Sewing Fleece... ??

I have about 3 yards (I think 3 yards) of Mickey Mouse fleece fabric that I bought from Joann's to make Punkie a blanket with. And I've been staring at it for weeks now. I've washed and squared it up and I was going to sew an edge on it and call it a day but now I'm re-thinking my idea. I think I want to back it with a solid piece of fleece. I also want to get my godson some Yankees fleece and do the same thing for his birthday and make a coordinating pillow case. He's going to be 11. I have no idea what to get him so his getting textiles. Same with my god-daughter - she'll be getting textiles too her her January birthday (fleece blanket and coordinating pillow). I want to show off my new found craft.

My question, how easy (or hard) is it to sew fleece? Do I need a special sized needle for my machine? I'm clueless here. The fleece seems really slippery and I don't want to struggle with it right off the bat. My thought is right sides together, sew the edges, turn right sides out, close up hole and tah-dah! a fleece blanket. I MAY topstitch the edges.. not sure yet.

OR

Should I skip sewing the fleece together and just knot it... like I've seen all over the web...?

Can anyone give me some pointers??

Thanks in advance and enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Holiday Lights Parade

On Friday night, Punkie, my husband and myself went to see the Holiday Lights Parade in Willimantic. Fire trucks from Willimantic (my husband's firehouse) and surrounding area fire companies, dress up their trucks in lights and come into town to have a parade down Main Street to the tree lighting and Santa comes along. This year we (Punkie and me) had a big treat. My husband drove the big tower fire truck in the parade and Punkie and I got to ride along! AND since we had the tower ladder... WE drove Santa in the parade. Amelia had a BLAST. She kept saying "We have Santa with us!". It was a lot of fun and being that it was cold outside, I was glad to be in a nice warm fire truck!

I'm sorry my pictures are so dark but you can get an idea of what it's all about.

I did get some sewing done this Thanksgiving holiday. I made a few more pillowcases and I quilted Amelia's doll quilt. I just have to figure out how I want to bind it; since I've never done it before. We also went out on Friday to the mall (I know, I'm crazy but we were only there 2 hours) and Punkie got her picture taken with Santa. It's a very cute picture. I need to scan it and then I'll post it here.

Okay, I have to fix Punkie some dinner. Have a nice evening!

Jen :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day! Enjoy your time spent with family and friends!

And if you're going out tomorrow to help stimulate our economy on Black Friday (I haven't decided if I'm going to join the mob scenes or not)... have a good time but don't spend too much!

Gobble! Gobble!

Jen

Today is a Good Day...

I'm feeling under the weather and I just wanted to crawl into bed when I got home today. When I walked into the house, I see the mail and what's there but a box... HAS to be my Polka Dot & Rick Rack swap goodies. And of course, I was RIGHT!

LOVE all of it! Sinta (my polka dot swap maker) was so kind as to make things to pamper ME! Travel pillow... LOVE IT, of course my husband has already claimed it. A lavender neck roll; which I think I will use this evening, a drawstring bag and wallet (so cute!), bath salts, a cute polka dot basket... musk.... a pin cushion... a pink polka dotted luggage tag... a postcard from her area. I just love it all.

THANK YOU SINTA! You've brightened my evening!

Here are three pictures of my goodies. Sorry for the terrible lighting. I'm working on getting a new fixture for my sewing area.

Sinta and I have a couple things in common... we are both Libras and she shares a birthday with my brother; both being 10/1.

Thank you Sinta! I love that travel pillow and if I didn't have projects ready to go for Christmas, I would be making a bunch of these to give out! I think I have my idea for next year.

Enjoy your evening!
Jen :)

Weekend Almost Over Already??

I soon have to leave to pick up Punkie from my mom's house. She spent the night so that I can have yesterday to myself. But before I go, I thought I would do some updating here.

Friday, my BFF, her husband and baby girl, along with my cousin and baby boy (her husband was working and so was mine) came over for lunch. We had a very nice visit. Amelia enjoyed the babies and showing off for our company. She was a very good girl and hostess. As soon as it got dark out, she told everyone to leave. LOL. Here's a picture of all our babies together.

Saturday, Barb and I did our girl thing and went shopping and did lunch. I started my Christmas shopping so I'm happy there. Now I just have to find time to get some stuff wrapped. I have no idea what to get my husband. He's last on my list unless he starts giving me some ideas. I also went to check out a quilt/fabric shop that I've never been to. Not impressed so I probably won't go back. But we had a great time together and I miss her already. They aren't hitting the road for TX until Turkey Day but their schedule is so jammed with family visits that we said our goodbyes last night. I hope to be able to get out to TX in July for Julia's first birthday.

I promised a picture of Punkie's Butterfly Fling wall hanging that I got all pieced together.

It's needs to be quilted. I will work on that soon. I have a few others things that I really want to get done for Christmas so if I have time, this will get quilted for Christmas. If not, I can work on it during my Christmas break. I borrowed the layout idea from Deb (I looked and looked for the posting on her blog with the picture but I can't find it. I think I saw it on Sharon's blog). I hope she doesn't mind! I loved how her ME table topper looked so...

I also made Punkie two new pillowcases. I LOVE the white fabric. I think it's from the Lakehouse line; I'm not sure. But it reminds me of candy buttons and I just love it. I love it so much, I'm going back to the fabric store next weekend to get 2 more yards so that I can make more pillowcases for myself and have some for my stash. The green fabric is from the Smores christmas line. I love that one too. I think my pillowcases will be pink and white instead of the green. I like how I did a reverse image on the pillowcases. One has a green cuff, the other the white. Fun for a little girl. No one said bedding has to be serious! Not even for adults!

One last thing before I have to hit the road... this morning, I pieced together a doll quilt for Punkie for Christmas. I used the "Sugar and Spice" fat quarters I had in my stash and an another fabric but I think of what the name of it is. I need to piece together all my rows and then I can quilt it. I'm planning on making a matching pillow for it too. I can't wait to see it finished!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Hard at Work... Sewing Some

Work has been crazy. I hate when it's like this but lots to be done to meet an aggressive timeline. But I have had some time to sew in the evenings this week and I actually got Punkie's "Butterfly Fling" wall hanging all pieced together. Finished it last night with the help of my trusty 3 year old assistant. She was in charge of making sure I didn't sew over any pins and when I removed them, she was in charge of placing them back into my pin cushion - as far as they would go. Luckily my pins have a colorful ball at the top or I would have a hard time getting them out of there in a hurry.

I did take a picture of the wall hanging but I didn't have time to upload them to my computer last night. I will show it off tomorrow. I'm happy with it. Some of my 1/4 seams are off so of course, my corners don't meet in some places. Do I care? Sure I do. Do I really, REALLY care? Nope. I'm glad it's done. I just have to quilt it. On my list for Turkey Day weekend. I'm going to make 2 more of the same style. I want to make one for my bedroom. I have a wall with nothing on it. I think a quilting wall hanging would be a nice addition. And I want to make a Christmas one. I have all the fabrics for both; I just don't know if the Christmas one will get done for THIS Christmas. I'm not worried. The wall hanging went together so quickly, I think I can get it done.

Next on my list to get done is a doll quilt and possible matching pillow for Punkie for Christmas. She's been playing with her "babies" so much now that my husband and I decided to get her a new one. This one cries, coos, crawls... very interactive which I think Punkie would like. And with the doll, Santa is going to be bring her a high chair, crib and maybe the matching changing table. Amelia asked Santa for all of the above (and then some!).

Back to the wall hanging.... how do I get it ON the wall?? Do I make and attach a hanging sleeve and figure out some holder for it? Do I clip it somehow on the corners and then get it on the wall? Anyone have any tips for me in that area??? I'm sure someone has a neat trick...

And tomorrow, I have the day off. WOOHOO! Can't wait! My best friend Barb is here from TX! I talked to her yesterday and she, along with her husband and baby girl, are coming for lunch tomorrow. I also invited my cousin and her new baby boy since we all know each other. I think I'm going to make baked ziti with some garlic bread. Quick and easy. I have extra sauce that I made for Amelia's birthday, thawing in the fridge. I just have to get ziti. I have every other pasta in my pantry but ziti. I can't wait to see them! Saturday is our "girls day out". I think we're going to do some Christmas shopping. At least that's on my agenda. It's going to be COLD here so I really don't want to hang around outside. Going from store to store, I can handle that. And there's a quilt/fabric store I want to check out since we're going to be out and about.

More tomorrow!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Polka Dot Swap Goodies Revealed

My husband failed to send out the package to my secret swap partner on Thursday but he did stop at the post office first thing Friday morning to send it off. I have no idea if my swap partner has received it yet but I'm going to show what I did anyway...

I started with a black/white/red theme and then got totally off-track. I tend to do that. LOL. But I made two dish towels, two button magnets and I tried my hand at a pin cushion... then eveything went off-track. But I'm happy with everything and I hope my swap partner is as well.

We went to my cousin's little boy's christening on Sunday and her cousin Monica (complete other side of family from me) has a little boy named Jake who is 4 months older than Amelia. She tracked him down in the church... look at them holding hands! Aren't they the cutest couple?! LOL!

They are adorable together and they had a great time at the reception after playing with the matchbox cars I brought with me.

Amelia has been getting quite maternal lately with her baby dolls. Here's one of her feeding her babies while she was eating her breakfast...

And a couple of her having a tea party...

That's all I got. Enjoy your night!

Jen :)