Surprise! My Grand Opening!

It's finally here!  The day I've dreamed of since I finished my first few quilts three years ago!  My very own eshop!  My new shop is http://www.zibbet.com/SandandSunshine so please visit me!  Thanks to the folks at Zibbet I can now sell my quilts without having to pay outrageous commissions!  Actually they don't charge commission at all, now wont that be a real change for me?  Did you know by the time you PayPal and Ebay you're out about 20% in commissions just to sell a single quilt?  That really hurts.


I'm accepting PayPal of course and while it says shipping within the United States I able to create shipping quotes on a person by person basis so if you see something you like feel free to drop me a comment or a note. This is a very exciting time for me and I thank you all for standing by me on my shaky journey to this point.

My current listings are my Lollipop Quilt,  My I love you Freemotion Quilt, and Scatty Stars.  It pains me to be selling them especially before the Christmas Quilt-a-long is even done, but I have run out of places to put them in my tiny little house (no kidding) and the sale of these lovely quilts will bring in some much needed funds for things like Christmas.

Boot Straps

I guess I've been in a bit of a quilting funk lately.  The Red quilt is coming along just as I'd hoped and I'm in the process of quilting it, the tutorial will follow it's completion.  The weather has turned colder here and that has me in the mood for Christmas shopping. 

Do you know how hard it is to Christmas shop only to come up against a shipping cost total to put your entire purchase on hold?  I know it seems so strange but it's okay to pay $30 something but it's not okay to pay $40 something for the same items.  My family comes from all walks of life so not even Amazon or ebay or Kmart can be my one stop shop.

So I gave up on looking for a while to dwell.  When I dwell I clean.  It's a nasty trait I picked up from my mother during my childhood.  I remember the days of look out mom's cleaning - oh so very well.  Lucky for my family I was home alone at the time.

Because of my disability I clean while sitting on the floor.  I start by cleaning a patch to sit and then sitting there while I clean outward from that spot (and you wonder why my DH doesn't like me to clean?) it works for me but when I'm already a bit sad about what I can and can't do being on the floor makes the perfect place to get down in the dumps and really start feeling sorry for myself.  The "I hates" started in my head started when I was nearly done in the kitchen.  I then made my unhappy way with the vac down the hallway and by the time I got to the bathroom door I'd pulled myself out of my funk.  Thankfully!  It's easy when you come to the end of a lintany and say to yourself  "So what are you going to do about it?" and that's when I decided. 

Oh now I'm nearly teary to admit what I did.  I listed all of my quilts that are finished that don't have owners on Ebay!  I know!  It's sad, but isn't living hidden away in a box sad too?  Isn't it sad that four quilts selling at $25 could help my Christmas?  I listed them and I stand by my listings. 

In case you're wondering my ebay name is jcelestesewingmom; that's "J Celeste Sewing Mom" all smushed together.  The quilts I listed are Christmas Hodgepodge, Patchwork Swirl, Feathered Star and Buckeye Beauty.  I hope they sell well for I'm going to use every last penny earned on our Christmas.  LOL, sort of makes me wish they were bigger! 

A Walk through Swirls

Yesterday while digging through my fabric to find an answer to "Anything you need from fabric.com that's under $10?"  I pulled out some of my blue fabrics and stuck them on top of the Denim Patchwork Baby Quilt that I finished quilting Monday.  Two of the blues seemed like they might do the trick so I set them on top of the quilt and walked away.  In the end of course one fabric one and the other fabric got put away for next time.

Here are my results.  I really struggled with how to quilt this.  For whatever reason I was actually afraid!  The backing flannel is as soft as the hair on a baby's head and I truly thought that if I quilted on something so soft and cuddly it would loose something.  Well let me tell you that was wrong!  Thankfully right?

All of your kind comments about my freemotion quilting the other day had me thinking about how I could apply that quilting to the patchwork.  Then it hit me the swirls and before I could blink I was quilting swirls all over it.  The needle was perfect, the thread was lovely, and then entire thing flew into and out of my sewing machine much like a dream (except for more bobbin refills than I can count!).    Unlike some quilts with flannel backing; I made certain to use a batting on this one and it paid off because my swirls really pop giving form and definition to that oh so soft quilt.

The patches are all from dd's baby clothes.  Dresses, rompers, sleepers you name it and the result is so cuddly.  Now I nearly forgot to mention, when I make quilts from baby clothes I love to clip out the little pockets and such and use them in the quilt too.  So in the top middle of the back is a little pink fleece pocket just right for a teething ring or a special treasure.  Go ahead click the picture above, you'll see.  I sew these in using small stitched and sewing over it multiple times.  The result is a pocket that is truly one with the quilt.

The quilt is about 46"x42" give or take a little bit as I don't recall right this minute exactly what I measured it to be yesterday.  So it didn't turn out as one of those bubble puffy quilts and I'm so glad it didn't.  I really think this way created a more cuddly quilt.

Quilt Basting Day

Basting Day Quilt Pile

Today I had that Quilt Basting Day I was looking forward to.  First I basted the Practice Freemotion Quilt for the freemotion quilt along and then the Denim Patchwork - I decided this one wont be puffy patches, but I'm not entirely certain how I will quilt it perhaps a simple trace of some of the flannel butterflies on the backing - only time will tell, and then I used my last big piece of batting to baste the Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt.  No worries on batting though as I have enough to take care of that Christmas Wall Hanging I mentioned here as well as a second secret project that I'll be working on next Saturday as part of Sue's Christmas Quilt-a-Long and sadly even though that should be wrapped up quickly you wont be hearing another word about it until Christmas.

The Christmas Hodgepodge Quilt is a really pretty quilt, I ran out of basting spray so it is the only one that is pin basted.  I found myself a bit startled by it as I was basting it and again now that it's puffy with batting.  I have high hopes for the finished quilt on that one.  While I have every intention on filling it with freemotion quilting I think I will make some aspect marks for things like the large snowflakes and so on.

Sunny Asleep on Kitty Kamp Pattern

When I was in college I took more than a couple of art classes, the first of which had a through if overly cautious first year teacher, she gave so many high quality handouts and so much sketch work that to this day I have everything from her class in a binder that I keep near my sewing machine.  So last night when five year old dd wanted to read one of my sewing books I happily let her have her pick.  Surprisingly she grabbed that old binder and out slipped a pattern given to me by my friend Vicki, some of the pages got a little mixed up and it wasn't put away so here is Sunny taking a siesta right on top of it.

Something Leftover

Sure enough yesterday I cut fabric.  With the templates my DH cut for me the whole process went rather quickly.  As I have 60 x 45 inches leftover of the Patisserie fabric (how did that happen!?!?) as well as plenty of other leftovers I believe I will have plenty to make the back after the top is done, we'll see how it goes of course.

Denim Patchwork and Yes that's a Carebear.

I noticed I haven't showed you this yet.  When I came up with the plans for the back of the Gift from Heaven Quilt I planned 3 borders worth of 4 patches, but with a mix-up + a change up of the middle the quilt grew to quickly and I wasn't able to add the 2 set of borders.  Hence the birth of this denim patchwork; the fabrics are made from dd's baby clothes denim, knits, fleece, and so on, so it is wonderfully soft.  I'm not certain what should become of this one yet.  I know I will use a real batting on it and perhaps a blender flannel on the back.  My eyes keep seeing it as a puffy quilt.  What do you think?  While I know sort of how to make one of those I don't have any idea how much Polyfil something like that would take.  Any thoughts?  As for the flannel backing I think it should be something super soft.  Every time my brain says make it blue I argue back "but it has such pretty girlie white patches!"  It's a never ending battle of course.

I don't recall the exact measurements I think it's 42" x 48", but I was noticing yesterday while waiting for the bus, that it is big enough to be a lap quilt.  What do people use puffy quilts for anyway?  Do they always live on a bed?  As I look at the pictures even now it's easy to see what it would look like puffy, but to what purpose?  Maybe I'll figure it out today.

As always you can view my pictures in more detail by simply clicking on them.

They can pin baste can you?

These are my girls. Kitty is the Calico and Tiny is Grey and Peach, they are both rescues, but that's a story for another day. While I would prefer they keep their critiques and their paws to the side, they couldn't resist this super soft quilt. I've been out of basting spray for a little while now, and while I'd love to have more... Shoot, I'd love a bottomless bank for my quilty desires.

I went ahead and took the plunge as you can see I've pin basted the purple Carpenter's Wheel Quilt, I'm in the process of machine quilting it at the 55" square size. Since I first started the Carpenter's Wheel I knew I wanted to quilt it along the parallelograms, so that's what I'm doing. This means more work turning the quilt in the machine, but that's okay. So far I have the center quilted and some work done further out from the center. My brain thinks it would have been easier to simply hand quilt it, but with the machine embroidery on the back... I just can't imagine trying to get the needle through it, and of course it helps that past experience has taught me machine quilting doesn't show much over top of an embroidered piece.

Special Girl

I noticed this little Cardinal three days ago. You see she sits a little funny, and I was concerned for her. DH looked and her and pronounced her "fine", but then upon looking closer he told me. She has only one leg, that's why she flutters more and sits funny, but she can fly just fine. Of course we don't know what happened to her, she wasn't bleeding and there are no signs on her feathers of trauma, so it either happened a while ago, or it's a birth defect. Yesterday she brought me a surprise. Her boy. Yes this sweet little bird has a helper male bird, we watched while he courted her a bit. She is the one on the left in this photo. Today the pair were back again, and I couldn't resist sharing them with you.
The center of the second side of the Carpenter's wheel Quilt is coming along fine. Though now I've begun to wonder - if perhaps I should make them two (It's so obvious I know exactly where these quilts are going, hu?). I'd like to try and sell some things on etsy, so single sided would keep the cost down. This as you know is Sunny, he loves to be outside, regardless of what it looks like in this photo he has a good time out there. Yesterday he snuck out, and none of us knew it. Rob found him and returned him to me, panting and clearly overheated, from stress, heat, or having to run from something we don't know. Luckily we were able to get him cooled off and he's no worse for wear.

After Much thought...

I have decided the Purple Carpenter's Wheel will be a dual sized quilt. Yes another one. The center I'm currently embroidering with a basket of flowers and butterflies flying off each corner of the quilt. This plan allows me to keep the ribbon border for the back of the quilt. I'll show it off later, when it's more than one thread color done.

I'm planning a bit of a surprise for the family tonight. Dinner outside! Jessica has never eaten outside before, but what with me having the oven on to cook dinner, it's way to hot in here.

I ordered the invitations for the Mum's the Word thing so hopefull those will arrive quickly for out party is planned for the end of this month!

G is for Go for Another

Yep I did it. I made a receiving blanket to match. It was the joy of the two to make. Went nice and easy and the fabric really is nice to work with. In the Applique Heart it says "Little One". That is my favorite part. It took all my scraps to make it, but I felt full filled when I finished, which is more than I can say for the ABC one, as I was so dog tired when I finished it.

I do hope everyone has had a good weekend. DH has been hard at work taking the Maple Tree down one huge branch at a time. It's quite sad really. The tree has been with us since we bought the house and while we most likely would have bought the house without the tree, it has been a wonderful addition to our home. I am currently researching dwarf fruit trees perhaps something will be able to replace it.

F is for Finshed

I'm so glad to have wrapped up the baby quilt today. It have some kind of disease or something. It's got to be some quilt infection! Just when I thought I was nearly done and the quilt just needed quilted... I go and decide to make the back nice too. A bit of a double sized number. Man on man was I feeling the heat around noon and I was still working on the back. All is well that ends well, the quilting was a breeze with the s curve stitch that I like and it matched the quilt too. As you know the top photo was the front, and this lower one is the back. Not bad for something I hadn't even given a bit of thought to until today. The photo is a bit dark so if you were wondering the block on either side of the star are blue on green hearts.

I am not thrilled with the extreme rotation of the letters, but I suppose it's to be excepted, and I did know, I just didn't full visualize it. The blue flannel is a snuggle flannel and feels amazing, even though the overall size of the quilt is 60" x 70", it is has the perfect nap to be a "Binky" I'd like to think this quilt will be loved for a long time to come. Just for the sake of a good book here is the lastest ones we've been reading to Jessica.

D is for Do it Already

I was so proud of myself getting down to block making first thing this morning. Okay so it was after a long morning cuddle and some coffee with Jessica. Without booting up the computer (or checking the quilt layout). I plowed in using my sketches. Yep uh hu.... In the best effort of stash busting, I went through my yellow first and found a swap fabric I had gotten covered in words you'd love for you child to grow up knowing and feeling, charity, love, etc, but there wasn't enough to make the trapezoids with that so I switched to an Ohio star. Not enough for that either by I can get through.

Now, white on white because it will look like the white of the alpha letters, right? Wrong. I see now my plan last night had been to offset the stars on blue. Oh well. I was so proud of myself I used scraps from the Butterfly Bouquet Quilt and had exactly enough to make for the background of the stars.

Of course now those are done I have moved on to the light of day "facts and figures". My brain is miss-wired somehow. I think, okay a 50"X 60" baby quilt. I wont need a whole lot of fabric, right? LOL! I'm short at least a yard and a half of the green! ACK! The more cuts and more pieces mean the more fabric you need.

Wrap up post data: The blocks are 5", the smallest I've ever put this much effort into making (I have made 2.5" Ohio Stars but I wasn't nearly so careful them), with the white strips at the top and bottom bringing the unfinished size up to 5.5"x7" the same as the alpha blocks. Next I will move on the the green for the tilt.

C is for Current

Here is the current layout for the ABC Baby Quilt. What do you think? Keeping in mind, of course, that the letters are already embroidered.

A is for Awful Wonky

I bit the bullet and went ahead and cut out all the embroidery for the ABC baby quilt. EEEEEgads, I feel like that's all there is to say. Instead of high contrast for my offset squares it will be "white background" baby print all the way. We can save bright for the BACK! I am so glad to see the last of this fabric so off to the scrap pile. There was only one piece left big enough to use if I need to redo a letter, so here's to keeping my fingers crossed against that! Today's book updates are here. While I've found I can channel her a bit in what we read, for this I'm letting her choose whatever she would like.

Just enough

I made it, with just enough fabric and just enough thread for the ABC embroidery for the baby quilt I'm working on. It's even cat approved. Tiny our dear one just had to check it. As for the thread... The dark purple-blue you see is about how full my spool was when I started, and the teal of course is all that is left. I figure that means I'm on the right track and it's "meant to be".

This quilt is headed for baby boy TJ, who hasn't even been born yet. He will be the first child born to one of the teachers my sister worked with last year at the elementary school.

I'm planning to space out the ABC's with a "filler" fabric, something nice hopefully with a blend of blue and teal. I'm guessing before the border is added it will be about 50"X60". A nice sized baby quilt. So don't worry about the upside down letters, they will all be cut apart soon anyway. Embroidery Tip: It's easier to embroider on bigger peices than smaller ones. So when you're doing a project like this cut the fabric after you embroider. As a bonus that way you only have to "true up" once as well.

Another Baby Quilt

Yes, you read that correctly. I'm working on another baby quilt. This one will have the entire alphabet embroidered out on it. I just love the greenish-teal on the white. The white fabric from my neighbors scrap/leftover pile. It's about 1/2 a yard of apparel fabric. It feels rather like minki, though I very seriously hope I wont have that much trouble with it.

In spite choosing nearly a full spool of polyneon to embroider these 5.5" letters with I'm still running quite row. With 10 letters left to go I am certain I will need another spool. Madeira thread isn't available locally so that will be a post haste order going out hopefully this weekend. At least the company I like to order from it has my color (1888) available in cones as well as the spools. I don't want to have a run like this again. It's crazy how fast those little spools can go. Not to mention going faster as it gets closer to the center. But you already knew that didn't you?

My pain levels have been quite high even waking me up last night out of a blissful sleep. I suppose it must be the stress of all that has been happening lately. At first I was delighted to learn a chipper rental would only be $140, but then there are fees, rental insurance in case it it stolen from your property, deposit, etc. It all adds up very quickly. So I'm not certain how that will work out.

I hope you all are enjoying spring and living stress free, why not take a minute and tell me about it? The good, the bad? It's always nice to know someone is listening.

A Quilt for Baby

The Dino Quilt is done. Hooray. I'm so glad. The woman hours I've put into it blows my mind. It doesn't seem like much but shoot! Other bloggers have been keeping track of "stash" fabrics used versus "new" fabrics purchased. Here's one that will blow your mind: I haven't bought ANY fabric since before Christmas. I know tell me about it, withdrawal anyone?

As for an actual accounting of the fabrics. The entire dino side is scrap bag fabrics. The back is made from DD's baby clothes, cut up and used this time last year for the baby clothes quilts (current count ~ 4 double sided pillows, 1 wall hanging, 2 double size quilts, one twin size quilt, and two baby blankets, and a prairie point binding on a king size quilt all from those aforementioned precut baby clothes). The only "added in" fabric is the red white and blue border all gained from my stash. Both the blue and the red were purchased with a plan in mind and I used what was "leftover" from those projects for the border. The white was purchased last summer simply because it was polka dots (on sale for $2 a yard!) and dd loves polka dots.

I always save the batting that you cut off to "true up" the quilt after it's quilted. Sometimes I have a bunch leftover sometimes not so much. All of the batting from this quilt was from my "salvaged batting" pile. For anyone wondering: if you'd like to use your own salvaged batting simply zigzag stitch the pieces together sewing either just on top of the two edges or abutting them. I've done it both ways and you can't tell any difference. While I wouldn't use salvaged batting for a wedding quilt it's just fine for a little quilt like this.

So my total out of pocket for my good deed was merely time.

In the second photo you can see Jessica. She is doing this new rather annoying thing. She will smile big and bright and then right when she knows you're taking the photo she will turn it into a "closed" smile. It must be something she picked up from her father...

Habit Overcomes...

Last night I told myself that I would go ahead and get right to knocking out the last border on the dino quilt. My intention was to get up and go directly to the sewing machine. Well my morning hasn't panned out that way and somehow I'm sitting here writing to you. Ah well.

Jessica's uncles came over yesterday, they are only 6 and 8 years older than she is so for the most part they have a good time together. My clean house got lost somewhere along the way, but that's okay.

Jessica's G-U-I-T-A-R is on it's way. We bought her a Mahalo Ukulele in purple. I'll let you know how it is after Easter. Some of the websites I'd found said the painted Mahalo's have some cosmetic imperfections, but I'm not to worried about that. We bought the one for Jessica direct from amazon and I know they stand by their stuff. This one is a U30-PP-G the pp is the color i.e. purple, and the G stands tells you the style of the tuning adjusters. With the "G" they will be out at the sides instead of the normal model where they come out from behind. We're planning on restringing it right way with Aquila Low G strings as I have heard that the Soprano Ukes can be a bit shrill, and the string they come with can slip out of tune. I'm not 100% certain about that they do need restrung when they arrive because they way they are strung in the first place is to prevent damage during shipping, it could be the review I read about slipping it just someone who didn't restring it. The Aquila nylgut strings are more likely to stay in tune and stand up to changes in weather, not to mention better sound. That's one thing the B-U-N-N-Y can mark off the list.

While I did consider a 1/2 size guitar I found the Ukulele much easier to tune. Since she's only three and a half my brain tells me that's important. Or maybe it's the future echos of my ears?

I added my hooks to the wheelchair bag so my part of that is all done. DH has promised to attach/install it before I need it next weekend, I'll take photos once it's installed as that should be the best angle.

Take care and have a great weekend.

Dino Day

Here is the top! All 15 little dinos are sewn in and accounted for. I'll be adding a 6" border all around to increase the over all quilt size, but other than that it's coming along just great.

Have you looked into the Federal Weatherization project? Perhaps you qualify, there was a write up in the newspaper about how it is to help make low income households more energy efficient. According to one of the articles I read a family of four can make up to $44,000 a year so don't tune me out. Is there something in your home that needs taken care of? A furnace tune up perhaps? I personally have a list. This is a United States federal program so if you have a need be sure to give your local office a call.

And Then there were 15!

At least 12 hours ago I sat down to work on the little dinos for the front of the baby quilt. My pea brain tells me scattered embroidery with charms between... Size uh hu, yep, need 15 Dinos. Sounds great it's going to look awesome.

After I finish stitching out the first two or three dinos it hits me. Even at only 15 minutes a dino, I'm going to be here for HOURS! I explain it all to DH and what does he do? He tells me how great it will be when it's done, how appreciated it will be, how special. Awww geee, he must know my buttons. Before I go any further I need to explaining... That 15 minutes to embroider something? That's the time it will take the sewing machine to embroider the dino but no matter what my stop time i.e thread changes, broken needles, ect isn't included.

About the time I'm halfway in I'm figuring this little quilt will have about $100 worth of embroidery on it. Right, and no one will ever know. I hope they love it. Personally I love the little green guy on the bottom left with the big red heart. A little guy for everyone. The pastels I found nice and sweet also.

My supply of embroidery thread is getting lower and lower... I even RAN plumb out of red. That's okay though. I figure my next order of thread will have about 20+ spools in it. Good thing where I buy Madeira thread has great rates!

Tonight at bed time Jessica asked me if I would stay awake. She always asks this and I always answer the best I can, because even moms have to sleep sometime. "Honey I'm going to sew a bit more on the sewing machine and then I'm going to bed to watch TV. For reasons only known to a 3 year old she thought that was funny. Nearly laughing me out of her room funny. But after sitting at my machine all day... Granted something I enjoy... I feel the need to veg, "be still like vegetables, lay like broccoli."

Momma-made and Jessica Helped

This is the back of a baby blanket I started for my neighbor's great niece. She is expecting a little boy in July. Perhaps it's the July due date that has me taking the time to make something. I don't know it just feels right. Like I just said this is to be the back of the quilt. On the front I'll be using the dinos you see at the top together with some cartoon style dino embroidery. I hope it will be really nice. When Jessica was little her pediatrician would always compliment me on Jessica's blankets so hopefully that bit of sweetness will be passed on as well. Yes these are charms leftover from Jessica's baby clothes quilts. This makes quilt number five made from her baby clothes. Who knew I had cut so much? My "boyish" fabrics are running thin so hopefully I'll have a slew of baby girls to make quilts for. hahaha This is the Angel food cake that nearly wasn't. I always make homemade Angel Food Cake. The yolks are saved for homemade ice cream, and the whites go to the cake. This is the only cake my daughter will eat, so I suppose it's nice that she chows through it. Excuse me I seem to be doing a bit of bird walking today.

Why this cake almost wasn't. After separating more than 8 of the required dozen eggs I broke a yolk into my whites! Eeegads. Luckily DH fished it out for me...
Then I mixed ALL of the sugar into the flour, instead of holding some back to mix in the whites (I dealt with that by beating the whites into hard shiny peaks instead of soft peaks)
Just as I was measuring out the cream of tartar I discovered I only had 1/2 tsp. but my recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp! (I handled that one with a bit of help from the Internet - it seems you can substitute lemon juice for the cream of tartar!) So I used what I had and used lemon juice for the rest (use three times the amount of lemon juice in place what your recipe called for)
At this point I'm certain my cake will fall. I don't know what that looks like I've never had a cake fall before but I dread it.
Lastly I discover that the tube pan has been put up and away for so long that it's dusty and now I have to quick wash and dry it before the eggs are whipped. I'm drying it as the preheated signal on the oven goes off. Thrilled I'm done and it's up to fate now I rush to put the cake in the oven. Except my oven racks are all wrong and I have to move them while they are hot. I hate that. I'm always afraid I will burn myself. We have strict rules about no children within a crazy huge radius when the oven is open but still...

As you can see it did not fall. Lucky me. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not really me... Maybe I just have a great recipe?