Of course...

Why is it when you have the coziest of beds for your sweet kitty- they still manage to find the unfinished quilt??



I'm ALMOST finished with my dad's quilt. I've set this tiny table aside for a garage sale this weekend & I thought for sure the cat wouldn't dare find a napping spot on a 12" X 12" tabletop. But yes, she proved me wrong!

a wild hair...

Do you ever have one of those days? One of those days where you have what my husband calls, "a wild hair up your butt?" Yesterday 30 minutes before the kids went to bed I decided I needed to rearrange their furniture in their room.

This morning before my husband even woke up, I had rearranged the living room furniture & started on the dining room. After he left for work, I got that crazy look in my eye & walked around the house with a package of nails & my hammer. Gavin is not a fan when I get into that mode. Oh but I love it!

Do you ever redecorate your house with things in your house? I love doing that. Repurposing & reusing. Gavin should be a fan as I didn't spend a dime today! And I even packed away some items for the next garage sale. He should be thrilled when he comes home today!


I love crosses & normally have these silver crosses randomly arranged around a mirror in my entry way, but today I decided to keep them a little more contained in my dining room. Love it!

Kitchen- I bought this old buffet a few months back & will eventually repaint it, but I'm liking the color it is for now. I grabbed one of my holiday table runners (it doesn't even look christmas-y, it's just deep red with some detailing), a few pictures (which updating these will be my next project- as these are from almost 3 years ago!)

I'm not a fan of the collection of empty frames hanging on walls I've seen lately, so instead I hung one of my empty frames & hung some picture hangers like so...

added in some decorative plates I've been holding onto (used some plate hangers)...

hung a few wrought iron crosses in the frame as well...

and moved my wrought iron hanging plant over from the other wall. Must say I'm pretty pleased. except for the outdated pictures. and perhaps the lamp shade is a little too bright red. might need to change that!

Now I'm pooped & ready for a nap!

Dad's quilt progress

Normally I wouldn't post pictures of a quilt that I'm giving away as a gift, but I'm 100% sure my dad doesn't read my craft blog. So I'm safe!

My dad's 60th birthday is next weekend & my sister & I thought it would be great for him if we (read: I- although she did do a lot of work on the photos and printing off the photo fabric) made him a photo quilt celebrating his life. My progress so far:

In my block layout, I basically designed it thru the years of his life from childhood to grandpa-hood. I especially love the photos from his childhood.

I love looking at my parents wedding pictures. They were so young, and cute! This picture cracks me up every time. It looks like my sister & brother playing dress up and feeding each other cake!

My favorite picture of my dad & I dancing at my wedding.

This quilt has been a beating, it's a photo quilt & so far have spent 18 hours on it this week. yikes! I'm trying desperately to get it finished for next weekend, well I'd prefer sooner so I'm not working on it all next week too. My sister/project manager printed off the pictures onto photo paper, I set the colors, rinsed, dried then had to cut the pictures (not all had enough border around each one, so if you are ever doing a photo quilt, make sure to leave 1/2" white border around each picture for seam allowance) and then actually made a cream colored border around each picture for it to be an 8" X 8" square. phew. That was exhausting before I even got to piece it all together! Don't get me wrong, I love quilting & sewing, but when you're on a time crunch, not so much!

My next step is to add a border around the top piece with this dark brown fabric (about 4" on each side) I love love love this fabric .

I tried to keep pretty subtle colors, but still masculine designs. I'll also do a cream binding to finish it off. So lots of work ahead!

One Happy Momma!

Earlier this week I was working on these burp cloths & come to find out a certain 3 year old moved my utility stitch chart for my sewing machine. So I went searching for one online for reference to use a few decorative stitches on the burp cloths. I finally found one, but in the process I found something that made my day!

An extension table! I ordered this Tuesday with regular shipping (which I believe was free) thru AllBrands.com and I ALREADY received it today! I am so thrilled, I might be up late quilting tonight :)

This makes me ONE HAPPY MOMMA! So happy I almost forgive my 3 year old for hiding my stitch chart!

Benn's Quilted playmat

I have a good south african friend who is having a baby soon & her baby shower is this weekend. I love the name they are giving him, instead of Ben- they are giving him the South African version which is Benn. It also means Blessed. I have seen both of my children grow into their names and have to say that this little one will too. And what a great name to grow into!

I love this little quilt- love the colors, love the design and I'm really loving the new soy blend batting I'm using. It's not as thick and fluffy as the batting I've been using for most of my quilts/playmats, but it is so soft.

I also made a handful of burpcloths (all are backed with terrycloth or flannel) in the boyish theme.

Inspiration for the Cancer Sucks quilt

Well I've got the 1st step finished for Mimi's "Cancer Sucks" quilt. Inspiration! Definitely the pinks, but she also just redecorated her room in creams & blues. Sara thought incorporating those would be a good idea. I'm loving the color scheme!
I'm thinking a simple quilt with 8" X 8" blocks, maybe some to incorporate some circles to carry on the "Cancer Sucks" theme.

Now for fabric and a style! Anyone want to help a quilter out? :)

Ticker Tape Tutorial

Say that 5 times fast!

Thought I'd do a small Doll size Ticker Tape Quilt Tutorial! This size quilt is fast and easy. I think I got it done in about 2 episodes of Project Runway (my new guilty pleasure!)

List of Items needed:
Sewing Machine (I use my walking foot for the entire quilt)
2 fat quarters (or 2 scraps of about 18" X 20" fabric)
batting measuring 18" x 20"
basting pins or basting spray- or however you baste!
Straight pins
fabric scraps
pinking shears or pinking rotary cutter
binding or fabric for binding

Directions:
1. sandwich your 2 fabrics & batting between.


2. Pin/Baste or Spray with your basting spray .

3. Quilt your sandwich. I did just a few big lines across to make a basic diamond shape.

then trim off your excess fabric & batting


4. Start at 1 corner & pin 1/3 of your fabric scraps on. I had to cut some of my fabric scraps even smaller. I generally use about 8-10 different fabric scraps (in multiple sizes so they can be used more than once, but not be placed close together) If your fabric scraps are not cut with pinking shears or a pinking rotary cutting blade, be sure to do so otherwise it will fray really badly after being washed.





5. Carefully do a simple top stitch on top of each piece. I leave about 1/4" around each edging.


6. Pin the rest of your scraps on & secure with stitching. I don't always cut each thread when going from each square to the next. Most definitely do a backstitch at each square's beginning & ending stitch to secure your work & then I will lift off the finished piece & move to the next.


7. After you're done sewing on each piece you'll have this lovely mess of thread. Now you can go and trim each piece and stray threads on both sides.


8. Get your binding & attach.



9. Voi-la! My favorite step is washing it, drying it & seeing how it crinkles up naturally. You'll have to trim a few frayed edges after washing & drying but it shouldn't fray much more than that. I love the frilliness the pinking sheared effect gives to the fabric after being washed!

Doll size quilts are a great scrap buster & make great gifts for little girls, but Do a larger size & you just might be able to clean out those fat quarters that have been sitting around :)