Natalia

About a month ago, I was asked if I could make a few pillows for some little ones as birthday gifts.  Me being a slacker got the first one done over the blizzard snow-in to be delivered this coming Saturday.

This one is for Natalia:

I like it. I hope the recipient feels the same.  I have to do another for Natalia's little sister Lilly and one for a boy (Anthony).  The one for the boy stumps me because I don't have any boy fabrics.  I guess some fabric shopping is in order.  Oh darn.  ;)

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

First Finishes of 2013

Howdy.  How is everybody?  Have a nice weekend?  We did.  No complaints.  Well I have my first finishes for 2013 to show you.  I need them for this upcoming weekend so I'm glad they are done and I can move on to something else.  I've already started cutting fabric for a new project.  I say that "softly" because I have no business starting on a brand new project when Swoon (and many others) are staring at me in the face.  But I can't help it.  I WILL say that this project is going to be out of my stash.  Except maybe for the backing unless I piece it.

Okay.  Enough babbling.  This coming Saturday I am attending my ceramics class holiday/Christmas party.  We do it after the hubbub of the actual holidays because of the hubbub.  No time.  This way, all family and other obligations are done and we can relax and just hang out.

I liked the ornament pillow that I made for another gift so much, I decided to make a second one (and I will be making one for myself sometime this year).

Now that the Christmas holiday is over, I made a second cover for the pillow so that it can be used in the Spring/Summer.

That's Miss Caramel in the picture.  She was sick over the holidays.  I'm so glad she is better.

I got the idea for the flower pillow... where else?  Pinterest!  Here's the link to the tutorial.  I modified mine to a smaller pillow.  But I sooo love it.  I wasn't crazy about it at first.  My spacing is a bit off between the flowers and the pink one in the center?  Yah, I don't like it.  But now that it is done and I see it with a pillow form inside, I NEED one for myself.  What I will do with mine is use embroidery thread to do the machine blanket stitch on everything. I think that's one of the reasons I wasn't like it.  The threads are thick on the applique.  I think the embroidery thread will look better.  Regardless, I'm not doing this over.  It is what it is.  This thing took me all week (and then some) to finish. 

the sweet backing

Tweet!

I finished my very belated birthday present as well.  Simple quilting.  I finished hand stitching the binding last night and buried all my threads this afternoon.  I am sooo happy this is done and can go to the recipient on Saturday.  Nothing like being 5 months late with a birthday gift!!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
Jen

What do you give someone...

who has everything already?!?!  My ceramics teacher's birthday was at the beginning of August and we are doing an August birthday celebration at Thursday's class since there are 4 people in the class who have August birthdays.

I decided to make her some embroidered towels.  She likes to decorate her bathroom for the holidays and I thought I would help her out.  I wanted to do a towel for every month in the year and I had really good intentions.  I had the idea in January for crying out loud!  It's now mid-August and sigh.  I ran out of time!  So I did only the "major" holidays for her birthday.  I will do the rest for her for Christmas.

And of course I added a "Happy Birthday" towel since I think everyone's birthday should be a holiday and celebrated!

I got all the embroidery patterns from here.  I love that site!

Well, I hope she likes them!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

For Baby Sydney

My BFF. who now lives in Texas, had her second baby girl on December 4th. Sydney Noelle and she is darling. I can't wait to see her. I have no idea when that will be but hopefully soon.

I made some fashionable burp cloths and a larger blanket (backed with red minkee dot) that she can use as a playmat on the floor or whatever.

The burp cloths and blanket were a few tutorial that I found here... I love all these sites. They have some great projects and machine embroidery stuff.

I bought some other little things for Baby Sydney as well as a couple things for Big Sister Julia. Can't leave out big sister! Everything got put in the mail 2 days before Christmas and I sent it parcel post so it will be there in time for the New Year. Priority Mail was just WAAAAAAY too expensive!

That's about it. I have some thoughts on what projects I would like to start (and FINISH) in the new year. So I can't wait to get going and sew! I plan on working on Punkie's full size bed quilt and my queen size pinwheel quilt. Those are my 2 "must do" projects for 2010.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Christmas Candle Mat/Hot Plate

Julie at JayBird Quilts created this tutorial and I just loved it and had to try it for myself. So easy! Hardest part? Tracking down the Easy Dresden ruler! My local Joann's didn't have it so I attempted to place an order online. I was successful on my third try - they had major website issues last week. But then I found it at another Joann's so I bought it. Now I'm going to have two; if my original online order went through. Still waiting for a shipping confirmation and I ordered the ruler on Tuesday.

Anyway, here's my candle mat. That's how I plan to use mine. I need to fine a trio of wrought iron candle stands or something. That will be my next adventure but I love it! So does my husband. I would like to make more: one for Valentine's Day, one for Spring/Summer and maybe another for Fall. It's a nice size too. Looks good on my large dining room table. I had all my "petals" set up in sequence and I don't know what happened when I sewed them into groups but it got all messed up. Still looks good though! Would look FAB in just red and white. Like a big peppermint!



It was so quick to put together. Only thing I have left on it to do is the zig zag stitch on the center circle. Since it was so quick to put together, I have a second one already cut for a gift for my hairdresser and a third one for something else and I'll probably make a 4th one because I can!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Tote Mania!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving holiday? Good I hope. Ours was very nice. Spent most of the weekend away from home so today, I'm tired but it's back to work time!

I was off from work starting at Noon on Tuesday last week so I did get some sewing done on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. I'll show you what I was working on.

These are the Claire totes that I did for my Mom and my MIL for Christmas from Punkie. These aren't my Mom's thing but I figured she could carry her lunch it in for work.

After getting all the bits and pieces cut, the tote goes together fairly quickly.

Here's a shot of the inside of one. Love all the pockets!


And MY tote. I started this one back in September but put it aside to work on Christmas projects. I had time on Wednesday afternoon and it was pretty much done. I just had to join the outer piece and the lining together so I got my own tote done. LOVE IT!

Pattern is the Bring Your Own Bag II from Whistlepig Creek and it's really big. Good size for an overnight bag. This one has lots of pockets too. I added a snap at the top as well.

The machine embroidered "J" is from SWAK Embroidery. The WPCreek pattern has you make a circle and then applique a letter in the center but I wanted to be different. And I'm glad I did my own thing.

I brought my bag with me to Thanksgiving dinner to show it off and my SIL wants one, just a little smaller. So after the holidays, I will make her one.

I also worked on another project yesterday that went really quick. I need to take its picture and I'll show you.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

More Fleece Blankets

I put together a couple fleece blankets and coordinating pillowcases for my cousins to give to their respective god-children for Christmas. I gave one to my god-daughter last year for her birthday so now all three kids in the house will have one.

This one is for Katrina, the oldest. I have no idea if she even likes turtles but this is what she's getting. LOL!

And for Julian - pirates. He's BIG into construction vehicles and tractors but we didn't find any suitable fleece for him. So pirates it is! I love the fleece. It's a big treasure map!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Birthday/C-Word Gifts

I will not mention the dreaded "C" word but it's fast coming upon us. I have two cousins (sisters) that both have birthdays in December (a day apart from each other) and the birthdays fall two weeks before the dreaded "C" word.

They admire the few totes that I've made for myself so I thought this year, I would make them each one as a combined birthday/C-word gifts. I'm also going to make them each a pink Yankees fleece blanket since they are both Yankees fans AND I stumbled upon the pink Yankees fleece at my local "we have everything" fabric mill store. I searched and searched for the pink fleece over the summer with the blanket idea. Come to find out, they had discontinued it. But I found it so I bought 4 yards of it. I digress... back to totes...

Kris made some very cute totes over the summer that I really liked. One is in her blog header that I totally copied but she knew in advance so it's okay ;) and another called the "Practical Bag" that she shared the pattern with me.

Here's my Cotton Blossom pinwheel charm tote for Cousin #1. I too left off the cuff from the original pattern. The tote looks MUCH better without it. I also added a magnetic snap and I forgot to do the inner pocket! Oh well. Who's gonna know?!


Next up... the awesomely purple (but you can't tell from the picture) Practical Bag for Cousin #2.

The purple fabrics that I used are awesome. They remind me of the color of grape Kool Aid.

And since I loved the pinwheel tote so much, I made one for myself! I used a Hushabye charm pack. I used the tote on an outing on Saturday and got lots of compliments on it. Again, I added a magnetic snap and forgot to add the inner pocket.


Here are all three together.

I've decided to make two more totes as gifts. From Punkie to the Grandmas. I picked Claire from Lazy Girl Designs. I figured my mom can use it as a lunch tote and my MIL can use it as a tote/purse. I bought my fabrics for it over the weekend and started cutting all the pieces out. I'm going to start those this week (I hope).

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

So, I am in need of some ideas...

The end of Punkie's first school year is coming to a close very quickly and I was thinking of End of Year Thank You gifts for her teachers (she has 4 of them). And of course, I had BIG plans to get these all done a MONTH ago... but we all know how that goes. Amelia attends preschool within our elementary school and follows the school's calendar so she will have the summer off.

My first question... is it customary to give End of Year Thank You gifts? I gave them each a little something for Christmas but I would also like to give them something as a thank you for making Amelia's 1st year of preschool so enjoyable.

My thought was to make them each a fabric basket and also make a homemade sugar scrub and do a little pedicure basket. You know, getting ready for summer and cute feet. But I thought that was a bit cheesy but I need to put SOMETHING in the basket. I just have no idea what.

My other thought was to make them each a tote. But I wanted to give them each a monogrammed tote. I recently bought the Fat Quarter Fonts pattern book and I thought HOW CUTE to make them each a tote. I'm thinking I will hold off and do that idea this coming Christmas. I'm almost certain by this Christmas I will be laid off so I will have more than enough time to get 4 totes done so that I'm not rushing and making a mess out of seams or anything.

So? Any ideas out there other than what I'm thinking of doing? Is the fabric basket a cute idea? What do I put in it?? HELP!!

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

Some Gifts

I worked on some gifts the last couple of days. I made a pillowcase and blanket for my godson's birthday. He turned 11 today and I'm going to be seeing him tomorrow. He's a Yankees fan so I thought this would be appropriate for him. He has so much already and I have no idea what to get him so a blanket, pillowcase and some cash. I think he'll like it.

Next are some letter pillows for my cousin's little boy's nursery. I LOVE the animal flannel and now that I see the name put together, I would have rather done them all in the animal print versus alternating the letters with the cloud fabric. I have a feeling my cousin is going to feel the same way. Even though she is the one who picked out both fabrics. I should have prepared myself and done the 3 letters in the animal flannel. I would do them now but I'm tired.

My cousin doesn't think that "Joshua" is going to fit on the wall where these are intended to hang but I had the fabric so I made his whole name. I'm going to give them to her tomorrow.

That's all I got. Tomorrow is a busy day. I have a baby shower to attend and then dropping off gifts. I have a feeling I'll be home late. Weather dependant of course. I don't drive when the weather is lousy. One accident in my lifetime is more than enough for me!

Enjoy your night!

Jen