Asher's Quilt

The finished quilt. A few months overdue, but he came a few weeks early, which made the time I was going to work on the quilt turn into time to spend holding my new nephew.

The process started with the valances Asher's mom, Kristen, found at PB outlet. They had giraffe and sheep appliqued on them. She bought 2 for the windows, and I bought one to cut up for a quilt. She also bought coordinating valances in a stripe that we cut up and made into a dust ruffle for the crib. I drew out some similar animals, then used carbon paper to trace individual shapes and cut them out of fabric scraps that I'd fused to two sided fusible. then fused to the backing material and then zig-zaged around to applique.

The right side pile of fabrics were the animals and the left made up the quilt.The top dot material came from the valance with the animals and the stripe material was left over from making the dust ruffle. The rest I bought for this project.

The giraffe was much larger than the sheep, so figuring out cutting and placement was tricky, but I finally came up with this.

The animals in the corners got a surround of strips of the 4 materials. I used ribbon that I had on hand that matched one of the original fabrics from the valance to make a 3-d lion's mane. This was so fun to work on. I hope Asher enjoys it! It looks great in his room.

Plans

I have lots of plans. Plans to make things for my daughter, my niece to be, a friend's birthday, another niece, and even for myself. First, I have to find my work table top. It is there, you can see a couple of inches peeking out. It actually is cleaned off now. Thanks to a friend visiting and needing to stay in that room. Here's what my immediate plans are for sewing:

Making a short sleeve version in 3 month size for a niece-to-be.

A dress for same niece to come home in, a plain batiste fabric.

This for my daughter for spring/summer. I really love this fabric...part of the Swell by URBAN CHICKS for moda.

And an apron...for someone...from the same fabric line. It may not end up being the same pattern. I may wing it on the design.

That's what I have immediate plans for, meaning to do within the next month or so. I have several other things I'd like to make and a few things in process with the knitting/crocheting. I'll share those another time. The good news is it's cold and rainy out which keeps me in. I might just get to all these projects!

I hope to be better at finishing projects this year and start fewer. I have enough yarn for a year's worth of knitting/crocheting. I hope not to buy much of that this year. I do know myself well enough to say it won't happen at all. You never know what kind of incredible deal you'll find somewhere. I'd also like to work down the fabric stash a bit. The moda fabrics above are from the stash, almost 2 years old now. The others, I bought recently. It's not the kind of fabric I buy to stash. I buy with a particular project in mind, because it isn't cheap and rarely goes on sale. These are, hopefully, going to be heirloom garments.

Then there are all the house/yard projects that have long been on a to do list. Sometimes we dream about moving, but really, we wouldn't escape a to do list. We have good schools, close to shopping, decent commute for the husband, our church is close, and we have good neighbors and great friends here. There is much to be thankful for. And that is the biggest plan of all: Remember to be thankful for what we have been blessed with and do the best we can with what we are given.

December 2009

I'm always behind blogging about things. I thought I'd get to a decorating post about Christmas. nope. About Christmas itself. nope. Here's some of what we did in December:



We made lots of sugar cookies and decorated them over the break. You can see a bit of the oj carton manger that was made at another girl's craft day.

Christmas Eve in their new jammie pants made by me. (my gift to them)

Craig and I at his Junior cotillion parent dance night. Such a neat time. Probably the last time I see him dancing. ever.

School winter party craft. She's wearing the Christmas dress I made last year, knowing it was big and would fit at least throught this year too. It's a modified Children's Corner Lucy pattern. It has a pleated skirt bottom and giant rick rack ribbon trim.

We had a Cocoa, Cookies, and Craft party the week before Christmas. The girls decorated cookies, made reindeer felt wreaths(turned out awful because they would not glue together), and decorated cardstock mittens from PaperSource.




The girls handiwork. The tiles are trying(vainly) to make the felt wreaths glue to themselves.

So there it is. December in a nutshell. Cold, lots of rain, plenty of time spent with family, and lots and lots of sweets eaten. All ready for 2010.

Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress

This is the jump rope drees I made. I did the long sleeve version in a print from Fabric Finders(I think). It is such a sweet pattern. I love the clear, precise directions.

The details are just so great. The gathered pockets, the turned cuff on the sleeve, the top stitched placket just make the dress.

It is all the more special with the buttons from the stash I inherited from my grandmother. I am excited about making the short sleeved verison for the spring. Might just turn out to be an Easter dress.
Stay tuned for Christmas decor posts. It's all done, and I'll share it.

Clothes I've sewed this year

Oliver + S swingset tunic made the largest size, added length to the straps, bottom and sides of top. It is now way too small. LOVE the pattern.

Applique on a clearance rack t-shirt. I made the dog design myself. it's a hit with Megan. I did learn to not cut out the fusible webbing first. bond to fabric, then cut out shapes.

Little Prairie girl top (My FavoriteLittle Things) in an Amy Butler fabric I've had for over a year. I made a size 7/8 and it has plenty of room still for my 7 year old. The 5/6 did not fit at age 6. It got way too tight around the chest and shoulders. Those pics are on the external hard drive and I'm not spending the time to get to them right now.

I really don't need to make much for her right now as the drawers are overflowing due to some awesome hand me downs from a friend. should give me time to finish some home sewing, huh?

New Year, New List

My resolution for this year is to finish all outstanding projects. My hope is this translates to a finishing of all projects I start. But as I need some accountability...here goes the unfinished lists:
List 1: House/Yard Projects
Repaint master bath(have to do trim on one window and repaint the 3 doors)
Install crown moulding in a:Megan's room, b: new hall, c: laundry room, d: figure out whether it needs to be in stairwell, bonus and master bedroom(funky ceilings in all 3)
Landscape plan for yard,
install landscaping
patio for back yard
Hang new curtain rod in dining room
get rods and hang them for curtains already purchased for office
repaint all trim inside house(dining room, office, foyer, half bath, hall, Megan's room)
Sewing Projects
starting with the oldest project waiting:
re-bind craig's baby blanket
sew jacket for me already cut out
size 4 dress for Megan already cut out (who is now a size 6...guess it will go to someone else!)
finish 2 other dresses already cut out for gifts
finish Megan's easter dress and coat
finish matching easter dress for Elizabeth(AM. girl doll)
Cut off shorts for M and J
pillows for den
coasters for den
Bonus room curtain(we won't discuss that 2 of 3 are finished and HANGING!!!!!)
finish black pull on shorts for under skirts for Megan
megan shirt with pink material
blue polka dot dress me
xmas material aprons
new dress for spring/summer Megan(fabric is sooo already purchased)
2 jumpers for Megan brown and one aqua.
new shirt megan...pink
oh, and some tapestry panels that are waiting to be made into xmas pillows. I've only moved them 3 times. One day.
Sooo...as I've also started knitting...a lot to accomplish this year.
and we won't discuss the scrapbooking that I'm years behind on.
2009 begins the all pics will be put in books...by snappy. Not me.
I will mention that the list was longer...but I did check 2 things completely off the list, and am close to being done with the bathroom paint job!
Happy New Year!

Loads of Fabric

My second post in a month...I'm on a roll! The fabrics above are my latest purchases. I usually don't buy this much at one time, but my favorite store is closing. So, I'm buying on sale and stocking up. I'm not too sure of what I'll be making with all of them, but the light lime on on the right became binding for a quilt I made for a friend's daughter. My first quilt in fact. It is not fancy and is just a quilt because I used leftover fabrics from making curtains for the nursery.

The quilting is not so great....as I said my first attempt at quilting. Have to say, I'm not a fan of handstitching the binding down. ugh. I do want to make a top from the top left fabric for myself and one for my daughter. But really, she doesn't need anything else to wear. At least until cold weather sets in. I also think I will have to make myself a fall purse. I will post more pics of what I make with the fabrics and some of what I have made in the past in the future, and will try to do one for tomorrow with the quilt recipient's sister's gift... Til then!

Misty