Little Monsters

I have been lots of sewing this Christmas, most of it I didn't get a chance to take a picture of. We (my girls and I) did make these cute little monster dolls for all the cousins. I had the girls draw a picture of what they wanted it to look like, then I drew a pattern. They cut them out. I sewed them up, they stuffed them. The cousins really like them, and they were very fun and easy to do.

Best gift ever

If you are ever wondering what to get quilter, you can't go wrong with fabric. Really it doesn't matter what kind of fabric. Pretty much any will make me happy. But my sister, on a recent trip to NYC, proved that she is the best sister ever and made a stop at a little fabric shop called Mood.

Mood, is where they take the designers on Project Runway to. I was so excited just to see the bag, and I would have just been happy with the bag, but she picked out some beautiful fabrics.

It's funny how much we think alike, because as so as I saw them I thought of my grandma Dramy, and how much she would have loved these fabrics. Then she told me that she got them because they reminder her of our Dramy. Really it is one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.

This time I mean it

So, this time I mean it, I am finally finished with all 7 quilts. I want the quilt to be a surprise so this is the best picture your going to get for now.

I haven't just been making quilts for the past few months, even though it may seem that way.

I made this cape for my nephew for his birthday. This is a really easy project that even a beginning sewer could do. I made mine reversible so, I just cut out 2 cape shapes then sew them them together. Before I sew them together I sewed on the hero emblems which I made from felt. For the Batman symbol I just googled it and then enlarged the symbol and printed it out. Then I traced it to the felt and cut it out and put it on another piece of felt.
For the other symbol I cut our a block letter A (the first letter of his name) free hand and sewed it to another piece of felt. So, once you have sewn the pieces together with the emblems facing each other, you turn it right side out. You attach a collar piece with Velcro on each end and you have a cape perfect for your superhero.

I've also made lots of pajamas and I have lots of sewing planned for Christmas. We will be doing some bags some pillows some dress up clothes and lots more.

Done (sort of)

All six are finished!


I say this about every project it seems but, these did not turn out as I had planned they would. I for some reason had pictured them being for pastel and light, but I love how bright and bold they are.

So, I still have one left to do. I'm making these for a family of six kids, one for each. So now Mom and Dad need one. For theirs I'm taking fabric from all the kids quilts and using them to make the parents quilts. I'm still in the beginning stages of that one, and I'd better hurry if I'm going to have it done for Christmas but I know it can be done.

Costumes!

I love Halloween. It is the one time during the year that I can get really creative with my sewing. I especially love that I have two little princesses who indulge their mother and let me deck them out for the holiday.


Here is the beautiful Princess Brianna. She drew me a picture of what she wanted her costume to look like and I think we did a pretty good job.

And this is the beautiful Ballerina Carly. She kept changing her mind about her costume and finally settled on a pink ballerina.

I hope you all had a great holiday!

Pink!

I can't believe I'm almost done! I still have to tie both the purple and the pink quilts, but the end is in sight.

Both the purple and this pink quilt turned out completely differently than I had imagined they would, but in the end I really like them.

Stay tuned I've been working on Halloween costumes for my girls. You can check out past costumes here and here.

Forgotten quilt

Every year in the fall we take a long weekend and go stay at my brother's cabin. I've made a lot of quilts over the years, and every year when I walk into the bedroom at the cabin I'm happily surprised to see this quilt.

I made this quilt for them to have at the cabin. I didn't spend any money to make this quilt, it is all scraps from my stash.

Sometimes the simple quilts are the best.

Purple!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been very busy with life, and haven't been able to sew as much as I would have liked to. But this weekend I've been playing catch up.

The purple quilt is done. Yay!

It was much harder to find purples that wen together than I thought it would be.

In the end I really like how bright and bold it is.

I also finished the top of the pink quilt, but I will post pictures of that another day.

The long awaited #4

I actually finished this top about a month ago and just haven't had time to post the pictures.


This red quilt was a bit of a challenge. It is for a boy and it was hard to find enough different fabrics in the same red family that weren't floral. In the end I really like how it turned out.

I have 3 of the quilts tied and bound at this point. I'm excited to get started on the pink and Purple quilts.

Half way there!

I finished quilt #3. It is my favorite so far.

I need to get the batting and get started on tying these quilts. I would like to have most of them completed before the end of the summer. I know I will be very busy once school starts. I have really enjoyed this project so far and I don't want to let it stress me out in the end.

# 2 of 6

You may remember from a few post ago, a 6 quilt project I'm working on. Well I've finished the top for quilt #2 in green.

I really love how this turned out. This quilt is for a little boy and since I have no little boys I always worry that it is too girl-y, but I this the is very boy.

I actually have the top of the blue quilt done too, but you'll have to wait a bit for those pictures.

My little firecrackers

I love dressing my girls up for the holidays.

A few years ago I made this cute dress for Bri and now it's perfect for Carly. It is one of my favorites, I did some smocking on the bodice then used the contrasting ribbon. It is a great twirl ling dress, a very important quality in any little girls dress. I remembered I had this dress Friday and then decided that Bri needed a dress for the Fourth. I was working on another project and thinking of what I could make that wouldn't require a trip the the fabric store, when I remembered this cute red and white checkered rayon I had.

I love how this dress turned out. I used the wrong side of the fabric for the trim and the middle section. I had planned for it to all be the same when I sewed the first section of skirt on I messed up and did it wrong, I liked it so much I left it. The best part of this dress is that it makes Bri feel beautiful, she loves how soft and flowy it is.

One down, five to go

I've been hired to do quilts for a whole family. I made a quilt for my step-sister and her husband 10 years ago, and they now want me to make a quilt for each of their six kids. We've decided to do all the quilts in the same design called a trip around the world, and do a different color for each kid. First up is Daisy, hers is to be yellow and I just couldn't pass up this cute daisy fabric. Above, is the uncut fabric, and below, is the finished top. I still need to tie and bind it, but it is nice to have one finished.


I'm very excited about this project, I can't wait to see all the quilts together. I'm just about finished with the green quilt and I have the fabric for the blue quilt but havn't cut it yet.
Stay tured for more quilts!

Mending

Years ago, there was this lady who would bring me her mending, everything from missing buttons to holey pants. There was this one pair of pants, her favorite, that I think I patched in about 15 places. I didn't really mind doing her mending it, in a way it was nice to save these clothes. When it comes to my own mending, I hate it. I've been cleaning out closets and changing out the clothes for the summer season and I've come across lots of mending that I have been neglecting. SO today the plan is to mend.
I've been a bit burnt out of sewing lately. I haven't worked on anything since I finished the quilts for my girls for their birthdays. I've also been a little down in the dumps and now I'm starting to wonder if I just need to sew something.
I went to the Machine Home Quilter show last week. It was amazing. I wish I had 15,000 extra dollars and a spare room to be able to buy a quilting machine. My honey took me for date night and I'm pretty sure he would have bought one if we had the means. I really love looking at all the quilts on display. I kept thinking that I wish I had the time to make some of those quilts. They really are works of art.

My sweet little cowgirl had a birthday this week. I made a quilt for her too.


The fabric is from a group called 'Wanna be a cowgirl" it's perfect for my little cowgirl.

For my sweet baby

This sweet little girl is turning five in a few days. I wanted to makes her something special. I never got around to making a quilt for her when she moved into her new bed last year so I decided to make it for her birthday.

Every time we go to the fabric store the girls always love to play with the Minke fabric. Minke is a fabric that is a cross between faux fur and fleece, it is very soft. So I decide to back the quilt in minke, but she also likes silky stuff which is so hard to work with so I decided to make a texture quilt. I use flannel, satin, faux fir, and bumpy minke for the squares and then I bound it in satin. I think she is going to love this quilt. I sure love her!

I have a friend from high school that I have recently reconnected with. (isn't facebook great?) She volunteers for the annual gala for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, She is the chair of the silent auction and asked if I would be willing to donate one of my quilts. I have never had to use the services of RMH but I know what great things they do for families in some of their hardest times, and having recently chaired a silent auction at my kids school I was more than happy to help.



The fabric for this quilt is out of one of my scrap bags. I hope it will find a good home and will get a great donation for a good cause.

Happy Easter

I almost did make Easter Dress this year (Gasp!) It seems like I spend a lot of money on fancy dresses that don't get worn that much so I decided to make more casual dresses this year. But the weather has been so bad and the dresses I'd planned were for warmer weather. But in the end you can't have Easter without an Easter dress, so I made them.



Carly wanted hers blue, I think the funky fabric suits her.

Bri is my pink lady, and we found some fabric with Butterflies that was perfect for her.

I think they turned out pretty cute.

Someday

I love quilts. I would rather make quilts than anything else. It is so fun to see how the prints and colors come together and then to see how the quilts change when they are actually quilted. Someday I would love to have a long arm quilt machine. Since a good one can cost as much a a car and because they take up a lot of space that someday probably won't be for a very very long time for for now. I can dream. One of my favorite places to dream and drool at is Green Fairy Quilts http://www.greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/ I actually met the Green Fairy aka Judi at my favorite fabric shop at Christmas time, and found out about her site. She is amazing and I am very, very jealous of her talent. I've wanted to blog about her for some time and since she is offering a give away to anyone who blogs about her I figured it was a good time to do it. Hope you like her stuff as much as I do.

Spring!

It's Spring! Here Spring means sunshine and flowers one day followed by rain turning into snow the next. And just because it is sunny doesn't mean it is warm outside. So, we needed some new Springy outfits.

I love these! They are sassy and cute just like my girls.

Bri's outfit is a baby doll top with a flower at the side and leggings.

Carly's outfit has a drop waist top with a flower at her hip and leggings.

I made both these outfit without a pattern. to make my patterns I just use their clothes and trace around them on to paper. It really isn't as hard as it sounds and it saves lots of money.

New Orders

I went down to work in my sewing room this weekend and found that some new orders for dresses had been placed.

I'm going to take these 2 little clients to the fabric store tonight so we can pick out some fabrics.

I also got the go ahead to start a big order I have been hired to do. I will be making 6 queen size quilts. They with all be a trip around the world design, is six different colors. I'm very excited for this job, I think it will be lots of fun. I can't wait till I have some free time to go pick out fabric.

I've been working on getting my sewing room more organized but I keep getting distracted. This is my most recent distraction.

Years ago I made a quilt for a friend and had cut out a bunch of triangle for it. I decided I didn't like the fabric for that project and have been looking for a way to use these triangles ever since. I found a pattern last summer. I came across it while I was cleaning and since sewing is way more fun than cleaning, I decided to work on it. I used only fabrics I had in my scrap bins. I really like how the top turned out. I have no idea how or when I will finish it. But if anyone is interested......

Sewing up a storm.

I have been doing a ton of sewing lately. Some for my girls and some for customers but it's all been fun.

I had been given some black and white polka-dot knit years ago and have never been inspired to make anything from it, but on the last episode of project runway the winning outfit was this cute hoodie outfit, and I finally knew what to make.

I love my sassy girls.

I usually make them special occasion clothes but I don't very often make every day clothes for them so these outfits were really fun.

I've also made a bunch more of the tricot silky blankets.

I also bought another of my scrap bags. I just have so much fun figuring out what to make with the fabric.

This quilt doesn't have a home yet. I'll probably finish it by backing it with the white fabric in the design. It will be about 43X43 when it is finished. I plan to do the international stitch to finish, and it be $55. Let me know if you are interested.

I've also be working on some hoodie towels. They are $12 and can be personalized with a name for another $5,

Purple flowers.

turquoise ladybugs.

These hoodies are great for babies and big kids, for the tub or for at the swimming pool. I have lots more cute fabric and will have more hoodies on the way.