Easter!

Easter is this weekend.  Easter.  It feels like we were just "Ho-ho-ho"-ing along.

Oh.  Did I tell you?  Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and the like are no longer a mystery at my house.  Punk came right out a few weeks ago and asked me if they were real.  Since she's getting older, I didn't fib.  I told her the truth but also said they all live in our hearts.  She was also told not to spoil the fun for her younger cousins.  She was just concerned if she would get an Easter basket now that she knows the truth.  LOL.

I made these cute tiny pouches for the little girls in my family.  Free tutorial/pattern too.  Bonus!

Aren't they cute?  I need to make one for myself.  Very easy to make. You should try one.

Bunny pillow!

This one is on my bed.  I may keep it out all year.

I made an Easter "basket" for my cousin's daughter but forgot to take a picture.  I will show you soon.


Happy Easter!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Woven Star

I wonder if anyone is even going to read this blog post since it's been forever since I've posted.  Eh. I'll post it anyway.  Maybe I'll get 2 comments.  LOL!

In between all other projects that I've been working on, I snuck in one that I wanted to try out.  It's called the Woven Star by Stitch Supply Co.   I didn't plan on doing anything with this little tutorial right now because I don't have the time and it took a bunch of 2.5" squares that I didn't have time to cut and prep.  The more I stared at it, the more I figured I can strip piece where I could.  So I tried and this is what I came up with.

I used my (little) Happy Go Lucky stash.  Cute, huh?  I'm going to make this one into a pillow cover.  The aqua and white borders are solid strips where I could do that instead of 2.5" squares.  I made notes for myself and I'm thinking I could make a small wallhanging for myself.

Now that I played with this very easy block style, I want to make a Labyrinth quilt for my bed.

I would change the center star to be like the one in the Woven Star block. I like that style better.  So I think I'm going to order the Labyrinth pattern and pray I can shop in my stash to make it.  I want it for my bed.  Looks pretty intricate but sooooo easy!

enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Hearts

I have said before that I am not a big holiday decorator. Christmas - there is a tree and now that I know how to sew, I've made a couple of table runners and a wallhanging or two.  Other holidays?  Not so much.  While I love seeing how others decorate for the seasons and holidays, I just don't do it.  I don't have the room for all the stuff.  And my house is cluttered with little girl toys.  Decorating around her stuff just doesn't look right.  LOL.

However, when I see cute, I need to make.  

Candy hearts.  Adorable.  I want to make 20 blocks for a lap quilt.  For now, 3 blocks will do for a wall hanging.  If I get my act together, I will make this a leader/ender project.  But I need to get some squares organized and by my machine.  I also want to beef up my low volume stash a bit.  Some of the low volume squares I used aren't very "low volume".

Close up of the hearts.  The green one stands out great.  The other two get a little lost but they are there.

On Instagram, lots of people were making some simple hearts and turns out it was a free tutorial out on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog.  I have been hoarding many charm packs and wouldn't you know?  I had a few Valentine ones.  I busted them out (stash busting 2015) and made my own.  I made 25 blocks instead of 20 as in the tutorial.

I forgot the name of the charm pack I used.  It had green in it which I didn't use.  

I have lots of hearts to decorate with for next year!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Sewing for my Valentine

I did a little sewing for my little Valentine.  My big Valentine will be getting chocolates and some new socks.  Pretty romantic, huh?  LOL!!

I ordered the cutest throw pillow kit from Emily Ann's Kloset etsy shop.  The iron-on is just too adorable.

I sewed the turning hole after taking this picture.  :)

Lori Holt had shown on her blog a while ago, some cute glass jars with fancy glass knobs and it's been on my mind to make some.  I made a few for the house and of course, my little Valentine needed one for herself in her favorite color.  I filled it with her favorite chocolates - Dove Dark and some Hershey Kisses.  The kitty's name is Caramel.  She was napping on my bed when I disturbed her with my photo shoot.

Here are the jars I made for myself.  I plan on using them on the dessert/candy buffet at my in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary party happening later this summer.  For now they are hanging out in my kitchen.  I plan on using them long term in my sewing room.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby last week and spotted super cute Valentine fabric and bought some yardage for pillowcases.  I love them and want a set for myself.

I have been trying to keep up with things.  I pulled out a few WIPs/UFOs and working on getting things done.  Need to snap a few pictures.  And I've been working on some swap items for a few new swaps I've joined.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Headbands!

Punk is a hair chewer.  It's a bad habit that we are trying to break.  She only does it when she is nervous or concentrating.  We've tried pulling her hair back but she doesn't like pony tails for very long.  Her hair is too fine for barrettes. It's a struggle, I tell ya.

At Christmas, my aunt gave Punk a very pretty outfit and with the outfit, she gave her a 6 pack of elastic headbands.  I didn't think Amelia would even use them but I put them in her bathroom anyway just to see.

Amelia discovered them and she's been wearing a headband almost everyday now. Keeps her hair away from her face (and mouth) and she is putting a strong effort into breaking the hair chewing habit.

I did some Pinterest surfing and found a bunch of tutorials on fabric headbands and I made one to see how she would like it.  Let's just say I have a list of colors she wants.  ;)

I also made her some elastic ribbon ones.  By the time I'm done, Amelia will have a rainbow of headbands to choose from.  What was cute was that one afternoon, we were getting ready to go out and Amelia put on a pink and black top.  She so sweetly asked if I had time to "whip up" a matching headband.  LOL.

I'm just happy she likes them and wears them.  She looks so much older with her hair pulled back.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Hello Friends!

I have been a bad blogger, haven't I?  Using Instagram is just so much easier but I don't want to give up on blogging.  I enjoy reading what everybody's been up to and I have been keeping busy.

I made it a personal goal to work out of my stash more this year.  I've hoarded a lot of fabric and projects over the last few years.  It's time to get things done.

This is one of those of those projects.  Mixing it Up by Lori Holt (bee in my bonnet fame).  I love Lori's patterns!  At first, I truly thought they were overly written.  At quick glance of course.  They are wonderfully written!  Some info is a bit overkill but the way Lori has the cutting instructions done - Perfect!

I bought my solids for this pattern mid year last year and I put them aside.  I had too much going on and I forced myself to wait until 2015 started.  Once 2015 hit, I pulled this baby out and started cutting and piecing.

As you can see, my version is a little different.  I made my sashing thinner and I didn't do the outer "beater block" border.  I needed this quilt smaller because I'm going to hang it in my dining area once quilted and my curtain rod is only so long.  AND I don't care for pieced block borders and I'll tell you why.  I am NOT a precise piecer.  As much as I try, I alway miss the mark but my overall look at the end - I am happy with.  With that, my quilt tops are usually different sized than what the pattern states.  Doing a pieced block border frustrates me because of that so I skip them when I can.

There.  My quilters confession.  :)

I have been working on other stash projects and I have more to show you.  Soon.  Maybe even tomorrow.  :)

Enjoy your day!  It's snowing (again!) over here!
Jen

Town Square Quilt - first finish for 2015

I love Lori Holt's books and patterns.  Her patterns are so well written, you can piece a block just from the pictures she provides.  I'm currently working on one of her patterns now and will show you soon but here's one that is ready for quilting.  It's from her "Quilty Fun" book and it's called "Town Square".  I started it mid last year and put it aside for Christmas sewing.  I had a lot of the blocks done so I made a point to get it finished for the end of 2014 and I got it finished on January 3rd, 2015.  Not bad.

I made a change to the quilt top and didn't do the star outer border.  I did a scrappy border.  Fits me just fine.

I need to get backing for this and get it quilted ASAP.  I want to change the quilt on the wall in my bedroom and this is it.

I'm also working on getting squares cut for a border for the Christmas quilt that Lori designed and hosted a sew along on Instagram.  I need to dig in my stash a bit for some fabrics to add to the border for that one.  Once I have that border done, I will show you.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Geez.  I have been MIA, haven't I?  I'm sorry about that.

Merry Christmas!  Happy 2015!  I trust everybody had a nice holiday?  I did.  12 days off from work.  Relaxing, sewing, and hanging with my Punk.  Today was rough, getting back into our morning routine.  Give us a week, we'll get it down pat again.

I had to look back to see where I've stopped with my updates.  Ah.  Swaps.  Okay, let me show you what I gave (and received!) in the couple of swaps I participated in over in Instagram-land.  AND I joined another one that starts at the end of this month for Spring.  Can't wait for my partner assignment. I already have a few ideas brewing.

Okay, here is the mini that I made for my partner.  She liked purple and rainbows.  I've been wanting to try this block style and tried to figure out how to do it in a rainbow fashion but it would not work.  So I stuck with purple and green.

I did my best with the quilting.  I did some straight line and echo quilting in places.  Here are the extra goodies I included.  I made her a rainbow Dresden mug rug, thread catcher and a few other odds and ends.  It was well received.

I received this:

I happened to be paired with the swap organizer.  Or should say, he was paired with me.  My partner made his and I made for my partner.  It was a triangle swap.  LOL.  This was his own design and foundation pieced.  It's all dotty goodness and I love it. I watched his progress on IG during our creative time and never thought it was coming to live with me. I also got a bar of genuine Cadbury chocolate from the UK but I've been nibbling on it.  :)

Ellyn and I did our own personal swap.  I was whining that I was seeing all the swaps happening over in IG-land but was always late to the party to sign up; I was itching for swap.  It's been some time since I was part of one.  She took pity on me and we did a personal swap, just the two of us.  LOL!

This is what I created for Ellyn:

Mini version of the Moda "Love" layer cake quilt.  I love it and I bought the layer cake in "Horizon" for myself to make. I even shamelessly copied Kate Spain's layout of fabrics.  That's how much I loved what she did. I will make my version as soon as I bulk up on my white solid. I ran out right before Christmas.

Since this was a mini-mini, I added another mini for Ellyn:

She can use it as an overgrown mug rug or hang it on her wall. I think she hung it.  Thread catcher, matching half Dresden pin cushion and other odds and ends.

Ellyn made me and I love it!:

Hand quilted too!  Isn't it fab?!  Someone need to teach me.  I want to learn so that I can be cool and creative and hand quilt a mini or two.  I was sent extra goodies but I can't find the picture I took!  And she blogged about our swap too!  I've been very lax in my blog reading.  I will get back on it in the evenings again.

I have more to talk about but I will save it for another post.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Pillow fun

Hello hello!  21 days until Christmas!  3 weeks.  THREE weeks. I'm not ready. Still shopping, still sewing.  Still need to decorate.  I'm planning on putting away Fall and getting my Christmas/Winter wallhangings up this weekend. Sunday is supposed to be cold here.  Perfect day to clean and sew.

I was asked to make 2 more personalized pillows for a friend of mine in October.  I'm going to be seeing her on Saturday and I had to get on the task.  I love making these pillows and at the same time, I hate it.  Too much babysitting and too much stress on something going wrong at the last minute and whole project goes down the tubes. Not this time though and for that, I am grateful.

2 girly pillows coming right up.  I was asked to do pink and butterflies.  I think the girls are cousins.  One pillow is headed to Poland.  :)  Bet you can't guess which one.  LOL.

The butterfly border was also used on the back.  Happy to have these done.

And a pillow for me.  I need to get more Sweetwater labels to use in decorating my house.  I just love this snowman.  Don't know if I'm going to leave it on my bed, give it to Punkie to use, or use it in the living room.  Decisions, decisions.

I will have more to show soon. I'm working pretty hard over here.  :)

Enjoy your day!  Remember.  3 more weeks!
Jen  :)

I went with the lime

I apologize for being gone for a little over a month.  Lots going on here.  I have been busy sewing and working on getting my swap items done.  I joined 3 swaps on Instagram; 2 group and 1 personal and they are all due at the same time!  What was I thinking?!  I am in good shape but I had a little lack of sewing for about 9 days or so.  Playing catch up now.  And I was asked to make two more personalized pillows and I need those both done by next week too.  UGH.

I had some surgery at the beginning of November so I spent some time in the hospital.  Never had surgery before.  My c-section doesn't count.  I had no choice in the c-section.  Before surgery, my mind was elsewhere and once I got home, I was so wiped out. I had no desire to sew for about 9 days.  I have never been under anesthesia before.  Instead of being wake after an hour in recovery, it took me 2.5 hours to come awake.  My husband was a bit concerned for sure.  The pain meds they gave me in the hospital knocked me out too so once I was home, I slept for days and had no energy.  Surgery is behind me and I'm all recovered and feeling great.

I did finish my navy dresden and I went with the lime accent.  I love it!

I did a simple echo straight stitch for quilting in all the negative space.  I am going to make one for myself.  Either turn it into a pillow or mini wall hanging.

I hate to give it away.  I hope my swap partner loves it as much as I do!

To those here in the U.S. - Happy Thanksgiving this week!  Eat lots and lots of turkey!  Gobble!  Gobble!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Need a little help

I am participating in a couple of swaps over on Instagram (IG) and one of the is a Christmas Stocking swap.  I have plans to make my partner a stocking but I'm working on her "little extra" first.

I've been on a dresden kick lately and wanted to make a mini wall-hanging for my partner.  She expressed interest in having something she could keep out all year round in her sewing room.  Her room colors are navy, cream, orange, with a hint of lime.

I've been messing around with an idea in my head and have since started making my dresden blades.  My thought is to go mainly go with navy and every 3rd or 4th blade would be either orange or lime green.  Just to give it a little pop.

I thought the orange would be the one I would like but now I'm not sure.  I made a couple of lime blades to compare and I'm liking that much more.

What do you think?

Navy with a pop of Orange

Navy with pop of Lime

here they are all three.  Final project won't be all three though

So?  What do you think?  Navy with a pop or orange or pop of lime?  The center of dresden will be the navy fabric. I thought I would do a pop of opposite color; orange or lime depending on which color I went with as an accent but I think that will be too much.  I will most likely bind in the accent color.

I have a little more to share with you soon.  I've been busy over here, sewing away.  Just haven't snapped any pictures.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Yellow Brick Road Quilt

A few years ago, I went on a road trip to Baltimore and found a nice quilt shop.  While visiting, I found a quilt kit that would work for my Punk.  Fast forward to now - quilt kit still all packaged up, not touched at all. 

It used a simple pattern that I already have, Yellow Brick Road, and decided it was time.  My intention was to have Punk help me with the making of the blocks.  She helped some but quickly got bored with the process.  So I picked up the slack and got the top done.

Bright and fun.  Perfect for a little girl.  I have some fabric that I've been holding on to for a backing for another quilt... which I never finished.... so I'm going to use it with this one.  

Happy to have the kit done and into top form.  Now, to get it quilted.

enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Patchwork Pumpkins

I am pleased as punch that my idea actually worked out.  Over the summer, I made a cupcake wallhanging that I just adore but it doesn't scream "Fall".  I mentioned in my cupcake post that I wanted to make a few more of this style of wallhanging and mentioned pumpkins; my follow through is pretty lacking though.

Not this time!  I am crazy about my Patchwork Pumpkin wallhanging!  I admit that it still needs to be quilted and I plan to do the same to the pumpkins as I did with the cupcakes.  I'm going to stitch and flip with tabs to hang it with.  I plan on getting this chore done this weekend and get it hung on the wall by Sunday night.  I'm going to back it in orange polka dots.

I wanted this wallhanging to be more "Fall" than "Halloween" so I searched for the right pumpkin border.  That was tough.  Everything was either too realistic for my wallhanging or Jack o Lanterns.  I wanted a whimsical pumpkin.  I couldn't find what I had in my mind so I settled on mini pumpkins.

It will do.  

I was going to applique a pumpkin, similiar to the cupcake but I ended up taking the patchwork pumpkin that Lori used in her quilty barns and made it a bit larger to fit my idea.  I'm thrilled it all worked out like it was in my head.

Enjoy your day!!

Jen :)

Some Frosting

Schibbles, wall hangings.  I like working on those.  They are quick and easy and I tend to actually finish them.  HA!

Before we left for Disney, I sent Mary a couple of wall hanging sized quilts for some of her quilting magic; frosting as she calls it.

McGuffey Schnibbles out of Sweetwater's Lucy's Crab Shack line.  

Mary quilted it with a swirly, crabby design.  Truly!  There are little crabs quilted in this one.  It is too cute!  

And my scrappy crossroads

That one was done in just a swirly design that I just love.  I can't wait to get binding on both of these.  They will be put away until next Spring/Summer.

Thank you so much Mary!  I love how your version of frosting is very low calorie.  :)

Enjoy your day!

Jen  :)

More Minis

I've been working on bulking up my "mini" wall.  I made a "J" for Jen, of course.  I need to now make an "A" for Amelia.

This one I whipped up the day after we got back from Disney.  Just to ease back into everything.  I need to quilt it.

Cute?  I think so.  I have been focusing on getting some backings ordered and created to get some quilts quilted.  Mary quilted some wall hangings for me but I need to get some bigger lap quilts done.  My banister is pretty full of everything.  Some things just need to get addressed.  So I have yardage coming for backings and 1 that I need to sew up and I will be getting them out there to get done.

I also joined a mini quilt swap out on Instagram and I'm doing a private mini quilt swap with Ellyn.  Both of those need to be completed by early December.  I have an idea for both of them.  I need to dig in the stash or do some real shopping.

My Nested Churn Dash too.  Blocks are done.  I'm working on getting it into rows.  Who am I kidding?  I have one more row (there are only 3 in the darn thing) to sew and the top will be done and I'm ignoring it all.  LOL.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Charming Stars Sew Along

Charming Stars.  It's been on my invisible to-do list for quite some time.  Terry is hosting another sew along and she picked Charming Stars (free on the Moda Bake Shop).  Since I've been waiting to make this quilt as a whole; I made a few blocks and made myself a table runner - I thought I would join in.  Plus, I have a very healthy collection of charm packs that I need to start using instead of hoarding.

I'm using Odds and Ends by Cosmo Cricket.  Eh.  I'm not loving the fabric line but for whatever reason, I have 3 charm packs so they won the coin toss.  In another "twist", I'm using a minty-aqua as my solid instead of cream.

The quilt has 16 blocks and our September "goal" for the sew along was to get 4 blocks done.  I got 6 done.  My own monthly goal is to get 2 more blocks done so that I'm halfway through those and making pinwheels with my trimmings.  I'm going to use them somewhere in the quilt.

Once this one is done, it will make a good couch quilt.  I will then make this quilt again, using charm packs that I really like. :)

Enjoy your day! - I owe you some Disney trip photos.  Coming up soon.  I was a bit lax this trip in taking pictures but I do have some to share.

Jen

Learning my ABCs

Hello!  I know it.  It's been a while.  My summer "theme".  Our summer has been moving steadily ahead.  In fact, it's almost over!

In 3 days, we're headed here:

Going to party it up.  Celebrating Punk's 9th birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary.  This year she will be turning 9 AT Disney World.  She is soooo excited for that.  The day after we get back, my 4th grader heads back to school.  She's excited to start 4th grade and I'm happy she is excited.

I have been doing some sewing.  I started and finishd my ABCs in 2 weeks.

Moda did a blog hop back in February and all their fabric designers (and others) created the letters and Moda offered the letter patterns for free.  I followed along and downloaded all of them.  I have since found out that Moda took down their links to the free letters because they put all the letters into one PDF file and some online shops are selling the PDF for $8.00.  I'm not sure how I feel about that practice.  A bit shady to me.  But I have them all printed out and saved so I'm good.

I do love this quilt.  I was hoping to hang it on my bedroom wall but it's too wide for the rod hanging there already.  I hate to use it because while I love the black background and how it makes all the colors pop but the lint and cat hair it collects.... UGH.  I have lint brushed this thing numerous times while sewing it.

I got another quilt done and off my bannister.  Morning Joe is on my bedroom wall and I just love it!

Not sure what I"m going to work on now.  I have been creating some appliqued owls for a quilt but they take forever.  I work on them when the need strikes.  I think what I'm going to do it work on getting fabrics cut for the free pattern that the Fat Quarter Shop launched a few days ago, Fat Quarter Fizz.  Quick and easy and again, using up that stash!

Enjoy your day!!
Jen  :)

Scrappy Crossroads

Lori Holt did a quick tutorial on Instagram on a scrappy crossroads block.  Since I had nothing else to do (haha), I joined in the fun and TRIED to do a bit of scrap stash busting.  I didn't even make a dent BUT I have a very cute wall hanging for my efforts.

I only made four blocks since a big quilt is just not in the cards for me right now.  I have enough larger quilts in various stages of finishing.  The four blocks only took me a week to do; I worked on them a little bit each night.  Things went much faster once I found my box of 2.5" squares that I had already cut a while back.

I also added a 2.5" outer border to finish it all off.

I can't wait to get this one quilted!

Hmmmm.  Now I wonder what I should work on next?

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Cupcakes done

Cupcakes done and hung on the wall.  I'm really happy with it.  Seeing this on the wall is making me want to make a few more for the more major holidays.  I think I'm going to make pumpkins next.  :)

Instead of adding a binding, I layered and stitched and turned it out.  I made hanging tabs too for a change of pace.  You know?  I have a Halloween panel (plus backing and binding for it) that I have been hanging on to for oh - 6 years.  I think I'm going to do the same for it and hang it here.  I did some top stitching and that is the extent of the quilting on this piece.  If I were to do anything else to it, it would still be in the pile waiting its turn.

I've started sashing my nested churn dash blocks too.  Punk and I have been working on her quilt blocks too.  I've been doing most of the work though.  Her enthusiasm for this quilt isn't there.  I've been piecing most of the blocks and leaving a few for her to work on.  Maybe with the layout, she'll help some.

35 more days until Disney.  :)

Enjoy your day!

Jen 

Contractor must have been a bit tipsy

Finished my first mini.  Dwell is what I worked on.  Looking at it, I have a couple crooked houses.  I must have had a bit too much beer when I was sewing.  ;)

Eh.  It is what it is and it's done.  I added another round of borders because I'm trying to use my stash.  Backing is from my stash too as well as my binding.  I had just enough binding leftover from another project.  That made me happy.

My lone mini:

I need to make some more.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)