50th Anniversary Quilt

One of my boys' preschool teachers asked for me to do a quilt for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary party for this weekend. She gave me some pictures of their living room where it'll probably stay and I just kind of went with it...kinda out of character for me with the subtle colors- I love contrast and color! But overall, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I love the paisley print & colors it has. and the pop of leopard print is just fun!

The last 2 photo quilts I've done I used printable fabric, this time I used transferrable paper (not so crazy about it) but my next one I will definitely be trying Bubble Jet Set 2000, I've heard quite a bit of good reviews on it. SO we will see !

Finished quilt came out to about 65" X 65"

Photo day for the quilt was Thursday & it ended up insanely windy out, so I had to improvise. This buffet is my favorite furniture piece in my house, so I had to make due!



Quilt Label with washing instructions


The back was pieced left overs- mostly the paisley print.
Love the subtle blue striped binding!
Thanks for your order Michelle & Congrats to your parents on their 50th wedding anniversary!

Serger fun!

So this past Monday night my friend Jes & I took a serger class and learned all the parts of the machine, how it works and pretty much the basic functions. We also signed up for 2 other serger classes coming up within the next few weeks. My serger knowledge is pretty basic right now, but at least I'm learning my machine and have made a few things this week!

A friend from facebook asked if I could make her some wet bags since she uses cloth diapers for her daughter. I made her a large 20" X 27" bag, and a smaller one for her diaper bag, about 10" X 10".

The larger bag:

PVC free PUL lining inside:

Larger & smaller bag match...

Smaller bag with wrist handle:

I had in my stash of fabrics 2 3T t shirts that I knew would be too small for my niece since she is now 4. So I added some fabric and made her a cute shirt/dress that she could wear with leggings or shorts underneath. Yellow isn't quite my niece's color, so the other I made for my friend Jill's little girl. I have made a few of these before getting my serger, and just on my sewing machine, but with my serger it is 100X's easier and quicker!

for Rilee:


For Kaia:


My sister brought over 2 pairs of jeans for me to play around with for Rilee, here is the 1st pair that I finished. Hot PINK is her favorite color, so I thought this was fitting!


Kaia loved her yellow dress so much, Jill said she was sleeping in it at night and wanted to wear it during the day too. I suggested if she had any shirts that were too short for Kaia, pull them out and we'll go fabric shopping. So that's what we did on Saturday & during naptime, I whipped up 4 little dresses for her. They each took about 15-20 minutes. Super easy and so fun!







I'm really loving my serger! NOW back to sewing and quilting, I've got some deadlines coming up for the 2 I'm working on!

Where I create & it's progress..

Thought I would post a fun blog post of where I create. My friend Jes is currently building & creating her own craft room (with very little help from her husband- so big props to her for that!) seeing all her progress has helped me step back and look at my craft room & see where it needs to be finished. I've been in my craft room for about a year now and there are many little projects that need to be finished. Originally this room was used as a game room with a wet bar and built in cabinets with *beautiful* wood paneling. {read my sarcasm} We (meaning my husband) ripped out all the wood paneling, wet bar & cabinets. When we moved in, this room became his office & any craft projects I did happened in the dining room. Fast forward thru 2 babies being born & about when Maddox was a year old or so, we moved him in with Mason. The nursery (3rd bedroom) became Gavin's office & he so sweetly offered me his huge office!
SO even though I've been in here for a year, we still have to do:
-touch up painting to do on the walls and where the wall between the wet bar & built ins were
-take down the hardware from where Gavin had his elfa shelving
-put up crown molding
-also put up trim near the floor boards (we just disposed of all the wood paneling, didn't keep the trim)
That's just the BIG projects that need to be done.

My small project list involves:
-build my BIG craft table (we're thinking about 3 ft X 8 ft) & get rid of the nice portable table
-Cover some boxes with fabric for the big cubby system
-paint the wooden table by the windows white


Entry into my craft room (love the french doors, but they need to be painted too!) We're still debating whether we should take out these built in cabinets as well. They're very shallow & I don't see a use for them, so I just stick my craft dresser in front..

across the room is my desk area- also where the built in bar & cabinets used to be. The big white spot on the wall is where Gavin took out a wall that separated the 2. The cabinets & counter are from Ikea. Gavin built the overhead cabinet/cubbies, added the lights & also built the drawer under the countertop. The Mac was my present last year for my birthday. LOVE having the 27" in here. Makes for great movie watching while I sew!
My Mom's sewing machine. I'm currently using my Mom's old Kenmore sewing machine (I don't remember what year she got it, but I'm almost sure she bought it here in Texas- so it's probably 20-25 years old- still works great even though it's pretty basic. It doesn't even have an AUTO threader! Can you believe it?? We're so spoiled by modern technology & how far sewing machines have come. My machine is getting a repair & service. Usually my mom's machine doesn't get used very often (I just can't seem to part with it, but now I definitely won't as it's a great back up machine!) Normally it is put away in it's cabinet and stored on the wall behind it.
My work table. Usually my brother sewing machine sits here along with my Pressing board I made, my iron, my craft lamp & my bias tape maker. I'm not so thrilled with the mess of cords below. Any suggestions on how to keep those neat & clean? The door behind my work table is a 1/2 bath/pool bath. Sometimes I wish it was just a closet! That would be nice!
The wall on the other side of my work table holds the big cubby system I stole out of my kids playroom. I decided they didn't need so many toys to fill this baby up, so I bought them a smaller one & now I fill this up with my toys :) In the top cabinets houses my serger, paints, fabric paints, glues, basting sprays, etc. Bins below hold ribbon, blocks for baby gifts, and some bins for craft projects for Mason. I also need to cover those boxes on the bottom shelf with fabric!
This is my crazy corner....everyone has a messy area right? this is usually mine! I would love to have this table as my cutting station one day, but currently it holds my tool box, a bunch of empty frames, and the crib skirt from my niece's crib. We're currently repurposing all her crib bedding into big girl bedding. down below is a trash can that doesn't get used (guess I need to find a new home for that!) and the 2 tubs are baby pictures, photos & memorabilia from high school & college and also a few things that belonged to my Mom. I don't want them in the attic because the heat could ruin them, so I'm still trying to find a good place to store them. The chair on the wall? yes, it doesn't really have a purpose...could be a small shelf I suppose!
The wall of windows! I love the light these windows let in..but 3 windows seems excessive. Gosh I would love it if there were just 2, oh the wall space I could use! But...I deal with what I've got..Gavin's Grandmother gave me a quilt stand, so those are my next projects in line. The wooden table I acquired from a church garage sale down the street for $10 last year! The bin below is my scrap bin and the old drawer sitting on top is my cat's bed. :) He seems to have adopted it since there is so much sunlight that comes thru the windows. I think he appreciates the cute repurposed bed I made for him! I appreciate him not sleeping in my scrap bin!
My creating corner...which Maddox likes to come check out what I'm doing & loves to press buttons on my sewing machine...which I don't appreciate so much!
Last wall! These are the billy bookcases from ikea with glass doors. This is probably my most favorite piece of furniture in my room.

The topside of the right cabinet houses vintage fabrics from Gavin's grandmother up top & vintage notions in the box. Next shelf is more decorative stuff and christmas fabrics in the fabric bin. Next is my WIP shelves....I can count 3 WIP and 1 UFO. so sad...
down below is left over craft felt (really not sure why I'm holding onto that..) and the bottom shelf is all batting pieces, big and small.


The left side cabinet holds mason jars with all different buttons, 2 glass blocks I don't know why I have and my Sex & the City dvd set...below that is my sewing & quilt books, some vintage and some new. Then my stash of fabric, and below that is my unorganized fabrics...looking to buy more fabric organizers at the upcoming Quilt show in March!
SO that's my craft room. Not totally finished, but who's is?? Okay, maybe yours is. Not as finished as I'd like, but it's in the works. So is my organization! Either way, unfinished & not as organized as I like- but it's my happy place I retreat to and hide away in! BOY i would love to be snowed in here for a week!

1st Baby Bedding!

Today was my soon to be sister in law's baby shower! I am beyond thrilled that all in the same year, I will be gaining a pretty awesome sister in law AND my 1st nephew! My sister, a good family friend & I hosted the shower today & Rosie was beyond blessed with all the baby loot!

I told Rosie earlier in the fall that as her gift I would make her baby bedding (crib bumper, quilt & skirt.) She mentioned she liked the idea of Noah's Ark, so as I searched for fabric, all I found was pastels! not my style and not Rosie's either. So I decided I'd make my own spin on Noah's Ark with the bedding. Rosie helped me pick out the fabrics, but she wouldn't see it finished until today! I was pretty nervous considering I haven't made baby bedding before! i bought a pattern, but.....I'm not really great with patterns yet and I wasn't thrilled with the design- so I decided to just wing it! I was actually pretty pleased with how it turned out and I think Rosie was very thrilled!!

Rosie opening the card I made her- I scanned a cute picture of my brother (at about 12-18 months old) in a laundry basket - my mom was afraid to cut his curls, so he had a cute curly little mullet!

Toy organizer with velcro tabs to hang on the side of the crib

Opening up the baby bumper!

We used Michael Miller's zoology in brown, a blue chenille with a wave pattern, the green & brown polka dots are from Hobby Lobby & the outside is a brown wood grain by Moda, the binding is dark brown.

Toy organizer for the crib with a diaper carrier for her diaper bag.

Again the bumper, you can see the wood grain- also the tabs on the bumper are velcro to attach to the crib.

the quilt!
The Crib quilt- the backing was Michael Miller zoology



Up close of the quilt- dark brown for the binding, with a decorate stitch.

Can't wait to see it all put together in the crib!

Q is for Quilt

My 2 boys go to preschool & in my oldest son's class they have a different letter each week as they go thru the alphabet.
Each week they usually do some little craft project with the letter. Tuesday night as I was going thru his papers the letter of the week caught my eye! Aww! This one went up on my board in my sewing room for sure!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Solid Colored Binding tip

One of my favorite quilt/sewing investments I've purchased in the past 2 years is the Simplicity Bias tape maker. It really cuts down on my sewing time. Not to mention saves my fingers from multiple iron burns.

One issue I've come across when attaching the folded bias tape is when I am linking strips of the bias tape together. (before running it through the machine) I love to use a printed fabric because it's easy to tell which side is the right side & which is the wrong side. No one has taught me any little tricks or tips on figuring out how to always attach the right sides of solid colored bias tape to itself for binding, so I've found my own little trick .
First let me tell you if you need a good tutorial for making bias tape and attaching it to your quilt- check out Amanda Jean's tutorial over at Crazy Mom Quilts my problem is when I've used only solid fabric for the binding, sometimes it's easy to lose track of which side is right and wrong. Have you ever sewn your bias strips together just to find out you did it to the wrong side? oops, nothing short of frustrated!

So before I even start ironing & sewing my bias strips- i mark the same sides with a marking pencil. 1 mark on each end should do it. this way you know to always match up those sides.


Can you see how the white marks I've made sort of show me that my right sides are together of my solid fabric?

Next - follow Amanda Jean's tutorial part 1 for binding. (I attach mine different than hers in part 2- i run my binding thru the bias tape maker and then sew onto the quilt)


after running it thru the bias tape maker - no oopsies & frustration free binding every time I've tried this little trick. All was needed was a simple marking pencil :)

finished Ticker Tape Quilt

I should really keep tabs on how many ticker tape quilts i've made now...I'm starting to lose track!

Valerie's ticker tape quilt went to it's new house today. Valerie asked that her EatPrayLove quilt reflect Julia Robert's tunics in the movie. I finally caved and watched the movie! Officially giving up on the book.

I've been playing around with binding lately. Some of the ladies in my fabulous DMQG quilt group don't just machine stitch on the binding with a straight stitch, but a decorative one. So this was my first time I tried that. LOVE IT! man so much easier! I do love to hand sew on the binding, but only smaller quilts. I'm starting to not hate binding so much . (also helps with a little trick I figured out- but that's for another post tomorrow!)

Can't wait for spring like weather so I can start taking pictures outside again. Tired of this dreary weather. Pictures inside are just not as nice. :-/


Decorative stitching on the binding.