See I told you I would be back.  So we are skipping ahead to Christmas.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions is PJs.   

I have started giving my Christmas Jammies on Thanksgiving so the kids can wear them all season long.

I keep several pants patterns on hand and they work up so fast.  I also decided to get white T's and I used wonder under to iron on the first letter of each of the kids names, then I stitch around it.  The kids love them. and I love these kids. 

I know you had all (see how I act like people actually read this) lost hope that I would ever return to this space.  But I'm here.  I've spent the last year serving as PTA president at my kids school and that has kept me very busy.  I have been sewing along the way and I plan on sharing some of the things I've made this past year. 

Last summer I worked up this little cowgirl quilt as a request for a client.  The Client fell through, but lucky someone else saw it and it found a home.

I also worked up these cute little outfits for my girls to have some pictures done in.  I found the pink shrug set for my Bri and found a cute print for a skirt.  Then found coordinated fabric for Miss Carly's dress.

I'm Back

Sorry for the long absence (ha, I wrote that like people are actually looking at this blog).  I'm PTA pres at my kids school and it has been so busy.  I have been sewing, I just havn't taken the time to post stuff.  I did a quilt this week that I'm kind of proud of and thought I'd share.
I have a client that I do a lot of work for and last week she emailed  me with a picture of a baby's room and asked if I could come up with a quilt that would work for it.
This is the room.

 I love projects like this,  it's like Project Runway for Quilts. 
This is what I came up with.
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I really think this is going be cute in that room.  I tried to pull in the colors and mimic the strips.

I decided to try and machine quilt this.  I've done machine quilting before and never been very happy with the result.  I can never get it stretched right and I end up having lots of puckers and it just dosn't look right. This quilt worked up so great.  There are some very small puckers but they mostly got lost isn all the quilting.  I used my embroidery machine for the hearts.

So happy with the results of this one.  Now I need to get started on Halloween costumes.  My girls want to be a Pirate and a Snow princess. 

Henry's Quilt

Sorry I have been MIA life has been happening and I just haven't taken the time to blog here. I have been sewing though. I try to catch up over the next little bit.

This is my sweet new nephew Henry.

And this is his quilt.

I LOVE how this one turned out!

My favorite quilt I've done the last little while.

Stay tuned..... Coming up Easter Dresses.

Sewing Machine Woes

Thursday morning I got out my backup machine and found that even with the new part, it still wouldn't work. So I ran it over to the shop only to find out that it would be a $70 fix. That machine is 15 years old and a bran new version of the same model is $150, so it really wasn't worth it to fix it. Needless to say I was pretty upset thinking I would be without a machine, add to that that I had promised some hemming that day. Luckily my mom came to the rescue and brought over her machine. My amazing husband decided the machine couldn't get any worse so he looked up directions on how to fix it. Today we cracked open the machine, and went to work, and we FIXED IT! Yay! It took less than an hour to fix and I really can't figure why it would be a $70 fix normally. So I'm back in business, good thing because I might just go crazy with nothing to sew. I finshed the quilting on the baby quilt I was working on. I'm going to start working on the binding and hopefully it will be done in the next couple of days.

Separation Anxiety

This morning I took my sewing machine in for service. There isn't anything wrong with my machine but, like a car it is very important for your machine to get regular maintenance. The shop I like to take it to was having a $ 20 off service sale, service normally is about $80 for my machine. I had to do some quick work to get some things done before I sent it in, and even though I have a back up machine I'm still having some major separation anxiety about my machine being gone. This sale is kind of a big deal, the sale started at 10 this morning and I got there about 1 (I tried to get there earlier , but I had a dead car battery that slowed me down) and I was already 34 th in line, which means my machine will be gone for about a month. Oh how I will miss it.
I have a Viking Rose machine. it is about 13 years old, but has never given me a minutes worth of problems. It's not the fanciest machine, and just perfect for me but, some times I wouldn't mind having a newer fancier machine. Because of the dead car battery my husband came with me to the sewing machine shop so we looked around at some of the newer machines. He offered to buy me a new one. I can't believe how fancy and expensive the new machines are. I think I'm going to start saving up for a new machine, but I really love my old one.

Sigh

I put the quilt I'm doing for my sister's baby on frames yesterday, and breathed a sigh of relief. Not because it is done, but mostly just because I'm just a bit calmer when I have a quilt on frames. Call me crazy, but I find hand quilting very relaxing. There is something about the repetition that I just find calming. Sometimes I listen to podcast or music and sometimes I just sit in the quiet and organize my thoughts. I love when my husband or children keep me company. Today I have a busy day and it makes me happy to know I have a quilt to come home to.

Preview

Here is a little preview of a few projects I'm working on.

I've been in the mood to so something with knits, I found these two the other night. It has been so cold around here lately these made me hopeful for spring. My little one saw them and is already planning her Easter dress.

I'm so very excited for this quilt. My sister is expecting a baby in a few months, and I've picked out these fabrics for his quilt. I keep changing my mind on which pattern to use, but I think I have settled on a zig zag pattern similar to this one.

Stay tuned!

ADD

I have been trying for the last month to get my sewing room clean. It has gone from messy to looking like I have a hoarding problem. I really do have some addiction issues when it comes to fabric. So the reason I'm having such a hard getting anything done is that I keep getting distracted. At least if I'm distracted, I'm getting something done.


This is another of my Trash bag quilts.

This is also a trash bag quilt and rather than have a pattern, I just started in the middle and started piecing. I love how it turned out. I'm not sure how I will quilt it, but I'm excited to see how the quilting changes it.

Neither of these quilts have homes. I will sell a top for $20, or finished for $45.

Lovely lavender

I took a bit of a break from sewing after the holidays. I've been trying to get my sewing room cleaned out, but I hate cleaning, and I'm always getting distracted. So when my mom called and asked if I had a baby blanket with no baby, I was happy to stop cleaning and make one.

This is one of my trash bag quilts. It's made just with scraps that I had on hand. I used cotton flannel, and flannel backed satin. I really love this quilt and am almost sad to see it go.

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.