here is what we do to keep cool.

We all cram into the kiddie pool. Oh, yes, I got in too. What a sight. Two grown adults and a small child crammed in the kiddie pool. But it was refreshing because the water was ice cold from the hose!

M is taking swim lessons again. I have to say its quite enjoyable for me too. Her swim instructor is a young 22, tan, quite muscular man. Nice. M loves the class. She is definitely a water baby. I just sit and watch and make mini yoyos for my doll quilt. I figure I have to make at least 100 and it takes forever. I think the mini ones take longer than the big ones! Oh and that ball she is balancing on. She woke up in the middle of the night crying because it popped and she was so upset. Kids are weird.
So I did a Favorite Things swap at According to Kelly. This is what I sent. Above all pretty and wrapped. M helped with the stickers. Below:All the stuff. I went a little crazy. I sent my partner 3 crayon roll ups with pads. She has three kids. I sent her a purse first aid kit. This really is my new favorite thing. We were at a friend's house and M skinned her leg and arm and they had nothing in the first aid department. Even band aids. I also sent some smelly lotion and soap, a butter cup bag, a list taker, and candy. Who doesn't love candy.

Here is what Jenny sent me:

Her new favorite book Hunger Games. I can't wait to read it but I have to finish a few things first. Yummy hot chocolate. I do love that. I am not a coffee drinker so she was right on the money. Some smelly candles. M wandered around the house sniffing them for hours. She also made some cards for me with her circuit. They are really cute and I can't wait to use them. Hurry up someone and have a birthday, or a baby, or do something deserving of a thanks. :) Oh, and some yummy chocolate. Yummy! It was a fun little swap and I was glad to meet Jenny. She's a nice lady.

And finally, for the end of my rambling. An image of over 30 envelopes ready to head out for two different quilting bees. I was lucky and got the same month. I'm going to mail them probably Monday. Its a bit early but I like them early for two reasons; one, I can procrastinate longer without feeling guilty and two, if I hadn't done the current month I can do them at the same time and am done. I'm pretty excited. My hubby, who has faith in no one, thinks its a scam. How did he ever get through life with no faith in anyone, I do not know. I have faith so phooey on him.

Doll Quilt Swap 7

2009-08-13T09:25:00.001-07:00

I need your opinion. Please forgive the awful quality of the photos. I'm in my office with fluorescent lighting and used my camera phone. Anyway, this is my doll quilt thus far for the Doll Quilt Swap 7. I used Anna Maria Horner fabrics and I hand embroidered the pictures. The tree design was inspired by the embroidery book, Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray.My question is- do the pictures need more? I don't want overkill but I don't want it too simple either. Should I do another butterfly or some more bubbles? Or it being simple works out because the fabric is busy. Wow, the photos really don't give it justice. You have to check out the fabric at Anna Maria Horner's website. Its the Good Folks line. Aww man, its on sale now. Go, go fast!

So, my mom says redo the whole thing. She doesn't like the trees. The butterfly is okay. My office mates said they liked the whimsicalness of it so much they didn't care what they were. Now, I am more confused. Should I just leave it alone?

I am hoping to make the doll quilt for the Good Ol' Summertime doll swap this weekend. I have an idea and my mom and I (really she did all the thinking) brainstormed tons of ideas to achieve what I wanted so I am all ready. My mom even made me a pattern on her EQ5. So, I am pretty excited to do that this weekend. I am really avoiding the quilt blocks for the quilting bees. I had a blow to my self esteem with them (I made a couple bad ones and the lady, I know hated them)and now I just have to get back on the horse because I know not all of my blocks turn out bad. It happens right. I know my mom who has been doing this forever still have things turn out badly.

My Mosaic Thus Far

2009-08-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

1. Simplicity Essential Patchwork Bag, 2. Yo-yo, 3. Not Yo Mama's Craft Fair Jersey City 044, 4. Yo-Yo Tree Quilt, 5. "my favorite dress" quilt, 6. Sunny Girl Mini-Quilt, 7. Abstract no.7, 8. Wash Day Mini Quilt, 9. Owl Mini Quilt, 10. October Mini Quilt Swap, 11. continuous: for mini quilt week, 12. "Outside the Box" Mini Quilt, 13. Abstract #5 Mini Embroidered Art Quilt - detail, 14. Spiderweb Mini Quilt, 15. mini quilt from Knit One Quilt Too, 16. "Enchanted Garden" Mini Quilt no.1, 17. AQB2--April Block for Chen 2, 18. Muslin Art Quilt, 19. Quilt Detail, 20. Doll Quilt for DQS2, 21. frame quilt #3, 22. Finished Doll Quilt, 23. I (heart) pink!, 24. DQS6 Finished Quilt, 25. DQS6, 26. DQS6 Quilt Received from Karen, 27. Jazynthe's Butterflies DQS6, 28. DSQ6 received, 29. DQS6 Received!, 30. dqs6 front, 31. Doll Quilt Swap 6- recieved

I signed up for two different Doll Quilt Swaps so I have been looking for inspiration. I think I found a few ideas. I just have to see if I can pull them off. I lack confidence in my skills but you will never know if you don't try- right? I think one I am am going to do some embroidery and the other I might make a yo yo quilt. I have over 100 made so hopefully the colors will be in the bag for what I am thinking or I will have to make some more. I wonder where I put the bag.

I also received these books from Amazon. Yea!

Jean Wells' Intuitive Color and Design. Its about creating Art Quilts. I am taking a class in November from her and I am totally excited. I'm glad I signed up a month ago too since its almost full and August just arrived. I even get to take a day off of work for it!

I also got Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. I am going to use some of her ideas for one of my quilts. I think the Jean Wells book may take some practice and cursing. :) I have an idea of one I would like to try. (I have my quilting bee blocks to do first.)

Well, in case anyone was curious, my week with my dad and his wife went horribly wrong on Wednesday (the 105 degree day). Kitty, my dad's wife, grabbed my daughter's arm swung her around and held her by both arms and got in her face and yelled at her. I had let a lot of Kitty's behavior go (I really wanted the week to go well) but that was not one I would. I yelled at her to let go of my child. I didn't curse. I did raise my voice. I didn't say anything derogatory. I told her if M wasn't listening to her to let me know and I will make sure she does it but that would not fly. My hubby showed up 10 seconds later and I pulled him aside to tell him what happened. We decided to stay (I was really trying.) We returned to the table and my dad told me I overreacted. Excuse me? A woman I am not related to, I don't like, I see once a year, who had already pushed the boundaries of parent child discipline (she interrupted me while I was disciplining M so that she could do it. uhh? okay? that among other things) - touches my child in a way I find inappropriate and I am overreacting? Let me tell you, I have run this through my head over and over again for hours and hours while I have tried to sleep and I did not overreact. In fact, I think I under reacted. I held my cool. Needless to say, I did not hold my cool when my dad said that. It pissed me off. I'm sure a lot of that was a lot of anger issues towards him in general. But again, he said it was my fault for the relationship that I have with him, blah, blah. Everything is my fault. Whatever. So I no longer have a dad. And he can explain why neither of his children will talk to him and say its our fault. (My brother hasn't spoken to him in 6 years.) Maybe he will grow up and say sorry for not being a better dad. He was pretty much out of our lives since I was 6. Yeah, it was my fault.

But when I got home and my blood pressure went down, I had my little amazon box to open and a box of fat quarters from Anna Maria Horner. The fabric was back ordered so it was a nice surprise for me. Sometimes I want to roll around in my new fabric. I don't have a picture of the fabric but you will see it soon enough when I make my doll quilt. I'm so happy. I love inspiration. Fabric and books excite me.

M did get to swim in a pool and swim lessons really paid off. I was so impressed by my little munchkin. And you will love this image. Imagine two grown adults and a child in a child's wading pool. Quite an image, let me tell you. We live in Washington. We can't take the heat. We will do anything to cool off. A salesclerk at Sears said there was a fight over a fan. It was the last one. I put a spritzing water bottle in the fridge to spray myself with cool water. :) Worked wonders. My hubby had to tackle the dog to spray her down. She hates water. I know she is part lab but I am not seeing that from her.

Hope you are staying cool!

Truck Bed Full of Goodies

2009-07-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

My dad arrived last night so this morning he emptied his truck bed and gave us a ton of goodies. My Great Aunt Oska passed away earlier in the year and she used to be quite the sewer. He brought me her sewing machine which he thinks has only been used a couple of times. Its a White. I haven't played with it yet or gone through all the bags.... and boxes...

And boxes...

of stuff. It looks like there is probably 100 spools of thread. A ton of vintage buttons. Lots of bias tape and who knows what else. It should be fun to go through and figure out. Well, figure out where to put it. :) My Aunt Judy said she has left over fabric from my grandma she was going to send but I will just have to go get it.(My Grandma was a true fabric lover according to my mom. My mom was few to ever to see her entire stash. It filled a bathroom, a dresser, under the bed plus other places.)

M got a hand made grasshopper xylophone. Cute, huh? The little legs move when you roll it. M loves it already. My dad said he had to use every tool in his garage. Oh, Kitty loved the bag. The purse she brought was driving her crazy cus it was so big so it was a perfect gift. They just left for the camp ground. We are giving them some time to get settled and do some laundry we go bother them. I guess I should go find the directions. :)

Bag for the Evil Stepmother and a Fancy Nancy Party!

2009-07-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

My Dad is coming to visit next week and well, we have had a strained relationship since he was non existent in my childhood. Since I have had M he has try to be more involved. Also, he lives so far away. Well, my stepmother (my dad's 4th wife) and I had a few words the first time we met. Apparently, it was my fault the way our relationship was and had nothing to do with me being 6 when my dad and mom divorced. Anyway, I'm not her biggest fan but we get a long well enough. I decided to make her a bag as a good will gesture. I hope she likes it. I barely know her so knowing what she likes is hard. This bag is from Artsy-Crafty Babe. Its called the Round Yoke. I really want to make it for myself using scraps for the yoke part. Its not the best picture. Its supposed to be really stiff and I folded it after I made it to put it in a bag so that it won't get hairy from the dog.

Also, M and I went to a Fancy Nancy Party at the Library. If you don't know Fancy Nancy you have to check her out. She is a little girl who loves all things fancy. She learns a lot of big fancy words through out her journeys through life and her acceptance that all things are not the way you want them like her parents not being fancy. Very cute. I think they need to come up with a Fancy Nancy fabric line. (I obviously like Fancy Nancy probably more than M.) Anyway, the party was for little girls and they got all dressed up, heard a story and got the make a Fancy Nancy craft. (Puppy ears from Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy.) It was fun and all the kids were cute in their definitions of fancy. M wore a poodle skirt and a dog scarf, a couple bracelets, sunglasses, a couple of Mardi gras necklaces, a shiny silver belt and a big flower barrette. Cute. Oh, she had a pink boa but it ended up in my hair. It was mine! She gave it to me for Mother's Day! :)

My Spring Table Cloth is Finally Done in the Summer!!

2009-07-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

My spring tablecloth is finally finished!!! I wanted something in the spring to brighten the house up and I needed a new table cloth so I decided to use these nice bright and cheery colors. I finished it a while ago but dreaded the quilting since it is like 85x85. Huge! Nice spring quilt at the end of the summer. :) I took it the the local quit shop again and I love the quilting. I had her put butterflies all over it. Since the lady uses a computerized quilter she doesn't go around designs or anything so on two of the fabrics I hate the quilting but I can get over it. I just blanket stitched the binding and the binding is really small since I had to bit and piece it. That'll teach me.Sadly, I like the back the best. Its just a vintage sheet I got at the Salvation Army for two bucks. Now I have to clean my table off!!! And a nice little summer photo to end this. A really happy little girl taking swim lessons. That grin is on her face the WHOLE time!

Book Review - Brief however

2009-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, I have a chance to read. Not often but occasionally. There are a couple of movies coming out this summer that I wanted to see and if it has a book associated with it then I try to read the book first. I can watch a movie if I know the ending but I can't read a book. So, I am really excited about Amy Adams and Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia. So, I read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. Its about a woman, Julie, whose life is stagnant and needs something to inspire her. For some reason she is drawn to Julia Child's first cook book called Mastering the Art of French Cuisine that she finds in her mom's kitchen and decides to cook all 524 recipes in 365 days and blog about her adventures. The book also includes a few letters written by Julia Child's husband but that wasn't the focus.

The book wasn't the most exciting book in the world. Infact, I hate to say a bit well, boring. BUT and there is a big BUT, there was something about it that forced you to keep reading. What would she cook next? How would it go? Would she actually make it to the final recipe? Would her life have some amazing moment that will make her what she wants to be? It kind of felt like you were following her blog. I have to admit my blog isn't the most exciting but I hope people come back. I have some sort of interest going. I know I read a lot of blogs that aren't the most exciting but I am there reading them.

I have to admit I cringed at some of the detailing of the recipes. I knew this before but gelatin for Jello is made from hoofs. Well, instead of buying a package at the store of good ol' gelatin she got hoofs and actually made her own. Not something I would ever do. She cooked plenty of other things we all would well, rather not hear about. At the beginning people thought she was crazy. Why this? Why now? Her mom thought she was nuts and would kill herself in the process but by the end people really supported her. They wanted to see her succeed. Even her "bleaders" (Blog readers). I wanted to see her succeed. Although I thought she was a bit nuts as well. But aren't we all.

This book was an easy read. Something you could definitely kick your feet up while the kids are in the yard and read. It looks like the movie is more exciting but I didn't realize this book is based on two books not just. I was wondering how in the trailer they show so much of Julia Child's learning to cook and in the book you only receive snippets into the woman she was and how her husband loved her but its a movie, they do what they want, right?

I still am looking forward to the movie. I think this is one of the rare cases that the movie will be better than the book. (I am currently reading the other summer's release "My Sister's Keeper." I was up way to late reading this book. I already read Harry Potter so I am good on that one. :) )

Mom's quilts

2009-07-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

Since we were busy this weekend with nothing overly exciting I got nothing accomplished. I did put back all the fabric into my stash that I pulled out. That was an accomplishment. I kind of had to. My mom needed the guest bed to sleep on.

Here, however are some pictures of two of the quilts my mom made:

This one is a baby quilt for her boss. I wish I took a better photo. It was so bright I couldn't see the screen so I took them both blindly. It has little ducks playing in puddles in each square that she embroidered on. It is really cute. She doesn't know the gender (of the baby not the ducks) so she is hoping this is non gendered enough. I think it is and really it doesn't matter. You can have your kid swaddled in pink and purple and people will still call her a boy.

She made this last fall and I conned her into giving it to me for Christmas. Good mommy. Please excuse the lint and dog fur in the next one. We are people who use our quilts. (I wasn't going to use this one but she told me to use it!)

This is my favorite block. I love the tiny stippling which changes size with the picture and she used variegated thread that was perfect. My mommy is so talented.

I need to go take pictures of the rest of her quilts but she wanted the duck one taken before she gave it away and I had the black one right there so I grabbed it to get it taken. Honestly, my mom is short so this is about the size she could hold. :) I'll have my hubby do the others.

Hope you all had a great fourth!

Winking Owls Quilt

2009-07-02T10:32:00.001-07:00

See how motivated I have been. I finished my quilt top last night and I went bowling and got a 108! 108 is pretty good for me. When my hubby was in Iraq, one of my keep myself busy activities was going bowling every week with a friend. I very rarely got over 100. So that is pretty impressive to me. Oh and the birthday boy had a good time.

I wanted to make something out of this cute owl fabric. I've been hoarding my owl fabric so I finally cut into a piece. I got a four pack of Japanese import fat quarters from etsy. The solids with exception of the "stop" and the border (I just learned that the mini border between the border and the blocks is called a stop. I feel all smart now.) is a chambray. You can't really tell in the picture but all three are very iridescent. Really the picture doesn't give the colors and fabric justice. You have to see it in person. I had bought 1/2 yard cuts of the chambray a long time ago with no idea what to do with them but I just loved them so wallah! I used it. It was nice to use almost all stash fabric. The stop is a cherry blossom design and then the border wasn't what I went to the quilt shop for. I was going to get a solid but this print was Asianee and it has every color that my patches too. I thought I would hate it anyway but I really love it. Now I have to quilt it so I will hate it soon enough. I hate quilting but I don't want to pay for this one to get done. Any volunteers? :)

Another owl fabric I am using. I am working on my stash. I conned my mom into making me a Kimono jacket like the one she wore when I was a kid. (She lived in Japan for 7 years so it is authentic.) She just copied the pattern. I should get it this weekend. Yay me!

Wallhanging

2009-07-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is the wall hanging I finally made using the girl embroidery patterns that I embroidered when my GM was in the hospital. I really like it although I might make the blue yo-yos in a lighter blue. They are really dark. In the picture they look black but I promise its blue. Last night I made 75% of a quilt top. It was a really simple 9 patch that I didn't sash so is it still a 9 patch? That's what it started as but I decided it looked better with them mushed together and I found some border print fabric. It will be crazy. Hopefully, I will have it done tomorrow but we have a last minute bowling birthday party for my nephew.

M and I hung out at Lake Padden yesterday. Needless to say I missed some spots on me and I am totally burned. I thought I got my chest but apparently not and the insides of my legs - they look pretty funny since my water bottle was resting on my leg. Oh, and my hair line. I got my face but the edge between my face and hair - totally red. I LOVE ALOE VERA! M didn't burn. I did her sunscreen quite well. Hope you are enjoying your summer!

I also signed up for Favorite Things Swap sponsored by According to Kelly. You get a partner and you send them 3 of your favorite things. It can be anything you want. I just thought it would be fun.

June Blocks

2009-06-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

I was so productive this weekend. I was on a roll. I finished all the quilt blocks for my bees for June along with other things. I'll show the rest a later day but here are the bee clocks for you to peruse.

I like this block for Rachel but I don't. I think its the colors mixed together. Or I am picky. Which is probably more like it. (it looks really crooked but it is the photo - I promise)
Michelle said we could do whatever we wanted including applique so she got this Big Birdie. I think its cute. I had the pattern out because I wanted to make a lap quilt out of it. I have all these great lime green and yellows.
Stephanie wanted a spider web block. I love the linen she chose for the center. I am annoyed with myself that two fabrics matched up in the corner. I was trying so hard not to have that happen. Hope she doesn't mind. I really want to make myself some spiderweb blocks. Hmmm...another to add to my list.

Isn't it funny though how some blocks totally work out and some don't. I could make the same pattern and I would hate one and like the other.

Sarah's Quilt

2009-06-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Sarah was married last Saturday. I wasn't able to go because of M's recital and birthday party and it is was on the other side of the country. I made her a lap quilt as a gift. I am holding off on mailing it because she is movie to Hawaii in a couple weeks so it only makes sense to wait so I had time to procrastinate and finished the binding last night.

So this lap quilt is very simple. I wanted something clean and bright and I love the quilts at Twiddletails. Here is one that I really like and was going for a similar idea. Sarah is a neat freak and a very cheery person. The poor girl had to live with me and Andy. We aren't gross or anything but the two of us are not the tidiest of roommates. (We had another roommate but I don't remember her name- she was in her room the whole year getting stoned so we never saw her since that wasn't our scene.) We lived in this awesome 4 bedroom house that was on the verge of needing to be condemned. You had to pick up momentum to make it across the slanted kitchen and you had to be cautious near the microwave because the floor was soft. Andy's room was over my room and when her boyfriend was over I swear her bed was going to fall through the ceiling and they weren't even doing anything but sleeping! I loved that house. Fond memories. Good times.

Back to the quilt. I picked out three colors that I thought would look nice together. I thought about getting a purple but there weren't in the right color shade (all of it from Joann's). I then cut out squares of each fabric. I believe I had 3 pink, 2 blue and 2 green different fabrics. Then I sewed a different fabric same color on 2 sides. Then I added tons of Kona white. I wasn't trying to make a pattern. I made two rows I was happy with and repeated. It just ended up wit the pink and blue down the middle.

It was so quick to make it. I usually get carried away for gifts and make them huge so I used a lot of self control here. I did take it to Two Thimbles to get it machine quilted. I am not the best at it especially with my card table set up and since it was a gift... Totally affordable. I paid $45 and it was worth every penny. My mom had one done too and it turned out great. I had it stippled in a multi color thread. I did the binding multi color as well. I think it turned out really nice. I think Sarah will really like it buuuuuut maybe I should keep it. :) Go buy her a premade one at Walmart. Just kidding. I would never do that. My mom would have a heart attack if any of her children bought a blanket.

I lied- I did make something

2009-06-24T09:30:00.001-07:00

Ok, I lied. I did make something over my vacation. I forgot about it until I saw in in our guest room in a Ziploc bag. When I made that orange bag, the first one I cut was too small so I threw it to the side and started over. Well, I didn't want to waste the fabric so I did sew it up. I didn't use a Chinese knot because it was too heavy for the bag since it was so small. So I used a yoyo and a covered. I used one handle instead of two for the same reason. Plus, on the inside I put a button closure. I sewed a button hole in the lining and then lined the button hole so if you were looking you didn't see the fusible fleece and then I sewed on a button. I should have taken a picture. Oh, last night I did get motivated and started sewing the binding on a quilt I made for my friend who got married on Saturday. I only did two sides before my hand was cramping and I was working in way slow motion since I was distracted by a documentary on Bruce Lee. He is so fascinating. I knew he was influential but I didn't realize that in so many fields he influenced so much change from martial arts, nutrition, how actors are paid, body building, film, music, philosophy, and he even designed exercise equipment that we are familiar with today. Wow! Can you imagine the influence he would have had if he didn't pass at the unfortunate age he did? Did you know that in Bosnia there is a statue there of Bruce Lee that represents mutli culturism. The documentary said something like "One thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee." Sorry that was a random strain of thought. Quilt almost done. There - back on track.

I have so much to do. I have fabric for 3 quilt blocks to make for my quilting bees, I still owe Chen a block, I have to finish a little gift I embroidered (I would show what I have so far but the person reads the blog occasionally), 2 bags for my office mates, a bag my friend asked me to make for her friend because she doesn't have the time (its a kit so that should be easy once she gives it to me), AND my mom commissioned me to make her a bag which I think is funny because she taught me to sew and she can make it herself but then again I gave her material this weekend to make me a kimono jacket and I could make it myself but I hate making cloths and I actually want it in the near future. So she will get it to me quicker. :)

Tonight I will get motivated. Really, I will.

My Baby is 4!

2009-06-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I have been absent for a while. I had a nice 2 week vacation from work so at home I tried to stay away from the computer. I have a bad habit of checking my work email from home so I had to show some self control. I also did not sew except for the bag I made in the right measurements for myself (see previous post- exact same just a bit smaller.) I did have plans of sewing the whole time but the sun was out so we spent a lot of time at the park. Now I have a ton of stuff to make in a short period of time.

So, my baby is 4 today. I guess she is not a baby anymore. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Her skinny long limbs and big ol' eyes. Time really does go so fast.

Saturday we celebrated by going to the FunZone with all her friends. Its a big warehouse with those gigantic bouncy houses. The kids were worn out in about 20 minutes. Everyone had a great time. M wanted a soccer theme. I don't know why. She doesn't play soccer or even own a soccer ball but about a year ago she said she wanted a soccer party and that is all she talked about for the entire year so that's what she got. See the soccer uniform? I also got her a soccer ball. I couldn't find a soccer cake and I didn't have time to make one since her ballet recital was the night before so she picked out a princess cake and I found candles in the shape of soccer balls so she was happy.

After, we took her to Red Robin with her friend J. J is one of my college friend's daughters. We live about an hour and 20 minutes from each other so we bought a membership to a Children's Museum halfway between our houses and we meet once a month. We get to gossip - they get to play. They both were so funny telling jokes and eating of course....macaroni and cheese. My husband told the old knock knock joke banana, banana, banana, orange you glad I didn't say banana? Then J retold the joke and mixed up the orange and banana and said "banana you glad I didn't say orange." Didn't make any sense but it was so funny. 4 year olds are hilarious.

Since today is actual birthday I made a mini cake for her last night and sent cupcakes to her day care/preschool. We'll bbq tonight and give her the last of her presents. My child is way spoiled. I think her dad may even pick her up and take her to Build a Bear. Man, I don't get this spoiled on my birthday!

M also had her first ballet recital this weekend. They were so adorable. I can't wait to get the video so I can watch it again (and probably again and again). I was back stage with her helping out so I didn't get the best view of her. She looked really nervous looking out at the audience. She was a fairy and she flew for most of it. They did really well though for their ages and how many people were in the audience (a couple hundred). It was at the historic Mt. Baker theater. I was surprised at how many people came and this is an entire weekend thing. 4 shows! (little kids only once) After the recital - we took her and her cousins out for ice cream at Mallard's. The best ice cream. All freshly made. Yum.

I hope to get to some sewing this week. I think I am going to make another ballerina for a birthday party this weekend so I kind of have to get motivated.

A New Spring Bag!

2009-06-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

I really wanted something springy. I was using a dark purple bag that is much more for the Fall/Winter. So I found this fabric. I loved it. So bright- so cheerful. It has fabric covered cording braided for the handles. Really soft. Plus, I made a knot out of the cording for a bit of embellishment. The bag is lined with the beigey fabric and has a large pocket on the inside out of the orange. I had scraps. I also put two little pleats. I used fusible fleece as the lining. I like that it gives it a little stiffness but is still really soft. It really is great looking - not to toot my own horn or anything. (That is my office in the background. I took a quicky picture to send to my mom. She hates the fabric. We have very different taste.)

I brought it to work and my office mates (I share an office with 3 lovely ladies) all decided they want the same bag. One, wants the exact same bag and honestly, I wasn't too happy with my dimensions and she liked them so I just sold her my bag. The other one wants a navy flowered one. I have the perfect Michael Miller Fabric I bought last fall to make a shirt that I never made. Then the third will take what ever she gets. She isn't picky. She already has a bag I made her last year using Amy Butler's Nigella and her Swing Bag pattern. So she can wait.

Now I just have to remember how I made it. I usually write everything down but change my mind while I am making it and don't write down my changes. Bad habit- I know.

So, did you guess right?

Can you guess what I am making?

2009-06-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

Can you tell by the picture what I am making??? I'm pretty excited. I should have it done by tomorrow depending on how much the sun and the kid distract me. With all this sun, I am afraid we are using up our summer days. We are hitting the 80's this week and that is warm for us in the Pacific Northwest!

Here are some blocks I did for the quilting bees. I didn't take pictures of one of them because I was annoyed with it. I hope she likes it though.

Colleen wanted squares, small strips and that sort of thing. She had a picture of a block she liked with the strips cutting across it and I loved it too so I thought I would try it.

This is for Mary. She was the first one for the Live Piecefully 2 Quilting Bee. She said to go for t without using deliberate star patterns. I used that, darn, can't think of the name, where you lay two fabrics on top of each other and rotary cut and then switch the cut pieces and sew them back together. Its hard to tell because the fabrics blend a bit. Mary also was the May person for another bee but that one I hated so I didn't take a picture. :) I had a picture of a drunkards path also but it is on my ill computer.

Well, I would love to hear you guesses on my project. :)

The winner is...

2009-06-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe there were so many comments. I have to tell you I loved the stories with the ugly projects. Most of them when we were just learning in school. Sadly, besides the outdated fabric- the shirt I made in my cooking class was awesome. I went to a ghetto school and we didn't have the money to actually cook in our cooking class so we could bring fabric in and sew.

When my projects don't work out I try to remind myself of something my mom told me trying to make me feel better. There is an Native American tribe that believes that humans cannot be perfect. Only the gods so when they are making quilts or other artworks they purposely put a mistake in it. Yeah, that's what I am doing. :) Anyway...you probably want to know the winner...so here you go.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:292
Timestamp: 2009-06-01 15:37:49 UTC

May 30, 2009 2:08 PM
Shari said...
When I was in art school I worked for three weeks on a painting. the day before it was due, I hated it, and painted white over the whole thing and painted for like 14 hours straight trying to finish the assignment. It was seriously the most hideous (6 feet tall and 5 feet wide t boot!) painting I had ever made! There was a portrait of me as a child, and a statue of a dancer, and a blue tile floor, and a sign that said "warning: pigs bite" HA! I must have been delirious painting at 4am! It was so ugly. But I swear I'm not lying, my painting teacher (didn't like this one) said it was "brilliant" The whole thing was so comical!!

Congrats Shari!

This actually reminds me of my high school water colors class except I was quite proud of my paintings. I was showing my art teacher my who was also my golf coach for the past four years my packet of art and all he said was, "Put it away. Just put it away." Shaking his head, with his eyes closed. Oh well, some of us aren't destined to be great painters or golfers for that matter.

Shari - I will try to email you but I will have to try from my hubby's laptop. (Shh..I'm at work now.) For some reason the links to emails don't work here. If you get to it before me - email me and I will mail you the goods.

Thanks for playing...

May Giveaway!!!

2009-05-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is my first giveaway. I have been pretty distracted so its not as cool as I would like it to be but it has some good stuff. So, the rules first...

1. All entries must be entered before May 31st, Midnight PST.

2. Post a comment in the comment section below. Please make sure there is a way for me to get a hold of you.

3. Tell me about the ugliest thing you have ever made- it can be from elementary school or now. If you think about it and it makes you smile at the ugliness- its perfect.

4. I will ship international.

5. That's all.
So, here is what you can get if you win:

One yard of Alexander Henry's Asian Pullout. Its a nice polyester blend. Great bright cheery colors.

These great embroidery scissors. I bought them because I needed a pair of small scissors and was so excited when I noticed they had a little curve at the end which is great for cutting loose threads. I bought my mom a pair for her birthday too!

Melly and Me's Mad Cow pattern. Some little kid would love one of these. Some adults too!

Five Fat Quarters of this sweet fabrics. Sorry I don't know the name of maker. I didn't want to disturb the pretty triangle to figure it out and forgot to note it at the store. But either way- its pretty.

So, you can win all this! There is also about three yards of ribbon there. PLUS!, I will put a little surprise in the package.

I hope you love it all and I can't wait to hear about your ugliest project!

P.S. Sorry for the poor pictures. I am in a dark room and its overcast outside so no natural lighting. Plus, I totally broke our PC. We have morning glories taking over my rose bushes. Those suckers don't want to die! So much so that I got a virus when I looked up how to kill morning glories! They have infiltrated the internet!!! (I'm on my hubby's laptop.) Such the morning.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

We often think of Memorial Day as a day that marks the beginning of summer, the day to barbecue, the day we get off in May but it is much more.

At the end of the Civil War, a day was set a side to remember the men and women who died serving our country. Those who perilously fought and gave their lives so that we could have better ones.

Just a reminder of what Memorial Day really is.

I luckily have not lost family in Iraq but I have lost friends. When I was in Germany awaiting my husband's return from Iraq, I was able to meet a wonderful man named David Ayala. He was humorous and friendly. Made you feel like you were the only person in a room of hundreds. A great guy. He, unfortunately, passed in Afghanistan leaving behind a devoted wife, Athena. I cried and found solace in friends who also loved David. I know to this day Athena is still doing what he believed in. Helping others. She has taken the survivor's benefits and returns to her homeland yearly in the Philippines and does mission work. I think that is what David loved her for. I think of him often and think of how sad of a loss it was. We need more people in this world like him.

Little Project

2009-05-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

So, sitting in the hospital is boring and I cannot read there. (Side note: GM is doing great. She is being sent to a skilled nursing facility and she is able to walk and eat real food now- I guess she just wanted to hear we love her.) Can't read on a plane either. So, I had to find something to do. I decided to make a try at embroidery. I bought all the stuff hoping to find the motivation to figure it out a month or so ago so I had all the supplies already. I am totally hooked on these little designs. They are so cute. I wanted to make them of my daughter's cultures but the artist didn't have all that I needed and my Grandma was in the hospital a while so I made more than I needed and I am still working on it. You can see one isn't finished yet. I think I am going to make a wall hanging but if I stay as obsessed as I am - it might end up a quilt. In case you were curious or can't figure it out..its Dutch, Italian, Vietnamese (although my father in law says it doesn't look like it), Greek, Irish and the unfinished on top is Bavarian although you can't really see it.

We were also able to go to a little carnival that comes every year. M saw it and was so excited so we went since our plans to Seattle were halted. We took her on the Ferris wheel (I'm totally old - that was so high!), the big slide and the Tilt a Whirl (which my husband almost puked on- the attendant even asked him if he needed to stop the ride for him). The best part was watching my husband totally get conned by the carni. He went up to the throw a dart at a balloon game and the carni was so good. Man, I even told the carni he was really good at this. He just smiled. Well, about $40 later and a quick run to the ATM to get my husband out of his gambling debt- my daughter got a tacky big headed red dog. She loves it. Its Clifford the female dog.

I thought this was funny so I wanted to share. We went to my Brother in laws last night and we sat around a fire outside telling stories. My husband was telling a story and he said, "we got up at the butt crack of dawn." The story went on and he was about to say it was noon but someone busted in with, "the hairy back of noon." I died laughing. I'm obviously easily amused. Butt crack of dawn - hairy back of noon. Hehe.

Check back on the 27th for a chance to win- I'll be participating in the May Giveaway hosted by Sew Mama Sew!

Scrapbooking

2009-05-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I hadn't scrapbooked in years. I sorely neglected making one for M. I totally feel guilty about it to. Well, my Grandma turned 90 last October and we had a big party for her at the Roeder Home. Its a historical house in the town we live. It was celebrating its 100th birthday the same month as my Grandma's 90th. It was great. Anyway, my mom asked me to make a poster board with pictures on it. Ugh, I am not in elementary school with a science project so I made a scrapbook. I made it fast too. When I am motivated, I can get things done. It took me a week to make it. (I apologize for the photos. I took them with my camera at my GM's house yesterday. I should have taken them when I made it.) So, here is a sampling of the pages. It was quite big.

The theme was basically "the Many Faces of Anna." In 90 years you acquire a lot. I had a pages called "Hot Nana" where she was young in swimsuits, acting like a fashion model. Then I had actually four pages on being a wife. These were about meeting and getting married. I asked my grandma what she remembered about meeting my Grandpa and I remember the stories he told me so I chronicled them. (She ran over his Army hat on the bumper cars at Coney Island, wrote to him while he was at war and when he returned they got married and came out west.)

My grandma is also a troublemaker and her proudest moment is giving my brother when he was little a chocolate ice cream cone. It got all over him. He still loves his chocolate, thanks to her.

There were other good pictures that didn't fit in other places so I also had just photo pages.

My rule for the album was it had to be all about my Grandma so the photos had to be of her or of her and someone else. That makes it challenging because Moms often are the ones with the camera so finding pictures of my mom and uncles with her was a challenge.

The album turned out really well. I was quite proud. Did it motivate me to make M's? No, but I have more supplies now. :)

Change in the Air

2009-05-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a quick update. My Grandma decided now that she is being left alone to rest and all the tubes are out and they are stopping poking her every half hour that she might stick around. She actually started doing much better and started feeling better yesterday. I guess she just got some ICU-itis. They are all over you constantly there and you really don't get rest. My mom called me this morning, early I might add, to tell me that Grandma definitely is feeling better. She was bossing everyone around and laughing. I'm so glad to hear it! I'll head up later today.
I did find a good book to share with M if... Its called Waterbugs and Dragonflys. Its a little abstract but I think that it was really nice. Basically, it talks about how waterbugs climb up a lily stalk and turn into a dragonfly. The other waterbugs don't see this transformation and are confused because everything was great underwater. They promise that next time one will come back and tell the others why people don't return. So one goes, transforms and its glorious, beautiful and free. Unfortunately, he can't go back to tell them. His new wings won't let him break the water barrier. The newly transformed dragonfly finally gives up and knows that someday the other waterbugs will join him and understand. I think it can lead to good discussion about how the loved one is happy and even though they were happy before they can't come back but someday we will see them again. Not that I want that discussion.

:(

2009-05-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

My grandma is still in the ICU. She wants to stop all that they are doing and the doctor doesn't think her heart can take much more. So my mom is heading back
Up here. She just left but she and her siblings have the unfortunate decision of... So if anyone can help me- if you have had experience with this- how do you tell an almost four year old one of her most favorite people is no longer. Hell, how do you tell a 33 year old? I would appreciate any advice I can get.

Bored in the ICU

2009-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

My grandma is in the ICU. She came in with, I guess congestive heart failure and fluid in her lungs and some infection. She was having a hard time breathing at 2am. She luckily lives with my uncle so he was with her. Her called me and I called my mom about 15 times until she finally answered her phone. My gm is doing better but she still is on a respirator. We've been taking turns sitting here on watch. They have been sedating her and so she is out of it. I think she just didn't want to go to Seattle with me and M. Stubborn 90 year old lady. I'm pretty bored so I thought I would sit here and try to post on my hubby's itouch but I am one finger typing and it takes a while to do.
I did finish one block for the pieced together quilting bee. It was the drunkards path and it was challenging. I watched the tutorial but for some reason it was supposed to be 12.5 inches but mine ended up being 14 inches. I have no idea how I did it. My mom looked at it and thinks it was the pattern I used. I will show you when I am near a real computer. My Mom and I did take a break and took M to the park. One thing about Washingtonians is if the sun comes out for even 15 minutes we are taking full advantage of it or complaining that it's been sunny for so long it needs to rain. We may get a chance to put our raised garden together. We have to do it soon or nothing will grow!
Thanks listening. I'll be more interesting later.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T09:38:00.001-07:00

My wonderful mom came up on Saturday and took my lovely daughter for the day. My old college roommate (she put up living with me for four years!) was in town so my mom wanted us to be able to hang out for the day. We shopped all day for silver shoes! Our other roommate Sarah is getting married in June and Andy is going to be in her wedding and needed silver flats. I unfortunately won't be able to go. M is having her first ballet recital that weekend and with travel time from Seattle to Massachusetts- not happening. Anyway, we were horribly unsuccessful. There are so many silver shoes but Andy was being picky. I did however score a 525 thread count sheets for a queen size bed for 6 bucks! I like to spoil myself with good sheets. Well, good sheets that are mass cheap!
M had a great time with out me. They hung out at Nana's house and M played in the newly rototilled garden. She was so dirty she had to strip outside and be carried to bath tub. I even found dirt in her eye later in the day! My Uncle Ray also took her to an exotic chicken farm after she was cleaned up. She had a blast. I wish I had photos!

Andy left about 4 pm and my mom returned and we did some quilt store shopping. I bought some cute paper doll fabric. I have no idea what I am going to make with it but I have wanted it for a while. This other quilt shop had it in a kit but I just wanted the fabric. I think it will be a great little fabric to use for a new mom of a little girl. Or I will just keep it for myself. :)

I also turned in a quilt to be quilted. I made a quilt for the aforementioned Sarah and I made it so simple that it really needed some quilting done to it and I would have just stitched in the ditch since my free motion skills are minuscule. The place we took it is really affordable so we are excited to see the quality.

The next day was Mother's Day and my mom gave me gifts. (I gave her gifts too but not that exciting) One was her old serger. She just bought herself a new one and although she could have used it as a trade in she thought I would like it. I do! I've used it before to make cloth napkins for my grandma and although I like using them - they scare the bejesus out of me. I am afraid I will cut my finger off. M got a pre-lecture about touching it.

She also gave me a doll dress. She said she hunted every where to get the perfect dress for my doll. I love it! So cute and I love that it fits the time piece of the doll so well. I told her she has to make a matching dress for M since it is so cute. I got the typical Mom response - we will see. (She also gave me a 1/4 inch foot for my machine - YEAH!)

We did receive bad news this weekend. My brother in law and sister in law are getting divorced. What I thought was funny (not the divorce- that's awful) was that my mom kept trying to console me. Finally, I was like, "Mom, I am not getting divorced and they aren't my parents." She just smiled and realized what she was doing. I think it was some residual guilt of her and my dad getting divorced when I was six which I am glad they did. It just made me giggle.

On a side note, this is pretty popular in the crafty blogging world today. At Craft Hope, a website designed to help others with our crafty skills, they are beginning their second project which is to give children in an orphanage in Managua, Nicaragua handmade dolls. I decided it is so worthy and I have made some dolls in just a few hours that it really is just a minor giving. If you are interested - check it out. I just have to figure out which doll to make or I can just make a few!

To all those moms, Happy Mother's Day, a day late.

Sweet Surprises

2009-05-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

Chen over at Mushyhead's Sweatshop was so sweet and sent me a little treat. She had seen I LOVE owls and she had some extra owl fabric from a project she made so she sent it to me only asking that I make a quilt block using it and sent it back. I think I can handle that. I think I know what I want to do too! She also sent me a fat quarter of another owl fabric she thought I might like. She was right!

I also received from my daughter, my mother's day gift. Three year olds can't wait. Her dad took her shopping. I got a bag full of candy! Gummi snakes and sharks and some chocolate and pocky. I love pocky! Then I got some Christmas rings, a valentine's day frame and a huge lollipop. Plus, at day care she made me a plant out of hands and gave me her potted plant. She was so excited!

As a side note, Kat at Ripping Out Seams is hosting a virtual quilting bee. If you have never done it, it is a great experience. Everyone is assigned a month and during your month you send enough fabric to everyone to make a quilt block of your choosing and they send it back. Its fun because you are challenged to try new things and to be creative. Check it out!

I also saw a picture of one of the twins. Mary-Kate or Ashley, who knows. Anyway, I love this purse. I think I am going to figure out how to make one similar out of fabric since I can't afford the leather one she has. Isn't it cute!?

Scraps and Manicures and Hot Men

2009-05-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had mentioned I had scraps left from the UGLEE blanket that I was supposed to pass onto my mom to use but I decided to make M a pin to wear. I had tons of buttons so this was use for one. I also used the scrap binding for a ruffle. I would have taken a better picture but for some reason I could not take any close ups without it being blurry.

For quicky instructions to make your own. Cut out a felt circle and sew gathered ribbon or fabric around the circle. Then make 6 varied colored small yo-yos. I used a plastic template to make the yo-yos but if you don't have that you can find instructions here to do it without. Then let your child hold the made yo yos so that she can throw them in the air and you can search the floor for where they may have landed. Ours were under the couch. Once you have found them sew them to the circle slightly overlapping. Sew a button of choice in the middle. I used a safety pin to attach the pin to the shirt. You can sew it on first with a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine or you can hand sew it on last.

My husband and I had a little date yesterday. We went and saw Wolverine. He is my hubby's favorite superhero character of all time so of course we had to go. I went a long for the eye candy. Hugh Jackman is hot and I love some Ryan Reynolds. My husband is fully aware that this is why I went. Complete honesty.

So, M stayed with Grandpa. She was supposed to be taking a nap but she waved to us from her bedroom window and as soon as we left she went out of her room and said to Grandpa, "Let's go." He always takes her places. So this time, he took her to a nail salon. Grandpa has some friends who work there. Well, M got her first manicure. At first I was annoyed. I think a 3 year old is a bit young for that. I let her do her toes but even that is pushing it. So, I was annoyed until I heard an 8 year old did it. There were pictures but for some reason the files were corrupt. I'm having no luck with photos today.

U-G-L-E-E

2009-05-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

This quilt is not one of my proudest projects. Probably my most loved however. M has been collecting dog fabric for a while. Every time we saw one, begging would start for me to get some. So, I made her this "puppy love" quilt. I started with paper piecing dog squares. I saw them and I knew M would want it. She was mixed on them at first but that was because I didn't use her favorite colors at first. Then the center is one big piece of fabric. It was just so cute with all those faces. The poodle is her favorite. Then the squares on the sides are just to show off the fabrics she chose. Now you may not be able to see them but there are random dog buttons all over the quilt. She wanted more but I said no. I hate hand sewing. So boring. I just realized that I sewed on all those buttons but I haven't given the dogs eyes yet. I guess I am not done yet.

I still have a ton of dog fabric left but my mom asked for it so that she could make M a doll blanket for her doll. She thought M would like to be matching. I even have some I didn't use. The reds didn't match well enough (like it really mattered) so she will probably get a little outfit out of it since I have 3/4 yard of each.

So, there you have a mismatched, paper pieced, uneven (see some squares are trimmed to fit) quilt with buttons. I purposely have the fabric in different directions and the dogs facing out. I wanted them to face M whichever direction she had the blanket. I actually finished it the other day and I asked my hubby to help me take a photo of it but I can't get it away from her. She even had to sleep holding the puppy love button that is actually covering a quilting mistake (shhh). Funny kid. I'll be so sad when she outgrows this phase and hates everything mommy makes her. Oh and to make it even more of a dog quilt. My dog help sew it. Yes, she did. She laid on my foot while I had it on the presser foot. You know how hard it is to get a comfy 65lb dog off your foot in a timely manner. I think she is trying to tell me I am sewing too much and she needs more love. Poor puppy, poor, poor puppy.

I started my next project already, making a wedding throw for my friend which I hope to have the top done to show you later this week. Its more of a twin size but that is what I make for a throw. I want my whole body covered when I curl up.

PS Don't look at my floor! The shards of my dogs favorite blanket are there and I haven't vacuumed. Why vacuum when I can sew. :)

Six O'Clock Stitch Swap

2009-05-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

So, for the Six O'clock Stitch Swap, we had to make a 8x10 flat art work thingy and include red and yellow. Thingy is a real word, really. I decided to play with fusible landscapes. I've always been fascinated by them. So, I used these two books for guides and took from both of them. Dream Landscapes by Rose Hughes and Fuse-and-Tell Journal Quilts by Laura Wasilowski. I basically took the design from Fuse-and-Tell. I'm not the best artist so I thought it would be best for now. Honestly, you don't have to be a great artist. It doesn't use patterns. Just get some scissors and go for it. So, here is how I did it minus a few pictures.

I sketched out what I wanted and picked fabric.

Of course, I got way more fabric than I needed.

Then I cut and fused to the base fabric which was the blue sky. Don't worry it is squared. The picture is way crooked for some reason.

Then I free motion machine and hand quilted where I wanted.

Added beads to the river. Its nice when things you have had for over 20 years comes in handy. :)

Some more beads to the bushes to add some interest.

And wallah! I am done. I just hope my swap partner doesn't think it is crap. Its so hard when you don't know the person and you can't go to their blog to see what sort of thing they are into. I am thinking about making another one now. I was watching Ni hao Kai-lan and I loved this little landscape they had with this brightly colored tree. It was so colorful and simple. I might make it for my mom for Mother's day. She loves my crap (she is a mom - she has to, right?) and I have enough fabric. :) Or maybe I need to get some more. Hehe!

Little Girls

2009-04-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

My daughter has a birthday to go to tomorrow. We had gotten her a small gift certificate to Build a Bear because what kid doesn't want to go there? But, I felt it was a bit cheap. So, I made this little girl to go with it. Build a Bear gives little boxes with the gift certificate like you get when you make a bear so I thought it would look cute if she held it. I got the pattern here. She has some other patterns too. Peter Puppy in an earlier post is from her as well.

We spent most of our weekend outside in our backyard. Here are some pictures of the dog with her wagging tongue and and the kid enjoying the sun and attempting to figure out the hoola hoop. Ignore the mess in the background. We are still working on our winter cleaning of the yard. The dog destroys it and we neglect it. I wanted to be inside working on her dog quilt but that was a no go. I have it about 50% done. I hope my dog lover loves it. Hope you are getting some sun too! OUrs will be gone tomorrow. Boohoohoo.

bag for a working grandma

2009-04-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Daysha asked me to make her mom a lunch bag for her birthday last year. I, of course, obliged. So, I picked out this red country rose fabric and a red lining for the bag. I didn't use a purchased pattern. Just a random one from my head. (If you are interested let me know and I can write it up for you.) It is a pretty simple pattern. I did put a large flap on it to better hold the items in and well, to make it cuter. I used this awesome wood button. I wish I got a better picture. I have since used the other one on some sort of project or bag. The interfacing is a insulation like you would use for potholders. I, in fact have made pot holders with it but I double layered it to give it more stability and protection from the heat. I just picked up the insulation at Joann's, nothing spectacular. The only reason I don't like it though is because it is quite crinkly so until it gets used a bit it is a bit noisy.

I have also made this bag as a diaper bag. I figure it is great for snacks and bottles and anything else you can cram in there. I made a huge one for myself when I was traveling from Germany to Seattle and I made the strap really long so that it would fit under my backpack and still be comfortable. Worked awesome. My brother thought I was crazy though when he took the bag and it was almost to his knees. Worked great for me. If only it helped keep a six month old comfortable for over 14 hours. Someone asked me why I wasn't traveling during her nap time. Uhh, I did, several naps.

Here's a random story. I was laying in bed hitting the snooze and I swear I heard a cat meow like it was right next to me. Could a cat have gotten in the house? Our neighbors cat has snuck in before when all the doors were open but it was 6:30 am. No, it couldn't be a cat, my dog is laying at the end of the bed. She wouldn't allow that. So, I went back to sleep. I heard it again! Of course, there was no cat. I was dreaming it. Its so weird when a dream is so real. I hear my phone ring occasionally when I am awake and I am just imagining it. Weird. Is it just me?

A Busy Weekend

2009-04-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so productive and busy. Friday, M and I drove down to the Children's Museum in Burlington. We love it. Its a 45 minute drive but it is so worth it! Plus my friend drives an hour there from another town so we can hang out. She has a four year old and a one year old so its a nice break for the both of us because the girls can run crazy and they are never out of our eye sight. We were worried the girls wouldn't get a long this time but they ended up okay. We had lunch first and J sat at a different table then us pouting. I don't know why. Four year olds are difficult to figure out. By the end of the day they were best friends.

Then that evening we went to my Brother in Laws house. They live like a mile from our house and we never see them unless one of us needs to borrow something or needs help with something. So, my sister in law and I decided we needed game night. We decided to play the CLUE DVD game that my hubby got like four years ago for Christmas but you needed three to play so we never had the opportunity. We think our DVD was broken. We could not get it to work so that failed miserably. We played Apples to Apples instead. Fun game. Totally recommend it.

Saturday, our friend called us and she had extra tickets to the Seattle Children's Theater to see and adaptation of "Good Night Moon." We were curious at how they could make a little children's book into an hour play for kids. It was so good. The girls had a great time. They were laughing so hard people were looking at them. So if you are in the area you should check them out. The Seattle Center had a Japanese Festival going also so the girls got to see Japanese drummers which was pretty cool. Then they got hot dogs and cotton candy and a pressed penny souvenir. They had a blast. It was a great surprise day out.

Sunday was quite relaxed. Didn't do anything but crafts and annoy my child. First, I worked on a landscape picture for the Six o'clock Swap and then I worked on M's dog quilt. I am making paper pieced dogs right now. Other than that I don't know what I am doing to the quilt. It is going to be a totally ugly quilt with dog buttons and every dog fabric we spot. But it will be so loved by a little girl with a dog obsession. I'll show it as I get more complete. Maybe when I finish the four dogs. I have two adn a half done.

Here is one other thing I did. When we got dressed Sunday morning, I noticed a stain on M's shirt so I made her this flower pin to cover it up. She loved it so much she made me wash the outfit so she could wear it today. If you want a tutorial, Grace Violet has a good one. Mine, is just a bunch of circles cut with a zigzag rotary cutter held together with a funky button and a safety pin in sewn on the back. Its nice because it uses scraps and it took me like 5 minutes to make. Sorry, its not a better picture of the pin. M is requesting a pink one and a purple one.

April Quilt Blocks Complete- check

2009-04-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am trying to work through my list of things to get done which will of course never happen but I have finished the quilt blocks for the two quilting bees that I am part of. Here is the blocks for PTQB. Erin wanted squares and rectangles. I hope I did it to her liking. It was fun to make plus

I love that it is so colorful. It would definitely brighten any room. I had to throw in a tulip as it fit so well. Stephenie wanted a log cabin. Again, love the fabric. This is more what I would pick out for colors. I love brown. Plus, I love the little swirly snails in the middle. Anyone know who made it?

Then, I made Chen's for AQB2. I made two for Chen. She wanted us to do whatever we wanted so I wanted to make one really fancy (fancy for me- I am still a beginner) and one more simple as I figured I would run out of fabric with the fancy one. You have to check some of the other blocks made. Man, there are some really talented people in our group. The fancy block is called moose tracks. You should have seen it when I was making it. It didn't look at all like it was supposed to until I ironed it really well and trimmed off the crazy looking parts of it. Oddly enough after I trimmed the crazy parts, it was the right size. Don't you love when that happens. I should have taken pictures of how crazy it looked. You would have laughed. My other block for Chen was more of a log cabin. I really was searching and hoping the left over fabric would fit. I had to add a couple of my own so I hope they fit to her "shabby chic" theme. I realized when I was searching in my stash for fabric that would work that I do not own a lot of pastel or pinks or anything shabby chicish. It was a weird revelation. Maybe an excuse to get some. :)

As a weird side note, I was driving down the freeway yesterday after dropping off my munchkin at day care and I had an odd thought. Not really odd for me, however. I was thinking about what it would be like to be driving 70mph on the freeway during an earth quake. I am in earth quake country - it could happen. Anyway, this morning my office mate tells me there was a little earth quake in the town I was driving away from yesterday. So weird. That ever happen to you?

Warm Your Heart by Quilting for Others

2009-04-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

I know that our love of quilting, well, adds up. We have so many quilts in our houses that we don't know what to do with them. Here are a couple of programs that would love your help.
My mom forwarded me an email for the Quilts of Valor program that tries to give a mentally or physically wounded soldier a warm and cozy quilt. You can check out the program here Quilts of Valor. They also can help with setting you up with someone who longarms if you don't have time to quilt it yourself. My husband spent a year in Iraq and thankfully he returned in good health but I can tell you the little bit of appreciation he received while he was there was a big boost to his morale. He still talks about a pillow case that a kid sent to him with lots of drawings all over it. These soldiers have returned and not so well. They need the moral boost the most.
Project Linus has been around for a while and I am always thinking about making something for them. This program is for making quilts for children in hospitals. There are several local chapters and you generally don't have to mail the quilt anywhere just drop it off at your local quilt shop. Heck, you are there already. Just think about how your kids love when you make things for them even if we think it looks awful. Kids love the love. The website can give you details on local chapters.
If you need to warm your heart, check them out, you may have something already made you can give. It makes more room for more projects and helps others.

On a side note, I just discovered this website called Wiggio. It allows you to set up groups so that you can have all your shared documents in one location, send out email/text reminders and more. Plus it is free!! This is awesome for my job since I work with three different schools plus many clinics and hospitals. I house everything on my computer but if someone wants something they have to get it from me. Now they can get it themselves. Awesome! Just imagine what you could do with your sewing bees and quilting friends. Just like flicker but a bit different. I just set up my first group but I can't wait to fully try all the functions. Plus, it is just fun to say Wiggio.

Wow- Weekend Surprises and my ADD

2009-04-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend was not at all what I planned or would have liked (most of it) but you go with the flow. Thursday morning, I received a phone call from my Uncle. My grandma is not feeling well so he was taking her to the hospital. She did recover after a few day stay in the hospital. The difficult part for me, besides my grandma being sick, was that she was supposed to host Easter which fell to me. 14 people in my tiny house which was a total mess. So in between visits to the hospital, I cleaned and shopped. That wouldn't have been so bad if I had help but my husband was out of town at a Bachelor party and didn't return until Easter around 2PM! Everything of course turned out. My mom stayed with my Grandma for the night until my uncle returned from his conference and fought with her the whole time. My 90 year old Grandma, after just being released was going out the get fire wood and when she was asked why I couldn't go get it she told my mom I wasn't strong enough to bring in fire wood. I just shook my head and got the wood. My mom also made our family's Easter tradition of Egg Nests. My grandma said she did okay for the first time trying. She is a feisty old broad.

So these Egg Nests are yummy. It is just a hard boiled egg, colored of course, wrapped in a sweet bread and baked. Then iced with just a powdered sugar and water icing and topped with colored sprinkles. Totally cheesy but I look forward to it.
I have also determined that I have Crafting ADD. I have like 6 projects going and 4 I want to do and I got a new book today that I want to do like all right now! This book is cool. I have always wanted to do Landscape Quilting but really didn't know where to start. So far this book looks very simple with a few beginners patterns to start and shows you how to make your own patterns. I can't wait! You can get the book here at Amazon. Nancy's Notion's also has it but it was like 15 cents cheaper on Amazon and eligible for the free shipping so I got mine there. I will let you know how it goes with the project once I find time to do it. Maybe I should start now. :)
Oh, M loves the dumb looking dog I made her. I'm glad kids aren't too picky.

Finally finished with the dog!

2009-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

So I never did find that Joann's bag so I had to go back and re buy what I needed. At least I can use it later if I do find it. How frustrating.

I finished up this stuffed dog for my daughter's Easter basket. I think it is a bit dumb looking but M won't care. It is a dog. I think if I used different fabric is would have been better. The pattern is here. I did make a minor change on it. I didn't like that you hand sewed the tail on after and I didn't like that the opening to stuff it was where the legs were so I took the back pattern piece and folded it in half and then cut two with a seam allowance. Then I was able to sew the tail into the seam and I left a bit open in the back to stuff it so that the hand sewing closure was on the back and not at the legs. Did that make sense? That was a long sentence. I might make another one with different fabric. The pattern's dogs are way cuter so I know I can make a cute one!

I also made this doll. I think it turned out so cute! It is for my friend's daughter's first birthday. I totally forgot about it and it was nice because I did the whole thing during M's nap time. The pattern is here. I didn't change anything. It was super simple and I even put myself to the test to hand embroider! I think it turned out pretty good for the first time. I even think I am going to try these. I bought the Bavarian one and the Italian one. M was born in Germany and my family is Italian so I thought I would start with those. If I like them I might make all of them! I know big dreams with all the other projects I have. Tonight I am working on the PTQB blocks and AQB2 block. I know what I want to do- now I have to do it!

Busy Weekend

2009-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was quite busy. Saturday my mom drove up and we went to my Great Uncle's 90th Birthday. I hadn't been to a "family" function in a while so it was quite odd walking into a large room and knowing 90% of these people are relatives but not knowing who they were. My Grandpa was one of 8 brothers so I got a lot of "how are you related? Oh, Lester. Nice to meet you." There were some really nice people. My daughter had a blast chasing boys around. A girl of my own heart. :) So, this portion of my family are potato farmers. They are really well known in this town and the surrounding towns. When I went to a family reunion like 20 years ago all they talked about was potatoes. I don't know anything about potatoes. So at this function they had these little mini potato sacks full of jelly beans. How adorable! Then they had Mr. Potatoheads at every table. Mr. Potatohead cookie jar being used as a vase, potato bowls, stuffed potato people and more. It was funny and so darn cute at the same time. Great Uncle Gord seemed to really enjoy himself.

Afterwords we stopped at two quilt shops. I thought this town only had one but they have three! Its only like 20 minutes from my house so I am pretty excited. I picked up one vintage fabric with dogs on it for a summer dress for M and then I bought a "fake" porcelain doll. It is from, oh darn, I can't remember, Oh, Daisy Kingdom. Very cute with a 20's hairstyle. It is currently in M's room in its undies. I was too cheap to pay $17 for a doll dress when I could make one out of scraps.

Then after dropping off my grandma, my mom and I went home and played with M and watched The Music Man. This is a picture of her with all her dogs. Note she has dog ears on as well. When she went to bed she threw some dogs off her bed. I guess some of the dogs are not worthy enough to sleep on the bed and they were the ones that I picked up off the floor so I know she is very specific about this. So weird. She is proudly showing off her new outfit here. Dogs of course. Plus it has pockets that she can put a stuffed dog in. How perfect. I let her wear it two days in a row but after she got it dirty by sitting on the wet grass I washed it.

The next day we went and bothered my grandma and uncle for breakfast and came back home, my mom left and M and I played in the front yard with bubbles and chalk. I also weeded while she tried to plant some of the dandelions I pulled up. It has been a long time since we saw the sun so we took full advantage of it.

I did complete a one project and 99% of another (I can't find the bag with the buttons to finish the other one). This is a list taker I made to donate as a door prize for one of the nursing programs I work for. The color didn't turn out too well. It is navy on the inside with red bias trim and I used a red thread to sew it all together. I think it is the best one I have made so far.
You can find the pattern here. I made a ton of these at x-mas. Its a great little gift for someone that you don't know what to get them. Do we really need any more lotion or candles? I made my mom one that was miniature for her purse. I just made the pattern for that one. She lost it last weekend so I have to make her a new one. I'll show it then. I'll also show my other project after I finish it. If I ever find that bag! It had Easter basket stuff in it so I hid it and I don't know where!!! I made a little puppy for her basket so I have to find it before then.

Sara's block

2009-04-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Finally, I finished. I've decided I am too much of a perfectionist. I fixed the two colors touching but then when I was looking at it the fabrics in the middle didn't line up so I took it apart again!
I have done some other projects which I will show you pictures this weekend. I am making stuff for my daughter's Easter basket. I am making her a little puppy and a little doll. So I actually have to finish those before next weekend! Plus I donated a list taker to the nursing program I work for so I have to make that before Thursday. Eeks. I have to get motivated!
Have a great weekend! I guess I will be busy!

Swaps, Giveaway

2009-04-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

So I finally finished my March quilt squares for the two swaps I am a part of; Another Quilting Bee 2 and Pieced Together Quilting Bee. Above is the spiderweb block for Stephanie at Dancydoodle It was my first attempt at paper piecing. I learned quickly the tips that were already given to me but I forgot. I forgot to trim as I was going and then as I was ripping the paper off - I learned to make you stitch length small so that it one, stays together better and two, the paper comes off easier. I hope Stephanie likes it or rather her husband. I also finished the same type of square for Sara at Just One More. I don't have a photo yet because as I relaxing watching some Mentalist on the DVR (I can't get enough Simon Baker - so charming) it was laying next to me and two large matching pieces were next to each other staring at me, taunting me with "look at me, you messed up." Little pieces next to each other wouldn't bother me but these did so I took the triangles apart to flip them. Very difficult with those small stitches but I got it. I will sew it back together tonight and take a picture of it. So, Sara and Stephanie - yours will be in the mail tomorrow! Only 2 days late.
I also wanted to thank you for your kind words. I feel like such a girl being all emotional but she was like a sister and I don't think how she acted when I expressed myself that it could ever go back. What can you do right? It happens. On a high note, Kat, at Ripping Out Seams is having a Giveaway for 4 Fat Quarters of Heather Bailey's Freshcut Fabrics! How awesome. Go check it out! I was just thinking. I don't think I own any Heather Bailey nor do I think I have seen any at the quilt shops around my house. Hmmm...maybe I should win. Hint, hint. :)
Have a wonderful day everyone! We are getting snow mixed with rain. Isn't it spring yet?

Lose of a Friend

2009-03-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

I apologize for this depressing post but I can't figure it out so I am trying to write it out to see if it makes sense. My best friend of 13 years is no longer my friend. We have spoken to each other almost every day. She was like my sister. I love her. But the last year or so she has changed a lot (some good, some bad) and our friendship has started to slip away. My husband noticed this a lot sooner than me or maybe I chose not to notice.
So, she stayed at my house a month or so ago and she arrived at about 9 pm. We went out to dinner at a local bar and chatted. We came home and she instantly went on my computer and started IMing a mutual friend for an hour while my husband and I sat in the living room. Then she closed her door and I went to bed shortly after. My husband said she finally came out and hour later and said good night. The next morning she was going to "fit in" 45 minutes for me so I didn't feel "used". I just left and hung out with my mom. I am not going to waste my time for 45 minutes if I am lucky.
I finally sent an email to her and said I couldn't believe how rude she was sitting in the room IMing while human beings are in the living room that she never sees. She apologized and we hadn't spoken until this weekend. I told her I could really care less about the rudeness but I felt that we weren't as close as we were and we didn't have much in common. She shrugged her shoulders, emotionless and said, "Well, as long as we can be cordial at group gatherings." I was shocked. She was willing to give up on our friendship that easily. So I explained again how I felt. I expected something like you nag me like my mom, we live further apart now, I have just been busy, maybe we should make plans to get together but nothing. I was so frustrated that she really had no reaction or seemed to care at all so I just said "fine, have a nice life" and walked away. I really wanted to say FU but I thought the better. Be a little more mature although I still wasn't. I just don't get it. 13 years of choice sisterhood and she had no reaction to our conversation. I just can't stop thinking about it. I'm hurt. On the childish side I went home, threw way her slippers (yes, she even had slippers at my house), took the picture off the wall she gave me, mailed her back her key and threw away a coffee mug we both had. Stuff that would remind me of her. I guess I have never gone through a breakup. I just want to know she cares too. Obviously, the conversation didn't go the way I planned. I didn't want to end our friendship. I just wanted to know she felt the lose too.

Another Swap

2009-03-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

I signed up for another swap. This one will be entertaining. She wants an 8x10 artwook that could be framed. I haven't figured out what to do although I have a ton of ideas. Go on over and sign up before April 6th. Just click on the icon above.

Clamity Jane Apron Celebration Giveaway

2009-03-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Calamity Kim is has an awesome giveaway. She is celebrating one of her aprons being published in Apronology. Congrats Kim! Go check her website out! Look at this cute minature apron you can win. Adorable!

Waiting for the Tune Up

2009-03-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

My husband thought it would be a good idea that my daughter and I take his car to the shop for an oil change and a tune up not thinking about the three hours it would take. Luckily, we did entertain ourselves. First, we spent some time at Taco Bell. My daughter just discovered tacos so she was pretty excited. Then we walked over to Joann's. Its his fault I had to go there. I decided I needed a new wreath or something for my front door. I made this little tin basket thingy. I couldn't find my metal cutters or I might have arranged it different.

All the flowers were 50% off and the basket was 30% off. I thought it was a good deal. Then to the fabric. I picked up two different ones. The picture doesn't show the blue very well but the color is great.

Then I found this cool owl fabric. I have no self control with owls. I really do love them. I haven't decided what I am going to make but I figure since they look like winter owls that I have until next winter. That's how I justify it anyway.

Well, we still had time to waste so off to the Goodwill. I like to look through the linens for backs to my quilts. It was 30% off for the manager's special. I only found one. This table cloth.

I haven't decided if I want to keep it as a table cloth or make it into a skirt for me or a dress for M. Decisions, decisions. I also found these 1/2 yard cuts. Three of them for $2. The original price was $5 each so I was excited. I have been wanting to make tea holders so this will be cute. I might make some dish towels too. Never have enough of those. Or maybe a apron for M. See decisions, decisions.

That is what my husband gets for making me entertain us for three hours. More fabric...

Birthday Quilt

2009-03-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post about something new since I had plans to work on my projects this weekend but my mother in law ended up in the Intensive Care Unit. She went in to get an artery cleared in her heart and the physician accidentially poke a hole through her heart wall which made her bleed into her chest. She is fine now. Well, not perfect. They didn't even clear the blockage so she will have to go back. Crazy. So my weekend was spent at the hospital keeping her company and my husband sane.

I made this a few years ago before kids and when my husband was in Iraq and I was in Germany so I had a lot of time on my hands. I decided I would make quilts for my two best friend's birthdays. I didn't really sew quilts at this time but I really had a lot of time on my hands. Both of the ladies were very special to me. They were both my bridesmaids. This quilt was for Tracy. I will show Andy's later. I met her in college. We graduated in the same program and it being such a small program (Community Health) we became very good friends. The quilt is a Learn to Quilt called Triple Threat. I couldn't find the specific pattern but here is a link to their free patterns. This pattern has tons of triangles. I actually cut out a ton more and hated how it looked so I bought more fabric and now I have a bunch of extra triangles waiting to be used. The main fabric is Daisy Kingdom's Donna's Picket Fence Small Packed Daisies. Its really cute and simple which at the time was really her style. The quilt is just a lap size. You can see I have it hanging over my quilt rack so that can give you an idea of the size.

Oops and my owl

2009-03-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

So, I was all ambitious and I wrote all these posts and I was going to post them periodically. What I didn't realize was that it will post it the date you started writing them so if you have been checking my blog- look below this post there may be some you haven't seen. Hmmm...

I have had a recent obsession with owls. It reminds me of summers at my Grandma's house when I was a kid. In my mind it was always sunny, rows of roses always in bloom and Grandma always had cookies that we snuck in the kitchen to steal. The latter two were probably true but the always sunny in Washington - doubtful. How that connects to owls? My Grandma had little owls all over her house. I don't think it was intentional. She had some magnets and a thermometer in her window sill that we would put our empty pill bottles full of water and rose petals. I learned a valuable lesson those summers. It takes a lot more than rose petals and water to make perfume. It does mold great though! Anyway, I have bought so much owl fabric and patterns lately. I don't know what I want to do with them. I had a cold the other day so I grabbed some scraps and played around and made this little owl.

The pattern is from Lavender Rabbit Distributors. I bought it at the Sewing Expo year before last but never did anything with it.
The owl I made is the top middle one. I'm still not done. I have to sew it down and figure out what to do with him. I'd make the wall hanging but since I really haven't planned it is not set up right. Suggestions?

I'm a dork.

2009-03-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

So my office mate always reminds me of this because she thinks it is the funniest thing ever. You think I am exaggerating. She took a picture of it and at a Seahawks game she started showing strangers! She still is showing people and this was last summer (the nice thing about starting a blog - everything is new to you so I can tell you.) and I was busy getting my child out the door that I didn't notice my shoes. I slipped them on and out I went. I walked to my office that is quite a trek and I felt like my hips were misaligned. I figured I just needed to see a chiropractor. So, I go to work and I am chatting with the ladies and I am sort of leaned around this divider we once had so I could see the other lady and I glanced at my feet and yelled "OH MY GAWD!" Man, was I embarrassed. Not only are they different colors but one goes between the toes! How did I not feel that difference. I am such a dork! If you are wondering - I didn't go home and change my shoes but I did make my office mates buy me lunch. I refused to leave the office unless I had too!

Grandma's quilt

2009-03-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

So, last year M turned three and we made her room into a big girl room. I would have taken a picture for you to see it but you can't see the floor at the moment. Anyway, we got her a big girl bed. My mom and I were just browsing at IKEA and in their broken or display stuff they had this cute wrought iron bed, really low to the ground. It was super cheap. They were discontinuing it and this was the display model. We bought it right then. Try to fit a bed into a car with two adults and a car seat with child in car seat. Along with all the stuff we picked up when we were browsing. It is quite a challenge, let me tell you. Anyway, so Grandma wanted to make her a big girl quilt for her new bed. This is just a close up of it. It is so beautiful. She used the blue and white fairy frost that makes it all sparkly. She has a Brother Disney fancy dancy embroidery machine so in each of the Dresden plates has a Disney princesses. I really didn't want an obsessed princess child and luckily I don't. If we knew she would become dog obsessed 2 weeks after her birthday we would have put dogs on it. M really loves her quilt and she loves that Grandma made jammies that match the back flannel. She giggles whenever she gets in bed and sees that she matches. And the bed being close to the ground has been great. She sometimes doesn't even notice she fell out of bed. Once I found her sleeping with her feet on the floor and her body in bed. Funny girl.

Circus Fun

2009-03-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

I love the circus. It is so much fun. As an adult you can be in just as much awe as a child. I have taken my daughter twice and she loves it. The first time she was just a year and a half and I wasn't sure if she would enjoy it, get it, hate it or whatever goes through a one year olds mind. My mom and I knew we may have to leave early. She stared at the stage nonstop the entire time. She loved it. When she was two I was mad because my hubby's friend had to get married the one day the circus was in town. How dare he! Then we went when she was three. Her dad was able to go too. He had never been to the circus either. They both had so much fun. We went and looked at the elephants before the show and the clowns. It was great. I decided to make her a little clown shirt for the special day. I think it turned out cute. M still is talking about the circus and that was 7 months ago. I think I got her hooked. That's okay because I love it too. :)

Boredom in the Snow

2009-03-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

So earlier this winter we were totally snowed in. (I just don't feel the need to drive in snow if I don't have to.) I was really bored so I started working on gifts for people instead of buying them things. Since I wasn't driving to go buy gifts I kind of had to. Well, I have this girl friend, Eli, she is an odd duck. She is very girly but the guys love her because she can be a guy with the best of them. "Being a guy" is more her nature anyway. She travels a lot so I decided to make her a travel bag and I used this satiny skull fabric I got in the remnants at Joann's. I also made a scarf for her. I thought it would be fun. She isn't a flowery kind of girl so this fit her well. I didn't use a pattern and I think this is the second zipper I have ever put in. I thought I did pretty well. The satin fabric was a huge pain though. I ironed it onto some medium weight fusible interfacing but for me to get it to stick enough, I melted a few pieces of the fabric. It was definitely a learning experience. Since I didn't use a pattern it did get a bit bigger than expected so it actually started off as a little purse organizer and it ended up being a toiletries bag. Oh well. I was entertained and she liked it. :)

Cape

2009-03-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

I made this cape for my daughter like a year ago. She loves it. I didn't get all fancy and put a letter on it or anything but I did put some pom pom fringe on the bottom. I had to make it girly right. The fabric was for a shower curtain but I decided it was to hideous. Okay, not hideous as I have used it for 10 other projects (I bought a lot) but it just didn't match my bathroom very well. I ended up using a sheet I bought at Target. I'll show it another day. Instead of a rolled hem I used binding tape and used that as the tie for the neck as well. Super simple to make. Anyway, thought I would share my cape as I have been seeing a lot of capes on other blogs lately. Hope you enjoy. (I can't believe how much M has grown!)

Pieced Together Quilting Bee - March

2009-03-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

I finished Stephanie K's blocks last night. I was given X and B and I wanted to do something special. X, I decide to make it look like it was weaved like the criss cross of the X. B, I had no idea what to do but I knew I wanted to add a little bit of the butterfly fabric I had that fit her request of sticking to pink and green. It just such pretty fabric and all I had left of it was a little strip so I was able to use it. B for Butterfly. I thought I was clever. I hope she likes them or rather, I hope her daughter likes them. I still have one more block to do for March. Sara requested a spider block made with paper piecing. I am a little intimidated by it so I am holding off a bit till I get some courage. She picked awesome 1930's reproduction fabric which will look awesome when all put together. Wish me luck on making it!

I wanted to give you this...

2009-03-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

The other day my three year old and I were going out to the car to run and errand to Joann's, of course, and the sky was so beautiful. It was a dark blue and the stars were gleaming from end to end. I always try to take a moment and enjoy the sky, clouds and all which we have plenty of here in Washington. M looked up at the sky and said, "This is what I wanted to give you for your birthday." She is so sweet. I could feel my heart swell. In this picture she is wearing her rock star track suit and she is holding a flower that her great grandma, Nana, bought her. Nana felt bad that the previous time we were there M wanted to pick flowers in her yard but there weren't any so she got her primroses.

Baby Quilt

2009-03-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Heather, is due for her first child, well, anytime. They live in Texas so I wasn't able to attend the baby shower for her but I decided to make her a quilt.
Really, I wanted an excuse to use this awesome kite material. The quilt got a little big while I was making it. I wanted it smaller but it kept growing and growing. So, it is a great size for a lap quilt or for a toddler bed. The baby will definitely be able to use it for years. The red is more of the corduroy that was for my daughter's dress. See -no dress. It's just so soft, I thought it would be nice for some texture. I love it. I backed it with a blue flannel. Flannel stickes a little better so it won't fall off a wiggling child as quickly. I thought seriously about keeping it for myself but I thought better. I do have some more of the kite fabric left so I might have to make myself one. Sorry the pictures aren't that great. I am hoping that she will send me more pictures. My aunt told me it was well received though.

More Bags

2009-03-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

My friend asked me to make her a bag for her preschool's auction so of course I obliged. I love an excuse to make more bags. I was too lazy to make my own pattern so I made her this yellow bag with brown lining called the Ava Rose from Artsy-crafty Babe. You can buy the pattern here. It calls for two pockets but I used one and used the yellow fabric to make it stand out. I usually don't put pockets in my bags. I never use them. I also used fusible fleece instead of the two interfacings that it calls for. I hope my friend likes it. I, of course, had to make myself one as well.
I love this purple fabric. I bought it clearance at Two Thimbles. I didn't know what I was going to do with it but when I saw the fabric sitting on my shelves at home calling to me - I knew it would be perfect for this bag. I have gotten all sorts of compliments on the fabric. The buttons I stole from my mom. She has this box that is the size of four shoeboxes combined filled with buttons that she has been buying for years and a lot of them from a store going out of business. She let me search through and take what I wanted. She has a more modern box of buttons too that she uses more often that she won't let me steal from. So mean, I tell ya. I was impressed by how well these buttons matched though. My husband likes to brag that he picked out the buttons. I let him choose the best out of two.

Fat Quarters

2009-03-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

I love fabric. Really it is the only reason I sew. Its the perfect excuse to buy more fabric. Well, one of our lovely local fabric stores, Fabric, etc., was celebrating Mardi Gras by having a Fat Tuesday sale. Buy 20 fat quarters for a dollar a piece. I am never really happy with the selection Joann's has so I went crazy. I bought 32 with no real plans in mind. I wanted to share my selection with you.

I did let my 3 year old pick out some.

She thinks we are making stuffed dogs with them. With a fat quarter? I am not sure that is happening. (if you know of a dog pattern for that much fabric let me know!) She is as bad as me. We were at Walmart and she found a remnant piece of flannel with dog prints on it and insisted on it. For 87 cents I let her get it. My Daugher is OBSESSED with dogs and occasionally she is a dog named Brenda. We then went to Grandma's and she nagged her Grandma until she made something. Here it is. The Dalamtion is Jasmine and the bulldog is Cinderella. My mom made her Jasmine since she had the fabric and the pattern for it. She was hoping that would distract her from the paw print fabric but it didn't. My poor grandchild spoiling mother was making dogs all weekend. Both are quite happy though and Jasmine and Cinderella go to Preschool with M.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all that fabric!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-03-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sure all of you have been to this site at least once and if you haven't - you have to go. This amazing woman makes all of her own designs based on things she has seen and then she gives it away! This time she has a Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress similar to the Forever 21's. This dress is so cute! And I love the boots. Check her out!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

My First Post

2009-03-02T17:39:00.001-08:00

Well, this is my first post on my new blog. I have been reading a lot of blogs for a while and participating in Fat Quarter Swaps and Sewing Bees but felt so left out that I didn't have a blog to show my work on so I started this blog. I hope you all enjoy it and I am not too boring.

I thought I would start with a bag I just made recently. I didn't have a pattern. I just made the simple tote and them changed it a bit by pleating the fabric. I wish I had a pleater. By hand is torture! It involves a lot of pins and tape. I melted some of my tape forgetting it was there when I ironed it. Oops. I also made the straps a little wider at the bottom and thinner on the top for some excitement. I got the flower fabric at Joann's and the red is a fine corderoy that I fell in love with. It was supposed to be a dress for my daughter but you know how that goes. It was also used in a baby quilt I made. It is so soft. I love it. So much for the dress!