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 :)

Just a bunch of little things

Howdy!  Spring!  Spring is here!  The sunshine and warm(er) temps feel SO GOOD after this lousy, cold winter.  I'm hearing rumors of a 70'F+ day on Sunday.  Already promised Punk a trip to the park and maybe a stop at Dairy Queen for a soft serve cone.

I've been getting some things done in the sewing room.  No, not cleaning.  That can wait until after Easter.  Truly?  I think I will be putting off the clean and re-organize the sewing room for months and months.  It is just a chore I don't want to do but then again, who does?  My machine does have to go in for a cleaning and service.  We are headed out of town for a few days soon and while I'm gone, my sewing machine will be headed out for some spa treatments.  I've been fighting lately with my walking foot and/or the dual feed on my machine.  I'm really pushing/pulling some of my projects when I'm sewing.  My machine isn't happy right now.

Onto what I've been working on.  Michele posted her Lollipop bag and I thought it was just too cute.  I haven't made one for myself yet but I made 3 for little Easter gifts.  I left off the rosette since I knew it would give me fits and I wasn't in the mood.  LOL.

I'm trying to get away from baskets full of candy for those that I give Easter gifts to.  I'm trying but it's hard not to load up kids with candy.  LOL.  I also don't care for the little $1.00 trinkets out there.  I end up throwing all those out.  They just clutter up the house.  With that said, I made the smaller size of the Lollipop bag for Amelia, my God daughter, and my cousin's daughter.  They can load them up with pencils or whatever.  A small bag of candy with the bag and I'm good to go.

I plan on making the larger one for myself.  It will be good to have in the backpack with band-aids, ibuprofen, and other smaller items in our upcoming trip to Disney this summer.

I found a tablerunner online using the Charming Stars tutorial on MBS and I shamefully copied it.  My fabrics are slightly different but not by much.  Everything was stash for this one.  I'm pretty proud of myself for digging in the stash first.  I'm getting pretty good at it too.  :)

Last up for now, I made a wall hanging for my God son using the Spell it with Fabric blog hop that Moda did a couple of months ago.  I made letter pillows for his big brother when he was born but I wanted something different for Jimmy.  While Jimmy is still a little guy, I used more sophisticated fabrics for him.  I just didn't want a baby look for his letters. I hope my cousin likes it.

One of these days I will make myself a whole alphabet quilt.  The letters were fun.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Hello? It's me.

Sorry to have been so quiet on the blog front.  You know the old story; life gets busy.  Work is crazy.  Blah, blah, blah.  With all that going on in my family life, no sewing happening.  I did take some time to work on 2 more barn blocks for my little wallhanging that I'm doing but decided that I will show you my completed (but not quilted) progress of a filmsy top.  So you will have to wait a little longer for any sewing progress pics.

What else?  Oh.  I have 3 personalized pillows to get done for next weekend so Punk is going to my Mom's for the weekend this week to give me some quiet sewing time.  She's looking forward to the sleep over and I'm looking forward to a whole Saturday of nothing but sewing.  I had planned on tearing apart my closet and Punk's linen closet but those boring chores can wait.  I want to sew.  That is my priority.

Did everyone have a nice Easter?  We sure did.  Eat too much but had a great day.  My husband made it out of hiding too.  He was down and out for 4 days last week with a terrible head cold.  For him to spend almost 2 days in the house, in bed?  He must have really felt lousy.  Between work and caring for Punk, I played nursemaid to my whining husband.  I'm glad he is feeling better though.  Double glad that I'm not sick nor Amelia.  We can do without it, thanks.

Remodel update?  Ummm.  Since my husband was ill, nothing progressed there.  Walls are painted in the dining room.  Our new dining room lighting was put up (my husband did it in between feeling better and not feeling better).  Flooring is still not in.  Fingers crossed that he finds time this month to do it.  I'm really hoping he will.  I'm tired of looking (and walking on) the sub-floor when I know my beautiful hardwood flooring is in the garage.  Our new back deck is staked out.  Maybe by the end of the summer that will be put in.  I need to clone my husband.  I hate to push him to get these projects done because I know he is busy.  But it would make me feel so much better to get my house in order the proper way and just be DONE with it all!

And that is that.  You have a run-down of everything that has been going on the last few weeks.

I should have something sew-y goodness to show you this weekend.  I have to dig in my stash for some fabrics for some upcoming fun but you'll have to wait to hear more about that.  ;)

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Ready for Spring

We got some snow again yesterday.  Between 8"-10" at my house is my guess.  Better than 2.5 feet ,I suppose.  Today is bright and sunny.  Hopefully that brings some melting with it because I'm ready for Spring!

I'm having fun with the ribbon wreaths.  I created one for Valentine's Day and it's been hanging on my wall since then.  I thought it was about time to make an Easter/Spring one.  It took me a few days to complete since I was working on it here and there, when I had time.  Ribbon and the glue gun dominated my cutting table so no sewing has been happening.

All the ribbon and glue gun have been put away for now.  I hope to get back to some sewing this weekend.  We'll see how it goes.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Happy Easter!

How was everyone's Easter holiday?  We had a very nice day.  Weather was great.  Sunny but a bit breezy.  But it was a loooong day.  Amelia and I left our house at 9:50 am and we drove into our driveway at 8pm.  I was wiped out yesterday.  Thankfully it was a slow work day.

I have a few pictures to share.  Amelia made out like a bandit from the Easter Bunny; as usual.

Amelia and her new bunny "Milk Chocolate"

Her "sweet" pose

Amelia and her cousin Abbey

The girls with their Baba - my Babci is going to 90 this year!

All the kids

We ate until we couldn't move.  Laughed and talked and just had a good time.

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Now What?

I posted yesterday how I was going to take time off in March from the Christmas Through the Year gift making so that I can focus on getting my Easter "baskets" done for the little girls in my family. Well guess what?  I finished them this afternoon!

Through the blog-land grapevine, I stumbled onto this tutorial and decided that is what I was going to make the girls.  Not overly huge but just enough for some candy and maybe a little trinket.

Aren't they cute?!  And truly, I made the aqua and red one first and loved how it came out so I dug in my stash for the others.  Took me 6 hours to make the additional three.  I just put the last knot and Fray Check on the ribbon 20 minutes ago.

This one is my favorite

Inside peek:

Easter is done.  Woohoo!  Bonus: these are completely out of my stash.  Ribbon too.  So no additional money spent.  My wallet is happy about that.

I think I'm still going to take on pass in March.  I REALLY want to get Swoon done so if I have any free sewing time in the next month, that's what I'm going to work on.  My goal is to get 2 more blocks done.

Well, I need to get ready.  Husband and I have a hot date tonight.  Punk is having a sleepover at Grandma's and we're headed out to a benefit dinner.  It's been a while since we spent any time away from home so it should be fun.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!
Jen :)

Some Easter Fun

Did everybody have a nice Easter?  We did.  It was a great but long day.  We left our house at 9:30 a.m. and drove back in the driveway at 8:30 p.m.  We're not sure if Amelia is catching a cold or has a touch of allergies but she wasn't feel too hot.  She wasn't bad but she had her moments.  :)

Punkie made out like a BANDIT!  I didn't take a picture of all her loot and goodies but let's just say it was like a mini-Christmas.  Family is just way too generous.  She did get some much needed Spring/Summer clothes from my mom and a Razor scooter from her godmother.  Plus lots and lots of candy and various other goodies.

Thought I would share some photos from our day.

The Easter Bunny visit at home:

Punkie dressed in her Easter finery.

Punkie with her cousin Abbey.  They are 2 years apart.

And some shots of the Easter egg hunt that we did at my aunt and uncle's house.

She had such a GOOD time with the Easter egg hunt.  This was the first year she took off in pursuit.  Only thing I had to do was carry her basket after a while because it was getting very full and heavy for her.


Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

So. I had an idea

I'm gearing up for Easter.  I made my recipient list and I have 5 Easter baskets to fill.  F-I-V-E.  I may be overly generous but I like to give and they all remember Amelia at Easter time too so it's a wash.

But I don't want to go all crazy with all kinds of little store bought things that are going to get lost or break. 

Now, Amelia really likes to sew and I like that she likes to do "creative" things.  I bought her this kit after Christmas and she really likes it.

That's great!  Downside?  We've already put them both together and decorated them.  Another downside?  Kit costs about $7.00.

Sooooo, as I sit here today (supposed to be working), my brain is thinking "what can I put in these Easter baskets??"  And I had a GREAT idea!  Since I have to make 3 Easter baskets for "older" girls (Amelia included), I can make my OWN little sew kits!  I'm sure someone out there in blogland has done them before... I mean.  How HARD can it be??  Get some felt, trace a simple image, hole punch and viola!  Done.  Add a plastic sewing needle, yarn, some embellishments (maybe) and some cotton batting for stuffing.  Cute, yah?  Good idea, yah?

My list of images:
- bunny
- duck
- flower
- owl
- bear
- cupcake

Can  you think of any other "simple" images that I trace onto felt?  I thinking 3 kits per basket.  They can all be the same or not.  I don't care.  I will have to make them under the radar or Amelia is going to want to make them as soon as I'm done!

I need some ideas!

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Quick Check In

Just thought I would do a quick post. Nothing too exciting happening. Thank you to everyone who spread well wishes to Punkie. I think they worked! She is feeling much better today! I've been working on a couple of projects at the same time. 2 table runners for Mother's Day and a pinwheel wallhanging for my BFF's daughter's 1st birthday. Here's a sneak peek of that one.


I really like how it's coming out. All the pinwheel blocks are done. I just have to attach them into rows and think up a border. Then it will be ready to be quilted. But I am going to put it aside as the birthday party is not until July. I need to focus on the table runners.... which need to get quilted as soon as I figure out what I want to do for backing.

Here are a couple pictures of Amelia in her Easter finery. Notice how she likes to be all "hollywood" in one of them. LOL. She loves getting dressed up so she can twirl. And this dress was extra twirly because of the pleating. The poncho was knit by my friend Sue. She also knit Amelia a purple one but it didn't go with the dress.



And as we speak, my husband is hard at work getting my quilt back nice and straight so that I can FINALLY get my very first quilt to Sharon to get quilted. I promise Sharon. It will be on its way soon!

That's all I got!
OH! Quilt back is all done! WOOHOO! Sharon be on the lookout for my quilt!

Have a good night!
Jen

My Latest Projects...

Just a couple of things to show you today. First off is the tote that I took a "class" on. A friend of mine took the class a couple of years ago and then she taught me. It's cute. I've been using it as my laptop bag just to get some use out of it. I'm not liking the aqua anymore. When I first decided to make the bag, I had planned on using a pair of lighter denim jeans for the pocket and handle. Then I decided to use the darker pair. I think a darker blue fabric versus the aqua would look better with the red and cherry fabrics. Oh well. I'll just make another one!



Speaking of the cherry fabric... I LOVE how it looks with the denim so much that I'm going to make a cute little jumper for Amelia out of denim and use the cherry fabric as a ruffle accent. My friend has to show me how to do that too. I bought a couple of patterns. Just need to decide on one, buy the fabric and get to creating!

Next up, fabric Easter baskets. I love how these came out. I hope the recipients like them too.

Here's one filled with some Easter goodies...

I am working on some gift items. I'm putting together a pinwheel wallhanging for my best friend's daughter's first birthday and I'm going to make a couple of table runners for Mother's Day - if I get motivated and get cracking on them!

That's all for now.

Enjoy your day!

Jen