Projects Golore Anyone?

What have I been up to? Well in no particular order, I finished the little girls bonus dress that Loretta sent me in a care package a while back. I certainly learned from this piece! I'm guessing it is 6-12 months, it is trimmed with satin ribbon on the puffy sleeves, has a peter pan collar and I used five hand sewn snaps down the back - because when dear daughter was little I thought snaps were the easiest. The snaps run the entire length of the back so it will be very easy to get in and out of. The size is quite generous so I don't think it needs bloomers. I'm not sure, maybe I will give it away. It feels like one of those things that you make an hold on to, and when the time to pass it on comes along, you'll know.


Next I did some more work on my pj's they look less and less like the movie they are inspired by every time I touch them. Joann's has natural muslin on sale one 10 yard bolt for $20 with 97"-98" widths, so I'll be making the skirt with that. I figure two layers should do it.

Next for your viewing pleasure this is my attempt at a basket. Remember how I mentioned hexagons? Well I cut about 50 1" hexagons with blue roses centered on them and I'm planning to make an art quilt with a basket overflowing with said roses. I sewed tubes so I wont have to use as many stitches which might make it feel less nice on the completed quilt. I'm not certain about the white uprights on the basket, that is fabric from the blue lattice quilt I made for my sister, since I'm thinking this art quilt will go on the reverse side I thought it would be nice to use that fabric, BUT I bought extra to bind it in and I'm a bit afraid if I use any more than scraps on the basket it will cut into my binding material and I wont have enough. I was thinking perhaps DH can get me some 1/4" rayon piping/rope and I can tea dye it, what do you think?

It wasn't until yesterday that I came to the realization that both of my neutral colors both in the red quilt and the aforementioned white uprights are both quest for the cure fabrics which means proceeds went to help find a cure for breast cancer, wont that be a nice noteworthy part of these quilts for two women in my life who I love dearly?

The next item is not something I made at all, okay well I dreamed up the idea. This is a wooden cat scratcher deluxe size, because Sunny loves to sit on the cardboard scratchers while he scratches. The added weight of his own body allow him to put more umph, into his scratching. Since Jessica always destroys the cardboard boxes I requested DH make one sized to fit the refills. I personally think it's beautiful and that we should offer it up for sale on ebay, but it's part oak so it is very heavy and DH says while it looks good it isn't good enough to sell.

The cat I tried to catch to have spayed last month has indeed managed to get herself pregnant again. I have no idea what to do about that, and even though it's really the entire neighborhood's problem I'm not certain what - if anything that I should do. I dreamed about a white and cream or perhaps it was white with a tiny bit of black last night, it was teetering on my patio table. The sight of it made my eyes fly open and I even went to the window to check and see if there really was a kitten there. Of course there wasn't.

Mom is still wishing desperately for a new kitten to call her own. The right cat simply hasn't come along yet. She has even told me she feels bad for continuing to bring it up. The answer of the feral mother having a kitten and it going to mom might be the quick down and dirty answer, but it's not a real answer. Should her kittens survive to their birth there is no telling what will happen to them after that, the odds of her mother leaving one for me the way Sunny's mother left Tiny I would say is nearly impossible, and I would have to find it if she did. More likely one or none will survive to being out of the nest and it will be at least as wild as it's momma. Oh and this little girl is long haired like Sunny, and my mom is certain she doesn't want a long haired cat. I suppose it's all a case of wait and see and live and let be.

Hello Dears,

I have so many things to share today.

I went shopping yesterday, and spent way to much. Don't you hate that? I went out for toilet paper, rubbing alcohol, and laundry soap. Silly Target, have you seen the new Archer Farms products they are selling at the Super Targets? These are the cutest little bottles and jars. They even have a bulk candy isle, it's gourmet meets down home, homemade stuff. I picked up their basil and creamy pesto, which was okay, certainly not all the jar implied it might be, and I am waiting to try the lovely spinach and artichoke dip I bought as well.

I also went to Joann's because their polka dot fabrics were on sale 1.99 a yard! I picked up these lovely beauties. I also got 4 yards of white on white for a fat quarter swap I'm joining in on, but no photos of those for you, because there is no way it will show up in the photos. Somehow I've committed fixing my sister's denim butterfly jeans so I also bought all those applique bits and pieces that you see above.
The lady who made the labels for Jessica's heart quilts thought of me when she found a box of little girl fabric in a garage sale, so she mailed it all to me. In amidst the fabric I found these little pieces. It screamed "I'm a little girl's dress!" so I just had to try and put it together after all these years. I've been chatting it over with the ladies at the quilting board and we think it is about 40 years old. So far I have the collar of the dress done and it's waiting for me to wrap up the super puffy sleeves. I found the fabric very hard to gather (I tried four times in the sewing machine having to rip it out each time). So I'm hand stitching it to pull up the gathers. Not the most joyous job, but hopefully it will be something nice I can set aside as my hard work and hey no pattern, what you see above is all I had to work with.

So my loving husband brought home some ribbon for me to trim the bottom of the sleeves out with, he brought me pink and white. The pink doesn't match so well, so I just had to be inspired and started working on some pj's for me. My inspiration is the new movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 that my sister and I went to see day before yesterday. In it Alexis Bledel wears a lovely white night dress. While mine will not be the same I have gone to great lengths to add the decorative stitches. I doubt you can tell from this photo (that makes them look like pot holders instead of the bodice) but I sewed it a little wrong and have been seam ripping a bit while I've been working.

DD loves playing with my sewing machine, so we've sort of been looking for a kiddie machine, my husband suggested until she's bigger it would be best to let her run one without the needle, I thought the idea was brilliant, so ever since the night I looked up little kids sewing machines, I've sort of been shopping for a new one for me. After when my little Elna needs maintenance it will be the end of her. With the aluminum casting bent there is no way to open it, or so we figure. I'm certain time will tell.

That's all I have to share at the moment, how about you?

Bridging People and Places Charity Perinatal Quilts

Oh boy oh boy, I'm so proud of myself, I just wrapped up another three perinatal quilts today. Just one problem with that... Two of them where the size I'd already made! Yep, so for a set it is But my set is like this
3 Extra Small Preemie (10x10 to 12x12), 0 Extra Small
3 Small Preemie (14x14 to 18x18), 5 Small (14x14)
2 Medium Preemie (20x20 to 22x22), 1 Medium (20x20)1 Large Preemie (22x22 to 24x24), 0 Large
1 Term (26x26 to 28x28)... 0 Term
I suppose they'll be getting two sets from me then. Because these are done and ready to go. I'm hoping to have them all done before Christmas. I don't know why it just seems like a good deadline for myself.

Tonight when I was putting Jessica to bed I had the last one, a Noah's ark theme all pinned and ready to sew the binding on. (I pinned it while I waited for her to fall asleep), so when I got up and gathered everything together to leave (yes I remembered the pins) I reached for her door and the pin box hit the door and pins flew! So there I was all haunched over picking up the darned pins in the dark hoping like a maniac that I picked them all up. That's the last time I take pins with me without the pin magnet thing! :D

The 16 Point Red Star Quilt Sneak Peak!

So today I SMACKED right into the window of my own limits. Seriously. I doubled the Wintergraphix pattern, and in retrospect that was a huge no no. I had never made the pattern before so I didn't know anything past the stars I've made in the past.

Here's what happened. Doubling the pattern, doubled the seam allowances on everything. This star has so many seams it has put me "out" by nearly three inches. So now while my brain screams "HELP" I know the real answers. Answer one seam rip all the points I've already made (8 of them as I have done half of my 16 point star) and make them smaller, or go with the over sized and let the points run into each other that 3 inches at the upper intersections thereby allowing the outer most points to be free and perfect. The latter has the most appeal to me as it is the "simplest" fix, and because I know doing this will help blend away a few places where this same problem manifested itself. From the photo seen here the quilt will grow from it's current 70" square 34" as I add a row of blocks also known as the "points" all the way around.

My daughter loves to tinker with my sewing machine. I keep an eagle eye on her the entire time, she is just so cute to watch, as she does everything with the thread I do. Or at least I'd like to think I look that cute sewing! ;)

This morning Jessica was roaming the house in her daddy's boots. This is not something he relishes, but something I felt needed to be photographed so in years to come we can all talk about how cute she was.

I took this last photo out of the sheer silliness of it, I bet you have never seen anything quite like this. The cat in the bird bath is Bobby the neighbor's little boy, my guess is it never occurred to the man to leave water out, but I could be wrong, I try not to go snooping on other people's porches. The standing cat is an extremely shy little boy, a half brother of my dearly beloved Sunny. I had just been thinking we haven't seen many birds using the bird bath! I suppose it's time to wash it out.

Gift from Heaven Heart Quilt Completely Done!

No one was ready for me to take the photo, but I think it is still worth showing off. This is Jessica's baby clothes "Gift from Heaven Heart Quilt". It is completely done. The hearts are embroidered through all the layers with a little wip stitch to keep all the threads together, so the hearts are just as beautiful on the back as you see on the front. The binding is a curvey scallop that is the same red as the embroidered hearts. I have hand quilted hearts with neutral thread, so it blends right in to the sashing and border. Each block is machine quilted stitch in the ditch allowing me to show the hearts and stars onto the back as well. Jessica couldn't stand it and wanted to be in the photos to, hey who is to stop her, it's her quilt after all. Once I get the batting I will begin working on the second one for me, but it will not have the curvey scallops on the edges. It really ate into the size of the quilt. Nice for a child, but not great for a grownup. Keep in mind while you look at this I made this quilt to be a square with no set "top" so it will wear evenly on all sides (in theory), as each little heart points to the nearest edge I'm sure she will eventually perfer to sleep by the "pink side" or the side with the ladybug. I hope you like it.

Now isn't this pretty? This is where the old particle board built in dresser was, this is the OAK one the DH built in it's place. It took him nearly a week, which I think was completely worth it as his dresser will no longer be falling apart and have to be fixed all the time. Oh and of course a peek at my sleeping Sunny Boy. I'm not sure if we're going to put drawer pulls on it yet, we'll have to wait and see as DH uses it as it's "his" dresser.

Jessica's Gift of the Heart Baby Clothes Quilt is DONE!

Today was a good day. It doesn't matter than things completely didn't go my way, or that I had my butt chewed until my foot hurt and then some. It was a good day.

Why? Today shortly before lunch I FINISHED Jessica's heart baby clothes quilt. Binding and everything. I even did a spin on a scalloped edge. Just wait till tomorrow when you'll get to see it. The things I did to it since I last showed you a picture really have pulled it all together.

I also finished cutting all the red fabric for my red Christmas quilt. I still have the white roses left to cut, but the cut list for that is as long as my arm and I don't want to be to sleepy and miss cut by a 1/4" or something stupid and then have to buy more yardage.

One of the pieces I had to cut forty squares of the same fabric. I'm telling you when I set it down after cutting it, the fabric went "thunk".

Have I mentioned I'm waiting to be able to afford batting? Here's how it breaks down. The kind I want to use for the two Christmas quilts, and the second heart baby clothes quilt runs $10 a yard. Now the red quilt is a large queen nearly a king, which means I need 3 yards. The other two are full/queens which means I need 2.5 yards for each one. That's 8 yards, now easy math $80 +tax = $85.60 for batting alone. Now that's the white stuff in the MIDDLE of the quilt. Not even pretty stuff. So since I bought the batting for Jessica's quilt on sale 50% off (and the twin size one I used cheap poly batting I didn't like). Now I'm spoiled and I want to wait for it to be half off again. I have a 40% off coupon which would make the out the door total $51.36 and inspite that being the batting for THREE quilts, that is a hugh number at my house. So I'm wishing and hoping that it will be half off again by the time I'm done piecing the red quilt.

Gee that was long winded, why don't I wrap it up, and tomorrow you can see pictures.

A Beautiful Face and other pretty things

First things first, a nice big Welcome Back from my daughter. She wanted me to take her picture when I had the camera out, so how could I refuse. She's in her swimsuit because she found it in her drawer and spent the next two days insisting that be all she wear. I've now banished both suits to the laundry pile. So much for hiding it in her sock drawer.

Next up for business is the wall hanging I made for my husband for our anniversary yesterday, I told you all about it in the last post. It turned out pretty well. It was right at the limit of what I know how to do. If you look closely you can even see the ribbon embroidery butterflies I made. I bent the needle getting it through the fabric, but I still made all three butterflies one for each member of our family.

This is my Blue Christmas quilt top. Isn't it pretty? Nothing about it is "Christmas except for the fact that it will be a gift given that day. The piecing went together so easily in part I'm sure to the rather large pieces, but I was going for simple and sophisticated.

My sister called last night and we talked until the wee of the morning about our trip to Orlando, seems she is looking forward to getting away and has given me the go ahead to make as many reservations for seating as I would like. Not sure if that means I make the reservations and I pay, or just what. We're feeling the money pinch again, of course. Nothing like a nice getaway to sooth the soal.

I am also including some photos of my husband's art work. It's the trace transfer method, and I think they look great. These are the ones already on fabric awaiting the day I'll make the autograph quilt.

We Might be Headed to Disney World

Thank goodness that doesn't say We might be beheaded! LOL, perhaps dreaming of Disney isn't the best dream with no outside income, oh well all the same, I found an amazing rate for the Double Tree Castle Hotel that my sister and I liked so much last time we went. For Labor Day Weekend of all things. And of course that works out to be my birthday weekend. Hey I'm not going to hide under the covers about my birthday! Seriously it's something to be proud of. I didn't make it to a month before my 28th birthday by skating through life. It's worth every hard moment, and each moment deserves to be recognized. So my sister might take me. She told me not to start planning out priority seating's yet, but I was thinking maybe just the two I'd like for September first might not be so bad... I can always cancel, or not. I'm sure getting right in somewhere on Labor Day would be a great gift to an unknown someone.

So I was thinking late Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, and Dinner at my all time favorite restaurant in all of Walt Disney World House of Blues. Seriously I thought about it, and that's my favorite. I have wanted to visit 1900 Park Fare for years now, but have never made it. Sounds nice hu?

In order to keep costs down my sister and I are thinking we'll be doing lots of window shopping Downtown Disney. Key word here being SHOPPING, that does not equal buying no matter what everyone else things. I'm great at remembering what I like for a long period of time, and hey if I forgot I liked it, I guess I didn't like it very much in the first place. No trips into the parks this trip, just castle and shopping. :D Serve me up on a platter of happiness.

As a bit of a side, I'm hoping to do some autograph collecting for my autograph quilt. I have the following Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Cinderella, and Alice. The one I feel I'm missing is Daisy Duck. Any other's come out at you? Eleven isn't the best number to make quilt blocks with, but whatever I have I'll use. I'd personally love to have Mary Poppins, and Dick Van Dyke, yes, yes I know dreams... But at least Mary Poppins and her Chimney Sweep friend could be had at 1900 Park Fare. I thought I was missing bunches and bunches, but really I don't have to have everyone that Disney ever created, and I can always make another quilt if I get more.

So tomorrow is my anniversary, I know, who knew with all that goings on about Disney. Five years it's been. I can't help but shake my head at little sometimes I feel like I just walked down the isle. Or that I was JUST pregnant. Right, sure. So the traditional anniversary for five years (HALF A DECADE!) is wood, what can you do with that? I'm hoping DH will build me an entertainment center for the bedroom our of wood. That sure wood be nice wouldn't it. I'm sure I'll get a more typical husband wood gift. uh, hu, you guessed it. No that's mean, he's currently in the bedroom working very hard on whatever it is.

My gift to him I've spent the past week working on. It's an applique wall hanging with a giant tree in the center on one side is hand embroidered "Like a Tree" and on the other "Our Love Grows each and everyday", and then I signed it. I even put some ribbon embroidery butterflies on it. Don't worry tomorrow's post should have the photos. I echo quilted the heck out of it, so the tree sort of expands outward. I think it looks very nice. Rather like ripples of life, and growing. A photo tom morrow I promise. My husband made a comment while I was working that it didn't have wood in it, so I went outside earlier this evening (in the dark all the same mind you) and ripped branches off my Maple tree until I had two that were long enough, those I ran through the wall hanging one at the top and one at the bottom to hang it from, someday I might redo the binding but for now I made my deadline (and it even has wood on it). Clearly since I'm here blogging to you.

The Blue Christmas Quilt (I showed you the fabrics) is coming along AMAZINGLY. I don't know why but I am constantly amazed by the art I've been making. Yes I see my flaws, but most of the time it really comes together. It's going together so fast I feel like I'm cheating, as if I could do that from a pattern DH and I DESIGNED ourselves, and fabric I hand picked. ;) It is currently more than half done, and I am glad to have finished the wall hanging so I can get back to it.

So I have a pain in my ear. No joke, let's see, SEVEN years ago this September (the anniversary of the beginning of my relationship with DH) I had a second hole put in my left ear. He bought a diamond for it, and I've worn it pretty much ever since. I don't really remember what event exactly it was that I felt I shouldn't wear it, but I took it out a while ago and the stupid thing has started to close on me. UGH! I'm the woman who has never had trouble with a piercing ever. My ears were done when I was 6 WEEKS OLD, and never a speck of trouble. Now here I am after seven years and I'm enduring the sting of having an earring back in it, yuck.

And on that note I'm off to see what the rest of the blogging world has done today, nice night everyone.