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This week I am working to finish up a quilt which has taken a lot of time so I have some different things to post, this paper craft (aka a scrapbook page) and a knit project later in the week with the hope I'll have a nice complete pretty quilt by next week.

We (my little family here) are in a bit of a weird place right now. A transitional period I suppose, in waiting. We don't really have any idea what is next for our family-- where we will end up in the next year or two or how permanent it will be. It's kinda hard, but we make the best of it and make a point to enjoy what we have and where we are at the moment. We are pretty open when it comes to the husband looking for a job and where we are willing to move and we are looking forward to the next stage in our adventure, but it is still hard sometimes to think about packing up and leaving here and relocating the life we've built so far. This is the place we lived when we got married, where we brought our baby girl home, a place we have grown to love and are comfortable with. We know where things are and how to get places and the thought of starting that over is overwhelming, especially for two people who lived in the same town up until they went to college.

But we are up to it. And I wanted to give the husband something to remind him that what is important is that we are all together and that a physical place has little to do with it. Wherever he gets a job and wherever we move, I think we will be happy, at least I hope so. I had been seeing prints all over pinterest that inspired me, namely this one and this one. I wanted to make something similar so I pretty much blended the two. Keep in mind, my artistic skills are limited when it comes to drawing or painting or anything like that. Still, I can generally handle more basic things. So I decided on a scrapbook page and this is where it ended up.


I used my silhouette machine to cut out the wording and I drew the houses with markers and then filled them in with watercolor pencils. I made each one on a separate piece of paper just in case I made a mistake and had to redo it. I am actually really really proud of this. It came together really nicely and I love how my little houses came out.

I don't know where we are going or when it will happen. But having this framed in the office will hopefully help us both deal with the stress that will inevitably accompany it and remember what is important: each other.

shower wrap

Alright, this project might be a bit of a fail. It just didn't quite go as planned and I kinda wish I'd gone with my instincts and not used a pattern and just made it up as I went along. But, I didn't. And while I suppose it is functional, it's not great.

See, it started the end of last summer when my cheap summer terry cloth shower wrap from target started to die. I was going to go looking for another one but decided it couldn't possibly be hard to make one. So it's been on my list for many months. And I finally bought a pretty towel and got to work. I was planning on just using the one I had as a guide and winging it but then I realized that I had a pattern for this exact thing as part of the burda pattern 7674 that I got to make this bag. I knew I wasn't using 7 snaps for a shower wrap so I replaced that with velcro (circles of course!). I also lined the top with a really soft jersey knit that I've had for quite a while but I don't have much of it so I was just waiting for the right small project. Really it started because the towel wasn't big enough for me to cut the lining pieces, but whatever, it worked out better this way.





Honestly, it doesn't fit very well in the chest and in order to keep it up I had to cut off an extra 7" of elastic in the back so it is tight enough. I also am not sure whether it will survive very long since a seam ripped and had to be resewed already. On the plus side, it was way easier using a towel that already has finished edges and it is way bright and fun :) We'll see. While it is not my favorite project, it should serve it's purpose.

another cute practice dress

Well as I said, I was making another dress for the little one. This time it is another practice dress, but for a 4th of July dress this time. I had another pattern I had been planning on using but I wasn't totally happy with it. The dress I wanted to buy was a.) too expensive and b.)not available in the size I needed anyway, so I figured I would just make one infinitely cuter. A week or two ago I was wandering online as I am apt to do, and on pinterest I stumbled upon this tutorial. I was hesitant at first because I would have to make my own pattern, but I loved it so much I decided to give it a try.

Boy am I glad I did! It came out so stinking cute and I just can't wait to make the next! It fits pretty much perfectly, there are just a few minor adjustments, such as making the arm holes a bit bigger and maybe scoop the neck a bit more. I used a yellow gingham which I had laying around having been given it by my husbands grandmother when she cleaned out her stuff. I had no idea what to do with it anyway. And the bias tape that is around the neck and sleeves is leftover quilt binding. Perfect and free. And it came together really quickly which is always a plus.




The 4th of July version will involved polka dots and red accents. I can't wait! But before I can make that and the birthday dress, I have a quilt to quilt and a few other small things to get out of the way, all of which needs to be done pretty much by the end of the month. I better get busy!

A quilt for Relay for Life

A about a month and a half ago I was asked by a girl at work to make a quilt to be raffled off to help raise money for our relay for life team. I have been ridiculously excited, mainly because I don't often get to make something just because I think it's pretty, usually I have a recipient in mind. I had two charm packs sitting around, both Tanya Whelan collections --Delilah and French Hatbox. I knew when I got them that I wanted to pair them with white and make a bunch of half square triangles, and this gave me just the occasion I was looking for. I made them by putting the two squares together, one white and one printed, and sewing 1/4" on either side of the center line and then cutting down the center. It saved me from actually having to deal with triangles which was great. I ended up with 4" finished squares. My 1/4" foot saved my life again and made all my triangles have nice points! It was lovely.


I tried a number of different layouts, the possibilities with half square triangles are really endless, and finally landed on the one I wanted to use. It is one I saw on Red Pepper Quilts and it is just perfect. It is a small quilt since I only had 104 squares to work with and this design used up 99 of them. Since it was so small I added two borders and it ended up 40 1/2" x 49 1/2" after washing. The skinny border is just red with small polkadots and the bigger is from the DS Quilts line at Joann's. The binding is also from that line.

The back was its own ordeal since I ran out of time to order it and had to settle for what I could find locally, in this case at Joann's. I didn't like anything and finally decided I would get a solid color back so that I could get a 108" fabric and not have to worry about cutting or seaming or anything. It really allows the quilting to stand out, so thankfully it came out pretty much perfectly. Part of me wishes I had done the pieced backing I wanted to, but this was so much easier and I was in a time crunch and in the end, it looks really good.



I did echo quilting roughly 1/2" in on each side of the white squares. I say roughly because I just used the edge of my walking foot as a guide and I am pretty sure that is not an exact distance. It is even though and that is what counts. I really really love this. It is so bright and cheerful and I hope it finds a good home!

I hate ironing

Seriously, I must be nuts. I've gone back and forth on the prewash/don't prewash debate since I started quilting. I don't generally have a preference, and really if my quilts shrink an couple inches it's no big deal. But now that I am making so many smaller things, including clothes and other things that I would like to be washable and not shrink, not to mention I have a child who will put anything and everything in her mouth, prewashing the fabric has become the better option.

Consequently, I just spend what felt like forever (but in reality was 2-3 hours...oh wait, that's pretty much forever) ironing and folding all my freshly washed fabrics. I finally cleaned out the closet and washed pretty much everything that could be washed and hadn't been. Something like 59 pieces of fabric I think, mostly 1/2 yards. I have a few things left; I like to keep an unwashed white sheet for sashing things that can't be prewashed (like all those precuts) and there are a few pieces that I just didn't see because they were smushed between other things that I'll just have to get on laundry day, but other than that, everything is ready to go!

It feels kinda nice actually, it all smells clean and is just ready to be used whenever I get around to it. I think I have piles for 3-4 quilts that are planned out in my head, so maybe I'll get to work on that this summer.

shorts for the little one

Why is it so hard to find little girl shorts that aren't a bright weird color or ridiculously expensive?? I mean seriously, I just want some plain old shorts for my daughter! Once I made that little practice dress, she needed something to wear under it since it is a bit short. I thought perhaps pants would be a bit much in the almost 90 degree weather so I set about making a pair of shorts.

I knew what I wanted them to look like, she had a pair last summer/fall that are obviously too small that I loved. And for fabric I decided to cut up and old pair of gauchos that I was getting rid of anyway. I decided the easiest thing to do was find a pattern for basic shorts in a bigger size, make them as per the directions, and then just add my own waist band and leg bands in the right size which should create just the puffy little look I was going for. I am happy to report it worked perfectly! I used this pattern although there are plenty of options out there. The only thing that need to be changed is the waist band needs to be a bit tighter since I may have underestimated the stretch in the fabric, but they still fit and she looks super cute. I figured the waistband the same way as the knit yoga skirt actually and just didn't make it a fold-over, and did it similarly for the leg bands, but kept them at just the size of the legs because I didn't really want those too tight but maybe on the next ones I will make it a big more snug. The came out pretty well for a first attempt, I am even getting pretty good at gathering! I am glad I have been braving knits a bit more.



I tried to get a good action shot of the shorts, but someone was just not cooperating so this weird side view will have to do. I'll have to try again another day.


I think I'll make another pair of brown ones and two pair of black out of the other pair of gauchos I am getting rid of. It only used about a pant leg of fabric for one pair and I think 4 pairs of nice neutral shorts should work perfectly for summer. Cuter than what I've seen in the stores and certainly cheaper :) I like this game!

Practice Birthday dress

Just about a month until the little monster's birthday! I've decided I can make her a cute simple little dress to wear for her party, so I've been searching for a good pattern/tutorial. It has to be simple, I just am not very good at clothing and patterns and whatnot. In my searching, I came across this snappy toddler dress tutorial which is wonderful, simple, downloadable, and free :) I fell in love with it immediately and I think it will just be perfect for a birthday dress for July. However, I would be stupid to just go ahead and make it with the birthday fabric a month beforehand (who knows when the next growth spurt is coming) without trying it to make sure I can do it and it fits. And I am certainly glad I did!

It is a really great pattern, and was not difficult at all. The pattern pieces are for 12-18 months which is exactly the size she needs, but for some reason, it came out pretty small. I have a hard time getting it over her head, my own fault really because I messed up a button hole (I have a snap thing now so we are saved for the birthday version!) so one side is sewn together which makes it more difficult, but really it is just too tight around the arms once it is on. I doubt it will fit for long. I can take out the seams a bit in the body since I did a french seam instead of zig-zagging so that should add a bit, but I think I am going to have to enlarge the pattern pieces for the neck part. No big deal. It came out really well and she got to wear it to the park yesterday and someone actually asked me where I got it! The fabric is from Ikea, they had it on sale for $1.99/yd so that pretty much makes this a $1 dress, tops since I'm not even sure I used 1/2 yd, so it's okay if it doesn't fit for long. It is also a bit short, pretty much a shirt really, but I knew that was coming. I have limited birthday dress fabric and I wanted to know how far it would go, so for that one I will probably add a band of fabric at the bottom to lengthen it and once the straps are longer, it will fall down further anyway.

The red buttons on this really make it I think


And of course an action shot! She didn't seem to mind it being tight around the arms so I guess it's not too bad.


Oh that girl kills me with cute! I also made the shorts so that post is coming up next. I am having a good time learning to make some simple kids clothes. I am making another dress right now too, hopefully done sometime this week. It is my first attempt at making a pattern using existing clothes so hopefully it works! There will be some really cute clothes on a really cute little girl coming up around here in the future. It helps me have quick projects in between my quilts so I can keep up the motivation :) Oh and it keeps my little girl clothed!